Thread: What's your native language?

I don't know about the "more grown up" (for lack of a better term!) when it comes to native languages. It reminds me of an argument that my younger sister and I had, concerning our "hometown!"

She says that where you graduate high school is your hometown; I feel that where I was born is my hometown. (Of course, we were both born in a town of about 2000 people, and moved to a "city" of about 100,000 people before we graduated high school.) So who's right, and who's wrong? I STILL feel like the town in which I was born is my hometown; she feels like Boise is her hometown.

Maybe it works two ways...especially since each of us have learned a second language since birth. (Just not the same second language...)

Just my mind going into "silly-overdrive!"

Originally Posted by boisebret

She says that where you graduate high school is your hometown; I feel that where I was born is my hometown. (Of course, we were both born in a town of about 2000 people, and moved to a "city" of about 100,000 people before we graduated high school.) So who's right, and who's wrong? I STILL feel like the town in which I was born is my hometown; she feels like Boise is her hometown.

I think that simply the fact you were born in the town or graduated doesn't make it your hometown. For example, you may be born in a town A and in a month move to another place, I think it would be kind of weird to call A your hometown, you won't even have it in your memories. I'd say that the town where you spent the most part of your conscious childhood is your hometown. And it's probably this that influences the feeling of the hometown.
But I agree that the problem of home town corresponds with that of native language.

Like Friendy said, you cannot just say it is where you are born or where you graduated, because if you did not spend much time there then you have no sentimental connection to it whatsoever. I had the luxury of living in 10 places in 22.5 years so maybe I am an authority on this problem--I do not consider any of them to really be a "hometown" (nor see any rational need to have one) but I would say if I had to choose I would make the choice based on where I liked living the most. If you want to determine your hometown (or maybe your patria), think of the place you have the most attachment to regardless of how much time you spent there or what major events in your life occurred there. There are plenty of immigrants who feel so naturally adjusted to a new area quickly that they could not imagine themselves anywhere else--is it anyone's right to deny they have found "Home" because they are not natives or only lived there recently? No, of course not. With the exception of maybe those still living in Africa, we are all aliens at some time in our history.

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

So what? When I curse I often put together f***king and бл*** and vittun (which is Finnish for 'of a c**t' if translated literary) and paska (Finnish for shite) and scheisse and many many more. It's what the first thing you say when you come to having been layed out with a cricket bat that counts. Anyway, my theory still stands unshattered - there's only one language that can be your mother/father/fosterparent/etc tongue and you can speak a countless number of other languages with varying degrees of fluency depending on how many and what kind of gray cells you have available.

True, but it is still only a theory and needs to be validated by the scientific method. I propose that you experiment and report the findings so that we may add the results to the MasterRussian Language FAQ. As a neutral control I propose finding somebody who cries out, "Aaaa! Miaj kruroj!! Iru inferen! Kaco!"

I am a native speaker of English, but I definitely learn some new word or point of grammar nearly every day! And, by the way, if you grow up speaking one language and later in life acquire another one, if you have a stroke, sometimes you will lose one language--not necessarily the one you learned later!!! Point to ponder...

Is it just me, or does nobody use the ESL forum?

By the way, where did you get the name "Harpobeamer"?

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

No, you can only have one native language. Whoever says they have more than one are deluding themselves. Yes, it is possible to speak other languages with near-native fluency but you can only have one mother tongue.

Question is, how do we find out what a person's native language is if he/she is claiming to have two or more native languages? Well, we used to have a very simple way of finding out (somewhat cruel though, but very effective) - you just beat that person real bad and I mean real bad, like with clubs, etc., the important thing is you knock'em sensless. When they come to, the first phrase will always be in their one and only mother tongue. Simple as that. Hundreds of thousands of moles have been uncovered using this simple method.

VendingMachine, you're as smart as... well, a vending machine

Is it just me, or does nobody use the ESL forum?

I always felt that it was pretty much the same as the English for Russians forum. Both could really be combined into one.

Yeah, but the ESL forum has only one semi-active thread(this one) which doesn't really serve any purpose to anybody.

Alexi: You're mighty lucky old VendingMachine is gone right now. Though I have a feeling he'll be back. Dun dun dunnnn!

I guess I have to reply to Pravit concerning my name. Maybe you think there is some deeply mystical or philosophical source behind my name--heh, heh. No, as Dogboy will confirm, "Harpo" is the name of one of my former cats, and "Beamer" is a cat that is still hanging on after 15 years on this planet. I guess I could have chosen the name Harpobeamerschopenhauermedsalexauric, but that's a little extreme, eh??? (Alex is a dog. )
Thanks for your interest in Harpobeamer!

Hi, my real name is Darmawan MS. I'm from Indonesia. After reading the posts here, I'm quite surprised that none of you have grown up in a situation like me (in terms of actively spoken language in your neighbourhood). I'm grown up with 6 different languages sorrounding my house. 5 are tribal languages (which have nothing in common) and one is my country's formal language, i.e. bahasa Indonesia. Out of these tribal languages, I'm only fluent in 3 f them. I understand the other two quite a bit. Even in my house, I speak in 3 different languages with my relatives, since all of them understand it. With my brothers sometime I even speak 4 different language, two tribals, english and bahasa Indonesia. While this may seem odd, I just getting used to it . May be you can say mother tongue is Bahasa Indonesia.

I heard in Bahasa Ind. there are 6 different forms of address / respect, from dog up to Sultan.
Is it true?

No, I don't think so. I've never heard of it. It sounds weird . Where do you get the information ?

Out of curiosity, what is that MS you always put on the end of your name? Is that your nickname, or degree, or some special feature of Indonesian names I don't know about?

No, it's not a degree, it's part of my name, may sound odd to you though :
MS --> Mappatutu Salihun . Salihun is my family name, probably you'll call it clan name, while Mappatutu is my middle name . Even my friend here in Indonesia always ask about it

Pinczakko, have you spoken all of these languages since you were little? Do you have any problem with confusing them, mixing words etc?
I see that you use latin letters on your website, and I wonder, do you use latin letters to all the languages you speak?

Chinese

Originally Posted by Kamion

Pinczakko, have you spoken all of these languages since you were little? Do you have any problem with confusing them, mixing words etc?
I see that you use latin letters on your website, and I wonder, do you use latin letters to all the languages you speak?

yes, my mother even said that I'm much more fluent in those tribal languages (not English and bahasa Indonesia) when I was a child (6-7 years old or so, I can't remember) than today. My father is an english teacher so I'm getting used to use english with him when I'm around 14-15 years old.
As for the alphabet, those tribal languages have their own alphabet, you can see its appearence here and here. About mixing the languages, it's very seldom case, but sometimes I make mistake by speaking Makassarese words while I'm using Buginese, as for the other languages, it's a very rare event I made a mistake by mixing them .

Originally Posted by Pinczakko

probably you'll call it clan name

Not where I come from!!

"Hi, my name is Darmawan, but the Klan calls me Salihun..."

Originally Posted by TheMoonMonst3r

Not where I come from!!

"Hi, my name is Darmawan, but the Klan calls me Salihun..."

Code:

ampa tide' muisse' andamo lohe paumu ! ka tide' jua muisse battu ri apa mu pau :P ( no kulle' kujanjang rinni )  fella.

TheMoonMonst3r &= !TheMoonMonst3r

American English