On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 22:33,
<MorphemeAddict@wmconnect.com> wrote:
Not me, no, but I don't know anyone who was raised first in one language environment and then, after learning their first language, moved to another language environment.
I know quite a lot of people like that, and the vast majority of them learn the language of the second environment (the main exception seems to be if they aren't actually in another language environment, because in their entire social and professional life they deal with other expatriots). The problem for our discussion is that adults learning a foreign language nowadays almost always study vocabulary and grammar, so it's tough to tell how easily or thorough it would be without that, and there is also the psychological factor, since adults who move to a different language environment generally retain their cultural identity as part of their natal culture and linguistic group. If immersion weren't enough to attain fluency, how could there have been interpreters in ancient times, before there were grammar books and dictionaries? (Some of them may have been raised bilingual, but probably not all of them.)
--
Adam Raizen <
adam.raizen@gmail.com>
Timendi causa est nescire.