Is it possible to lose the fluency and accent of your native language.

[Tye]

I know that if you learn a language but don't use it frequently you can lose the fluency of that language. Could this happen with your native language? If I move to Paris and speak in nothing but French from then on would I lose the American southern accent I have and my fluency at English over time? This may seem stupid to ask, but I have heard of it happening to people moving to other countries and eventually picking up the accent of where they moved and losing their native accent and the fluency of their native language. Is this rare, or is it something that happens when you stop using your native language for a long time?

[riva2model64]

I think it happens. My mom was taught British english, but she has pretty close American accent now

[Deepwaters]

Accent, definitely. I'm not so sure about fluency. I grew up in Texas, but I only sound like a Texan when I'm on the phone with my relatives. It's hard to imagine forgetting how to speak English, but changing accents, that's easy.

[Killian]

You will lose your accent if you are away for long enough, and not exposed to people from your accent's area. However, your native language is something you learned will you were a baby and is too deep rooted to be forgotten, you may become rusty and forgetful at times, but will not lose it to the extent you would a second language, so there's no worry there.

[atra201]

sure why not
we have a joke here about that
that an arab went to america but after 5 years he forgot arabic and did not know how two to speak in english

[brad]

i always wondered something .. if you are bi-lingual, do you always "think" in your native language?

For example, if you are native French, and also fluent in English, when talking with someone in English .. do you still think in French?

I don't know if that makes sense. Like me, I am semi decent with Spanish (no where near fluent), but when I listen to someone in Spanish, I am always slowly translating what they are say into English in my head.

[Toc De Mac]

It is very likely that if you live in a foreign country for an extended period of time, you will acquire the accent. As for forgetting your native language, I do not think this to be possible because of how deeply ingrained it is in your brain.

However, I think it is totally possible to begin to confuse certain sayings/grammatical structures between your native language and some other language (French, for example). For instance, if you were born in the US but moved to France for many years, and then visited your family back in the US, you might only remember certain expressions in French that you once knew in English, leaving you to do an off-the-top-of-your-head translation. You might also (as I am only beginning to do) confuse spellings of cognates between the two languages, but I think that it is not possible to totally forget your native language.

[garçoncanadien]

i am forever confused between English and French because they are both my native languages

[Killian]

Originally Posted by brad

i always wondered something .. if you are bi-lingual, do you always "think" in your native language?

For example, if you are native French, and also fluent in English, when talking with someone in English .. do you still think in French?

I don't know if that makes sense. Like me, I am semi decent with Spanish (no where near fluent), but when I listen to someone in Spanish, I am always slowly translating what they are say into English in my head.

I think it depends on how fluent you are. I'm in the same boat as you and can only think in English. But when you see French people speaking in English fluently, it is clear they could not be translating in their heads, as they are just speaking too quickly.

[garçoncanadien]

brad, define for me which is your native language if you are bilingual like me and i mean really bilingual, meaning you know the language 95% as well as the natives