Will you ever forget your native language if you immigrate as an adult?

My English is worse than it used to be. I've been speaking Portuguese and Spanish for the last 15-20 years.

I still consider English to be my best language, but it isn't as good as it used to be. Oftentimes the other languages cone to me first and I can't remember the phrase or word in English. Maybe that's just getting older, no idea.
 
Yeah, my wife came here from Romania 7 years ago and has forgotten quite a few words and can struggle to keep up with Romanian conversations.
 
ShinkanPo said:
Lets say if you move to a different country with a different language when you are 21, would you be unable to speak your native language after like 10 years.


I just got a call from a relative a few years ago and she is asking for help as she is stuck at CLT,NC the funny thing is she won't speak our language but she can understand everything I say but she just prefers to speak English strait when I asked her how come she said it was difficult because she already forgot about it!


Is that even possible? that in 10 years you are unable to articulate your mother language but can understand people speaking the said language kinda bizzare.
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ICE were snooping around. If she stops speaking Murrican, they'll shoot her.

'Cause 'Merica.
 
Speaking skills will diminish over time if you're not immersed in the language environment. I still maintain my fluency by speaking to my Japanese friends all the time.
 
bufetadanacara said:
My English is worse than it used to be. I've been speaking Portuguese and Spanish for the last 15-20 years.

I still consider English to be my best language, but it isn't as good as it used to be. Oftentimes the other languages cone to me first and I can't remember the phrase or word in English. Maybe that's just getting older, no idea.
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I think if ones mother tongue is English that will be a language that is hard to forget since English is widely used compared to lets say a south east asian langauge
 
Is such a thing even possible? I understand kids losing it, but adults? She flossin on you, bro!
 
I forgot Korean when I lived in the States as a teenager. I could understand it a bit when spoken, but I couldn't say much. I think understanding something is easier than being able to speak it. Like I can get the gist of Spanish conversation even if if I can't say anything.
 
IIIIIIII said:
i think it depends on who you interact with when you move to the different country. my parents both moved to the u.s. at around that age, and their first language is still their predominant language. they can speak english, but there's a relatively thick accent when they speak it.
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Yeah I have people in my family who move to the US in their mid 20s and they speak Filipino inside their home and their kids who grew up in the USA since they were toddlers can understand and speak Filipino provided there are a ton of Flips ib their area.


But my other relative arrived in America when she was 21 but in a just a matter of 10 years lost the ability to speak the language.

Ah maybe stress and anxiety will do that to a person.
 
It's impossible for a Filipino to lose their language skills when they are either calling home, skyping, or chatting on FB with friends and family 24/7. ;)

I immersed in Spanish for about a year in my 20's, but English fluency returned quickly once I got back to the real world.
 
Vojislav said:
I haven't spoke or read German in the last 5 years and I still understand the language and it's not my native language. I don't believe you can forget your native language.
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How long you study german and spoke it?
 
ShinkanPo said:
But my other relative arrived in America when she was 21 but in a just a matter of 10 years lost the ability to speak the language.
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I don't believe that shit. Especially because of how widely Filipino is spoken in the US. It's like the most spoken foreign language in the U.S. after Spanish.

Your relative just doesn't want to talk to you, creep.
 
I am having trouble remembering some words. I understand everything if people speak clearly without slang or some bumble-fuck dialect. If I'm with a fast talker going a million miles per hour it can be hard to follow. TBF I was 6 when we left my birth country.

My Italian absolutely sucks and I only understand French when spoken properly (where at one time I understood everything).
 
SSgt Dickweed said:
I don't believe that shit. Especially because of how widely Filipino is spoken in the US. It's like the most spoken foreign language in the U.S. after Spanish.

Your relative just doesn't want to talk to you, creep.
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This. My wife’s parents came to the US from the Philippines 27 years ago and still speak the language. Her dad really doesn’t have an accent but her mom does. My wife came when she was 14 and still speaks the language as well, she’s 35 now.
 
One of my grandfathers didn’t learn English until he went to elementary school but he could only speak English later in life.

I would suspect that if exposed to the languages he’d learned fret that they would have flooded back though.
 
SSgt Dickweed said:
I don't believe that shit. Especially because of how widely Filipino is spoken in the US. It's like the most spoken foreign language in the U.S. after Spanish.

Your relative just doesn't want to talk to you, creep.
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Yeah she is probably shy to heard speaking some foreign language in NC. I really doubt she cant speak at all.


She speaks to me in English though asking for money.
 
It's like riding a bike.

It'll be awkward at first, then you should be back to normal pretty soon.
 
Seaside said:
No it depends on age you immigrate. Teenagers (late teenagers) and adults et onwoard are way less likely to even after decades. Language centers are hard to destroy and well protected.

People who do lose language are those who immigrated as kids or say under 10 years of age and especially under say 6 or 7 and then did not really speak there language for many years or decades. They often forget a lot or all of it or stay at a very low level or get worse and go down to like mid A2 or low B1. I find only those real young under 6 or so forgwt completely. People who move before age 5 or 6 can even forget it all basically almost.

They say and i read that a language or languages you speak as a teenager all time fuses to your mind. Or when you learn a language as a adult but speak it for over a decade then it fuses.


As adult or teenager you could for example study french at you university 1 year or 2 and live in france for 1 year get to a B2 intermediate level. Then say move back to USA and not speak French really at all for next 2 decades and you would lose your french and not be fluent. Happens many people. I find people who say they lost a language lost it because they only knew it as young kids or because they learn as adult or late teenager but it was not there primary language the speak daily then they move back to home country and continue to speak they home languave for a decade and never really speak the foreign language again. So of course they will forget and have to relearn. But they should be able relearn faster.
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Are you saying that if you use a language as your primary for a longer time period, you're more likely to remember it? Amazing.
 
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