Can you ever get a "birth language"-feeling for a second language?

[Peter_20]

Alright, let me clarify:
I've been studying English for almost 15 years, and I can handle this language fairly well alright; but I still need to put more effort into my reading English compared to Swedish.
Whenever I see a Swedish text, I go: "wow, I can understand every single word just from looking at them; I see the sounds!"; when I read English I do understand most things, and particularly so if it's general conversations; but I still need to focus a tad bit more on each word; if I don't understand one word, chances are I will get lost.
To put it short, English is harder to read and keep up with, as it requires more effort on my side.

So, do you think you can eventually earn a very comfortable feeling for a foreign language, or is this feeling unique to what you learn from your very first years in life? :p

[Breine]

If you move to another country, learn the language and therefore do not speak your first language for a long time you will naturally feel more comfortable with the second language.

Take my aunt and uncle for example. They are both Danish, born and raised there, but they eventually moved to Sweden and lived there for many years before they moved to Germany, where they have now lived for a long time. They do both still speak Danish, but they unwillingly mix a lot of Swedish and German words and phrases into it.

[daggertrepe]

I don't know. All I know is that you can give me any word in an everyday conversation, and I would know it, and probably more.

[jrgen]

You've been studying English for 15 years? That's some crazy :skull::skull::skull::skull:.

I think I speak English in a fairly decent manner, but I could never reach the fluency I have when speaking Swedish. Perhaps if I moved to an English speaking country for a few years, but I'm not doing that.

[Araciel]

You've been studying English for 15 years? That's some crazy :skull::skull::skull::skull:.

I think I speak English in a fairly decent manner, but I could never reach the fluency I have when speaking Swedish. Perhaps if I moved to an English speaking country for a few years, but I'm not doing that.

Your written English is better than that of a lot of people who were born into the language. Also, couldn't you just speak English exclusively to people in a major Swedish city for practice?

[ReloadPsi]

I reckon I would only get that feeling from living in a French/German speaking country (seeing as they're the languages I know). It's gotten to a point where I can understand a sentence in their language which translates back to English so badly that I actually see, interpret and understand it as though it's my birth language, but beyond that I'd say I've got a long way to go.

[Tallulah]

I have some distant relatives who live in France, and their daughters speak English at home, and French at school, obviously. :P When they come to England for a holiday, they start a sentence in English and finish it in French (The younger one, Daisy, does this especially) Whenever I hear stories like that (from my nan, mainly) I get dead jealous.

I used to be able to read and understand French very well after studying it for six years. Then I stopped and it's all gone now. :(

I can still read instructions (e.g. manuals for games, electronics) in French, though, but only if I sneak a look at the English version. :D

[Mirage]

Yes, it's fully possible :p.
For me, I'm pretty much there when it comes to written English, but my pronunciation still needs a bit of polishing. I imagine it would catch up with my skills in written English pretty fast if I were to speak it on a daily basis.

[Resha]

My English is better than any of my first languages; I can't even read and write in the latter. So I'd say -- yes? I pretty much even consider English my first language now.

[qwertysaur]

Yes. Spend a year in a country with a different language. When you begin to dream in that language, it has become a second birth language. I have seen it happen before. My friend once got so confortable in the second language, she was begining to forget her first.

[Mirage]

Yes, I often find that I know the English word for something, but not the Norwegian.