Can Mr Koh be called a native speaker?

Question

Mr Koh, a Chinese, was born in the UK and studied there.Can I call him a native speaker? And why?Thanks.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

A native speaker of Chinese or English?

Anonymous · Answer

tamguatlaya Chinese,

This looks incomplete. It would be better to write a Chinese person.

CalifJim · Answer

It's always "native speaker of {language}".

Everybody is a native speaker of some language unless they are unable to speak at all.

As for where Mr Koh was born, that is irrelevant. If he learned his first language from his Chinese parents and relatives, and that language is Chinese, and he learned English later and now speaks it poorly with a strong Chinese accent, then he is a native speaker of Chinese. If he learned English very early in life and used it regularly so that his accent is clearly an English accent and he speaks English fluently, then he is a native speaker of English.

He might even be bilingual — equally proficient in both Chinese and English, but that is unusual. Most people who are bilingual are more comfortable in one of their two languages than in the other.

CJ

Can Mr Koh be called a native speaker?

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