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IAmTriscuit t1_j4keh32 wrote

You've hit the nail on the head here. This is more or less the exact criteria and understanding we have of "fluency" in sociolinguistics and it is disappointing that so many others in this thread are trying so hard to come up with some neat little box they can package "language" and "fluency" together in. It reeks of 60's understandings of language and psychology (thanks Chomsky).

I'm especially happy that you brought up the idea that even native speakers are still growing in their own language. People don't realize that despite being fluent, they still have huge gaping holes in their knowledge of "their own" language. Show any common person a "lawyer-ese" document and their eyes will glaze over.

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cbessette t1_j4ksdby wrote

>People don't realize that despite being fluent, they still have huge gaping holes in their knowledge of "their own" language.

Yeah, my native language is English, but I've used Spanish extensively for my work in a technical field for 20+ years and I know all kinds of technical words and concepts in Spanish that the average native Spanish speaker doesn't know.

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