How do you define a native speaker?

[Molly]

[Yankee]

[Molly]

You seem light enough.

[Yankee]

Thank goodness. :lol:
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Myriea]

My apologies for bumping this old thread. I was wondering in regards to being a "native speaker" of English... say for example in my situation, where I was born in a country speaking another language up until 6 or 7 years old. Having only had limited education in my mother tongue, while majority of my education was in completed in the English speaking country, would this make me still "inferior" to the "native speakers" (when generalizing)?

I'm a university student who is currently thinking of going into education, namely TESOL, but am worried that because I am not a "native speaker" of the language, I may be disadvantage? As I have seen a lot of job posts looking for "native English speakers"... I hope someone here/know of someone with possibly similar background is able to answer my questions?

Thanks,
Myr.

[Alan]

Hi Myr,

I don't like the idea of "inferior" to the "native speakers". There are of course different standards of someone's knowledge of a language. A 'native speaker' means what it says but that shouldn't stop anyone teaching a language if they have a sufficiently good command of the language. It seems to me that if you are interested in teaching English, all you can do is state the facts of your background, apply for a job and take an interview. That way you will find out whether you are suitable. Having said that, I have to admit that there are one or two anomalies in what you have written in your message.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Myriea]

Thanks Alan, I'm currently in my 3rd year of university doing a combined business and liberal arts degree, having taken no English grammar nor linguistic units, I know I have a lot of work to do when it comes down to written English (hence why I'm here, and if possible I am planning on doing a post graduate diploma in English and or education after I graduate from what I'm doing now). However as far as speaking goes, I sound indifferent to any 'native English' speaker you can find living here in Sydney.

What I mean by 'inferior' to 'native speakers' is merely an observation I've found in the past. I lived in Japan for the past year as an exchange student, during the duration, I've known a small handful of friends who were rejected or had reluctant parents who did not want their child(ren) to be taught by them simply because of their east Asian appearance (despite the fact that they may have been born and brought up in an English speaking country).

I suppose in Asian countries, as long as you look Caucasian, it's default that they think you speak perfect English. But if you're Asian, and you say that you can speak English, they'd probably just assume you have a heavy accent and wouldn't want you to teach them/their child(ren) or just simply prefer someone 'white'.

Also another thing is that coming from Australia, we speak a different 'dialect' of English than England or the US, does this make it less employable? I'm not sure if there are any Aussies on the forum, but would be nice to hear from some.

I don't know, but these are just some of my observations, and the reason why I said about the inferiority.

[Libra71]

You're right Myriea. Anywhere in Asia, if you are white, you can teach English even you are not from English speaking countries and even your pronouncation and grammar are not correct.
And if you are not white, they don't accept you, or if you can, they pay you like peanuts. So doesn't matter you have good degree or diploma, the only "skin matter" count in Asia....