I know they speak English fluently, but the question is whether they are considered as native.
Are Maltese considered as native English speakers?
If one speaks a language natively, or has acquired the language as their native language, they are considered native speakers.
I believe there are Maltese who are native English speakers and those who aren't.
I believe there are Maltese who are native English speakers and those who aren't.
Absolutely. I've met Americans who are native speakers of Spanish, not English.
I know what you mean. How about Indians? Some of them claim to be native, however are not recognised because of their heavy accent.
>>I know what you mean. How about Indians? Some of them claim to be native, however are not recognised because of their heavy accent.<<
But just because some other native English-speaker may perceive another English-speaker as having a heavy accent does not mean that the latter individual is necessarily not a native English-speaker. Consider many northern English dialects, which are not necessarily crossintelligible to speakers of many other English dialects (particularly those descended from southern English dialects), and even if they are crossintelligible they are very commonly perceived as very heavily accented.
On a more personal level and in North American English, I have had other native English-speakers simply not understand my speech samples or state that they sounded quite heavily accented. In Real Life, I have had less problems with intelligibility, even though I have been told on a number of occasions that I sounded like I had a foreign accent. Still, there's been a couple of cases where I have talked to non-native English-speakers who clearly understood English in general but who had a very hard time understanding me. And yet, I am no less a native English-speaker, languages other than English having died out both in my family before my parents' generation and in the particular area where I grew up.
But just because some other native English-speaker may perceive another English-speaker as having a heavy accent does not mean that the latter individual is necessarily not a native English-speaker. Consider many northern English dialects, which are not necessarily crossintelligible to speakers of many other English dialects (particularly those descended from southern English dialects), and even if they are crossintelligible they are very commonly perceived as very heavily accented.
On a more personal level and in North American English, I have had other native English-speakers simply not understand my speech samples or state that they sounded quite heavily accented. In Real Life, I have had less problems with intelligibility, even though I have been told on a number of occasions that I sounded like I had a foreign accent. Still, there's been a couple of cases where I have talked to non-native English-speakers who clearly understood English in general but who had a very hard time understanding me. And yet, I am no less a native English-speaker, languages other than English having died out both in my family before my parents' generation and in the particular area where I grew up.
<< I know what you mean. How about Indians? Some of them claim to be native, however are not recognised because of their heavy accent. >>
In that case I would say they are native speakers of Indian English. Such a speaker is indeed a native speaker of English, but they're not what people outside India typically think of when they think of native speakers.
- Kef
In that case I would say they are native speakers of Indian English. Such a speaker is indeed a native speaker of English, but they're not what people outside India typically think of when they think of native speakers.
- Kef