john555 wrote:

*someone on this forum once referred to "native speakers of English".  This irritated me but I said nothing.  No real native English speaker would use the term "native speaker of English".  We prefer to use the term "native English speaker".  There.  That's my rant for the day ).

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin … ve-speaker

john555 wrote:

No real native English speaker would use the term "native speaker of English".

No real native speaker of English would say this.

john555 wrote:

Here's  a simple test of whether you're fluent in the language you're learning:

Sit in on a university lecture (a not too technical subject) and see if you can simultaneously follow along with and understand what the professor yapping about and at the same time write down notes summarizing the main points he is making, as he makes them.

Why does everyone always insist on these arbitrary, highly specific definitions of "fluent" that focus on doing things that most people aren't interested in doing?

*someone on this forum once referred to "native speakers of English".  This irritated me but I said nothing.  No real native English speaker would use the term "native speaker of English".  We prefer to use the term "native English speaker".  There.  That's my rant for the day ).

Man, I thought being born and growing up in the US in an English speaking family meant I was a native speaker of English, but apparently not.