Language Fluency This entry's about one's fluency of a language. Been on my mind for quite some time now, so I decided to put my fingers to use and type it here. Being able to speak another language is great. Being fluent in speaking it, however, is a different story, I believe. I'm a pure Filipina (I'm a woman, obviously) and I am fortunate enough to know English that I consider this as my second language. I can say that I know English well and that I know how to converse using it but I'm not going to say that I'm fluent with it. In my opinion, no one can be really fluent in a language - even if it's their mother tongue - for two reasons (the only ones I can think of for the time being): 1) The world is ever changing and in it, language changes everyday too. Language is not constant. Who are we to say that the language we know now in the present would still be the same fifty to a hundred years or so? Just like the world, language is being modernised. It's true that more and more words are added in the dictionary nowadays. However, it doesn't mean that it would still be the same as it is in the future. 2) Even though I am a Filipino whose first language is Filipino/Tagalog, I still wouldn't say that I am fluent in my own language. I can only say that I have extensive knowledge about it as I use it in my daily life. However, there are a lot of Filipino/Tagalog words that I still don't know of. These words are in Filipino/Tagalog, yes, but they were used several years back that a certain word wasn't used for a long period of time; rarely coming up, maybe once in a conversation so when someone uses it in the present times, I would still have to ask what's the meaning of that word. We Filipinos sometimes joke about it saying, "Ang lalim naman masyado ng Tagalog mo," (Your Tagalog is too deep). Although it is intended as a joke, that saying still holds the truth. Other words have deeper meanings that go back beyond our years. These words are rarely used thus a few know about them. Sometimes, there are words that only an elderly person knows about. An example's the word "dantay". I, for one, don't know about this word until I've heard someone from the TV use it. The word (adj.) is used for people who love to cuddle (not sure if it's only during bedtimes), in other words, clingy. These are only my beliefs. I've no knowledge of people who have totally mastered their language and have studied them since its origin nor am I sure if the latter only applies here in my country.