Can people call English their native language if they've learnt it for about 15 years already?
Thank you very much for those answers. I know that, but i just wanted to know, whether you can call any language you second mother tongue or something like that, not official, but because you feel so? So it's hard to understand it, and i'm not pretending to call English my second mother tongue, but i really want to talk about it with someone else))))) How you'll understand me. And once again thank you for all your answers))))))) P.S. If someone wants to talk about English and how she/he likes it, you're mostly welcome))))

Question

Can people call English their native language if they've learnt it for about 15 years already?
Thank you very much for those answers. I know that, but i just wanted to know, whether you can call any language you second mother tongue or something like that, not official, but because you feel so? So it's hard to understand it, and i'm not pretending to call English my second mother tongue, but i really want to talk about it with someone else))))) How you'll understand me. And once again thank you for all your answers))))))) P.S. If someone wants to talk about English and how she/he likes it, you're mostly welcome))))

Answer

I think that it doesn't matter how long you have spoken a language, but rather how well you speak and understand it.

And I think that "your native language" is your primary language. Your first language.  You must have learned it from infancy.  If english is not your first language, it can never be "your native language".
Some people learn 2 or 3 languages at home with their parents from the time they are babies, and in those cases, they may have 2 or 3 native (primary) languages.

You can learn to speak english with "native ability". This requires a very high level of proficiency in the language, where it is difficult to distinguish your speech from that of native speaker.

Answer

No you can't. On any official document, your native language refers to your mother tongue.

Answers · 2

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