With exam results out in the UK this week the ongoing debate about whether ‘native speakers’ should sit exams (as it is said to jeopardize the statistics and influence grade boundaries) got me thinking about what actually a “native speaker” of a language is. So in this blog post I’m explore what it actually means to speak native Spanish in the UK?
What is a native speaker?
Is a native speaker someone;
- Who’s first language is Spanish?
2. Someone who’s main language in the home is Spanish?
Possibly. Potentially both I suppose.
I think to be a native speaker of Spanish (or any language) you must go beyond just mastering the grammar and vocabulary; it’s more about living and breathing the language. It’s about understanding cultural nuances, idioms, and the rhythm of daily conversations.
It’s not just about words—it’s about feeling at home in a language.
This was certainly the case for me during the 20 years I lived in South America.
The first language in my home while I lived in South America was Spanish. I ran my travel business in Spanish, met up with friends in Spanish, attending meetings in Spanish. I even dreamt AND won arguments in Spanish. I was interviewed on the radio and broadcasters were always surprised to hear just how localised and natural my accent was. I had the mannerisms and had embraced the Argentine culture. When my children were born, in Argentina their first language was Spanish (up until we moved back to the UK – that’s a whole different story though and another blog post).
Being a native speaker in a Spanish-speaking country is, well easy I suppose. But how does this compare to the UK?
What about a child who is born in a Spanish-speaking country but moved to the UK when they were young? They still have an idea of their mother tongue (lengua materna) but don’t speak it regularly. Should these children be considered native speakers?
For the statistics to be more accurate and the grade boundaries between languages in the UK fairer “non-native speakers” must be recongnised. But to do that first we must determine what qualifies a student as a “native speaker” and go from there.
The journey to becoming “native” in a language
A great game I play with my 11-14 year old (non-native speaking students) and those preparing for GCSE Spanish is “trampa” (cheat). Students read out sentences to do with different sports (this years Summer School is sports themed). If you get the “trampa” card you have to say a made up sentence otherwise you read the one on the card. The other students have to work out whether you’re reading what’s written on the card or making your own sentence up saying “trampa” if they think you’re ‘cheating’.
The interesting element of this game is why students call each other out with “trampa” how can they tell someone is making up a sentence or not.
And it relates to my question of what a native speaker is.
The more understanding of the language students have, the easier it is for them to call “trampa”. It could be due to unusually long pauses, stutters, trying too hard or simply because – as they are getting to understand the “rules” of the language – they can tell when something is out of sync.
This kind of activity helps students feel more at home in the language and that forms a base of “speaking like a native”.
Language-learning is much more than just being able to recite verbs and memorise vocab, it really is about embracing the culture behind the language.
If your language-learning goal is “learn to speak like a native” you might want to make it a bit more specific and break your goals down into more manageable chunks first. Try learning some Spanish idioms – you can see some common ones in this blog post.
Don’t forget to let me know how you get on !Suerte!
