native speaker
5
3.3
- noun
- /ˈneɪtɪv ˈspiːkər/
:
hablante nativo
- Often we do this with foreign languages, consulting with a native speaker, for example.
- native speakers of English
- native speakers of Spanish
- native speaker of a language
There would be a native speaker of that language there.
- There would be a native speaker of that language there.
- Even though you're still at home really, you're still a native speaker of one language.
- Well, what happened was somebody we had two native speakers spoke French.
- And that can be really helpful for the non-native speaker.
- And I and I, we had, you know, some native speaker from Toulouse there and she and I got to be friends and we, we chat a lot.
Examples
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Native speakers of English are outnumbered sixteen to one by native speakers of other languages.
Academic text (2001) -
Wherever possible, leaders should find a native speaker of the language to assist in the learning process.
Academic text (2006) -
There would be a native speaker of that language there.
-
And at times yesterday, it was not clear to me as a native speaker of English what on earth he meant.
-
OK, so, I mean, you can be a native speaker of English and not know this.
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The ability to carry on a basic conversation with a native speaker.
Academic text (2001) -
The teacher, Mrs. Uresti, is a native speaker of English who learned Spanish as a second language.
Academic text (2002) -
All of the children were reported to be monolingual, native speakers of Standard American English.
Academic text (2015) -
Why was it so unlikely, almost unimaginable, for any native speaker to make such an error?
Academic text (2002) -
A fluent native speaker of French taught me how to pronounce some difficult words.
How English-speaking
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally transparent: 'native' (originating by birth) combined with 'speaker' (a person who speaks) straightforwardly yields 'a person who speaks a language from earliest childhood'. This adj+noun compounding is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would reliably infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Native speaker comes from the words native, which means 'from birth', and speaker, which means someone who speaks, and it shows a child who learns and uses that language from the first years of life. So, the phrase means 'someone who learned the language as their first language'.