Ha, no worries, it's not like it's something I mention all that often. ;)
The answer to your question about the language thing is a little tricky though. I'm, um, not quite a native or non-native speaker. I've been fluent since I was 5 years old, though, so I don't really remember not being able to speak Welsh.
In Wales our state education system is in English and then there are also some schools that are in Welsh, and theoretically (because sometimes the Welsh schools fill up real fast), you get to choose whether you send your kid to school in Welsh or English. The schools are set up immersion style so that children who don't speak Welsh (which in Cardiff, where I'm from, is the majority - I think it was about 70% in my school, but this will vary by area), learn because otherwise, um, we don't understand anything that's going on! Apparently it took me about three months to pick it up, but again I have no memory of this.
So basically my first language and the language I speak at home with my parents and my husband (who is English), is English. I'm more comfortable in it, I have a wider vocabulary in it too. But I spent every weekday from the ages of 5 - 18 in a totally Welsh language environment (except when we were rebels and spoke English in the corridors when the teachers weren't listening omgs!) so like, I'm also totally fluent.
I don't get a chance to speak it as much as I'd like in the near decade since I've left school - it's undoubtedly rustier than I'd wish, though I'm always surprised how fast it comes back. Basically I understand everything perfectly, but when I start speaking it, there's about an hour period when I feel like a bit of an idiot as English nouns rather than Welsh ones flash into my brain and I keep wanting to throw them into sentences! But the grammatical structures, etc., I have an instinctive a grasp on as English ones. It's just those pesky words that tend to fade in and out.
I'm actually pretty bad at languages as an adult, so I guess it'd be interesting to compare with your experience - you say you weren't raised with so many languages around but obviously you're fluent in English now. Do you feel your grasp of English grammar, etc., is as instinctive as your German? [/tangent!]
So, um, I spose the best answer is that I was raised bilingually just not by my parents? At least from the age of 5?
no subject
The answer to your question about the language thing is a little tricky though. I'm, um, not quite a native or non-native speaker. I've been fluent since I was 5 years old, though, so I don't really remember not being able to speak Welsh.
In Wales our state education system is in English and then there are also some schools that are in Welsh, and theoretically (because sometimes the Welsh schools fill up real fast), you get to choose whether you send your kid to school in Welsh or English. The schools are set up immersion style so that children who don't speak Welsh (which in Cardiff, where I'm from, is the majority - I think it was about 70% in my school, but this will vary by area), learn because otherwise, um, we don't understand anything that's going on! Apparently it took me about three months to pick it up, but again I have no memory of this.
So basically my first language and the language I speak at home with my parents and my husband (who is English), is English. I'm more comfortable in it, I have a wider vocabulary in it too. But I spent every weekday from the ages of 5 - 18 in a totally Welsh language environment (except when we were rebels and spoke English in the corridors when the teachers weren't listening omgs!) so like, I'm also totally fluent.
I don't get a chance to speak it as much as I'd like in the near decade since I've left school - it's undoubtedly rustier than I'd wish, though I'm always surprised how fast it comes back. Basically I understand everything perfectly, but when I start speaking it, there's about an hour period when I feel like a bit of an idiot as English nouns rather than Welsh ones flash into my brain and I keep wanting to throw them into sentences! But the grammatical structures, etc., I have an instinctive a grasp on as English ones. It's just those pesky words that tend to fade in and out.
I'm actually pretty bad at languages as an adult, so I guess it'd be interesting to compare with your experience - you say you weren't raised with so many languages around but obviously you're fluent in English now. Do you feel your grasp of English grammar, etc., is as instinctive as your German? [/tangent!]
So, um, I spose the best answer is that I was raised bilingually just not by my parents? At least from the age of 5?