Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

near-native

Spanish translation:

con competencia nativa

Added to glossary by Premium✍️
Jan 26, 2006 22:09
18 yrs ago
7 viewers *
English term

near-native

English to Spanish Other Linguistics
Hola,
Estoy actualizando mi CV, e indicando mis idiomas nativos y los **near-native** en la sección de 'Competencia Lingüística' o "Dominio de Lenguas". ¿Qué idea se les ocurre?
Por supuesto, no quiero ningún "casi nativo".
GDA - Gracias de antemano. :)

Discussion

Premium✍️ (asker) Jan 26, 2006:
I personally know excellent near-native French/German/Spanish/English speakers. I can guarantee you that sometimes they are better than their native counterparts. The only thing they are short of, is the birth place, a near-miss by a few hours in some instances. But, as you say, that's another topic... Kind regards and Thanks!
Robert Forstag Jan 26, 2006:
No doubt, Multi. "Near-native" sounds very impressive, in English. Still, because it is "near native", it is "not quite as good" as "native". As an aside, I think that "near native" is overused, but that's another topic for another time. Best regards.
Premium✍️ (asker) Jan 26, 2006:
Hi Robert, without wanting to open a can of worms on the "native" issue, I think and always learned it was a plus, not a shortcoming. Cuando cursaba mi maestr�a, los profs de la universidad sol�an decir "as good as" a native... Anyhow, I was also thinking to rephrase it along the lines of "Excelente Dominio".
What word would then describe a near-native person, if any?

Proposed translations

+12
5 mins
English term (edited): near-native skills in...
Selected

un excelente dominio de...

I think that this phrasing gives the idea that one has an excellent command of the languages in question, but that the skill level still falls short of "native".

See references.

Suerte.
Peer comment(s):

agree Soledad Caño
3 mins
Gracias, Soledad. :)
agree Elbia Vega
5 mins
Gracias, Elbia.
agree SandraV : buena opción
5 mins
Gracias, Sandra.
agree Rosa Maria Duenas Rios (X)
13 mins
Muchas gracias, Rosa Maria. :)
agree María Luisa Feely
23 mins
Thank you, TT.
agree Jo-Hanna Goettsche
34 mins
Gracias, Jo-Hanna.
agree Refugio : Agree that it is better to accentuate the positive (excellent) rather than the negative (almost0, which could be highly subjective and ambiguous.
45 mins
Thank you, Ruth. :)
agree Mónica Algazi
4 hrs
Thank you, Monica.
agree EirTranslations
17 hrs
Thank you, BCandil.
agree Marcelo González
18 hrs
Thank you, Marcelo.
agree connyfernandez
2 days 2 hrs
Thank you Conny. :)
agree Marcela Orcali : I agree with the colleagues that chose this option because there is a need for adaptation in this case, and choosing to emphasize the positive through the use of a highly natural phrase in Spanish is the right way to go.
3 days 4 hrs
Thank you, Marcela. :)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Es lo que corresponde a mi caso. Pero el concepto de "near native" es definitivamente positivo, a mi juicio, aunque parezca presuponer algo deficiente. Al contrario, los intérpretes de la ONU, de la OEA y de las otras organizaciones donde trabajé o a quienes conozco personalmente son la prueba tangible de que sí existen personas perfectamente bilingües, trilingües y aún quadrilingues! Son aquellos individuos que poseen una competencia nativa en un idioma extranjero, al hablarlo, al escribirlo y al entenderlo. Gracias a todos."
+1
5 mins

casi nativo

Peer comment(s):

agree verbis
38 mins
gracias verbis!
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1 hr

muy buen conocimiento de

no es excelente (nativo) sino casi ecxcelente, o muy bueno.
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15 hrs

como nativo

Understanding near-native as "as fluent/natural as a native speaker", with the only difference that they actually are not, cause they weren't born in the place etc, etc...

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