SECOND LANGUAGE Definition & Meaning

second language

noun

a language learned by a person after their native language, especially as a resident of an area where their new language is in general use.
a language widely used, especially in educational and governmental functions in a region where all or most of its speakers are nonnative, as English in India or Nigeria.

second language

noun

a language other than the mother tongue that a person or community uses for public communication, esp in trade, higher education, and administration
a non-native language officially recognized and adopted in a multilingual country as a means of public communication

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of second language¹

First recorded in 1875–80

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

My dad was a nuclear engineer and my mom worked as a translator and interpreter, and English is her second language.

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He said "a long list of injuries" had hampered a coach who arrived mid-season into a tough league and with English as his second language.

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Although some of the money supports classes and workshops on naturalization, citizenship and English as a second language, most of it goes toward one-on-one sessions with immigration experts such as Hernández.

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He entered Eliot in sixth grade and was placed in an English as a Second Language class, where there were many students from Mexico and Central American countries.

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A lot of the crowd was not paying attention — for some English was their second language, some were drunk or just noisy — and you had to cut through all that.

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