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DAE know more terms in one language than the other?

Native speaker of English & Spanish. Born in the US, technically, but we moved because of some job my dad had, I think.

He decided to stay in South America, and when I learned about certain things via friends, school, and the Internet, they happened to be in Spanish.

My parents, who I spoke English and Spanish with, didn’t really teach me certain adult stuff, so I learned through literature and school assignments (but also TV).

(So sexual topics and topics related to drugs I learned in Spanish)

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  • yes, like how i forgot the word “fill/fill up” but knew the portuguese “encher” (which was the first word that came to mind)

  • I'd say I have a much bigger vocabulary in English than Norwegian. It is ultimately only natural to end up with a bigger vocabulary in one language than another, though: we are after all not equally proficient with both hands, so why should those of us raised with two languages be equally proficient in both?

    Still, when I actually live in Norway, I feel like I really should have a bigger vocabulary in Norwegian.

7 comments