How long have you known your second language?<p>I&#x27;m Swedish and mostly learned how to speak and understand English during approximately age 6-10, after which I&#x27;d say I had learned the basics of the language and then expanded my knowledge of the language like any native would do. As far as I can tell, my understanding of syntax, grammar and semantics in both languages is a bit above average compared to natives of both languages (including other bilingual swedes, so maybe I&#x27;m not very representative?). My speech is typically correct when I speak casually, in both languages. Mostly I just have a strong Swedish accent while speaking it for the simple reason that I very rarely talk English IRL. (native = speaking it as their mother tongue)<p>The main problem is the cultural associations in many English phrases which I don&#x27;t have a deep understanding of, which means they can be misapplied or require asking for explanations, but that&#x27;s really only a problem of lack of knowledge of the definitions, even within the same language every subculture has its own terminology (and I&#x27;d say while I know more English words than many Americans, I know fewer <i>phrases</i> than most of them). It is easier to realize you came across completely new words and figure out their meanings than to pick up on that a particular series of words is a phrase carrying a nuance you don&#x27;t know when you aren&#x27;t frequently exposed to them in varying contexts.<p>(SwiftKey&#x27;s autocorrect is typically responsible for more errors than I am...)