Native english question

[Homerduff]

If someone non-native english would get a bachelor university degree in english, would that make him/her equal to a native-english speaker ? In other words, if you can show to Japanese schools you have this degree would they still mind that you are not native-english ?

 

[orochi]

Where are you thinking of applying to? Most schools will have specific language requirements, such as a minimum TOEFL score.

 

[Mars Man]

I would also agree that it depends on the institution. Of the requirements that schools have laid out which have come before my eyes, being a 'native speaker' has not been mentioned--although being fluent has.

Now, however, there may be some bias in hiring that one would of course not expect to see in writing--if it were written there, it wouldn't look so good. however, I think there would fewer problems about that than more.

 

[Glenski]

Having a degree from Harvard or Yale would not make a non-native English speaker "equal to" a native English speaker. I don't see how you could imagine otherwise.

The non-NES would have to possess a great deal of their education in English, have practiced it extensively, and have lived in a NES country to learn a lot of the nuances/slang/idioms/etc., and even then, unless he has actually grown up there, he would not be "equal to" a NES. (In fact, to teach English in Japan, a non-NES must have 12-13 years of his education, all of his education, not just English classes, taught in English.)

Some non-NES's get a better English education than a lot of NES's, but that still doesn't mean they are "equal to" the NES.