Mother tongue; native language

Japanese: 母語 - ぼご（英語表記）mother tongue; native language

The first language that a person learns naturally during infancy by listening to the people around them speak. In cases such as when Japanese is a native speaker, the mother tongue and the native language are the same, but in many cases, such as when a native speaker of Japanese does not have Japanese nationality, or when a native speaker of Yiddish or Basque does not have a politically or geographically independent state, the mother tongue and the native language do not match. In particular, in multi-ethnic and multi-lingual countries, many people acquire a second or third language in addition to their mother tongue, becoming bi- or multi-lingual. In addition, there are cases where the mother tongue (Japanese) acquired in infancy is lost and another language (Chinese) becomes the first language, such as orphans left in China during the war.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

ある人が幼児期に周囲の人が話すのを聞いて自然に習い覚えた最初の言語。日本人が日本語を母語とする場合などは母語と母国語が一致するが，日本語を母語としながら日本国籍を持たない場合や，政治的・地理的独立国家を持たないイディッシュ語やバスク語を母語とする人々の場合のように母語が母国語と一致しないことも少なくない。特に，多民族・多言語国家では母語のほかに第2，第3の言語を習得し，二 (多) 言語使用者となる人が多い。また，戦争中に中国に残された孤児のように，幼児期に獲得した母語 (日本語) を喪失し，別の言語 (中国語) が第一言語となることもある。

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