What is required to be a native speaker?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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If I completed my studies in a Boarding School in England, does it make me a native speaker when I return to Singapore, where I live?

Or do I have to obtain a university degree before I qualify as a native speaker?

Thanks.

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No, if your native language is not English, you are not a native English speaker.

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A native speaker, in my view, means a person who has been bred and educated naturally in a country where a particular language is spoken as their mother tongue.
Others are treated as foreign speakers of that language!

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I agree, but I would make it a little more complete: if you were born and bred in a country, then you’re a native speaker of the language. As I said, a little more complete. It’s not necessary for a native speaker to have been born in that country.

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Hi,

I would like to add something more. Elizabeth Taylor was born in Hampstead, London, England (February 27th, 1932) but she wasn’t really bred there, because when Britain got involved in the 2nd World War, her parents decided to move back to the United States. She was only three years old at the time.
The same goes for Olivia Newton-John who was born in Cambridge, England (September 26th, 1948). That’s why she was eligible to participate in the 1974 European Song Contest with ‘Long Live Love’, however, she lost out on it, because Abba won that year with ‘Waterloo’. So, two perfect examples of what I stated in my reply to Kohyoongliat.
By the way,Taylor was British-American, Newton-John British-Australian. They died on March 23rd, 2011 and August 8th, 2022 resp.@Anglophile

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