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I quite disagree… all it takes is to be in an environment full of English. If you get stuck in Russia, for the rest of your life … after 20 years, I’d say you would be a pretty good Russian speaker.

My older sister was born in Indonesia and moved to Canada when she was four. Her native language was Indonesian, but now she speaks better English than I do – she’s more articulate than I am, and I was born here. :P I know many people born in other countries who speak just as well as I do, if not better.

Certainly, being younger helps you absorb the language better. But even if you’re learning when you’re older – as long you’re an observant person of language nuances, I think you can be an excellent speaker and writer of English. I think blaze_kanikan has a good point, you just need to be fully immersed in it. I think it depends on the person as well.

yes, its possible. think of the exceptional cases like people in international english council. the people there will be from all the countries, consider a person from INDIA where english is considered as a second language, his language will be far more fluent and perfect compared to a normal person in english countires,

but the same person may not be good than the other council members.

this is totally invalid.i’m from kolkatta,before six months i couldn’t even speak single sentence in english but as of now i’m getting that environment & atleast i can have a good conversation in english.so what u think respected.what i have written that is honest

Actually, I think one does not need to be a native English speaker to speak or write perfect English. Firstly, nobody can be always perfect in anything. Anybody can speak or read really good English, so long as they are determined, sincere and hard-working. Maybe the non-English speakers would need to put in a little more effort, that is all. Of course, the accent cannot possibly be imitated by everyone, I hope you are not considering that. Actually, many teachers are currently being recruited from India, to teach English in the UK!!!

I agree with some of those who responded.

I’ll give myself as a simple example. I’ll try avoiding being a show-off, but it’s been said I’m skillful as a writer. I’ve actually had some works published, and I was employed as a Creative Writer for a while. You can go through some of my lessons and see for yourself, I may not be excellent but I’m ok.

And I’m not a native English speaker. I’ve lived in non-English speaking places until I was a teenager.

I think people, even if they’re not native speakers, can master a language if they work at it hard enough and are immersed in it. Don’t let accents fool you, some people may have a heavy accent but they’ve got great control of the language. A lot of people who have a natural talent with languages will easily master English even if they’re from another country.

Also, communication is an art. Remember that English, like the colour red, is just one of many forms of transmitting a message. Some people can be great communicators without understanding the language, and that can be more important in the long run.

I disagree with your point because the person needs to be trained in all the way possible. The environment, situation and all other external factors as well as his internal zeal, interest towards the language all these things has to be in foavour with the person and if it is so, anyone can learn English as good as native speakers. The language is best learned at the childhood level, but if he/she is not then they should have that point of view, eagerness, interest towards language as a child.

I would say that depends on when the English learner started or how important it is/was to learn English. I have a few friends who start using English in an English speaking community when they were 3 or 4 years old. They went to school in the English speaking community and keep up their first language. These people are good in both languages.

I also have some friends who have been in English speaking communities from high school on and are very good in English, but not completely native speaker. These people are very good speakers, listener and readers, but have problems writing. Often you will find that English learner have problems with one of the four main components of English. There are lots of people that fall into this category.

I also have friends who have been in English speaking communities only in their professionally for years. They did not start using English in a native speaking environment until after college, but had some English throughout their learning years. Some of these friends are very proficient. These people are excellent most of the time, but due to cultural difference or non exposure to a situation, they do not perform as well as native speakers.

The answer to your question is very complicated and does involve how important, eager, and how well one hears sounds that is different then that of their native language.