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Petrichordates t1_je788sj wrote

Reply to comment by wakatenai in English is such an unreasonable language that spelling is a national sport by eldrolamam

Do you have a source for these claims? Because I'm finding the exact opposite (in other words, the result you'd expect)

> In contrast, non-native speakers living in English-speaking countries for many years learn 2.5 words a day, over twice the rate of native speakers. Even with that breakneck speed, researchers found that adults know on average 10,000-20,000 words less than their native counterparts, or a native English speakers’ 8- to 14-year-old vocabulary level. 

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Samurai_Banette t1_je7q3hz wrote

I think the idea is native speakers have practical mastery of the language, with a huge bias towards words that have common use. If its a second language, outside of the words you absolutely need to get by the words you pick up might be more obscure or academic.

For example: Estalogical vs Vestigial. Native speakers will all know vestigial due to biology class, while a second language learner would have no bias on which to learn because neither are particularly relevent. They might pick up Estalogical instead, sound really smart, and no one would realize they never learned vestigial because its not used enough.

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iamavila t1_je8whje wrote

Dude I can't find estalogical anywhere, google suggests eschatological, is that what you meant?

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