foreign tongue
Unfamiliar native language
A foreign tongue is a language other than one's native language: She spoke to him in a foreign tongue he couldn't understand.
The phrase sounds somewhat literary or old-fashioned compared to simply saying "foreign language." Tongue here preserves an older sense of language itself, as in "mother tongue."
- second languageTongue learned after childhood
- lingoGroup-specific vocabulary
- translationConverting between languages
- fluencySmooth linguistic command
- broken EnglishImperfect foreign language use
grammatical · dialect · lexicon · bilingualism · speech · semantics · homesickness · identity crisis · anxiety · cultural assimilation · frustration · accent · immersion · study abroad · language exchange · phonetics · comprehension · syntax
foreign tonguemother tongue
Language acquired from birth
native language · first language · native tongue · home language · native speech
foreign tonguenative language
First-acquired mode of speech
national language · indigenous language · regional dialect · local dialect · lingua franca