Are Native speakers really that good at their language?

[g2narat]

Oh I think this doesn't have to turn into a debate on what is the proper English. I think any native speakers are less conscious of their own grammar and spelling simply because they've had more practice and don't think about it. It's not confined to the native English speakers. I think it applies to everyone because we get complacent with routine. Also, the opposite applies, so when someone has just learned a new language, he/she is more conscious of possible mistakes so they try harder. This is just my take on this topic.

[JohnSword]

I took a quick look at Wikipedia, and it says that a native language is "the language(s) a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity."

As such, it's quite normal for a person to not be that good at his native language if he hasn't used it for a period of time. For example, if a person's native language is Chinese, but he works in an English-speaking environment.

[Peninha]

The obvious answer is no, not all native speakers are good at their languages because many speak poorly. Main thing for them is that they can communicate, on the other hand is quite frequent that even prominent figures of our society give some kicks in the grammar from time to time...

[Hedonologist]

The thing is that native speakers are not forced to pay attention to grammar etc. Most likely everything they know is picked up, including bad habits. When you learn another language though you study it closely and specifically do grammar drills. So even if your vocabulary will never be as large as your mother tongue, your grammar may actually be better.

[shamzblueworld]

I dont think that every native person is going to speak their language in excellency, because one does require to learn grammer and history so the most important part would be education, if a person is well educated, he will speak the language better than the person who is speaking the language for more years but is not properly educated about it.