nonnative speaker

[ non-ney-tiv spee-ker ]

noun

1. a person whose knowledge and use of a language is characterized by the fact that it is not their first or native language: For nonnative speakers, this sound is especially hard to pronounce. Compare native speaker ( def ).

   She was the first nonnative speaker of Japanese to win this award.

   For nonnative speakers, this sound is especially hard to pronounce.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nonnative speaker¹

First recorded in 1915–20; native speaker ( def )

Example Sentences

You've probably witnessed people switch to a slower, louder, simpler speech style when talking to an elderly person or a nonnative speaker.

From Salon

“A nonnative speaker would have trouble kind of fitting in naturally.”

From Washington Post

Given the choice, she said, babies prefer a food they’ve seen a native speaker eat over a food eaten by a nonnative speaker.

From Washington Post

But the translation, which has been conducted in part by a nonnative speaker, has not gone smoothly.

From New York Times

In my relationship with English, in this relationship with the intrinsic distance between a nonnative speaker and an adopted language that makes people look askance, I feel invisible but not estranged.

From The New Yorker