The cake is a lie!
baduhai
When I was 10, I moved to another country and started studying in an international school. I essentially only spoke Portuguese (my mother tongue) with my parents and my brother, which meant I was fully immersed in English for a huge chunk of my formative years.
English isn't technically my mother tongue, but it might as well be. I write better in English than I do in Portuguese, because that's the language I wrote in in school. My Portuguese is flawless, and nobody would ever say that is isn't my mother tongue, but in some situations my English is just better. I consider myself to have two mother tongues, even though I'm technically an ESL speaker.
I have also not been able to replicate my level of English in other languages. I'm fluent in German, and I have no difficulty with any aspect of the language, be it reading, speaking, writing or listening, but it's really clear that it is not my mother tongue.
"Young Chinese women have small fingers," the article reads, "and that has made them a valuable contributor to iPhone production because they are more nimble at installing screws and other miniature parts in the small device, supply chain experts said."
Fucking what? Who are these supply chain experts? Did you pull them out of your ass?
This reads like AI. I've lost any speck of respect I still had for NYT.
I think you misinterpreted my comment. OP wrote "Eff" instead of fuck, but in the very next sentence said the word "shit". I don't understand why they would censor themselves on one situation, but not the other.
Yes, English is a first language for me.