From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsecond languageˌsecond ˈlanguage noun [countable usually singular] SLLa language that you speak in addition to the language you learned as a child → mother tongue
Examples from the Corpus
second language• However, it is very likely that articulating a second language interferes with the processing of the first during simultaneous interpreting.• The hypothesis is that adults have available both ways of developing competence in a second language.• The closer one is to a second language group, either socially or psychologically, the greater the probability of adequate learning.• Virtually all the settings in which sign language is learned can also be found in second language learning.• The input hypothesis is fairly revolutionary in second language terms generally.• Interference from the native language is probably one of the most noticeable aspects of the early stages in second language learning.• The relayed message is the source language, while the second language is the target language.• On this basis we may stress the need to revise language teaching methods to come more in line with second language acquisition. 