Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

It is indeed ambiguous. My first reading came up with the meaning "...
in addition to French.", but your first interpretation is equally valid.

In any case, the first four words are redundant. It's almost as if the
sentence were saying "He is bilingual. Not only that, he speaks two
languages."

It means that French is his native language, and he speaks English well.

Marius Hancu:

Yes.

That's how I first took it.  Particularly because in Canada "bilingual"
often refers implicitly to English and French rather than meaning just
any two languages.

But now that you mention it, that reading is also possible.  Of course,
in speech the inflection would distinguish the two.

When spoken, how is it possible to tell if there was a comma?
Some may point to a pause after the place where a comma
should have been placed. But then, how is it possible 'practically'
to tell if there was a pause, or not? Again, what if  the writer puts
a comma indiscriminately before saying 'as well as'?
Again, some might say context may decide. But what about
if it was used in isolation? The 'as well as' issue may remain
a perennial one, unless it is decided so that either way
of interpretation is right, for in actuality, not much difference
between the two is there, endagnering communication.
So, how about taking the phrase
as to mean simply 'and', and knowing the phrase is a fashinonable way
of saying 'and'? I, for one, adopt personally that policy.
There is no other way to break through the problem.
Besides, most importantly, contrary to all possible outcries of objections
notwithstanding, in the final analysis, the 'as well as' is an 'and'.
Think about this instance: An American presidential candidate has won
a landslide victory, sweeping all the states. Now, a reporter reports:
He swept Alaska ...Wyoming as well as Texas, this one
after enumerating the 47 other states. 'In addition to', 'Together with',
'And', and 'As well as' are all the same.

If its intention is to indicate that he speaks both English and French
as a native speaker, it fails.

I read it as:

- He is bilingual

he has two native languages, but we don't know which

- and speaks English as well as French

this has two possible meanings:

either:

- he speaks English and he speaks French equally well

but we don't know how well.  Notwithstanding the "bilingual" comment
above, there's nothing which tells us that the bi languages are English
and French

or:

- he speaks English and he also speaks French

but there's no indication about how well he speaks either of these
(separately.  This meaning can be forced by adding a comma after
"English", but it doesn't solve the question of how well he speaks these
languages, nor of what languages are in the bi pair.

How about:

- He is bilingual in English and French.

'he does' before French removes the ambiguity.

I believe your sentence is repetitive.

You could say "He is bilingual because he can speak English and French
fluently."