<p>I just realized that on the commonapp, I put my first language as English, which is an incorrect info.... I'm pretty sure that my other school docs say my first language is Chinese....
will I get penalized for this? Especially cuz I cant change anything anymore.</p>
<p>For me, I took the term “first language” as meaning the language that you speak best, not necessarily the one you spoke “first”, since some people may be born into a household that speaks a language other than English but they themselves cannot speak it fluently anymore as they grew up.</p>
<p>I doubt you will be penalized for something as trivial as this. You can explain that English is currently the language you know best, though at the time you gave such information to your high school you were better at chinese, etc.</p>