Languages

[poppy7]

I have read, several places, that Caroline and Stefano spoke Italian together and that she spoke French to the children. Charlotte speaks excellant English (reported by people who heard her at recent events in London) but she has a French accent. I am sure the boys speak English too, and it is common knowledge they speak Italian as well (if they have a French accent doing so, I don't know). Caroline'a sounds slightly British, but there is definitely a foreign element there, she has a slight French accent in English. However she was at boarding outside London, so that would account for her 'Britishness'.

 

[smdouglas]

You're right American is not really a language. American is a dialect of English, and it can be hard to understand some British if you're American.

...and visa versa

 

[scooter62986]

Caroline's "Britishness" would be a few things. I know from family that Europeans are taught to have a British accent and if they don't they fail or receive a lower grade. Going to boarding school in England would add to the accent. Lastly, I don't think she spent much time in America like her siblings so she never had time to acquire the American accent

 

[EllieSofie]

Going back to the kind of accents Albert, Caroline and Stephanie have... I remember Prince Albert was on Larry King Live like six months after his father had passed. I couldn't find the actual interview, but here is the transcript, CNN.com - Transcripts. Larry points out that the Prince stutters.

KING: As a child, did you have a stuttering problem?

ALBERT: You know, yes.

KING: Sometimes in your speech ...

ALBERT: Yes, I have been asked that, yes. Well, because I always try to look for the best possible word and sometimes it doesn't always come. But yes, I did have a bit of a problem as a kid. And I don't know how it came about, what emotional trauma.

Maybe I'll stumble accross the video, but I do remember his accent and it sounded "normal" to me. (If there is such a thing.) He spoke in a "not here, not there" American accent.

P.S.
Here is another transcript from a previous appearance, Prince Albert pops in and out. The topic of conversation is Princess Grace and the foundation named after her. CNN.com - Transcripts

 

[Horseygal]

What is the difference between Monagasque and French? I've never been to Monaco, so I know I've never heard anyone speak it - are there any videos of them giving an interview in Monagasque?

 

[smdouglas]

What is the difference between Monagasque and French? I've never been to Monaco, so I know I've never heard anyone speak it - are there any videos of them giving an interview in Monagasque?

Basically, Monégasque is a mixture of Italian and French. Wikipedia discusses the Monégasque language, but gives no audio examples. Maybe someone else has a video/audio example of the language.

 

[Jaya]

Apparently Caro can read in Greek and Latin.She studied Greek for the longest while.
I know her language count is five and that is with Greek and Latin

 

[rosana]

Apparently Caro can read in Greek and Latin.She studied Greek for the longest while.
I know her language count is five and that is with Greek and Latin

She said in an interview she can read Italian, Spanish, English. We know she learnt some German, i don´t know how fluent she is though. But it makes more than 5 is she knows Latin ( probably from University) and Greek.

 

[Thecia]

She said in an interview she can read Italian, Spanish, English. We know she learnt some German, i don´t know how fluent she is though. But it makes more than 5 is she knows Latin ( probably from University) and Greek.

Like Jaya said, her language count is five but that is French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. At least according to her official biography on the palace website. She speaks French and English perfectly fluently (When I lived in Paris, I frequented the Café de Flore, where she also went and have seen her in other places in Paris, though never met her, and heard her speaking both English and French fluently). Whether or not she speaks Italian fluently is slightly debatable (there were some on this forum a while back that said they didn't think Caroline spoke Italian fluently, though I don't know if that is still the case) though Josh Grant, a dancer with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, wrote that Caroline held a lengthy conversation in Italian with one of the other dancers at the dinner after the Dance Forum. Caroline said in an interview with ELLE in the early eighties that she speaks Spanish, albeit "badly" (her words, not mine) though that may have changed and she said in the same interview that she speaks German though we know from when she testified at the beginning of this year that she doesn't seem to speak German with enough fluency for the court.
As for reading Greek and Latin, that is relatively mandatory for all school students in Europe. I did the same when I was at school. You are usually given passages to read and translate in Greek and Latin. And I'm sure that Caroline, being as intelligent as she is, has retained most of that.

 

[Thtregoddess11]

I'd go with the palace website on who speaks what language. I'm pretty sure Steph speaks Spanish fluently, as I've seen interviews and listened to some of her music in Spanish. I've also read in places that Pauline and Louis speak English and French fluently, as well as lang Monaguesque; I imagine Camille is about the same. As for The Casiraghi trio, I've read that they speak French, Italian, and English fluently, as well as a smitten of German and Portuguese. Maybe some Spanish as well. I've also read that Charlotte prefers to speak Italian, and Pierre has been seen speaking with friends in a mix of English and Italian.
I imagine they talk like many multi-lingual families I know-starting a conversation in one language and finishing it in a completely different one than it originally started in, and everyone involved in the conversation gets it completely.

 

[iloveroyals]

Like Jaya said, her language count is five but that is French, English, Spanish, Italian and German. At least according to her official biography on the palace website. She speaks French and English perfectly fluently (When I lived in Paris, I frequented the Café de Flore, where she also went and have seen her in other places in Paris, though never met her, and heard her speaking both English and French fluently). Whether or not she speaks Italian fluently is slightly debatable (there were some on this forum a while back that said they didn't think Caroline spoke Italian fluently, though I don't know if that is still the case) though Josh Grant, a dancer with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, wrote that Caroline held a lengthy conversation in Italian with one of the other dancers at the dinner after the Dance Forum. Caroline said in an interview with ELLE in the early eighties that she speaks Spanish, albeit "badly" (her words, not mine) though that may have changed and she said in the same interview that she speaks German though we know from when she testified at the beginning of this year that she doesn't seem to speak German with enough fluency for the court.
As for reading Greek and Latin, that is relatively mandatory for all school students in Europe. I did the same when I was at school. You are usually given passages to read and translate in Greek and Latin. And I'm sure that Caroline, being as intelligent as she is, has retained most of that.

I have never read in any of the biographies or interviews (and I think I have pretty much all of them) that Caroline took Latin or Greek. You don't need Greek to major in philosophy.(It was actually philosophy and child psychology). Caroline was often asked what languages she had learned or knew and always responded : French, English, German, and Spanish (badly), you're right I remember that quote too. If she had taken Latin, she would have added Latin to the list, and if she had taken Greek, she would have said so. In the interviews, she didn't mention Italian, she obviously learned Italian after her studies.
As for reading Greek and Latin being relatively mandatory for all students in Europe, I disagree. I was educated in France. Only a minority of French students took Latin, and even less took Greek. The situation went from bad to worse for classical languages as "informatique" (information technology) became more attractive, and oriental languages (Chinese, Japanese) also came to be seen as more important. There are only so many hours in the week...
I looked up the proportion of students taking Latin in France and got the figures of 4,6% in Terminale (equivalent of 12th grade) and 5,9% for 10th grade in 2008. One article lamented that although there is a great incitement to take Latin (usually in 10th grade), students often stop after one year. Greek is even lower. One of the reasons is that there are fewer and fewer teachers who can teach these languages. I read that the same complaints applied to other European countries.
It may be that Caroline learned Latin and Greek later in life, and I would be grateful for a reference. That would also explain why she would still be able to read Latin or Greek. It is not a matter of intelligence but of memory and languages are very hard to retain if you don't practise them; unless you practise by reading.

 

[LadyMacAlpine]

Princess Carolines official Biography says she speaks French, English, German, Spanish, and Italian. She received a diploma in Philosophy and minors in Psychology and Biology from Sorbonne in Paris.

 

[Tosca]

She surely speaks the Monegasque language, which is very similar to the Genoese dialect and other Ligurian dialects, hence the thought to certain journalists and biographers that often fantasize about Italy, that she speaks Italian. Again I saw her interviewed by the Italian TV back in the '80s, at the time she was still married to Stefano, and the only Italian word she said was 'Buona sera' (Good Evening), then the interview went on in French.

 

[FanofMonaco]

She said in an interview that they, the kids included, spoke Italian at home (while Stephano was alive). That they were being raised as Casiraghis. They still visit their Italian Casiraghis alot and I think they all speak fluent Italian. I saw an interview with Stephano and his English was only fair to poor. I don't know about his French. When
it comes to things like interviews or legal proceedings the Grimaldis will usually only speak French or English. Even PG refused to do interviews in French after she was burned by the French press. Slang will kill you in a public interview and you have no way of knowing what you're saying unless you have lived in the country many years. There is even a big difference between British English and American English so I don't blame them for being careful.

 

[cdm]

I remember an interview with Stefano and he said that they spoke French at home and that he sometimes spoke Italian with his children. I think that French was always the mother tongue of the Casiraghi's and that they had different 'second languages' during their life. Italian with Stefano, English with Ernst, maybe a bit of German with Ernst, Italian for Pierre with Beatrice, English for Charlotte with Alex, maybe a bit of Spanish for Andrea with Tatiana. But I don't know which languages they learn in school.
As for Caroline, Albert and Stephanie, they are perfect billingual in French and English.
Grace said she always spoke English with her children, but Rainier and the rest of their entourage spoke French with them and among each other they spoke French.
But I doubt that Caroline is fluent in Italian, German and Spanish. I just think she can read it and understand it, but I don't know if she can have a discussion in those languages.

 

[Thtregoddess11]

She said in an interview that they, the kids included, spoke Italian at home (while Stephano was alive). That they were being raised as Casiraghis. They still visit their Italian Casiraghis alot and I think they all speak fluent Italian. I saw an interview with Stephano and his English was only fair to poor. I don't know about his French. When
it comes to things like interviews or legal proceedings the Grimaldis will usually only speak French or English. Even PG refused to do interviews in French after she was burned by the French press. Slang will kill you in a public interview and you have no way of knowing what you're saying unless you have lived in the country many years. There is even a big difference between British English and American English so I don't blame them for being careful.

Didn't Andrea or Pierre study Italian in University? Like I said before, I believe the Casiraghi trio speak fluent French, English and Italian, with maybe a bit of Spanish, Portuguese and German. I think Charlotte prefers to speak Italian (probably 'cause that's what she's mostly familiar with) and Pierre has been seen chatting with Friends in a mix of English, Italian and French.

 

[iloveroyals]

She surely speaks the Monegasque language, which is very similar to the Genoese dialect and other Ligurian dialects, hence the thought to certain journalists and biographers that often fantasize about Italy, that she speaks Italian. Again I saw her interviewed by the Italian TV back in the '80s, at the time she was still married to Stefano, and the only Italian word she said was 'Buona sera' (Good Evening), then the interview went on in French.

It is remarkable that for a woman who allegedly learns languages with such ease, she apparently never took the trouble to learn Italian so she could hold an adult conversation with her husband, nor German well enough to also be able to hold a conversation with her German husband.

One of the exciting things about marrying somebody who speaks a different language is the passion you can put into learning it so you can communicate with him, his family and friends, and visit his country with comfort. (Have any of you ever travelled to a country whose language you could not speak ? I feel bad when I have to ask people to please speak French of English so I can understand them or they me. German and Spanish I now review furiously before I go, but Tosca, you'd have to speak French or English with me, so the burden would be on you...)

However, the interviewers may just want to avoid her making some mistake and being embarrassed, as FanofMonaco suggested.

 

[rosana]

Most Europeans speak 3 or 4 languages, she´s a princess, she was raised as bilingual, so she didn´t have to learn English, and you suggest that she doesn´t even speak Italian, now, at 53? please. It´s one of the languages spoken in Monaco, although not official, most people go every day to work from France and Italy. In her biography, Roig claims that she spoke that language from when she was a teenager, and then, she tried lto learn German on hern own. Later, as an adult, she took up Greek. How good she speaks any language, we will never know, but she can read even in Spanish.

 

[iloveroyals]

I didn't suggest anything. Please reread Tosca's post to which I was responding. You might want to reread mine too. The biographies and interviews I read (in the sixties and seventies when her education was an important topic and she or her parents were often asked about it) mentioned French, English, Spanish and German. Not even momegasque. I base my comments on what I have read, read here, which may add to my knowledge of Princess Caroline or challenge it. One example is that when she was in court in Germany last January, they used an interpretor. That would be either for Caroline's comfort, or because she can't handle a grave matter such as a court interview in German, take your pick. Thank you for the information you offer, but why be so defensive of Caroline's linguistic ability?

 

[FanofMonaco]

There are different levels of fluency. I think PC can probably carry on a casual conversation in Italian and German with no problem. I don't think she is fluent enough to give interviews, court depositions, business transactions, science, etc. I saw PA give an interview on German TV. They asked him the questions in German, but he always responded in English.

 

[rosana]

It is remarkable that for a woman who allegedly learns languages with such ease, she apparently never took the trouble to learn Italian so she could hold an adult conversation with her husband, nor German well enough to also be able to hold a conversation with her German husband.

If I´m not wrong You are assuming she could not speak either Italian or German with her husbands. If I am wrong, I apologise in advance.

I´m not being defensive. The thing is, I have been reading this discussion about her language abilities for years, and it seems to have no end. A woman who has studied philosophy and psychology for pleasure, with everything at her disposal, and, with not much to do other than enjoy life, has certainly took the trouble to learn a language spoken by many people in her country.
As far as I know, she spoke Italian before Stefano, and they spoke it at home with the kids.

 

[Tosca]

It´s one of the languages spoken in Monaco, although not official, most people go every day to work from France and Italy.

Believe me, when I went to Monaco I met very few people speaking Italian, and those who did, did badly. Monegasque is the other official language of Monaco, but it sounds a lot like a dialect, like Genoese and other Ligurian dialects. It's surely well understood in Liguria, lower Piedmont, upper Tuscany, and the in the South Eastern part of the Emilian Appennine, which includes the Southern parts of the provinces of Parma and Piacenza, but if you go a little farther, say Pisa, they won't absolutely understand it, nor in the rest of Italy. So Monegasque can be close to the Italian languge, but it's not the Italian language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligurian_language_(Romance)

 

[iloveroyals]

I am sorry. Perhaps we define "suggesting" differently. For me "suggesting" is making a statement from which one can infer a logical conclusion as when Tosca refers to an interview in which Caroline only says two words in Italian and then the interview proceeds in French. It suggested to me that her command of Italian was poor, and in a perhaps clumsy way expressed my dubiety. Since I don't know which languages she speaks fluently, I put in "apparently" and explained (in 2 posts) that there may have been different reasons for interviews not conducted in Caroline's second, third, fourth (or tenth) language.
It seems to me that this issue is very confused and it appears that nobody knows for sure how many languages she speaks, reads, or is comfortable with.
I'd be happy to have a reference for your knowledge about Caroline's fluency in languages. But does it make that much difference? Would we think more highly of her if we found out that she also speaks Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Danish and read Sanskrit ? Would it make her a better person ? Personally, I think Caroline speaking Italian and German would show devotion to the men she marries, but if she doesn't, that's a choice I respect. She may have shown her devotion in her husbands in other ways.
Remember that without unequivocal facts, a lot of our talk is pure speculation. So should we stop talking because we don't have unequivocal facts ? There'd be very little left in the Royal Forums.

 

[iloveroyals]

Believe me, when I went to Monaco I met very few people speaking Italian, and those who did, did badly. Monegasque is the other official language of Monaco, but it sounds a lot like a dialect, like Genoese and other Ligurian dialects. It's surely well understood in Liguria, lower Piedmont, upper Tuscany, and the in the South Eastern part of the Emilian Appennine, which includes the Southern parts of the provinces of Parma and Piacenza, but if you go a little farther, say Pisa, they won't absolutely understand it, nor in the rest of Italy. So Monegasque can be close to the Italian languge, but it's not the Italian language.

Ligurian language (Romance) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am glad to hear you say that, Tosca, for in my visits to Monaco, I didn't hear much Italian spoken there either. At least you are enlightening us about that, and I trust your first hand knowledge.

 

[rosana]

I'd be happy to have a reference for your knowledge about Caroline's fluency in languages.

She does speak at least 4 languages. I have an interview (very short, from a Spanish TV show called Corazon, corazon) from the Prince Pierre award ceremony, in which she´s asked about her literary preferences. She answers: "I like to read well known writers as well as beginners. I´m lucky to be able to read in English, French, Italian, and a little Spanish", ( from what i deduce her knowledge of Spanish is more limited, and as she doens´t mention German, i suppose she has taken it up as a hobbie, like me haha). Unfortunately, i have it in HVS format. I would have liked to post it here, but i don´t know how. It was the first time and one of the few times I heard her speaking.

btw, i didn´t mean Italian is one of the languages. I meant many Italians go there to work. It´s one of the languages used for finance and bussiness along with English. 28.000 French and 6000 Italians work there.

"Le français est la seule langue officielle, mais l'italien, l'anglais et la langue monégasque (seulement utilisée par une poignée de personnes, en voie de disparition) sont aussi parlés."

http://wikitravel.org/fr/Monaco

 

[iloveroyals]

She does speak at least 4 languages. I have an interview (very short, from a Spanish TV show called Corazon, corazon) from the Prince Pierre award ceremony, in which she´s asked about her literary preferences. She answers: "I like to read well known writers as well as beginners. I´m lucky to be able to read in English, French, Italian, and a little Spanish", ( from what i deduce her knowledge of Spanish is more limited, and as she doens´t mention German, i suppose she has taken it up as a hobbie, like me haha). Unfortunately, i have it in HVS format. I would have liked to post it here, but i don´t know how. It was the first time and one of the few times I heard her speaking.

btw, i didn´t mean Italian is one of the languages. I meant many Italians go there to work. It´s one of the languages used for finance and bussiness along with English. 28.000 French and 6000 Italians work there

"Le français est la seule langue officielle, mais l'italien, l'anglais et la langue monégasque (seulement utilisée par une poignée de personnes, en voie de disparition) sont aussi parlés."

Monaco - Wikitravel

Thank you, Rosana, for taking the time to answer my question.

 

[Tosca]

Well, if she speaks Monegasque, then she can surely read Italian, but still not being fluent at speaking. I also can read and understand Spanish to some extent, although I never studied it and obviously I can't speak either. Romanian is pretty intelligible to an Italian speaker as well. Romance languages are understandable among the Latin peoples. So I find nothing special in a Monegasque being capable of reading and understanding Spanish, Italian or Portuguese, although he/she's never taken these languages at school. 'Se entiende', so to speak.

Instead I saw many an interview with Prince Albert on the Italian TV. He speaks Italian, although with difficulty.

 

[Tosca]

I am glad to hear you say that, Tosca, for in my visits to Monaco, I didn't hear much Italian spoken there either. At least you are enlightening us about that, and I trust your first hand knowledge.

Thanks for putting your trust in me!
I also think that speaking a languages, doesn't always require much schooling. Just think of little children that learn foreign languages so easily! My hubby's cousin is married to a South African lady, so their children were perfectly blingual before going to school. It mustn't be hard to learn a foreign language, when your father's first language is French, your mother's is English, and you have German speaking nannies around.

 

[FanofMonaco]

I read that about 15% of Monagasque residents are Italian. About as many as Monegasque citizens. 50% are French, 5% from the U.K. PC's biography on the palace website says that she speaks English and Italian, and studied Spanish and German. It's interesting to note that the French biography and the English version are slightly different. I also read an interview with her that said that she sometimes dreamt in German but spoke Spanish poorly.

 

[Tosca]

Many of the Monaco's Italian residents, don't really live in Monaco all year round. They have residence in Monaco just to evade Italian taxes, but live elsewhere. Take the late Pavarotti, who was a Monaco resident, but spent most of his time in his country house outside Modena.