What Languages Do The Royals Speak?


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LadyFinn said:
Victoria has herself told in many interviews, that her german isn't very good. In January, when she and Daniel visited Germany, the swedish press told that she spoke german with the children and english with the adults.
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She is half German, so you would expect her to have a good grasp on the language.
 
Mbruno said:
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands speaks Dutch, English, French and German.
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When she was queen, Beatrix often spoke English in overseas state visits. She always spoke German though while in Germany and, I don't know why, in her state visit to Spain, she spoke in French.

One episode that also caught my attention was the state banquet held for the queen during her visit to South Africa in 1996, i.e shortly after the end of the apartheid regime. Queen Beatrix began her speech in English, but, at some point, she switched to Dutch, which was quite unusual, but was probably a deference to the white Afrikaners in attendance. You can hear the queen's words in Dutch in the video below starting around 3:30. It would be nice if the Dutch members of the forums could possibly translate it for us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i59rGhOdQ-8
 
queenofcelts said:
What languages king Felipe speaks?
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Aside from his native Spanish, King Felipe speaks Catalan, French, English and a little Greek (according to Wikipedia). I read that in Spain, it's recommended that everyone speaks Catalan, or at least the majority of the population, as it's the official language of Catalonia. Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca also speak Catalan IIRC (but Menorca has their own language, I think), however Formentera also has a native dialect. :flowers: There are also the Basque and Aragonese languages in Spain, but I'm unaware if any members of the SRF can speak them. Basque is very different to the other Spanish languages, whereas Aragonese is a little more similar. Inaki Urdangarin comes from the Basque County, so perhaps he can speak the language, but I don't know.
 
Mbruno said:
When she was queen, Beatrix often spoke English in overseas state visits. She always spoke German though while in Germany and, I don't know why, in her state visit to Spain, she spoke in French.

One episode that also caught my attention was the state banquet held for the queen during her visit to South Africa in 1996, i.e shortly after the end of the apartheid regime. Queen Beatrix began her speech in English, but, at some point, she switched to Dutch, which was quite unusual, but was probably a deference to the white Afrikaners in attendance. You can hear the queen's words in Dutch in the video below starting around 3:30. It would be nice if the Dutch members of the forums could possibly translate it for us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i59rGhOdQ-8
Click to expand...

Immediate intro by the voiceover:
At the banquet a lot of guests had one question: will the queen speak, aside from in english, in dutch as well.
White afrikans had insisted she'd do.
The (dutch) minister of foreign affairs has considered the matter.
And the Queen indeed speaks a few lines in dutch...

Queen Beatrix:
Mr. President, thanks to our mutual history a special bond has grown between our countries.
A recognizable and important element of that is our language.
Even though in South Africa it has developed in it's own direction, for us Netherlands it's a special experience to, in such a faraway country, be able to understand one of it's languages without too much effort.
(audience aplauds)
 
thank you:flowers::flowers::flowers:
HereditaryPrincess said:
Aside from his native Spanish, King Felipe speaks Catalan, French, English and a little Greek (according to Wikipedia). I read that in Spain, it's recommended that everyone speaks Catalan, or at least the majority of the population, as it's the official language of Catalonia. Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca also speak Catalan IIRC (but Menorca has their own language, I think), however Formentera also has a native dialect. :flowers: There are also the Basque and Aragonese languages in Spain, but I'm unaware if any members of the SRF can speak them. Basque is very different to the other Spanish languages, whereas Aragonese is a little more similar. Inaki Urdangarin comes from the Basque County, so perhaps he can speak the language, but I don't know.
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HereditaryPrincess said:
Aside from his native Spanish, King Felipe speaks Catalan, French, English and a little Greek (according to Wikipedia). I read that in Spain, it's recommended that everyone speaks Catalan, or at least the majority of the population, as it's the official language of Catalonia. Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca also speak Catalan IIRC (but Menorca has their own language, I think), however Formentera also has a native dialect. :flowers: There are also the Basque and Aragonese languages in Spain, but I'm unaware if any members of the SRF can speak them. Basque is very different to the other Spanish languages, whereas Aragonese is a little more similar. Inaki Urdangarin comes from the Basque County, so perhaps he can speak the language, but I don't know.
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i hope you don't mind if i correct you.

I read that in Spain, it's recommended that everyone speaks Catalan, or at least the majority of the population, as it's the official language of Catalonia. Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca also speak Catalan IIRC (but Menorca has their own language, I think), however Formentera also has a native dialect
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not all the spanish speak catalan. most catalans will speak both spanish and catalan, and some only spanish or catalan (although with difficulty, they will all speak spanish obviously), but in the rest of spain people speak spanish only as a general rule. catalan, or other languages of the 3 autonomies which have a different language to spanish, is not taught in spain in schools apart from in the schools of those communities it comes from. so they are hardly, if at all, spoken outside those communities, apart from those families who immigrated elsewhere, obviously.

ibiza, mallorca and menorca all speak some form of catalan. valencia also speaks a form of catalan, which they call valencian, although i believe it can best be described as a dialect of catalan (just like saying that spanish from argentina is another language to spanish - which is isn't, it is just a dialect of spanish). formentera, on the other hand, is part of the canary islands, and they speak spanish. i believe you were possibly meaning valencia when speaking about formentera having their own language.

There are also the Basque and Aragonese languages in Spain, but I'm unaware if any members of the SRF can speak them. Basque is very different to the other Spanish languages, whereas Aragonese is a little more similar. Inaki Urdangarin comes from the Basque County, so perhaps he can speak the language, but I don't know
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the other two languages are basque and galician (from the community of galicia). aragonese people (from aragon) speak spanish, so do not have a separate language. galician resembles a bit a mix between portuguese and spanish. on the other hand, basque is a very different language, with roots which cannot be linked to any other currently spoken languages. so, i believe felipe wouldn't find it hard to speak galician, and can currently speak some good sentences, as it's close to spanish. i believe he can speak catalan to a good standard, but heard him little. letizia herself starts her speeches when in catalonia speaking a bit of catalan.
 
"

HereditaryPrincess said:
Aside from his native Spanish, King Felipe speaks Catalan, French, English and a little Greek (according to Wikipedia). I read that in Spain, it's recommended that everyone speaks Catalan, or at least the majority of the population, as it's the official language of Catalonia. Ibiza, Formentera and Mallorca also speak Catalan IIRC (but Menorca has their own language, I think), however Formentera also has a native dialect. :flowers: There are also the Basque and Aragonese languages in Spain, but I'm unaware if any members of the SRF can speak them. Basque is very different to the other Spanish languages, whereas Aragonese is a little more similar. Inaki Urdangarin comes from the Basque County, so perhaps he can speak the language, but I don't know.
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Basque does not belong to the Indo-European family, so, like Finnish, it is very hard to learn. I doubt many Spaniards can speak it, apart from the Basques themselves.

Catalan on the other hand is very similar to Occitan/Provençal, which used to be spoken in southern France. Its grammar and vocabulary resemble French and Italian, but the pronunciation is closer to that of the other Iberian Romance languages. Again, not many Spaniards speak it outside Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands properly. Although not trivial, it should be easy for a Spanish speaker to learn Catalan though.

Finally, you forgot to mention Galician, which is spoken in Northwestern Spain. In the Middle Ages, Galician and Portuguese used to be the same language (called Galician-Portuguese). The two languages started to diverge around the 14th or 15th centuries. Modern Galician is still closer to Portuguese than to Spanish, but the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary have very strong Spanish influence. Many Portuguese speakers, when listening to modern Galician, actually have the impression they are listening to a Spaniard trying to speak "Portuñol" (a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese). Of course, Spanish and Portuguese are already quite similar themselves and mutually intelligible (like Swedish and Danish probably).

I believe King Felipe also speaks Portuguese. His father was quite fluent in it.
 
muriel said:
She is half German, so you would expect her to have a good grasp on the language.
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Silvia didnt raise her children biligual, Victoria's german is not good, at least spoken. She might understand a lot though.

Even when Silvia speaks german, after all these years, it sounds really strange, you'll find her searching for words or using words that germans wouldnt use.
 
Lee-Z said:
Immediate intro by the voiceover:
At the banquet a lot of guests had one question: will the queen speak, aside from in english, in dutch as well.
White afrikans had insisted she'd do.
The (dutch) minister of foreign affairs has considered the matter.
And the Queen indeed speaks a few lines in dutch...

Queen Beatrix:
Mr. President, thanks to our mutual history a special bond has grown between our countries.
A recognizable and important element of that is our language.
Even though in South Africa it has developed in it's own direction, for us Netherlands it's a special experience to, in such a faraway country, be able to understand one of it's languages without too much effort.
(audience aplauds)
Click to expand...

Thank you, Lee Z !

I find it politically significant that the queen referred to Dutch and Afrikaans as "our language", implying they are different variations of the same language which evolved in different directions respectively in the Netherlands and South Africa.

I actually heard once that South Africa was invited to formally join the Dutch Language Union, but the ANC government, which seems to be very hostile to the Afrikaans language, blocked it. Is that true ?
 
Mbruno said:
I actually heard once that South Africa was invited to formally join the Dutch Language Union, but the ANC government, which seems to be very hostile to the Afrikaans language, blocked it. Is that true ?
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Don't know, i didn't hear that afaik... There was a collaboration (or letter of intent to that effect) signed between the dutch "taalunie" (language union) and South Africa, but apparently there's not a lot of collaborating going on at the moment in that area, so maybe that will end in the future.
I don't know if SA was actually asked to actually join the Taalunie at some point..
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Even when Silvia speaks german, after all these years, it sounds really strange, you'll find her searching for words or using words that germans wouldnt use.
Click to expand...

So what language is the queen fluent in? Can Portuguese be considered her mother tongue? I'm a bit surprised since I always thought her German was good but now you make it out to be worse than her swedish.



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JR76 said:
So what language is the queen fluent in? Can Portuguese be considered her mother tongue? I'm a bit surprised since I always thought her German was good but now you make it out to be worse than her swedish.



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I've already seen Queen Silvia speaking Portuguese, and she speaks it fluently - but, naturally, she has a bit of an accent.

I do think it's a shame none of her children knowing how to speak Portuguese.
 
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She has said that she did not want to speak to her children in a language which their father did not understand so that is why she did not teach them Portuguese.

The queen Fluently speaks Portuguese, German, English, French, Spanish, and Swedish. She also at one time was fluent in Swedish Sign Language. She moved to Brazil from Germany when she was 3 and then when she was 14. However while in Brazil she attended a German School.
 
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JR76 said:
So what language is the queen fluent in? Can Portuguese be considered her mother tongue? I'm a bit surprised since I always thought her German was good but now you make it out to be worse than her swedish.



Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile app
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I don't know about her swedish, is it bad? Well, of course she is fluent in german but she speaks it in a way that nobody speaks who uses german on a daily basis. It's not 'up to date', she often interrupts thinking of the correct words to express something, she uses old-fashioned words, does grammar mistakes and the word order is odd, no german would speak this way.
 
But if she is german, how can she even not speak well her own language?
 
Marty91charmed said:
That sounds interesting as well as odd... :D
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Not really. I don't know if Queen Silvia is bilingual or if either german or portuguese are her mother tongue. But as it happens with a language you learn as a child the same happens with your mother tongue, when you only speak in your youth and then you only speak sporadically, obvioulsy what you retain of the language is the way you learnt it, and language is always changing. I remember once reading Queen Silvia said in an interview that she talked with her siblings in portuguese. I've heard the Queen speaking portuguese, obviously she has a bit of an accent, but she speaks very fluently, not thinking to much searching for the right words.
 
King Carl Gustaf told to Svensk Damtidning at the state visit on France that his french "has gone down", he has difficulties to talk about important issues in french, that's why he uses english. So he speaks some french though.
 
Hello there! I have a quick question, does anyone know is Princess Beatrice speaks any languages? (Other than English, of course) And could anybody give me a full list of all the languages the members of the British Royal Family speak? Thanks.
 
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Sarahbellar said:
They have all lived for some period of time in the states so that has helped. If you watch a video of Madeleine from recent speaking in English and compare it to the video posted above there is a certainly a difference. She is learning to speak without a swedish accent.


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile appo
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They were all sent to summer wilderness camp in the US Rockies, mostly throughout their high school years. Plus, Victoria did a year at Yale U I think.
They all speak well with a slight charming touch of accent.

I think that Mett Maritt English is excellent
 
Frelinghighness said:
They were all sent to summer wilderness camp in the US Rockies, mostly throughout their high school years. Plus, Victoria did a year at Yale U I think.
They all speak well with a slight charming touch of accent.

I think that Mett Maritt English is excellent
Click to expand...
Swedes nowdays that use their english on a somewhat regular basis have very little accent. And even if we do, it's very much articulation so it makes it easily understandable compared to some other accents :)
 
When Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands made a State Visit to King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1985, the table speeches of the Majesties were held in French. It is not that long ago that French language was part of every royal formation.
 
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Obsessed said:
Hello there! I have a quick question, does anyone know is Princess Beatrice speaks any languages? (Other than English, of course) And could anybody give me a full list of all the languages the members of the British Royal Family speak? Thanks.
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I think Princess Beatrice just speaks English, though it's possible she can speak a small amount of French, German or Spanish too as they are the most common languages taught in English schools.

I remember reading that Queen Elizabeth is fluent in French (her governess was native to France) and she also spoke in Irish Gaelic when she visited Ireland in 2011. Prince Philip can speak some Greek, though he isn't fluent because he obviously left Greece in exile as a baby and didn't need to speak it outside of Greece. He also speaks French.

Prince Charles and Prince William speak Welsh (according to a post on the first page of this thread) and Prince William also speaks Swahili.

The Earl and Countess of Wessex can both speak French. I don't know about the other royals though perhaps someone else can help further.
 
The Prince of Wales speaks German. Yes, with a British accent but rather nicely fluent without pauses and hesistations. Two years ago the Prince was in Baden-Württemberg and spoke:

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

Zuerst möchte ich mich gerne und sehr herzlich Fürst Philipp, Prinzessin Xenia und Joschka Fischer danken für ihre enormen Anstrengungen bei der Organisation dieses Forums. Ich sage nur sehr ungern, dass es über 50 Jahre her ist, dass ich das letzte Mal hier war und fast 50 Jahre, dass meine Eltern dieses wunderschöne Schloss in 1965 besuchten. Das war zwei Jahre nach einem verheerenden Brand, der das Haus fast vollständig entkernte. Es ist daher eine besondere Freude zu sehen, wie prachtvoll mein verstorbener Vetter Fürst Kraft es wieder aufgebaut hat.

(TRANSLATION: Most esteemed ladies and gentlemen,

First I would just like to say how immensely grateful I am to Fürst Philipp, Princess Xenia and to Joschka Fischer for their herculean efforts in putting this Langenburg Forum together! I hate to say that it has been over fifty years since I was here and almost fifty years since my parents visited this wonderful castle, back in 1965. It was two years after a devastating fire which had almost completely gutted the building. So it is a joy to see it so marvellously restored under my late cousin Fürst Kraft's expert supervision...)
 
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