Duke and Duchess of Sussex: Official Visit to Morocco - February 23-25, 2019

[Pranter]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Schoolchildren said the the Duke of Sussex did not know 2 words of french and the Duchess knew a little more

The Queen , the Duke and Prince Charles are speaking french fluently. Why not Harry.

Wonderful Promotion of Haute Couture Pregnancy dresses.

Meghan is conversational in French and fluent in Spanish.


Neither of the Wales boys appear to know much French r...I assume this wasn't something they were pushed to learn while in school. Perhaps it wasn't felt necessary...or maybe they just didn't want to learn it?

Secondary languages are not really encouraged in the U.S. either except perhaps in certain areas or types of schools (private etc).


LaRae

[Mademoiselle Lilo]

Here another picture of the cat on the stairs
https://i.postimg.cc/g0cc0Khk/102562...1096049852.jpg
So many photos on instagram of this visit and can't catch with all of the posts,it prove the mini tour was a big success

My favourite part was the visit to Asni and the cooking session with Chef Moha,the meeting with RF too.
Princes Harry promise he will back for another visit i just hope very public one not on pravite like he said

[O-H Anglophile]

Originally Posted by Pranter

There were pics of them leaving, saying goodbye to the King and Crown Prince and then being driven away in the King's Mercedes ...Twitter


LaRae

I meant at the plane/airport today, not leaving the King's home last night.

[Mademoiselle Lilo]

I was wonder also is they left or not yet?

[Pranter]

Originally Posted by O-H Anglophile

I meant at the plane/airport today, not leaving the King's home last night.

Ah sorry...no pics yet...probably not going to get any.


LaRae

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by Pranter

Meghan is conversational in French and fluent in Spanish.

LaRae

My experience with Americans is that they often tend to overestimate their language skills, so I take qualifiers as "fluent" or even "conversational" with a grain of salt.


Meghan lived in Argentina for a while after graduating and studied for a semester abroad in Madrid, so I suppose it is far to say that, at least, she had a concrete opportunity to perfect her Spanish skills. I am not so confident about her "conversational" ability in French although she is said to have gone back to learning the language formally in recent times.

[Mademoiselle Lilo]

i think her "conversational" skills in french were tested in this visit and with the little of french the Duchess did well,the language communication was not an issue during this visit,i read that some british media have concern that during the visit to the school in Asni the royal couple will face a communication problem as the girls speak only french and the Couple are not that fluent in french but all went well the girls could make a converation in english and also some french with both Meghan and Hary(saw that in the visit video)

[MARG]

Am I right in thinking that meeting the King was not part of the original itinerary?

[Pranter]

Originally Posted by Mbruno

My experience with Americans is that they often tend to overestimate their language skills, so I take qualifiers as "fluent" or even "conversational" with a grain of salt.


Meghan lived in Argentina for a while after graduating and studied for a semester abroad in Madrid, so I suppose it is far to say that, at least, she had a concrete opportunity to perfect her Spanish skills. I am not so confident about her "conversational" ability in French although she is said to have gone back to learning the language formally in recent times.

We have heard her speaking Spanish in the past few months and native Spaniards (now living in the UK) said she was fluent with a perfect accent.

It seems like she was fairly accurate in her self assessment of her language skills.



LaRae

[ashelen]

I wish she would had met the wife or ex wife of the King! Is it true nobody knows where is she?

Is any video where we can listen her speaking Spanish and French?

[Dman]

How the Duchess of Sussex won Morocco’s heart-
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebr...mpression=true

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by ashelen

I wish she would had met the wife or ex wife of the King! Is it true nobody knows where is she?

Is any video where we can listen her speaking Spanish and French?

I found one video on YouTube, which is actually a scene from Suits where she speaks Spanish. It is not spontaneous speech then, but rather words that she memorized from a written script. Her pronunciation and fluency look pretty good though despite some occasional grammar mistakes. For example, at one point she clearly says "mentiendo" as the gerund of "mentir" (cf "lying" in English) whereas the correct form in standard Spanish would be "mintiendo".



The corresponding form in Portuguese BTW would be "mentindo" (pronounced, however, with two weird nasal vowels, and with the final 'o' actually pronounced as /u/, so it actually sounds very different from "mintiendo" in Spanish). In Catalan, one would say "mentint" and, in Italian, it would be "mentendo" (I think).

[maria-olivia]

It is not the brand new Duchess , but the Duke of Sussex does not speak french and the Duke of Cambridge I don't know.

[Pranter]

Originally Posted by ashelen

I wish she would had met the wife or ex wife of the King! Is it true nobody knows where is she?

Is any video where we can listen her speaking Spanish and French?

According to reporters on Twitter the 'former' wife of the King lives on a Greek Island. No idea if it's true.

When Meghan visited the retirement home for actors a few months ago there was video posted here of her speaking Spanish and also comments from the resident(s).


LaRae

[duchessrachel]

Originally Posted by Princess Larisa

Here’s your cat:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rD3lkAAdo...600/jfeb33.jpg

Thanks. I love the way Harry is pointing the kitty out to Meghan.

[Zaira]

Originally Posted by Mbruno

I found one video on YouTube, which is actually a scene from Suits where she speaks Spanish. It is not spontaneous speech then, but rather words that she memorized from a written script. Her pronunciation and fluency look pretty good though despite some occasional grammar mistakes. For example, at one point she clearly says "mentiendo" as the gerund of "mentir" (cf "lying" in English) whereas the correct form in standard Spanish would be "mintiendo".



The corresponding form in Portuguese BTW would be "mentindo" (pronounced, however, with two weird nasal vowels, and with the final 'o' actually pronounced as /u/, so it actually sounds very different from "mintiendo" in Spanish). In Catalan, one would say "mentint" and, in Italian, it would be "mentendo" (I think).

Several native speakers she has met have said she is fluent in Spanish as has Meghan herself. I hope we get an opportunity to hear her speak.

And many younger Americans now (yours truly included) speak multiple languages fluently either because of family or schools/immersion. Meghan went to top notch schools that require foreign language, studied IR and studied abroad plus lived in a part of the US where Spanish is frequently spoken.

Harry doesn't speak any second language and William's French is truly terrible. Not sure why the Wales' Brothers have not been more pushed to learn languages, but honestly I don't know too many Brits who speak more than one language.

I really enjoyed this tour overall. The media seemed pleased as well. Ambassador Reilly was over the moon with it and quite the fun chap!

[Pranter]

Originally Posted by Zaira

............

I really enjoyed this tour overall. The media seemed pleased as well. Ambassador Reilly was over the moon with it and quite the fun chap!

It's interesting...I don't think I've heard one negative comment from the press pack that went...seems like it went about perfect.



LaRae

[HereditaryPrincess]

Originally Posted by Princess Larisa

Here’s your cat:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rD3lkAAdo...600/jfeb33.jpg

Such a fantastic photo! The cat was probably confused as to why he or she wasn't given the royal ceremony since they don't seem to have forgotten the fact they were once gods in ancient society

[Rena M.]

Originally Posted by HereditaryPrincess

Such a fantastic photo! The cat was probably confused as to why he or she wasn't given the royal ceremony since they don't seem to have forgotten the fact they were once gods in ancient society

The same kitty, but from a different angle https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D0QPP8IWkAABzo0.jpg

[ashelen]

Originally Posted by Mbruno

I found one video on YouTube, which is actually a scene from Suits where she speaks Spanish. It is not spontaneous speech then, but rather words that she memorized from a written script. Her pronunciation and fluency look pretty good though despite some occasional grammar mistakes. For example, at one point she clearly says "mentiendo" as the gerund of "mentir" (cf "lying" in English) whereas the correct form in standard Spanish would be "mintiendo".



The corresponding form in Portuguese BTW would be "mentindo" (pronounced, however, with two weird nasal vowels, and with the final 'o' actually pronounced as /u/, so it actually sounds very different from "mintiendo" in Spanish). In Catalan, one would say "mentint" and, in Italian, it would be "mentendo" (I think).

do you have the youtube video links? I would love to hear how she speaks