Prince Albert & Princess Charlene Current Events - Part 3: April 2013 - February 2015

[carlota]

as other people said, charlene does not *need* to be in the new year message and is the only consort who joins her husband in it, so i give her some credit for that, even if her accent is not perfect, she still makes an effort.

[melina premiere]

A former teacher of Charlene said in a french documentary which was aired just before her wedding , when Charlene arrived from Zimbabwe in South Africe, she was a entire foreign child. She did not speak afrikaans, she learnt very quicly the Afrikaans language because all the programs of the school were in afrikaans during the times of Apertheid and she was a very good pupil . Her friend and former swimming partner said that she learnt the sign language to correspond with him when they trained together. She speaks two languages english and afrikaans.

[Lee-Z]

Well, then at least we know she isn't one of those people who have difficulties with *new* languages...

[Cinderella5x]

Originally Posted by Lee-Z

Well, then at least we know she isn't one of those people who have difficulties with *new* languages...

That throws many theories off, but, now, what is the reason after so many years in Monaco, she still does not speak French fluently? Esp that, as melina pointed out, "she learnt very quicly the Afrikaans language because all the programs of the school were in afrikaans during the times of Apertheid and she was a very good pupil".
Charlene now has all the resources she needs to learn French, she lives in the French speaking country, she has all the time and money, yet, her French is still very weak. Now, since we know it's not her inability to learn, as some pointed it may have been, what is it then?

Originally Posted by melina premiere

A former teacher of Charlene said in a french documentary which was aired just before her wedding , when Charlene arrived from Zimbabwe in South Africe, she was a entire foreign child. She did not speak afrikaans, she learnt very quicly the Afrikaans language because all the programs of the school were in afrikaans during the times of Apertheid and she was a very good pupil . Her friend and former swimming partner said that she learnt the sign language to correspond with him when they trained together. She speaks two languages english and afrikaans.

[fandesacs2003]

Originally Posted by Lee-Z

Well, then at least we know she isn't one of those people who have difficulties with *new* languages...

She was a child then, and kids learn languages very quickly, now she is an adult, and independantly of the reason, the result is a catartrophy, and it is not a single sentence pronounced painfully, to prove the opposite.

[C4A]

A pic of the couple and Mandla Mandela during their visit to Qunu/Mvezo on New Years Day.

Image Upper.com - Free Image Hosting - View Image

[LFNikita]

^Mandla Mandela, his wife (extreme right) Nodiyala Mandela, and his mother Nolusapho Mandela-Perry receive Monaco’s Prince Albert and Princess Charlene at the Mvezo Great Place

Mourning ribbons spark new Mandela fracas - City Press

"On New Year’s Day, Mandla Mandela welcomed Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco, who spent the day touring Mvezo and surrounding villages."

[redtulip]

I think Charlene doesn't speak French as there really is no absolute need for it. People in Monaco would know English anyway, so why bother? I don't blame her.

I don't know how well Grace spoke French either. I have read that she felt very isolated in the early 60's because of lack of French for one thing, and problems in marriage as well. - I've never heard her speak French, so don't know. If somebody has a clip of Grace speaking French, it would be great to hear!

[LadyMacAlpine]

I still find the comments of Charlene speaking in French funny considering there was at least one video on YouTube about 2 years ago which I thought I posted where everyone around her was speaking French and she didn't seem to have any problem answering. In fact she even stopped to talk with an older man both of them speaking French. It appeared to be a private video.

[LFNikita]

Originally Posted by LadyMacAlpine

I still find the comments of Charlene speaking in French funny considering there was at least one video on YouTube about 2 years ago which I thought I posted where everyone around her was speaking French and she didn't seem to have any problem answering. In fact she even stopped to talk with an older man both of them speaking French. It appeared to be a private video.

That sound like an interesting video. To bad it wasn't public (did you mean that it can only be viewed by some on youtube?).

[Fürstin Taxis]

Originally Posted by redtulip

I think Charlene doesn't speak French as there really is no absolute need for it. People in Monaco would know English anyway, so why bother? I don't blame her.

Sure, they may speak English, but imagine Mary refusing to learn Danish because the Scandi countries are good in it, so why bother? She would be under fire and rightly so.
Grace spoke French with an accent, and don´t forget she was brand new in Monaco, while Charlene lives now for 6-7 years there with a lot more support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmPgF1NXN5E

1:10 Grace speaking French. A bit unsure, but not bad at all after 4 years.

[fandesacs2003]

Originally Posted by redtulip

I think Charlene doesn't speak French as there really is no absolute need for it. People in Monaco would know English anyway, so why bother? I don't blame her.
!

I think that one of the worst thinks for a foreign royal bride to do is NOT to learn her new countrie's language! It is like if she was not considering at all her people. I like Charlene, she seems to be a gentle person, but it will be a huge mistake if she does not do her utmost to learn properly french! My God, some occidental people learn arabic or chinese, and Charlene could not learn french!

[LadyMacAlpine]

Originally Posted by Seabiscuit

That sound like an interesting video. To bad it wasn't public (did you mean that it can only be viewed by some on youtube?).

It was public and may still be on there.

[melina premiere]

There is this video after the engagement, prince Albert gave an interview for the fifth birthday of his reign. He presented Charlene to P

to patrick poivre d'Arvor. The interview was not prepared and Charlene tried to answer to the reporter, we see that she could answer simple words and she understood french but she had not enough vocabulary to answer an another question.

Albert, l'autre prince - Part 7 - YouTube

Last year, she had problems to prononce some words in the messsage of new year.

This year, she said her message very well her message. She kept to say the message of new year to the people of Monaco. She did not need to say the message with Albert. As I said, she is the one princess consort to wish the message of new year near her husband. People of Monaco were very pleased she wished a good new year and it is now the most important for them.
She must go on to learn french and it is untrue to say that she will not learn french. she said that it will take time to speak french but she will suceed. She has more difficultoes to learn french than princess grace. Some persons have difficulties to learn foreign languages but they will succeed in other things.

[redtulip]

Furstin Texas, thank you for posting the video!

I will gladly accept that nobody will probably agree with me, but I think Charlene (and Monaco) are different from royals in the other countries. Yes, if Mary didn't speak Danish (I still have doubts she actually does; she does pre-practiced comments), she would deserve having her head blast off.

Monaco, on the other hand, is not a real country in my thinking. It's a small glossy tax haven for those who have so much money they don't know what to do with it. Whole Monaco is about pretence and gold with marble. And I bet most people living there don't know French, so why should Charlene bother?

I don't mind people with accents when they speak any foreign language. We all have an accent of some sort.

[Fürstin Taxis]

I´m sure Albert likes to hear that he is head of a casino and not a country.

[polyesco]

Originally Posted by redtulip

Furstin Texas, thank you for posting the video!

I will gladly accept that nobody will probably agree with me, but I think Charlene (and Monaco) are different from royals in the other countries. Yes, if Mary didn't speak Danish (I still have doubts she actually does; she does pre-practiced comments), she would deserve having her head blast off.

Monaco, on the other hand, is not a real country in my thinking. It's a small glossy tax haven for those who have so much money they don't know what to do with it. Whole Monaco is about pretence and gold with marble. And I bet most people living there don't know French, so why should Charlene bother?

I don't mind people with accents when they speak any foreign language. We all have an accent of some sort.

you dont think Mary speaks danish?
i think we have countless video of her doing so.
Now I dont speak danish, but from the danish members here, it does seem like does.

Charlene is the wife of the head of state and should learn to speak the language of that country.

[redtulip]

Albert the head of a casino? I think the head of the casino has earned his way there, unlike Albert.

And no offence intended, but I cannot take seriously a country of round 32,000 filthy rich people in an area of 3 miles in length and 1.5 miles in width. - Just my view.

[redtulip]

(...)

As for Charlene; no problem with English! I do accept the official language is French, but I doubt anyone in Monaco has a problem with English. I really don't think it matters.

[Roslyn]

Originally Posted by redtulip

Albert the head of a casino? I think the head of the casino has earned his way there, unlike Albert.

And no offence intended, but I cannot take seriously a country of round 32,000 filthy rich people in an area of 3 miles in length and 1.5 miles in width. - Just my view.

You're not the only one with that view, redtulip, but the fact we live in such a big country might colour our views. 2.02 square km just does not a serious country make, in my opinion. And it's only got all those filthy rich people living there because there is no personal income tax and that's because of the success of the casino.

I can't get worked up about Charlene not bothering to make learning French a priority, either.