Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

General discussion about learning languages
User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3513
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9392

Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Le Baron » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:41 pm

Unsuspected for me that is. Others here might be more observant. I'm not big royalist (anti-royalist in fact), but I happened to see a video posted on the website of INA where the late Prince Philip was addressing a French gathering in pretty much flawless French. (https://www.ina.fr/contenus-editoriaux/ ... -francais/). Not only that, but making successful jokes in the language which is always difficult.
It piqued my interest so I popped over to youtube and found a few such videos. Plus another where he was speaking equally good German. (I'll link these below).

I'm not a big celebrity watcher, but now and again I get fed videos on you tube of well-known people tackling languages who aren't much spoken about by all those you-tubers who like making 'Wow...Reaction to Gwyneth Paltrow speaking Spanish!!' videos. A recent one was Grace Jones on a chat show speaking French and another of her doing Spanish and Italian. It's fairly well-known that Nana Mouskouri has working knowledge of quite a few languages, also Claudia Cardinale. When I was on holiday with my mother in Belgium in the 80s I remember seeing Sophia Loren speaking French for the first time (on TV!) and thought it strange at the time after only ever seeing her speak English in Hollywood films.

The ones of Prince Philip were completely unknown to me though. I've seen other members of the British royal family doing shaky attempts. It must be noted though that the Duke was raised in a multilingual household and initially went to school in Paris, so maybe it's somewhat less impressive. Though he retained a good accent. Does anyone know any others you accidentally came across?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUHAM0Guu8&t=115s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v_Zy9pP66E
10 x

User avatar
Pikaia
Yellow Belt
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:23 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (a bit), French (a bit less)
x 165

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Pikaia » Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:54 pm

Daniel Brühl: German, French, Spanish, Catalan, and English

His 2011 movie Eva is a good pick for Spanish language learners.
3 x

Cainntear
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3469
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:04 am
Location: Scotland
Languages: English(N)
Advanced: French,Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Intermediate: Italian, Catalan, Corsican
Basic: Welsh
Dabbling: Polish, Russian etc
x 8666
Contact:

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Cainntear » Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:04 pm

Pikaia wrote:Daniel Brühl: German, French, Spanish, Catalan, and English

His 2011 movie Eva is a good pick for Spanish language learners.

Don't forget Portuguese! (allegedly)

Although I don't know if any of this qualifies as "surprising" given that he was born in Barcelona to a Catalan mother, and his dad's a Brazilian-born German... ;)
4 x

User avatar
einzelne
Blue Belt
Posts: 804
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:33 pm
Languages: Russan (N), English (Working knowledge), French (Reading), German (Reading), Italian (Reading on Kindle)
x 2882

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby einzelne » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:13 pm

4 x

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3513
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9392

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Le Baron » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:39 pm

einzelne wrote:Viggo Mortensen


Did you find his skill unsuspected? I'd seen him in other films and a few interviews. He has a particularly intelligent manner anyway, so I was fairly unsurprised that he would also have language skills off-hand...(damn him! :lol: )
0 x

User avatar
Deinonysus
Brown Belt
Posts: 1216
Joined: Tue Sep 13, 2016 6:06 pm
Location: MA, USA
Languages:  
• Native: English
• Advanced: French
• Intermediate: German,
   Spanish, Hebrew
• Beginner: Italian,
   Arabic
x 4620

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Deinonysus » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:51 pm

Does Cleopatra count as a celebrity?

Ptolemaic pharaohs were crowned by the Egyptian high priest of Ptah at Memphis, but resided in the multicultural and largely Greek city of Alexandria, established by Alexander the Great of Macedon. They spoke Greek and governed Egypt as Hellenistic Greek monarchs, refusing to learn the native Egyptian language.

In contrast, Cleopatra could speak multiple languages by adulthood and was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language. Plutarch implies that she also spoke Ethiopian, the language of the "Troglodytes", Hebrew (or Aramaic), Arabic, the Syrian language (perhaps Syriac), Median, and Parthian, and she could apparently also speak Latin, although her Roman contemporaries would have preferred to speak with her in her native Koine Greek. Aside from Greek, Egyptian, and Latin, these languages reflected Cleopatra's desire to restore North African and West Asian territories that once belonged to the Ptolemaic Kingdom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra#Background
2 x
/daɪ.nə.ˈnaɪ.səs/

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3513
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9392

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Le Baron » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:56 pm

Today she would have her own YouTube channel.
3 x

Kraut
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2600
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:37 pm
Languages: German (N)
French (C)
English (C)
Spanish (A2)
Lithuanian
x 3204

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Kraut » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:58 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzbrztZFCFA
Sandra Bullok German, but this is not unsuspected. She speaks fluent and flawless German.
1 x

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby rdearman » Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:00 pm

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz wrote in several languages, primarily in Latin, French and German but also in English, Italian and Dutch. (Oh and he invented Calculus) :-)
2 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3513
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9392

Re: Unsuspected celebrity polyglots

Postby Le Baron » Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:19 pm

In his German to English dictionary there must have been an error where 'steal' was translated as 'invent'.
2 x


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests