The Most Multilingual Celebrities

Would it surprise you to learn that famous celebrities take the time to learn different languages? Of course it would, they’re so busy! You may be surprised by how many languages some of our idols are able to speak. We have created a list of 7 multilingual celebrities who speak more languages than other celebs.

Natalie Portman

Born in Jerusalem Natalie Portman is first on our list of multilingual celebrities. An actress, film producer and director with dual Israeli and American citizenship. As her citizenship may suggest, she speaks Hebrew and English. She also speaks French, Spanish, Japanese and German. If you’ve ever tried to learn German or Japanese, you know how difficult it is.

Shakira

The first songs by Colombian pop-rock singer Shakira were only in Spanish. Later on she started to sing in English as well and nowadays she is one of the most famous stars in the world – singing in both Spanish and English. She also speaks Portuguese, Italian, French, Catalan and Arabic.

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee was a British actor and singer who gained cult status for his portrayal as Count Dracula and Saruman in Lord of the Rings. He spoke English, German, French, Italian, Spanish as well as some Russian, Swedish and Greek. How impressive!

Viggo Mortesen

Viggo Peter Mortensen is a Danish-American actor, photographer, poet, painter and musician. He became known worldwide for his role as Aragorn in the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. Like many Danes, he speaks fluent English as well as his mother-tongue Danish. He can also speak French and Spanish, as well as conversational Italian. On top of this impressive list, he understands Norwegian and Swedish as well.

Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster is an American actress, film director, film producer and two-time Oscar winner. You might know her from the cult-classic ‘Silence of the Lambs’. In her early life, Jody attended a French language prep-school. Because of her fluency in the language, she even dubs herself in the French-versions of her own films! She also understands German, Spanish, and Italian.

Tom Hiddelston

The British actor Tom Hiddelston maybe one of the most multilingual celebrities in the world – as well as being  able to speak one of the most difficult languages in the world, Mandarin Chinese. He also knows English, Italian, Spanish and French as well as Greek and some Russian, Latin, German and Korean.

Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was an actress of British-Dutch descent. She was one of the leading female movie stars in the 1950s and 1960s. You probably know her from the movie “Breakfast at Tiffanys”.  She speaks Dutch, English, Spanish, French and Italian.

As you can see from the example of these multilingual celebrities  – being an actor doesn’t make you a one-trick-pony. Let us know in the comments which celebrity surprised you the most and if you were inspired by any of them today! It’s no coincidence these multilingual celebrities are so successful – this is largely because they travel all around the world and are able to act or sing in many different languages – and that makes the person not only internationally adorable, it has a lot of other benefits, too.

If you’re now considering to start learning another language, maybe it is best to try some of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.