Languages spoken by the Royals

[fairy]

I doubt he can speak german as well as his father. But either he has a good ear for languages or he indeed has learnt the language earlier on, because there are words that very difficult to pronounce for english-speakers, which he manages extremely well.
E.g. Freundschaft: not easy to get the r correctly, to use the back of your mouth to pronounce the eu and to get the d in before going for the sch-sound.
There were other words as well, which I found rather well-rehearsed, while easier words such as meine Frau, showed a far heavier accent.

[Miss Marple]

You can tell that he rehearsed it very well. So it is hard to know. It contains some really difficult words that he would not use - somebody wrote that for him and he was practising. So the jury is still out.

[Kafrin]

Both Pavlos as well as his brother Nikolas speak very good Greek, from the videos I have seen, no accent at all, native speaker level. I have never heard any of their siblings speak, so I can’t attest to that.

As for Charles’s German language skills, it is the “R” sound that gives him away, which sounds very English, apart from that his pronunciation was very good.

[CyrilSebastian]

Charles spoke his speech excellently.   
My maternal grandfather can speak fluent Hungarian. Sometime he may have spoken Hungarian too well. There have been times people insisted he was born in Hungary. Grandfather was born in the United States.

[PruNordstrom]

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[kinan]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

[fairy]

She is a speech therapist. I would presume, she has the capability to learn the correct pronounciation better than most and considering that she has also shown her ability to study, she should be able to learn the grammar and the vocabulary.

[bumbershoot]

I just think some people have an innate ability to learn languages and to pronounce them correctly, while for other people of equal diligence and intellectual aptitude, it will always be a struggle. Just like some people are really good at math and others find it to be a source of non-stop frustration. Goes for the royals as well.

[Celia]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

As a native Belgian, wouldn't Mathilde have studied the language at school?  And I always thought Maxima makes tons of mistakes in Dutch, but her enthusiasm carries her along.

[kinan]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

As a native Belgian, wouldn't Mathilde have studied the language at school?  And I always thought Maxima makes tons of mistakes in Dutch, but her enthusiasm carries her along.

I believe that Mathilde was educated in French speaking schools.
This is a video of her speaking Dutch. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/v3PIjixsziM

[fairy]

I just think some people have an innate ability to learn languages and to pronounce them correctly, while for other people of equal diligence and intellectual aptitude, it will always be a struggle. Just like some people are really good at math and others find it to be a source of non-stop frustration. Goes for the royals as well.

Absolutely, I think it has something to do with ebing able to hear nuances and reproducing sounds. Accents have nothing to do with intelligence or the unwillingness to learn. I know lots of people who have lived and worked in a foreign country for a long time and they still have accents, while others have not. It is easier for children to learn accents and pronounciations, but Henry Kissinger is a prime example for someone who came to the States as a boy, did very well academically (Harvard Law - so no question of poor schooling) went on to become secretary of State and kept his strong german accent his entire life.
Anyway: re.Mathilde> I imagined that as a speech therapist she would be able to reproduce sounds much better than the average person. You don't become a speech therapist if you yourself have problems with sounds and pronounciations.

[Pomme]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

As a native Belgian, wouldn't Mathilde have studied the language at school?  And I always thought Maxima makes tons of mistakes in Dutch, but her enthusiasm carries her along.

I believe that Mathilde was educated in French speaking schools.
This is a video of her speaking Dutch. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/v3PIjixsziM

Her pronunciation is very clear (or should I say enunciation) but she has a thick accent (as in: no way she learnt Dutch at an early age). Much stronger than Max in Dutch. It is quite obvious from Max' vocbulary and word speed that she uses Dutch a lot both working and at home. She can converse very well in Dutch and for that you need to be able to put thoughts into (foreign) words quickly
Mathilde and Philip were both raised French speaking, and, though capable of holding a speech and answer questions, I doubt they master Dutch so well they can talk with ease and wit.
In Belgium  the Flemish schools teach better French than the Wallone schools teach Dutch.
Also, the language divide in Belgium is quite sharp. She could have worked with only French speaking ppl for her whole career and nobody would have found that strange.

[Principessa]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

As a native Belgian, wouldn't Mathilde have studied the language at school?  And I always thought Maxima makes tons of mistakes in Dutch, but her enthusiasm carries her along.

I believe that Mathilde was educated in French speaking schools.
This is a video of her speaking Dutch. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/v3PIjixsziM

Her Dutch is fluent in my opinion, but to my ears she has a clear accent. To my own experience it is a typical French accent.

By coincidence afterward this clip of Mathilde another clip with  her hubby Philippe came up. In it he had an conversation with a Flemish comedian, also named Philip(pe),
In it Philippe's accent is to my opinion more natural. Much less a French sounding accent.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhzsNXu1eU0

[Principessa]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

As a native Belgian, wouldn't Mathilde have studied the language at school?  And I always thought Maxima makes tons of mistakes in Dutch, but her enthusiasm carries her along.

I believe that Mathilde was educated in French speaking schools.
This is a video of her speaking Dutch. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/v3PIjixsziM

Her pronunciation is very clear (or should I say enunciation) but she has a thick accent (as in: no way she learnt Dutch at an early age). Much stronger than Max in Dutch. It is quite obvious from Max' vocbulary and word speed that she uses Dutch a lot both working and at home. She can converse very well in Dutch and for that you need to be able to put thoughts into (foreign) words quickly
Mathilde and Philip were both raised French speaking, and, though capable of holding a speech and answer questions, I doubt they master Dutch so well they can talk with ease and wit.
In Belgium  the Flemish schools teach better French than the Wallone schools teach Dutch.
Also, the language divide in Belgium is quite sharp. She could have worked with only French speaking ppl for her whole career and nobody would have found that strange.

Some years ago I heard from Belgium acquintances that in a.o. Bruxells there were an increasing number of Wallonian/ French speaking Belgians sending their offspring to Flemish schools. As apparently the education in those was better.

Til and Phil have also send their childeren to Dutch / Flemish schools.

[Principessa]

I found an interesting comment from twitter

Queen Mathilde speaks Dutch so poorly compared with Maxima who comes from Argentina and nailed it.

Is it true?

As a native Belgian, wouldn't Mathilde have studied the language at school?  And I always thought Maxima makes tons of mistakes in Dutch, but her enthusiasm carries her along.

I believe that Mathilde was educated in French speaking schools.
This is a video of her speaking Dutch. What do you think?
https://youtu.be/v3PIjixsziM

Her pronunciation is very clear (or should I say enunciation) but she has a thick accent (as in: no way she learnt Dutch at an early age). Much stronger than Max in Dutch. It is quite obvious from Max' vocbulary and word speed that she uses Dutch a lot both working and at home. She can converse very well in Dutch and for that you need to be able to put thoughts into (foreign) words quickly
Mathilde and Philip were both raised French speaking, and, though capable of holding a speech and answer questions, I doubt they master Dutch so well they can talk with ease and wit.
In Belgium  the Flemish schools teach better French than the Wallone schools teach Dutch.
Also, the language divide in Belgium is quite sharp. She could have worked with only French speaking ppl for her whole career and nobody would have found that strange.

Besides personal abilities a language also sticks and develops better if you dive into it. In other words if you use it only or predominantly in daily life.