Maybe you’re amazed by a certain musician’s vocal talent or you just love watching your favorite actor’s on-screen charm. Even if you’re not the type of person to pay close attention to celebrities, you’ve probably heard a few stories of famous athletes or movie stars doing amazing things and felt a little inspired. But have you ever looked to celebrities for a bit oflanguage learning motivation or wondered how many languages Leonardo DiCaprio speaks?
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Shakira
- Sandra Oh
- Serena Williams
- Viggo Mortensen
- Will Smith
- Natalie Portman
- Lupita Nyong’o
- Tom Hiddleston
- Colin Firth
Learn languages at your pace
Choose your plan
1. Leonardo DiCaprio
He might be an iconic American star now, but, thanks to his background, Leonardo DiCaprio can speak foreign languages namely English, German, and Italian. In fact, he often spent time with his maternal grandparents in Germany.
Fun fact: His middle name is Wilhelm!
2. Shakira
You probably already know that this Latin American music starspeaks Spanishas well as English. But did you know she’s also fluent in Portuguese and knows some Italian, French, Catalan, andArabic?
Maybe she can inspire you toadd some musicto your language learning routine.
3. Sandra Oh
Are you a fan ofGrey’s Anatomy? If so, you might already know that Canadian-American actress Sandra Oh is fluent in Korean, English, and French.
Though she learned Korean from a young age, she didn’t pick up French until she went to university at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, Quebec.
4. Serena Williams
She’s won 23 Grand Slam singles titles. And she’s a celebrity speaking foreign languages: English, French, and Italian to be exact.
She revealed that one of her motivations for learning French was that she wanted to win the French Open and be able to speak French afterwards.
5. Viggo Mortensen
Known for his role as Aragorn inThe Lord of the Rings, Viggo Mortensen speaks a total of 7 languages. He’s fluent in English,Spanish, Danish, andFrench, conversational in Italian, and has stated that he can get by in Norwegian and Swedish.
Though he grew up bilingual, he made an effort to learn Danish as a teenager and continues to learn languages for various roles, including Arabic (and Elvish, of course!).
Learn languages at your pace
Choose your plan
6. Will Smith
You might know him from films likeMen in BlackorThe Pursuit of Happyness, but you might not know that famous actor and rapper Will Smith speaks Spanish. In fact, he surprised quite a few people by answering a reporter in Spanish during the New York premiere ofAfter Earth.
7. Natalie Portman
One of the most multilingual celebrities on this list, Natalie Portman has had an interest in foreign languages since childhood. In addition to her native English and Hebrew, she speaks German, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Arabic.
8. Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o was born in Mexico, though she grew up in Kenya. As a result, she now speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Swahili, and Luo. She also spent time learning Xhosa for her role inBlack Panther.
9. Tom Hiddleston
In addition to being a famous actor, Tom Hiddleston has been known to show a great interest in other cultures. Naturally, this has led to him becoming fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and Greek. He alsospeaks some German, Russian, Korean, Latin, and Mandarin Chinese.
10. Colin Firth
Famous English actor Colin Firth isn’t limited to his native language. He’s also fluent in Italian, which he started learning when he first began dating Italian film producer and director Livia Giuggioli (who is now his wife).
Learn languages at your pace
Choose your plan
Cassie Wright
Cassie Wright is a freelance writer and blogger living in the United States. After a bad experience with elementary school Spanish classes, she fell in love with learning French. Now, in addition to French, she spends a considerable amount of time learning Japanese and has jumped back into learning Spanish. Like many avid language learners, she plans to continue learning more languages than she has hours in the day. When she isn’t writing or learning, she loves reading, traveling, video games, and all forms of chocolate.
