What was Audrey Hepburn's first language?
Audrey Hepburn is known to be a polyglot; she spoke French, Italian, English, Dutch, and Spanish.
She was born in Brussels, Belgium to an English father and a Dutch mother. She spoke English fluently but her English didn't sound native-like.
Does anyone know what Audery Hepburn's first language was? (The language she spoke most confidently and fluently)
from everything2.com:
"Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels, Belgium, on May 4, 1929. Her mother, Dutch baroness Ella van Heemstra, and her father, wealthy British banker Joseph Hepburn-Ruston, named their baby girl Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston. At the age of five, her mother sent her to boarding school in England. **Rather than returning to her family for holidays, Audrey was instead sent to visit a coal miner's family so she could remain immersed in English language and customs.**
By 1939, the first signs of World War II were beginning to appear in England. Believing Holland would be safer because of its neutrality, her mother moved her family to the town of Arnhem, forcing Audrey to learn Dutch quickly because she spoke only English at the time and it was not safe to speak English in the streets."
She was probably equally at ease speaking English and Dutch, but since she spent most of her early childhood in England and her adult professional life in the US, she probably would've considered English her first language.
I listen some interview in Italian. Her Italian was not very good.
No Alessandro, I watched those interviews too but I think her Italian was better than the average compared to the way other foreigners speak it!
Of course it was not perfect but I think it was the last language she learnt so...come on.
Her first language was Goodsuckian.
<< She spoke English fluently but her English didn't sound native-like. >>
In my opinion, it did...