Does Melania Trump speak Polish? She ‘gets along’ with Agata Duda Poland’s First Lady

The Daily Express ^ | June 13, 2019 | Emily Hodgkin

[2ndDivisionVet]

MELANIA TRUMP, 49, shocked when she made a rare comment about fellow First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda of Poland. Donald’s wife rarely makes public addresses, but made an exception in this case. Melania is somewhat of a linguist. Does she speak Polish?

Melania Trump and Agata Kornhauser-Duda of Poland appear to have made somewhat of a friendship, according to the President of the US.

But, does Melania Trump speak polish? Many are away of the First Lady's language skills.

Born in Slovenia, Melania moved to the US in her early 20s.

[Karoo]

Ah-ha. I was wondering about that.

[TonytheTiger7777]

Its the same language, Slavic. my exgirlfriend was from czech republic and understands all slav languages but Russian which is steppe slavic

[lee martell]

I recall being on a train in Paris (1980), and the drivers made announcements in several different languages. It seemed as easy to them as describing various colors.
French, Italian, German, English and ‘something else’ I couldn’t identify. Computers may do the same kind of announcing in today’s world.

[Michael.SF.]

I have known a few people who spoke more than three languages. To them it isn't really an effort, in most cases. I think some brains are just wired to accept such information and retain it easily.

I would compare it, somewhat to musicians who can play multiple instruments. They just have a skill that few others have.

For those of us who lack this ability, it is indeed difficult to grasp.

[georgiarat]

How many languages did Moochelle speak? We know she was not fluent in English but otherwise.....

[Fiji Hill]

Its common for people from former east bloc countries to know Russian as a second language

In East Germany and probably the other Warsaw Pact countries as well, high school students were required to study Russian. When I was in Latvia and Estonia, then part of the Soviet Union, in 1972, I used Russian to get around even though I didn't speak it all that well. I didn't try using English, but I have heard that it is widely understood over there today.

[oldvirginian]

“The First Lady speaks six languages”

I speak two: English and bad English.

[KC_Lion]

Thank You for the ping and video link CondoleezzaProtege!

VIDEO: President Trump and FLOTUS at White House Polish-American Reception

[dfwgator]

Slovenian and Polish have a lot of similarities, being Slavic languages.

[dfwgator]

Used to work with some Poles who all spoke Russian

No true Pole would be caught dead speaking Russian in Poland.

[miss marmelstein]

Wow! The Polish first lady looks beautiful, too!

[Long Jon No Silver]

Wookie couldn’t even speak english

[CondoleezzaProtege]

So true!

[texas booster]

It depends on how many words are required to be spoken that can be understood.

If one word is all it takes, well I have heard a certain word from over 30 different cultures spoken quite accurately and with little accent. :)

[llevrok]

They speak “babe”

[SuperLuminal]

"Watching Melania closely her body language, it appeared that she understood Polish."

Good idea... Watching Melania's body is at 2nd place on my list...
(Of course #1 still has to be our former pet gorilla...)

[Does so]

Wired as youngsters is key.

Europeans perfect their English from American TV shows. I’ve heard Baywatch and Alf mentioned! Make that ‘Mercan.

[Cronos]

It was common. Anyone who went to school in the years before communism fell (so anyone 40+ ) from the erstwhile soviet bloc had to study Ruski in school.

To many, like my wife, it was an imposed language that they didn't learn too well and forgot quickly after 1991. Some may remember it

Both Mrs. Trump and Mrs. Duda belong to that generation of kids and both most likely learnt Ruski, but i would doubt they know

From the Polish papers Piękna Melania zna płynnie sześć języków (angielski, niemiecki, słoweński, francuski, serbsko-chorwacki i włoski), a Agata Duda jest z wykształcenia germanistką, więc panie nie miały żadnych problemów porozumienm sie -- meaning "Beautiful Melania knows fluently six languages (english, german, slovenian, french, serbo-croat and italian) and Agata Dude is a Germanistika (meaning a master in the German language and culture) , so the ladies didn't have any problem understanding each other

[jazminerose]

They have a lot in common. They both understand the horrors of socialism; the bridge to communism.

Both women place a high value on liberty.

I suspect that they intuitively understand each other quite well.

[Cronos]

No, Slavic is NOT the same language.

I speak polish reasonably fluently (have been learning it for years) and Poles can roughly understand other "western slavic languages" like Czech or Slovak - and also vice-versa. But they have a lot of false friends - for instance the car Skoda means arrow in Slovakian and means unfortunately in Polish. And Szukac means to search in polish and means to f*$ in czech etc.

Between Czech/Polski/Slovak and the southern or eastern Slavic languages there is as much in common as English, Flemish and German

They most definitely are not the same language - Slovenian and Polski are NOT mutually intelligible