Máxima's Voice, Accent and Languages

[BurberryBrit]

Here is a video of Maxima speaking english. Her voice and accent surprised me! Her voice is deep (nice) and she speaks english with a Germanic accent. Did she have an accent before learning dutch? I wonder if the fact that she has been speaking Dutch for so long (an probably predominantly in her daily life) is the reason her english sounds this way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZtA7sr-CDw

Her voice was just unexpected.

 

[carlota]

i thought she had a very british accent, despite having lived in new york for such a long time.

i heard her speaking in spanish during her solo official visit to argentina last year, and she still has an argentinian accent when speaking spanish.

her tone surprised me as well, she has a very deep, matured voice.

 

[Saturn]

Maxima has a really nice voice!. I don't know if she has a german accent, as I'm not german, but what I can say is that when she speaks English she doesn't have spanish accent at all.

 

[magnik]

How is her Dutch after these few years?

 

[Gisela]

If I'm not mistaken, Maxima attended 'Northlands' school in Buenos Aires. Northlands offers a bilingual (English-Spanish) curriculum and was founded by a Brit. That would explain her British accent.

 

[BurberryBrit]

Magnik, I believe she is fluent. I saw another video and she spoke with authority.

Yes, she does have a british tone to her speech as well.

 

[Maxie]

How is her Dutch after these few years?

The princess is fluent in Dutch. From time to time she makes little mistakes and she has a little spanish accent, but I have to say, I'm amazed how well she learnt our language, since it definitely isn't an easy language to learn for someone with a latin background.

 

[*SofiaM*]

I was surprised when I heard Maxima, her voice doesn't sound like she is from Argentina. I'm no expert but her accent when speaking Dutch is very good

 

[Henri M.]

German Nuns, British College, Latin University

The princess is fluent in Dutch. From time to time she makes little mistakes and she has a little spanish accent, but I have to say, I'm amazed how well she learnt our language, since it definitely isn't an easy language to learn for someone with a latin background.

Máxima Zorreguieta did attend primary school at the Institute Malinckrodt in Buenos Aires, an expensive private school led by German nuns.

Máxima Zorreguieta did attend secondary school at the expensive Northlands College in Buenos Aires, where English was the first language and is vested on the typical Brithish girls' schools for the happy few.

Máxima Zorreguieta studied Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina Santa María de los Buenos Aires.

Máxima Zorreguieta worked in New York (English) and Brussels (Dutch and French). She studied Dutch in private courses with a logopediste.

 

[Maxie]

When I said the princess had a latin background I didn't mean to say that she wasn't educated or whatsoever, Henri. I'm well aware of the good education she had.

I was only referring to the fact that it's very hard to learn Dutch for someone who speaks a latin language like Spanish, Portugese or French. There are several differences between the latin and germanic languages in the way the grammar is built which can make it very difficult to switch from one group of languages to the other, especially when you've never been exposed to Dutch, German or Scandinavian languages. It mostly lies in syntactic differences when it comes to the way verbs are used, I won't bore you with these kind of things...). Next to that the sounds used in germanic languages are much more extensive than the sounds used in latin languages. This explains for example why it's difficult for people who speak French to learn English. Their vocal apparatus (as it is called in linguistic science) isn't used to the more varied possibilities of the English language. At least this is what I was always told in university. This once again shows how clever Maxima is. Though I myself think I could do the same in no matter what language if I had the teachers Maxima had, of course...

 

[Henri M.]

4 language influences

Oh I was not reacting on your or someone's else's post. I only wanted to make clear she has had German, British and Spanish-speaking education. All this mixed together with Dutch language can be the reason for Máxima's accent and pronouncation.



She has been very privileged with such excellent education in her youth. So -on first sight- she had no regular contact with her Argentinean contemporaries until University.

 

[Princess Maxima]

Máxima Zorreguieta did attend primary school at the Institute Malinckrodt in Buenos Aires, an expensive private school led by German nuns.

Máxima Zorreguieta did attend secondary school at the expensive Northlands College in Buenos Aires, where English was the first language and is vested on the typical Brithish girls' schools for the happy few.

Máxima Zorreguieta studied Economics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina Santa María de los Buenos Aires.

Máxima Zorreguieta worked in New York (English) and Brussels (Dutch and French). She studied Dutch in private courses with a logopediste.

Henri,
I know Malinckrodt school.. and you don't start really studying German until secondary school.
And Northlands... in that school you don't speak just English . You have some subjects in English, but the majority of the subjects are in Spanish The english is really good at the school but they mostly give importance to sports.
So my questions is: where did you get this info from?

 

[Henri M.]

Henri,
I know Malinckrodt school.. and you don't start really studying German until secondary school.
And Northlands... in that school you don't speak just English . You have some subjects in English, but the majority of the subjects are in Spanish The english is really good at the school but they mostly give importance to sports.
So my questions is: where did you get this info from?

From the Royal House website and the many, many books, magazines, tv-documentaries and articles which appeared on the new Princess in 2001/2002.

 

[rosana]

I can´t believe she already speaks fluent dutch and with almost no accent.For a spanish speaker is very difficult to learn a germanic language ( English is included), because the structure is totally different so Maxima has really facilitiy for languages.

 

[carlota]

Oh I was not reacting on your or someone's else's post. I only wanted to make clear she has had German, British and Spanish-speaking education. All this mixed together with Dutch language can be the reason for Máxima's accent and pronouncation.



She has been very privileged with such excellent education in her youth. So -on first sight- she had no regular contact with her Argentinean contemporaries until University.

i'm sure she did. in fact, european (or any english speaking) inmigration is not a very large group in argentina, but most argentinians are grandchildren with european ancestry (only a 20% of argentina's population are autoctonous), but they are considered argentinian, speak with argentinian accent and are very much involved in argentinian culture, although they have a very wide and international background.

the children attending these schools are normally upper class argentinians whose parents want the best education for them or children of parents who travel a lot.

i myself attended a british school in buenos aires and that was pretty much the environment there...

 

[Princess Maxima]

From the Royal House website and the many, many books, magazines, tv-documentaries and articles which appeared on the new Princess in 2001/2002.

Ok, whatever
Plase show me where it sais that at the Royal House Website. I've only found:"Princess Máxima passed her baccalaureate examinations at Northlands School in 1988"

 

[BurberryBrit]

I don't understand what the dispute is over? Whether she spoke majority English or Spanish at Northlands?

So the concensus is the british inflection comes from the fact that she learned English at a school taught by Brits at Northland? I guess that could make sense if the only people she spoke english with spoke with the british accent while she spoke spanish at home.

 

[adelaide]

I don't all the schools that you mentionned in this thread about the Maxima 's scholar studies.

It's absolutly obvious when you heard Maxima speaking english that she has an exellent accent as if english would be her mother tongue.

The other thing very notable in the Maxima's cas is the vocabular that she used ,allways, in english. It's an engligh of very high level of studies, pronouced by a personn who is accostumed to speak in public or presided such audiences or comitees and so on. It's a voice with a feminine determination authority. Very impresive and charming too.

 

[rosana]

Henri, there are no schools in Argentina where English is the first language, in some expensive schools they give much importance to English and sometimes they learn some other language too, but i assure you that argentinian teens can barely speak Spanish. Maxima must have taken English lessons somewhere else, even when she was at the University.

 

[Henri M.]

Northlands College is bilangual

Henri, there are no schools in Argentina where English is the first language, in some expensive schools they give much importance to English and sometimes they learn some other language too, but i assure you that argentinian teens can barely speak Spanish. Maxima must have taken English lessons somewhere else, even when she was at the University.

Máxima Zorreguieta learned her English at Northlands College and perfectioned it in New York, where she worked and lived in the world of the haute finance.

"The IGCSE Programme at Northlands College is for students that are interested in the international accreditation of the last two years of compulsory education in Great Britain. Students take seven subjects, all in English, with the exception of Spanish and French."

 

[rosana]

I had all this information about Maxima but thanks anyway. They have some subjects in English, like many other high schools, but not as a first language.

 

[lucien]

For someone of foreign origin,Princess Máxima speaks excellent dutch and that within the relative short time-span she's here.She took the late Prince Claus advice at heart,learn dutch first.Our first introduction to Máxima's dutch was on their engagement day,she just won our hearts instantly by her efforts to speak the lingo of her new country so exceptionally well.The accent,ah,that only adds to her charm.

 

[BurberryBrit]

Máxima Zorreguieta learned her English at Northlands College and perfectioned it in New York, where she worked and lived in the world of the haute finance.

"The IGCSE Programme at Northlands College is for students that are interested in the international accreditation of the last two years of compulsory education in Great Britain. Students take seven subjects, all in English, with the exception of Spanish and French."

Thanks for clearing that up. So it looks liks she may have studied in GB for 2 years. That would explain the accent.

 

[rosana]

I don´t believe she was in GB; when she finished the university in Buenos Aires, she went to live to New York.

 

[oskana]

I dont have a problem with her accent but what really suprised me was her tone its so deep, and to be to quite honest am not sure I like.

 

[leonardinha]

I think Maxima has a slight Dutch accent. W-A is very fluent in German, but he has a remarkable Dutch accent! Very nice, indeed!

 

[Roxsteve]

Maxima speaks English beautifully like a real princess. Her british accent is proper of a queen.

 

[Henri M.]

Grüß Gott vom Vorarlberg!

It is good to keep in our minds that the Prince and Máxima were interviewed in Lech am Arlberg (Vorarlberg, Austria), in a very relaxed setting, on wintersport with the kids. The Prince has been in Lech am Arlberg all his life long, every year again. He is very devoted to the place, where he enjoys so much freedom and is given such hospitality and discretion by the local villagers.

What we saw was a seldom seen: a reporter from ORF, the Austrian public broadcasting corporation catched the Prince and Máxima and asked them about Lech am Arlberg. He (together with Máxima) said, on the interviewer's request, the typical Austrian traditional greeting Grüß Gott vom Vorarlberg.

This means more or less: 'Go with God, from Vorlarlberg'. I see that people do judge Máxima's English while she is standing in the snow on a mountain in Austria. This is of course not the same English she speaks during a glittering state visit or when she is addressing an assembled puclic. Then it is a quite polished Queen's English.

 

[leonardinha]

Grüss Gott in Vorarlberg!

Henri, while I completlely agree with you when you say that Maxima speaks a fantastic, almost accentless Dutch (as an interpreter and translator, I really admire Princess Maxima's language skills ), I don't think you change your accent depending on the occasion.

P.S.: "Grüss Gott" (literally "Greet God") means something like "God bless you".

This means more or less: 'Go with God, from Vorlarlberg'. I see that people do judge Máxima's English while she is standing in the snow on a mountain in Austria. This is of course not the same English she speaks during a glittering state visit or when she is addressing an assembled puclic. Then it is a quite polished Queen's English.

 

[ricarda]

Maxima pronounced those four German words very well
which shows to me that she has a talent for languages.

She seems to speak English fluently but I don't think she has a British accent,
in fact it seems quite a mixture of different accents to me.

I like her voice, it's deep and warm.