What Languages Does Ronaldo Speak?

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest soccer players in history. He is also one of the most famous soccer stars around the globe – over 400 million people follow him on social media Instagram. But apart from being an international star, Cristiano Ronaldo is also an international man – he can speak in many different languages. But how many exactly?

Ronaldo speaks four languages:

• English
• Spanish
• Italian
• Portuguese

That is a lot more than his great rival Lionel Messi. 

In this article, we will go over Cristiano Ronaldo’s ability to speak four different languages. Also, we’ll take a look at how he can hold conversations in all of them. We will check if there are any other languages Ronaldo can use to say some things.

Does Ronaldo Speak English?

Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo does speak English. He lived in England for six years while playing for Manchester United. The famous club signed him in 2003 when he was still a teenager. Ronaldo remained in Manchester until 2009, before he made a world-record transfer to Real Madrid, worth around €100m, which was over $120m at the time.

By the time Ronaldo left Manchester, his English was fluent and he has maintained this ability throughout the years. When he arrived as an 18-year-old, he didn’t speak English. There are even funny interviews where his teammates had to translate for him. But in the meantime, that changed.

Living in England for six days and playing in a team filled with English soccer players, he had to learn the language. It may have taken him some time to learn it fluently but by his departure in 2009, he was often giving interviews in English without problems. Ronaldo continued to give interviews in English even when he was long gone from Manchester.

Does Ronaldo Speak Spanish?

Yes, that is the second language he speaks.

Cristiano Ronaldo does speak Spanish. After his world-record move from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009, he stayed at the Spanish giants for the next nine years. During that time, he learned to speak Spanish fluently. He can speak the language until the present day.

That was also the case when he was in England – learning to speak the language of a country he was living in. But in Spain, it was even easier for him. Ronaldo is from Portugal and because of the similarities between the two Romance languages, he quickly picked up this language.

Cristiano Ronaldo became very fluent in Spanish. We could probably say that is the language he speaks best, apart from his native tongue. Ronaldo was always confident when speaking Spanish – not hesitating while talking or searching for words.

As you can see in the video below, Ronaldo’s Spanish was great throughout a slightly longer interview.

But Spanish is only one of the three languages he has learned since he became a teenager and joined Manchester United.

Does Ronaldo Speak Italian?

Another language on this list is Italian.

Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo does speak Italian. As his career progressed and he moved from one club to the other, Ronaldo also changed countries. After England and Spain, he moved to Italy, joining Juventus in 2018. It was another highly valuable transfer, as Juventus paid more than $100m to sign Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

During his three years in Italy, Ronaldo learned Italian, although not as well as Spanish. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that Ronaldo did not live in Italy as long as he did in Spain. Three years is a much shorter period than nine years. The second reason is that Italian is more different to his native tongue than Spanish is and thus he would need more time to speak it as fluently as Spanish.

Nevertheless, Ronaldo’s Italian was still good enough for him to hold interviews and answer questions from journalists. Indeed, he didn’t always prefer to speak in Italian. He would sometimes answer in English instead, but there is still more than enough evidence to be sure of Ronaldo’s ability to speak Italian. Here is Ronaldo speaking Italian less than a year and a half after he arrived at Juventus:

Cristiano Ronaldo Speaks Portuguese

But we still didn’t take a look at Ronaldo’s first language. What is it then?

Cristiano Ronaldo speaks Portuguese as his native language. Ronaldo is from Portugal so he speaks the language since he was a child. Ronaldo was born in Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira. That is why this is the language he knows and speaks best of all four.

Ronaldo speaking Portuguese as his first language is another reason for his strong accent when speaking Spanish or Italian. He speaks them with a Portuguese accent, as all three languages are Romance languages. In English, he has no such an accent.

Because Ronaldo speaks Portuguese, he can normally communicate with soccer players from Brazil. Portuguese is the official language in Brazil and Ronaldo was on different teams with many soccer players from that country.

The reason people rarely hear Ronaldo speaking Portuguese is that it is a far less spoken language than English or Spanish. That’s why there are not many opportunities for Ronaldo to speak Portuguese in public. He usually speaks it when he is on international duty, playing for the national team of Portugal.

Here is Ronaldo speaking in Portuguese after winning the European Championship 2016:

Other Languages Ronaldo Has Used In Public

Apart from these four languages, many people are interested to know whether Cristiano Ronaldo can use some other languages. To make it clear right away – Cristiano Ronaldo cannot speak any language apart from these four. However, he has used some other languages in public.

Ronaldo can say some things in two more languages:

• French
• Russian

Cristiano Ronaldo Speaking French

Ronaldo doesn’t speak French, but in one video on Instagram, he did show his skills in that language. Sitting with his fiancee Georgina Rodriguez and their daughter, Ronaldo was talking to his fans in an Instagram live. He was using different languages during his live video, and at one point he started saying things in French.

Cristiano was able to say things such as ‘good, how are you, thank you very much, goodbye’. It was unexpected to hear him say things in French, and many fans were thinking whether he was learning it in his free time or he just managed to pick it up from some of his teammates.

At the time of the video’s recording, Ronaldo was playing for Real Madrid alongside Karim Benzema. Maybe the French striker taught him some words!

Cristiano Ronaldo Speaking Russian

As we have seen, Ronaldo speaks mostly Romance languages, with the clear exception of English. That’s why many are surprised when they hear Cristiano say some things in Russian.

Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo knows some words and phrases in Russian. That is because he dated Russian model Irina Shayk for five years. They started dating in 2010 shortly after meeting each other, and they were together until January 2015.

During the time, Ronaldo learned some Russian words from Irina, which he revealed in an interview in Portuguese. Ronaldo said he knew some basic things, such as ‘thank you’, ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ or ‘good night’. He doesn’t speak Russian, but it’s fun seeing Ronaldo trying himself in yet another language!

Conclusion

Cristiano Ronaldo speaks four languages – his native language Portuguese, and three languages he learned during his soccer career: English, Spanish and Italian. He can communicate very well in all four of them. While we have seen him say some phrases in French and Russian, Ronaldo doesn’t speak these languages.

Either way, estimates are that around 2.2 billion people in the world speak at least one of the four languages Cristiano Ronaldo speaks. So there’s a good chance you could talk to him without a problem if you meet him!