How many languages does Boris Johnson speak? British PM speaks in Russian, takes internet by storm

On February 26, 2022, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared a video on Twitter to address the Russian-Ukrainian crisis after discussing it with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the video, Johnson appealed to Russian citizens to stand up against Vladimir Putin's "unjustifiable assault" on Ukraine.

Johnson also labeled the crisis a "tragedy" for Russia. While speaking in English for most of the pre-recorded video, Johnson addressed the Russians in their native language. He said:

"To my Russian friends, I do not believe this war is in your name. It does not have to be this way."

He later addressed the people of Ukraine in their native language, saying:

"This crisis, this tragedy, can and must come to an end because the world needs a free and sovereign Ukraine."

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Can UK PM Boris Johnson speak Russian and Ukrainian?

In the video, Johnson speaks in English for the most part, before switching to Russian and Ukrainian. However, the British PM seemed to be reading a teleprompter, which could mean that the foreign parts of his speech were scripted (phonetically).

Johnson has no history of learning Slavic origin languages, which would make it somewhat counterintuitive to learn these specific foreign languages. Furthermore, the Russian and Ukrainian languages have different alphabets, pronunciation, vocabulary, and more, despite being of Indo-European Slavic origin.

The difference in origin also means that learning these languages with few similarities would be extremely difficult in a short span of time. As such, it is implausible that Boris Johnson is fluent in conversing or understanding the Russian and Ukrainian languages.

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Languages known by British PM Boris Johnson

The 57-year-old politician can reportedly speak French, Italian, some Latin, and Greek. Boris Johnson grew up in the U.S., the U.K., and Brussels, where the official language is French. In 1973, Johnson's father got a job at the European Commission, due to which his family moved to the Uccle municipality in Brussels, where the eight-year-old Boris picked up some French linguistic skills.

Two years later, Johnson was admitted to Ashdown House preparatory boarding school in East Sussex, where he dabbled in Latin and Greek. Reportedly, Johnson also speaks a bit of Italian. However, it seems that the British Prime Minister is not entirely fluent in any of the foreign languages.

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Online reaction to Boris addressing Ukraine and Russian citizens in their respective native languages

While many praised the Prime Minister for addressing the people in their own language, some vaguely criticized the speech.

One user tweeted that Johnson's usage of the native language after mostly speaking in English was "patronizing" to Russians and Ukrainians.