Born and raised in Trinidad, Nicki Minaj is a singer, rapper, and now actor, who is known all around the world for her catchy songs, dance moves, and outspoken nature – especially her feuds with other celebrities.
Having been a staple of the US music scene and the worldwide charts for around a decade, Nicki Minaj has performed all over the world. With such international stardom, you can’t help but wonder, what languages does Nicki Minaj speak and how fluent is she?
How Many Languages Does Nicki Minaj Speak?
Despite her international, jet-setting lifestyle, Nicki Minaj can only actually speak English fluently and can speak Spanish to a basic level.
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This might come as a big surprise to many of her fans who assume that as an international star, Nicki Minaj might be able to speak a few languages at least at a basic level, if not to a conversational level. But no, Nicki Minaj can only speak two languages with varying degrees of fluency.
Which Languages Does Nicki Minaj Speak?
So, Nicki Minaj’s native language is English and this is the language she’s most comfortable speaking and singing in.
Given that it’s the language both of Trinidad where she grew up, and the US where she now lives and has found the majority of her success, it makes sense that she’s fluent in English, and she doesn’t really speak any other language to a high level.
That being said, she has been seen speaking Spanish at a basic level. She’s by no means fluent or even conversational really, but there is an effort to speak some Spanish in the media and to some of her Latin fans.
She’s even sung in Spanish on some of her tracks and done collaborations where she raps in Spanish, raising her profile with her Spanish-speaking fans.
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Can Nicki Minaj Speak Spanish?
Thanks to several clips that have been shared online and some public speaking events, we know that Nicki Minaj can speak some rudimentary Spanish. It doesn’t appear to be a lot, but the fact that she’s spoken Spanish publicly shows how confident she is in her limited abilities.
She might not know a ton of Spanish, but what Nicki Minaj does know, she’s super comfortable with. It’s the same when she’s singing or performing in Spanish. It seems like she’s memorized her Spanish verses, rather than fully understanding the language itself.
It’s more of a cool bonus for her Spanish fanbase rather than proof that Nicki Minaj can actually speak Spanish to a conversational level.
How Fluent is Nicki Minaj in Spanish?
As we’ve outlined, Nicki Minaj is definitely not fluent in Spanish and it’s questionable whether she knows the language to a conversational level.
There have been a few clips circulating of her speaking Spanish, but they only really feature basic phrases that are known by a lot of people who learn Spanish in school.
So, in terms of levels, we’d say that Nicki Minaj can be anywhere from beginner to intermediate. She doesn’t speak Spanish in public a lot so it’s kind of difficult to gauge where she’s at specifically.
In an interview, Nicki Minaj said that she knows how to say “I lived in…” in Spanish. It’s hardly a fluent or conversational statement and one that a lot of high school Spanish students learn in the first year of study.
So, that’s the kind of fluency level we can assume that Nicki Minaj has, but nothing has been confirmed.
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Does Nicki Minaj Sing in Spanish?
Despite Nicki Minaj not being fluent in Spanish, she does rap in Spanish in a number of her popular songs. She’s also collaborated in Spanish on tracks with Karol G, Travis Scott, and Romeo Santos.
This doesn’t actually speak to her fluency in Spanish, but instead shows that she can learn a few words and phrases, and memorizes them for when she needs to perform.
Nicki Minaj does have a pretty huge Spanish-speaking fanbase. This is likely due to her Trinidadian heritage. As it’s an island in Central America, the surrounding nations do tend to speak a mix of Spanish and English.
Combine this with her choice of collaborations, and it’s clear to see that Minaj massively values her Spanish fanbase and is taking steps to make music in their language as well as her own. It’s a cool thing to do and definitely opens up a lot more doors for global music domination!
Want to Learn a Language?
All in all, despite her worldwide fanbase, Nicki Minaj only actually speaks one language, her native English, at a fluent level. Although she’s confident enough to speak publicly and sing in Spanish, she’s definitely not fluent in the language and it does seem like she only knows limited words and phrases outside of her own lyrics.
Even though she doesn’t speak the language fluently, Nicki Minaj does have a deep appreciation and love for her Spanish fanbase and it looks like she’s expanding her bilingual music tastes moving forward – like a lot of artists at the moment.
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Dayna Brockbank is a travel and language-learning blogger who has lived around the world but has now settled in Nice, France. She speaks 3 languages at varying levels of fluency: Spanish, Italian, and French, and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Spanish Education. She and her husband focus on making travel part of life by living cheaply and traveling on a budget.