| Bigbrotherbp 25.10.2007 12:21 |
1. Bomi and Jer were all spoke English?? 2. If not, so did Freddie speak his parents' language? thanks |
| queenfanbg 25.10.2007 13:09 |
That is veeeery important,i think... :)) |
| una999 25.10.2007 14:26 |
Bigbrotherbp wrote: 1. Bomi and Jer were all spoke English?? 2. If not, so did Freddie speak his parents' language? thanksGood question - always wonder why he spoke English without any Indian tones etc. Maybe it was because his father worked for the British so had more contacts with them than natives? Wonder did he ever go back to Zanzibar - i doubt it! |
| Poo, again 25.10.2007 16:54 |
Freddie's mother tongue was Gujarati, a language spoken in northwestern India. Not sure if he spoke Gujarati around the house though. I might have to ask him. |
| Micrówave 25.10.2007 17:25 |
Bigbrotherbp wrote: Bomi and Jer were all spoke English??and you speak, what? Cause make that all don't sense at. |
| Killer_Whale 25.10.2007 17:47 |
English is the official language in Zanzibar. |
| Killer_Whale 25.10.2007 17:52 |
English is the official language in Zanzibar (Tanzania). |
| QueenMercury46 25.10.2007 20:08 |
<font color=pink>Poo wrote: I might have to ask him.Yes, please let us know what he says! :D |
| Serry... 26.10.2007 00:03 |
Body language |
| bas asselbergs 26.10.2007 03:40 |
back chat? las palabras de amor? |
| bas asselbergs 26.10.2007 03:43 |
He could hav spoken Japanese too at home i guess? As he was so fond of the country...or German, as he lived there so long...? Please check out my new little website.... and tell everyone you know, about it. I can use the support from all you Queenfans... it's link maybe you'll even like what i've come up with? |
| Pandy Legend 26.10.2007 04:23 |
It is very likely that he would have spoken an Indian language - if Mrs. B. spoke Gujarati then I imagine Freddie would have done so too, but he would certainly have learnt English from a young age. At school in India, he would have had his lessons in English, as I believe it was a British-run school, but he may have spoken with his friends in Gujarati or another Indian language. It is quite likely that he would have had knowledge of Farsi (Persian) as well, being of Persian ancestry and religion. The song Mustapha is, I think, mainly in Farsi - but whether that came from a real knowledge of the language or just things he heard I don't know. As for his accent, I think he did have a certain 'twang' to his voice - not an Indian sound as such, but perhaps a Zanzibarian sound - having never heard a Zanzibarian accent, I couldn't really comment! He came to England at a young age (13 I think), so he would have picked up a local accent a lot easier, however if you hear his sister Kashmira she has a very English accent - but then she is younger and so would have picked up the accent a lot easier. Furthermore, when Freddie was a teenager, I think he was very conscious of the fact that he was 'different' from his school friends and so perhaps tried to cover up his accent. |
| Bigbrotherbp 26.10.2007 06:44 |
una999 wrote:Hehe, guys. Thanks first; but I'm not talking about why he spoke without any Indian accent.Bigbrotherbp wrote: 1. Bomi and Jer were all spoke English?? 2. If not, so did Freddie speak his parents' language? thanksGood question - always wonder why he spoke English without any Indian tones etc. Maybe it was because his father worked for the British so had more contacts with them than natives? Wonder did he ever go back to Zanzibar - i doubt it! New topic: link |
| studyan 26.10.2007 06:53 |
hebrew? |
| Ready_Coddie 26.10.2007 07:35 |
Freddie left India in 1964 after flunking in the SSC exam (I flunked it too :D) Afterwards he went to Zanzibar where revolution arose and they left for England. And yes, Freddie is a parsi but is not of Direct Persian ancestry. His hometown is Bulsar where they have a fucking lot of hot chicks. Bulsar is in Gujarat and Parsis settled in Gujarat since over 400 years back, I mean if you can call a gujarati-parsi an iranian then you have to call every american an african or british or something. Moving on to which language he spoke... Definately A persian dialect of Gujarati which is common amongst parsis here. Panchgani was an elite school at the time Freddie went in it but obviously you don't converse with each other in English in India, its usually Hindi or your native tongue if your talking to someone with the same caste as you are. the 'twang' in his voice as someone reffered is pretty much of a parsi dude trying to hide his roots. |
| brENsKi 27.10.2007 08:55 |
Klingon? |
| deleted user 31.10.2007 10:29 |
Killer_Whale wrote: English is the official language in Zanzibar (Tanzania).Even though he lived in Germany, he didn't speak a word of German. As well as Japan, absolutly fasinated with the country and its customs but didn't speak a word of Japanese. If you can find a way to contact his family maybe they have an answer! :) |
| FriedChicken 31.10.2007 12:00 |
I don't see why trivia like this is important |
| FunLovinCriminal 23.07.2018 23:17 |
It has just been revealed that Freddie spoke fluent German. It is even rumored that he was in fact German, born in Munich and then taken over to Zanzibar by the Bavarian Refugee-Police (you know how humane they are down there). But the Queen Of Bavaria, Barbara Valentin, took him back with the help of Lesley Ann-Jones and Paul Gambaccini who had „that sinking feeling“. Even today, Gambaccini is feeling „it“. Sorry for not being able to reveal my source. |
| Saint Jiub 24.07.2018 03:35 |
FunLovinCriminal wrote: It has just been revealed that Freddie spoke fluent German. It is even rumored that he was in fact German, born in Munich and then taken over to Zanzibar by the Bavarian Refugee-Police (you know how humane they are down there). But the Queen Of Bavaria, Barbara Valentin, took him back with the help of Lesley Ann-Jones and Paul Gambaccini who had „that sinking feeling“. Even today, Gambaccini is feeling „it“. Sorry for not being able to reveal my source.I believe you, but your comments are useless without a source. However, please do not reveal your source. |
| emrabt 24.07.2018 07:27 |
The serious answer: Swahili at home and English at school growing up. This was pretty standard in Zanzibar at the time and is most likely. He would probably have known some Arabic from religious lessons too. |
| Qubus 24.07.2018 17:14 |
To my (amateurish) understanding, the upper layers of the Parsi community of Mumbai have been Anglicized to a large extent, and this has been the case for some time. Elite-class Parsis were heavily involved with English-language educational institutions and newspapers even in the 19th century, and according to anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann, most Mumbai Parsis used English as their dominant language at home at the time she studied there, in 1988-1994. Since Freddie’s father was an educated man who worked for the colonial government, it seems possible that English could also have been this family’s main language at home, especially after they had emigrated to Zanzibar, where Gujarati would have had limited social relevance. |
| Qubus 26.07.2018 14:18 |
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| Qubus 26.07.2018 14:25 |
Sorry, I seem to have posted an empty message. I don't know what went wrong. I was saying that English rather than Gujarati may have been Freddie's native language. Peter Freestone writes in his blog that the family consistently spoke English with each other, at least whenever he was present. |
| Sebastian 26.07.2018 18:44 |
Kashmira claimed they mostly spoke English to each other, but also Swahili. Unlike Peter Freestone, Kashmira actually knew Frederick as a child. |
| freddies bell end 27.07.2018 10:44 |
His mother and father are from the Gujarati state of India. The father spoke English at his job. Freddie spoke English at his job. If you go to the website of Freddie’s childhood school, they can confirm if Freddie had a Hindi or English curriculum. Being that Freddie had a clipped colonial accent, it’s likely the school lessons all were in Hindi. English was his third language. Gujarat to Hindi to English. He spoke a mix of all 3 languages. The Swahili rumor was started back in the 1970s to cover up his ethnicity. Even if the people of Zanzibar spoke Swahili, Freddie was hardly ever home. All Indian families speak some English at home as a way of showing off to each other that they can speak it. Trust me on this. My ex-wife is Indian. Conclusion : he spoke a mix of Gujarati, Hindi, English and Body Langiage. Mustafa is only a pastiche of syllabication if different languages. I’ve played it to Arab speaking people. They say he isn’t really sayin anything except Mustafa Ibrahim , will pray for you. Everything in between is just scat singing type jibberish. Artistic jibberish. Genius level. |
| freddies bell end 27.07.2018 10:48 |
The whole Persian gaffe was just to hide his ethnicity so he wouldn’t have to answer questions about it. Freddie was one to focus on music and having a good time. I’m bi-racial and the 1980s America wasn’t a good time for that. The rate of acceptance was 50/50 where today it doesn’t matter. |
| Sebastian 27.07.2018 12:50 |
freddies bell end wrote: Gujarat to Hindi to English. He spoke a mix of all 3 languages.Source? freddies bell end wrote: The Swahili rumor was started back in the 1970s to cover up his ethnicity. Even if the people of Zanzibar spoke Swahili, Freddie was hardly ever home.The Swahili rumour was confirmed by his sister, who, unlike any of us, was there. freddies bell end wrote: All Indian families speak some English at home as a way of showing off to each other that they can speak it. Trust me on this. My ex-wife is Indian.Your personal experience doesn't necessarily translate to everyone else. |
| Qubus 27.07.2018 13:09 |
Sebastian, do you remember where she said that? |
| Qubus 27.07.2018 15:34 |
I have tried to locate Kashmira's statement on YouTube and Google Books, but I haven't been able to find it. Maybe it's from a printed source? That he would have spoken Swahili is interesting, and it comes as somewhat of a surprise to me, since Swahili did not become the official language before the early 1960s and Freddie had attended a British missionary school from age 5 before leaving at age 8 anyway. They must have acquired their knowledge of Swahili through informal channels then, but probably not from their relatives. I guess they could have picked it up from the family's domestic servants. |
| emrabt 27.07.2018 16:56 |
Was it the same documentary where she talked about growing up and having old British magazine's and trying to follow fashions even though they were out of date? |
| Qubus 27.07.2018 17:25 |
emrabt, I don't think she says it in "The untold story", if you mean that one. A least not in the part covering the Zanzibar period. |
| emrabt 27.07.2018 17:34 |
I'm usless with titles of things, but that's the one i probably meant. |
| cmsdrums 27.07.2018 18:56 |
You can certainly here traces of an Indian accent in some of his interviews, particularly when he is more relaxed such as the David Wigg 1985 one. It does come across as someone who has been taught a specific version of ‘proper’ English, as Freddie would have been in the 40s/50s as the son of a government official in a public school. |
| Sebastian 27.07.2018 21:14 |
Qubus wrote: Sebastian, do you remember where she said that?A Fan Club convention. |
| indy19 01.04.2019 08:08 |
BullSHIT.
Let me tell the REAL TRUTH. As an Indian-American who grew up in India until she was almost 16 (Freddie was almost 18 when he went to England) and who went to Loreto and Carmel Convent (missionary GIRLS schools pretty similar to St. Peters) from the age of 3-15, let me EDUMAHCATE YOU, MR. EX-HUSBAND OF RANDOM INDIAN LADY:
Our FIRST LANGUAGE in our school was ENGLISH because they were ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOLS. That's why the rich people of Indian send their kiddies to those schools. It certainly ain't because they want their kids converted to Catholicism, LOL. It's for the ease garnered while SPEAKING and READING and WRITING in ENGLISH.
We were strictly forbidden to speak to our classmates, our teachers or anyone visiting the school in any other language. The ONLY time we were allowed to use (that means speak, read, write) in another language -- including our mother tongues; mine was Bengali, btw -- was during THOSE classes.
So, while I was in school, my first language was English, my second language was Bengali, and my third language was Hindi. I could have opted for Chinese as there were a lot of Chinese in Calcutta, or for Sanskrit but I wanted to understand Bollywood movies so I opted for Hindi (that was from Class 3).
We could do whatever the hell we wanted (in terms of speaking etc) once we were out the school gates. For Freddie, btw, that wasn't every day like me. He only went home (or to his aunts in Bombay) during the holidays... I guess.
So, at home, we cousins didn't speak English because we wanted to "impress each other" LOFUCKINGL... we did it 'cos fighting words came real easy when you're angry or upset. Trust me. English is FULL OF CUSS WORDS THAT ARE JUST GORGEOUS TO UTTER. Hindi is good too. But somehow those words are just insane. I mean, kinda horribly insane. Saying "you moron" in English could earn you a "LANGUAGE, KIDS!" and a stink eye from dad, but saying the same in Hindi would literally get you no dinner and a severe grounding.
English works well for kids in India.
Now that I've said my bit because it ACTUALLY COMES FROM EXPERIENCE, kindly shut the fuck up.
And yes I realize this is an old thread. I'm wading through them all. So, no smart comments, please.
freddies bell end wrote: His mother and father are from the Gujarati state of India. The father spoke English at his job. Freddie spoke English at his job. If you go to the website of Freddie’s childhood school, they can confirm if Freddie had a Hindi or English curriculum. Being that Freddie had a clipped colonial accent, it’s likely the school lessons all were in Hindi. English was his third language. Gujarat to Hindi to English. He spoke a mix of all 3 languages. The Swahili rumor was started back in the 1970s to cover up his ethnicity. Even if the people of Zanzibar spoke Swahili, Freddie was hardly ever home. All Indian families speak some English at home as a way of showing off to each other that they can speak it. Trust me on this. My ex-wife is Indian. Conclusion : he spoke a mix of Gujarati, Hindi, English and Body Langiage. Mustafa is only a pastiche of syllabication if different languages. I’ve played it to Arab speaking people. They say he isn’t really sayin anything except Mustafa Ibrahim , will pray for you. Everything in between is just scat singing type jibberish. Artistic jibberish. Genius level. |
| emrabt 01.04.2019 09:08 |
BullSHIT.Yeah what would Freddie sister know, after all she only grew up in the same house. |
| neilrob 06.05.2019 15:03 |
I have not listened to a lot of queens material, although I am familiar with their single releases. On the subject of Freddie and language, one thing I have noticed is on the studio version and Live Killers version of Spread Your Wings, when he sings "You got no real ambition, you won't get very far" he sings "wery" not "very", Pronouncing letter "v" as a "w" is something that I hear often amongst people from indian descent...... |
| bucsateflon 06.05.2019 17:18 |
the millennial version of Farrokh became a phone scammer. "Hello my name is Fred what operating system do you have?" |