Several of the most popular K-pop groups have at least one person who can speak English, whether by coincidence or by company design. For instance, RM speaks eloquent English for BTS, almost everyone in Blackpink speaks English, NewJeans has several English speakers, Giselle speaks English for Aespa, Itzy is full of impressive English speaking, and even Fifty Fifty speaks some deceptively good English. However, JYP Entertainment girl group Twice is seldom seen speaking the language for longer than a few seconds at a time. So among Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu, here is a full explanation of what languages Twice can speak, including English but also Japanese and Chinese.
No One in Twice Speaks Fluent English
At this time, surprisingly, none of the nine Twice members can speak fluent English. However, Momo, Sana, and Mina speak fluent Japanese, in addition to Korean, because they are from Japan. (Mina was actually born in the United States to Japanese parents but moved to Japan as a toddler.) Tzuyu speaks Mandarin Chinese, in addition to Korean, because she is originally from Taiwan.
When it comes to English though, the Twice members tend to speak it in short snippets, when they speak it at all. No one in the group has ever demonstrated a high level of fluency. However, Nayeon has demonstrated a desire and an effort to improve her English-speaking ability. In a vacation video published in March 2022, Nayeon filmed herself doing an English lesson with a teacher, and in the video’s subtitles that appeared simultaneously, she explained, “I want to hone my English skills so that I can tell Once [the Twice fandom] how I feel more clearly and honestly.” She also expressed that, although learning English is “hard,” it is also “really fun” and she is becoming “more and more confident.”
Likewise, in a tour video published in April 2022, Nayeon can be seen practicing English that she had hoped to speak to fans, and her manager noted at that time, “Nayeon always practices her English.” In that clip, her enthusiasm is evident and the meaning of her words is clear, even if her pronunciation is imperfect.
Despite no one being fluent in English yet, it can be assumed that all members of Twice at least understand some basic English. After all, English is a compulsory subject for study in South Korea, Taiwan, and (albeit in 2011) Japan. But on that same note, it is important to clarify that many people do not develop English fluency strictly as a result of this compulsory education. In South Korea, many who speak fluent English are people who received additional English education at hagwons, which are for-profit after-school learning academies. Because hagwons can be costly, at times the ability to speak English can in itself be a status symbol in South Korea.
So to summarize, no one in Twice can speak fluent English, but Nayeon is making an effort to learn the language. Everyone in Twice speaks Korean, Tzuyu speaks Mandarin Chinese, and Momo, Sana, and Mina speak Japanese. It can be presumed that all of the members understand the most basic English, but they have demonstrated little ability to speak it in a sustained manner.
For more about Twice, check out how old the members currently are, when the group debuted, and who the leader is, how she was selected, and what her responsibilities are. We also maintain an enormous archive of all of the Twice music videos, making it easy to watch everything the group has ever created!
