The hype surrounding BabyMonster became enormous long before the group had even debuted. In fact, it took a while for the Last Evaluation documentary series to even confirm that all seven members of the group would in fact debut together — and then it became a source of disappointment when YG announced on November 15, 2023 that member Ahyeon would actually not debut with the group, at least not until her health improves. Nonetheless, a big question new fans of BabyMonster have is of who speaks English (or other languages, like Japanese, Thai, and Chinese) in the group, so among Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Rami (Haram), Rora, and Chiquita, here is the full answer based upon available examples.
Explaining Who Speaks English or Other Languages in BabyMonster
Ahyeon and Pharita are clearly fluent English speakers in BabyMonster. Chiquita and Rami certainly speak English as well, though their degree of fluency has not been fully demonstrated in video yet. Ruka, Asa, and Rora have yet to demonstrate an ability to speak fluent English. However, all members of BabyMonster seem to at least understand a degree of English.
In February 2023, YG Entertainment released a video formally introducing Ahyeon, and she revealed in that video that she has been studying English since she was 5 years old and Chinese since she was 7 years old. In that video and in the Last Evaluation documentary series, Ahyeon did indeed demonstrate fluency in speaking English and Chinese, in addition to her native Korean. Another example of Ahyeon’s English fluency is when a fan discovered her on the street and requested a video with her in April 2023, in which she spoke English.
Pharita too speaks fluent English, as demonstrated by how she assisted Ruka with English pronunciation in episode 1 of Last Evaluation, and the clarity of her English while singing English-language songs is also apparent. However, the best example is from a “thank you” message video BabyMonster published after debut, on December 4, 2023, in which Pharita thanked fans for their support in clear English. Pharita is originally from Thailand, as is Chiquita, and they both learned Korean upon moving to South Korea to train at YG Entertainment; in fact, Last Evaluation episode 2 (released in March 2023) demonstrated that Chiquita was still learning Korean. Until Last Evaluation, Chiquita performed all of her YG evaluation songs in English because it was easier for her than singing in Korean, and her English pronunciation is quite good while singing.
Meanwhile, outside of singing, Rami has not spoken much English on video yet. Amusingly, one example of her English is when she was potentially reciting memorized English as a young girl, in which she described her family. (Rami’s mother confirmed that Rami was practicing what she had learned at an English academy in that clip. The clip was originally uploaded to Instagram in July 2016.) There is also a brief example of her speaking English in Last Evaluation, while discussing song lyrics with the other BabyMonster members.
There are seemingly no strong video examples to illustrate the English-language skills of Ruka, Asa, and Rora in BabyMonster yet, outside of vocal performances, which demonstrate accented English to varying degrees. (Notably, Ruka and Asa are originally from Japan, so they speak Japanese and Korean.) That being said, all members of BabyMonster have at least some rudimentary understanding of English being spoken to them. For instance, YG producer Choice37 had been shown to speak a significant amount of English to the group. Of course, as time goes on, all of the members’ English skills will develop, more examples of their skills will become available, and this space shall be updated accordingly.
To summarize who speaks English or other languages in BabyMonster, Ahyeon and Pharita speak the most fluent English, while Chiquita and Rami speak some degree of English as well. Ahyeon also speaks Chinese, while Ruka and Asa speak native Japanese, and Pharita and Chiquita speak native Thai. Everyone speaks Korean, but Chiquita may still be learning the language.
For more about the group, check out how old the BabyMonster members currently are or our archive of adorable predebut photos of all BabyMonster members. We also have an archive of all of the BabyMonster music videos and a meticulously fact-checked BabyMonster members profile page. Or for more about K-pop groups who speak English, then check out who speaks English in Blackpink and how they each learned it or who speaks English in Aespa.
