Queen Letizia<\/strong> doesn\u2019t do too badly either \u2013 here<\/a> she is in Vienna in 2014 at the inauguration of an exhibition of Velazquez\u2019s work. She displays very measured diction!<\/p>\n So how do our elected leaders fare? Well, not so positively, it has to be said. It doesn\u2019t matter what side of the political spectrum you\u2019re looking at, in general, politicians don\u2019t seem to be the best communicators of English. Although some of them definitely get top marks for trying. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n Firstly, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Aznar<\/strong><\/a>, interviewed in 2012. He\u2019s definitely improved over the years and he\u2019s using some good expressions and collocations<\/em>* here, but he still needs to work on that intonation.<\/p>\n His wife, Ana Botella<\/strong>, her Olympic speech<\/a> and her relaxing cup of caf\u00e9 con leche<\/em> went viral back in 2013. Looking back it seems to me that she was over-coached; she\u2019s definitely understood that a more pronounced intonation is essential to speak good English, but she\u2019s taken it too far.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all in the delivery: a lesson that Jose Luis Rodr\u00edguez Zapatero<\/strong> also needs to heed. He\u2019s obviously prepared his talk<\/a> for Oxford University, but he doesn\u2019t sound \u2013 or look \u2013 very comfortable.<\/p>\n At least they tried\u2026 here\u2019s<\/a> the current Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy<\/strong>, recently dodging a question in English at a press conference.<\/p>\n But there are others who communicate more ably. Here\u2019s the ex-minister and ex-Secretary-General of the EU Council, Javier Solana<\/strong> in 2009<\/a>. It\u2019s not perfect, but it\u2019s more spontaneous and you can see that there\u2019s real knowledge of the language behind what he says. Not surprising, when you know that he spent six years in the US in the 60s.<\/p>\n Someone who\u2019s spent a lot of more time in the US is actor Antonio Banderas<\/strong>, and to finish off we\u2019re going to look at how speaking another language has affected some other famous figures. Antonio\u2019s story is interesting; in this UK chat show<\/a>\u00a0he talks about how he got his first role in English.<\/p>\n Since then he\u2019s been married to Melanie Griffith<\/strong> (and divorced) and created an English-speaking family. He now speaks effective English, not perfect English, and preserves his Spanish identity in the way he speaks. There are mistakes, but his delivery makes up for it!<\/p>\n Melanie didn\u2019t do quite so well with her Spanish, but she tried as we can see here at the Goya Awards in 2012<\/a>:<\/p>\n Another celebrity who definitely tried was ex-Real Madrid player David Beckham. <\/strong>Here he is<\/a> at the end of his stay in Madrid. Ok, his level is low, he\u2019s stumbling, and he lacks confidence. But he communicates. And he doesn\u2019t complain about the smell of garlic (although Victoria<\/strong> has since denied she ever said that**)<\/p>\n Finally, actress Gwyneth Paltrow<\/a>,<\/strong> speaker of Spanish thanks to the time she spent in Talavera de la Reina as part of an exchange programme she took part in when she was 15 years old. And perhaps supporting the argument that it\u2019s better to start learning another language when you\u2019re young!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/virtualcampus.kingstraining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ana-botella--300x197.jpg\")
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