What Language Did Anne Frank Speak? (It May Surprise You!)

Anne Frank predominantly spoke Dutch. She was a German native and so spoke German, but spent the majority of her life in the Netherlands, so was much better at Dutch. This was the language most of her diaries were written in. She also wrote in English.

So, despite being from Germany, Anne Frank’s main language was Dutch.

She did have good proficiency in German and English, able to write at some length in both languages, but plainly her preferred language was Dutch.

Indeed, the vast majority of her diary was written in Dutch.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

Is Anne Frank Dutch or German?

Anne Frank was born in Germany, and was ethnically German.

She was born in Frankfurt in 1929, to a family of relatively secular liberal Jews.

Both her parents were German Jewish, and in her early life she and her family lived in an assimilated community of Jews and non-Jews.

Ethnically, then, by every means, she was German.

However, lived only until the age of 15, and spent the bulk of her short life in the Netherlands.

Hitler and the Nazis took full control of Germany in 1934, and it was in this year that Frank and her family fled the country.

They moved to Amsterdam, and this would be where Frank would spend the majority of her life.

So, being uprooted from her home country at the age of only five, her German language skills had a long way to come.

She would go to school in Amsterdam, and there would not only learn native Dutch but pick it up as her primary language.

This would be the language she was most comfortable with for the rest of her life.

She wrote in Dutch and spoke in Dutch among her friends, though some accounts claim she tended to speak German to her parents.

In any case, Dutch was always her main language.

She was German by birth and by ethnicity but spoke Dutch and Amsterdam was really the only home she ever knew.

So, Anne Frank was a German-born Dutch-speaking girl.

Could she speak other languages?

Did Anne Frank ever speak English?

English proficiency in the Netherlands is some of the highest in Europe, and it has been for rather a long time.

Inevitably, then, Anne Frank spent a good deal of time at school learning and studying English.

Furthermore, there are sections of her diaries that were written, by her, in good English.

Plainly, then, she had some knowledge of English.

Whether she spoke it, though, is very hard to say.

Certainly, there would have been little reason for her to speak it on a day-to-day basis, and again, her preferred language was always Dutch.

It would be pure supposition, then, to say she did or did not speak English.

If you can think back to your own time studying Spanish in high school, and think about how well you know Spanish now or how well you knew it at age 15, you probably have a good idea of Anne Frank’s skill with English.

It’s often said she could also speak French.

Could Anne Frank speak French?

Again, Anne Frank did study French, both at school and during her time in hiding.

She had some degree of proficiency with it, but she could not really speak French fluently to any degree.

She certainly did not write in French, and there would have been no reason for her to speak in French, either.

Once again it’s really not much different from the way that modern students learn languages.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to retain any of it when not using the language on a regular basis, so while Anne Frank could understand some French, she did not speak it.

As I said, the Dutch had great English skills, and language skills in general, so she may have been better with French than the average person, but she still could not speak it.

Being a Jewish girl, did Anne Frank speak any Jewish languages?

Did Anne Frank know Jewish languages?

As far as we can tell, Anne Frank had no working knowledge of any Jewish languages.

Hebrew is one of the most commonly associated Jewish languages, but Modern Hebrew is not mentioned anywhere in her diaries and does not seem to have been used by any members of her family.

Yiddish was a very common language among the Ashkenazi Jews of Germany at the period, but Frank was not Ashkenazi and did not speak or know Yiddish.

Indeed, even among Ashkenazi populations, Yiddish really was not in widespread use after the beginning of the 19^th Century.

German was widely adopted by German Jews on the whole, and so Anne Frank was never taught any Yiddish or Hebrew, as far as we know.

She may have been exposed to Yiddish or one of the other Jewish languages of Europe, such as Judeo-Spanish or Judeo-French during her life, but she would have had little capacity to know or understand it.

Anne Frank’s main language was Dutch, then, there is no doubt about that.

She had good knowledge of a couple of other languages, but for the most part, she spoke and wrote more or less exclusively in Dutch.

Clearly a very talented and intelligent young girl, her life was short and tragic, but her diaries have given us a direct window into her soul, and has been translated into over 70 languages.

More in Languages

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

Was this article helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!