Disney Princesses singing in their Native Languages

Background information about the characters: Nala: When “The Lion King” was released in 1994, a special Zulu dubbing was made on that occasion: it is the first and last Zulu dubbing made by Disney, as well as the only dubbing in any language spoken in Africa (other than Arabic). For this reason, Zulu is the only language that can be chosen for Nala. Given the impossibility to determine when the story takes place, I decided to put Nala first in this video. Full song by Wendy Molefe(?): https://youtu.be/CXy3z2gMskI Megara: While the movie gives us a clear location (Thebes), establishing the exact point in time is a bit complicated. The story takes place during the so-called Greek Heroic Age, which spans roughly from 15th to 9th century BC. It’s Herodotus to place the myth of Hercules in 1300 BC. Full song by Ευρυδίκη | Evridiki: https://youtu.be/zVMqAKw_frU Moana: About 3500 years ago, Polynesian people suddenly stopped journeying by sea for still foggy reasons, to start travelling again about a thousand years later. According to directors Clements and Musker, the movie gives a fantastic explanation to the causes of and conclusion of that hiatus. We can therefore assume that the story takes place more or less 2500 years ago. The languages used in the video are two, but they actually represent one sole language: Proto-Polynesian, the common ancestor to all Polynesian languages, which subsequently spread and diversified across the Polynesian triangle. The story takes place somewhere in it, maybe even across the whole area. A Hawaiian version should also have been included, but when the video was made, no high quality version was available. Find it here now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjvD4nVA3es Full song by Sabrina Laughlin (Tahitian): https://youtu.be/SQHIu91iCCc?t=5 Full song ​by Jaedyn Randell (Māori): https://youtu.be/Cpq3e9IlC9U Mulan: While the Ballad of Mulan is dated back to the Norther Wei dynasty (386 – 534), Xiongnu invasions (here identified as Huns, although a connection between these two populations is still debated) happened mostly during Han dynasty. Some temporal discrepancies can be easily spotted along the movie: the capital city is clearly the Forbidden City, which was built only in the 15th century, while fireworks were invented c. 8/9th century. Full song ​by 叶蓓 | Yè Bēi: https://youtu.be/rLRdQuHmX6s Jasmine: While the “One Thousand and One Nights” collection is a miscellanea of tales from different ancient folklores, Disney’s version takes place in a fictional presumably Arabic-speaking country, as we can assume from the opening song, which reprises the most notorious English version of the collection’s title: Arabian nights. According to the filmmakers, the story was initially meant to take place in Baghdad, Iraq, when the Gulf War bursted out and the directors were forced to change the setting. The name "Agrabah" was made up by Musker playing with the name "Baghdad". The core of the One Thousand and One Nights collection is dated 8th/9th century, and we can assume that’s the period when our story takes place, even though the tale became part of the collection only in the early 18th century. Note: the dubbing used is in Egyptian Arabic because it's the only official Disney dubbing in Arabic (like the vast majority of Disney movies). Full song ​by نهلة الملواني | Nahla Al-Malawany: https://youtu.be/P7bGGuVLAzY Merida: The location can be easily spotted by the map Elinor shows Merida while teaching her, while the 9th to 12th century dating was given by Mark Andrews and Katherine Sarafian, who also stated they wanted to recreate an iconic Scottish setting, not looking too close at historical accuracy. This resulted in a number of anachronisms, including: Romans invasions (dated mostly 1st and 2nd century) and Viking attacks (who kept raiding Scotland from the 8th to 11th century) occurring almost at the same time, bears being stuffed while they went extinct in Scotland in the prehistoric age and the first records of kilts in Scotland being dated 16th century. Full song ​by Peigi Barker: https://youtu.be/aeR4Dgzq5m0 Aurora: The movie gives us a clear century: 14th. As for the location, it’s impossible to tell, though we can easily guess it’s somewhere in central Europe. French was chosen looking at the author, as in the opening credits it reads: “Story adaptation (…) from the Charles Perrault version of Sleeping Beauty”. Full song ​by Danielle Licari: https://youtu.be/grJMal8W6z8?t=19 Esmeralda: Place and date are clearly specified: the story starts in Paris on the day of “la fête des fous” (January 6th) and ends two days later. The year is specified in Victor Hugo’s book. Full song ​by Claudia Benamou: https://youtu.be/sJQzDhP1lxo Snow White: As for Aurora, the choice of the language falls on the authors, as no specific information is given in the movie about the location, though the artists seem to have said they took inspiration from German landscapes. The opening credits read “adapted from Grimms’ fairy tales”, while for the period, some sources link the environment to the 17th century, but it’s mainly speculation. Full song ​by Alexandra Wilcke: https://youtu.be/yqmbTQthrjU Pocahontas: Place and date are clearly specified in the movie. Jamestown is the historical settlement where the British colonists lived when Pocahontas met them. Pocahontas was the daughter of the chief of Virginia Algonquians, known as Powhatan, which is also the language they spoke. In the movie, we can see how, the first time she speaks to John Smith, Pocahontas suddenly starts to speak English, letting us know that she can now speak both English and Powhatan. “Colors of the Wind” is the only song she sings in English, the rest is supposed to be in Powhatan. EDIT: why isn't the song in Powhatan, then? Simple reason: there's no dubbing in Powhatan nor in any other native American language. Belle: The location is pretty clear, and it was confirmed the story takes place in 18th century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I6zBWitMh4 Some want to collocate the story more precisely in Savoy, a region on the Swiss-Italian border. Full song ​by Bénédicte Lécroart: https://youtu.be/EwP7mmMWkzo Ariel: It was recently confirmed that the story takes place in the Mediterranean Sea and that Eric’s kingdom is somewhere in Italy: https://youtu.be/uIVPIgiWDUQ?t=51 Even so, Triton is a god from the Greek pantheon (but not the Roman one), hence the closest language is supposedly Greek. Nonetheless, we can guess that, being Ariel some sort of minor Mediterranean deity, she might actually speak fluently, besides her native Greek, all languages spoken on Mediterranean shores: Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Croatian, French, English, Hebrew, Italian, Maltese, Montenegrin, Persian, Slovenian, Spanish and Turkish. Chapeau, miss! 19th century is once again the epoch when the author, Hans Christian Andersen, lived, and the ship on which Eric sails seems to match this period. Full song ​by Άννα Ρόσση | Ánna Róssi: https://youtu.be/4mZd3dU0kOg Rapunzel: Once again, it’s the original story, Brothers Grimm’s “Rapunzel”, to be taken as a reference for the location, beside the fact that "Rapunzel" is the German for the rover bellflower. As Rapunzel and Eugene can be seen at Elsa’s coronation in Frozen, during the “For the first time in forever” sequence, we can guess that Rapunzel’s story happened shortly before Frozen (see following paragraph). Full song ​by Pia Allgaier: https://youtu.be/-r1R4_IKyG4 Anna & Elsa: The name “Arendelle” is clearly inspired to the city of Arendal, in southern Norway, while landscapes and buildings are inspired by other parts of the country and even of the entire Scandinavia. It’s Oaken to let us know that it’s July when the story happens, while for the year, if we want to trust the map popping up at the end of Frozen Fever, the year is 1840. We know that Frozen cannot take place the year before Frozen Fever, because the latter occurs in between Frozen and Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, which takes place the first Christmas after the events in Frozen, at the end of the same year. Full song ​by May Kristin Kaspersen (Anna) & Lisa Stokke (Elsa): https://youtu.be/Gaz3dlJjssA Cinderella: Then again, we’re going we’ve the author of the story, and once again the opening credits inform us it’s Charles Perrault again, though we may add that all names of the girls announced at the ball are French and they’re addressed as “mademoiselle”. As for Snow White, the environment has led to speculate a 19th century setting, but it’s not sure. Full song ​by Dominique Poulain: https://youtu.be/U1ExXZ4-R5g Tiana: A newspaper during “Down in New Orleans” reads: “New Orleans, Louisiana, Friday, April, 25, 1926” (though April 25 was actually on a Sunday in 1926). Anastasia: Tsar Nicholas II Romanov and his family were arrested on March 22, 1917, following the events of the first Russian Revolution occurred during that year (February Revolution). They will be executed on July 18, 1918. However, the movie uses even a song to let us know that prior events take place in December, month on which, in 1916, Grigori Rasputin was assassinated. As the movie takes place ten years after those events, we can probably count them starting from December 1916, instead of 1917, hence: December 1926. On a side note: Saint Petersburg was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991. EDIT: Anastasia is included in this list because 20th Century Fox was purchased by Disney on March 2019, and now on Disney + the movie is included in the "Princesses" category. Full song by Ма́ша Кац | Masha Katz: https://youtu.be/0Th_HizPhk8 Dubbers credits: disneyinternationaldubbings.weebly.com/heroines.ht…

France: exists Disney: yes

"Their native languages" Ariel: glub glub

Aurora singing in French sounds so lovely and angelic.

As someone who’s been studying French for the past 4 years, I can confirm I understood 4 words from Belle.

“Their native languages” Nala: roar

Nobody: Bird: Screams in Arabic

They all sound so much better in their native languages. Lots of French gals and Anastasia being included made me kick my feet with how happy I was to see her, she was always my favorite alongside Esmeralda

Aurora's voice in french is just so beautiful! I want full song 💗

france: hi- disney: yes.

"Their native languages" Ariel: glub glub glub

French is beautiful. It’s so soothing and calming.

Meridians mothers lullaby gave me chills it was an absolute masterpiece ❤

"so this is love" in French is just gorgeous

"native languages" pocahontas: sings in English

There is not enough people talking about Rapunzels German! That was gorgeous (coming from a German girl)

Thank you France for all the fairy tales. Seems like the french were working over time on their collection. Hope to see more tales from other countries by disney or any other studio.

France: *just so happens to exist* Disney: I will take your entire stock

France: exists Disney: hippity hoppity this land is now my property

The Mulan, Moana, and Aurora ones are so beautiful