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Angelina Jolie-Pitt's 6 children are learning these 7 languages

By Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Actor Brad Pitt (L) and actress Angelina Jolie (R) arrive with Jolie's children Zahara Marley Jolie and Maddox Jolie at the New Tokyo International Airport on November 27, 2005 in Narita, Japan. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)
By Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Actress Angelina Jolie-Pitt's children may not be interested in following their mother's footsteps on screen, but they have passions of their own -- one of which is learning new languages.

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The 41-year-old Oscar winner and philanthropist discussed her six children on BBC Radio 4's "Women's Hour" show Friday, saying that they're interested in learning to communicate in non-English languages.

"I asked them what languages they wanted to learn and (Shiloh) is learning Khmer, which is the Cambodian language, Pax is focusing on Vietnamese, Mad has taken to German and Russian, (Zahara) is speaking French, Vivienne really wanted to learn Arabic and Knox is learning sign language," Jolie-Pitt said.

Husband Brad Pitt co-parents for Maddox, 14, adopted from Cambodia, Pax, 12, adopted from Vietnam, Zahara, 11, adopted from Ethiopia, Shiloh, 10, and twins Vivienne and Knox, 7.

Jolie-Pitt served as a guest editor on "Women's Hour" just days before World Refugee Day on Monday. She said her family celebrates the day annually and that the children have met refugees. In her home, refugees are considered heroes.

"I never want them to meet these people and look at them with, with pity or feel that it's a responsibility or feel that they are glad they survived it," Jolie-Pitt said. "I want them to meet people around the world and have so much admiration and respect for people suffering different realities and surviving them with such grace and dignity."

She continued:

"And so, I don't need to tell my children that. I just introduce my children to these people and these people are so extraordinary and these families are so wonderful and they've taught me so much and so, my children, I just bring them into this environment and they've asked to be in the environment."

Jolie-Pitt, a special envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is a fervent supporter of equality, including refugee rights and women's rights. She recently accepted a position as a visiting professor at the London School of Economics at the school’s Center for Women, Peace and Security.
Jolie-Pitt discussed giving birth to Shiloh in Namibia, saying she "probably wouldn't have made it this far" if she were a refugee. She delivered Shiloh via cesarean section after ultrasounds showed she was in the breech position.
Many locals in Namibia, where poverty rates are high, "might not have survived" the complication, she said.

"I found even the local hospital with many, many women -- and this was a good hospital -- did not have an ultrasound machine," Jolie-Pitt said.

Jolie-Pitt also talked about her newest project -- directing and screenwriting the film "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers," based on a book by Loung Ung.

She said Maddox, who was adopted in 2002 when he was 7 months old from an orphanage in Battambang, Cambodia, persuaded her to do the work.
"It was Mad who came up to me and said he thought that it was time to do that film and (that) he was ready to learn the history of his country," Jolie-Pitt said.
She also said she asked Ung how she felt about her choice to adopt from Cambodia before she finalized the process. 

"I'd read her book, and I said to her, 'I'm thinking of adopting from this country. As an orphan yourself, would you be offended or would you be supportive? Would that be all right?'" Jolie-Pitt said she asked Ung.

"She was very supportive, and months later, she met Mad and has been in his life ever since."

As far as their future careers, Jolie-Pitt said some of her children are interested in the music sector of the entertainment industry.

"They actually are very interested in being musicians," she said.

Here Jolie's remarks on "Women's Hour" in full here.

Cox Media Group

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