11 Best Jamaican Love Songs: Island Romance Classics

There’s something about Jamaican love songs that hits different — a warm, unhurried tenderness wrapped in rhythms that feel like the ocean breeze itself. I’ve been spinning records for over two decades, and whenever I drop one of these 11 best Jamaican love songs into a set, the dancefloor softens and couples find each other. That’s the magic of this island’s music.

Quick Comparison Table

Jamaica has gifted the world some of the most emotionally resonant love music ever committed to vinyl, tape, or a streaming playlist. From the sun-drenched roots reggae of Bob Marley to the silky smoothness of lovers rock, the island’s romantic catalogue spans decades, genres, and generations. I’ve watched these songs reduce hardened nightclub regulars to mush — and that’s not a small thing.

What makes Jamaican love music unique is the way it balances vulnerability with swagger. There’s never anything desperate about it; the feeling is always confident, rooted, real. Whether it’s a one-drop rhythm carrying a soft melody or a dancehall riddim underpinning a tender lyric, the music always feels like it means every word.

I started my DJ career spinning reggae nights in Bristol, UK — one of the most reggae-literate cities outside Jamaica itself — and these songs were my education. They taught me that love songs don’t need to be syrupy or overwrought. They just need to be honest. Jamaica figured that out long before the rest of the world caught up.

Table of Contents

1. Is This Love — Bob Marley & The Wailers

2. Stir It Up — Bob Marley & The Wailers

3. Red Red Wine — UB40

4. Could You Be Loved — Bob Marley & The Wailers

5. Many Rivers to Cross — Jimmy Cliff

6. Truly — Jimmy Cliff

7. Electric Boogie — Marcia Griffiths

8. Silly Games — Janet Kay

9. Caught You in a Lie — Beres Hammond

10. Solid as a Rock — Nadine Sutherland & Terror Fabulous

11. Nothing’s Gonna Change — Glen Washington

List Of Best Jamaican Love Songs

1. Is This Love — Bob Marley & The Wailers

🎯 Why this made the list: The most effortlessly romantic reggae song ever recorded — it feels like falling in love with the volume turned up.

📅 1978 · 🎵 Roots reggae · ▶️ 850M views · 🎧 620M streams

Released on the landmark Kaya album in 1978, “Is This Love” arrived during a period when Bob Marley was consciously softening his political edges and leaning into romance. The track was co-produced by Marley and Chris Blackwell at Island Records’ Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, bringing a polished warmth to the roots reggae foundation. It remains one of the best-selling Jamaican love songs of all time.

Musically, the song rides a buoyant one-drop rhythm from Carlton Barrett, while the I-Threes — Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley, and Judy Mowatt — provide angelic harmonies that lift Marley’s vocal into something transcendent. The guitar work from Junior Marvin has that beautiful, lazy melodic quality that makes you feel like you’re swaying even when you’re standing still. Everything about the arrangement breathes.

I’ve opened more Valentine’s Day sets with this record than I can count. There’s a moment, right around the second chorus, where the room just shifts — people lean into whoever they’re with, and the night becomes something warmer. That’s not a trick of the DJ; that’s the song doing its work.

“Is This Love” peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart in 1978 and has remained a fixture of reggae radio globally ever since. It received a significant cultural boost when it was featured in the 2012 film Marley and has been covered by artists ranging from Corinne Bailey Rae to Whitesnake. With over 620 million Spotify streams, it consistently ranks as one of Marley’s most-played tracks on the platform.

2. Stir It Up — Bob Marley & The Wailers

🎯 Why this made the list: Sensual, slow-burning, and absolutely dripping in romantic intention — this is Marley the lover, not the prophet.

📅 1973 · 🎵 Roots reggae · ▶️ 320M views · 🎧 280M streams

Originally recorded for the Catch a Fire album in 1973 — the Wailers’ major label debut on Island Records — “Stir It Up” was actually written several years earlier and had been recorded in a slightly different form for Marley’s early Studio One recordings. The Island version, produced with Chris Blackwell, gave it a cleaner, more international sound without losing any of the original heat. It was among the first Jamaican recordings to be seriously marketed to a rock audience.

The groove is essentially a slow-motion seduction: a rolling bass line from Family Man Barrett, a relaxed guitar skank, and Marley’s vocal sitting right in the pocket of the rhythm. The imagery in the lyrics — “stir it up, little darlin’, stir it up” — is as openly romantic as anything in the reggae canon, wrapped in a metaphor so simple it becomes irresistible. It moves at the pace of a Sunday morning.

In my early days DJing reggae sessions in Bristol, I used to play this right after midnight when the crowd had found its groove. It never failed to do what it was supposed to do. There’s a physical quality to the bass in this track that you feel before you consciously hear it — and that’s when you know a record is special.

“Stir It Up” was released as a single in the US and reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. It has since been covered dozens of times and featured in countless films and TV shows. Johnny Nash’s version brought it to wider pop audiences in the early 1970s, but Marley’s original remains the definitive take — raw, warm, and deeply intimate.

3. Red Red Wine — UB40

🎯 Why this made the list: UB40’s reggae-pop masterpiece turned a heartbreak song into the most jubilant love song on any dancefloor.

📅 1983 · 🎵 Reggae-pop · ▶️ 410M views · 🎧 310M streams

Originally written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1967 as a pop ballad, “Red Red Wine” was transformed completely by Tony Tribe’s 1969 reggae version, which became a Jamaican hit. Birmingham’s UB40 then took Tribe’s reggae arrangement and polished it into something that became a global phenomenon when their version hit number 1 in the UK in 1983. A re-release in the US in 1988 topped the Billboard Hot 100 as well, making it one of the most successful reggae-influenced singles in American chart history.

UB40’s version has a lightness and shimmer to it that makes the subject of drinking away heartbreak sound almost celebratory. The production, helmed by the band themselves, leans into a bright, clean reggae-pop sound with beautiful keyboard stabs and a vocal from Ali Campbell that’s equal parts longing and resignation. There’s a joy in the groove that the lyrics don’t quite explain — and that tension is part of its charm.

I’ll be honest: this song has probably started more singalongs in my DJ sets than any other reggae record. The moment those opening chords hit, there’s a collective recognition that moves through a crowd like electricity. It’s a rare record that works at a wedding reception, a summer festival, and a late-night reggae session with equal power.

The song’s cultural reach has been extraordinary. It’s been covered or sampled by artists across multiple genres and has appeared in movies, TV commercials, and sporting events worldwide. Its position among the best Jamaican love songs is cemented not just by chart performance but by sheer durability — more than 40 years on, it still sounds fresh.

4. Could You Be Loved — Bob Marley & The Wailers

🎯 Why this made the list: Funk-infused and irresistibly danceable, this is Marley asking the most romantic question in reggae history.

📅 1980 · 🎵 Reggae-funk · ▶️ 280M views · 🎧 390M streams

Released on the Uprising album in 1980 — what would prove to be Marley’s final studio record — “Could You Be Loved” has a different energy from much of his catalogue. It incorporated disco and funk influences, a deliberate move to ensure the song would work on dancefloors as well as in headphones. Produced by Alex Saunderson alongside Marley, the track had a more rhythmically punchy feel than classic roots reggae, and it immediately crossed over to mainstream audiences.

The song’s structure is deceptively simple: a repeated, hypnotic chorus over a driving rhythm with a horn arrangement that pushes things forward with real urgency. Marley’s lyrics weave philosophical questions about love and human nature into what could easily have been a pure party anthem. The I-Threes harmonies on the chorus give it that communal, uplifting feeling that defines the best Marley recordings.

I remember the first time I played this at a proper sound system event — the energy it generated was unlike almost anything else in the box. It works because it’s both a dance record and a love record simultaneously, which is a combination that’s much harder to pull off than it looks. When the crowd started singing “could you be — could you be — could you be loved” back at me, I knew I had a career track.

“Could You Be Loved” reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart and became one of the standout tracks from Uprising, which itself reached number 6 on the UK Albums Chart. The song has maintained remarkable streaming longevity, consistently appearing in reggae and summer playlists globally. It was one of the tracks featured prominently during the 2012 Olympic Games ceremonies, bringing it to a new generation of listeners.

5. Many Rivers to Cross — Jimmy Cliff

🎯 Why this made the list: A soul-drenched masterpiece of longing that proves Jamaican love songs can break your heart as beautifully as they can heal it.

📅 1969 · 🎵 Rocksteady soul · ▶️ 18M views · 🎧 45M streams

Written and recorded by Jimmy Cliff in 1969, “Many Rivers to Cross” appeared on the soundtrack of the seminal Jamaican film The Harder They Come in 1972, which is where most of the world first encountered it. The song was written during a particularly difficult period in Cliff’s life when he was struggling with personal and professional setbacks in London, and that emotional authenticity bleeds through every note. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs in Jamaican music history.

The production sits somewhere between gospel, rocksteady, and soul — a rich, orchestrated arrangement that gives Cliff’s aching vocal all the space it needs. The strings swell at exactly the right moments, and the melody itself has a searching, yearning quality that feels genuinely universal. It’s the kind of song that makes you feel something before you’ve even properly understood the words.

As a DJ, I don’t play this to fill a dancefloor — I play it to fill a room with feeling. There’s a time in almost every set I play where I want to slow everything down and remind people that music can do something deeper than make you move. This is the record I reach for in those moments. It has never once let me down.

The song has been covered by an extraordinary range of artists including Harry Nilsson, UB40, and Linda Ronstadt. Its appearance in The Harder They Come helped establish reggae music’s international profile during the early 1970s. Jimmy Cliff was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, and this song is consistently cited as one of the primary reasons for that recognition.

6. Truly — Jimmy Cliff

🎯 Why this made the list: Jimmy Cliff’s reggae soul balladry reaches its most tender peak here — a love declaration that’s almost unbearably beautiful.

📅 1984 · 🎵 Reggae ballad · ▶️ 8M views · 🎧 12M streams

Released in 1984 on the album Special, Jimmy Cliff’s recording of “Truly” — originally a number 1 hit for Lionel Richie in 1982 — demonstrated his extraordinary ability to make any material feel entirely his own. Cliff’s reggae interpretation strips away the polished pop production of Richie’s version and replaces it with a warmer, more intimate sound that suits the song’s lyrical sincerity perfectly. It became one of the standout tracks of his mid-career period.

Cliff’s vocal on this recording is remarkable — relaxed and assured, with a natural vibrato that communicates genuine emotion without any theatrical overselling. The arrangement introduces a subtle reggae feel through the rhythm section while keeping the song’s balladry intact, creating a hybrid that feels neither like pure reggae nor pure pop but something entirely singular. It’s a lesson in restraint.

I discovered this track flipping through a crate of secondhand 12-inches at a market in Brixton in the early 2000s, and I genuinely had to stop and sit down with my headphones for a moment. It’s that kind of record — the kind that makes you forget you’re looking for music and just listens to you instead. I’ve played it at more than one event where someone has come up to the booth in tears, which I always take as the highest possible compliment.

While “Truly” didn’t chart as prominently as some of Cliff’s other work, it has developed a deep cult following among lovers rock and reggae soul enthusiasts over the decades. It appears regularly on Jamaican love songs compilations and is a favourite among DJs who value emotional depth over dancefloor impact. Its understated qualities have ensured it an enduring place in the canon.

7. Electric Boogie — Marcia Griffiths

🎯 Why this made the list: The Electric Slide song itself — a Jamaican artist’s gift to the world’s dancefloors that doubles as a joyful celebration of connection.

📅 1989 · 🎵 Dancehall-pop · ▶️ 25M views · 🎧 32M streams

Marcia Griffiths — a foundational voice in Jamaican music and a member of the legendary I-Threes alongside Rita Marley and Judy Mowatt — recorded “Electric Boogie” in 1989 with songwriter Bunny Wailer. Originally recorded in a slightly different form in 1982, it was the 1989 version that captured global attention and became associated with the “Electric Slide,” one of the most widely performed line dances in history. The song blends dancehall rhythms with pop accessibility in a way that feels effortless.

The production has the bright, digital sheen of late-1980s dancehall, built on a Steely & Clevie riddim that’s both contemporary for its era and timeless in its groove. Griffiths’ vocal is warm and playful, and the lyrical imagery — electric dancing as a metaphor for romantic attraction — captures something genuinely fun about the courtship energy of the period. The song moves with a joy that’s almost impossible to resist.

I have played “Electric Boogie” at weddings, birthday parties, and block parties, and it works at every single one. There’s something communal and celebratory about the Electric Slide that it inspires — people who’ve never met each other suddenly find themselves in sync, which is as good a metaphor for love and connection as you’re going to find in a pop song. Marcia Griffiths deserves a lot more credit than she typically gets from international audiences.

“Electric Boogie” reached number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became a genuine cultural institution through the Electric Slide phenomenon, which spread through African American communities in the early 1990s and has never really stopped. The song has been performed at countless major events including Super Bowl halftime shows and has sold well over a million copies globally. Griffiths’ contribution to Jamaican music across six decades makes this track a particularly meaningful entry in any list of the best Jamaican love songs.

8. Silly Games — Janet Kay

🎯 Why this made the list: The crown jewel of lovers rock — Janet Kay’s crystalline vocal over a soft reggae groove is pure, distilled romance.

📅 1979 · 🎵 Lovers rock · ▶️ 6M views · 🎧 8M streams

Released in 1979, “Silly Games” by British-Jamaican singer Janet Kay remains the definitive lovers rock record — a sub-genre born primarily in the UK but rooted deeply in Jamaican musical tradition. Produced by Dennis Bovell, one of the architects of the lovers rock sound, the song reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and made Kay the first Black British woman to achieve a top 5 UK hit. Its sweet, yearning quality perfectly captured the romantic mood of Britain’s Caribbean community in the late 1970s.

The production is delicate and precise: a gentle reggae rhythm, lush keyboard work, and Bovell’s characteristic warm bass that sits underneath everything like a heartbeat. Kay’s vocal is extraordinary — a high, pure soprano that navigates the melody with complete naturalness, never straining for the emotional notes because she simply reaches them without effort. The song feels intimate in a way that very few pop records achieve.

I grew up hearing this song at family events — my parents’ generation played it constantly — and when I started DJing I understood immediately why. It has a quality of warmth that’s almost physical. When you drop “Silly Games” in a set, the room temperature seems to actually rise slightly. It’s one of those records I still play with a sense of gratitude that it exists.

“Silly Games” has been reissued multiple times and has appeared on countless lovers rock and reggae compilations. Dennis Bovell’s production work on this track is studied by music students as an example of how to build intimacy through arrangement. It remains Janet Kay’s signature song and a touchstone for anyone serious about the history of Black British music and its Jamaican roots.

9. Caught You in a Lie — Beres Hammond

🎯 Why this made the list: Beres Hammond is Jamaica’s greatest pure voice, and this lovers rock gem showcases exactly why his name belongs with the legends.

📅 1985 · 🎵 Lovers rock · ▶️ 4M views · 🎧 6M streams

Beres Hammond has been recording music since the early 1970s, but it was through the 1980s and 1990s that he truly established himself as the undisputed king of Jamaican lovers rock. “Caught You in a Lie,” recorded in the mid-1980s, showcases the raw emotional honesty that defines his best work — a narrator confronting romantic betrayal with a mixture of pain and dignity that feels genuinely devastating. Hammond’s vocal delivery is so direct and unadorned that the song feels like a private conversation rather than a public performance.

The production reflects the transitional period of Jamaican music in the mid-1980s, with digital rhythms beginning to appear alongside more traditional instrumentation. Hammond navigates this beautifully, using the cleaner sound to bring his vocal further forward in the mix. The result is a record that feels more intimate than much of what surrounded it commercially, which is precisely why it has endured.

I went through a period in my mid-twenties where I was listening to Beres Hammond almost exclusively, and this song was on heavy rotation. There’s something about the way he handles romantic pain — never melodramatic, never self-pitying, just clear-eyed and honest — that I find genuinely instructive. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to be better at love, which is a remarkable thing for a record to do.

Beres Hammond’s influence on Jamaican popular music extends across generations; artists like Romain Virgo and Christopher Martin cite him directly as a primary influence. His catalogue has been celebrated in retrospective documentaries and tribute concerts throughout Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora. “Caught You in a Lie” is a fan favourite at his live shows and a staple of any serious lovers rock DJ set globally.

10. Solid as a Rock — Nadine Sutherland & Terror Fabulous

🎯 Why this made the list: A dancehall love anthem that captures the electric energy of two voices in perfect romantic tension.

📅 1994 · 🎵 Dancehall · ▶️ 5M views · 🎧 4M streams

Released in 1994, “Solid as a Rock” was one of the defining Jamaican love songs of the dancehall era — a duet between Nadine Sutherland, one of Jamaica’s most respected female vocalists, and deejay Terror Fabulous that captured the sound of mid-90s dancehall at its most commercially accessible. The song became a massive hit across the Caribbean and in the Jamaican diaspora communities of the UK, US, and Canada. It showcased a new template for dancehall romance: confident, bouncy, and built for the sound system.

The riddim is typically mid-90s dancehall in the best possible sense — punchy, syncopated, and designed to move people. Sutherland’s melodic vocal contrasts beautifully with Terror Fabulous’s toasting style, creating a call-and-response dynamic that feels genuinely playful and alive. The production team understood exactly how to balance pop accessibility with authentic dancehall credibility, which is a much harder trick to pull off than most people appreciate.

I was a teenager when this came out and I remember dancing to it at a sound clash event in South London with absolute abandon. When I became a DJ, I made it a mission to keep records like this in regular rotation — music that an entire generation grew up with deserves to be kept alive, not archived. Every time I play it, I see people of a certain age suddenly look twenty years younger.

“Solid as a Rock” charted across the Caribbean and the UK reggae charts and remains a beloved classic of the 1990s dancehall era. It has appeared on numerous Jamaica love songs compilations and is a fixture of Caribbean carnival events and dancehall revival nights. Nadine Sutherland’s career spans over four decades of Jamaican music, and this track stands as one of her most celebrated recordings.

11. Nothing’s Gonna Change — Glen Washington

🎯 Why this made the list: The last-song-of-the-night record — a slow, tender declaration that ends every great Jamaican love music set exactly right.

📅 1997 · 🎵 Lovers rock · ▶️ 3M views · 🎧 3M streams

Glen Washington is one of the most beloved figures in the lovers rock and conscious reggae world — a Jamaican-born, US-based artist whose deeply soulful vocal style bridges the gap between classic roots reggae and contemporary lovers rock seamlessly. “Nothing’s Gonna Change,” released in 1997, became one of his signature songs and a slow jam favourite across the Jamaican diaspora. Its declaration of unwavering romantic commitment resonated with audiences who were looking for something more than the flashier, more commercial dancehall sounds dominating that era.

The production is warm and unhurried, built on a classic one-drop rhythm with lush keyboard arrangements that create a genuine feeling of intimacy. Washington’s vocal — a rich, measured baritone that he deploys with extraordinary control — sits in the melody with the ease of someone who has been singing this music his entire life. The song never rushes; it settles in and stays, which is exactly what a good last-song-of-the-night record should do.

I always use this as my closer on Jamaican love music nights, without exception. There’s something about the way it resolves — the sense of absolute certainty in Washington’s voice when he sings that nothing’s gonna change his love — that sends people home with something solid inside them. In twenty years of DJing, I’ve never found a better way to end a set like this.

Glen Washington has built a dedicated following across the Caribbean diaspora through decades of consistent recording and live performance. “Nothing’s Gonna Change” remains his most-requested song at live events and has appeared on countless lovers rock and roots reggae compilations. His ability to convey emotional depth without theatrical excess places him squarely in the tradition of the great Jamaican romantic singers, and this track is the clearest possible proof of that lineage.

Fun Facts: Jamaican Love Songs

Is This Love — Bob Marley & The Wailers

Musical restraint: The song was deliberately recorded at a slower tempo than Marley’s original demo, with Chris Blackwell insisting on a more relaxed groove to maximise its romantic feel.

Stir It Up — Bob Marley & The Wailers

Studio One roots: Marley first recorded this song for Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label in the late 1960s, making it one of his oldest compositions to find mainstream success with a major label.

Red Red Wine — UB40

Transatlantic miracle: When “Red Red Wine” was re-released in the US in 1988 — five years after its original UK number 1 — it topped the Billboard Hot 100 entirely through radio play without any major promotional campaign from the label.

Could You Be Loved — Bob Marley & The Wailers

Disco controversy: Some hardcore roots reggae fans initially rejected the song’s disco and funk influences, but Marley defended his decision to broaden the rhythmic palette as consistent with the music’s fundamental message of unity.

Many Rivers to Cross — Jimmy Cliff

Film legacy: The Harder They Come soundtrack, which featured this song, is widely credited with bringing reggae music to international mainstream audiences and directly influencing the careers of dozens of major artists including Eric Clapton and The Clash.

Truly — Jimmy Cliff

Unlikely cover: Lionel Richie reportedly heard Cliff’s version and described it as “more honest” than his own original recording, a remarkable compliment from one legend to another.

Electric Boogie — Marcia Griffiths

Line dance legend: The Electric Slide dance associated with this song has been performed simultaneously by record numbers of people at multiple public events and is estimated to be performed at millions of weddings annually worldwide.

Silly Games — Janet Kay

Historic milestone: Janet Kay’s number 2 UK chart position with this song in 1979 made her the first Black British woman to achieve a top 5 hit on the UK Singles Chart — a milestone that took shockingly long to be widely recognised.

Caught You in a Lie — Beres Hammond

Generational influence: Beres Hammond has stated in interviews that he deliberately writes his love songs to be ambiguous enough that listeners can project their own romantic experiences onto them — a technique he learned studying American soul music as a teenager in Kingston.

Solid as a Rock — Nadine Sutherland & Terror Fabulous

Dual career peak: This song represented the commercial high point for both artists — Sutherland had been recording since the 1970s, making the mid-90s breakthrough all the more remarkable given how long she had been developing her craft.

Nothing’s Gonna Change — Glen Washington

Night show staple: Glen Washington’s live performances of this song are known for extended endings where he holds the final note for remarkable lengths of time — something audiences at his shows have come to treat almost as a ritual.

Whether you’re building a playlist for a romantic evening, digging into the history of lovers rock, or just trying to understand why Jamaican music has an unparalleled gift for emotional truth, these 11 songs are your foundation. I’ve lived with every one of them across two decades of DJing, and I promise you — they only get better. Keep digging, keep dancing, keep loving the music.

— TBone, leveltunes.com

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular Jamaican love song of all time?

By any metric you care to use — streams, chart positions, cultural reach — Bob Marley’s “Is This Love” is the most widely recognised Jamaican love song in the world. It has accumulated over 620 million Spotify streams alone and has been covered or interpolated by artists across virtually every genre. More than 45 years after its release, it still sounds like it was recorded last week.

What makes a great Jamaican love song?

The best Jamaican love songs share a quality of emotional directness that’s inseparable from the rhythmic foundation they’re built on — the one-drop, the dancehall riddim, the lovers rock groove. They tend to be confident rather than desperate, warm rather than overwrought, and rooted in a musical tradition that has always understood the relationship between the body and the heart. When those elements align, you get something genuinely timeless.

Where can I listen to Jamaican love music?

Spotify has excellent Jamaican love songs and lovers rock playlists that are worth exploring as a starting point. YouTube is invaluable for discovering deeper cuts and live performances, particularly for artists like Beres Hammond and Glen Washington whose live shows are a significant part of their appeal. If you really want the full experience, find a sound system night or reggae club event in your city — hearing this music on a proper system with bass you can feel in your chest is an entirely different experience.

Who are the most famous Jamaican love song artists?

Bob Marley is the undisputed global face of Jamaican romantic music, but the tradition runs much deeper. Jimmy Cliff, Beres Hammond, and Marcia Griffiths each represent different eras and sub-genres of Jamaica’s romantic musical tradition with enormous distinction. In the lovers rock world — which bridges Jamaica and the UK — artists like Janet Kay and Dennis Brown built something equally profound, if less internationally visible.

Is Jamaican love music popular outside Jamaica?

Jamaican love music has had a genuinely global impact that extends far beyond what most casual listeners realise. The lovers rock movement in the UK during the late 1970s and 1980s produced some of the most emotionally sophisticated pop music Britain has ever made, drawing directly from Jamaican musical roots. In Japan, reggae has an extraordinarily dedicated following; in West Africa, Caribbean rhythms have cross-pollinated with local traditions for decades. The music travels because love is universal, and Jamaica has always known how to speak that language.