South Africans on social media were taken aback when etv’s Scandal actor James Sithole, who plays Mdala, claimed that he spoke ten languages.

Sithole said in an interview with Sunday World that his mother is Venda and his father is Tsonga. Because no one in the family could speak either language, they settled on Pedi as the primary language.

Born in Kwa-Ndebele, Mpumalanga, Sithole revealed that he never thought he would be an actor. While he was in Grade 1, he wished to become a policeman or soldier. His joining acting was rather accidental.“I joined the youth development group as an athlete. I wanted to run, doing distances like the 100 and 200 meters, and it so happened that one day our athletics instructor was not there, so I went to the acting and music class. That is when I fell in love with acting. I immediately knew that’s where I wanted to be.”Sithole enrolled in the South African State Theatre in Pretoria after finishing his matriculation.

Because of his love for languages, he studied language practice as he had wanted to become a translator at some point in his life.“I did language practice because I wanted to be an interpreter; it was like something I could fall back on. I used to interpret at church, so that’s the reason I wanted to learn to speak many languages. I can safely say I know all the official languages, excluding Afrikaans, and I am currently learning Swahili and sign language.”The Scandal star told Sunday World that learning multiple languages is advantageous, particularly in the South African entertainment industry.

“We have seen some shows that are specific on the language that must be spoken, and if you know all languages, you can get any job you want.”