Fans Impressed By Scandal Actor ‘Mdala’ Who Revealed He Speaks 10 Languages

Fans Impressed By Scandal Actor ‘Mdala’ Who Revealed He Speaks 10 Languages
Fans on social media have been impressed by etv’s Scandal actor James Sithole, who plays Mdala, who revealed that he speaks 10 languages.


 

Speaking in an interview with Sunday World, Sithole revealed that his mother is Venda and his father is Tsonga. In the family, they could not speak either of the two, so they settled for Pedi as the centre 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.”
When he finished his matric, Sithole enrolled to study performing arts at the South African State Theatre in Pretoria.
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 actor told Sunday World that knowing many languages is an added advantage, especially in the entertainment industry in South Africa.
“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.”