Can Selena Gomez speak Spanish? With the release of DJ Snake’s new song “Taki Taki” that features verses from Ozuna, Cardi B, and Sel in both English and Spanish, everyone is now wondering if the 26-year-old songstress can indeed speak Spanish. Thanks to his total butchering of singing “Despacito” live, we know that her former flame Justin Bieber isn’t exactly fluent in Spanish, but managed to memorize his parts when it came to recording the hit jam. But what about Selena, who is of Mexican descent? Though she is half-Mexican, she has gone on record saying that her Spanish-speaking skills aren’t as fluent as she would like.

“Actually, it’s a shame because I should know [Spanish] better than I do,” she said in an interview with ShowBizCafe. “I don’t know it very well because my dad’s side of the family, which is the Mexican side, they are in Texas and I’m always traveling and I’m working so it’s very hard for me to stay communicated. But I do wish I could buckle down and I want to actually learn it and be completely fluent, that’s probably on my bucket list.”

But Selena might be acting a little modest here. In 2016, as part of her deal with Pantene, she did an entire commercial for Mexican viewers in Spanish, causing many of her Mexican fans to go crazy on Twitter over her Spanish accent.

“I can understand it,” Selena said of her father’s native language. “I can understand a whole conversation. It would just be hard for me to piece the response back.” Plus, when she took part in Vogue‘s 72 Questions series, she was asked to say something in another language, and she broke out a line in Spanish.

selena gomez speaking spanish
YouTube, @Vogue

The starlet has recorded plenty of music in Spanish. Before the release of “Taki Taki,” back in 2011 — when she still went by Selena Gomez & The Scene for her musical endeavors — she released a Spanish version of her song “A Year Without Rain” — “Un Año Sin Lluvia.” 

And she released an all-Spanish version of her fan-fave song “Who Says” called “Dices” that same year too.

In fact, all the way back in 2012, she told HollywoodLife that she was finishing up the process of recording a Spanish album. 

“It’s at an in-between stage, because I still want to put out a fourth record and also the Spanish record. So it’s just all timing. I have a few other songs to do and it will come out. I promise,” she said at the time. 

And while she appeared on George Lopez’s show, Lopez Tonight, in 2010, she admitted that she would want the album to be perfect.  

“I feel like, for my family, it would make them really proud, but because I’m doing so many other things, I can’t sit down in the studio and perfect it. Like I would want my dad to come out and make sure I’m doing it right. So I want to take time with it, but I’d love to. That would be my dream, to put out an entire album in Spanish,” she said. 

As of right now, she has not released a full-length album in Spanish, but she’s still releasing other music. And now that “Taki Taki” has dropped, perhaps maybe we’ll get to hear more of Selena singing — and speaking — in Spanish.

This post was originally published on Dec. 12, 2017 and has since been updated.

Additonal reporting by Steph Osmanski.

Love J-14? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for fun, exclusive videos with your favorite stars.