8 Cast Members Who Couldn’t Speak English With Their Partners (Has Their English Improved?)

American cast members fly to different countries to meet their partners in various spin-offs now. Fans love it when American citizens make the effort to actually learn their partner’s language, but most of the time, the 90 Day Fiancé cast members rely on translator devices, apps, and even human interpreters to talk to each other. Not all couples can overcome their language barriers. Some 90 Day Fiancé couples have even split because they can’t grasp each other’s native languages, especially with the international partners not knowing how to read or speak English.

8 Karine Martins

Paul and Karine were introduced in 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days season 1 in August 2017. Karine was 21 years old when Paul fell for her after meeting her online. Paul was over 13 years older than his now-estranged wife. His current dating pattern reveals he has a preference for younger women. Paul also prefers Brazilian women who don’t speak his language. He’d proudly declared during his debut interview that Karine did not speak any English, and he did not speak any Portuguese. The “only problem” was the language barrier.

Paul and Karine had to use translation apps to communicate. He even told her that he had been arrested and sent to prison for arson, via the app. The couple spent years, even after they married, using the apps while viewers even watched Paul talking to Karine in Spanish during some instances. The couple was given an interpreter by the network at one point in time. Still, in 2025, Karine, who now appears to be pregnant with another man’s baby, has posted a GoFundMe to get custody of her sons with Paul where she’s typed a note in impeccable English.

7 Ximena Morales

If the translation app was the third “person” in Paul and Karine’s relationship, it was an even more integral part of Mike Berk and Ximena’s storyline. At first, Mike, who had met Ximena on a cam site, lied about having met her on international Tinder. When they came face to face, it was revealed that neither of them barely knew any words from each other’s languages. When Ximena told Mike she was falling out of love with him because she was disgusted by his farts, she did it via the translator, creating an unintentionally hilarious scene for those watching.

6 Manuel Velez

Things were a little different in Manuel and Ashley Michelle’s case. Ashely had met Manuel when she had gone to Ecuador to study marine biology and crossed paths with him at a New Year’s Eve party. They had gotten engaged in a few days without having known each other, so their first breakup was inevitable when Ashley returned to the U.S. However, having connected with Manuel again a decade later, Ashely now brought Manuel to America on a K-1 visa and communicated with him in Spanish. She is probably the best non-native Spanish speaker ever on the show.

“Or… learned English but what are we doing, we are watching streaming services in Spanish.”

5 Jihoon Lee

The most entertaining “cast member” of Jihoon and Deavan Clegg’s season of 90 Day Fiancé’s Other Way, for many, was Deavan’s translator device. The Utah native had met Korean man Jihoon on an international dating app and was pregnant with his baby on the first day he came to meet her in America. Deavan planned on living with Jihoon in South Korea but did not show any interest in trying to learn Korean, which is the country’s official language. The couple fought over Jihoon not having a job, his lies and whether or not they could make a life together.

“F****** translator.”

Amid their arguments, there were a few memorable scenes, such as Deavan’s dinner with Jihoon and his parents at a restaurant where she and Jihoon had to keep pressing a button every time they spoke, and the device translated it. At one point, the translator started saying the opposite of what was being fed into it. As Jihoon promised, “I was afraid of making another mistake, I didn’t want to waste that money,” it translated to, “I’ll make another mistake, I’ll waste that money again,” making Jihoon exclaim, “f****** translator. Getting worst, f****** situation.”

4 Hamza Moknii

Memphis ignored Hamza’s obvious hints about wanting to marry her for a Green Card. He’d lied to her about his age and had trust issues as he doubted her friendship with her ex-husband. Memphis became pregnant with Hamza’s baby immediately after marrying him. When he came to the U.S. and dumped her, he went to the extent of claiming the baby wasn’t his. Hamza and Memphis are now divorced, with him struggling to become a “model.” His IG posts suggest he still hasn’t become fluent in English as he continues to throw shade at the woman he likely used.

3 Mursel Mistanoglu

It appears that Mursel also didn’t have a great grasp of his own Turkish language. According to Reddit user lilfit, Mursel spoke in a clipped way and his manner of speaking was very simple. He wasn’t using any complicated phrasing or words. He spoke using “elementary sentences” such as “I am sad” and “Anna was angry.” The fan even claimed that, “Anyone hearing him speak would understand he has low/basic education by his speech.” Mursel’s English appears to have drastically improved over the past few years, showing that he is working on his communication skills with Anna.

2 Mahogany Roca

Mahogany from Peru was considered to be a catfish when Ben Rathbun started talking about her on 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days. Ben had known Mahogany for only a couple of months, during which he’d never made even one video call with her. Mahogany told Ben she was too shy to talk to him. She even ghosted him when he went to see her in person. Mahogany turned out to be very real and is now even married to Ben and seems to be living in the U.S. The 22-year-old had lied to Ben about her age as well and told him she was 24.

1 Zied Hakimi

Zied from Tunisia has given 90 Day Fiancé fans a bunch of memorable quotes since his Before the 90 Days debut. The Tunis resident wasn’t comfortable speaking English. His using the words “so much” after most of his sentences became a running franchise joke. Zied’s lovable personality made him funny without him even knowing it. Instead of criticizing his language skills, fans loved using his “so much” phrases and other quotable lines such as “I am so boring!” and “I can’t stop eat pizza.”

Zied has been living in America for the last five years now. He has a stable job in HVAC, a field he has expertise in. Zied famously said that he does “so much work” and he’s surely worked on his language skills more than most other 90 Day Fiancé cast members to be able to live his American Dream with Rebecca after the show.

90 Day Fiancé airs Sundays at 8 p.m. EDT on TLC.

American cast members fly to different countries to meet their partners in various spin-offs now. Fans love it when American citizens make the effort to actually learn their partner’s language, but most of the time, the 90 Day Fiancé cast members rely on translator devices, apps, and even human interpreters to talk to each other. Not all couples…