90 Day Fiancéis a show that has couples overcoming everything from age gaps to cultural differences to be together on the show, but it’s also the ones with language barriers thatget90 Day Fiancéviewers excitedin their storylines. The show, which started in 2014 with four American men bringing their international brides to the country on a K-1 visa, has become so much more than the fiancé visa process in 2025. However, one thing that hasn’t changed in these storylines islanguage differences that often make conversations and communication difficultfor them.
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, the90 Day Fiancécast members rely on translatordevices, apps, and even human interpreters to talk to each other. Not all couples can overcome their language barriers. Some90 Day Fiancécouples have even splitbecause they can’t grasp each other’s native languages, especially with the international partners not knowing how to read or speak English.
8Karine Martins
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days Season 2
Paul and Karine were introduced in90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Daysseason 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’dproudly 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.
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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 networkat 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.
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days Season 5
Custom Image by César García
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.
Faced with the language barrier, Mike reached out to his friend Nelcy, who is fluent in Spanish, to help translate Ximena’s words and understand her perspective. It made matters worse since she didn’t say everything Ximena said word for word. Mike and Ximena had to eventually part ways. He insulted her and claimed she only wanted him for money. Ximena’s social media posts show thatshe couldn’t care less to learn the English language. She’s not interested in coming to America anyway.
6Manuel Velez
90 Day Fiancé Season 10
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 andcommunicated 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."
It impressed viewers, especially with Manuel’s lack of English fluency. While it did help Ashley and Manuel to get by in their day-to-day life, Manuel was refusing to learn English and hampering his own chances of getting a job. Manuel showed no effort to help ease the couple’s financial burdens from heavy debts by learning English or attempting to file his paperwork. In December 2024,Manueltold a fan,“Estamos mejorando tiempo al tiempo” which translates to “We are getting better time by time,”when he was asked if he could speak English after the show was filmed.
5Jihoon Lee
90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 2
The most entertaining “cast member” of Jihoon and Deavan Clegg’s season of90 Day Fiancé’sOther 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 didnot 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.”
4Hamza Moknii
The only thing about Memphis Smith that attracted Hamza was her “big b**bies.” He openly admitted on camera that he waslooking forward to having “sexy time” with the Michigan woman.Unfortunately, these were some of the few words he knew from the English language. A mom of two, Memphis met Hamza on a dating app and fell for the crumbs of attention he gave to her. His “texting”her every day made him desirable to Memphis, and she decided she’d marry him within a week of meeting him in person and getting him to the U.S.
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.
3Mursel Mistanoglu
90 Day Fiancé Season 7
Anna Campisi and Mursel from Antalya, Turkey had met through a Facebook beekeeping group. He saw her picture, thought she was cute, and decided to message her. The flirting had started immediately even though Mursel and Anna didn’t speak the same language. Mursel, being Muslim, also didn’t smoke or drink, and Anna, from the Midwest, loved to have a drink or two. Her family and friends thoughtshe was “crazy” to marry a Turkish man who didn’t speak English.A video call between them (viaTLC Australia) showed how Mursel could barely comprehend what Anna was saying to him.
It appears that Mursel also didn’t have a great grasp of his own Turkish language. According to Reddit userlilfit, 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.
2Mahogany Roca
Mahogany from Peru was considered to be a catfish when Ben Rathbun started talking about her on90 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 Benshe 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.
Among the many lies Mahogany told Ben, she’d claimed her English wasn’t perfect. However, Mahogany spoke with a perfect American accent. Yet, during some of their conversations, she acted confused and made Ben use a translator app. One of Mahogany’s Spanish phrases,“muy confuso,”has become a joke among90 Day Fiancéviewers. It appears both Ben and Mahogany were lying about their levels of fluency in each other’s languages. Ben appeared not to know what “confuso” meant when he seemed to have a basic grasp of Spanish in previous episodes.
1Zied Hakimi
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days Season 3
Zied from Tunisia has given 90 Day Fiancé fans a bunch of memorable quotes since hisBefore the 90 Daysdebut. 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 otherquotable 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. Hehas 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 other90 Day Fiancécast members to be able to live his American Dream with Rebecca after the show.
90 Day Fiancé
Cast
90 Day Fiancé follows international couples navigating the challenges of cultural differences and family dynamics under the pressure of a 90-day fiancé visa in the pursuit of marriage and lasting love. Released in 2014, the series explores the complexities of cross-border relationships within the set timeframe.
