If Peaky Blinders sometimes makes you think, “Wait—did my English suddenly get much worse?”, the answer may be no. The series is mainly an English-learning environment, but it also switches into other languages. The useful skill is not memorising a cast-language trivia list. It is learning to tell three things apart: English spoken with an unfamiliar accent, a genuine switch into another language, and an English subtitle that translates non-English audio.
Across the series, you can encounter English alongside Romani, Russian, Italian, Cantonese and French, plus small bits of code-switching such as Spanish. The exact mix changes by episode. For an English learner, English should remain your core study track; the other languages are signals that tell you to change listening strategy.
The Language Layer Map
If the character is speaking English—even difficult regional English—use the scene for vocabulary, listening, stress and shadowing.
A Birmingham, Irish, London or other regional accent can make familiar words sound unfamiliar. An accent is not automatically a different language. Your job is to map the sound back to the English words, not reach for a translation immediately.
If the audio switches languages, an English subtitle may be a translation rather than a transcript. That means you should not copy its exact English wording as though that is what the actor said.
Romani and Romanian are different languages. This matters especially with Peaky Blinders, where discussion of the show can blur them.
What languages can you actually notice?
English: the main learning track
The overwhelming practical target for an English learner is the English dialogue. Even a line that talks about another nationality is not itself proof of a language switch. For example:
TOMMY: The Russians have made contact.
This is English. The word Russians tells you who is being discussed, not what language the speaker is using. Made contact is also a useful English collocation: it means established communication.
Russian: sometimes the subtitle tells you directly
(LEON SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
This is a different kind of subtitle. It is not dialogue for you to shadow; it is a language/accessibility label. When you see a label like this, stop trying to force the sound into English phonemes. If your target is English, follow the translated meaning and wait for the English dialogue to return.
Italian: language switch and language choice
(VICENTE SPEAKING ITALIAN)
Again, the caption itself tells you the audio has changed languages.
Elsewhere in the same episode, the characters explicitly discuss which language should be used:
So, should he apologise in Italian
or in English?
That pair gives you a very transferable English pattern: in + language. Writer-original examples: Can you send it in German? / Should I explain it in English?
Cantonese: another clear subtitle signal
(MAN SPEAKING CANTONESE)
The learning move is the same: identify the switch first. Do not mark the following English translation as “words I failed to hear”. You did not fail—the spoken track was not English.
French: a later-series switch
French appears later in the series. In an interview originally conducted by Deadline, Cillian Murphy discussed his French scenes in the final season and said his mother, a French teacher, helped him make the lines sound conversational rather than overly formal. Read the interview.
That is a good reminder for learners: when a character suddenly produces smooth French, do not assume it is “English with a strange accent”. It is a deliberate language change.
Romani is not Romanian
This is the distinction most worth bookmarking. The Council of Europe describes Romani as an Indo-Aryan language of Europe. Romanian, by contrast, is a Romance language. Similar-looking names do not make them variants of the same language.
Murphy also said in a separate interview that the production used a Romani consultant who translated lines and broke them down phonetically for the actors. See the interview.
There is one wrinkle: secondary reporting has documented that some early Peaky Blinders scenes used Romanian where Romani was intended, with the production correcting course by Season 3. Treat that as a production-history quirk, not evidence that “Romani = Romanian”. PRO TV reports on the mix-up.
Spanish: tiny code-switches count, but do not overcount them
So, por favor,
This is a small Spanish insertion inside an English interaction. It is useful to recognise por favor, but one borrowed or switched phrase does not mean the whole scene has become a Spanish-learning scene.
The 3-second Language Check
Use this whenever a line suddenly feels impossible.
- Listen for three seconds without subtitles. Do you hear recognisable English rhythm or words?
- Make one decision: “English, difficult accent”; “different language”; or “not sure”. Do not translate yet.
- Reveal the subtitle. Look for a language label, speaker label or translated line.
- Choose the correct task. If it is English, replay and shadow it. If it is another language and English is your target, follow the meaning and move on. If you are unsure, compare audio and subtitle before saving anything.
Audio: unfamiliar sounds. Caption: “[speaking another language]”. Your task: understand the translated meaning, but do not sentence-mine the translation as an English listening example.
Audio: recognisable English words with an unfamiliar regional pronunciation. Your task: keep the English transcript, mark the difficult sound, replay, then shadow.
What should an English learner actually learn from each layer?
| What you notice | Your best learning move | What not to do |
|---|---|---|
| English, easy or hard accent | Mine vocabulary, mark stress, shadow short chunks | Assume every unfamiliar sound is another language |
| Explicit language caption | Use translation for plot meaning | Grade yourself on “hearing” English that was never spoken |
| English translation over non-English audio | Treat subtitle as meaning support | Copy its rhythm/pronunciation as if it matched the audio |
| Tiny code-switch | Recognise it, then return to the main language | Turn one borrowed phrase into a whole-language study detour |
| Romani/Romanian discussion | Keep the two languages distinct | Use the names interchangeably |
Useful English hiding around the language switches
Do not let the multilingual moments distract you from good English. Here are three high-transfer lines from the same episode.
Would that be possible?
A clean, polite way to ask if an arrangement can happen. Writer-original: Could we use English for the first part? Would that be possible?
Perhaps Mr Jarvis has been held up
Held up means delayed. It is extremely useful for travel, meetings and work: Sorry, the train was held up.
I just want to broaden my mind.
Broaden your mind means expand your knowledge or perspective. That is a much better goal for multilingual scenes than trying to memorise every foreign-language phrase that flashes past.
A better way to use Peaky Blinders for English
Pick a five-to-ten-second exchange. Listen once with subtitles hidden. Decide which Language Layer you are hearing. Then reveal the subtitle and check your diagnosis. If the spoken line is English, mark one difficult sound or chunk and shadow it once. If the audio is not English, use the translation for meaning and wait for an English line before doing pronunciation work.
FunFluen can make that loop quicker: hide and reveal subtitles, replay the same few seconds, compare what you heard with the text, and save only the chunks that actually match your learning target. The important part is the decision before the save: am I learning spoken English here, or merely reading an English translation?
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