As the lead vocalist of Pink Martini, China Forbes is on the road six months of the year. Over twenty-nine years, she has built a reputation for her captivating stage presence and ability to perform in twenty-seven different languages. As of 2024, that list includes English, French, Italian, Neapolitan, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Croatian, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Laddino, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Romanian, Russian, Uzbek, Xhosa, and Latin. “When I sing French, or any language, I find that if I pretend as if I’ve had two glasses of champagne, and I feel sort of uninhibited and a little slurry, it sounds much more authentic,” says Forbes. “Most people tend to over-enunciate and emphasize each word and it sounds awkward and foreign.”