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Peter Parker grew up in a multilingual household. First, his mother was a second generation French immigrant. She spoke mostly French with him. Next, his father and uncle were latina, so he spoke Spanish with them.
For the first five years of his life, he spoke a mix of French, Spanish, and English. He spoke exclusively French with his mother, exclusively Spanish with his father. Everyone else, he used English.
When his parents died and he went to live with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, May taught him her language - Italian.
By third grade, he spoke four languages.
Throughout the years, the number of languages he learned grew. He fell in love with learning as much as he could about the languages of the world.
Living in New York meant living in a city with a high immigrant population. Peter loved it. He loved being able to walk around Queens and see different cultures. He especially loved when they shared their culture and taught him new things.
May and Ben encouraged it. They talked about how he can keep himself safe. They went on plenty of small trips around the borough and city together.
They saw how happy he was interacting with people and encouraged it as best they could. They didn’t want to dim their own personified sun.
This is how he met a Chinese family with a son his age. The family spoke little English, but this only encouraged Peter to learn Mandarin from them, while he helped them improve their English.
So, by ten he spoke five languages.
This is when his Aunt and Uncle realized he loved languages; learning a new one was as easy as breathing for Peter.
May and Ben didn’t want him to forget his mother’s language, so they would buy french movies and books for him. They didn’t understand the films, but Peter loved them.
When he started learning Mandarin, they got films in Mandarin for him.
Peter would spend his free time learning as much as he could about the cultures around the world. And in the age of the internet; he learned a lot.
In seventh grade, his school required kids to take a language class. They offered Spanish, French, and ASL.
Since he already knew Spanish and French, he took ASL.
With May and Ben’s help, he got involved with the deaf community in Queens to improve his skills.
Thus adding another language to his belt.
He got books about deaf characters. When they would watch a show or movie in English, they had an ASL interpreter on screen.
His family now consisted of a variety of languages and cultures, and he thrived in it. Constantly learning new things.
Then, eighth grade started, and there was a new student. Being who Peter was, he introduced himself.
“Hello! I’m Peter Parker, what’s your name?”
The new kid introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Ned Leeds!”
“What’s been your favorite class so far?”
“I think the computer class! I really love learning new things about computers.”
“Ooo, that’s a good choice. Ms. Brown is one of the best teachers here,” Peter responds.
They became instant friends. When Peter went over to his house for the first time and learned his parents mainly spoke Tagalog, Peter practically begged Ned to teach him.
Ned agreed, and by their freshman year, when Peter went over, the only language that could be heard was Tagalog.
When Peter was accepted into Midtown High, he was extremely excited. Not only did they have one of the best science and technology programs, and they had a very well developed language program.
Peter, being the language nerd he was, was overwhelmingly excited to take as many classes as he could.
He started with German. Throughout his Freshman and Sophomore years, he took all the German classes they offered.
The German teacher was a German immigrant, so he tried to converse with him in German to learn more than what the curriculum covered. By the end of his freshman year he needed very little help speaking and reading German.
When Peter became Spider-Man, his language skills helped him immensely. He could communicate with a majority of the people he came across.
If he was talking to someone in Spanish and got a little choked up, no one mentioned it. He acted like nothing was wrong. Like his last major connection to the language wasn’t gone.
As he got more well known around New York, people started speculating that he used some sort of advanced translator, not that he actually could speak at least eight languages.
When asked about it, he just made a joke - avoided the topic.
After all, very few people spoke that many languages, and he didn’t want to risk anyone figuring out his identity.
Then, a few months into his career as a vigilante, he met Tony Stark. And consequently the rest of the Avengers.
As Peter fought in what the media dubbed the “Avenger’s Civil War” he managed to keep his language skills a secret. He had - in fact - made a program the could act as a translator (courtesy of Ned) so convincing Mr. Stark that he only spoke two languages was relatively easy.
When Peter later met Natasha when she was pardoned, he got her to teach him Russian.
Peter had just entered the kitchen to grab a snack. Nat was rummaging through the fridge in search of something. Always one to be helpful, Peter asked, “Do you need help?”
Nat startled, “Ёбушки-воробушки! Peter! Please don’t walk so silently, it’s not good for my spy-soul,” she joked.
“Sorry, Nat. It’s natural for me to walk silently. Also, you know Russian? Wait, that’s a dumb question, you were a Russian spy, of course you know Russian. Why would I even ask-“
“Peter, slow down. What are you attempting to ask?” Natasha interrupted his rambling.
“Yeah, right. Sorry. Uh… Could you maybe teach me? You don’t have to, of course. I just really like languages, and i’ve always wanted to learn Russian, but haven’t gotten the chance too yet, and- … I just really want to learn.”
Smiling fondly, Natasha considers his request. “Sure, ребенок-паук. I’ll teach you Russian. Are you sure you’re up for it though? learning a new language can be very challenging.”
“I’m sure, Nat! Thank you so much!”
Adding a ninth language to his belt. Sure Natasha probably suspects that he knows more languages than he says he does, but she’s a spy. It’s her job to know what others don’t want her to know.
Peter decided that’s a good sacrifice for learning Russian.
When Tony eventually learns Peter knows more languages than he lets on, it was an accident.
Peter and Tony were at the Compound for the weekend. Peter was staying the night there, so they didn’t have to worry about time. In their science and mechanical engineering haze, they stayed up way later than they should have.
They both had been awake for entirely too long, and Tony switched to his first language without realizing.
“Puoi passarmelo?” Tony asks, not realizing he’s speaking Italian.
“Qui,” Peter responds in Italian. It’s ingrained in him to always respond in the language spoken to him.
Eventually, they go to bed, and when they wake up, FRIDAY tells Tony, “Boss? Did you know Peter spoke Italian?”
“Uh, hun, your code okay? Peter only speaks English and Spanish. And he’s learning Russian.”
“Last night, before you guys went to bed, you were both speaking Italian.”
“You sure?” Tony asks.
“Let me show you the recording.”
FRIDAY shows Tony the recording, and sure enough, they were both speaking Italian.
Confused, Tony goes to find Peter to talk with him.
Peter trusts Tony now, so he admits that he lied when they first met, “I know eight languages, and am learning a ninth. Sorry for lying, Mr. Stark.”
Tony forgives him, and now when it’s just the top of them, they mostly speak Italian.
A few months later, all of the Avengers are at the Compound for a “bonding night”. There are multiple groups spread throughout the common room.
Nat and Bucky are talking in Russian near Peter, who is talking with Tony and Rhodey. Rhodey had learned Italian back when he decided he would be Tony’s brother. When he learned Peter spoke Italian - soon after Tony did - they made sure to speak Italian with each other.
So the three of them were talking in Italian when something Bucky said caught Peter’s attention.
“I know Yelena’s birthday is coming up.”
“Зима, I don’t want to talk about this here. Please," Nat says.
Breaking off from Tony and Rhodey, Peter starts, “Auntie Nat, don’t ignore grief. It doesn’t make it go away.”
Sighing, Nat says, “ребенок-паук, I know. She’s not dead-“
She doesn’t get a chance to continue as she is interrupted by Steve.
“Peter, you know Russian?”
Vaguely annoyed, Peter responds, “Yeah, Aunt Nat’s been teaching me. She has been for a few months now.”
“And you speak Italian?”
Confused, Peter says, “Yes..?”
Powering through, Steve continues his impromptu interrogation, “But your file only says you speak English and Spanish.”
“Does it? Guess I need to update it..?”
“When did you start learning Italian from Tony?”
“I didn’t learn from Tony, I learned from my Aunt.” Peter says, still very confused. By now the rest of the Avengers were paying attention.
“If you learned from her, why does your file not say you know Italian?”
Realizing what Steve was setting up for, Peter retorts with “What is on my SHIELD file contains very little identifying information. I care very much about my anonymity, so, yeah, I downplayed my skills a bit. Did you know, speaking almost nine languages fluently is extremely rare? And can it be a very easy identifier?”
“You shouldn’t have lied, Kid-“
“Do not call me “Kid”,” Peter starts, now officially angry, “I stopped being a kid when my Uncle was shot and killed in front of me. I stopped being a kid the first time I helped a rape victim. I stopped being a kid the first time I took down a human trafficking ring. Yes I lied, and maybe I shouldn’t’ve. But it turned out to be a good idea, right? ‘Cause SHIELD was HYDRA. If an organization like that found out true information about me, I would be Disappeared. Tortured, and experimented on.”
Steve was stunned by his outburst. Peter very rarely got mad, and it took a ton to push him far enough to have a proper backbone. Apparently Steve found one of his well hidden buttons.
“…You speak nine languages?” Sam asks.
Taking a breath, Peter turns to him, “Yeah. I grew up speaking French with my Mom, Spanish with my Dad and Uncle, and Italian with my Aunt. I learned Mandarin from a family down the street from me. Tagalog from Ned. ASL and German were offered at school. And, of course, Nat’s teachin’ me Russian.”
“Jeez, Pete. Didn’t know you were a language genius. Good job, you should be proud of it.”
“Thanks, Sam.”
About a week later, Peter was at the Compound again when Wanda approached him.
“Hey Peter, would you like to learn Sokovian?”
Surprised, and happy, Peter immediately agreed, “I would love to, Wanda!”
So Peter gained a tenth language.
When Peter gained an official position at Stark Industries, he wanted to travel the world. He ended up spending a few months at different SI locations around the world. Five, in total. France, Italy, China, Germany, and Russia.
He was known as Stark’s Translator throughout the different locations.
When Spider-Man became an official Avenger, he was the go-to person for dealing with civilians - especially when they weren’t in America. For both his language skills, and also his ability to distract and calm others.
The world learned Spider-Man could, in fact, speak multiple languages.
Spider-Man was a multilingual Hero. Known worldwide for his language skills, and his never-ending ability to be kind.
Peter Parker may be famous at SI, but Spider-Man? He was a monument in history.