Foreign Languages and the Candidates

[ProSense]

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Foreign Languages and the Candidates

Obama says that he speaks "Indonesian and a little Spanish." The strength of his Indonesian is attested to in an article in Time:

When prominent Indonesians visit the U.S., the first person they want to meet is Obama, says Parnohadiningrat Sudjadnan, the Indonesian ambassador to the U.S. "Back home people think of him as one of us, or at least one who understands us," he says, adding that they are delighted to find that Obama speaks passable Bahasa, the language spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Based on the video below, I think he's overly modest in his evaluation of his Spanish. His accent, while clearly not native, is better than that of many non-native speakers I know who consider themselves fluent. He sounds considerably better than, say, Bush when he gave his 2001 Cinco de Mayo radio address in Spanish. (Bush sounds like a kid in a 7th grade Spanish class struggling to read the textbook.)

People who've travelled abroad substantially know that speaking the local language makes a big difference. In most places, you get a lot of credit even just for trying. Obama will wow people when he goes to Mexico or to Indonesia--the most populous Muslim country in the world--and speaks for just a few minutes on television in the local language. This steels my conviction that Obama will be the world's most popular U.S. president ever.

McCain, by the way, doesn't speak any foreign language. Jim Webb, my pick for Obama's running mate, speaks Vietnamese.

(Video of Obama's ad)

On edit: John Kerry speaks five foreign languages, Obama two and Webb one. McCain does a little better with English than Bush, but barely.

[LeftishBrit]

1. That'll be a change...

Bush can't even speak English!

[Puzzler]

2. If Obama can speak a passable Spanish...

... then it should surely help him with the Hispanic votes.

[DangerousRhythm]

31. I can speak a little myself...

I understand much more than I speak and I thought his Puerto Rico ad was pretty damned good. MUCH better than Bush, anyway.

[phillysuse]

3. Wesley Clark speaks four languages -

another good VP choice.

[gateley]

4. Brian Schweitzer is fluent in Arabic -- that would be most helpful

at this time.

[harun]

6. I was very impressed by that. He must be one smart cookie.

Most Americans who learn to speak Arabic do so for religious reasons after they convert to Islam. He did it just because he was living in the area. He is Roman Catholic. To dedicate that kind of time to learn it is significant.

[gateley]

10. It's indicative - to me - that he realizes it's important

to understand the CULTURE of the people with whom you're dealing. Something Bushco was painfully unaware of.

[FrenchieCat]

5. I can teach Barack French......

Yes I can! ;)

Ok....Michelle too. :)

[TahitiNut]

15. I'll babysit the kids while you tutor the parents.

:silly:

[FrenchieCat]

16. Excellent!

Ma cousine! :) :hi:

[TahitiNut]

17. I can teach the kids some simple stuff ... like ...

... "merde" and "très fou" and "chien méchant." :silly:

Oh ... and "fermé en août" and "priorité à droite." :rofl:

[FrenchieCat]

18. oooh!

arrête, Le premier n'est pas acceptable pour les enfants! :blush:

Et oui, "fermé en août"....Particulièrement à Paris; toujours triste pour les touristes. :(

[TahitiNut]

19. Every kid needs to know the first one. It adds motivation to learn a langage.

:evilgrin:

Insofar as "Closed in August" ... it's essential to knowing global respect for labor. The younger the better.

[FrenchieCat]

20. Aye. Tu as absolument raison!

[TahitiNut]

26. D'accord. Besides ...

... somebody would have to pick me up off the floor, I'd be so helpless with laughter, if I were to witness little Sasha stamping her foot and saying "merde!" in front of her parents ... who'd, no doubt, be torn between joining me in laughter and correcting Sasha. It'd be a truly priceless moment that I can get almost endless amusement from, by merely imagining it.

(Gawd ... I'm such a total sucker for those kids ... without even meeting them personally.) :silly:

[ekwhite]

22. fermé en août!

Try getting anything out of Le France or Deutschland in August. I get darned envious!

[TahitiNut]

24. It's awesome to watch Paris shut down in the heat of summer as labor ...

... traditionally vacations in the countryside. It's a wonderful display of the traditions of la revolution and the love of a country's natural beauty. The campgrounds and parks are terrific ... clean, vibrant, safe. The French can teach us a lot about appreciation of "today" and a true love of the land immediately around us.

[panAmerican]

27. That would be "La" France

[ekwhite]

28. Pardonnez-mois!

My French is more than a little rusty.

[grantcart]

7. Salamat Datang - Hello in Bahasa

[BlooInBloo]

8. Didn't Obama give a talk or something en espanol?

[Lautremont]

9. For a lot of bucketheads it'll actually be a point against Obama that he should dare

to be able to speak a language other than English.

[panAmerican]

11. I always giggle hearing Obama linger on the "U" in "Sí, se puede!"

[rox63]

12. You'd think McCain would have picked up some Vietnamese while he was a prisoner

And possibly some Spanish, since he represents AZ, a state with a large Latino population.

[ekwhite]

23. Si

el gringo viejo debe hablar espanol.

[mnhtnbb]

25. You'd think that he'd speak Spanish from having been born in Panama. How old was he when he moved?

[seasat]

13. That's not true about McCain

He's obviously fluent in Bushese and Neconish.

[ProSense]

14. LOL! n/t

[K Gardner]

21. I believe Obama probably understated his Indonesian.. it was on this language

he was raised as a child.. says he was speaking it fluently within 6 months of arriving in Indonesia. His mother had to tutor him in English before sending him back to the states to live, and I was never sure from reading if that was because he'd taken on Indonesian as his first language and forgot his English, or because she just wanted to school him in it. I also hear he is quite a singer.

Those of us who have read his books know his talent as a writer.. I'd say there is much about Obama we still don't know, and things he won't quite brag about :-)

[Colobo]

29. Barack will probably be one of the most intelligent presidents this country

will ever have.

[Cha]

30. Speaking another language is amazing to me

and the more you do it the better you are.

My son was learning Indonesian from going to Bali on surfing treks and then he met a girl from Thailand so now he's getting versed in that language.

I'll have to tell him Obama speaks Indonesian(Bahasa). I learned Espanol when I lived in San Diego but it's been too long out of practice. I know enough, though, to tell that Obama did a good job in his Puerto Rican ad.

<snip from your article>

"The day I'm inaugurated, not only will the country look at itself differently, but the world will look at America differently," Obama told an audience in Audubon, Iowa, last month, "because not only do I have the experience of working at the highest levels of government on foreign policy but also because the leaders of others counties will know that I've got family members that live in small villages in Africa that are poor so I know what they're going through." It is an argument he has made in most of his stump speeches lately, as he tries to show that his judgment trumps the years of foreign policy experience of men like Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who led us into the war in Iraq. In an effort to underline his foreign policy credentials, Obama called a foreign-policy forum today in Iowa with three former Clinton Administration officials who have endorsed his candidacy."