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How did we end up with a POTUS who speaks not a lick of a foreign language?

Xelor

Xelor

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The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
 
That is not the question. The question is, How did we end up with a President that does not speak English.
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
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It doesn't really bother me that Trump only speaks one language, I don't recall any President in my lifetime speaking another language. It would be nice though, I would prefer a President who could speak more than one language. I do think these days American culture focuses on "speaking English". It's looked down in some parts to speak another language.
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
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Why is this important?
 
Seems that many living in this country can't speak proper English. English is a commonly spoken language around the world. Exceptions are being made in the U.S. where we seem to have adopted the 1 for English 2 for Spanish nonsense to accommodate the ones unable or unwilling to learn English.
Singling out the President for not speaking a foreign language is because? Don't tell me, yet another juicy morsel of nevermind?
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
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Don't know.... Ask Obama because he did not speak a second language. And lets not forget Hillary because she does not speak any language but English.

Just one more thread to bash Trump because he won an election that everyone knew he would lose.

The U.S. has not elected a bilingual president in 84 years
February 08, 2016
WASHINGTON

The United States has not elected a president fluent in a language other than English in 84 years.

And in a field of 11 remaining presidential candidates, only two are likely to change that: Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

The last commander in chief who spoke a foreign language fluently was Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to his first term in 1932, who had been taught French and German since he was a child.
 
We ended up with a POTUS who speaks only one language poorly the same way we ended up with a POTUS who fought to make torture a legal process. Our electoral system is an illusion, and rigged completely.
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
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Perhaps most Americans don't speak more than English is that they don't have to. In my Army career I traveled all over the world and most people did speak English. There wasn't really any need for an American to learn another language unless their job required it. If one is a tourist, I imagine learning another language is even less needed than being a GI who at times interacts with the host nations military personnel.

It really doesn't matter where one goes in the world today. Hotel clerks, taxis, shop owners, you name it. All seem to know English. I can remember when French was the language of Diplomats. But that changed in the 50's or 60's to English. It's completely unnecessary for most Americans even if they travel the world to learn another language. Now in the Army I dealt with a lot of Thai and Lao troops back in the day and I picked up their language from them. I can still hold a daily conversation in those languages. Now they use scrip, so writing in their language is completely out of the question.

But outside of those two languages, I never had a desire to learn any other. I think that most Americans don't have that desire as today it isn't very useful unless one's job requires it.

As for Trump, he's an obnoxious, egotistical, uncouth oaf of a president in which speaking good English isn't required in name calling, creating needless feuds on top of another, insulting any and everyone, behaving and acting very unpresidential. His persona is that of a reality TV show host than a president, politician, diplomat etc.
 
americanwoman said:
It doesn't really bother me that Trump only speaks one language, I don't recall any President in my lifetime speaking another language. It would be nice though, I would prefer a President who could speak more than one language. I do think these days American culture focuses on "speaking English". It's looked down in some parts to speak another language.
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Well, that's why the OP has the linked content it does.
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
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That is by far the least question when it comes to Trump. How about truth, honor, morals, and empathy.
 
Mycroft said:
Why is this important?
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It's only important for when an idiot president (like Trump) attends a meeting without an American translator present and instead relies on foreign translators like Trump has done.
 
Carleen said:
That is by far the least question when it comes to Trump. How about truth, honor, morals, and empathy.
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That has been discussed to death and didn't make much of a dent.
 
What an odd thing to only find fault with Trump over. The struggle is real.
 
Carleen said:
That is by far the least question when it comes to Trump. How about truth, honor, morals, and empathy.
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Why is it even a question at all with Trump and only Trump?
 
jnug said:
That is not the question. The question is, How did we end up with a President that does not speak English.
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He barely speaks standard colloquial English. I'm ashamed of him.
 
Common Sense 1 said:
Don't know.... Ask Obama because he did not speak a second language. And lets not forget Hillary because she does not speak any language but English.

Just one more thread to bash Trump because he won an election that everyone knew he would lose.

The U.S. has not elected a bilingual president in 84 years
February 08, 2016
WASHINGTON

The United States has not elected a president fluent in a language other than English in 84 years.

And in a field of 11 remaining presidential candidates, only two are likely to change that: Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

The last commander in chief who spoke a foreign language fluently was Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to his first term in 1932, who had been taught French and German since he was a child.
Click to expand...

Common Sense 1 said:
Don't know.... Ask Obama because he did not speak a second language.....
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Seriously, dude? Did you at all click on the links in the OP?

Common Sense 1 said:
The U.S. has not elected a bilingual president in 84 years
February 08, 2016
WASHINGTON

The United States has not elected a president fluent in a language other than English in 84 years.
Click to expand...
The issues, as I see it, and as I indicated in my title, is that Trump speaks "not a lick" of a foreign language. Our past three POTUSes have had some measure of mastery of a second language. And truly, were this the 1980s, I wouldn't mention it. But it's not the '80s. It's the 21st century. People routinely make friends and acquaintanceships with folks in other countries. Even Trump does. People travel to and do business in other countries. Trump most certainly has. Hell, the man's had two wives from Eastern Europe and he's buddies with Russians. One'd think he'd have picked up some sort of basic conversation skill in at least one of the two (if not three) Slavic languages to which he had to have had routine enough exposure and an able helper -- either of two of his wives -- to learn it. And yet he's not even got a partial mastery of either.

Hell, I wouldn't call myself fluent in any language other than English, but I can hold an intermediate level conversation in French, Spanish and a very basic one in Mandarin, and I can't read or write Mandarin. Remember, in my title, I wrote "not a lick." I wrote that because (1) I know that Trump's educational background, exposure to foreign language speakers and mine are similar enough that it's not unreasonable that he'd have, had he made any effort at all, acquired a "partial mastery" of some language other than English, and (2) I'm not expecting of him more than I accomplished "by osmosis" and formal education. I'm well aware of how much and how little effort I put into picking up each language I can speak to any degree, and because I do, I know it doesn't take much to pick up a language; it mostly takes just trying to do it.

Common Sense 1 said:
...lets not forget Hillary because she does not speak any language but English.
Click to expand...
 
Mycroft said:
Oh. So he should know ALL languages so he doesn't need to rely on an interpreter.

Okay.
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Nice Strawman, point to where I said he should know ALL languages. Or you can just admit your comment is just pure partisan hackery.

Hey...maybe he should just use Microsoft translator. I've heard it works quite well.

https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/...lator-gets-ai-powered-offline-language-packs/
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Attending a foreign national meeting without an American Translator present and only relying only on the foreign interpreter is idiotic. Now run along and go hug your Trump cutout you have in your bedroom.
 
Mycroft said:
Why is this important?
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Because OP is brand new to this board and would like to continue his Trump-bashing right after his introductory rant ... which also featured a hefty dose of Trump-bashing. ;)

Got nothing to do with how many languages anyone speaks ... :lol:
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
Click to expand...

it would be well pretty much a given that first presidents could speak a different language.
over the years english has taken over as the main language around the world for the most part.

unless you get out into the country side most people speak or know english.
 
jnug said:
That is not the question. The question is, How did we end up with a President that does not speak English.
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We voted him in. That's how. And since speaking a foreign language is not a requirement, the vote stuck.
 
jimbo said:
We voted him in. That's how. And since speaking a foreign language is not a requirement, the vote stuck.
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Not much for reading comprehension are we?
 
Xelor said:
The title question is straightforward enough.

Of course, unlike Europeans of whom over half are bilingual, only about a quarter of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

This is, after all, the 21st century. Airplane travel is cheap and common. I'm almost 60, and even when I was in school, mastering a modern foreign language was required. Hell, we were required to study one as far back as what was then called "nursery three," if I recall correctly, but many places these days call it "preschool." In my day, it was fun, and there was plenty of "playing," but there wasn't any "pre" about it. It was school....we were writing, counting, and singing in two languages. Hell, we were even graded on our performance. Even my nonagenarian mother speaks French and Latin along with English. Trump went to a good school (academically), yet he speaks English, which, no less, he speaks poorly.
Click to expand...

As we see from his Twitter adventures, he's not completely at home with his native language.
 
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