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

[Praxas]

The valid complaints get burried in tripe like this. Calling him names isn't valid criticism. It's just name calling. What is valid is pointing out the double standard of blaming/faulting/hating Trump exclusively for something that's been true of many other presidents. It goes to show it's a personal thing, not a principled thing.

Really show us where Obama met a foreign national without a American translator and relied on a foreign national to translate.

 

[Mycroft]

I know what the word means. I want to know what you consider important such that after reading the OP and linked content you felt compelled to ask, "Why is this important?" That information will allow me to answer your question vis-a-vis your frame mind.

LOL!!

I don't consider anything about this to be important. I was asking you. After all, it's your topic.

What I think is important about it is expressed in the OP. That obviously didn't resonate with you; thus I've asked you to explain what you think is important.

Yes, I guess what you said in the OP didn't resonate with me.

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.

Essentially, it seems you are saying that people should learn another language? But why Trump, in particular, as opposed to, say, everyone?

Oh well, perhaps you just want to single out Trump. No problem.

 

[Xelor]

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.

I've worked in -- spent an unbroken month -- all the cities shown below except Moscow, Manila, Karachi, Dhaka, Sao Paulo, and Cairo.

​

Without question, there are English speakers in all of them; however, one need only go to a quaint bistro, a swanky boutique, a bar, a pharmacy, a department store, or any of a host of other venues to come by folks who either don't or won't speak English. That's particularly so in the PRC, even in the semi-big cities there. Mind you, there are some 250M+ people in just 15 of China's cities.

• Shanghai (34 million)
• Guangzhou (25 million)
• Beijing (24.9 million)
• Shenzhen (23.3 million)
• Wuhan (19 million)
• Chengdu (18.1 million)
• Chongqing (17 million)
• Tianjin (15.4 million)
• Hangzhou (13.4 million)
• Xian (12.9 million)
• Changzhou (12.4 million)
• Shantou (12 million)
• Nanjing (11.7 million)
• Jinan (11 million)
• Harbin (10.5 million)

In the top four and Dalian (7 million), one'll probably come by someone or someone standing around one who's willing to try speaking English. Generally, however, even folks who have advanced degrees and 10+ years of English instruction demure -- mostly from unwarranted embarrassment/intimidation...that is what it is -- when it comes to speaking English with native speakers, especially total strangers, all the while exhibiting the patience of Job with one's horrendous Mandarin.

BTW, click here and look at the population sizes. Then tell me what constitutes "out in the country" vis-a-vis those population sizes. Personally, I don't think of any place having about million-plus folks as "country." Indeed, my idea of "in the country" corresponds to about 50K or fewer folks. But that perhaps is just me seeing as part of my family are from MS where one's property has in around it more swamp, woods, and open space than neighbors. I know some people think of Natchez as a city, but, hell, it strikes me as country through and through. That said, go the UK and visit the country there. I can assure you they're speaking English, but you won't know most of what the hell they're saying. LOL

Anyway, all I'm really getting at is that there are plenty of genuinely big cities where one will encounter folks who don't speak English, or speak it well enough to communicate with an American. In Western Europe, it's hard to come by folks who speak no English. Outside of Western Europe and a small handful of other very cosmopolitan cities, it's only about as hard as falling off a log, and there will yet be hundreds of thousands or more people living there.

 

[Mycroft]

When meeting with a foreign national you should ALWAYS have an American translator that is trained in that language. Not sure what's so hard to grasp about that concept.

Oh, I understand the concept...but **** happens. Are you sure the translator didn't make a mistake and drink the water? Maybe that's why he wasn't around.

There is a nice little feature in this forum if you think my comment is off topic. But you are not a mod so you can go pound sand cause I will post what I want regardless of what you say.

Calm down. I'm not picking on you. Just pointing out derailing when I see it.

 

[Xelor]

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

I'm obliged to agree with you there.

 

[Xelor]

I don't consider Obama's elementary understanding of Indonesian and Bush's conversational Spanish to be any kind of significant indication they were bilingual or had a level of mastery of another language.

Well, that is what it is.

 

[Praxas]

Oh, I understand the concept...but **** happens. Are you sure the translator didn't make a mistake and drink the water? Maybe that's why he wasn't around.

**** happens? Trump purposely didn't bring one. Like I said, you excuse ANYTHING.

Calm down. I'm not picking on you. Just pointing out derailing when I see it.

There was no derailment just excuses from you as usual. you will not call Trump out on anything.

 

[Xelor]

Maybe you should have been President, since you have a way with languages that Trump doesn't.

I should not have been because it's not something to which I ever, not even as a child, aspired. That is the single most important reason for my not having been POTUS. I would never take a job I don't want to perform.

BTW, it's nice of you to attempt to make the matter be about me, but it's really not about me or what I should have been. It's about Trump. It is because he's the current POTUS.

 

[Perotista]

In government translators are employed, so I don't see what the OP is getting at here.

Very true. I think the OP was looking at it as more of an average citizen though. Maybe not. Still, where ever an average citizen goes in this world, English is at least the second language, the language of business when it comes to tourist and shop keepers selling things to them. You can be sure any tour guide will speak English. As far as I know, visited, even in airports, flights etc. are announced in the local language and then in English with all the instructions etc.

You have to get out in the boon docks to find places where English isn't spoken almost everywhere in the world. Cities of the world, English will do nicely.

 

[humbolt]

Really show us where Obama met a foreign national without a American translator and relied on a foreign national to translate.

According to Joe Biden, three words - fake South African sign language translator.

 

[Praxas]

According to Joe Biden, three words - fake South African sign language translator.

So Obama only used a sign language interpreter? come on man, that was weak and you know it. Obama didn't go to Russian, not able to speak Russian and only rely on a foreign national Russian translator.

What is it about Trumpbots that they simply can't admit what Trump did was dumb?

 

[Mycroft]

I should not have been because it's not something to which I ever, not even as a child, aspired. That is the single most important reason for my not having been POTUS. I would never take a job I don't want to perform.

BTW, it's nice of you to attempt to make the matter be about me, but it's really not about me or what I should have been. It's about Trump. It is because he's the current POTUS.

You made the matter about you when you described your language training and skills.

 

[Xelor]

LOL!!

I don't consider anything about this to be important. I was asking you. After all, it's your topic.



Yes, I guess what you said in the OP didn't resonate with me.



Essentially, it seems you are saying that people should learn another language? But why Trump, in particular, as opposed to, say, everyone?

Oh well, perhaps you just want to single out Trump. No problem.

Because he's the POTUS not the POT-some insignificant country, and because he's always bragging about how he's "all that and a bag of chips," so to speak (aka, exhibits zero humility), and because it's the 21st century, and because he's had ample opportunity (even Barron speaks two languages).

Polyglot world leaders (not a complete list)

• Theresa May --> French and German
• Elizabeth II --> French
• Macron --> English
• Putin --> German, Swedish, English
• Tayyip Erdogan --> Greek and Arabic
• Merkel --> Russian
• Turnbull --> Ngunnawal
• Trudeau --> French
• Gentiloni --> English
• Modi --> English, Gujarati and Hindi
• Netanyahu --> Hebrew, English, Russian

LOL!!

I don't consider anything about this to be important. I was asking you. After all, it's your topic.

Yes, I guess what you said in the OP didn't resonate with me.

Essentially, it seems you are saying that people should learn another language? But why Trump, in particular, as opposed to, say, everyone?

Oh well, perhaps you just want to single out Trump. No problem.

If you'd like to discuss whether "everyone" should speak another language, by all means, make a thread with that as the topic.

 

[Mason66]

Very true. I think the OP was looking at it as more of an average citizen though. Maybe not. Still, where ever an average citizen goes in this world, English is at least the second language, the language of business when it comes to tourist and shop keepers selling things to them. You can be sure any tour guide will speak English. As far as I know, visited, even in airports, flights etc. are announced in the local language and then in English with all the instructions etc.

You have to get out in the boon docks to find places where English isn't spoken almost everywhere in the world. Cities of the world, English will do nicely.

The OP said the even in high school mastering a foreign language is mandatory.

Does anybody here remember mastering a foreign language in high school?

 

[americanwoman]

The OP said the even in high school mastering a foreign language is mandatory.

Does anybody here remember mastering a foreign language in high school?

No, I don't.

But the OP also claims the last two Presidents who can speak passable conversational pieces in other languages mastered them so it seems like he is defining mastering a little different than the rest of us.

 

[Cardinal]

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.

Not that this isn't a dumb premise for a thread, but George W. Bush spoke Spanish.

Edit: never mind, that's already been pointed out.

 

[veritas1]

Funny that this only comes up now. It's also amusing to see people like Joy Behar and Jimmy Kimmel make fun of Melania Trump's accent. She speaks FIVE languages for sh*t sakes. How many do they speak? Imagine conservatives making fun in the same fashion. It would be a friggin hate crime. Lastly, we would do well to make a new commitment to speaking proper English in this country. Trump makes plenty of grammatical errors but so do newscasters, announcers, columnists, teachers and lots of others who should know better.

 

[Perotista]

The OP said the even in high school mastering a foreign language is mandatory.

Does anybody here remember mastering a foreign language in high school?

No. When I went to high school, eons ago, French and Spanish were electives. Not mandatory. Taught by teachers who probably didn't even know the language themselves, just what they read in a book. Far as I know today, even with the grand kids, taking a foreign language in High School isn't mandatory.

 

[Gaius46]

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.

Doesn't Bush Jr speak Spanish?

 

[Gaius46]

The title question is straightforward enough.

• Thirteen of the first twenty U.S. presidents spoke multiple languages.
• All of Trump's family members are multilingual.

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.

Many early Presidents read/spoke Latin and/or Greek because it was expected of educated people. Neither language was particularly useful for anything other than reading authors from classical antiquity or church works.

 

[Amelia]

That is not the question. The question is, How did we end up with a President that does not speak English.

LOL. Yes.


But Trump has had extraordinary opportunities for education. He is widely traveled.

And still he is so ignorant.

He claims he is intelligent -- so he's basically saying it was his choice to remain ignorant, not lack of brain power which leaves him in this state.


The silver lining is that now people can SEE what a fool he is. With his carefully controlled image, surrounded by yes-men, he was able to create the illusion of competence. But now he can't control what we see -- no more Apprentice team to edit him -- it's all out there. And he doesn't have the good sense to shut up and quit making it so clear that his head is a cobwebby mess.

 

[apdst]

The title question is straightforward enough.

• Thirteen of the first twenty U.S. presidents spoke multiple languages.
• All of Trump's family members are multilingual.

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.

You should question the stuff you're provided to post.

 

[apdst]

That is not the question. The question is, How did we end up with a President that does not speak English.

You mean Obama? The guy that doesn't know the difference between "corpse" and "corps".

 

[Rogue Valley]

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

Foreign language?

Trump only speaks about 200 words of his native language, and badly at that.

Covfefe anyone?

 

[Xelor]

Facilis descensus Averno;
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
-- Virgil, The Aeneid​

Is the fact of Trump's monolingualism a huge disservice to the American people? No. It's a small one, a very small one, but a small disservice is yet a disservice. For as much as I despise Donald Trump, for as much as I find him boorish and banal, I wouldn't fire him for being monolingual. I absolutely will ridicule him for it because, among other things, given his "to the manor born" background, it's shameful that he is, particularly in light of Trump's having asserted that he was a good student. Minimally, the American people deserve to have a very well educated POTUS.

Many early Presidents read/spoke Latin and/or Greek because it was expected of educated people. Neither language was particularly useful for anything other than reading authors from classical antiquity or church works.

Frankly, that expectation applied to kids of Trump's day (and social segment) and mine. My grandfather, father, I, two of my sons, my male first cousins, and my uncles were/are St. Grottlesexers. Trump attended NYMA, which is similar but with military school discipline added. We all share having so-called fancy educations. Whereas in my time (I graduated in the late '70s) and before, a modern language and Latin or Greek was required, my alma mater altered the explicit requirement for learning a classical language, making it a requirement to learn either a classical or a modern language.

I looked for NYMA's current curriculum requirements; no luck finding them. Here're the graduation requirements at Groton, St. Paul's, St. Marks, and Middlesex:

• St. Paul's
• St. Mark's
• Groton
• Middlesex

Trump had the fancy education, and shows no evidence of having had a good non-fancy education. When he's extemporizing, he doesn't even speak in complete sentences.

If going to a school like NYMA, a St. Grottlesex school, etc., the expectation of one's coming out "educated" be inapt, particularly in the '60s, then it is is/was an unfitting expectation of students attending any school. Astoundingly, Trump went only to "fancy" schools -- NYMA, Fordham, and U. Penn -- managed to graduate and, by all indications, has disabused himself of his learnings there. One'd think "intellectual osmosis" alone would have allowed him to retain at least a partial mastery of whatever language he studied at NYMA. (Hell, for as many lawsuits as he's been in, one'd think he has some smattering of Latin he could claim as a second language.)

Many early Presidents read/spoke Latin and/or Greek because it was expected of educated people. Neither language was particularly useful for anything other than reading authors from classical antiquity or church works.

I'm not going to remark upon why "early" POTUSes learned Latin and/or Greek because the fact remains that they spoke another language, and Trump does not.

Many early Presidents read/spoke Latin and/or Greek because it was expected of educated people. Neither language was particularly useful for anything other than reading authors from classical antiquity or church works.

I don't agree at all that it wasn't particularly useful. No matter why they learned it; it was useful to have done. Insofar as the Romance languages are Latinate languages, knowing Latin would have been a useful tool for helping non-speakers of those languages at least "muddle through" reading them (aka, have a partial mastery of them), even if they couldn't speak them. It was also useful in that plenty of writers of the 17th century wrote in Latin so educated people knew it in order to read those authors' works. Even though our Founding Fathers were mid and late 18th century dudes, the 15th to 17th centuries and their writers/writers' works often enough were in Latin. The founders read the same books St. John's "Great Books" program uses.

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.
-- Ovid, Metamorphoses​