Comments on: Obama Knocks Critics Of Language Comments

Democrat Dismisses Conservative Critics Of His Comments About Americans' Lack Of Foreign Language Skills

[samthetvcat]

---"We as americans should keep being arrogant and keep thinking the world should learn english because we speak it."---
Posted by Zerato

Are you calling me arrogant or were you just speaking about yourself?

[thgdriver]

Frankly, anybody that can speak two languages always impressed me. I have always been able to get by with English because I don''t travel abroad. My son studied Spanish for two years in high school. I believe you lose it if you don''t use it. I think if you look for work in your local Social Security office, for instance, it would come in very handy on your resume.

[zerato-2009]

I find that kind of self-indulgent of Barack to just toss it out there that we''''re collectively ''''embarrassing'''' rather than just sticking to bullet points of how he thinks we can achieve greater fluency and of how he predicts it will benefit us.
Posted by SamTheTVCat

Why would a politician ever think that getting an education for our children or ourselves would have any lasting benefits? We as americans should keep being arrogant and keep thinking the world should learn english because we speak it.

[samthetvcat]

Maybe calling us ''embarrassing'' is Barack''s way of fighting back against claims that he''s a muslim because he went to an Indonesian school as a child - like his thinking is that since language is tied to culture and since our ignorance of culture leads a substantial number of people to conclude that his living in Indonesia therefore makes him ''muslim'', then therefore us learning other languages and thereby learning about other cultures will make us less inclined to make derogatory snap judgments.

If so I think he''s casting the net WAY too wide by blaming all of us for fostering that kind of culture, and yeah like I said before he gives way to much credit to other countries because they know so much about the US or close-neighboring countries where travel within Europe is cheaper and more accessible.

I find that kind of self-indulgent of Barack to just toss it out there that we''re collectively ''embarrassing'' rather than just sticking to bullet points of how he thinks we can achieve greater fluency and of how he predicts it will benefit us.

[samthetvcat]

---"The term ''embarrassing'' must be understood in a relative sense--many countries have their populace conversant in English in addition to their own language."---
Posted by jon2012

All I''m saying is that if the world speaks English because they were gonzo for David Hasslehoff and Baywatch, how is it that WE need to be embarrassed about anything? Like how other people have pointed it - it may be more a function of utility rather than any concerted effort on any other country''s part.

I guess maybe some of us pick up languages more easily than others, but yeah the espanol classes in high school haven''t gotten me mucho far - it sounds like others have had a better go of it :)

[sheila1346]

I grew up in California in the 1940''s and 50''s when it was required that all of us take Spanish starting in the 4th grade. In high school we were required to have at least two years of a foreign language, this time we could choose. I still speak and read Spanish as well as German that I took 3 years of in high school. I am not sure when the prejudice came about in our country against Spanish and other languages, but it is hurting not just our image but how we relate to other people. As a nurse I use to hire many people from other countries for entry level hospital jobs. Most of these people spoke at least two and many three and four languages. Yet our staff educated in the US had a hard time reading and writing fluently in English much less another language, sadly this even included some of our professional staff.

[jon2012-2009]

Most Americans have never had the need to speak other languages because they never traveled outside of the U.S. So it has nothing to do with Americans being ignorant or snobbish about their language...it''''s all about necessity and we will begin to adopt new languages as needed. I imagine speaking Spanish will become a normal part of the next generation.
Posted by Mycomment at 01:51 PM : Jul 13, 2008

True. And if immediate necessity doesn''t force us to learn fluency in a foreign language, increased contacts in the emerging global village may nurture an interest in foreign languages anyhow.

[jon2012-2009]

So like Barack says our collective lack of fluency is ''''embarrassing'''' and therefore we need to learn Spanish, and now he''''s trying to add that it''''s because we need to enhance our competitiveness in this era of globalization.
Posted by SamTheTVCat at 02:12 PM : Jul 13, 2008

I don''t think Obama was limiting the choice of a second language to Spanish although that suggestion would be a good one considering our neighbors to the south speak that language, we trade with them, and we have many Americans with ties to that region. But it is only one of many possible languages that fit the bill.

Ultimately, acquiring a familiarity with another language is an intellectual task that may or may not yield quantifiable benefits individually but that would be an advantage to our society at large, in trade, in war, in coexisting with other countries in the world. The term ''embarrassing'' must be understood in a relative sense--many countries have their populace conversant in English in addition to their own language. The posts I have seen here indicate we don''t have comparable skills in foreign languages nor an embracing attitude towards them.

[rowdywicca]

He certainly remembered the Islamic call to prayer, in perfect idiom and accent...of course there were claims that he spoke the language, but then there were claims he lied.

With Obama, who the hell knows...he lies so damned much anyway...and everybody knows the language you take in college is useless unless you among those who use it and speak it every day.

Why is he even making language an issue anyway, and further insulting Americans because most can''t speak another language! Hell this is the United States of America!!!

[samthetvcat]

---"If I went to live in another country, I''''d learn to speak their language."---
Posted by RowdyWicca

It kind of makes me wonder about something - Barack claims he doesn''t speak another language, but how long did he live in Indonesia? Bizarre when somebody tries to take a ''moral stance'' on an issue and then kind if shades the truth about himself in the same sentence. How could he possibly not speak at least bits of the dominant language of Indonesia - what is it, Indonesian? :o

But yeah, language seems to have such a close tie to culture . . . I kind of agree with the idea that we don''t have to be afraid of losing our culture if we incorporate others into our own, but that idea doesn''t really come across very well when he''s calling us ''embarrassing'' . . .