BP: 'We Care About The Small People'

[GodOfUnbelief]

Jag skulle uppfatta uttrycket 'den lilla människan' på svenska som precis lika arrogant som uttrycket 'the small people' på engelska låter. Ser ingen poäng med att kalla människan som liten överhuvudtaget.

[Cambrand]

The thing is that the term "the small people" is something when said in Swedish, which he is, isn't meant the same way as when said in English. Not saying he chose his words right, but the saying is much worse in english than swedish.

[jontebiogas10]

Its a swedish expression and he doesnt know it does not exist in english...

/emberased swed

[denberg2]

I am English, I was born in London and have lived here all my life. I think his English is excellent. He definitely has a Swedish accent but it does not interfere with his English pronunciation. He hasn't missed out any syllables. Everything he says is clear. I think his critics on this site are simply trying to attack him because of his "small people" comments, which have nothing whatsoever to do with his pronunciation.

[AlexanderHvass]

@denberg2 His pronounciation is decent yeah, but of course his english is bad because the swedish translate to "small people" would most likely have been "den lilla människan" which is as you also probably understand 'the little guy'. If he doesn't understand how choice of words and what it would actually mean in this context then I do indeed think his english is really really bad. Plus I know for a fact that he strangley enough have a history of just plain and simple bad english.

[denberg2]

@AlexanderHvass I don't speak Swedish. His English seems quite good in this short news report. He probably just didn't realise how people would react to what he said.

[Mrpewpew1]

According to swedish newspapers his english is actually better than the way he's showing it here if I remember correctly. He's having the bad swedish accent on purpose. Don't know why but he does.

[mightymagnus]

@Mrpewpew1, if he would be speaking with an better accent perhaps people (not the small ones) have better understanding for making errors (like the one he did)... I speak bad English when I get pressure, perhaps this is a pressured situation even for an CEO of large multinational company... Otherwise he is a good speaker in front of people on a stage (only had a lecture with him in Swedish) and perhaps he got a little bit to confident with himself...

[mrjoni54]

He just translated a Swedish saying into English wrong, he doesn't mean to insult Americans.

[JohannesLepisto]

Haha, everytime I hear a Swedish person speaking English with bad pronunciation I feel embarrassed. Dunno why, but our "dialect" is so ugly when we speak English. Of course this isn't how all Swedes speak English, but when I hear it it cracks me up lol. How hard can it be to lose the ugly accent? :'D

[SuperRegisteredUser]

Africa get oil disasters every day like the one BP caused, because americans want to drive to mcdonalds every day, I laughed at the BP disaster because of this hick with a petrol enging boat complained that he couldn't fish anymore.

[TuvaKisEn]

I understand you get upset with this statement but in swedish, his main language, you can say that "you care about the small man". People was not a good translation and I can see why you dislike it but for his defence I had to tell you what he meant and what he should have said. Hope this settles your anger a bit. :) Ps: Im swedish so I know what he meant.

[dedorsson]

Well u gotta be retarded to not understand wtf he mean with that , And hey , the media and the workerclass wants someone to blame all their problems on ;PpppppPPPpppppppppPPPPPPPPPPp­pppppPPPPPPPpppppppppPPPpPPPpP­PpppPpp

and btw i am in the workingclass

[qustav37]

lol Im also from Sweden and I'm 15 and I'm so much better than him on English..

[AxzonMusic]

@qustav37

Well thats a fail, u are better at english hahaha

[IKnowMyEnemy123]

@qustav37 Me too! He sucks XD

[JohnZackarias]

@qustav37 If that were truly the case, you'd know that "on English" is grammatically incorrect.

[qustav37]

@JohnZackarias lol retard I never said I had a perfect english as I said Im only 15 and I said I could speak better english than that guy.. fucktard faggot

[JohnZackarias]

@qustav37 What's with the hostility?

You evidently do NOT speak better English than this man, seeing as he at least got the grammar bit covered better than you do.

No need to throw insults around, kid.

[qustav37]

@JohnZackarias u are gay, I cant see any evidence that you arent so that means ur gay FAG lololol

[JohnZackarias]

@qustav37 At least my linguistics are far superior to yours, peasant.

[qustav37]

@JohnZackarias yeah exactly, u speak far more like a gay.

[EvilZamnes]

My generation (born in the 90's) almost all speak english very well compared to the rest of europe. (with great britain as an exeption ofcours) But since this motherfucker is so old he probably speaks better german than english since that is the second language they used to learn in school back in the day. old people suck. die

[majkel383]

heil sweden!

[peoplesbeer90]

whats so hard to understand? its about the working man

[Grogiz]

he sound swedish

[Sickc0]

@Grogiz  because he is?

[Grogiz]

@Sickc0 yeah i know.. im from sweden myself x)

[Yeyah34]

this is wrong... Americans arent small peopel they are big peopel cuz they are so fucking fat

[comicguitar]

Well, it´s like with all us swedes.. our english sounds so awesome in the shower.. but comes out so terribly wrong.

[NoSaysHello]

The midgets dont need help right now, the people of louisiana do. sorry i had to.

[sk8erpunk351]

@miksirotltaen ur an idiot u fuckin Nazi!

[sk8erpunk351]

Sweeds are fags!!!!

[RedTulie1]

@sk8erpunk351 how about THIS Swede? That the best you can muster?

[Whothehellisme]

@sk8erpunk351 yepp our whole country is gay

[xxblueberryx]

@lurnemurk still he lives in usa.....he should be well aware by now (his 20 years in usa) ..that, that "common frase" is not used over there in usa...my god.

LEARN ENGLISH!

[sk8erpunk351]

What u mean "THE SMALL PPL" fuck u prick!!!!!

[brassas]

@sk8erpunk351 you have to forgive him...he is just a swede. I guess BP feels a bit embarrased due to this funny character. He's not sick..he's just sweddish :). Great fun tho

[oxus72]

@brassas the Swedish chef image grows deeper, sigh... I guess like in Norway we have lots of pretty fluent English speakers here, accent included, but to become a prime minister or CEO you first have to pass the National Dorky Swede Accent test. The non-dorky sounding guys are unqualified, c'mon we have a brand to maintain! I'm about done here, I vant to be alone, moose hunt coming up right after the casual blonde sex.

[Cavaliso]

@sk8erpunk351 In Swedish there is a saying "de små människorna" . It isn't meant as an insult, it was just a translation fail. He meant the little guy. The working stiff.

[Xaeleep]

@sk8erpunk351 nah the thing is, that hes from swden and there the term "little people" isnt an insult but that is what you call them who are the so called regular ones^^ thats the best way i can explain it ;P

[laksemann]

He is from Sweden and try to speak English, this is called "svengelska" and in English it means something like "swenglish" lol

[taraterv]

@lurnemurk AKA

[sk8erpunk351]

@jbryant13 lmao!!!!

[sk8erpunk351]

What do u mean the small ppl u stupid fuck! FUCK BP!!!!!!!!!!!

[miksirikoitsen]

@sk8erpunk351

Hey idiot, small people means in Sweden a common man. He speaks better english than you speak Swedish.

[xxblueberryx]

@miksirikoitsen HAHAHAH...seriously?

english is the international language....not swedish...ofc he (the person you accused) would speak better english than swedish....if now he wasn't swedish. haha.

och jag själv skäms över att folk som bor i sverige försöker skydda denna människa "han pratar ju jättebra engelska"...he doesn't speak perfect english...any american would hear an accent. just sweds...that want everything to seem perfect...when it's something associated with sweden.

[hajkie]

@xxblueberryx Han är en idiot, ingen skyddar han. Men det är väl bättre för folk att förklara vad olika sägelser betyder, så att om det skulle komma en snällare snubbe i framtiden, som råkar säga samma sak, inte blir helt missförståd, över nånting han inte menar? Du kan kalla det skola för svenska. =p

[Sickc0]

@xxblueberryx om man jämför med andra länder utanför norden som har eget språk är detta bra engelska

[brassas]

Mostly swedes speaks bad english

[Wexexx]

@brassas Not really, don't tell lies.

[hajkie]

@Wexexx He's just a troll. He said the same thing in another video on the same subject. :P

[brassas]

@hajkie Hey you stupid swedes, listen to the speach Mr. Westling gave in the royal wedding in stockholm, then you understand how bad the swedes speaks english hohoho

[hajkie]

@brassas lol. :P

[Cavaliso]

@brassas Real fucking funny prick. We speak better English then most people. Listen to a turk speaking English for instance.

[microorganism]

@brassas hehe nu var du rolig va :P 

[Cavaliso]

@brassas Your opinion man. It doesn't make it facts. Almost 100% of us can speak at least decent English. We learn English in school from the 2nd grade.

[edisonoside]

BP = Big People

[omgwtfdpsdps]

His English is surprisingly bad. This is a guy who has worked the top echelons of global companies for over 20 years, a place where the everyday language is English.

[bajsjoanna]

@omgwtfdpsdps Bad English??? He used the word "small people" instead of "Little people"wtf!! people prefer talking about that meanwhile billions of gallons of oil is poluting the Gulf. Another thing is He hasnt been in this shit company more than a year so he is not the first to blame.

[ChristineTeo17]

@omgwtfdpsdps : Correction : Swedish companies, prior to BP, he was in Ericsson (Telecoms) for 4 years, before that Electrolux (vacumn cleaners),prior to that a Lock smith company. I would not call those all global companies. The use of "small people" really ticks people off....

[scheutz]

@omgwtfdpsdps

probably no one has the gut to tell him that he's wrong

[RBMPepper]

@omgwtfdpsdps Try to speak swedish ._.

[Redandrichbaron]

@omgwtfdpsdps His English is fine, it's his very typical Swedish pronounciation that makes his English sound bad.

[mstl95]

@omgwtfdpsdps He's from Sweden, it's pretty hard to just change language, the accent is hard to get right.

[mohawk5010]

There was definitely something lost in translation; English isn't his first language. Still sounds really, really douchey.

English *is* Tony Hayward's first language, so he's got no excuse for sticking his foot in his mouth so often. Must have tasty expensive shoes.

[NYCNakedSirens]

@lurnemurk I appreciate your response and know enough Swedes through my own travel and the fact that I live in the most multi-cultural world city. His speech was previously written and well-prepared. He has been speaking English in England and signs documents in English. There are sophistications beyond a happenstance "slip-up". He was also posing. Watch carefully. But never mind. I'm intrigued by you and as a youtube-friend, however, may I ask: Why are you swearing? :)

[IWannabeJew]

Made any ballbearings at the Volvo plant for the neo-Nazis, Mr. Swede?

[PumaOPumaOPumaO]

AWWWWW THANK YOU BP!!! <3 All us SMALL people love you too :|

[ethne83]

Lol poor Svanberg, he didn't mean that :D He just sucks at english and is talking Swedish.

[justyce4all7]

President Obama is making them show the world they care by making them pay compensations of 20 billion dollars, plus 100 million immediately for oil rig workers, fishermen, shrimpers,people who are suffereing from lay offs and poor health due to the oil spill. Way To Go President Obama! lol

[ChemTrailSkys]

BP..You are a filthy LIAR! When you drilled that hole you found an extremely large amount of Oil deposit..I believe it is Billions & Billions...Did gas prices go down when you discovered all of this Oil off of OUR coast!? NO! It went UP!!!!!

[jbryant13]

I didn't think it was humanly possible to fir BOTH FEET in your mouth at the same time

[seamoremonster]

"We care about the small people...they buy oil too!" What a pack of self serving fucks!

[NYCNakedSirens]

Anyone who thinks that he used "Small" accidentally because of culture, don't be fooled! This man used it deliberately and condescendingly as a joke . Swedes use the word "Local People" not "small people" in their language . He is like any criminal who will make fun of a victim or ridicule them. Look at what pollution has happened in countries where governments are much poorer than ours inthe States and you'll realize that he and his BP, "Big People" took risks in the same arrogance.

[DowJones16WB]

We care about the small people what a joke!!!!

[scutter4christ]

Hmmm, well as the old saying goes, the proof will be in the pudding.