Obama Merci Beaucoup

The infamous clip of Obama expressing his embarrasment with Americans who cannot speack foreign languages.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Obama
• French
• Merci

[goldenchocolate]

i find the problem isnt with americans (and english-speaking canadians) not learning other languages, I find the problem is with americans being unwilling to be educated/open about the outside world in any way

[GaeaRage]

I think expecting Americans to even understand "merci, beaucoup" is a bit of a stretch.

[xsbadger17]

@Nightowl4272 I realize that, but when Americans travel abroad, we expect everyone to know English and then freak out when someone comes to the U.S. and can't speak English. In fact, people cry "terrorist" when someone has an accent. I know it's difficult for Americans to remember another language when they don't use it, but if they travel at all, they need to at least make an effort.

[Nightowl4272]

@xsbadger17 - People only learn and retain languages that they need. In Europe, if you drive for a few hours, it's possible to find yourself in a place where they speak another language. It's not like that in the U.S. You can drive for hours and hours and hours and still get by with English. Americans are not arrogant for not retaining the French, German, Spanish they learned in H.S., they simply have no use for it. How many Chinese do you think have any use for French or English?

[Nightowl4272]

@spader49 - Yours is the only comment I've read so far that makes a level-headed eyes-open point. People learn the languages that they need. I work in Poland often. In Poland, no one speaks French or Spanish, but they do speak a little German. Why? Because they border Germany and it's of practical use to them. But English is an even far greater value for them because, like you said, they can go just about anywhere and get by with it.

[Nightowl4272]

Obama...that fucking dim-witted fool. He'll take any chance he can get to bash the U.S. By his idiotic rationale someone who speaks English, Italian and Spanish should be embarrassed if they travel to Poland and don't speak Polish. Most Americans' second language is Spanish obviously because we border a Spanish-speaking country. I love foreign languages, I took German and French in HS and college but I remember very little because no one here speaks those languages...nor do they need to.

[machinesbreathe]

@halfmonk Funny that you pick the foreign and supposedly easy targets whose English is obviously a second language and not your own spiteful man-child brethren such as one's self that speak in internet pidgin english dialect shamelessly when trying to emphasize a point in proper linguistics and you meanwhile conveniently ignore the poignant perspectives brought forth by one TheCaliCapitalist.

You chose the fruit that you felt was your level, which was quite low, and the epic fail is yours, son.

[machinesbreathe]

Wait... foreign visitors make the efforts and are often taught at an early age to learn the international language of business when visiting the US but we expect people to know our language when we visit as tourists it their homeland?

You find this offensive, America? Remember your outrage about pressing 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. Hypocritical much? Man I love my country but folks of your sort are simply embarrassing. It's no surprise that the world is leaving us behind technologically.

[halfmonk]

@doctorw2 another epic fail. adolescent and sophomoric.