Obama complained to Argentina that Americans are clueless with poor foreign language skills

[Kondor3]

You know, there is a bit of truth to this, and I've experienced it firsthand.

Whenever I went overseas, one of the very first things that I did was get a phrase book for whatever country we happened to be in. I would take that phrase book with me and instead of going up to a person and asking them in slow English if they spoke English (like most of the people on the boat did), I would walk up with my phrase book and try to speak to them in their language. After all, I was the foreigner there.

What I found out later, was that over 80 percent of the people overseas actually DO speak English, and many of them are happy to practice their English with you, but they like it when you make an effort to communicate in their language. Usually, they would let me stumble around for a couple of minutes, but then would cheerfully tell me they spoke English, and ask if I preferred to speak that.

I also saw many of my shipmates go looking for places like Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King and McDonalds instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to sample food that isn't known over here in the USA, or would cost them a lot of money at a fancy eatery, because foreign cuisine is generally only served at high dollar places (at least the good stuff).

I also saw them making fun of people over there for doing things that Americans considered "strange" or "unusual", like Middle Eastern men walking down the street holding hands if they were friends, simply because they didn't take time to learn about some of the customs that were there.

No, sorry to say, but very few Americans are interested in speaking to someone in another country in their native language, or even learning about some of the customs of that country.

Got over 20 years of experience with that, and saw it first hand quite often.

200 years of the English-speaking British Empire, followed immediately by another 100 years of the English-speaking American Empire, all adds up to a lot of English-speakers.

There is no American Empire.

A metaphor for the pseudo-Empire that we have built for ourselves since 1945.

 

[daws101]

You know, there is a bit of truth to this, and I've experienced it firsthand.

Whenever I went overseas, one of the very first things that I did was get a phrase book for whatever country we happened to be in. I would take that phrase book with me and instead of going up to a person and asking them in slow English if they spoke English (like most of the people on the boat did), I would walk up with my phrase book and try to speak to them in their language. After all, I was the foreigner there.

What I found out later, was that over 80 percent of the people overseas actually DO speak English, and many of them are happy to practice their English with you, but they like it when you make an effort to communicate in their language. Usually, they would let me stumble around for a couple of minutes, but then would cheerfully tell me they spoke English, and ask if I preferred to speak that.

I also saw many of my shipmates go looking for places like Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King and McDonalds instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to sample food that isn't known over here in the USA, or would cost them a lot of money at a fancy eatery, because foreign cuisine is generally only served at high dollar places (at least the good stuff).

I also saw them making fun of people over there for doing things that Americans considered "strange" or "unusual", like Middle Eastern men walking down the street holding hands if they were friends, simply because they didn't take time to learn about some of the customs that were there.

No, sorry to say, but very few Americans are interested in speaking to someone in another country in their native language, or even learning about some of the customs of that country.

Got over 20 years of experience with that, and saw it first hand quite often.

200 years of the English-speaking British Empire, followed immediately by another 100 years of the English-speaking American Empire, all adds up to a lot of English-speakers.

There is no American Empire.

A metaphor for the pseudo-Empire that we have built for ourselves since 1945.

American imperialism is the economic, military and cultural influence of the United States on other countries. Such influence often goes hand in hand with expansion into foreign territories. The concept of an American Empire was first popularized during the presidency of James K. Polk who led the United States into the Mexican–American War of 1846, and the eventual annexation of California and other western territories via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden purchase.[1][2]

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

... Here in America, another language is an elective, not a requirement. ....

That is not true in most cases.

What school system requires the learning of a language other than English as a requirement for graduation? There are none in the United States that I know of, and if there are, it's a rarity.

When I went to school (graduated in 1982), taking another language was an elective not a requirement.

If you know of a place where a second language is a requirement for graduation, please post a link. I've never heard of such a rule from ANY school district here in America.

If you are talking getting your high school equivalent to a GED, you would be correct. The high school where I teach requires two years of foreign language to meet almost every college's requirements for admission. Sadly, you are ignorant of the truth.

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

 

[Unkotare]

... Here in America, another language is an elective, not a requirement. ....

That is not true in most cases.

What school system requires the learning of a language other than English as a requirement for graduation? There are none in the United States that I know of, and if there are, it's a rarity.

When I went to school (graduated in 1982), taking another language was an elective not a requirement.

If you know of a place where a second language is a requirement for graduation, please post a link. I've never heard of such a rule from ANY school district here in America.

If you are talking getting your high school equivalent to a GED, you would be correct. The high school where I teach requires two years of foreign language to meet almost every college's requirements for admission. Sadly, you are ignorant of the truth.

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Ah, but most accept trying to grunt out a few words from a free phrasebook instead.

 

[ABikerSailor]

... Here in America, another language is an elective, not a requirement. ....

That is not true in most cases.

What school system requires the learning of a language other than English as a requirement for graduation? There are none in the United States that I know of, and if there are, it's a rarity.

When I went to school (graduated in 1982), taking another language was an elective not a requirement.

If you know of a place where a second language is a requirement for graduation, please post a link. I've never heard of such a rule from ANY school district here in America.

If you are talking getting your high school equivalent to a GED, you would be correct. The high school where I teach requires two years of foreign language to meet almost every college's requirements for admission. Sadly, you are ignorant of the truth.

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

That is not true in most cases.

What school system requires the learning of a language other than English as a requirement for graduation? There are none in the United States that I know of, and if there are, it's a rarity.

When I went to school (graduated in 1982), taking another language was an elective not a requirement.

If you know of a place where a second language is a requirement for graduation, please post a link. I've never heard of such a rule from ANY school district here in America.

If you are talking getting your high school equivalent to a GED, you would be correct. The high school where I teach requires two years of foreign language to meet almost every college's requirements for admission. Sadly, you are ignorant of the truth.

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

OK, how about the fact that I was required to take a foreign language (German), my wife was required to take a foreign language (Spanish), and my daughter was required to take a foreign language (Spanish.) We are all college graduates.

If you want a link, Google your happy little self and you will learn. My doing it for you will just make it easy to ignore.

 

[my2¢]

Strictly speaking for myself, I have trouble enough with English.

 

[ABikerSailor]

What school system requires the learning of a language other than English as a requirement for graduation? There are none in the United States that I know of, and if there are, it's a rarity.

When I went to school (graduated in 1982), taking another language was an elective not a requirement.

If you know of a place where a second language is a requirement for graduation, please post a link. I've never heard of such a rule from ANY school district here in America.

If you are talking getting your high school equivalent to a GED, you would be correct. The high school where I teach requires two years of foreign language to meet almost every college's requirements for admission. Sadly, you are ignorant of the truth.

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

OK, how about the fact that I was required to take a foreign language (German), my wife was required to take a foreign language (Spanish), and my daughter was required to take a foreign language (Spanish.) We are all college graduates.

If you want a link, Google your happy little self and you will learn. My doing it for you will just make it easy to ignore.

So.................you were required to take a foreign language in college.

I still wait for anyone to provide a link that a foreign language is a requirement to graduate high school. It IS required for many European nations.

I graduated high school, and was never required to learn another language. Even when I joined the U.S. Military in the form of the U.S. Navy.

Anyone got a link? I'd like to see actual evidence other than what someone says they had to do.

 

[Stephanie]

that jackass can't even pronounce the name of the military he is CIC of






and of course runs overseas to put US DOWN again.

 

[Rozman]

Obama never seems to pass on any opportunity to trash this country.

 

[rightwinger]

Americans don't speak other languages?

How DARE the President accuse us of such a thing?

 

[Stephanie]

Is there no end to these slanderous right wing propaganda stories that take cherry picked quotes out of context ?

Righties just lie and lie .

Do you need tissues?

 

[Unkotare]

Still no footage of obama trying to speak any language other than English (with which he has had many struggles)?

 

[Stephanie]

he speaks gibberish and BS quite well. and can't even READ the right words off a speech written for him he call his own military man, Corpse-man

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

If you are talking getting your high school equivalent to a GED, you would be correct. The high school where I teach requires two years of foreign language to meet almost every college's requirements for admission. Sadly, you are ignorant of the truth.

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

OK, how about the fact that I was required to take a foreign language (German), my wife was required to take a foreign language (Spanish), and my daughter was required to take a foreign language (Spanish.) We are all college graduates.

If you want a link, Google your happy little self and you will learn. My doing it for you will just make it easy to ignore.

So.................you were required to take a foreign language in college.

I still wait for anyone to provide a link that a foreign language is a requirement to graduate high school. It IS required for many European nations.

I graduated high school, and was never required to learn another language. Even when I joined the U.S. Military in the form of the U.S. Navy.

Anyone got a link? I'd like to see actual evidence other than what someone says they had to do.

The part you keep missing is that high school foreign language is required for college admissions. Why is this so hard? Are you are just bound and determined to hold on to your misconception?

BTW, here is your link:

http://www.ncssfl.org/docs/States with Foreign Language Graduation Requirements - Revised 2010.pdf

Now will you stop caterwauling and push the "I believe" button?

 

[ABikerSailor]

I guess you missed the part where I said I didn't know of any school that required a second language as a graduation requirement, but said that if someone else did, please provide a link to show where a certain school required a second language as a graduation requirement.

Sadly, nobody has shown any links to any schools that require a second language as a graduation requirement.

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

OK, how about the fact that I was required to take a foreign language (German), my wife was required to take a foreign language (Spanish), and my daughter was required to take a foreign language (Spanish.) We are all college graduates.

If you want a link, Google your happy little self and you will learn. My doing it for you will just make it easy to ignore.

So.................you were required to take a foreign language in college.

I still wait for anyone to provide a link that a foreign language is a requirement to graduate high school. It IS required for many European nations.

I graduated high school, and was never required to learn another language. Even when I joined the U.S. Military in the form of the U.S. Navy.

Anyone got a link? I'd like to see actual evidence other than what someone says they had to do.

The part you keep missing is that high school foreign language is required for college admissions. Why is this so hard? Are you are just bound and determined to hold on to your misconception?

BTW, here is your link:

http://www.ncssfl.org/docs/States with Foreign Language Graduation Requirements - Revised 2010.pdf

Now will you stop caterwauling and push the "I believe" button?

Thanks for the link. And, to be fair, I graduated in 1982, but the earliest requirement time for getting a couple of credits in foreign languages didn't come around until after 2012.

Up until 2012, there was no requirement.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

The colleges have the foreign language requirements as prerequisites, thank you very much!

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

OK, how about the fact that I was required to take a foreign language (German), my wife was required to take a foreign language (Spanish), and my daughter was required to take a foreign language (Spanish.) We are all college graduates.

If you want a link, Google your happy little self and you will learn. My doing it for you will just make it easy to ignore.

So.................you were required to take a foreign language in college.

I still wait for anyone to provide a link that a foreign language is a requirement to graduate high school. It IS required for many European nations.

I graduated high school, and was never required to learn another language. Even when I joined the U.S. Military in the form of the U.S. Navy.

Anyone got a link? I'd like to see actual evidence other than what someone says they had to do.

The part you keep missing is that high school foreign language is required for college admissions. Why is this so hard? Are you are just bound and determined to hold on to your misconception?

BTW, here is your link:

http://www.ncssfl.org/docs/States with Foreign Language Graduation Requirements - Revised 2010.pdf

Now will you stop caterwauling and push the "I believe" button?

Thanks for the link. And, to be fair, I graduated in 1982, but the earliest requirement time for getting a couple of credits in foreign languages didn't come around until after 2012.

Up until 2012, there was no requirement.

I graduated from college two years after you graduated from high school and we had a college per-requisite for a foreign language in high school back then and my BA degree required a foreign language.

 

[TooTall]

You know, there is a bit of truth to this, and I've experienced it firsthand.

Whenever I went overseas, one of the very first things that I did was get a phrase book for whatever country we happened to be in. I would take that phrase book with me and instead of going up to a person and asking them in slow English if they spoke English (like most of the people on the boat did), I would walk up with my phrase book and try to speak to them in their language. After all, I was the foreigner there.

What I found out later, was that over 80 percent of the people overseas actually DO speak English, and many of them are happy to practice their English with you, but they like it when you make an effort to communicate in their language. Usually, they would let me stumble around for a couple of minutes, but then would cheerfully tell me they spoke English, and ask if I preferred to speak that.

I also saw many of my shipmates go looking for places like Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King and McDonalds instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to sample food that isn't known over here in the USA, or would cost them a lot of money at a fancy eatery, because foreign cuisine is generally only served at high dollar places (at least the good stuff).

I also saw them making fun of people over there for doing things that Americans considered "strange" or "unusual", like Middle Eastern men walking down the street holding hands if they were friends, simply because they didn't take time to learn about some of the customs that were there.

No, sorry to say, but very few Americans are interested in speaking to someone in another country in their native language, or even learning about some of the customs of that country.

Got over 20 years of experience with that, and saw it first hand quite often.

I also got the phrase book, usually in the hotel gifts shop, when I traveled to 28 different countries on business. My experience was exactly as you described. I worked with Airline engineers, technicians and pilots during the installation of the navigation equipment they bought from the company I worked for. They all spoke English, and helped me with the pronunciation of some words in their language. It sometimes ended with some good natured laughs and I made many friends.

Many times one or more of the Engineers would take me to eat and they usually asked did I want the local food or the American version. I usually chose the local food and they explained what it was before I ordered. I had some unusual meals and almost always very good ones.

I also saw ME men holding hands as a sign of friendship and then saw ignorant Americans mocking George Bush for doing the same thing with a Saudi Arabian friend.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Colleges might, but those are mainly secondary or tertiary schools.

I still have yet to see where a high school graduation requirement states that you must learn a foreign language.

Like I said, in many schools overseas, learning English as a second language is a requirement for graduation.

In many American schools, learning a second language other than English is an elective.

And yeah.............I'd also like to see the links that show learning a second language is a requirement for graduation in college.

I'm guessing it isn't, otherwise there would be links to show that it was.

OK, how about the fact that I was required to take a foreign language (German), my wife was required to take a foreign language (Spanish), and my daughter was required to take a foreign language (Spanish.) We are all college graduates.

If you want a link, Google your happy little self and you will learn. My doing it for you will just make it easy to ignore.

So.................you were required to take a foreign language in college.

I still wait for anyone to provide a link that a foreign language is a requirement to graduate high school. It IS required for many European nations.

I graduated high school, and was never required to learn another language. Even when I joined the U.S. Military in the form of the U.S. Navy.

Anyone got a link? I'd like to see actual evidence other than what someone says they had to do.

The part you keep missing is that high school foreign language is required for college admissions. Why is this so hard? Are you are just bound and determined to hold on to your misconception?

BTW, here is your link:

http://www.ncssfl.org/docs/States with Foreign Language Graduation Requirements - Revised 2010.pdf

Now will you stop caterwauling and push the "I believe" button?

Thanks for the link. And, to be fair, I graduated in 1982, but the earliest requirement time for getting a couple of credits in foreign languages didn't come around until after 2012.

Up until 2012, there was no requirement.

I graduated from college two years after you graduated from high school and we had a college per-requisite for a foreign language in high school back then and my BA degree required a foreign language.

I attended 2 high schools in Montana, one at Frenchtown, and spent my senior year at Simms High School. Neither of them had a requirement for a foreign language, and because of the financial circumstances of my family, they didn't have enough to send me to college, so I joined the military, who didn't have a foreign language requirement.

After my first deployment, I kinda wished that I'd taken Spanish while in HS, but, since there was no requirement for a foreign language, I took Human Anatomy instead.

 

[ABikerSailor]

You know, there is a bit of truth to this, and I've experienced it firsthand.

Whenever I went overseas, one of the very first things that I did was get a phrase book for whatever country we happened to be in. I would take that phrase book with me and instead of going up to a person and asking them in slow English if they spoke English (like most of the people on the boat did), I would walk up with my phrase book and try to speak to them in their language. After all, I was the foreigner there.

What I found out later, was that over 80 percent of the people overseas actually DO speak English, and many of them are happy to practice their English with you, but they like it when you make an effort to communicate in their language. Usually, they would let me stumble around for a couple of minutes, but then would cheerfully tell me they spoke English, and ask if I preferred to speak that.

I also saw many of my shipmates go looking for places like Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King and McDonalds instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to sample food that isn't known over here in the USA, or would cost them a lot of money at a fancy eatery, because foreign cuisine is generally only served at high dollar places (at least the good stuff).

I also saw them making fun of people over there for doing things that Americans considered "strange" or "unusual", like Middle Eastern men walking down the street holding hands if they were friends, simply because they didn't take time to learn about some of the customs that were there.

No, sorry to say, but very few Americans are interested in speaking to someone in another country in their native language, or even learning about some of the customs of that country.

Got over 20 years of experience with that, and saw it first hand quite often.

I also got the phrase book, usually in the hotel gifts shop, when I traveled to 28 different countries on business. My experience was exactly as you described. I worked with Airline engineers, technicians and pilots during the installation of the navigation equipment they bought from the company I worked for.

Yep, if you make the effort and show them that you know you are the foreigner in their country, they will take time to help you out.

Many times, they will give you inside information that the other tourists don't get, like where the best local food is, cheapest bars, good deals on shopping, etc.

Sadly, many of my shipmates didn't take the time to do that, and they were always amazed and wondered how I got the inside information on the port we were in. My answer to them? Don't act like an ugly American, and try to at least speak some of their language.

Matter of fact, learning how to say please and thank you in Greek got me a free gyro at a Greek eatery here in the United States (Montana of all places), because when he handed me my sandwich, I said thank you in Greek (he was an immigrant), and he was shocked that I took the time, as well as knew how to say it in his language.

Relating to people on their own level has many benefits.