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US presidents who knew a foreign language | ||
Tags: Political Leaders | United States | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5765 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes  Studies: French | Message 25 of 28 31 October 2010 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
Okay, I'll bite: excluded from what? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gorgoll2 Senior Member Brazil veritassword.blogspo Joined 4955 days ago 159 posts - 192 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 26 of 28 16 November 2010 at 12:58am | IP Logged | ||
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It was returned. Somebody didn´t like... But, it doesn´t have nothing about Kennedy´s
skills. Doesn´t he know any language? How he was soldier in World War II, he might speak German, Italian or French. His wife, Jackie spoke French, Italian and Spanish, perhaps she had some knowledge in Greek therefore your relations with Onassis. I want informations on him. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6188 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 27 of 28 16 November 2010 at 3:07am | IP Logged | ||
JFK was in the navy so there was probably not much need for a second language there. As for whether he spoke one or not, I can't find anything online. But I did come across this famous urban legend on wikipedia that I actually believed (the horror) until now: It is a common misconception that Kennedy made a risible error by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner." According to this idea, Kennedy referred to himself not as a "citizen of Berlin", but as a "jam doughnut", which is known in parts of Germany as a "Berliner". Kennedy should, supposedly, have said "Ich bin Berliner" to mean "I am a person from Berlin." By adding the indefinite article ein his statement, supposedly, implied he was a non-human Berliner, thus "I am a jam doughnut". The indefinite article ein is omitted when speaking of an individual's profession or residence but is necessary when speaking in a figurative sense as Kennedy did. Since the president was not literally from Berlin but only declaring his solidarity with its citizens, "Ich bin Berliner" would not have been correct. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| caracao Triglot Groupie France Joined 4929 days ago 53 posts - 84 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German | Message 28 of 28 18 November 2010 at 8:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Do not forget the French politicians, they do not speak foreign languages, only French.
But things are changing, the young generation is learning English. France can be compared with Usa, no need, unless you need it to work, for business purposes, to learn a foreign language. Not to mention English is the the trade and scientific language nowadays. As for France, used to be the international language (a very long time ago, at a time where only educated and rich people travelled). But that remained inthe French culture, this reluctance to learn foreign languages. But things are changing. But this can be seen in any country, when you get away from the big cities, most people do not need to learn foreign languages. As for USA, the lack of immediate borders doesn't help. And as for the latino community, do not forget that after the third generation in USA, almost anybody speaks Spanish fluently, like any immigrants, they become, will become native English speakers. Edited by caracao on 18 November 2010 at 8:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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