What languages does Obama speak?

Anderson   Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:51 am GMT
He will be so busy over the next 4 years, that he won't be making any improvements. His language skills will go downhill gradually. And this no doubt will apply to his other skills, but he will be working very very hard.
Yeshua   Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:11 am GMT
I doubt he will work any harder than Bush, actually.
Guest   Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:37 pm GMT
I believe he speaks Swahili (probably the first president to do so).
Caspian   Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:10 pm GMT
So, Swahili, Spanish, Arabic, Indonesian and English??

Are you sure, or are these just vague rumours?
Guest   Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:13 pm GMT
I assume Arabic was a joke. The others are right though, to varying levels of proficiency.
Yeshua   Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:23 pm GMT
No, he doesn't speak ANY other languages. He said in a speech about education once that he "felt embarrassed that Europeans came over the America and could speak lots of different languages, but that Americans could speak only English". He was attacked for this comment by the Grand Old Party.
Skippy   Sat Nov 22, 2008 12:46 am GMT
I wouldn't be too surprised if Obama was relatively proficient in French OR Spanish... But not both. He has admitted he speaks no Indonesian or Malay, he's visited Kenya, but I seriously doubt he speaks Swahili, and although he was registered at school in Indonesia as a Muslim, he has said over and over that he is not a Muslim and therefore it is highly dubious that he knows any Arabic.
Ghost   Sun Nov 23, 2008 7:36 am GMT
Obama speaks Russian on an intermediate level. He can hold conversations with native speakers.
Yeshua   Sun Nov 23, 2008 7:54 am GMT
No he doesn't. He speaks NO LANGUAGES except English! He said he was embarrassed by that fact and the Republicans attacked him for the comment because speaking more languages in the USA is seen as unpatriotic and un-American.
Kite   Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:29 pm GMT
McCain studied Vietnamese ?
A big NO.
Skippy   Sun Nov 23, 2008 10:14 pm GMT
McCain didn't study Vietnamese; he was, however, in a Vietnamese prison camp for many years and, one would assume, he picked up a thing or two.
JPT   Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:10 pm GMT
I asked a friend who worked for him and was told that he isn't particuarly proficient in any other language, but has been described as speaking "passable Bahasa" (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1695803,00.html ; 2nd paragraph from bottom).

Also he speaks the typicle lower intermediate level Spanish that most Americans below a certain age have to learn in school.
Guest   Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:35 pm GMT
What languages does Sarah Palin speak? Do students in Alaska study Russian?
US GO HOME   Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:39 pm GMT
Mc Cain speak "fries"
Guest   Fri Nov 28, 2008 1:43 pm GMT
I hope Sarah Palin becomes the president, so I'll recover my faith on America.