The mini-language flap that’s arisen around Barack Hussein Obama has sparked some sympathy. Some. Very little, actually. As described here, it’s classic elitist nonsense: look at you poor rubes out there in fly-over country; you can’t speak French.
Oh, the shame! I hang me head in abject sorrow. What BHO said can be boiled down to this quotation:
“I know because I don’t speak a foreign language. It’s embarrassing!” he said.
We must presume this non-speaking of a foreign language is not another flip-flop, as he previously had said he speaks some Spanish and Indonesian.
As Dick Nixon used to say, “that is inoperative.” But I’m generally sympathetic to the notion that we would all be more interesting folks if we could speak another language. Just think — if you spoke passable French, you could order in a bistro in Paris. Just think — if you spoke passable Spanish, you could order a meal at a fast-food restaurant in the United States.
On the other hand, never, ever, admit to foreigners that you, a credible candidate for president, are “embarrassed” because more Americans don’t know a second language. We don’t know a second language for the simple reason that we do not need to. Name your field, technical or otherwise. It’s a rare piece of work that is both necessary to read, and unavailable in English.
Back in the day, I had to learn technical German in order to read physics journals not then available in English. Ain’t I swell? That requirement, at the PhD level, went away. As did any pretense that I can speak German. Because it’s not needed. Journals in physics, chemistry, math, you name it, are…drum roll please…in English.
Mr. Obama: we’re embarrassed that you are embarrassed.
