[lg policy] UK: Clever Clegg minds his languages - all six of them

[Harold Schiffman]

Does anyone recall the time that when George W. Bush was meeting with the PM
of France, and an American reporter asked the French PM a question in French?
GWB almost went ballistic, verbally attacking the reporter for showing
him up or
"going behind his back" linguistically.  Americans don't expect their
Presidents to
speak "foreign" languages, either, and W's reaction was typical.

Anybody know of a You-tube clip of this?

HS

On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 10:51 AM, Dave Sayers <dave.sayers at cantab.net> wrote:
> When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, he won a lot of favour in France by
> speaking French in TV interviews and other appearances; but he was always
> very quiet about this skill to British audiences. You could well be forgiven
> for never knowing he spoke a word of any other language. I'd wager that he
> saw more suspicion than admiration in Britain for multilingualism...!
>
> Dave
>
> --
> Dr. Dave Sayers
> Honorary Research Fellow
> School of the Environment and Society
> Swansea University
> d.sayers at swansea.ac.uk
> http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers
>
>
>
> On 19:59, Harold Schiffman wrote:
>>
>> Forwarded From:  edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
>>
>>
>> The Independent
>>
>>
>>
>> Clever Clegg minds his languages - all six of them
>>
>>
>>
>> As Nick Clegg fell fluently into German during his visit to Berlin
>> last week, his senior Cabinet colleague William Hague held fast to his
>> translation earphones so he could understand what the Deputy Prime
>> Minister was saying. I bet he did. Anything could have been going on.
>> Clegg could have signed Britain up to the euro.
>>
>>
>>
>> A mastery of foreign languages is regarded by most of us with
>> admiration – and suspicion. Clegg is more connected to European blood
>> lines than the Royal Family, and can converse in most countries. He
>> famously has five languages, six if you count his much-admired body
>> language. It is not a question of token phrases.
>>
>>
>>
>> Full story:
>>
>>
>> http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/sarah-sands/sarah-sands-clever-clegg-minds-his-languages--all-six-of-them-1999030.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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-- 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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