[lg policy] Sasha Obama spoke Chinese to who?

[Harold Schiffman]

Sasha Obama spoke Chinese to who?

Nine-year-old First Daughter Sasha Obama has been learning Chinese in
school, but who does she speak to outside the classroom? The answer
might surprise you.

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       By Jeff Mason, Reuters / January 21, 2011

Talk about a high level language exchange.

.President Barack Obama's nine-year-old daughter, Sasha, wanted to
test her developing Chinese skills this week while Hu Jintao was in
town.
Just whom did she want to practice them with?

IN PICTURES: Hu Jintao's Washington visit

The Chinese president himself, according to a White House official who
recounted the story on Thursday after a formal state dinner the
previous night. "The president pointed out last night at the state
dinner that his daughter, Sasha, is a very young girl but her class is
studying Chinese," Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security
adviser, told a video conference with Chinese bloggers.
"She's under 10 years old and they're studying Chinese, and she wanted
to have the chance to practice her Chinese with President Hu."

Sasha attended Hu's welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn on
Wednesday morning with friends and could be seen waving a Chinese flag
excitedly as her father and Hu walked around the grounds. The two
presidents paused to visit when they reached the nine-year-old and her
friends behind the rope line. "Not every (child) has the opportunity
to try out their first phrases of Chinese with the president of China,
but she had that chance," Rhodes said. He said the anecdote
illustrated Americans' desire to get to know China better with more
people studying the country and doing business there.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0121/Sasha-Obama-spoke-Chinese-to-who

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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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