Comments on: Learn English with Obama

By: Yu

Yu — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:02:59 +0000

About two months ago, I read about this in the newspaper except it was an article about Japan and how learning Obama speeches was a sort of craze in Japan for the moment. I guess about two months is how long it takes for materials to get translated from Japanese?

By: Feds

Feds — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:55:56 +0000

@Erick Garcia – Obama is immensely popular in China, if only because he’s not Bush. He’s viewed in much the same light as Clinton was – very charismatic and intelligent. Hu could only hope to be so popular, but Chinese politicians put people to sleep. Anyone heard their speeches? Zhong…. Guo…. Ren…. Min… Doesn’t matter who gets up to the podium, they all sound constipated to me.

John – I had a student once who was learning English from Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. He had a large vocabulary but was a terrible speaker. This kind of stuff is way too advanced for the average speaker. Though I grimace at the thought, all the language learning packs selling Friends DVDs in book stores might be a better idea. (Though jokes are harder to translate and ‘get’, and a generation of young people speaking like Ross or Joey is frightening.)

By: Wilson

Wilson — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:41:51 +0000

Obama = $$$$$. His speeches and intellect are highly praised appreciated and unequaled. Check out the ASU commencement speech the President gave recently. As usual, it’s total confidence, comedy relief, timing and lightheartedness.

The book could’ve put Morpheus (The Matrix character from 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions) on the cover as if you watch Morpheus in the cave scene giving his famous speech — “let’s celebrate humans and have a giant orgy in this cave dancing naked to our impending doom” — you’ll know where Obama gets his influence for powerful speaking accents and crescendo.

By: John G

John G — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:15:11 +0000

@hobielover Yeah, probably. I think the “follow” emphasizes the “repeat after me aspect”, but I would have preferred “learn with” as well.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:41:54 +0000

It should come with a free teleprompter.

By: Tuur

Tuur — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:44:50 +0000

@Chinamatt: You think learning English from Bushisms would be A Bad Thing? Imagine Palin as a paradigm.

By: hobielover

hobielover — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:36:57 +0000

Hmm…the English title is weird because of the way they translated “跟.” Wouldn’t “Learn English with Obama” be a better English title?

By: Chinamatt

Chinamatt — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:46:49 +0000

And I thought it odd that I kept seeing the inaugural speech being sold around the US. But, I guess it’s better than teaching them to speak English by using Bushisms.

By: lotsofwordsandnospaces

lotsofwordsandnospaces — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:34:51 +0000

Obama has received a mild ribbing in the UK for his sometimes convoluted way of speaking. He speaks with an excellent pace, and with a fair bit of clarity, just so long as the students don’t think that his speeches are a good choice for a pub chat build-up.

By: Leslie Forman

Leslie Forman — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:43:06 +0000

I work with Chinese professionals to help them improve their oral English, and I think that Obama’s speeches are excellent for this purpose. I’ve found that Chinese students with a high level of English tend to talk too quickly, so pausing like Obama does in his speeches is a very useful exercise.

Also, I think that Chinese people really are interested in Barack Obama, so that’s an added bonus