6d ago

Trump praises ‘good English’ of Liberian president, prompting criticism across Africa

www.cnn.com

Trump praises ‘good English’ of Liberian president, prompting criticism across Africa | CNN

Donald Trump praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai for his strong grasp of the English language on Wednesday. But the African leader was educated in Liberia, where English is the official language.

As he hosted five African leaders at the White House, Trump asked Boakai: “Such good English, it’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

Boakai informed Trump of his place of education, prompting Trump to express his curiosity. “That’s very interesting,” he said, “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

Several Liberians voiced their offense over Trump’s comment to Boakai, given the US president’s past remarks on African countries and the colonial legacy left by the US organization in Liberia.

“I felt insulted because our country is an English-speaking country,” Archie Tamel Harris, a Liberian youth advocate, told CNN.

39 comments

Saying a black person is "well spoken" is such a common slight in the US, as if it should be surprising somehow that they're not all speaking Jive or Hip-hop or whatever. If people insult African-Americans like that what hope do Liberians have?
- Also, it implies that you can't be well spoken while using aave which is plain wrong. Reducing a valid sociolect to some kind of hood mumbo jumbo is just another way to keep the people who use it down.
  
  Indeed. This sort of thing goes way back - the term "barbarian" was literally a result of Romans making fun of how non-Roman languages sounded to them (they used the onomatopoeia of "Bar Bar" to represent what they thought foreign languages sounded to them). Dismiss their language as meaningless gibber and you dismiss their thoughts as meaningless too.
  
  Reducing a valid sociolect to some kind of hood mumbo jumbo
  Shibboleth and all that, language has always been a tool of power and domination, sorting in-group vs out-group.
- Well put. If a man can't respect his fellow citizens, what's going to make him respect those that aren't?
- trump and his pops has always been racist to any blacks. on his show, the people who used to work for the reality series, said he complains about black people winning.
- Just go to any streamer channel. Kick, Twitch YouTube and you will see how most americans trash the English language. I understand that language evolves, but come on now. Worst is tense. They have no clue of what past, present and future tense is in speaking English.
  
  Believe me, it's not just Americans. No one outside of English nobility speaks anywhere near "the King's English". And no one should feel like they have to. Honestly, some English accents are significantly less intelligible than those that learned it as a foreign language. As long as the giver and receivers understand what's being said, then I see no real problems.
- This quote from Chris Rock hasn't aged too well, but the overall sentiment is correct.
  
  Well... he could definitely be less correct.
- It's an extraordinarily racist and ignorant posture to take. African American Vernacular English is a widely known dialect at this point and is really interesting to learn about.
To be fair, Trump is from an English speaking country and he can't speak English very well.
- Calling the US an English speaking country is perhaps somewhat overgenerous.
  
  English is by and large the most spoken language in the US. There are more English speakers than all other languages combined. How is it overgenerous to refer to the US as an English speaking country?
The (not so) secret ingredient is RACISM
- It's also a refusal to understand that Liberia was colonized by America as part of a postbellum "return to aftica"
Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told CNN that “there was no offense” from the Liberian president’s perspective and that “many people do not understand the linguistic borders or linguistic demography of the African continent.”
Undiplomatic translation: "We're used to Americans being ignorant as fuck."
- So is the rest of the world.
  
  True, though it was an American in this particular instance.
Fucking hell. Like I know Americans don't know that we're the ones who colonized Liberia but come on, the president should.
- Fascinating, just read up on the topic. I never knew! No wonder their flag looks so similar.
  
  Yeah we dont talk about it much because it was a shitshow that's definitely political but not really in line with any side. Like it made perfect sense to Americans at the time that black people who were sick of racism and their ancestors were brought here against their will should be allowed to just go to Africa.
  Its definitely a story we should remember when we talk about decolonization. Not as a deterrent but as a warning of what doing it poorly could look like.
  But yeah thats why there's that one country in Africa whose flag is weirdly similar to the American flag, and the lack of knowledge of it is why its emoji is regularly used to refer to America
I have people at this table who can't speak nearly as well.
Yeah, including the pumpkin president himself
- Specifically him.
Just Trump being an ignorant piece of shit. Move along now.
- All too much move along if you ask me. Will one just move on as it get worse and worse?
Most foreigners I know has better grammar and spelling skills than people schooled in America. Including me.
God that's so backhanded. it'd be like him saying "you're so smart for a woman, which university did you go to?" it comes from the assumption people from other countries are dumb or something. also he himself can barely form a coherent string of words together so... lol
“You grand grand grand parents are good slaves. “
Someone also mentioned how Liberia was founded by freed African Americans in an effort to create a safe haven for them given the atrocities of America at the time. Yes, they speak English.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Liberia
- Lol I was gonna ask isn't their flag the one MAGAts will accidentally use as the US flag. And, well, yes it is.
Only half of Liberians speak English, and less than 2% are native speakers. Calling it an English speaking country is a stretch
- But it has only one official language, which is English, so calling it something else would also be a stretch.

39 comments