Past Polyglot Presidents

Barack Obama stirred up some controversy recently when he urged Americans to learn foreign languages. The discussions about multilingualism in the U.S. seem to be on the rise so maybe it’s time we look at our past. Most people know that Thomas Jefferson spoke at least five languages and could write in several more, but did you know that:

- James Garfield, the 20th president, was not only multilingual, he was also ambidextrous. He could write in Greek with one hand while writing in Latin with the other.

- Dutch-speaker Martin Van Buren was the 8th president and the first to be born as a U.S. citizen (all presidents before him had been born British citizens). He is the only U.S. president who spoke English as a second language and he continued to speak Dutch at home with his wife as an adult.

- First Lady Elizabeth Monroe spoke only French at home.

- Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou, collaborated on the first English translation of a sixteenth century work on mining and used both the old Latin and German translated versions as sources. The multilingual Hoovers were said to speak Mandarin in the White House when they didn’t want to be overheard.

Because it’s an election year, the candidates are trying to appeal to the U.S. voters who don’t speak English at home. Both Obama and John McCain spoke earlier this week before the National Council of La Raza, a national Hispanic advocacy group, and new Spanish ads are expected soon from both candidates. Speaking to voters in other languages has been a time- honored tradition for the last 50 years:

– Jackie Kennedy campaigned for her husband’s re-election to the Senate in 1958 and gave speeches in Italian, French, and Spanish to ethnic voters. For JFK’s presidential run in 1960, she recorded a campaign spot for her husband in Spanish. You can see the campaign ad on youtube by searching for "Jackie Kennedy Speaks Spanish".

About the Author

Janine Libbey is a founding partner at P & L Translations in Nashville, TN.

http://www.pandltranslations.com

Creative Quotations from James A. Garfield for Nov 19

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