Did anyone catch Cafferty today re. bush's new proposed program

[tinfoilinfor2005]

to teach more foreign languages in high school? After bush finished stating his proposal, he made a personal comment, something along the lines of, "I think this is a good idea. Whenever someone comes up to me and speaks Texan, I have respect for his knowledge of the language." Cafferty looked like he was going to bust a gut, and Wolf, as usual, just squirmed. It was hysterical, but I can't remember the exact wording. If anyone else saw it and has a better memory of it, please let me know.

[txindy]

1. I didn't see it, but I'd love to find a video of it, somewhere.

True Texans cringe when that twit talks, I promise you.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

2. Supposedly bush is supporting this campaign for kids to learn "useful"

languages, such as Chinese, Russian, and the middle eastern languages. Cafferty looked at Wolf and said, "I don't really know as Texan would be considered one of those useful languages." Jack was so funny and tongue in cheek, and Wolf was as nervous as a whore in church.

[txindy]

5. "...as nervous as ...."

[ddeclue]

10. Yeah but you can't encourage kids to learn foreign languages

at the same time you encourage their parents to be xenophobes and try to pass laws making English the "official" language of the United States. It's a mixed message and the foreign language education effort gets lost in the noise.

SPANISH would be the useful language that Americans should learn given that it is the second most spoken language in the United States after English and that there are 38 million Hispanics in this country.

Instead of requiring that American children learn Spanish as a second language, Spanish and Hispanics are shunned in this country and subjected to obnoxious racist efforts like the "English only" laws.

In Europe, not only do most students have to learn ONE foreign language, they usually have to learn TWO and take at least 2 or 3 years worth of classroom study in it. They often take a third language as well for an additional year.

Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Korean, and other languages are certainly important for national security reasons but for practical purposes they are a waste of time for most Americans unless you live in certain specific communities in America like Brooklyn, Detroit, San Francisco, or Los Angeles where these languages are spoken more commonly by larger immigrant communities located there.

The government should require ALL U.S. military personnel to take language training, not just certain specialties. All soldiers should be required to get training in the language of any foreign country where they are about to be based and should be required to learn Spanish as it is the language spoken in most of North and South America except for Canada and the U.S. and is the second most spoken language in the U.S.

All soldiers bound for Iraq certainly ought to get a crash course in basic Arabic so that they can at least TRY to figure out what is going on around them and at least TRY to connect to the people in the basic communications skills area. It would make a tremendous difference in how things are going.

As someone who has lived and travelled abroad for much of my life (I'm 39 and have lived almost 8 years overseas, mostly in Europe but also I've been to Korea for 3 months and Argentina for a week) I can tell you that Americans are much more respected abroad when they can show at least a basic fluency in the local language. It is a sign of respect to the locals and they will show YOU respect in return if you take the trouble to learn a language.

I've been spending the last year or so brushing up on my Spanish taking continuing ed classes at night. Spanish and Italian seem to be the only languages available in my area however as the German classes have been cancelled and none other are being offered.

As a child I had to take German classes because my dad was in the army and we were stationed in Germany. After living there for 7 years, I can still fake my way through your basic tourist scenarios, getting a hotel, ordering dinner, buying something, etc. In high school I took 2 years of French mostly because of my French ancestry but have found very little use for it so far. As an adult I've studied Spanish off and on for the last 20 years mostly on my own but in the last year I've started taking the classes I've mentioned.

I tried to learn some Korean while I was there and I did master their alphabet (which has 24 letters and is surprisingly a phoenetic alphabet) but was only able to learn a few phrases like hello, goodbye, thank you, and may I have a receipt? I could read signs but if it wasn't a word they had lifted from English or a town name then I usually had no idea what it said.

Doug De Clue
Orlando, FL

[bobbieinok]

15. Americans abroad who speak the language are told they are NOT

Americans b/c 'everyone knows Americans can't speak foreign languages'

this happened to me in Germany and has happened to friends in France and in Spanish-speaking countries

[ddeclue]

16. this has never happened in my experience.

I've always been treated very well when I make a sincere effort.

Doug D.

[bobbieinok]

17. I've been treated well....it's just they're so stunned that an American

can speak the language

when the Germans recognized an English accent, they assumed I was from England.....when I said I was from the US, they assumed my family was from Germany

it's just that no one believes Americans learn foreign languages

[ddeclue]

18. That was the difference..

You had an English accent while I have an American accent. They naturally assumed you were English.

Are you a naturalized American? Just curious as to why you would speak with an English accent otherwise.

Ironically, it is I who was born in Germany, albeit in an American Army Hospital...

Doug D.

[bobbieinok]

19. I have an American accent....the Germans assumed it was English

now that you bring this up, I don't know why.....although maybe there's little difference between an English and American accent to many Germans......

some (north) Germans thought maybe I was from Holland

[ddeclue]

20. Possibly but in my experience (7 years living in Germany) no

Most Germans do know the difference between the accents of an American and an Englishman. It would be hard for them to know the difference between an American and a Canadian however.

Doug D.

[RagingInMiami]

25. In some parts of Europe

They hate the English more than they Americans.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Bush is a native speaker of Nutmegese

The language of preppy AWOL cheerleaders who have their roots in Connecticut.

So Texan ain't anything but a pretend language he uses to catapult propaganda -- like the idea that he is actually some kind of "good old boy" instead of a northeast preppy bed wetter.

[alfredo]

4. Nutmeg, contains MDA. Could that be why bush seems so detached

from reality?

[Lusted4]

7. No that comes from sniffing Buffalo farts. n/t

[alfredo]

12. That takes some real stamina.

[Lusted4]

21. I also think that is where facial abrasion number six came from.n/t

[alfredo]

22. They have that much velocity? Hig hiber diet?

[grateful581]

6. This is bush's new plan to get the world to like us again

Sound like another crappy plan from the BUSHit administration.
I got an idea Bush, Resign!
The whole world would jump for joy.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

9. The world may or may not like us, but

if bush really thinks that Texan is a foreign language, the world will continue to make fun of us. And with good reason. Look how many of "us" voted for this maroon (a fond nod to Bugs Bunny).

[benddem]

8. As with most of his speeches

this one was embarrasing. To hear that moran going on about how we could show people in other countries "we care" by speaking their language. This jerk didn't even know the difference between the types of muslims before he sicced our military on them. He didn't even own a passport. How dense can his supporters be????

[0007]

13. Learn to speak a foreign language and then get after em

Jack Abramoff style.

....Or Jerry Falwell's style

[Marr]

11. They need more translators if they're going to spy on us all.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

14. Yes, thank you. Cafferty also alluded to THAT with a grin on his face,

and I had forgotten that part. Gee, I love Jack.

[jbnow]

23. We need more language taught

but it should start well before high school. The brain is much better at absorbing new language at 10 years old then to start in their teens.

[RagingInMiami]

24. Bush should learn English first