Here's an expert linguist from Slovenia that's only been here 15 years, compared to 24

[brewens]

for our "First Lady". The dude must have whatever the Slovenians call a PHD in English.

[dhol82]

1. Gee, he must have cared about speaking the language.

[LisaL]

2. Mocking immigrants for having an accent is not a good look.

I would think that should be reserved for Republicans.

[Beakybird]

7. That's right. There's nothing wrong with having an accent.

Melania should be judged solely by her character, and on this, she should be judged very severely.

[brewens]

18. Normally I would agree, but her lying about being fluent in five languages makes her fair game

doesn't it?

[virgogal]

19. You can be fluent and still have an accent.

[Skittles]

25. she does not speak five languages

she is as big a fraud as her piece of shit husband

[smirkymonkey]

29. Thank YOU!

[StarfishSaver]

49. Then criticize her for that, not for having an accent in one of the languages she actually speaks

One can be fluent in a language and still speak with an accent.

[PatSeg]

42. I've known people

who have been in the U.S. for far longer than Melania and many of them still have strong accents. Each person is different. Some people lose their accents quickly, others don't. I prefer not to judge one person in comparison to another.

As for Melania, I really don't care what she wears, how she talks, or how she interacts with her husband. I neither like or dislike her, she is of no real consequence. She is not the threat to our democracy, she is married to the threat. I have no idea what kind of influence she has over Trump, but I seriously doubt it is any. Her only purpose is to be a pretty ornament in Trump's White House.

Dwelling on Trump's wife is just a distraction. Meanwhile, he is dismantling everything we hold dear at lightening speed. I'm sure he'd like for us to waste our time focusing on the trivial things, rather than his misdeeds.

And yes, I agree with you, this is the sort of thing that republicans do. We lived with it for the eight years that the Obamas were in the White House, probably because there was so little to criticize him for. We don't have that situation with Donald Trump.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. I work with a few Russians who have been here 20 years. They spoke no accent English in 10 years.

.

I listen to the First lady and she obviously does not want to assimilate with American society.

The rumor mill is that she only speaks in her native tongue around Barron, to get him to learn it.

.

[LisaL]

4. Really?

That's an opposite of my experience.
Younger people easily lose their accents. It's a lot harder for older people.
By the way "no accent English" is not grammatically correct.
Since we are talking about English here.

[smirkymonkey]

10. She was young when she moved here and she has had every advantage - money, plenty of free time,

opportunity to hire a private English tutor, etc. - she could have easily have become fully fluent in English within 10 years and she can barely speak the language after being here for 24, after bragging that she is fluent in five languages, which we all know is BS.

I have ridden with Uber drivers who have only been in this country for a few years and did not speak English before they moved here who speak better English than she does. The bottom line is that she is lazy and unwilling to make an effort to learn the language, ESPECIALLY as the First Lady of the nation. She has NO excuses.

[LisaL]

12. Yea, that's a winning message.

You don't know if she is lazy because she has an accent. People have different aptitudes for languages. Maybe try going to another country with a different language and see how easy it is to learn a new language?

[smirkymonkey]

16. I have. I studied for one semester in Austria (3 months) and practiced working on my accent.

And my grammar and vocabulary. I am not completely fluent, but if I had lived there for 10 or 20 years I certainly would be. However, even after that short period of time, I was told by many natives that my German accent was very good. It's just a matter of making an effort.

[LisaL]

20. You German accent was very good?

If you didn't have an accent, nobody would be commenting on your German accent.

[smirkymonkey]

24. I didn't say I didn't have any accent, but that people commented that I spoke very well for

someone who had only been in the country and studied the language for a very short time. I made the effort to pronounce things correctly and listened to native language tapes to reinforce my pronunciation.


As I said in a post below, I do not expect people who immigrate from other countries not to speak with an accent, but not only does she have an extremely heavy, almost unintelligible accent, she has no grasp of English grammar and very little fluency.

Face it, she is a lazy, stupid woman. I know many people from foreign countries who could run circles around her and who have been here a fraction of the time she has been here. I am not criticizing immigrants with accents, I am criticizing her.

Especially since many immigrants come here with no money, have to work long hours, may have families to take care of on their own and don't have the time or the money to spend on English classes or expensive tapes and computer programs to help them learn.

She has had plenty of money, time, access, someone to cook, clean, take care of her child and cater to her every whim. There is no excuse for her laziness.

[LisaL]

32. Well, good for you, I guess.

But if you have lived there for over 20 years, and people were still commenting on your "good German accent", I wonder how you'd feel then.

[Retrograde]

38. My grandparents were all born in the US

and they all spoke English with a mild-to-heavy Polish accent. Of course, they grew up before radio and talkies, and spent all their lives in an ethnic enclave, and went to parochial schools where Polish was the first language of instruction. Aside from the accent, they spoke, read, and wrote English better than some people occupying the White House.

Some people are better at mimicking sounds than others.

[lunatica]

5. Trump thinks her accent is sexy.

That should explain it.

[brewens]

21. Yeah. To be fair, in her previous occupation that accent would make her seem exotic to some men.

So for years, not knowing if she may have to fall back on her skills, she may have not wanted to lose the accent.

[lunatica]

55. Well if it works for her why change it?

In her circles she’s made it.

[Sunsky]

6. Really?

Is this sarcasm? I've lived here over 20 years and I still have the accent of my native country albeit an English accent but does it even matter? Does it make me less of a US citizen? This is cheap and petty BS.

[Beakybird]

8. Yup. Petty B.S.

[LisaL]

9. It is B.S.

I guess OP doesn't realize immigrants can vote?

[smirkymonkey]

13. I don't expect people who have immigrated from a foreign country to completely lose their accent,

but she is barely intelligible and she has been here long enough to speak better English than she does. It's not like she's had a job or does anything besides shop, read fashion magazines, and work out. She's just lazy. And she is the First Lady of the US. She should be making more of an effort than she has.

[LisaL]

14. Again, try it.

See how easy it is to learn a new language and then report to us.

[smirkymonkey]

17. See above post.

[Sunsky]

30. Exactly

I can't believe these folks have me defending Melania but this is ridiculous. There are numerous issues with the first couple, Melania's accent isn't one of them, unless our goal is to turn off immigrants.

[LisaL]

31. Exactly.

I have known some highly intelligent people who have been in the US a long time, and had a pretty strong accent.
I sure as hell wouldn't think they were lazy.

[StarfishSaver]

50. Sometimes Democrats just make me shake my head

[Proud liberal 80]

15. Agree

[Sunsky]

27. Lazy?

What the heck does her accent have to do with being lazy? It is not easy learning a new language. She is speaking English. Therefore, she has learned the language. She may not have mastered the American accent but she speaks English.

[smirkymonkey]

34. See my above posts.

For the amount of time she has been here, and the amount of opportunity, money and leisure afforded to her, she should be much more fluent. I have explained my position in the above posts. She is the FIRST LADY. It is not the fact that she has an accent, it is the fact that her English skills are atrocious after almost 25 years of being immersed in the culture.

I know numerous people who have been in this country for a much shorter period of time than she has, with much fewer resources and free time to devote to studying the language and they are head and shoulders above her as far as mastering English grammar and vocabulary. Yes, many of them still retain a bit of an accent, but they are still much easier to understand than she is. Why are you sticking up for this racist, elitist bimbo, anyway?

[Sunsky]

36. Because this is bs

This is exclusive and should not be what Democrats are about. Because as an immigrant with an English accent that isn't American but yet working on my second master's degree. A daughter of two educators with their E.d.Ds but also speak with a non-American English accent; who have worked their hardest and given so much to this country. We pride ourselves on education and hard work. I'll be damned if I let anyone tell me that I am or they are lazy because we've been here over 20 years and don't speak with an American accent.
It's funny that I'm always chosen to give presentations with my non-American accent.
I've known people who have migrated recently who speak with an American accent. Does that make them more hard-working?
Either we are a party that celebrates the fact that we are an inclusive country that welcomes an immigrant with an accent as first Lady, or we can be like the Republicans and lose the support of immigrants.

[smirkymonkey]

39. FFS, this isn't about YOU!

I don't know how many times I have had to repeat it, but my criticism is strictly of Melania Trump. Not you, not other immigrants. Just her. I don't think you have read one damn word I have said and if you had, you haven't comprehended it.

I have said over and over again that I have no problem with non-native English speakers who have an accent. That is completely normal and expected. My criticism is of Melania only and the fact that she has been here for almost 25 years, has a barely intelligible accent, has almost NO fluency in the language and has had every opportunity to learn it - access to tutors, lessons, computer programs, all the free time in the word - and yet she still speaks the language worse than most immigrants I know who have been here for only 5 years without her advantages.

Stop taking this personally and stop defending this racist, hateful, repulsive woman. It's sickening.

[LymphocyteLover]

40. I agree. I find her thick accent very odd after so many years here.

I suspect she mostly hangs out with her parents, and they speak Slovenian. But the bigger problem is who she's married to and supports.

[smirkymonkey]

41. Yes, she is just a horrible person all the way around and I can't understand why anyone would

be taking her side on any matter. She deserves to be mocked.

[LymphocyteLover]

56. I think the key thing is not the accent per se but that she's not pronouncing

a lot of words properly or clearly. She's the first lady and shouldn't sound like a new Russian immigrant. You would think she would get trained better if she's speaking to us. It just seems like laziness on her part, at best.

[LisaL]

60. She is an immigrant.

Why shouldn't she sound like one?

[Sunsky]

43. It is actually

you cannot pick on one immigrants accent and not offend others. Sorry.

[smirkymonkey]

46. Forget it, you win.

I give up.

[LisaL]

47. Well, good.

NT

[StarfishSaver]

51. Hear hear!

[Proud liberal 80]

11. I see several people on this thread think you are being petty

But I don’t, and it’s not much about having an accent as it is she doesn’t really seem to be fluent in English as she claims, along with several other languages. she is way better than me who only knows one language, so I give her credit for knowing English..,,but being fluent is another story


Edit- and I am pretty sure that if a Democratic President had a wife from Africa or Central America and she spoke English like Melania they would be going after her relentlessly

[smirkymonkey]

22. +1000

[virgogal]

23. They would be going after her,it would be wrong as it is now.

[Sunsky]

26. We aren't them

and for that reason many immigrants vote Democratic. This is not the way.

[USALiberal]

28. Ok, so we should be like her? Lol! Nt

[Proud liberal 80]

35. When they go low

I go lower

[LisaL]

44. You sure do.

But not sure if that's anything to be proud of.

[Proud liberal 80]

54. Yep

And the “Go high” thinking is the reason why Trump is POTUS.

[LisaL]

58. Mocking accents is not a winning argument.

You are insulting people for no apparent reason.

[JI7]

52. Why did the Republicans have a problem with Jeb Bush's wife but not Melania

?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

33. Oh my god who gives a shit

[PufPuf23]

37. No way do I hold Melania in any favorable regard.

Also think Melania is lazy and feels entitled.

But criticism of an accent is kind of petty.

Not sure what languages Melania claims to be fluent.

As a native Slovenian, Melania was raised with Slovenian and a Serbo-Croation dialect; that is two.

[Aside I once traveled from Athens to Belgrade by train, spent a week around Belgrade, several days in NW Romania, then drove from Belgrade to Sarajevo to Dubrovnik then up the Adriatic coast to Opatija then to Ljubljana where dropped off the Zastava 101 and took a bus to Trieste. From Belgrade to Split there was a couple we knew from university at Cal living in Belgrade. One had previously lived in Yugoslavia when his Dad was in State Department (and was there working on research for his PhD). She was a PhD linguist from Cal. So lots of language skills. Both spoke Serbo-Croation and appeared to have no problem in communication. This was in early 1981, not long after Tito died. Personally I hadn't a clue what language people were speaking on that trip much less understand anything. But the trip was a wake up call about Eastern Europe at the time, not at all what I expected. Bothers me also when Melania is called a Russian asset because she is Slovenian. Yugoslavia was a non-aligned nation, never part of the Communist Pact lead by USSR. Melania may be an asset, maybe not on purpose, but a useful fool and not an asset because of her born nationality]

Plus we know she speaks some English.

Slovenia is very close to Italy so maybe some Italian (but I live in CA and took one year of Spanish and have near zero Spanish skill).

Plus she lived in Paris.

So that is the 5 language Melania claims. Think better to criticize Melania on her poor taste and poor personality and nasty husband and claims to education she does not have.

[brewens]

45. I don't care who ya are, that there's funny! :) n/t

[StarfishSaver]

48. We can do better than this.

There are plenty of things to criticize Melania about. Speaking a language that's not her first language with a thick accent is not one of them.

I can't stand her, but she does speak English better than I speak any other language, accent or not.

Let's leave this kind of thing to Republicans. We can do better.

[JI7]

53. Yes, go after her for her racism and hatred of non whites kids

[betsuni]

57. I'm bad at the language of the country I live in too.

Guess that makes me a stupid lazy asshole. Which is true, but so what? My in-laws despise me for this. If I were an actual asshole sociopath who was fluent in the language I'm sure they would love me.

[LisaL]

59. Some people who I guess only speak one language

are apparently unable to figure it out-having an accent doesn't have anything to do with laziness. The younger you are, the easier it is to learn a new language. And by younger I mean children.
By the way the guy featured in OP was learning English as a child from his grandmother.

[betsuni]

61. Thank you.

Like anything else, not everyone can be good at everything.