Posted on 04/01/2021 5:41:42 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
First Lady Jill Biden was mocked and criticized on Wednesday afternoon after a botched attempt to speak Spanish. Video of her failed attempt to speak a foreign language then drew attention to a controversial-looking flag that was behind her.
Jill Biden made the remarks during an event speaking to farmworkers on the birthday of Cesar Chavez, a left-wing labor leader and activist who had a history of making bigoted remarks toward immigrants.
“It’s ‘Si se puede’ (Yes you/we can) not ‘Si se pwadueh,'” RGA Deputy Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez, who is fluent in Spanish, tweeted. “I can’t even imagine what word she was trying to say. Seriously why even try pandering if you’re going to butcher it and not practice before?!”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailywire.com ...
Melania spoke 5 languages fluently and was constantly ridiculed by the jealous women of the press-and men too.
“that is some nazii symbolism there... with that flaguedo...”
Is that a WPA flag?
Like most people my age who lived in my area, I took French in high school and one semester in college.
So while I’m not afraid to try to pronounce Spanish from the menu at a Mexican restaurant, I’ll readily confess that with my southern accent pulling rank on the Spanish, I sound more like Peggy Hill. At least that’s what my daughter says. Doesn’t bother me and it apparently is a great source of amusement to the Mexican waiters who laugh and wink at me and tell me thanks for trying.
Peach
That’s the kind of imagery I would have expected from Hillary...
OMG.....are these people this foolish, or....simply being blinded, from above, to their absurdity??
We truly can no longer make this stuff up, can we?
If I want fresh tortillas or homemade tamales, I know which ladies at the church to ask.
I took Spanish in college and struggled. The places I’ve traveled in Mexico it wasn’t really necessary but I tried with varying success. The only two places I actually used it were in the former Soviet Union when buying some paintings from an artist who had been stationed in Cuba - he had no English and I no Russian, and in Hong Kong helping a Spanish couple who were having trouble figuring out how to use a water taxi. Weird.
I sort of disagree.
In my military career, I’ve lived in many places.
If you don’t try to speak the language, you will NEVER learn it.
I was stationed in Australia, Italy and Germany. Oz was difficult even though it is “English” because Ozzies are funny with our language. Italy and Germany are obviously foreign, but I learned German and can still speak much of it, because I lived and hung out with Germans and we talked. I butchered the language and they made fun of me, but that was part of the learning process.
I learned a lot less Italian because I lived on base with other Americans and didn’t get out as much.
I can speak *some* Greek as I did many TDY’s there closing different bases and was normally housed in a nearby hotel.
Again, I’m sure I sounded like a moron to them but I tried my best and learned from it.
My favorite spousal mispronunciation was when Charles de Gaulle retired in 1969. He and Yvonne took questions from the press in London, and a reporter asked her what she was looking forward to now that Mr. de Gaulle had retired.
“A penis,” she said clearly.
A silence hung over the room. Then de Gaulle said, “In English, my dear, it is pronounced “happiness.”
I have similar challenges in Welsh. Most of my speaking patterns derive from music that I acquired from performers in the mid-valley areas. I can adapt pretty quickly to northern, mid-valley and southern dialects, but the mid-valley is ingrained.
On a business trip to SHAPE in Belgium, one of the RAF officers noticed my English is colored with Canadian vowels. Very likely a consequence of a year in Federal Way, WA while attending 3rd grade. It left a persistent mark.
I'm learning Irish and Scots Gaelic. Irish has LOTS of dialects. It's a real challenge. Scots Gaelic is spoken by a very small number of people. The variations in pronouncing words are narrow. I actually have fun adding to my Gaelic vocabulary. It was a few months tuning my ear to the language. Mapping the spoken language to the written is MUCH harder than Welsh.
I'm dabbling with Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic and Korean. The different alphabets and sounds are a big hill to climb. I'm well into mastering reading Hiragana and some Katakana. Kanji is a lifetime pursuit. It's pretty easy to speak and understand. The tonal nature of Mandarin makes speaking a HUGE challenge.
I have limited proficiency in French, Spanish and Italian. Sufficient to travel comfortably, but I would not attempt to conduct serious business. My son is fluent in Spanish...good enough to provide support to a Spanish only speaker in an English only legal proceeding.
I use Duolingo daily on my Android phone. The long press support provides access to the necessary diacriticals. Welsh uses the "caret" and "diaresis". Irish and Scots Gaelic use accent and accent grave on vowels. Do it wrong and the word is incorrect. German uses "diaresis" aka "umlaut". The word "schon" means ready without the umlaut on the "o". Add the umlaut and it becomes "pretty". German has a double S that looks similar to the Greek letter for beta. German uses three letter-diacritic combinations (Ä/ä, Ö/ö, Ü/ü) using the umlaut and one ligature (ß (called Eszett (sz) or scharfes S, sharp s)) which are officially considered distinct letters of the alphabet.
Welsh tosses in some diphthongs treated as single letters for collating in the dictionary. (ch), (dd), (ff), (ll).
...during an event speaking to farmworkers on the birthday of Cesar Chavez, a left-wing labor leader and activist who had a history of making bigoted remarks toward immigrants... RGA Deputy Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez, who is fluent in Spanish, tweeted. “I can’t even imagine what word she was trying to say. Seriously why even try pandering if you’re going to butcher it and not practice before?!”
That's Doctor Jill Biden to you, peasants.
Fun Fact number 1 needs a qualifier. The numbers listed are native speakers as a first language. That does not include speakers of second languages. When that kicks in English soars to number 1 with well over a billion and perhaps 2 billion.
I know it can be done. My phone has a Spanish option, but it’s a lot harder on the PC.
That’s Chavez flag
The Phoenix
I agree. I prefer using the Android phone for Duolingo. It would be painful on a PC. When writing in ONE language on the PC, switching the language on the PC and getting the right keyboard helps. I still make mistakes typing on a native German keyboard.
For "fun", I changed my Facebook application language to Welsh. The app is nicely internationalized. I wouldn't dare try that with Japanese.
Years ago, my sister and her family lived in Honduras. They didn’t learn Spanish until they were “in country” and they hired a Spanish tutor, full time.
The kids were born there, and when they’d moved back to the US and they spoke Spanish with people in this country, they were always told that they had no accent in their Spansih that would let someone know they weren’t native speakers. Who teaches you, and being in immersion learning, definitely gives one the edge.
I was taught some German by a guy from Cologne.
German tourists asked me “How is Cologne? “ when I spoke.
Looks like I need to brush up on the umlaut!
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