Obama: I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing!

According to CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic, Barack Obama, the 44th and recently re-elected President of the US, claims to not speak any foreign language.  Others have claimed that the President can actually communicate in Spanish, Indonesian and Sign Language. 

Either, the President is a modest person, who can actually speak more languages than English, or his presence is so clear and powerful that people just seem to understand his message regardless of the actual linguistics of his delivery.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a mother from Kansas and father from Kenya, and having lived for some childhood years in Indonesia, President Obama is considered to be an international American leader.

In a 2006 interview from The Oprah Winfrey Show, Obama discussed his family’s international and cultural diversity, “Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations," he says. Obama’s half-sister, who is Indonesian American, is married to a Chinese-Canadian-American. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher," Obama said.  

President Obama also has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, some Irish cousins, and his mother’s family roots have been traced back to the Native Americans. 

The American President is cut from such a diverse cultural fabric; it’s no wonder that the world loves him. Many people feel that he has the capacity to relate to them in more ways than politics.  

Whether or not the President is really fluent in foreign languages, the fact is, he can at least get by:

•  In his Presidential Campaigns, Obama has wooed Hispanic constituents by delivering campaign commercials and speeches in Spanish. Obama honored the legacy of the late civil rights and labor leader Cesar Chavez, by adopting his “Si se puede” (“Yes, we can”) mantra in his own campaign addressing Spanish speakers. [Source: Fox News Latino]

•  In Nov 2009, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, told reporters about a phone conversation with Presidential Obama, where "He addressed me with, 'Apa Kabar Bapak President?' (How are you Mr. President?), in fluent Indonesian," Yudhoyono said.  Obama said he missed several local delicacies such as nasi goreng (fried rice), rambutan and bakso (meatball soup), he added. [Source:  The Jakarta Post]

• After a speech delivered at Prince George Community College, MD in March 2012, Presidential Obama delighted students as he communicated in American Sign Language. [Source: Huffington Post]
• "I am proud of you," deaf student Stephon signed to the president.
• President Obama signed back: "Thank you."
• Another deaf student then signed to the president, "I love you." Obama smiled back at her and shook her hand.

President Obama may not be multi-lingual or completely fluent in foreign languages, but he has taken the words of another great leader to heart:   "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."

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