# Polyglot Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 6, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814 "2012-09-06T00:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/1 "2012-09-06T00:39:24Z")
Has any President of the US been fluent in a foreign language in addition to English? (Bracing myself for those who choose to take that question as a straight line. Yeah, I know this crowd.) ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/2 "2012-09-06T00:45:04Z")
At least half spoke a second language per [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multilingual_Presidents_of_the_United_States). ETA: But fluency wasn’t as common. FDR was raised speaking German and French. Herbert Hoover spoke Mandarin Chinese fluently. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/3 "2012-09-06T00:51:22Z")
I believe that [Eisenhower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower) was from a Mennonite background (though his parents had converted to another church). It’s possible that he spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/4 "2012-09-06T00:52:57Z")
Van Buren’s native language was Dutch, and English was his second language. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/5 "2012-09-06T00:54:42Z")
Very cool Wikipedia page – thanks, Iggy! Interesting how the only president so far whose first language was not English, was Martin Van Buren (Dutch, then spoken in the village in New York’s upper Hudson River Valley where he was raised). (Ninja’d! Oh, well.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/6 "2012-09-06T02:44:44Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > At least half spoke a second language per [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multilingual_Presidents_of_the_United_States). Interestingly, seven of those were 18th or 19th century presidents who only spoke Latin, classical Greek, or Hebrew, which were standard requirements at the better schools in those days. (And they probably weren’t of too much use in conducting diplomacy.) ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/7 "2012-09-06T05:03:18Z")
And of the major party candidates in the 2012 election… Obama has [expressed regret](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502443_162-4254480-502443.html) at not speaking another language. I guess he did not pick up fluency in a second language during his youth in Indonesia, though some sites say he speaks a bit of [Bahasa Indonesia](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVV954KD8tk)and [Spanish](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK-l_0jVtEU)poorly. [Joe Biden](http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/06/14/a-bid-for-an-obama-cabinet.html) speaks no foreign languages. Romney is reportedly [fluent in French](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500202_162-57342817/french-still-foils-in-american-politics/) from his studies and time spent in France doing missionary work for his church. [Paul Ryan](http://2012.republican-candidates.org/Foreign-Languages.php) speaks no foreign languages. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/8 "2012-09-06T06:06:04Z")
I’ve seen George W. Bush speak creditable Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/9 "2012-09-06T08:19:31Z")
Jefferson knew a whole slew of languages. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/10 "2012-09-06T09:20:58Z")
No one’s mentioned JFK? Isn’t he famous for going to Berlin and saying “I am a jelly donut” with a good accent? Thomas Jefferson may deserve the Gold Medal, but surely Garfield deserves at least Honorable Mention: > [@](#): > > As the first ambidextrous president, Garfield entertained his friends by having them ask him questions, and then writing the answer in Latin with one hand while simultaneously answering in Greek with the other. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/11 "2012-09-06T14:27:35Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > No one’s mentioned JFK? Isn’t he famous for going to Berlin and saying “I am a jelly donut” with a good accent?.. An impossible-to-kill urban legend: [Ich bin ein Berliner - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Jelly_doughnut_misconception) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/12 "2012-09-06T15:10:08Z")
John Quincy Adams spoke several languages fluently, including Russian- he served as the American Ambassador to Russia, during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. He didn’t really NEED to speak Russian, of course, as everyone in the Tsar’s court tended to speak French. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/13 "2012-09-06T15:26:15Z")
Garfield is the one that impresses me. I’ve never known anything about him except that he was assasinated and named after a cat. Maybe I should read up on the lesser presidents. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/14 "2012-09-06T15:45:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > An impossible-to-kill urban legend: [Ich bin ein Berliner - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Jelly_doughnut_misconception) I don’t remember ever hearing the “jelly doughnut” slander until many years after the fact. I’d say it didn’t start until a Kennedy backlash appeared, when people felt comfortable talking about his mistresses and failures. The line seemed to have slipped in as proof that he was a phony. Once a story hits print, it gets repeated just because everything that is in print must be true, just as today everything on the internet must be true. If it wasn’t why would they print it. It’s like the line that the porn industry “generates more profits annually than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, and Netflix combined.” as discussed in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=664430). Not possibly true, but it gets repeated by people looking for a bit of color to add to a piece, totally without thinking. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/15 "2012-09-06T15:49:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Garfield is the one that impresses me. I’ve never known anything about him except that he was assasinated and named after a cat. Maybe I should read up on the lesser presidents. As a congressman, [Garfield came up with a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem#Algebraic_proofs) Tell me that’s not cool. ETA: The US lost a potentially great president when he was assassinated. If you’re interested in him (and the assassination), [Destiny of the Republic](http://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Republic-Madness-Medicine-President/dp/0767929713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346946657&sr=8-1&keywords=destiny+of+the+republic)is an outstanding book. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/16 "2012-09-06T15:55:24Z")
All that and he still didn’t know how to duck. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/17 "2012-09-06T17:02:08Z")
If JFK had said “I am a Danish” would we be having a similar argument? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/18 "2012-09-07T00:49:01Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > If JFK had said “I am a Danish” would we be having a similar argument? Fortunately for the Danes, the Soviets never had tanks in Copenhagen. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/19 "2012-09-07T01:12:18Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > If JFK had said “I am a Danish” would we be having a similar argument? If he said it in Danish, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814/20 "2012-09-07T02:27:59Z")
Is a danish called a danish in Danish? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polyglot-presidents/633814.md?page=2)