Trump praises Liberian leader on English - his native tongue / Photo: Jim WATSON - AFP
NYSE - LSE
| RBGPF | 0% | 77.27 | $ | |
| CMSD | 0.04% | 24.46 | $ | |
| CMSC | 0.29% | 24.39 | $ | |
| NGG | -1.04% | 70.88 | $ | |
| RYCEF | -0.06% | 15.64 | $ | |
| RELX | -0.36% | 46.69 | $ | |
| VOD | -0.34% | 11.77 | $ | |
| RIO | -0.44% | 63.44 | $ | |
| BCC | -3.31% | 82.39 | $ | |
| JRI | -1.01% | 13.92 | $ | |
| SCS | 0.06% | 16.88 | $ | |
| BCE | -1.11% | 23.43 | $ | |
| BTI | -0.43% | 55.79 | $ | |
| AZN | -0.63% | 77.56 | $ | |
| BP | 0.64% | 34.43 | $ | |
| GSK | -0.62% | 40.05 | $ |
Trump praises Liberian leader on English - his native tongue
US President Donald Trump complimented the president of Liberia Wednesday on his English-speaking skills -- despite English being the official language of the West African nation.
Trump was hosting a White House lunch with African leaders Wednesday, and -- after brief remarks from President Joseph Boakai -- asked the business graduate where he had picked up his linguistic know-how.
"Thank you, and such good English... Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated?" Trump said.
Boakai -- who, like most Liberians, speaks English as a first language -- indicated he had been educated in his native country.
He was facing away from the media, making his countenance hard to gauge -- but his laconic, mumbled response hinted at awkwardness.
Trump, who was surrounded by French-speaking presidents from other West African nations, kept digging.
"It's beautiful English. I have people at this table can't speak nearly as well," he said.
US engagement in Liberia began in the 1820s when the Congress- and slaveholder-funded American Colonization Society began sending freed slaves to its shores.
Thousands of "Americo-Liberian" settlers followed, declaring themselves independent in 1847 and setting up a government to rule over a native African majority.
The country has a diverse array of indigenous languages and a number of creolized dialects, while Kpelle-speakers are the largest single linguistic group.
Boakai himself can read and write in Mendi and Kissi but converses in Liberia's official tongue and lingua franca -- English.
D.Riva--MJ
