Obama Impresses State Dept. Staff With His Indonesian (VIDEO)

Barack Obama put on a bilingual display today while visiting the State Department. Obama, who lived in Indonesia from 1967 to 1971, until the age of ten, broke into Indonesian after being greeted by a State Dept. staffer in the language.

ABC News has more details:

As President Obama worked the rope-line at the State Department Thursday, a State Department staffer named Charles Silver, knowing the President once lived in Indonesia, shouted out, "good afternoon" in the local language.

Obama responded back in what Silver later told ABC News was "very good" Bahasa Indonesian. The two then chatted briefly about the neighborhood Obama once lived in.

Video via MSNBC:

Comments

[Z2221344]

Absolutely stunning. What can't this man do? Also, I sympathize with the posters below who area bit frustrated with how high Obama is making the bar. I feel completely inadequate - so I suppose it's a good thing I'm not a world leader.

[quincey]

From the smattering of Indonesian I know I guess they were saying:

Silver: Good Afternoon (Siang denotes Late Afternoon, rather than just Afternoon), Sir.

President: Thank You. How are you?

Silver: Good, good..

Anyway this brief exchange is receiving a lot of attention in Indonesia it seems.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/23/“apa-kabar”-obama-readily-responds-indonesian.html

[eden4barack08]

So cool!

[motu]

Hmm.. the link doesn't go to the article...
can someone update it?

[Yola]

Here you go:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/01/23/“apa-kabar”-obama-readily-responds-indonesian.html

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

A POTUS that doesn't butcher the English language let alone other languages. I'm buying the Rosetta Stone today LOL

[kristycu]

LOL

[AntiRethuglican]

Tri-lingual! And to think Mr. Bush couldn't even speak one language correctly.

[Yovovi]

How wonderful to have a President with a worldview who no longer has to keep these talents under wraps at the risk of sounding or being elite or too multicutural. Finally! I am so happy, just look at his family and extended family. His brother-in-law is married to a white American woman, his sister is Kenyan, his other sister married to an Asian (is he Indonesian, I am not sure) -- just a few examples, it's fantastic!

[welliecat]

Here you go ...... to me this IS the face of America!!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21family.html?pagewanted=2&hpIn

First Family, a Nation’s Many Faces

[Clavis]

It is almost annoying how much like James Bond our new President is! LOL!

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

Cool isn't it?

[marcelisa]

Oooooh, good one!

[Sabella1]

009

[395spoons]

I am soooooooo proud of our new Prez. The more I learn about him, the more I like and respect him. What a great feeling!

[Pavane]

A bi-lingual Prez ... how lovely!!

[Seraiah Danielle]

Tri-lingual, he speaks Spanish too :-)

[bby328]

bush is also tri-lingual . . .

"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."—declining to answer reporters' questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001, gwb.

[eden4barack08]

Maybe quadri-lingual, he communicates in Hawaiian too.

[Trebor65]

It is a wonderful thing to see that OUR President is putting a true sense of pride back into our Government and beyond.

[angrified]

Wow! Impressive. It's been so long since I've admired the man holding the office of president. After the recption Clinton got yesterday, it seems those at the State Dept are relieved to have an administration that actually cares about diplomacy

[welliecat]

I speak Malay (aka Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia) and from what I could hear he spoke those words wery well, totally absent of Western accentuation which is not easy for most.

Bravo! What a difference! How refreshing!

[eminent]

wow, how many different dialects are there In Indonesia (if I may)?it appears to be easier to pick up accents as a child (ear) than as an adult.

[little bear]

People in Malaysia speak Bahasa Malaysia and people in Indonesia speak Bahasa Indonesia. They're both fairly similar variants of Malay, but not identical.

[fairywhatnot]

There are hundreds of dialects. However, the Bahasa Indonesia is the 'official language', which many if not most Indonesians speak.

On another note: the Indonesian language is a very fluid language; it is evolving rapidly, adopting new words all the time - i.e. what is spoken today is quite different from what was spoken 40 years ago, when Mr. Obama was there.

[DigitalVapor]

I worked for quite a while in an indonesian-run warehouse where 90% of my co-workers were indonesian so I picked up a fair amount of the language and that was definately well accented Bahasa Indonesia he spoke. Im so proud that My president and I share the same language aptitudes :D

[395spoons]

"Im so proud that My president and I share the same language aptitudes"


LOL! Very good! :D

[Golfer59]

That was nice, Intelligence is back in the White House

[eminent]

i am in no way defending Bush but he may have had intelligence but not maturity or foresight.PBO has all three.

[tedmore123]

Bush could barely speak English; this is a real good sign.

[Aabby]

lol

[kshawNCvoter]

My President....*big smile frozen on my face*

[roshni]

Word!

[deevee]

That does my heart good...