Obama's Daughter Sasha Practices Chinese With Hu Jintao

President Obama's daughter Sasha finally found the perfect study partner for her developing Chinese skills: Chinese President Hu Jintao, in town for a historic state meeting this week.

According to Reuters, the nine-year-old developing polyglot is currently learning Mandarin with her classmates, and sought out the Chinese leader's assistance in a language exchange, a moment which Hu recalled during a formal state dinner.

"Not every [child] has the opportunity to try out their first phrases of Chinese with the president of China, but she had that chance," Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, told a video conference with Chinese bloggers. "She's under 10 years old and they're studying Chinese, and she wanted to have the chance to practice her Chinese with President Hu." He went on to note the anecdote illustrated Americans' desire to get to know China better with more people studying the country and doing business there.

Sasha was in attendance with other members of her class on Wednesday for Hu's welcoming ceremony, and could be seen waving a Chinese flag.

Comments

[Antarctic]

09:23 AM on 02/01/2011

So how do you say 'Comrade Hu, if you don't keep buying our securities, Daddy will beat me' in Mandarin?

[marbiol]

11:24 PM on 01/24/2011

...SO...wwhy didnt sasha clue us in on how the chinese musician dissed the US??

[ThinkCreeps]

11:10 AM on 01/24/2011

Gosh darn commie kids, pallin' around with foreign commie commies.

[life-of-riley]

11:04 AM on 01/24/2011

"Now Sasha, I want you to be polite, nice, and smile at the man - he's very, very important."

[baybeebluz]

10:48 AM on 01/24/2011

Wonder if the children her age attending the public schools in DC have the opportunity to learn Mandarin also?

[HeavyHitter]

11:10 AM on 01/24/2011

Wealth has its privileges, as your puppetmasters know well. She's probably going to school with the children of lobbyists who control your party.

[RedDog79]

12:01 PM on 01/24/2011

meow.

did you know that many schools in larger cities are teaching children to speak different languages so the children will be able to communicate with other cultures.
I know it's something new and different so therefore by default it is bad.

[PrimusElijah]

01:01 PM on 01/24/2011

There are a few programs in charter schools, although I think you were asking to make a point.

[Riana Lynn]

09:58 AM on 01/24/2011

All schools should teach languages before ten. Thst is when the brain picks up a language fastest

[lisaman]

09:08 AM on 01/24/2011

Beautiful AND smart!!

[Alex Croley]

08:11 AM on 01/24/2011

Aw, that is cute.

[straightuptalker]

07:08 AM on 01/24/2011

Sounds like her daddy knows what's in store for the U.S. Preparing his kids to speak the language of the former "sleeping giant" is a step towards being able to communicate with our former Communist enemy of the third-world, who's now on track to becoming the world's ruling empire. Don't laugh...it could happen.

True we live in a global world and must communicate by learning diverse languages, but I have a problem should Chinese become our second language. It's almost as if we're capitulating and cowtowing to a country that can virtually hold the U.S. hostage, considering they have our jobs, are now the world's no. 1 importer, and our government is highly indepted to them financially. We sure woke up the sleeping giant, now they're ready to take control of the world...and we let it happen. Nightmare for sure.

[BritishColumbian]

08:41 AM on 01/24/2011

Since when is it "kowtowing" to anyone when a nine year old girl is learning an international language along with her classmates?

[lisaman]

09:06 AM on 01/24/2011

Geez, I took French in High School, should I be worried about France?

[Propaganda Panda]

03:29 AM on 01/24/2011

I wonder if she's learned terms like "mobile execution", "dissent equals death", and "massive human rights violations".

[Nabil Muhammad]

08:30 AM on 01/24/2011

now why should she learn those terms? give it a break, the girl's is like what 8 years old, you really think she should be in any kind of position to deliver any kind of political message to the President of China? you know what could be a potent message, though, if America would refuse all those loans from China ( http://bit.ly/i6lkV9 as the single largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasurys), because otherwise before the US could start delivering out criticism here's a message from China's premier Wen Jiabao "I would like to call on the United States to honor its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets."

[RedDog79]

12:03 PM on 01/24/2011

the hope of this liberal is that by learning languages that we didn't have the option to learn - children of the world will be kinder to each other and not react like Rush when we hear something new we don't understand.

[American in Exile]

02:52 AM on 01/24/2011

One of my greatest wishes for American education is for people to understand that great value of knowing another language. It not only opens doors to knowledge and culture, but it makes a person more marketable when looking for a job. The xenophobia that is fostered in our nation by the hate mongers creates so many handicaps for our country and its citizens. For a land that claims to value freedom, there are far too many people who spit on those who are different, those who step outside the accepted WASP mentality. Pity, because it only continues to the stagnation and demise of what made our nation great.

[fishnetdiver]

02:54 AM on 01/24/2011

well said...
F&F

[Vivvy]

09:05 AM on 01/24/2011

Excellent! F&F.

[fishnetdiver]

02:52 AM on 01/24/2011

lucky kid!
she can watch 'Firefly' and understand the wordy-durds they say in Chinese!

...oh and that whole 'bilingual before she's a teen' thing is really cool too!
good for her...

[Pundit Commentator]

01:55 AM on 01/24/2011

Babel moment.

[Jamie Schler]

01:16 AM on 01/24/2011

Lucky little girl! And to all those naysayers who feel that they once again have to knock Obama for being elitist or the fact that his daughter is learning a foreign language, I say get over it! We live in a global world and the more languages our children speak the better for them, the better their chances not only to get ahead but simply in living and moving around the world today. My sons are fluent in 3 languages yet I know kids who are raised with 4 or 5. Not only are multi-lingual kids able to communicate with more people on the planet but they can move from culture to culture much more easily and comfortably. Learning foreign languages helps them understand that our world is made up of many many different cultures, yet down deep we are all alike. Don't want to be preachy but it makes me mad how many commenters only have something negative to say about this article. Accept the global community we now live in.

[Amalek]

01:43 AM on 01/24/2011

Ok, you won me over. After all, even Rush can speak Chinese.

[Antifascist-08]

05:18 AM on 01/24/2011

I've heardabout that. Apparently he can do it right out his @$$

[JPJABBER]

09:23 AM on 01/24/2011

You have made the point wonderfully: it's a BIG world we live in, and other people as smart or smarter than we are live in it, too. Become part of it and learn something.

[discoecstasy]

01:01 AM on 01/24/2011

If you think speaking phonetically accurate Mandarin is difficult, try writing in Chinese characters. It took me 10 years to speak and write in Mandarin Chinese decently.

The amount of memorizing to do - tremendous. It certainly helps if there's someone to converse with too.