Both Andrew and I toiled for years learning to speak/read/write putonghua. I've gone on to learn Cantonese, Thai, Lao, French, Spanish, Portuguese - and even a little bit of German. I am a language geek.

What have these efforts delivered to me?

Well - when I was younger, these skills enabled scores of liaisons with brilliant and interesting women around the world.

Understanding a foreign language helps enable genuine insight into the functioning of other nations/cultures. What is the real story behind the Chinese merchant class diaspora? What do Parisians really think of Americans? Why do so many Mexicans and Central Americans risk everything to seek their fortunes by illegally migrating into the United States? Is Thaksin Shinawatra *really* the asshole he seems to be? (Answer: Yes - Thaksin Shinawatra really is an asshole).

Familiarity and appreciation of foreign languages has also been invaluable to the many paths and forks my career has directed me onto over the past 20 years. Our American homes wouldn't be filled to the brim with cheap, plastic, injection-molded goods from China without the aid of cross-culturalists.

The rest of the world is filled with folks who embrace foreign language through multi-culturalism. Within our own country, however - not so much.

I am reminded of a friend of mine who performed poorly in his two years of mandatory high school French. "I could never learn a foreign language," sayeth he. After spending just a month in my wife's home country with us, he left speaking the local tongue almost as well as I do!

We're wired to learn foreign languages. Obama is right - it is harder at 46 than it is as a child, but it isn't impossible. Billions of people have done it over the past 5000 years. You could, too. Wouldn't it be great if we were able to institutionally push all American children further in this direction through public education?

I defy the naysayers here to provide an example of ANY children born in this country to non-English-speaking immigrant parents (legal or otherwise), who DON'T learn to speak fluent English. They simply do not exist.

At worst you might find a young person who has been raised in an insular immigrant community - a Chinatown or a heavily Hispanic city in the Southwest - who can absolutely speak English but does so with a very slight accent. That fluency in English - which ALWAYS happens - is assimilation. This is precisely what the xenophobes think DOESN'T happen.

Sr. Rywalt:

You're missing the point.

Nobody here doesn't "get" the fact that as Americans we're in a wonderfully unique geographical situation that has allowed us to function quite well with the bulk of the population only speaking English.

We're complaining about the folks who are so narrow-minded and bigoted that they feel a need to try to legislate and/or enforce "English-only."

Do you remember the angst a year or two ago when the xenophobes found out that a group of Latino-American musicians had recorded a SPANISH VERSION of the STAR SPANGLED BANNER? It is that variety of bigotry that we decry.

xoxo

Truth be told, I'm far happier that my teenager chooses to communicate with her friends primarily by text rather than spending hours on the telephone.

Boomer in hotpants? Ça marche!

This has all the markings of a hoax/joke letter that slipped through Cary/Salon's bullshit detector.

I'm glad it made it through, though! Perhaps I'll switch to pics of dolphins on Flickr now instead of "cock-craving Asian sluts" when I want to whip up a batch.

I'll keep you posted.

I posted my note above before I read Cary's response. Excellent work, Mr. Tennis, Sir!

Canuckistan Bob:

"Put down the duckie" was awesome. Thank you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Nn5JhKQyU

I'm guessing that this is more "talking tough" in the face of McCain camp criticism that Obama knows nothing and has offered no opinions on the war. What Obama has said on this front of late seems to be far more in the posturing category than any sort of coherent set of actionable plans.

I like the fact that Obama is emphasizing the importance of the Greater-Afghanistan situation while de-emphasizing the alleged imminent danger posed by Iran - unlike his opponent Mr. McCain.

We have plenty of time for Obama to bring together the right people to puzzle through intelligent, coherent strategies for the military aspects of our foreign policy. Since neither Obama or McCain are in control of the military at the moment, what matters most is that they indicate that they are aware of the problems at hand and that they are not simply letting them fall by the wayside.

Young Solvit in this article:

"You American people, it's your future," he says. "But it's also our future."

Obama in today's speech in Berlin:

People of Berlin -- people of the world -- this is our moment. This is our time.

I'm recommending "Sweet about Me" by Australian Gabriella Cilmi.

It's a summer hit in the UK, Bulgaria and elsewhere this summer.

The first few times I heard it I was convinced that it was either an early-60s Motown-like tune - or a modern tune using sampled singing from such a song. Not so!

Sweet about Me is by Gabriella Cilmi of Australia who is barely old enough to drive. Everything about the song is great - especially the mischievous lyrics where Cilmi explains that there's "Nothing sweet about me."

Hats off to you!