LISTEN: Melania Says ‘Give Me A F***king Break’ When Asked About Child Separation At Border

I’ve said before there’s a reason she doesn’t do press gaggles the way other first ladies have done. What little events she has are tightly controlled. The reason is that the WH is scared to death that a reporter actually fluent in one of the languages “Melanie” claims to be fluent in will strike up a line of questioning in that language with the cameras rolling. And give lie to the whole “fluent in seven languages” b.s.

I do speak several languages at varying proficiencies. I always resent it when someone seeks to test me rather than simply communicate with me. I shut it down by not playing.

I speak 7 languages to varying degrees of proficiency, Dana. And you are absolutely right. It’s ALL about communication (I travel a lot, in non COVID times) and I always laugh when people test me. Mostly Americans do that, though. Elsewhere, especially in Europe, they only want to get a point across and don’t care how the communication is accomplished as long as it IS accomplished.

Makes perfect sense to me, Trump’s got enough trouble struggling to hold her hand while the Biden’s embraced in a passionate, REAL LOVE hug in front of thousands of viewers, a beautiful sight indeed …

As cruel and sadistic as Trump is, a screwed up fiasco of her interview would be the frosting on his chocolate cake, making her a target for abuse … Trump is falling hard now and anyone in arms length might get a swat …

Ne t’inquietes pas, ma belle Ursula. Ton francais est bien acceptable. Je te comprends tres bien quand tu parles.
Aucunes soucis. 🙂

Merci bien. Jai oublier beaucoup and my connaissance est plein des trous. (And man, I can speak it better than I can write it. Whew!)

It shouldn’t surprise people that she’s proficient in English. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say she’s fluent, but I guess that depends on how one defines fluent. From a dictionary definition standpoint I happen to believe it’s a bit of a stretch to say she’s fluent in English. I don’t doubt she reads and understands our language quite well, even easily. However, when speaking (not reading prepared text but simply speaking) her grammar reflects the influence of where she grew up. Color me a jerk, but I think I’m like the bulk of people (regardless of what country we are from) who consider someone fluent in the language when they speak it like someone who was raised there. I’ve heard lots of people who grew up speaking languages other than English who speak it with, albeit sometimes with an accent (even a heavy one) with the same grammar we use and without “halting” phrasing. That doesn’t apply to Melania. Again, I think she understands English quite well and am not surprised by that. Unlike the U.S., most developed countries require students to learn a second language, sometimes starting as early as grade school. English is a fairly common choice and was so where Melania grew up. So she’s studied English for most of her life. She’s also lived here almost twenty five years and had a sugar daddy for a couple of decades now. Frankly, given his hurt feelings over not having ever been accepted in the elite NYC social scene the same way I was never accepted by the local country club outside my hometown in southern Illinois I’m surprised Trump didn’t hire her a coach to improve her ability to speak English like an American.

Btw, I also gave some thought to your first comment. Your irritation is understandable but it’s not limited to people and their ability to speak different languages. In the age of the internet medical professionals constantly have their knowledge tested by amateurs. So do shade tree mechanics to use a more down to earth and practical example. I was once considered a leading expert on hunter education and wildlife law enforcement in north America and was continually challenged when speaking around the country on the subject. I also developed expertise on military history, and at one time had considerable expertise on weapons and tactics well outside my own M.O.S., as well as strategic stuff. I’m not nearly so up on all that as I once was but routinely was challenged and had many a person who did so display embarrassment when they looked up what I’d told them and realized I was the one who knew WTF he was talking about and they were ill-informed.

When it comes to languages other than English I don’t know jack. Most of what little I know comes from once having been trained to sign opera, and I’ve forgotten most of the Italian and German (love my Mozart because he wrote such great stuff for Baritone and Bass singers!) I picked up way back when. I have enough trouble with my own language!

It’s fair to say I’m harsh on Melania Trump on this point. However I’M not the one who touts her as having an advanced, if not practically genius level intellect with impressive educational credentials (which haven’t born scrutiny btw) and fluency in seven languages. The Trump campaign did and she went along with what I believe is a ruse. MAGA land eats it up, and when I still regularly looked at my FB feed I’d see all these people back where I grew up touting how awesome she was intellectually and citing all those languages – while mocking Michelle Obama’s educational credentials (Princeton undergrad & Harvard Law!), career accomplishments and so on. And Michelle was a fellow Illinoisan! That attitude of these people I’ve known all my life is found all over this country among conservatives, including those “real” Americans in those small towns and rural areas.

So I’m harsh on Melania Trump. I can live with that. And that is an attitude on my part that dates to long before the first of what will likely be many audio recordings came out.

Regardless of your interpretation of a dictionary definition, “fluent” does not “equal like a native.” Many Americans have this false idea because we are so monolingual compared to the rest of the world where just about everybody speaks at least two languages. The rest of the world understands degrees of proficiency. Mistakes are often due to the influence of the native language on the second language. Furthermore, an accent is nearly unavoidable if you learn an additional language as an adult due to documented changes in brain associated with puberty. The challenge is not to pronounce like a native, but to develop a crystal clear accent instead of a muddy one.

Thanks for the info…..I’ll try to do better.

*scratches head*

Maybe you could provide a list of trigger words (if you have one) that sits as a post on the bottom of the home page. People could try to their comments around that list. Is that feasible? So far, as I understand it, some of the words are work, money, die, death, as well as links to other web pages. Others?

Home and computer are two more.

Now that you are moved into your new neighborhood, the spammers think you should make thousands, right there in your new home base, just think of all the money you will rake in, just link to their web site and you will see the light reflected off your gold bars … tut-tut …

I love their scam, but the scam I really enjoy is from the Barefoot Writer. Have you ever read their ads? They’re going to teach you how to do copy writing and you’ll make six figures and live in a mansion and work from home — and only a couple of hours a day, too. The rest of the time you just hang out and count your money.

I was thinking of my own school, “the Bearfoot Writer.” There, we’ll teach you how to do a political blog on the internet. The irony of this business is that some pieces you spend lots of time on do not catch on and they make squat. And some other pieces that you just cut and paste will get republished by some news aggregator and they’ll bring in a few hundred bucks. You never know. But I’ll say this: don’t get into this endeavor for wealth. There are other riches to be made that are beyond money, the friends you make, the communication you have with people. But this is not about getting rich.