Dion can't speak English

[Walter]

Yesterday in parliament, Dion stood up to read a statement in English and he was very difficult to understand. It was so bad that Mike Duffy played the clip on his show yesterday. This man wants to be prime minister yet can't communicate to 80% of the population.

 

[westmanguy]

Right on brother, RIGHT ON!

He is a citizen of France, and he revolked that.

Now he is alienating 80% of the nation with his speach!

And he want to represent Canada on the world stage!

 

[Tonington]

I can understand what hes saying, though sometimes he mixes up words and has trouble pronouncing some of them. Still he can communicate with more Canadians than I. Je n'est parle pas francais, anglais seulment. Hell, that's probably not the correct way to say it, but that's really all I remember from french class...

I don't find that his bungles make his meaning unknowable, though I believe it will cost him politically. I have a feeling he will lose the election, the Liberals will get a new leader. Dion would make a better Environment minister than a PM, I think anyways.

 

[tamarin]

Hmmmmmmmmmm... English is a written language too.

 

[mabudon]

George Bush can't speak very good english, and HE got to be president of the US, I don't see much of a problem...

Seriously tho, Dion's english is FAR from perfect, but as tonnington points out, it's better than my French. Stephen Harpers french doesn't exactly sound all that natural either in my opinion, so it's pretty much even- I do believe that Dion is probably taking steps to address this, tho, as I am sure he's under no illusions as to his shortcomings in this area

Also, if the packaging is not too good but the product is excellent, smart people will still buy it

 

[tamarin]

Dion lacks fluency and he lacks presentation. Really a poor choice for a frontman. That he was able to win the leadership is quite an accomplishment for him but even he knows. He knows.

 

[#juan]

Without wanting to insult anyone, Dion probably speaks better English than 90 percent of the people on this forum. While his English may be accented, it is usually gramatically correct, unlike my English.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

Without wanting to insult anyone, Dion probably speaks better English than 90 percent of the people on this forum. While his English may be accented, it is usually gramatically correct, unlike my English.

Good point, everyone knows that if you really wish to speak to someone with a good grip of the English language, your best bet is to speak to a non-native English speaker, because, frankly, English speakers by birth are generally very sloppy with their language.

 

[westmanguy]

Difference is. 80% of this nation is Anglaphone, and Anglaphone only. Its different than struggling with French b/c that only effect 20% of the nation.

Not being able to speak English well, in a 80% English only nation is a big con.

And George W. Bush can speak English, you can disagree with him all you want, but don't take cheap shots about his intelligence... for crying out loud he attended Harvard.

And #juan, how can people whos one and only language not be good?

We all understand each other. I understand you, you understand me.

I don't understand Dion.

Honestly, he is meant to be out of the lime-light, and be a minister not a leader.

Dion will lose it for the Liberals, and he'll resign or be forced out, and another leader will be put back in for a 3rd try.

 

[L Gilbert]

Juan's right. I would suggest that the only problem with Dion's English is the accent. Whereas the problem with most English speaking people isn't something trivial like accent, it is structural.
Anyone remember Jack Webster? A curmudgeonly Scot who used to have talk shows and he used to write stuff. Probably the best political interviewer in my lifetime (Rafe Mair used to be pretty good, but he's getting old and soft). He was one of those kinds of people others either hated or loved. Anyway, there was an ad on tv for his show where people were asked to say what they thought of him. There was one guy in a business type suit who said something like, "I can't stand him. He's been around in Canada long enough to know how to talk English good". Webster may have had a Scot's accent but his English was impeccable.
Um, Bush may have attended Harvard, but he wasn't all that good there. Besides that, Harvard is one of those places you can get into easier if "you know someone who knows someone".

 

[mabudon]

And #juan, how can people whos one and only language not be good?

just like THAT (not trying to be mean, but you sure picked a funny sopt to make that goof-up)

And there's no such thing as takin a "cheap shot" at Bush's intelligence, I'm sure he comes off exactly as stupid as he's supposed to appear

 

[#juan]

Difference is. 80% of this nation is Anglaphone, and Anglaphone only. Its different than struggling with French b/c that only effect 20% of the nation.
Closer to 25 percent.

Not being able to speak English well, in a 80% English only nation is a big con.
???

And George W. Bush can speak English, you can disagree with him all you want, but don't take cheap shots about his intelligence... for crying out loud he attended Harvard.
How sad for Harvard.

And #juan, how can people whos one and only language not be good?
Is that a sentence?

We all understand each other. I understand you, you understand me.

I don't understand Dion.
I'm not surprised. He speaks English.

Honestly, he is meant to be out of the lime-light, and be a minister not a leader.
???

Dion will lose it for the Liberals, and he'll resign or be forced out, and another leader will be put back in for a 3rd try.

I guess we'll see won't we.

 

[TenPenny]

I'm always interested in people who have trouble understand Dion.

I don't care for him, I don't think he's a good choice for the Liberals, but whatever floats your boat, as they say.

As far as understanding him, all it takes is listening to him. I wonder, if people have trouble understanding him,
how
did
your
mother
talk
to
you
growing
up
?

Must
have
been
very
slowly
in
words
of
only
one
or
two
syll
a
buls
.

 

[westmanguy]

Difference is, I may screw up my writing, but you understand what I mean.

Dion has a thick accent that wrecks, bliddy wrecks ANY progress he gets in the English language.

People don't vote for peoples who have bad accents and dont speak English good.

 

[#juan]

Difference is, I may screw up my writing, but you understand what I mean.

Dion has a thick accent that wrecks, bliddy wrecks ANY progress he gets in the English language.

People don't vote for peoples who have bad accents and dont speak English good.

In that case, you shouldn't run for office either.

 

[westmanguy]

Hey, I am a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, got no interest running for everything, but I volunteer and donate my time and money to the Conservative Party, to disabandon the Liberals from the clutched from this nation.

For a Conservative, Liberals are the ultimate scum of the earth.

 

[L Gilbert]

Difference is, I may screw up my writing, but you understand what I mean.

Dion has a thick accent that wrecks, bliddy wrecks ANY progress he gets in the English language.

People don't vote for peoples who have bad accents and dont speak English good.

Oh? You mean ChRETIeN wasn't really the PM of Canada for a while? Laurier, among others,wasn't either? MacDonald was a Scot who had a heavy accent. I guess he wasn't a PM either.
roflmao

 

[L Gilbert]

Hey, I am a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, got no interest running for everything, but I volunteer and donate my time and money to the Conservative Party, to disabandon the Liberals from the clutched from this nation.

For a Conservative, Liberals are the ultimate scum of the earth.

".... to disabandon the Liberals from the clutched from this nation. " ??????? Just what the hell duzzat mean?

 

[#juan]

".... to disabandon the Liberals from the clutched from this nation. " ????????

Now that was creative sentence construction...........and spelling.......but who's counting....

 

[Tonington]

First of West, where did you find stats that shows Canada's demography in linguistics as 80 % english, and not bilingual english? I think the real figure of english speakers is closer to 60%, and that includes bilinguals. Almost one quarter of Canadians are Francophones (~23%). That really doesn't matter in this case anyways. Dion speaks both official languages and it appears most of us here that have participated in this thread have no problems understanding him.

Second, it's ridiculous to fight against Liberals for the simple fact that they're Liberals. I don't like Harper that much but even I can admit when he does something smart, call it what it is based not on what political stripe it's coloured with, but for the merit of the idea. But hey, that's your prerogative.