Martin van Buren's first language was Dutch.
He learned English as a schoolboy.
(Andrew Johnson was functionally illiterate until his wife, Eliza McCardle, taught him to read and write. http://millercenter.org/president/johnson)
***
List of multilingual Presidents of the United States
Of the 44 Presidents of the United States, at least half have displayed proficiency in speaking or writing a language other than English. Of these, only one, Martin Van Buren, learned English as his second language; his first language was Dutch. Four of the earliest Presidents were multi-lingual, with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson demonstrating proficiency in a number of foreign languages.
James A. Garfield not only knew Greek and Latin, but used his ambidexterity to write both at the same time. Both Roosevelts spoke French, and Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke German. Few modern Presidents have spoken a foreign language. Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush displayed a limited ability in Spanish. Two presidents have shown some ability to speak an Asian language: Herbert Hoover spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese. Barack Obama has famously admitted to being embarrassed that he does not speak a second language.
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[edit]18th and 19th centuries
[edit]John Adams
John Adams, the second President of the United States, learned to read Latin at a young age.[1] In preparation for attending Harvard University, Adams attended a school for improving his Latin skills.[2] While posted in France, Adams became fluent in French.[3]
[edit]Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson read a number of different languages. In a letter to Philadelphia publisher Joseph Delaplaine on April 12, 1817, Jefferson claimed to read and write six languages: Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and English.[4] After his death, a number of other books, dictionaries, and grammar manuals in various languages were found in Jefferson's library, suggesting that he studied additional languages beyond those he spoke and wrote well. Among these were books in Arabic, Gaelic, and Welsh.[4]
In regard to learning Spanish, Jefferson told John Quincy Adams that he had learned the language over the course of nineteen days while sailing from the United States to France. He had borrowed a Spanish grammar and a copy of Don Quixote from a friend, and read them on the voyage. Adams expressed skepticism, noting Jefferson's tendency to tell "large stories."[5]
[edit]James Madison
James Madison began his studies of Latin at the age of twelve[6] and had already mastered both Greek and Latin by the time he entered the College of New Jersey, later Princeton University. He produced many translations of Latin works, including translations of Grotius,Pufendorf, and Vattel.[6] He also studied Horace and Ovid.[6] He learned Greek as an admissions requirement for higher college learning.[6]
While in college, Madison learned to speak and read Hebrew.[1] When he could have graduated, Madison remained at college for an additional year to study ethics and Hebrew in greater depth.[7]
[edit]James Monroe
James Monroe adopted many French customs while a diplomat in Paris, including learning fluent French. The entire Monroe family knew the language, and would often speak it among themselves when at home.[8]
[edit]John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams went to school in both France and the Netherlands, and spoke fluent French and conversational Dutch.[9] Adams strove to improve his abilities in Dutch throughout his life, and at times translated a page of Dutch a day to help improve his mastery of the language.[10] Official documents that he translated were sent to the Secretary of State of the United States, so that Adams' studies would serve a useful purpose as well.[10] When his father appointed him United States Ambassador to Prussia, Adams dedicated himself to becoming proficient in German in order to give him the tools to strengthen relations between the two countries.[11] He improved his skills by translating articles from German to English, and his studies made his diplomatic efforts more successful.[11]
In addition to the two languages he spoke fluently, he also studied Italian, though he admitted to making little progress in it since he had no one with whom to practice speaking and hearing the language.[10] Adams also read Latin very well, translated a page a day of Latin text,[12] and studied classical Greek in his spare time.[13]
[edit]Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the only American President who did not speak English as his first language. He was born in Kinderhook, New York, a primarily Dutch community, spoke Dutch as his first language, and continued to speak it at home.[14] He learned English as asecond language while attending Kinderhook's local school house. He obtained a small understanding of Latin while studying at Kinderhook Academy and solidified his understanding of English there.[15]
[edit]William Henry Harrison
At Hampden–Sydney College, William Henry Harrison spent a considerable time learning Latin, and favored reading about the Military history of ancient Rome and Julius Caesar from native language histories. At the college, he also learned a small amount of French.[16]
[edit]John Tyler
John Tyler excelled at school, where he learned both Latin and Greek.[17]
[edit]James K. Polk
Although James K. Polk had no background in foreign languages upon entering college, he proved a quick learner.[18] Upon graduating from the University of North Carolina, he was asked to give the welcoming address at graduation; he chose to do so in Latin. He proved very proficient in classical languages, and received honors in both Greek and Latin on his degree.[19]
[edit]James Buchanan
James Buchanan studied a traditional classical curriculum, which included Latin and Greek, at the private Old Stone Academy before transferring to Dickinson College. He excelled in both subjects.[20]
[edit]Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes studied Latin and Greek at the Isaac Webb school in Middletown, Connecticut. He initially struggled with the languages, but soon became proficient in them. He also briefly studied French there.[21]
[edit]James A. Garfield
James A. Garfield knew both Latin and Ancient Greek. As the first ambidextrous president, Garfield entertained his friends by having them ask him questions, and then writing the answer in Latin with one hand while simultaneously answering in Greek with the other.[22]
[edit]Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur was known to be comfortable enough in Latin and Greek to converse with other gentlemen who knew the languages.[23]
[edit]20th century
[edit]Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt spoke French. A foreign correspondent noted that, although he spoke clearly and quickly, he had a German accent while speaking in French.[24] He read both German and French very well, and kept a good number of books written in these languages in his personal library.[25] He quite often read fiction, philosophy, religion, and history books in both French and German.[26] He was most comfortable with informal discussions in French, though he made two public addresses in the West Indies in French in 1916.[26]He recognized that, while he spoke French rapidly and was able to understand others, he used unusual grammar "without tense or gender." John Hay, Secretary of State under Roosevelt, commented that Roosevelt spoke odd, grammatically incorrect French, but was never difficult to understand.[26]
Though he could read and understand the language thoroughly, Roosevelt struggled to speak German. When Roosevelt attempted to speak with a native German, he had to apologize after botching the attempt.[26] While not fluent in the language, Roosevelt was also able to read Italian.[27] Though he at one point studied Greek and Latin, Roosevelt found both languages a "dreary labour" to translate.[28]
[edit]Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson learned German as part of earning his Ph.D. in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University. However, he never claimed proficiency in the language. While he did read German sources when they were available, he often complained about the amount of time and effort it took him.[29]
[edit]Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover spoke Mandarin Chinese fluently; he lived in China as a young mining engineer.[30] He and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, also fluent in Mandarin, often had public conversations in the language so that aides and others nearby could not eavesdrop on them.[31]
The Hoovers once translated a book from Latin to English.[30] The pair took five years, and sacrificed much of their spare time, to translating the Latin mining tract De re metallica.[32] While at Stanford University, Hoover had access to the extensive library of John Casper Branner, where he found the important mining book which had never been fully translated into English.[32] For years, five nights of the week were spent translating the book, including naming objects that the author had merely described.[32]
[edit]Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke both German and French. He was raised speaking both, as his early education consisted of governesses from Europe preparing him for boarding school in his teens. In particular, he had a German governess and a French governess who taught him their respective languages. A Swiss governess, Jeanne Sandoz, furthered his studies in both languages.[33] She particularly stressed French.[34] Roosevelt spent one summer of his schooling in Germany;[35] both his time with his instructors and his frequent trips abroad allowed him to master both German and French, though he always spoke them with a distinct New England accent.[36] Though he never had a mastery of the language, his governesses also taught him a limited amount of Latin.[37]
[edit]Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter has a functional command of Spanish, but has never been grammatically perfect.[38] Carter studied the language at theUnited States Naval Academy[39] and continued his studies while an officer of the United States Navy.[40]
He could speak fairly fluently, but joked about his sometimes flawed understanding of the language while discoursing with native speakers.[41] Carter has given a number of addresses in the Spanish language, which he wrote himself,[42] and sometimes spoke toconstituents in Spanish.[40] To practice his Spanish, he and his wife Rosalynn read the Bible in Spanish to each other every night.[43]
[edit]Bill Clinton
While a freshman at Georgetown University, Bill Clinton was required to choose a foreign language to study, and chose German because he was "impressed by the clarity and precision of the language."[44] He is able to hold casual conversation in the language.[45]Later, while giving a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, he gave part of a speech in German, pledging to the 50,000 Germans gathered there that "Amerika steht an Ihrer Seite jetzt und für immer" (America is on your side, now and forever).[46]
[edit]21st century
[edit]George W. Bush
George W. Bush speaks some amount of Spanish, and has delivered speeches in the language.[48]His speeches in Spanish are imperfect, with English dispersed throughout.[49] Some opponents, likeMolly Ivins, have pointedly questioned the extent to which Bush could speak the language, noting that he kept to similar phrasing in numerous appearances and displayed a "Spanish II" level of mastery in a Spanish-language press conference.[50]
[edit]Barack Obama
Barack Obama himself claims to speak no foreign languages.[51] However, according to thePresident of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, during a telephone conversation Obama was able to flawlessly deliver a basic four-word question in Indonesian, as well as mention the names for a few Indonesian food items, a feat which some claim puts Obama at a conversational level.[52] He picked up the language while he lived in Jakarta from age six to ten with his mother and stepfather, an Indonesian native. There is doubt, however, that his level of expertise in the language would be adequate to conduct foreign relations entirely in Indonesian.[52] He can deliver with a decent accent what limited Spanish he knows, but admits to only knowing "15 words" and having a poor knowledge of the language.[53]
[edit]Table
| Spoken natively | Fluency in writing or speaking | Conversational or partial mastery |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
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