Some Americans are averse to learning other languages, so I was wondering what traditional Americans learned, or if they knew more than English. You say only the upper class? https://twitter.com/SelimSeesYou/status/1014021405518675973 …
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Replying to @AR_Maximum
Basically yea. I’m not familiar w/ lower class foreign language study throughout US history. I know the rich did French & German (typically) to signal their pedigree. I believe the founders frequently knew one or both. FDR had a separate governess to teach him each.
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Replying to @SelimSeesYou @AR_Maximum
The greater Roosevelt (Teddy) likewise: read books in both French & German tho apparently his German pronunciation when speaking was comically poor.
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Replying to @AR_Maximum @SelimSeesYou
Selim is right. French was the go-to second language for Americans for as long as the nation's existed, for several reasons: 1. Canada being our neighbor, obviously they have a lot of french influence 2. Louisiana and "cajun" culture 3. France being our first and principal ally
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Replying to @nrxrubicon @AR_Maximum
It’s actually surprising how little people know about US history: Spanish is a recent arrival & still isn’t really penetrating among the founding stock of ppl that have been here pre-1965. Only US prez fluent in Spanish in our history was Jefferson cause he was a polymath genius.
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Because they’re everywhere now, everyone just assumes “Spanish is & always has been the obvious second language after English”. Utter nonsense. As you said: to extent there was one pre-invasion of 65, it was French. Even now white ppl don’t really learn Spanish extensively.
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