Bilingual~

Here are some notable people who are praised for being Bi-lingual:

1) Kevin Rudd (Able to speak both English and Mandarin)
Mr Rudd recently visited a Chinese University and delivered a speech in Mandarin. Although some of the contents of his speech were controversial, most people applauded his efforts.

2).... ok I can only think of one caucasian famous person who is bi-lingual. However, I'm trying to make a point that these people are overated and get too much credit. Firstly, half of my friends are able to speak two languages fluently. Why don't white folks go nuts when they hear me speak English? Is there a double standard in society?

The typical situation is when there is a notable white man who is delivering a speech to a bunch of Asian people. Often he would try and humour the crowd by saying a simple mandrain phrase such as "ni hao ma (how are you)". Usually a roar of applause soon follows and everyone is impressed that he is able to mutter out three simple syllables.

Reversing the situation...


If a Chinese man hesitantly mutters out an english phrase like " How are you?", the man is generally ridiculed and told to go back to his own country. It is also always portrayed in comedy skits where people make fun of Chinese accents etc. In the end we minorities aren't getting the respect we deserve. Although I do respect Rudd for being able to speak Chinese, I still think it's overated. There are millions of Asians out there who are able to speak maybe 2-3 even 4 languages fluently. Here are a few multi-lingual people who I do respect:

1) Takeshi Kaneshiro:

-languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Taiwanese, , English, Japanese

2) Wang Lee Hom:

-Languages: Mandarin, English, Cantonese ( amateur)
- Picked up mandarin at a very late age (21) now fluent.

3) Yao Ming:

-Languages: Mandarin, Shanghainese, English

4) Dikimbe Mutumbo A POLYGLOT

- Languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and five African languages, He also now knows how to speak Ebonics