"Yes, We Can" Learn English from President Obama!

While a recent article depicted President Obama’s public approval rating as “positive, but just barely” as it dipped below 50%, supporters overseas are still fervent that the “Yes, We Can!” president can still inspire markets the way he had once inspired Americans. In fact, in Japan, English language book publishers are quickly printing Obama speeches and selling recordings of his speeches to tap into the $8.7 billion foreign-language teaching industry (see this article to learn more). While you’re more likely to hear candy J-, K-, or Mando-pop blaring at the local salon rather than the Obama Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Taiwanese English-language publications still fill many pages with Obama speeches and related material.

President Obama’s positive messages certainly resonate in this day and age of economic uncertainty, and his speeches are easy for most people to understand. The president also speaks in a clear, slow manner that many people, non-native English speakers, in particular, could understand. The simple, positive catch-phrase “Yes, We Can!” also translates well into many languages, such as Japanese (“Hai, dekimasu!”), Spanish (“¡podemos!” or “¡Sí, Podemos!”), and Chinese (“是的，我們可以!” or “是的，我們能做到!”). To be fair, President Obama took office with a faltering economy and record unemployment, but let’s hope the can-do president can turn the economy around and produce more than outstanding sound bites.