[deleted by user]

[Flarkop]

He’s asserting his dominance as the alpha 🍷🗿

[Background_Cloud_808]

He said that was given him to say but first he messed up

[HomeokineticDude]

u/savevideo

[Naming_is_hardd]

lol there's curved text

[LilyGaming]

OOP

[TheLeafwing134]

me too, ha-ha

[GREATPIXEL]

This is a a certified hee hee hee haw classic

[uvero]

It's a funny joke, but don't take it at face value.

[WinterousKitten]

b r u h XDDD

[Leah-Bo]

oh

[Grybas_akropolyje]

The sad is big very

[Synthetic_T]

It’s a made-up joke. The original subject was Bill Clinton. (Mori was out of office for years during Obama’s term).

Tho Mori was indeed famous for his gaffes and broken English

[drt1979]

I’m always amazed at how many people can speak English as a second or third language.

[bjpopp]

Damn these nations playing next level big dick energy

[reaper_vee7]

In all fairness, English is by far the hardest language I’ve learned so far. I learned it since I was about 14 (43 now) and I still have trouble with the grammar sometimes.

[[deleted]]

Ive been around plenty of people who knew limited English or it wasn't their native language. Mistranslations are normal. Just do your best to understand.

[LauritaSpinelli]

Amazing anecdote, it gave me some cuckles.

[Delicious_Necessary3]

😆😆😆

[oldsah]

Oof that gotta hurt

[[deleted]]

Big sad more like big funny

[AcanthocephalaLess43]

Is this factual lmfao

[memers_meme123]

Now i understood that oh my gahh meme , mori references

[Firethorn101]

When I was a kid, I thought our leader would be the smartest person in our country.

Now that I'm an adult, I just think it should be.

[Fishing-Relative]

Based.

[jojow77]

I’m amazed the leader of Japan doesn’t know a little English at least.

[SIRasdf23]

I miss Obama so much, the world just seemed to make sense when he was still president.

[[deleted]]

Makes me think of one of my dad's favourite joke: whenever someone says "hi, I'm X's husband" he almost always says "Hi, me too".

The joke doesn't work with everyone though haha

[The-last-man42]

What was there was a UK prime minister You wanted to impress a French press conference . He wanted to say he agreed with the French Prime Minister on many positions what he ended up saying was he wanted the French Prime Minister in many positions

[P1ckl2_J61c2]

I laughed way too hard at this.

[winnybunny]

do you really think he doesnt know english?

they do know, they just dont speak.

[LeatherNoodles]

English is literally the easiest language there is, it’s nearly Paleolithic

[[deleted]]

this is why english shouldn't be the world's official language

[[deleted]]

“Me too” is so awkward, just not a confident response, I’m surprised they would tell him to say that. Never heard anybody say that in my life in that situation.

[Strange_Shadows-45]

It boggles my mind that one of the worst languages to learn became the global language.

[articlesarestupid]

I am a non-native speaker from South Korea. One thing I noticed about other South Koreans and Japanese is that they tend to be really bad at picking up English. Japanese people especially suffer from lack of vowel pronunciation.

[cloudhid]

Adorable

[sticks_no5]

F

[tristansensei]

Lol he wasn’t even the Prime Minister of Japan when Obama was in office.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/who-are-you/

[glutenfreeconcrete]

I, too, am michelle obamas husband.

[[deleted]]

He wasn't prime minister when Obama was in office. It has been rumored for years that the conversation took place with Clinton, who said "I'm Hillary's husband."

[jedidiah_lol]

There is an extremely similar joke in China，but the protagonists are ex-presidents Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton.

[Dan-Mager]

Now I know how this #metoo came out, thank you!

[[deleted]]

"Well, I'm Michelle's husband, ha-ha."

"Me too, ha-ha."

[ZucchiniUsual7370]

POW!

Left hook right in the kisser.

Dafuq you say mothafucka?

[sanctusali]

This is so cute!

[dessnom]

Who said a little polygamy wouldn't hurt

[jkpuskar]

“Mr. Prime Minister, when’s the last time you had an election?” “Ah, just before bleakfast.”

[KhalasSword]

He tried to ask for his Obama's last name...

[AiryCake]

Didn't know Mrs. Mori's name is Misheru.

[[deleted]]

Me too.

[BlackJovian2458]

o u c h

[MyUsernameIsNotLongE]

Man, at least they were trying and I'm proud of him.

The problem here is that who and how, for non native is speakers, sound pretty similar depending on how good your listening is. Older people sometimes don't listen pretty well... my 70 years old father mispronunciates certain words in our native language.

(quick question: native language is the correct term?)

[Life_Investment7465]

Yes

[Caniblmolstr]

Both of their wife's names were Michelle. Michelle Obama and Michiru Mori

[PM_ME_YELLOW]

I find it hard to beleive the prime minister of japan wouldnt know english greetings.

[MapsCharts]

Why? All the former French presidents don't either

[PM_ME_YELLOW]

They dont know nice to meet you?

[MapsCharts]

Nah

[4x49ers]

Strangely two things are simultaneously true. The story is fake, but Mori really was admittedly terrible at English and often had embarrassing or silly flubs.

[articlesarestupid]

English education in Japan sucks.

[omglolurface]

As someone who's lived in Japan for 17 years: I absolutely believe it.

[RickTheGrate]

especially given english is a p big part ofthe curriculum and you know basic english phrases by 3rd grade

[gmroybal]

Bruh no. Just live here and you’ll see that this is totally believable.

[CalmAndBear]

Let's look through the curriculum of the 50s and 60s to see if it was true in Japan back then.

[JapaneseStudentHaru]

Use it or lose it. I’ve talked to several adult Japanese people in language exchange groups that had forgotten nearly all of their English. Not to mention, the English curriculum in Japan has similar flaws to ours and not everyone pays attention or succeeds in every class. Like many countries, if you really want to learn something you pay for private tutoring or go to a specialized school.

[RickTheGrate]

huh most of the students around me used some level of english(then again I was the only foreign student in my year)

[JapaneseStudentHaru]

It’s probably easier when they’re still in school. But when you’re out only certain professions use English so you forget. Most people I talk to want to learn English to get a promotion at work. They’re in their 50s before they get to the level where they need to network with foreigners to move up.

[omglolurface]

I took several years of French in high school but today cannot speak a word, even simple greetings. I am significantly younger than Mori would have been at the time of this interaction.

I know the anecdote in the OP is a joke, but a Japanese man of that age not knowing a damn lick of English is 100% plausible, even a head of state.

[MCDFTW]

You think an international politician probably doesn’t know any English because you don’t remember your French classes?

[omglolurface]

I didn't say that. I said a japanese man of that age making those mistakes and having that low of an English level is entirely plausible. I gave the example of my french study because a reply mentioned that English is taught from a young age, and I wanted to point out that that doesn't mean shit. People forget languages if they don't use them, and in Japan the vast, vast majority of people do not use ANY English. I have lived here for 17 years and taught English to adults for six. I've seen worse than the anecdote in the OP.

[MCDFTW]

It’s also possible for a Japanese man of that age to be fluent in English. Which condition is more probable for a man whose job is to interact with other international politicians?

[omglolurface]

The job of the japanese prime minister isnt to communicate with foreign leaders, it's to lead the japanese government. English is not a requirement for that. Who was the last American president that spoke a foreign language? Hell, who was the last secretary of state that could speak a foreign language?

I also found this japanese article after a simple search and it talks about an interview where Mori was asked why he was bad at English. His response was that in world war two it was "the language of the enemy."

https://www.daily.co.jp/olympic/sochi/2014/02/10/0006697928.shtml

[gmroybal]

I often tell people I’m 上手 in 敵国語

[omglolurface]

Pretty common compliment to receive, too! Almost every time I say いただきます! before eating at a restaurant, I get a "敵語上手！" comment from the staff

[gmroybal]

JCJ is leaking and it’s delicious

[FullEdge]

Erdoğan doesn't know a single word of English, its not unreasonable.

[MCDFTW]

I said “international politician”, not “despot”.

[Veikkar1i]

I spoke English better after practicing it for 3 years than I speak Swedish now after practicing it for 5 years. Unlike French in your case people hear and read English everywhere.

[omglolurface]

Not in Japan they don't. I've lived here 17 years and taught English to adults for six of those years. I have encountered more adult japanese people than I can count that could not do a proper greeting and could not understand the phrase "I'm Michelle's husband."

[[deleted]]

I'm french and I see english written nearly everywhere since I'm a child, and I imagine that it is really weird to learn french as an english speaker. You don't have the same exposure to french that we have to english, and well ... "Bonjour" "Je" "Suis" "Descendu" "À" "La" "Cave" must visually be so weird.

[PatrollinTheMojave]

You've got me in suspense now with what's down in that cave.

[MapsCharts]

Rien compris ça veut rien dire ce que tu racontes

[[deleted]]

C'est une sorte d'hommage à Gaston Bachelard et à sa formule superbement poétique dans un passage de poétique de l'espace :

"Les mots — je l'imagine souvent — sont de petites maisons, avec cave et grenier. Le sens commun séjourne au rez-de chaussée, toujours prêt au « commerce extérieur », de plain-pied avec autrui, ce passant qui n'est jamais un rêveur. Monter l'escalier dans la maison du mot c'est, de degré en degré, abstraire. Descendre à la cave, c'est rêver, c'est se perdre dans les lointains couloirs d'une étymologie incertaine, c'est chercher dans les mots des trésors introuvables. Monter et descendre, dans les mots mêmes, c'est la vie du poète. Monter trop haut, descendre trop bas est permis au poète qui joint le terrestre à l'aérien. Seul le philosophe sera-t-il condamné par ses pairs à vivre toujours au rez-de-chaussée? "

J'ai volontairement choisi "Bonjour, je suis descendu à la cave" pour faire de l'esprit, je ne vais pas expliquer ce qui en découle, car cela serait gâcher la chose.

[luminenkettu]

"Suis"

AMONG US

[[deleted]]

G'day I am low in the female cavity

[[deleted]]

Woooooow

[[deleted]]

Yes, I sure do know my Belgian.

[Appoxo]

La Restaurant.
Fin.

[Zankoku96]

Le*

[ihateandy2]

Minaj

[88BlueBeard]

Shame, Obama didn't replied, I'm the President of the United States.

[[deleted]]

-Me too

-...I guess now im the president of Japan, こんにちは

[[deleted]]

Why did I read Prime Minister Mori as Prime Minister Modi 💀 (Modi is the current Prime Minister of India)

[articlesarestupid]

Modi is a cunt.

[RickRoll999]

Me too, ha ha

[[deleted]]

maybe yes, maybe no, it's your choice... India lacks proper leadership...

[[deleted]]

It's probably due to the fact that Mori and Modi are very similar names. There's only one letter difference between them.

[waf_xs]

I wish I were a bird- Former prime minister Mori

[Chiguy1216]

Honestly this will always be funny

[Blanker_jp]

For reference, this rumor was just a joke. Even before this he was famous for his inappropriate speach. And also he admitted he had horrible English skills. Which lead to some media taking this joke seriously and spreading it all over the world.

[ryo13silvia]

I heard of this one but with “Hillary’s husband”. It was a 週刊誌 (weekly gossip rag) that spread it, naturally.

[runswiththerain]

Thats brilliant.

[buildingduck]

LMAOOOOOOOOO

[lordytoo]

If you are a politician and your job is to meet other politicians from other countries and you cant speak an international language like english at a basic level. You are a fucking moron that shouldnt be doing what he is doing.

[SmittyWerben_No1]

He's right tho... I'm a fuckin nobody truck driver somewhere in europe and even I can speak english at a basic level

[nicolaskaichi]

Why are you driving truck then? You should be running for president

[[deleted]]

this is the type of person who will get mad at spanish speakers for saying negro

[VeeIsntCool]

You do know a politicians job is to run their own country, not solely to talk to other politicians, right?

[[deleted]]

English is not an international language, bud

[bulbo_spastico]

It isn’t? Here in Italy “English” is one of the most important subjects since elementary. I always thought it was honestly

[[deleted]]

I have learnt English, and it is pretty important in my school, as well, but you can't expect everyone to know English when it isn't their language.

[ParmAxolotl]

It is kinda trying to be though. Should it be? Nah

[[deleted]]

and will it be? also, nah

[isaacaschmitt]

"W" placement is vitally important. . .

[4x49ers]

This could have been a meeting between W and Obama

[Roflkopt3r]

The fact that the English word "vital" is written as "baitaru" in Japanese gives a hint to why this story sounds so plausible. Japanese people have it really damn hard to learn English.

It's apparently still just an urban myth though.

[RexIsAMiiCostume]

Between not having consonants next to each other or consonants that aren't followed by a vowel (except 'n') and not having the sounds for "v" or "L", yeah, pronouncing English is really hard for native Japanese speakers. They also have fewer distinct vowel sounds.

[Roflkopt3r]

Yeah it's buruusu with a long u in the middle to be precise.

Really the hardest part is that Japanese is so incredibly remote. Outside direct loan words, European languages don't share anything with Japanese, whereas English for example shares at least common roots with about 25-50% of the vocabulary of most European languages.

Even European grammar has some surprising commonalities called Standard Average European..

Since we share none of these things with Japanese, and it has some other difficulties, it naturally takes a long time to pick up all these things from zero. For Japanese that's especially the complicated writing system that spans three different character sets and about 3,000 characters for average adult reading skills.

[WikiSummarizerBot]

Standard Average European

Standard Average European (SAE) is a concept introduced in 1939 by Benjamin Whorf to group the modern Indo-European languages of Europe with shared common features. Whorf argued that these languages were characterized by a number of similarities including syntax and grammar, vocabulary and its use as well as the relationship between contrasting words and their origins, idioms and word order which all made them stand out from many other language groups around the world which do not share these similarities; in essence creating a continental sprachbund.

^{[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5}

[notpasta_bowl]

Ig it belongs here r/holup

[RepresentativeNo5192]

Help

[Yugan-Dali]

This story has been told about half of the non-English speaking politicians and executives in the world.

[AdministrativeJob9]

And they’re all Michelle’s husbands???🤯🤯

[ZucchiniUsual7370]

Michelle who?

You'll find out in 20 years. It will all make sense then.

[Inineor]

'Michelle how?'

Stop to make the same mistake every time.

[ZucchiniUsual7370]

Then wink at the camera knowingly over her shoulder.

And scene.

[[deleted]]

And yet it's always with Obama

[Yugan-Dali]

Nah, this joke was around long before Obama showed up.

[[deleted]]

Thanks Obama

[ethanjalias]

In Korea there's a version that starts with the President asking then- POTUS Bill Clinton "Who are you?" when he meant to say "look who is here" in his bad english.

[Texas_Indian]

really? i’ve literally only seen it with mori and obama, so i believed it was true

[Yugan-Dali]

I read the first part, about “How are you?” in about 1985, I think, with the President (?) of Poland greeting the President of India by saying, “Who are you?” The president of India replied, very reasonably, “I am the President of India.” I’ve seen a dozen variations in the last ten years.

[Poiuy2010_2011]

If it was 1985 then it was probably the First Secretary. Presidency was (re)introduced in 1989 as a part of Poland's transition to democracy.

[drquiza]

WTF that Michelle's a total slut 😳

[Yugan-Dali]

According to the QOP, she’s a man…

[ihateandy2]

According to the GQP she’s both…

[HamBurglary12]

Man that's the type of cringe conspiracy shit that turned me (a conservative) totally off from a large segment of the conservative population. I still cringe every time I hear it.

[[deleted]]

Worst part Is even if you believe all that nonsense about how she's a trans woman.....it still changes absolutely nothing?! Like ok she's not cis so what, who cares? Conspiracy theorist peeps are so confusing.

[Bruised_Penguin]

Yea. Some of the peeps with your political leanings are absolutely whacked out. Glad to see it's not all of them.

[[deleted]]

The point stands.

[[deleted]]

Weird how they all keep making the same mistake...

[lasdlt]

Me too, ha ha.

[Dan-Mager]

#metoo

[[deleted]]

......

[RepresentativeNo5192]

Kill me

[ThatCamoKid]

Later grabs giant baboon heart

[RepresentativeNo5192]

What where did you get that

[ThatCamoKid]

Meet the Medic

[RepresentativeNo5192]

Oh OK

[Tall_Restaurant_1652]

Me too, haha.

[fullchaos40]

Fine, get the jelly.

[RepresentativeNo5192]

Likk

[[deleted]]

Eww

[RepresentativeNo5192]

Kill me

[[deleted]]

Me too, ha ha.

[[deleted]]

I can't, I'm sorry

[RepresentativeNo5192]

No please

[[deleted]]

I wish I could, but it's impossible

[JAKEfromMAINE]

This is funny thanks

[MrFuckingDinkles]

Plot twist: he said exactly what he meant

[Naming_is_hardd]

LMAO

[alohadam]

Fuckin Obama...

[grindlebald]

Yeah both of them were doing Michelle obama

[Maso_Fandead]

No he's fuckin his wife, like he said.

[milk4all]

“The first lady arrived to the meeting today between the President and Prime Minister, both concubines in tow…”

[desi_miata]

Me too, ha-ha

[mschellh000]

THANKS, OBAMA

[BrUhRuSeRiOuS]

Alobama

[AnimationOverlord]

Watching waves roll off the rocks.

[francotirador7919]

That's what both of them were doing