[General] How many Presidents speak English?

[bhaisahab]

As English is the international language, it occurs to me to ask how many of the Presidents/heads of Government in the world speak English and also what is the attitude of their countries towards learning English.

[ladybird987]

Well, probably all of them - more or less. But to my mind it's better when during some official meetings they use their mother languages. Translators would be jobless.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by ladybird987

Well, probably all of them - more or less. But to my mind it's better when during some official meetings they use their mother languages. Translators would be jobless.

The French president doesn't speak English and he is in the process of cutting teaching jobs in France and reducing the number of hours of English in schools. I agree for the international meetings though, also I am obviously not suggesting that English should be the only language.

[Anglika]

Maybe the answer lies in which countries have historical commercial or political links to Britain. And also the personal background of the person concerned.

[SUDHKAMP]

Originally Posted by Anglika

Maybe the answer lies in which countries have historical commercial or political links to Britain. And also the personal background of the person concerned.

All the Commonwealth countries speak English or there is official recognition to English language. All other countries which had or still have cultural,social or commercial relations with USA, have also picked up English. With the advent of computers and their softwares being originally developed in English syntax, almost all IT people try to learn English. Earlier it was Shakespear and now it is IT which is spreading English worldwide.
English is lingua franca now.