Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
And that would be his sense of humor.
Just kidding.
In a recent Slate piece, author Geoffrey Sant calls Huntsman's Chinese language skills into question.
Media reports on the Republican candidates simply assert as a fact that Huntsman is “fluent in Mandarin”...Huntsman’s ads emphasize that he is “Fluent in Mandarin Chinese,” and his website declares (in its Interactive Timeline) that he became “fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien” in 1980.
But is Jon Huntsman really fluent in Chinese?
The answer seems to be no.
As far as I'm concerned, fluency in Chinese is not one of the essential qualities I look for in a prospective presidential candidate. Let's just say knowing a foreign language doesn't harm a candidate, but it doesn't really help either. One thing that certainly does harm a candidate's credibility, however, is claiming fluency and then proving to be more-or-less inarticulate right on national television.
When asked on the Colbert Report to speak Chinese, Huntsman spoke one sentence and then “translated” his words as “I just said you ought to consider being my running mate for vice president.” The studio audience roared in approval. Yet in reality, Huntsman’s mangled Chinese would translate as: “I really want you to do my vice-America president.”
On Piers Morgan Tonight, Piers Morgan asked Huntsman to speak in Mandarin, and then immediately proclaimed what he heard as “spectacularly good” despite not understanding any of it. (As Huntsman himself responded, “How do you know?”)
A fair translation of Huntsman’s Chinese response to Piers Morgan would be: “Whatever I say, you don’t, you won’t know that much, you will not be so able to understand. I am Mr. Jon Huntsman. I want to be the up-to-next American president.”
Huntsman himself “translated” the first sentence of this as “Whatever I say, you’ll have no idea what it is.” This isn’t a particularly complicated sentence, yet Huntsman struggled to express it, making three halting attempts and never quite getting it right. His attempt to say “next” president (in Chinese, xia-yi-jie) became the strange xia-lai-de. (I could understand Huntsman only because I knew what he was going to say, but none of the Beijing individuals I checked with could understand this sentence even on repeated listens.)
Three possibilities here that I can see: 1) Jon Huntsman doesn't know Chinese well enough to know that he's botching it up (i.e. Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns"); 2) Huntsman is a liar and figures he can get away with it because no one pays attention to him; 3) the author of the Slate hit-piece knows even less about Mandarin than does Huntsman.
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Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Petty story, I know. But not as dreadful as digging into the Cain alleged sexual harassment weirdness going on everywhere else today.
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
I'll settle for conservative fluency in English this time around.
Jul '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Yeah well, you ever see Herman Cain use chopsticks? Not a pretty sight. Romney can't get the whole last name first deal straight, and Perry claims he's fluent in English.
(I'm going for a temp gig as Huntsman's pr guy. Think I have a shot?)
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Slate published Weisburg's Bushisms, which remains the least honest column I'm familiar with in modern journalism (Prof. Eugene Volokh used to do a wonderful regular feature on it). As such, I'm not inclined to give them a lot of credibility on the subject of allegedly dumb quotes.
It seems worth noting, though, that speaking Mandarin and having been the de facto ambassador to China doesn't guarantee that the PRC will treat you any better as POTUS, as Bush 41 showed. Is there some other benefit?
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Palaeologus: Yeah well, you ever see Herman Cain use chopsticks? Not a pretty sight. Romney can't get the whole last name first deal straight, and Perry claims he's fluent in English.
(I'm going for a temp gig as Huntsman's pr guy. Think I have a shot?) · Oct 31 at 6:16pm
The latter two were pretty good, but Cain was National Restaurant Association head for a while. I feel confident that he can command a room while eating a noodle soup in a dignified manner. The broth wouldn't dare splash.
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Erm, there's a pretty simple answer to this folks. Huntsman was a Mormon missionary for 2 years back around 1980, learned Mandarin at that time and became fluent, but hasn't used it on a regular basis since. I'm in the same situation with Portuguese, where I could fluently speak, read and write it in 1989 when I was in Brasil (more recently than Huntsman was in Taiwan). I now find I am very slow at forming sentences and at remembering specific vocabulary, due to over twenty years without having any steady practice or exposure to Portuguese. It just slowly starts to slip away from you. And keep in mind Mandarin is a much harder language to learn than Portuguese! Yet if asked if I am fluent in Portuguese I say yes, because, well, what else should I call my level of expertise?
I'm no Hunstman fan, but this is one of the silliest attempts to malign a person's integrity I've ever personally witnessed.
Mar '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
If he can't speak Austrian, that is a deal-breaker.
Nov '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
How best to put this? ...I need to see a picture of Geoffrey Sant.
Dec '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Manchurian canidate?
Oct '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
In having only partial command of a foreign language, one always found it wise and respectfull to admit same. The object is to give honor and simply state, I do not wish to disrespect you or the the language.. Or make a fool of myself in the process.
Then enlist a trusted translator.. Too simple for some to grasp. Just try to learn enough so you know when you are being made fun of....
Edited on November 1, 2011 at 3:30amSep '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Inscrutability, wrapped in obsequiousness, glossed by insincerity. I wish you many more years of inscrutability, Huntsman-san.
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Brian Gillis: Erm, there's a pretty simple answer to this folks. Huntsman was a Mormon missionary for 2 years back around 1980, learned Mandarin at that time and became fluent, but hasn't used it on a regular basis since. I'm in the same situation with Portuguese, where I could fluently speak, read and write it in 1989 when I was in Brasil (more recently than Huntsman was in Taiwan). I now find I am very slow at forming sentences and at remembering specific vocabulary, due to over twenty years without having any steady practice or exposure to Portuguese. It just slowly starts to slip away from you. And keep in mind Mandarin is a much harder language to learn than Portuguese! Yet if asked if I am fluent in Portuguese I say yes, because, well, what else should I call my level of expertise?
I'm no Hunstman fan, but this is one of the silliest attempts to malign a person's integrity I've ever personally witnessed. · Oct 31 at 6:34pm
I'd have guessed that the ambassador to China had a few opportunities, and motive, to brush up on the language since 1980.
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
http://www.mofo.com/geoffrey-sant/
I think this is him.
Aug '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
And what does he have against Cantonese, anyways?
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
James Of England
I'd have guessed that the ambassador to China had a few opportunities, and motive, to brush up on the language since 1980. · Oct 31 at 7:46pm
Some opportunities certainly, but I'll warrant it's not nearly as many as you think.
Since this is all conjecture: I would think interaction with the foreign dignitaries would be relatively infrequent, and I'll bet the State Department requires him to speak English anyway so his aides can tell what he's saying and so forth. Also the Chinese he meets formally may be just as inclined to practice their English as he is to practice Mandarin (this is what I've seen out of many Brazilians I encounter). And finally, I'm sure being diplomat to China you still keep quite insulated from the average populace on a day-to-day basis.
My experience is if you're not being immersed in the language you aren't learning much.
Oct '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Huntsman or Romney?
Dec '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
For a second there I thought you were describing the chimichanga I made last night.
Dec '10
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Brian Gillis
I would think interaction with the foreign dignitaries would be relatively infrequent
Kind of defeats the purpose of having an ambassador.
Mar '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
Important lesson here kids - You can't be perfect, so never try.
Apr '11
Re: Jon Huntsman Lost the One Thing He Had Going for Him
The King Prawn
Brian Gillis
I would think interaction with the foreign dignitaries would be relatively infrequent
Kind of defeats the purpose of having an ambassador. · Oct 31 at 8:38pm
Yeah I suppose. Any former embassadors on Ricochet? What do those guys do in their average day? How many dignitaries are there to meet and how many formal junkets do they go to in a month? My experience tells me the real world is often more mundane than the job posting makes it out to be.
One thing I can say from my experience: John Huntsman would have been fluent in Mandarin in 1980. I've never met or heard of a Mormon missionary who wasn't by the end of his mission. Now that he's rusty on it 30 years later, should he claim fluency or former fluency? It just seems an odd thing to make an issue out of, but then look what they are doing to Herman Cain.