I've listened to Paul Kagame and Robert Mugabe speak on Amanpour. . .They didnt fare any better.
A good step to even be interviewed by Amanpour in the first place. The cabal must've been retching in disgust

~Borat~:

I've listened to Paul Kagame and Robert Mugabe speak on Amanpour. . .They didnt fare any better.
A good step to even be interviewed by Amanpour in the first place. The cabal must've been retching in disgust

@ Borat

Jonathan is obviously more educated than these men you have mentioned, so there is no basis for comparism.

Mugabe used to be able to speak very well.

Not heard much from him recently but he must be in his 90's by now.

As for qualifications - Jonathan comes nowhere near Mugabe.

He has numerous qualifications from reputable institutions around the world.

Jonathan is not on his level - Yet!

Very interesting comments by all, even by those talking about dress sense. The most important thing is that they are all matters we feel concerned about, one way or the other.

However, I believe the whole issues that this interview had opened up call for real sober reflection. As some forumites had earlier noted, there is a strong need for our political office holders to start engaging the masses and media in their normal dealings. The time had gone when our leaders isolate themselves from the public and maintain a 'no contact' stance with the press/media. Had our leaders the culture of facing the media to defend their propositions and policies, to answer even simple questions that affects the people they lead, to do more than making press briefings and announcing budgets, then I strongly believe the outcome of the interview would have been different.

mobuch:

@ Borat

Jonathan is obviously more educated than these men you have mentioned, so there is no basis for comparism.

yapping all over the place without knowledge
do you know anything about paul kagame? robert mugabe, don,t even go there. do you know that zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy level in africa even with their economic crises? you don,t know a lot, do you?

While I agree that spoken english does not translate into good governance, watching Jonathan is just funny. He looks like a palace clown. He needs to go to the school of international ettiquette and someone needs to teach him posture and composure during interviews.

My people, grammar is not the government's priorty. Electricity 24/7 and war against corruption are paramount on the agenda for now. After all, "grammar no be success" .

df2006:

yapping all over the place without knowledge
do you know anything about paul kagame? robert mugabe, don,t even go there. do you know that zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy level in africa even with their economic crises? you don,t know a lot, do you?

young man, df2006 or whatever u are, i obviously dont know everything, but i can vouch that you cant stand me intellectually and in where ever we find our selves. Summarily, i know far better than you.silly

Mobuch - Goodluck delivered a virtuoso performance, he was diplomatic when he needed to be, open and honest as the case dictated and used humour to get out of a tight corners instead of becoming irate like some of our past leaders.

His body language was relaxed and open. Most importantly, he is comfortable with who he is and if he can give us electricity your grammar concerns will fade into microscopic irrelevance.

PS - is the bolded a deliberate and ironic mistake. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors.

SapeleGuy:

Mobuch - Goodluck delivered a virtuoso performance, he was diplomatic when he needed to be, open and honest as the case dictated and used humour to get out of a tight corners instead of becoming irate like some of our past leaders.

His body language was relaxed and open. Most importantly, he is comfortable with who he is and if he can give us electricity your grammar concerns will fade into microscopic irrelevance.

[size=14pt]PS - is the bolded a deliberate and ironic mistake. Acting President Goodluck Jonathan And His Too Many Grammatical Errors.[/size]

mobuch can crack kernel with his ogbu English, yet he isn't ashamed to complain about other people.

I certainly dont understand what English grammar has got to do with it

We learnt English, and many Presidents of other countries cant even fluently speak it without an interpreter and yet are respected e.g China

I wonder why we bother so much about non-essentials, after all it was evidently clear from the interview that Jonathan established rapport, was understood and ended up communicating

So, what's all these wranglings about? Na WAEC or JAMB?

For neutralizing and flushing away the vile criminal cartel that has for the past 30 years denied Nigeria the RIGHT to uninterrupted electrical power, Jonathan Goodluck is absolutely the greatest Nigerian leader in the entire history of the nation.   Anyone who chooses to dwell on Goodluck's command of the English language clearly has never visited Nigeria over the past three decades, or is clinically insane for not appreciating the MONUMENTAL importance of the awesome MIRACLE that has been quietly performed by the current and future Nigerian president - The MAIN MAN - Jonathan Goodluck.

In summary, If you want to hear flawless English language oratory, join the Rotary Club, where those pompous old farts will ramble on till you fall asleep, BUT if you feel that Nigeria DESERVES electrical power from now on, VOTE FOR JONATHAN GOODLUCK in the next election, regardless of who he chooses as a running mate.

The Niger Delta has for the past half century provided ALL of Nigeria's wealth, so there truly is a sublime poetic beauty about the dramatic emergence of a soft-spoken political maestro from that very same geographical zone - Jonathan Goodluck, the man who defied entrenched evil, to FINALLY place Nigeria's light switch in the "ON" position.         


Way down the Niger Delta close to New Warri
Out in the woods among the ever greens

There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a young man named Johnny B Good

He be doin' way more than just show and tell
'Cause he fixin' Nigeria just like a'ringing a bell

Go ! Go !   Go Johnny go !  Go !  Go  Johnny go!
Go          Johnny Goodluck

Sun of god:

Seems some people are desperate to dodge the facts of the matter.

- Jonathan appears to have a weak command of English.

- So therefore he's likely to have poor reading skills.

- If he has deficiencies in reading and writing, is he the best person to be representing Nigeria?

- For example, if he's asked to sign a Nuclear treaty, would he understand the document?

- Therefore we must ask - Does Jonathan's deficiencies pose any risk to Nigerians?

- What if for example Jonathan is taken advantage of by a smarter,sharper individual (e.g Obama?)

- Its me and you that would suffer - Not Jonathan.

- People who have strong reading and writing skills also tend to be good speakers. The have larger vocabularies!

Mr orator, presidents are not lawyers they just don't sign treaties. For your information treaties are not documents that are just presented and signed. At least as and educated man i believe you should know this fact. remember we are not in a dictatorship, the country must agree even though we are used to thinking that the president has dictatorial powers you as a well educated master should know it is not so

mobuch:

young man, df2006 or whatever u are, i obviously dont [/b]know everything, but [b]i can vouch that you cant stand me intellectually and in where ever we find our selves. Summarily, i know far better than you.silly

master abeg pity us o, no finish us with your grammar.

People who complain about other people's grammar have obviously never stepped out of Nigeria. Even in the UK you should hear how the Scot or Welsh and even Native English not to talk of other Europeans(just forget West Indians) murder English and you will say is this not UK ?

GEJ reflects the state of affairs in Nigeria. Even Vice Chancellors of some of the Universities in our dear country can't speak or write flawless english, the way it used to be.  We can't compare this era to the glorious past. It's important that our Acting president was able to communicate on Amanpour, but his handlers need to polish him up and make a better public image of him. On CNN, your audience is the entire world. And, the respect or lack thereof, we as a people would get from the international community is a factor of the image our President creates; the ambience, personality and aura that surrounds his literary prowess and conduct especially, in front of cameras.  Presidents Sakashvili of Georgia and Paul Kagame of Ruanda are two leaders that are highly respected in the international circuit due to their communication skills.  Leadership embodies many skills, including communication. It's the weight of Obama's oratorial skills that propelled him into a global sensation during the US Presidential Campaigns, and turned a purely American affair into a global movement; captivating even Mohammed Ahmedinajad! We must learn to speak truth to power and let them know when they are not doing well. A President must speak presidential, look presidential, behave presidential, act presidential and think presidential. These attributes have no tribal marks!

@ Mobuch,

have you guys listened to christine Amanpour's interview with goodluck jonathan?

I think jonathan's grammatical errors  and accent are just too embarrassing and scary.


what do u guys think?

If there were grammatical errors in Goodluck Jonathan's interview, you should have restricted your post to that. But talking about his accent is out of bounds. As many posters have already noted, do you want him to speak with an American or British accent? If he tries to do that, he will actually look stupid.

Have you ever heard Sir Alex Fergusson speak? Can you understand anything he says? Well he speaks with a Scottish accent and it is very difficult for people outside the United Kingdom to understand him. But I haven't seen anybody demand that he change his accent.

This may be an unconscious projection of colonial influence. We are taught to believe that American and European accents are beautiful while African, Asian and others are not. Even when a French man speaks English with a French accent, we have no complaints.

celemel:

GEJ reflects the state of affairs in Nigeria. Even Vice Chancellors of some of the Universities in our dear country can't speak or write flawless english, the way it used to be.  We can't compare this era to the glorious past. It's important that our Acting president was able to communicate on Amanpour, but his handlers need to polish him up and make a better public image of him. On CNN, your audience is the entire world. And, the respect or lack thereof, we as a people would get from the international community is a factor of the image our President creates; the ambience, personality and aura that surrounds his literary prowess and conduct especially, in front of cameras.  Presidents Sakashvili of Georgia and Paul Kagame of Ruanda are two leaders that are highly respected in the international circuit due to their communication skills.  Leadership embodies many skills, including communication. It's the weight of Obama's oratorial skills that propelled him into a global sensation during the US Presidential Campaigns, and turned a purely American affair into a global movement; captivating even Mohammed Ahmedinajad! We must learn to speak truth to power and let them know when they are not doing well. A President must speak presidential, look presidential, behave presidential, act presidential and think presidential. These attributes have no tribal marks!

Well said, Brother.

@ Biz books,

you seem to be talking relatively out of point,
does Soyinka possess any British accent?
Does Donald Duke possess any British accent?
Does Sanusi or El-rufai possess any British accent?
Does Ojukwu possess any British accent?

I suppose your answer would be no.

So why cant G.J modify his accent in such away that his English would be adaptable to the correct Nigerian English accent?

I think I have over flogged this issue well enough.

If you need a suave/urbane President,with good grammer,spiced with accented Americanism,then start campaigning for Donald Duke, He`s got it all.

But for Pete`s sake leave Goodluck alone,he is a NIGERIAN president, capice

OK I would like to add my own 2 cents to the topic.

I saw the topic and after reading through 4 pgs, I decided to watch the interview myself on Youtube. After viewing the interview, I come back here to say that all the topic is useless, not in its totality but in the manner it singles out GJ errors.

I understood everything he said and I'm sure everyone of you did too; Amanpour did too.
GJ spoke from his mind, unscripted and I now like the guy more. He was clear and forget about the accent, the accent isn't any different from any one of you who hasn't been in an European or N. American country for years. You think you have stellar mastery of the language until you leave Nigeria, well you don't.

I live in the United States and see older Nigerian professionals all the time. They are respectable but the accent still persists, Yoruba, Igbo, Calabar alike. As long as he is clear enough for the reporter and his target audience, Nigerians you should forget about his grammatic error; I didn't even catch the error until my second take on the video looking for errors.

The content of the interview I even like more. He seems like an everyday guy who happens to be President. He has good political skills and he is gonna be able to maneuver those old guys effectively.

I'm not an avid follower of Nigeria elections or even a craze GJ follower. I just wanted to comment because GJ is now the President and should be scrutinize but to what extent? I'm sure there are ppl smarter than us analyzing his every public speech and making recommendations for him.

My 2 cents.

At the rate GJ is going, I give him an "A". With all due respect, i think some people behave in a way that suggests that they have a very low resistance fuse in their brains. Otherwise how can they forget Obj's early outings in 1999 when he has to be even lectured on mannerisms during interviews? How he used to poke his thumb inside his nose, etc. For the avoidance of doubt accent means "a way of pronouncing words that indicates the place of origin or social background of the speaker" (Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.)
How then do anybody dare accuse GJ of speaking like an Ijaw and not speak through his nose like Amampour?

[i]ITS NOT IN PERFECT SPEECH BUT IN WHAT HE CAN DELIVER, D MORE U CRITSIZE HIM D HIGHER HE GOES ! INSTEAD OF PRAYIN FOR A CHANGE UR RUBING UR HEAD IN D VOMIT GROW UP AND STOP DULLIN![/i]

At the rate GJ is going, I give him an "A". With all due respect, i think some people behave in a way that suggests that they have a very low resistance fuse in their brains. Otherwise how can they forget Obj's early outings in 1999 when he has to be even lectured on mannerisms during interviews? How he used to poke his thumb inside his nose, etc. For the avoidance of doubt accent means "a way of pronouncing words that indicates the place of origin or social background of the speaker" (Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.)
How then do anybody dare accuse GJ of speaking like an Ijaw and not speak through his nose like Amampour?

I have noticed before now that Goodluck Jonathan truly has a poor command of the English language. Even his reading is poor. This is inexcusable for someone of his level of education. We should stop seeing English as a foreign language. It is now the universal language of business and diplomacy. Somebody mentioned that Mugabe did not fare better when he was interviewed on CNN. I beg  to disagree. Mugabe speaks impeccable English, and is one guy I enjoy listening to, not because I am a fan of this man. It is always a delight when one listens to a statesman with good oratorial skills. Some notable Nigerians who speak excellently are Wole Soyinka, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Anyaoku, Maitama Sule. They express themselves eloquently  and always use the right words to make themselves perfectly understood. The acting president's sloppy English is an indication of his personality, meaning he does not aim for excellence. Let's not make excuses for mediocrity please. This man was a lecturer. What kind of products would you expect such a lecturer to turn out?

pannyman:

I have noticed before now that Goodluck Jonathan truly has a poor command of the English language. Even his reading is poor. This is inexcusable for someone of his level of education. We should stop seeing English as a foreign language. It is now the universal language of business and diplomacy. Somebody mentioned that Mugabe did not fare better when he was interviewed on CNN. I beg  to disagree. Mugabe speaks impeccable English, and is one guy I enjoy listening to, not because I am a fan of this man. It is always a delight when one listens to a statesman with good oratorial skills. Some notable Nigerians who speak excellently are Wole Soyinka, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Anyaoku, Maitama Sule. They express themselves eloquently  and always use the right words to make themselves perfectly understood. The acting president's sloppy English is an indication of his personality, meaning he does not aim for excellence. Let's not make excuses for mediocrity please. This man was a lecturer. What kind of products would you expect such a lecturer to turn out?

Nice words, but I think all what you have said would fall on deaf ears, because there are lots of shallow brains on nairaland, no matter how much you try to explain things to them, they stick to their myopic beliefs and view points. It is just a pity.

pannyman:

I have noticed before now that Goodluck Jonathan truly has a poor command of the English language. Even his reading is poor. This is inexcusable for someone of his level of education. We should stop seeing English as a foreign language. It is now the universal language of business and diplomacy. Somebody mentioned that Mugabe did not fare better when he was interviewed on CNN. I beg  to disagree. Mugabe speaks impeccable English, and is one guy I enjoy listening to, not because I am a fan of this man. It is always a delight when one listens to a statesman with good oratorial skills. Some notable Nigerians who speak excellently are Wole Soyinka, Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Anyaoku, Maitama Sule. They express themselves eloquently  and always use the right words to make themselves perfectly understood. The acting president's sloppy English is an indication of his personality, meaning he does not aim for excellence. Let's not make excuses for mediocrity please. This man was a lecturer. What kind of products would you expect such a lecturer to turn out?

I will never make excuse for him.
However, we have moved past all that, and now even if all he cld speak is Yoruba, i just wanna see actions to move Nigeria forward.

What of other Presidents that can't communicate in english that speaks through interpreter?
Colonialism

LOL @ Topic

This topic is both braindead and malicious.
Let us put it all in context
1) I think the interview was meant to be conducted in a relaxed, conversational format hence the proximity between Christiane and Goodluck. His posture was accordingly relaxed.

2) His errors were hardly noticeable. Ms. Amanpour didn't seem like she had any difficulty in comprehending his answers. I watched the entire interview, and read the transcript. His message was clear.

3) He was being asked tough questions by a seasoned interviewer. Considering the uncertain political climate back home, the specter of the Cabal, and so on, he had to be deft, and tactful. He managed to achieve this while articulating his agenda in very lucid terms.

4) Please what has his accent got to do with anything? I've read comments that suggest that 'the northern accent is better than the southern accent'. By what metrics did you arrive at that conclusion? People have also mentioned Ojukwu, and Wole Soyinka as having clear 'Nigerian' accents. What is a clear Nigerian accent please? Ojukwu's accented is discernably Oxbridge-lite. Soyinka's accent has an unmistakably British aspect. Maiatama Sule's accent is a mix of Northern Nigerian and English public school.

4) The bigot who made the basest tribalistic generalizations about people from places such as Warri and Port Hacourt should go and sit next to the brainwashed Anglophile who posted something about Jonathan's traditional attire no being Western or Presidential enough, because it is not a business suit.

5) I think it was a good outing for the Acting President and I hope does even better in future interviews while proudly maintaining his accent.

fishaboi:

[size=27pt]This topic is both braindead and malicious.[/size]

Tell the clownish OP jare! He wants to hold us back because, he can't get rid of a damaging complex.

i dont understand some human beings in this our country called nigeria.
when did english become our language,we leave a fake life in this country,thats why
we are yet to develop. whether his accent was bad,the main thing was everyone understood
him,do u people know that in some countries there president dont know how to speak English, so
why are we seeing problems were there are no problem.nawah oo

Look guys, I will never change my Nigerian accent for anything in the world. What I do like in the interview is his composure and I think he was abit nervous during the interview. Common guys, he is the president of Nigeria and for that reason, he should be able to get his points across with a little bit of ease. Look, it is better to keep to his English simple than to resort to speaking grammar that will make him look inferior to other world leaders regardless the language used.