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Learn in English from Barack Obama!

10.12.2009 Leave a Comment

It turns out President Obama's speech skills extend past the American youth.


Publishers in Japan has starting creating "learn English" audio tools in order to help people learn English. Over a dozen different versions have cropped up, including "Yes, I Can With Obama: 40 Magical English Phrases From Presidential E-mails," and have done very successful in the Japanese market.

Tokyo beauty salon owner Utako Sakai says that she often puts it in over music and that "all our customers love it."

Since Obama has prefect enunciation and speaks slowly, he is the perfect English teacher. And the speeches themselves have struck a chord in the Japanese. Even those who do not have the basic understanding of English necessary to understand the speeches are still moved by the words, even when all they understand is "Yes, we can."

The Obama speech phenomenon in Japan peaked last spring, and is the sign of a Japanese public that wants a dynamic leader a la Obama, one who communicates as effectively and passionately as Obama. 

image by Miki Tanikawa for the New York Times

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