Japanese learn English from Obama speeches

By GottaLaff

::clears throat:: Konnichiwa! Madam Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, and the American people... When I spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression....

If you're going to learn to speak English, learn from the best:

The speeches of U.S. President Barack Obama have become the favorite way of Japanese students to learn the English language, sales figures show. [...]

[A] compilation of Obama's speeches has sold even better at 500,000 copies, turning the president into Japan's most popular teacher of the English language, The New York Times reported Monday.

The Times said the CDs, released by Asahi Press, a Japanese publisher of language books, are leading a host of Obama-themed language learning products, including such titles as "Speech Training: Learning to Deliver English Speech, Obama Style"; "Learn English Grammar From Obama"; and "Yes, I Can With Obama: 40 Magical English Phrases From Presidential E-mails."[...]

[S]tudents say Obama is a good teacher because his English pronunciation is easy to understand.

Imagine if they listened to audio of Barbie McLipschmutz. They'd speak in run-on garble with buckets of fake Alaskan folksiness.