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What does it really mean when someone says another person speaks ‘good English’-- and who
gets to decide?

In July 2025, a brief exchange during a diplomatic meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Liberian President Joseph Boakai drew significant media attention and sparked discussions about language and perception. After Boakai spoke about strengthening relations between Liberia and the United States, Trump responded by complimenting his “beautiful Enlgish”, and asking where he had learned to speak so well. Boakai simply replied that he had been educated in Liberia, creating a striking moment. Yet, Trump’s surprise is puzzling— English is the official language of Liberia.

From a linguistic perspective, this interaction reveals how language ideologies, prestige, and assumptions about education and nationality shape how humans judge language. Trump’s reaction reflects a common assumption that certain people— or people from certain places— are less likely to speak English “well”. These assumptions are tied to broader social ideas about what counts as “proper” language, who is expected to speak it, and what speaking it supposedly says about a person’s education or status. Examining this exchange through a sociolinguistic lens helps illustrate how assumptions about language shape our judgements and creates powerful markers of identity, authority, and social expectation.

An additional dimension that shapes this interaction is race. Scholars have shown that listeners often perceive racialized speakers as having strong accents or speaking “incorrectly”, even when their speech is linguistically similar to that of white speakers (Rosa, 2019). These perceptions are not based solely on how someone actually speaks, but on assumptions about the speaker’s racial identity. In this case, President Boakai’s identity as a Black African leader may contribute to the surprise expressed by Trump’s comment about “beautiful English”. Even though Boakai holds the highest political position in his country, he is still subject to the kinds of linguistic judgments often directed toward racialized speakers. This moment highlights how language attitudes can intersect with race, nationality, and dialect, showing that even individuals in positions of authority can be undermined by assumptions about how they are expected to speak.

One key concept that helps explain this moment is Standard Language Ideology— the belief that there is one correct way to speak, and that way is inherently better than others (Lippi-Green, 2011). Trump’s comments reflect his belief that *Standard American English (*SAE)— English that is free of accent, vowel mispronunciation, misplaced stress, and misinflection of words—is the correct way to speak. However, linguists widely agree that *SAE is largely an abstraction rather than a naturally existing form of language. In reality, all dialects of English follow systematic linguistic rules and are equally valid. Trump’s surprise likely stems from assumptions about Boakai’s nationality and non-American accent, but these factors do not make his English any better or worse than anyone else’s.

This moment also connects to the concept of diglossia, a situation in which two or more languages are assigned different levels of social prestige. In this case, Trump implicitly assigns *SAE has a higher prestige than other dialects of English. These perceptions influence social interactions and how speakers are evaluated by others. When certain varieties of speech are considered more prestigious, it can contribute to linguistic discrimination, in which people are judged or treated unfairly based on how they speak. These assumptions can influence hiring decisions, educational opportunities, and social status. Trump’s surprise about Boakai’s speech suggests American expectations surrounding how Liberians “should” sound when speaking English.

This study of language attitudes is important because it reveals how assumptions like President Trump’s can contribute to broader social inequities. Linguist Rosina Lippi-Green (2011) argues that language standards are often maintained and reinforced by those in positions of power. In moments like this one, political authority can intersect with language ideology, reinforcing the idea that certain ways of speaking are superior. Even though ideas of “good English” are socially constructed, people in authority, like Trump, can elevate their own way of speaking in order to reinforce their positions of power by framing them as standard. Trump has clearly asserted his way of speaking as the best, pe petuating harmful assumptions about language, education, and prestige.

So is there a “best way” to speak English? In short, no. President Trump’s comments to President Boakai about his “beautiful English” reveal that our assumptions about language reflect deeper social beliefs about power and prestige. Prescriptive views about language suggest that there are strict rules for how people should speak, despite the fact that *Standard American English is an abstraction. President Boakai does not speak English better or worse than anyone else simply because of his accent, nationality, or education background. Language differences reflect culture, history, and identity— not intelligence, education, or authority.

Bio: Lily Schultz is a graduating senior at the University of Ģ��Ӱ�� Boulder majoring in history with a minor in philosophy. In her free time, she likes to ski, hike, visit museums, and listen to live music.

Works Cited:
Lippi-Green, R. (2011). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the
United States. Taylor & Francis Group.
Rosa, J. (2019). Looking like a language, sounding like a race: Raciolinguistic ideologies and
the learning of Latinidad. Oxford University Press.
Times News. (2025, July 10). Trump asks Liberian president “Where he learnt English” [Video].
YouTube.