Ignorance on Liberia

How Can So Many Get It Wrong?

CNN reported it (https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/africa/trump-praises-liberian-president-latam-intl). NBC picked it up (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-president-liberia-english-official-language-speaks-good-eng-rcna217827). New York Times chimed in (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/us/politics/trump-liberia-president-english.html). The BBC tuned in (https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cdxl4gknwgno). As did the USA Today (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/09/liberia-official-language-trump/84525359007/).

So what were they all saying? From CNN, “US President Donald Trump praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai for his strong grasp of the English language on Wednesday. But the African leader was educated in Liberia, where English is the official language.“ Few will see this as a non-sequitor, an attempt to connect two unrelated facts. At the same time, Liberia was the effort to repatriot former slaves back to Africa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia).

Perplexity can take this down fast. I asked: Do most people of Liberia know English as a second language? The response: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/do-most-people-of-liberia-know-KSM47Y7aQEy8J2G00djhSA

“Most people in Liberia know English as a second language. English is the official language of Liberia and serves as the lingua franca connecting the various ethnic groups who speak over 30 indigenous languages. While only about 74,000 Liberians speak English as their first language, approximately 2.5 million speak it as a second language, out of a total population of around 4.8 million“

These supposed news agencies should have known better. When a country declares an official language, it is because it has multiple languages to contend with and choosing one language over all is best for commerce and law. Liberia is not a monoculture and has 30 common languages (https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-liberia.html).