Skip the French: Obama's foreign language skills ranked

Public speaking in your native language is hard enough, but imagine doing it in a language you've never spoken.

Barack Obama has done just that during his two terms as president, taking a stab at the native languages of many countries he’s visited.

Some attempts have gone better than others.

To see where Obama could use a little practice, global language-learning app Babbel asked foreign embassies and organizations in the U.S. to rate Obama’s attempts at different languages. 

Here’s a look at how Obama did: 

Arabic: Obama's attempts to speak arabic earned him a 3.5 out of 5 from the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C.

“It’s interesting that even in another language, the President’s signature voice and mannerisms are still prevalent," the institute said in a statement. "It’s hard to explain, but his Arabic comes out sounding very Obama-like, as if an Arabic-speaker were to do an impression of the President in Arabic.”

Dutch: Obama's Dutch is a 3.5 out of 5, according to the Netherland-America Foundation, in New York City.

French: No surprise here. The French-American Foundation was brutally honest in its assessment of Obama's french. The foundation gave him a 1 out of 5.

“Unfortunately, we cannot give President Obama high marks for his pronunciation," the foundation said in a statement. "It was nice that he used the French words, but they may as well have been American.”

German:The German-American Society in Omaha, Neb. gave Obama a 3 out of 5.

Greek: The National Hellenic Society based in Alexandria, Va. gave Obama a 3.5 out of 5.

Hindi: The International Hindi Association in Washington, D.C. gave Obama a 2.5 out of 5.

Indonesian:The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, also in D.C., gave Obama a 4 out of 5.

Persian:The Iranian American Society in California gave Obama a 4.5 out of 5.

Spanish:The Embassy of Spain in D.C. gave Obama a 4 out of 5.

Swahili: The Kenyan Americans Community Organization in Duluth, Ga., gave Obama a 4 out of 5.

While most respondents gave Obama high marks, we wonder if the scores will remain as high when he's not leader of the free world in a few months.

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