Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trevor Noah mocks Trump for 'butchering' speech during India visit

The president mumbled, mangled, and mispronounced “nearly half the Hindi dictionary”

Oliver O'Connell
New York
Tuesday 25 February 2020 12:18 EST
Comments
Trevor Noah mocks Trump for butchering India speech

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump’s attempts at pronouncing Hindi words during a speech in India had The Daily Show host Trevor Noah in stitches on Monday night’s edition of the show.

President Trump was speaking at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, the world’s largest cricket stadium, in an event billed as “Namaste Trump”, and part of his official welcome to India by prime minister Nehendra Modi.

Mr Noah did give Mr Trump credit for his attempt to “show the Indian people how much he respects them by trying to speak their language.”

“It went about as well as you would think,” added Noah before rolling a montage of highlights from the president’s speech.

From the name of the city he was actually standing in, to well known words associated with Indian culture (Namaste, Ashram, Diwali), to the names of famous sporting personalities and historical figures (Sachin Tendulkar, Swami Vivekananda) — all were mumbled, mangled, and mispronounced.

Mr Noah could barely contain his amusement, noting that “after Trump butchered nearly half the Hindi dictionary, Indian Twitter lost their minds.”

“But to those Indians, I say, please, don’t be mad. Trump may not be able to pronounce Hindi words, but he can’t pronounce English words either. He’s an equal opportunity offender,” said Mr Noah.

Earlier in the segment, Mr Noah covered India's preparations for the president's visit and questioned how Mr Trump would fare given India's largely meat-free diet and the strict vegetarianism practiced by his host Mr Modi.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in