Trump praises Liberian leader on English, his native tongue

US President Donald Trump complimented the president of Liberia on Wednesday on his English-speaking skills, despite English being the official language of the West African nation.

Trump was hosting a White House lunch with African leaders Wednesday, and after brief remarks from President Joseph Boakai, asked the business graduate where he had picked up his linguistic know-how.

"Liberia is a longtime friend of the United States and we believe in your policy of making America great again," President Joseph Boakai said at a White House meeting before advocating for US investment in his country. "We just want to thank you so much for this opportunity."

Trump was impressed and inquired where Boakai got his language skills.

"Thank you, and such good English... Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated?" Trump said.

Boakai, who, like most Liberians, speaks English as a first language, indicated he had been educated in his native country.

Boakai seemed to chuckle. "In Liberia?" Trump asked. "Yes sir," Boakai said.

He was facing away from the media, making his countenance hard to gauge, but his laconic, mumbled response hinted at awkwardness.

Trump, who was surrounded by French-speaking presidents from other West African nations, kept digging.

"It's beautiful English. I have people at this table can't speak nearly as well," he said.

US engagement in Liberia began in the 1820s when the Congress and slaveholder-funded American Colonisation Society began sending freed slaves to its shores.

Thousands of "Americo-Liberian" settlers followed, declaring independence in 1847 and establishing a government to rule over a native African majority.

The country has a diverse array of indigenous languages and a number of creolised dialects, while Kpelle speakers are the largest single linguistic group.

Boakai himself can read and write in Mendi and Kissi but converses in Liberia's official tongue and lingua franca, English.