Vanderbilt basketball freshman Djery Baptiste learned to speak English in a very interesting and patriotic way: constantly listening to the songs of country star George Strait.
Baptiste, who came to America from Haiti at the age of 15 not knowing a word of English, told the following to USA Today:
“I was in America and didn’t know how to say anything in the language, but I thought I could learn it through music. Country music was the best for me, and George Strait is my favorite. So I learned how to speak English by listening to him tell stories in his songs.”
Baptiste also explained his fascination with George Strait further when he said, “It’s just his voice and his tone that I love. I love everything about George Strait. But sometimes my friends are amazed that I love country music. It’s not what most people expect.”
Djery Baptiste (Credit: Screenshot/USA Today Video)
The basketball player also added that playing for Vanderbilt, which is located in Nashville, Tennessee, was the “cherry on top” because it’s the heart of country music.
Baptiste also prefers country music to rap because “rap and hip hop and stuff like that didn’t tell stories, and they had a lot of bad language, and I didn’t want to learn many of those words. I also had books to learn English, but none of them could teach me like country music did.”
Vanderbilt opens its basketball season Friday against Austin-Peay.