Media reports on the Republican candidates simply assert as a fact that Huntsman is “fluent in Mandarin”—a statement repeated by NPR, the New York Times, CNN, the Boston Herald, the Economist, Esquire, and New Hampshire’s ABC station, among many others. Huntsman’s ads emphasize that he is “Fluent in Mandarin Chinese,” and his website declares (in its Interactive Timeline) that he became “fluent in Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien” in 1980. Even the Obama White House declared that “Huntsman speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.”

But is Jon Huntsman really fluent in Chinese?

The answer seems to be no.

When asked on the Colbert Report to speak Chinese, Huntsman spoke one sentence and then “translated” his words as “I just said you ought to consider being my running mate for vice president.” The studio audience roared in approval. Yet in reality, Huntsman’s mangled Chinese would translate as: “I really want you to do my vice-America president.”