English Language And Native speaking footballers

[Red Astaire]

A thought occurred to me - How many of our International contingent can speak English? Not just with us but in general? I mean Bale can't (apparently) speak a word of Spanish and how long has he been there? That's just shit. I mean I taught English as a foreign language for 3 years and to be honest it's not that difficult - Maybe I was just a bloody good teacher though 😉

Not to suck my own cock but I've maxed out Japanese (although I sound very gay apparently) and French on rosetta stone. I'm starting German now but that's bloody hard.

Another aside to this is players that pick up regional accents - Jon Arne Riise springs to mind. He sounds like he's from Bootle! This always makes me laugh - Neville with excellent translation skills!

 

[Hyena]

A thought occurred to me - How many of our International contingent can speak English? Not just with us but in general? I mean Bale can't (apparently) speak a word of Spanish and how long has he been there? That's just shit. I mean I taught English as a foreign language for 3 years and to be honest it's not that difficult - Maybe I was just a bloody good teacher though 😉

Not to suck my own cock but I've maxed out Japanese (although I sound very gay apparently) and French on rosetta stone. I'm starting German now but that's bloody hard.

Another aside to this is players that pick up regional accents - Jon Arne Riise springs to mind. He sounds like he's from Bootle!

If you think Japanese and French are easy but German is hard, you must be doing something wrong ...

 

[Halmeister]

Apparently Bale's Spanish isn't that bad. He can speak it, just to a basic level really.

I think it's our culture really, isn't it? We're quite arrogant. We just expect and assume everyone else speaks English - which they do by and large. We're miles behind much of Europe in that regard.

 

[Modo]

A thought occurred to me - How many of our International contingent can speak English? Not just with us but in general? I mean Bale can't (apparently) speak a word of Spanish and how long has he been there? That's just shit. I mean I taught English as a foreign language for 3 years and to be honest it's not that difficult - Maybe I was just a bloody good teacher though 😉

Not to suck my own cock but I've maxed out Japanese (although I sound very gay apparently) and French on rosetta stone. I'm starting German now but that's bloody hard.

Another aside to this is players that pick up regional accents - Jon Arne Riise springs to mind. He sounds like he's from Bootle!

I'm really interested in this as well and from what I've learned we've got some who speak English fluently, some who speak OK English and rarely do interviews and those who speak very little or don't speak at all.

The only players I haven't seen do interviews in English from the current squad are Firmino, Fabinho and Keita. I think Firmino speaks a little. I don't think having Lucas and Coutinho around helped him in that aspect.
Btw, Lucas spoke perfect English(yeah, I know I'm a Swede). Speaking of former players, Moreno's English was terrible, I mean almost incomprehensible.

 

[tombrown]

A thought occurred to me - How many of our International contingent can speak English? Not just with us but in general? I mean Bale can't (apparently) speak a word of Spanish and how long has he been there? That's just shit. I mean I taught English as a foreign language for 3 years and to be honest it's not that difficult - Maybe I was just a bloody good teacher though 😉

Not to suck my own cock but I've maxed out Japanese (although I sound very gay apparently) and French on rosetta stone. I'm starting German now but that's bloody hard.

Another aside to this is players that pick up regional accents - Jon Arne Riise springs to mind. He sounds like he's from Bootle! This always makes me laugh - Neville with excellent translation skills!

Jan Molby was the perfect example - if you can find an interview with him just as he signed and then one a couple of years later you will hear a stuttering Dane evolve into a thoroughbred scouser

 

[HC]

German is infinitely easier to learn than the others , you Cray Cray

 

[Red Astaire]

If you think Japanese and French are easy but German is hard, you must be doing something wrong ...

Well I learnt French in school and lived in Japan for 4 years so that's made it easier. I've only been to Germany a few times so it's a challenge to say the least.

 

[Red Astaire]

Jan Molby was the perfect example - if you can find an interview with him just as he signed and then one a couple of years later you will hear a stuttering Dane evolve into a thoroughbred scouser

I do remember that - He had the thickest scouse accent out of the group!

 

[dee]

I do remember that - He had the thickest scouse accent out of the group!

Mainly because the rest of the squad were scots or irish

 

[Red Astaire]

Mainly because the rest of the squad were scots or irish

Haha True

 

[Dreambeliever]

Some people really struggle to learn languages while excel at other things.

It’s not uncommon.

 

[Shay_K]

Did Bob Paisley ever learn to speak English?

 

[Markeh]

I still remember Beckham doing the ball mime to the referee in a league match after a decision was given against him where he felt he won the ball. He was at Madrid at least a year by that stage.

 

[gene hughes]

Two words. Mark Draper.

 

[MaBigTip]

I still remember Beckham doing the ball mime to the referee in a league match after a decision was given against him where he felt he won the ball. He was at Madrid at least a year by that stage.

Thats brilliant. I speak football Spanish after playing with Argentineans a lot in New York. You only have to learn 20-30 words to manage on a pitch.

 

[juniormember]

I think the likes of Bale and Moreno are pretty pathetic. It’s their duty to learn the language to firstly be able to communicate with their teammates and management, but also as a show of respect to the local supporters. I’m guessing they don’t bother expanding their social life beyond their own circle (after all they have enough money to fly any mates over), as just having fun with locals (fellow players, neighbors, pub, whatever) is the easiest and most natural way of learning decent language communication skills. I suspect Molby’s great scouse improvement was mostly due to pub visits!

 

[MomoWASright]

I’d rather our players didn’t spend all afternoon in the pub.

 

[tombrown]

. I suspect Molby’s great scouse improvement was mostly due to pub visits!

Or Walton Gaol

 

[juniormember]

I’d rather our players didn’t spend all afternoon in the pub.

Believe it or not, we used to see Robbie Fowler down at the Rose not drinking beer but orange juice (okay, not something to be drinking by today’s athlete standards) with his mates. This was around the coke rumours period.

 

[FoxForceFive]

Believe it or not, we used to see Robbie Fowler down at the Rose not drinking beer but orange juice (okay, not something to be drinking by today’s athlete standards) with his mates. This was around the coke rumours period.

He used to drink (quite bizarrely cos it was a shit hole frequented by nobhead teens like myself) in the Masons in the Swan regularly around that time. Always orange juice. I still had posters of him on my wall, eventually got he courage to buy him a drink (orange juice again, obv) & had a nice chat when I took it over to him.

 

[hmmmmm1]

Kieta arriving with not grasp of English was poor, given he had 12 months warning of the transfer. English is the language of the world, I’m surprised so many pro players don’t speak it.

 

[Modo]

Kieta arriving with not grasp of English was poor, given he had 12 months warning of the transfer. English is the language of the world, I’m surprised so many pro players don’t speak it.

It's because they mainly come from countries where English isn't mandatory in school and all TV shows and movies are dubbed. They just don't get the same exposure to English like we do in Sweden.

 

[hmmmmm1]

It's because they mainly come from countries where English isn't mandatory in school and all TV shows and movies are dubbed. They just don't get the same exposure to English like we do in Sweden.

The above makes sense for joe public. But Keita has been in Europe a few years. It was lazy on his part to arrive with no grasp of the language, kinda like the start of his career here.

 

[Modo]

The above makes sense for joe public. But Keita has been in Europe a few years. It was lazy on his part to arrive with no grasp of the language, kinda like the start of his career here.

When you put it like that, yeah maybe you're right.

 

[RedStar]

I do remember that - He had the thickest scouse accent out of the group!

Weirdest part was that Whealan developed a distinct scouse accent over time

 

[Mamma Mia]

Keita, at 17 years old, speaks French, Malinke, and Susu. Moves to France for a couple of years, speaks French. Moves to Austria for a couple of years. Tries learning some German. Moves to Germany for a couple of years.

24 years old and the lazy cunt still isn't fluent in english.

 

[Holle]

Keita, at 17 years old, speaks French, Malinke, and Susu. Moves to France for a couple of years, speaks French. Moves to Austria for a couple of years. Tries learning some German. Moves to Germany for a couple of years.

24 years old and the lazy cunt still isn't fluent in english.

I don't think he knows a single German word though.

 

[Athens]

I don't think he knows a single German word though.

I know loads of German words. Although, I learned them all from movies about the two world wars.

 

[peterhague]

Keita, at 17 years old, speaks French, Malinke, and Susu. Moves to France for a couple of years, speaks French. Moves to Austria for a couple of years. Tries learning some German. Moves to Germany for a couple of years.

24 years old and the lazy cunt still isn't fluent in english.

Or: move to France already able to speak French. Leaves two years later, able to speak French. Moves to German-speaking countries for four years, tries to learn some German. Then has a year's notice of a move to England, and learns no English. Lives in England for a year and learns no English.

 

[Mamma Mia]

He's learned some English though, so that doesn't work.