English Premier League 2023-24 Thread
2022-2023 Saw Manchester City’s Death Star become fully operational winning the Premier League with 89 points by e
to be fair i've always been insanely impressed by how many players do end up learning multiple languages over the course of their career due to learning the local language
You're not talking about British footballers, I think.
After his move to Juve Ian Rush complained that it was "like living in a foreign country".
compare that to baseball, where we have guys who've been in the professional system for over a decade still give interviews in their native spanish through a translator, because with about half of the team being fellow latin americans, they never really needed to "get good" at english because they always had plenty of teammates to speak spanish with
i'm sure you know this if you were applying to be a translator, but most/all pro athletes prob do speak english well enough, they either just don't want to talk to the media or aren't comfortable doing it in english for various reasons
i'm sure you know this if you were applying to be a translator, but most/all pro athletes prob do speak english well enough, they either just don't want to talk to the media or aren't comfortable doing it in english for various reasons
yeah i get that, but if you were drafted at age 17 and you're now 37 still giving interviews through translators then you clearly are not speaking much english day to day but instead living in a hispanic bubble
watch dugout footage of an mlb team and you'll have the americans speaking english to each other and the latinos speaking spanish to each other without much interaction other than hr celebrations
and then of course the asian guy huddled by himself talking to his translator
meanwhile watch the locker room of ligue1 one team and the argentinian and senegalese and german are all speaking french with each other and likewise for italy and spain
God damn Michael Carrick bringing it home.
Also unrelated topic, but my boss at my new workplace happen to be an Arsenal fan.
This is great for multitude of reasons: no1 instant sympathy points for footy
no2 he is used to being disappointed so my performance will not be a shock to him.
compare that to baseball, where we have guys who've been in the professional system for over a decade still give interviews in their native spanish through a translator, because with about half of the team being fellow latin americans, they never really needed to "get good" at english because they always had plenty of teammates to speak spanish with"
Can you give an example of who you mean? Or a few? You're implying some sort of systemic segregation inside teams here and suggesting the Hispanic players all keep themselves to themselves lol.
Of course people hang around with those from a similar culture, but I've no idea what the **** you're on about here
Can you give an example of who you mean? Or a few? You're implying some sort of systemic segregation inside teams here and suggesting the Hispanic players all keep themselves to themselves lol.
Of course people hang around with those from a similar culture, but I've no idea what the **** you're on about here
Ichiro is who immediately comes to mind. Granted, I also think Ichiro’s personality was one where he likely just wanted to play baseball and didn’t want to deal with American journalists. He can speak fluent English from all accounts.
Can you give an example of who you mean? Or a few? You're implying some sort of systemic segregation inside teams here and suggesting the Hispanic players all keep themselves to themselves lol.
Of course people hang around with those from a similar culture, but I've no idea what the **** you're on about here
yeah it's a genuine thing, those dugouts are self segregated, just look at the dugout cut shots and you'll rarely see americans and latinos sitting together - as a result, a lot of players just never really speak much english in life and thus never really learn it
it's not even necessarily a language issue either - david ortiz is 100% fluent in english, i don't know about his early days, but i never saw him speak through a translator
he and dustin pedroia were teammates from 2006 to 2019 - they were both at the top of the order, usually batting back to back
it wasn't until after playing together for 9 seasons, dustin learned that ortiz never knew his first name
i don't think it's controversial to say that sports teams can be cliquey, and those often form around language / race / nationality / etc
i don't think it's controversial to say that sports teams can be cliquey, and those often form around language / race / nationality / etc
Yes obviously the controversial piece was the implications that the Spanish speakers don't learn the language / assimilate and give interviews only in Spanish after 10 years of living here lol, and the underlying implications of all of this
oh ok, well in that case i don't think it's controversial to say that many players don't want to talk to the press and foreigners can conveniently use the language barrier as an excuse, while others simply don't feel comfortable doing so for fear of saying the wrong thing or being taken out of context or due to a lack of proficiency so they use a translator
Yes obviously the controversial piece was the implications that the Spanish speakers don't learn the language / assimilate and give interviews only in Spanish after 10 years of living here lol, and the underlying implications of all of this
this is very much a thing though, you have guys like jose ramirez who is 31 years old and signed with the Indians at age 17 still only speaks spanish with the media
fwiw i'm not criticizing that at all, as someone who's spent the majority of his life as an expat, i am extremely sympathetic and I get it
what surprises me is when with soccer i often see interviews of players who i knew playing in the premier league who then spoke english as a second language with the media and then when i check up on them a few years later and they are playing in germany i'll see them speak in german to the media and it's incredibly impressive imo
Vladimir Guerrero played a whole HoF career without speaking English.
what surprises me is when with soccer i often see interviews of players who i knew playing in the premier league who then spoke english as a second language with the media and then when i check up on them a few years later and they are playing in germany i'll see them speak in german to the media and it's incredibly impressive imo
Yes and it rarely happens with native English speakers who are accustomed to others having to learn their language.
Kane taking a grand total of two lessons a week isn't exactly immersing himself in it. By the time his contract ends he'll probably be able to understand signs and shop labels and ask directions but won't have much if any conversational German.
On second thoughts, about the same as his English, then.
[Florian Plettenberg] Been told Dragusin has chosen to join Tottenham over Bayern. He will fly to London today.
[Fabrizio Romano] Radu Dragusin to Tottenham, here we go! Agreement reached on package in excess of €30m after new bid overnight. Spence joins Genoa on loan. Dragusin wanted Spurs and confirmed their agreement on personal terms despite Bayern bid. SAGA OVER.
löl buyern in shambles. stick to signing spurs deadwood and players from currywurst league instead.
remember that avalanche of **** i had to put up with about buyern shirts
yeah i get that, but if you were drafted at age 17 and you're now 37 still giving interviews through translators then you clearly are not speaking much english day to day but instead living in a hispanic bubble
watch dugout footage of an mlb team and you'll have the americans speaking english to each other and the latinos speaking spanish to each other without much interaction other than hr celebrations
and then of course the asian guy huddled by himself talking to his translator
meanwhile watch th
I think part of this is that baseball is not a team sport, the same way that soccer and basketball are.
Baseball is largely an individual sport, played between the pitcher and the batter. There is no concept of "passing" like there is in other sports. Batters do not share a ball, if they all hit a homerun that's what benefits the whole team the most. Batters simply react and try to hit ball far. Fielders try to catch ball and throw to the applicable base. Most plays in baseball are completely obvious and forced, with little to no need for real-time communication.
As a result of this you have cliques of Dominican and Venezuelan players that never have to speak English to the American players.
Gravenberch just ain't it.
Books had Fulham evens 1 goal up at Anfield with 30mins to go. Figured I must have missed a couple of red cards for us.
