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Coaches who succeeded abroad despite not really speaking the local lingo

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    Coaches who succeeded abroad despite not really speaking the local lingo

    Who?

    And how much does it matter?

    #2
    Marcelo Bielsa the obvious one from this season's Premier League.

    Comment


      #3
      But he speaks some English?

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        #4
        I could be wrong, but I don't think Terry Venables learned much Spanish or Catalan.

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          #5
          Steven Gerrard

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            #6
            Most Anglophone coaches, I would imagine. Peter Withe, Peter Reid and Bryan Robson seem unlikely candidates to be top of the Thai language class (though only Withe can really claim to have been a success).

            Fewer examples of the reverse, although the rapid turnover at clubs like Watford make fluency in English less important than for a Klopp or Benitez.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Sporting View Post
              But he speaks some English?
              He must do, as he's been here a few years, but always seems to speak through an interpreter in press conferences.

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                #8
                Someone like Guardiola, now I can forgive the accent, as learning a foreign language when an adult means that it's difficult to shake off one's native phonemes etc. But him and others are still making the same grammatical mistakes as five or so years ago and this is harder for me to grasp, given that they are using the so-called target language a hell of a lot of the time. And we're not talking about unintelligent, uneducated people.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Jimski View Post

                  He must do, as he's been here a few years, but always seems to speak through an interpreter in press conferences.
                  I think I read that he speaks reasonable English, but is more confident doing interviews in his native language. Didn't Pocchetino originally use an interpreter?

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                    #10
                    WSC 409 with its feature on Howard Kendall - when he went to Athletic Bilbao did he learn both Spanish and Basque?

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                      Someone like Guardiola, now I can forgive the accent, as learning a foreign language when an adult means that it's difficult to shake off one's native phonemes etc. But him and others are still making the same grammatical mistakes as five or so years ago and this is harder for me to grasp, given that they are using the so-called target language a hell of a lot of the time. And we're not talking about unintelligent, uneducated people.
                      I thought Catalans generally learn English as their third language in school?

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                        #12
                        One thing is being taught something and another learning it.

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                          #13
                          I'd be surprised if this was an issue anywhere other than English speaking countries as we're so proud of being monolingual.

                          Foreign coaches in Turkey are common, some make an effort to learn basics in Turkish, others don't. The same is true for the players.

                          Pochettino spoke reasonable English at Southampton but chose to use an interpreter when dealing with the press. I think Spurs made him to do press conferences in English.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Jimski View Post

                            He must do, as he's been here a few years, but always seems to speak through an interpreter in press conferences.
                            He does speak quite a bit of english, but what he's said about this is that he struggles to precisely express what exactly he wants to say in spanish, so there's no way that he's going to reach that level of english proficiency.

                            Pochettino was well able to do press conferences in english, long before he got rid of the interpreter. He found it useful.

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                              #15
                              Did Bobby Robson really learn Dutch, portuguese and catalan?

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by tee rex View Post
                                ...the rapid turnover at clubs like Watford make fluency in English less important than for a Klopp or Benitez.
                                It seemed important to the fans when Mazzarri was there - apparently his English was OK but his use of an interpreter meant the fans never took to him like they did with the likes of Flores or Jokanovic.

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
                                  Did Bobby Robson really learn Dutch, portuguese and catalan?
                                  When Robson started out in Portugal his interpreter was a certain J. Mourinho.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by The Awesome Berbaslug!!! View Post
                                    Did Bobby Robson really learn Dutch, portuguese and catalan?
                                    Depends what you mean by "learn" . When I lived in Portugal and he was there too, I watched his press conferences and he often did them in Portuguese (or at least the post game soundbites , perhaps not the full press conferences(, but it was a very Bobby Robson sort of Portuguese. I remember once hearing him say "Dos pontos is dos pontos" which is a bit Spanish, a bit Portuguese a bit English, and a bit football cliche, all in the space of 3 words - well 5 but two of them repeat

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                      Someone like Guardiola, now I can forgive the accent, as learning a foreign language when an adult means that it's difficult to shake off one's native phonemes etc. But him and others are still making the same grammatical mistakes as five or so years ago and this is harder for me to grasp, given that they are using the so-called target language a hell of a lot of the time. And we're not talking about unintelligent, uneducated people.
                                      I'm not convinced there is a high amount of correlation between being educated and being able to pick up languages. I've known people with very little formal education who can pick up languages incredibly well, and others who are very highly educated with post graduate degrees and the like, who really struggle.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by 3 Colours Red View Post
                                        It seemed important to the fans when Mazzarri was there - apparently his English was OK but his use of an interpreter meant the fans never took to him like they did with the likes of Flores or Jokanovic.
                                        I'm not sure I ever heard Mazzarri speak English, which is not to say he couldn't. He was also a miserable bastard who made no effort to develop any sort of relationship with the fanbase.

                                        Sannino was the other Pozzo-era head coach who didn't really speak English. Current coach Xisco uses an interpreter to translate questions, but answers in English.

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                                          #21
                                          Spanish speaking players and coaches rarely make any attempt to learn or speak in Portuguese, Camacho being the most prominent one I remember, and in my opinion he was a failure, despite winning the Portuguese Cup. Trapattoni, on the other hand, had a proper crack at it, nobody understood him, but he had a go and won the league with Benfica.

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Discordant Resonance View Post

                                            I thought Catalans generally learn English as their third language in school?
                                            Pep is pretty old, and has great English for someone of his age. These days English is taught above Spanish in Catalan state schools, but when I was there twenty years or so back, the average Jordi or Montse in their twenties or thirties had little to no fluency in English. And some of my students couldn't write accurately in their native language, having gone to school in Franco time.

                                            Just like how I was taught French, when Catalans got English in school the teachers were non-native and shite in the main.

                                            It was really noticeable when in Lisbon how almost everyone could speak pretty good English (often indignantly when my broken Portuguese turned into Castellano). My last trip to Barcelona about ten years back, definitely seemed that folk had better English.
                                            Last edited by Lang Spoon; 22-05-2021, 20:48.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by steveeeeeeeee View Post
                                              Spanish speaking players and coaches rarely make any attempt to learn or speak in Portuguese, Camacho being the most prominent one I remember, and in my opinion he was a failure, despite winning the Portuguese Cup. Trapattoni, on the other hand, had a proper crack at it, nobody understood him, but he had a go and won the league with Benfica.
                                              Trapattoni had a go at German too while he was at Bayern with pretty much the same result.

                                              Roy Hodgson speaks a very passable Swedish.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                                                But him and others are still making the same grammatical mistakes as five or so years ago and this is harder for me to grasp.
                                                Him and others?

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Belhaven View Post

                                                  Roy Hodgson speaks a very passable Swedish.
                                                  Graham Potter also, although I can't vouch for the passability of his Svenska.

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