Foreign footballers speaking English

[UnquietDad]

Thought for the day: how come foreign footballers are so s**t-hot at languages? Thierry Henry or Marcel Dessailly could walk into GCSE English tomorrow and pass. Peter Schmeichel could probably do an oral at degree level! And yet some of ours even struggle to speak recognisable English...

Impressed with Lineker though, doing his Maradona interview a while back in Spanish. I think the interview itself was done through an interpreter, but the chat and setting-up was definitely all in Spanish - I saw clips of it - and he even used a passive reflexive, which some of DW's older pupils still struggle with!)

ah ronaldo isnt a spotty geek he was just young

he works hard

and has a nice body

and a girlfriend..

well he is a bit young even for me

Poor UD.
Oh, to be a man looking for a decent non hormonal chat on MN...

Pan - he does NOT have a girlfriend. OK?

Sorry don't get the Ronaldo thing either, he is a talented footballer but he's really gormless looking.

((((Tries to make non-hormonal conversation about how well Reading's overseas players speak English, especially the African guys for whom French is their second language))))

(((fails miserably)))

So Zippi....did your daughter mention whether Torres as lovely in RL as he seems on the pitch? That's one of the things I love about him is his attitude - I've never seen him throw a tantrum even though he quite often gets the proverbial kicked out of him.

yes he is nice apparently

and not bad at football either

lol

Ermmm...yes, it was his football that first made me notice him - ahem.

DH is at the PFA awards dinner tonight so I asked him to get me a photo of Fernando if he's there - strangely enough, DH declined.

remembers Julio Geordio on The Fast Show

like this?

Most Europeans are OK at English though aren't they? Especially in comparison to how we do at foreign languages?

(Pan, what a game!)

( it was!! - Fergie knew a thing or two when he said it will go right to the last game...VERY squeaky-bum time. )

Who does NOT have a girlfriend ?
Pan & UD ?
Are you referring to Torres ?

UD has a wife.
Ronaldo has a girlfriend
I have neither.
Torres is gay.

Pan.
Torres ? Surely not.

No subtext, by the way, just interested !

Love the way this descended into 'footballers with nice thighs' so quickly! Kind of blows Twiggs theory about only us lechy Dads being interested in such trivia out of the water.

Cristiano looks like the kind of lad who'd come too soon, then have a little cry about it, then blame someone else.
What you want is a real man.

can I just mention Jan Molby - the only bloke ever to have a foreign scouse accent

Schmeichel impresses me because he isn't just fluent but can take part in the cut and thrust of a debate, holding his own with native English speakers and challenging what they say. There are some modern language graduates who couldn't do that.

What about Julio Geordio?