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Patrick Andrews

Football and language again

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I have recently been watching the documentary "All or Nothing" about Tottenham last year.

There are a variety of languages used representing the multinational nature of the team.  I was interested to see Jose Mourinho talking one to one with the England international, Eric Dier in Portuguese.  Dier's Portuguese seemed fluent (but I am not expert on this) but I wonder whether there was a power dynamic at work here as it is obviously Mourinho's first language.

I was also struck by how often swear words were used as part of the culture.  Do the players and managers think this provokes more passion?  Interestingly, Amazon did not bleep out the "f word" but did bleep out the "c word".

There is also an interesting section where Mourinho learns the names of the players.  Again, there are aspects of hierarchies.  Harry Kane is called "Harry" so Harry Winks has to be called "Winksy".  He also asks the player Kyle Walker Peters if he is "Walker" or "Peters" and he replies "Walker Peters".  It seems surprising that Mourinho who has worked in Britain for a long time is not really aware of double barelled surnames.

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Leticia Mesa Muniz

Football language

Spanish families are really passionate about football and (unfortunately :D) I grew up in this kind of crazy environment. 

How many times I have seen Cristiano Ronaldo in a press conference speaking a perfect Spanish, talking about footfall, technical terms that I did not even know myself and then when he was asked about something else as his social life or just a different subject, his Spanish level was not that sophisticated. All of it make me think that maybe Mourinho is a good coach focus on football but maybe he would not pay so much attention about the British culture, middle names.. As long as his team wins, this experience is all what matters.

Patrick Andrews

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Thanks for the interesting comments, Leticia

Christiano Ronaldo also speaks good English.  There are some very impressive linguists among footballers.  I often notice players from Africa who have played in many countries and have probably learnt many languages as well as their good English.

Sometimes footballers develop local accent.  The ex player Jan Molby (he is Danish) was famous for having picked up a Liverpudlian accent https://www.liverpoolfc.com/history/past-players/jan-molby