How do clubs account for foreign players in training?

[General]

Curious but noticed on his reveal video that was published today that Sasa Lukic doesn't seem to speak much english. I think his interview was carried out via a translator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxDNg8fUpbI&t=2s

Obviously this can be a significant barrier for a player when it comes to feeling settled, bonding with teammates, communicating themselves on the pitch.

Whilst players do get taught English and will have language lessons in key phrases and develop their english with time, how else do clubs onboard foreign players with little grasp of English?

In the end of the video you can see Mitro training closely with Lukic, but surely you can't expect Mitro to take on the responsibility of being translator for every conversation, even if they get on really well. So how else during the sessions and when Mitro isn't around do foreign players get embedded?

[SerbianLad]

I have to say I'm very surprised that he's that bad at English. He had at least 8-12 years of classes at school (depending on whether he chose to go to middle school or not, English is a mandatory subject in Serbia, so had it for 8 years at the very least). Maybe he's just not confident enough in his English to do an interview?

That being said, he seems to know the basics which should be enough for him to communicate normaly during training/match. There's that part where he asks for help before the training that proves that imo. Many players didn't learn to speak English really well even if they played there for many years. First person that comes to mind is Sergio Aguero, who always did interviews in Spanish.

I'm sure he'll learn it though, his Italian was worse than his vurrent English, i.e. he didn't speak it at all, and now he is fluent in Italian.

It isn't ideal, but I don't think it is a major concern either.

[filham]

This just has to be said.

If McBride, Dempsey and Ream can overcome the problem and perform so well then it cannot be a handicap for others.

[H4usuallysitting]

As long as he can shout the international language "Taxi", that's all I need

[ianthailand]

As long as he can shout the international language "Taxi", that's all I need

And keep the change!

[Somerset Fulham]

This just has to be said.

If McBride, Dempsey and Ream can overcome the problem and perform so well then it cannot be a handicap for others.

But they erm, speak the same language?

[MisfitKid]

This just has to be said.

If McBride, Dempsey and Ream can overcome the problem and perform so well then it cannot be a handicap for others.

I see what you did there...  :54:

[KeenCottager]

I have to say I'm very surprised that he's that bad at English. He had at least 8-12 years of classes at school (depending on whether he chose to go to middle school or not, English is a mandatory subject in Serbia, so had it for 8 years at the very least). Maybe he's just not confident enough in his English to do an interview?

That being said, he seems to know the basics which should be enough for him to communicate normaly during training/match. There's that part where he asks for help before the training that proves that imo. Many players didn't learn to speak English really well even if they played there for many years. First person that comes to mind is Sergio Aguero, who always did interviews in Spanish.

I'm sure he'll learn it though, his Italian was worse than his vurrent English, i.e. he didn't speak it at all, and now he is fluent in Italian.

It isn't ideal, but I don't think it is a major concern either.

Tbf to you brother, your English is great 👍

[Snibbo]

Sounds to me like he already speaks better English than Scotty P  086.gif

[Sloth]

He will be fine

[SerbianLad]

I have to say I'm very surprised that he's that bad at English. He had at least 8-12 years of classes at school (depending on whether he chose to go to middle school or not, English is a mandatory subject in Serbia, so had it for 8 years at the very least). Maybe he's just not confident enough in his English to do an interview?

That being said, he seems to know the basics which should be enough for him to communicate normaly during training/match. There's that part where he asks for help before the training that proves that imo. Many players didn't learn to speak English really well even if they played there for many years. First person that comes to mind is Sergio Aguero, who always did interviews in Spanish.

I'm sure he'll learn it though, his Italian was worse than his vurrent English, i.e. he didn't speak it at all, and now he is fluent in Italian.

It isn't ideal, but I don't think it is a major concern either.

Tbf to you brother, your English is great 👍

Thanks man, appreciate it  :54: I often make some silly mistakes because I'm not really careful when writing online.

As I said, English is a compulsory subject and most people bellow the age of 40 speak English at the level of Mitro at the very least. Which is why I'm surprised Lukic doesn't seem to speak it well at all. But like I said, I'm sure it won't be a big problem.

[CincyFulham1]

I have to say I'm very surprised that he's that bad at English. He had at least 8-12 years of classes at school (depending on whether he chose to go to middle school or not, English is a mandatory subject in Serbia, so had it for 8 years at the very least). Maybe he's just not confident enough in his English to do an interview?

That being said, he seems to know the basics which should be enough for him to communicate normaly during training/match. There's that part where he asks for help before the training that proves that imo. Many players didn't learn to speak English really well even if they played there for many years. First person that comes to mind is Sergio Aguero, who always did interviews in Spanish.

I'm sure he'll learn it though, his Italian was worse than his vurrent English, i.e. he didn't speak it at all, and now he is fluent in Italian.

It isn't ideal, but I don't think it is a major concern either.

Tbf to you brother, your English is great 👍

Thanks man, appreciate it  :54: I often make some silly mistakes because I'm not really careful when writing online.

As I said, English is a compulsory subject and most people bellow the age of 40 speak English at the level of Mitro at the very least. Which is why I'm surprised Lukic doesn't seem to speak it well at all. But like I said, I'm sure it won't be a big problem.

Maybe he hasn't had to use English much, since he left school.  Probably will get better as time passes and he starts using it daily.

[RaySmith]

I have to say I'm very surprised that he's that bad at English. He had at least 8-12 years of classes at school (depending on whether he chose to go to middle school or not, English is a mandatory subject in Serbia, so had it for 8 years at the very least). Maybe he's just not confident enough in his English to do an interview?

That being said, he seems to know the basics which should be enough for him to communicate normaly during training/match. There's that part where he asks for help before the training that proves that imo. Many players didn't learn to speak English really well even if they played there for many years. First person that comes to mind is Sergio Aguero, who always did interviews in Spanish.

I'm sure he'll learn it though, his Italian was worse than his vurrent English, i.e. he didn't speak it at all, and now he is fluent in Italian.

It isn't ideal, but I don't think it is a major concern either.

Tbf to you brother, your English is great 👍

:plus one:

[RaySmith]

Sounds to me like he already speaks better English than Scotty P  086.gif

But can he speak Saaf London, like wot we speak daan there, know what I mean?

Suppose he's staying in Brixton, for example - and has a night out in the West End, and tries to get a taxi home, will he understand -
'Don't go south of the river mate.'

[General]

This just has to be said.

If McBride, Dempsey and Ream can overcome the problem and perform so well then it cannot be a handicap for others.

And oldie but never ceases to make me laugh from every now and then.

[Holders]

The company I used to work for employed contractors from around the world. One who used to do a lot of jobs for us was a Serbian. One day the Project Manager came into my office and wanted me to recruit him again so I called on speakerphone and a lady answered (his mother as it turned out). I said who we were and asked for Marjan. "Leider er is nicht hier" said his mother. Obviously she couldn't speak English so we carried on in the same language and arranged to speak the following day.

When I rang off the PM's jaw was sagging "I didn't know you could speak Serbian". Now, do I let him think that I can or do I embarrass him by having to explain that it was German and it's not Serbian but Serbo-Croat anyway?

The moral of the story is that his mother was older, probably from the Tito era, and didn't speak English. Younger people will have got it post-Tito at school and probably picked it up as well as we in the UK who are made to do 5 years of French. Besides, it's much easier to learn a language in the country itself. Lukic will be fine. Portuguese would likely be more use anyway!

[Wolf]

To provide something of an answer to the OP I used to have a friend who worked as a Portuguese translator in the North West of England. He was contracted on a couple of occasions by Premier League clubs but the work was largely around the player's non-football life, so houses, schools, shopping etc and media work. I don't believe he was needed for manager/coach to player translation (or if he was it was only briefly), because that is fairly basic stuff requiring a limited vocabulary that can be quite easily picked up.

[General]

To provide something of an answer to the OP I used to have a friend who worked as a Portuguese translator in the North West of England. He was contracted on a couple of occasions by Premier League clubs but the work was largely around the player's non-football life, so houses, schools, shopping etc and media work. I don't believe he was needed for manager/coach to player translation (or if he was it was only briefly), because that is fairly basic stuff requiring a limited vocabulary that can be quite easily picked up.

Thank you. Interestingly the only answer that actually addressed the original question. Fascinating.

[SerbianLad]

The company I used to work for employed contractors from around the world. One who used to do a lot of jobs for us was a Serbian. One day the Project Manager came into my office and wanted me to recruit him again so I called on speakerphone and a lady answered (his mother as it turned out). I said who we were and asked for Marjan. "Leider er is nicht hier" said his mother. Obviously she couldn't speak English so we carried on in the same language and arranged to speak the following day.

When I rang off the PM's jaw was sagging "I didn't know you could speak Serbian". Now, do I let him think that I can or do I embarrass him by having to explain that it was German and it's not Serbian but Serbo-Croat anyway?

The moral of the story is that his mother was older, probably from the Tito era, and didn't speak English. Younger people will have got it post-Tito at school and probably picked it up as well as we in the UK who are made to do 5 years of French. Besides, it's much easier to learn a language in the country itself. Lukic will be fine. Portuguese would likely be more use anyway!

Very interesting story and everything you said about Serbia is true.

In Yugoslavia, English wasn't taught in schools, some other languages were, including German in some parts. Serbian and Croatian are the same language, during Yugoslavia times it was called srpskohrvatski(serbo-croat) in Serbia and hrvatskosrpski(croat-serbian) in Croatia. We understand each other perfectly. Same goes with Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina, while Slovenians speak a slightly different language that's not that easy to understand (differences between Serbian and Croatian are somewhere between the differences between UK English and US English and Brazilian Portuguese and Portugal Portuguese).

In recent years English became a compulsory subject and you have it in school every year, so you have at least 8 years of English classes, and usually you have an additional 3 or 4, because most kids choose to go to high schools. So like you said, older people usually don't speak it well/at all, but younger people usually do.

I'm sure Lukic knows the basics and will do just fine on the training ground/in a match.

[Nero]

I have to say I'm very surprised that he's that bad at English. He had at least 8-12 years of classes at school (depending on whether he chose to go to middle school or not, English is a mandatory subject in Serbia, so had it for 8 years at the very least). Maybe he's just not confident enough in his English to do an interview?

That being said, he seems to know the basics which should be enough for him to communicate normaly during training/match. There's that part where he asks for help before the training that proves that imo. Many players didn't learn to speak English really well even if they played there for many years. First person that comes to mind is Sergio Aguero, who always did interviews in Spanish.

I'm sure he'll learn it though, his Italian was worse than his vurrent English, i.e. he didn't speak it at all, and now he is fluent in Italian.

It isn't ideal, but I don't think it is a major concern either.

How many English footballers can speak French, Spanish or German