Nadal L'Equipe Interview: "I want to become like before"

The_Order

G.O.A.T.
If there's an Alien invasion, we'll be sure to send Fed out there to communicate. The man's so great he can probably speak alien.
 

Mick

Legend
this is comedy gold.He doesn't have assess to Eurosports!! lol

i think it's perfectly normal for Nadal not to be interested in watching his rivals matches. The same goes for Federer, and all the top guys. I remember they asked Federer the same question one when he lost early and he didn't say he would watch that GS final.
 

smoledman

G.O.A.T.
Nadal is delusional about his future prospects. Of course Federer is also delusional, but what can you do.
 

Emet74

Professional
This has to be due to his natural gravitation towards learning other languages, right?. I mean, he must have showed a lot more interest in learning english at a young age since there is such a massive difference between his and his sisters english skills.

What makes you think his sister's english is so bad? I've only ever seen one interview and she seemed fluent though yes her accent was stronger. She must speak decent English as she attended nursing school in Miami.

Fed's English is far from perfect but his accent is fairly soft, probably from some combination of spending so much time in an English-speaking environment nowdays and also having a good natural ear. No question Fed has a good ear for languages.

I also spoke different languages to my mom and dad at an early age and have a good ear for foreign language as well - I always assumed these were related, but maybe it's partially a natural gift too, lol :)
 

Sid_Vicious

G.O.A.T.
What makes you think his sister's english is so bad? I've only ever seen one interview and she seemed fluent though yes her accent was stronger. She must speak decent English as she attended nursing school in Miami.

Fed's English is far from perfect but his accent is fairly soft, probably from some combination of spending so much time in an English-speaking environment nowdays and also having a good natural ear. No question Fed has a good ear for languages.

I also spoke different languages to my mom and dad at an early age and have a good ear for foreign language as well - I always assumed these were related, but maybe it's partially a natural gift too, lol :)

Her english is not bad, but the accent was a lot stronger and, basically, you could tell in a second she was not a native speaker (she also made quite a few mistakes, but you could understand what she was saying pretty well.). Federer's english is not perfect , but he speaks very fluently with no accent( imo at least). Every now and then he uses funny words like in Madrid last year "The courts are too slippy" or something.
 
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Emet74

Professional
Her english is not bad, but the accent was a lot stronger and, basically, you could tell in a second she was not a native speaker (she also made quite a few mistakes, but you could understand what she was saying pretty well.). Federer's english is not perfect , but he speaks very fluently with no accent( imo at least). Every now and then he uses funny words like in Madrid last year "The courts are too slippy" or something.

Well I wouldn't say "no accent" :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00QND7e8Dg

As for Nadal, he gets so much flack for his not-great English but I don't remember David Ferrer's English being any too hot, is it? I think in general because so much of the world population speaks Spanish, native Spanish speakers tend not to learn English as early / well, just like the Chinese players tend to have poor English skills. Meanwhile, folks like Fed and Novak whose native languages are Swiss-German and Serbo-Croation which are used by such small populations will on average have be more adept at "the international language."

I know I'm oversimplifying but still.
 

tusharlovesrafa

Hall of Fame
Her english is not bad, but the accent was a lot stronger and, basically, you could tell in a second she was not a native speaker (she also made quite a few mistakes, but you could understand what she was saying pretty well.). Federer's english is not perfect , but he speaks very fluently with no accent( imo at least). Every now and then he uses funny words like in Madrid last year "The courts are too slippy" or something.

I honestly find federer's English very attractive to hear.It's far easy for me to understand him than you can say an American.Being in Indian I have no accent and i like people who don't speak with any accent.:)

PS:I shared my experience in this this video few days ago,this video was shot by an amateur.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1fzzcvyHtI
 
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Sid_Vicious

G.O.A.T.
I honestly find federer's English very attractive to hear.It's far easy for me to understand him than you can say an American.Being in Indian I have no accent and i like people who don't speak with any accent.:)

Wouldn't you say that Federer's accent in english is closer to American than British or Australian?
 

Sid_Vicious

G.O.A.T.
Well I wouldn't say "no accent" :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00QND7e8Dg

As for Nadal, he gets so much flack for his not-great English but I don't remember David Ferrer's English being any too hot, is it? I think in general because so much of the world population speaks Spanish, native Spanish speakers tend not to learn English as early / well, just like the Chinese players tend to have poor English skills. Meanwhile, folks like Fed and Novak whose native languages are Swiss-German and Serbo-Croation which are used by such small populations will on average have be more adept at "the international language."

I know I'm oversimplifying but still.

hahah

Federer also says the word rhythm a little funny
 

tusharlovesrafa

Hall of Fame
Wouldn't you say that Federer's accent in english is closer to American than British or Australian?

I would say his accent is closer to English /Australian.I realized that people get different perception while listening to federer.A big reason people here didn't listen much to Micheal Jackson because how fast he sang those songs,people just didn't understand anything..:)
 

Emet74

Professional
I would say his accent is closer to English /Australian.I realized that people get different perception while listening to federer.A big reason people here didn't listen much to Micheal Jackson because how fast he sang those songs,people just didn't understand anything..:)

Fed's accent in English is definately closer to American.
I think the reason you understand him well is that he speaks clearly, but as you say, a little more slowly than a native speaker.

It's the same for me when I listen to Fed interviews in French - I understand his answers w/ my bad highschool level French much better than the interviewer's questions, as he speaks more slowly, and to my ear, more clearly.
 

mandy01

G.O.A.T.
I've noticed Roger's accent changes according to the place he's in. Mostly, it's toward American thanks to the continuous presence of Tony Godsick, Annacone et al plus his American celebrity friends. But I do sense a change, for instance, in his interviews at Wimbledon. Almost as if he subconsciously modifies his style.
And yeah, he's definitely very easy to understand. Especially compared to Murray who's words I just cannot catch on the first hearing.
 

TennisLovaLova

Hall of Fame
what's that nonsense about playing with pain in the knee and believing what doctors say about that pain disappearing while playing???!!!!
 
D

Deleted member 77403

Guest
I liked that interview. :)

He seems eager to be back
 

Alchemy-Z

Hall of Fame
We’ll see. It’s true that I won’t be the favourite in Paris but I don’t need to be in order to win.

Vamos!!
 

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Yes, well, the Australian accent is not really spoken by the majority of the population. It's somewhat of a relic of rural Australian that has made its way into deprived urban environments. Its use among the educated is for comic purposes.

On the other hand, there is a distince vowel pattern and slightly more nasal intonation that is widespread.
 

Goosehead

Legend
I can't believe I am defending my Idol Nadal but why should Nadal have to learn English anyway? Why don't more people learn to speak his native languages Spanish and Catalan? There is a lot of arrogance in the English language world that everybody has to learn to speak English. Some people don't want to learn English or choose not to.

Nadal's English isn't the best but I can understand him when he speaks English it has improved a lot.

Nadal is a smart guy it just makes sense that he of course is more articulate in languages where he is more proficient such as Spanish or Catalan.

Not everybody is like an Arantxa Sanchez Vicario she can speak five languages fluently or a Roger Federer who can speak three languages fluently.

Remember, Spanish is one of the most spoken languages on the planet. Millions of people speak Spanish.

Also, Nadal speaks Catalan, which is another language that is independent from Spanish. In Spain right now, there is a region called Catalonia which wants to separate from the rest of Spain.

english is the default 'international language'..thats just the way things have gone..deal with it..:confused:

the rise of the internet and better global travel links/ communications have enhanced this position..the british empire was economically dominant in africa, far east, carribean, and usa/canada..in the late 19th century the usa started to go past us (britain) economically..and since then the usa have been the global superpower (with a 3oyr post war period with ussr also)..once you get a critical mass of global transactions in one language then its game over.

the usa speaking 'english' is a major reason why the globalspeak is in english also..if the mother language of usa had been spanish/portuguese/dutch then maybe, when in the early 20th century usa was 'taking over' we might have a different language..but even then english still might have won through :-|
 
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Roddick85

Hall of Fame
I'm glad to see that Nadal still has that fire to comeback and be the best again. I think people were very quick to write him off last year when he was injured, and I sincerely hope he will prove people wrong. People claim that younger players have stepped up since he left, but Djokovic/Murray are only a year younger. Beside that, who really stepped up to the plate in the top 10 that is significantly younger than Nadal? No one.

I'm looking forward to seeing him back into tournaments finals. I would love to see a Federer-Nadal rematch at Wimbledon or see them go at it in the US Open Final for the first time before either of them retires. I'd also like to see some more Djokovic-Nadal finals, 2011 created an interesting match up/rivalry between them. Overall I think that we as tennis fan's can only benefit from having Nadal back.
 

CMM

Legend
Interesting to read again after a few months... :)

Q: If we tell you that you will win the US Open next year, do you think that this would be possible?
Rafa: I will tell you that I don’t know. And I’m telling you that I didn’t know it in 2010 before winning it. But if my knee is well, give me a reason to prevent me from believing in it. Just one. I spent the previous eight years being the world number one or two, so I dare to hope that I haven’t forgotten how to play tennis within seven months. I don’t want to appear arrogant but I just want to say think that I can go back to that level.

This too after the Cilic situation.
Q: Don’t you think that the results of the doping tests need to be made public?
Rafa: That would be the best. That’s the thing! If all tests would be made public, it would calm down the rumours surrounding the sport. I’m all for it.
 

RF20Lennon

Legend
Yeah and Fed thinks he's better now than he was when he was losing 4 matches a year. It's just ego driven delusion.

Yeah i know right! Nadal was a monster on clay!! 2008 RG Nadal = UNBEATABLE.

Same with 2006 Fed on most courts.

But they are deluded with egos.
 
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