Okay, Greekness and all you other Baggy fans....

[Marius_Hancu]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

I think it's petty that you care whether or not he speaks English at all. It really isn't necessary in his profession. Coria hasn't spoken a word in all his years on tour.
Nadal has enough to worry about-playing & winning tennis matches. Nothing else matters, certainly not his English skills.

It doesn't bother me at all if Nadal (or anyone else) doesn't speak English. But if he's decided to do it, better do it well, start with some good fundamentals. Just learning it by the ear isn't the most effective way.

[Marius_Hancu]

double post. sorry.

[VamosRafa]

Originally Posted by Marius_Hancu

It doesn't bother me at all if Nadal (or anyone else) doesn't speak English. But if he's decided to do it, better do it well, start with some good fundamentals. Just learning it by the ear isn't the most effective way.

Again, Marius, I think he's more focused on his tennis. Which I think is appropriate. He's no different than Moya, Ferrero, Robredo, Costa and others at his age. Alex Corretja is an anomoly, as he had beautiful English skills to start with, but that's not true in general of these players. In a few years, Rafa's English will be acceptable -- much better than our Spanish, I'm sure.

And his Spanglish is something that perhaps wouldn't be acceptable with Moya, but with a teenager it's okay. Look at all he has to deal with at his age; and if this is his only failing, well, who cares?

BTW, I don't think that's true re Catalan and Mallorqui. There's more of a French inflection in those dialects, at least in Catalan. And many Spanish people on our site cannot speak Catalan or Mallorqui. It's very easy for me to get Spanish translations of items, but if I need something in Catalan or Mallorqui, it's much more difficult. Perhaps some of our Spanish visitors here can comment on it more. But one of the big bones of contention with our site from Spanish fans is that it's not in Catalan, which is Rafa's primary "home" language.

[VamosRafa]

Originally Posted by superman1

The only thing is he sort of talks from his throat, he makes that throat clearing sound when he talks. But his English is certainly more impressive than most people's Spanish. Es muy bien.

That's because the "h" sound is generally silent in Spanish. So when he or many other Spanish speakers say the "h" sound it comes out "hech," because they are not used to pronouncing an "h." It's very common.

[superman1]

Even when he's not saying h. Like when he says, "It's very good," it sounds like, "Icks vckerry good."

[diegaa]

Originally Posted by superman1

Even when he's not saying h. Like when he says, "It's very good," it sounds like, "Icks vckerry good."

LMAO. c´mon man, its nothing like that. i must admit that spanish accent is quite funny. but the main problem for spanish people is the "sh" sound. as well said, and because the "h" is silent in spanish, words like "shell" or "show" sound like "sell" or "sow". so it´s all messed up.
(BTW, I´m argentinian but i´ve been living in spain for several years now - and we don´t have this particular problem as we do have the "sh" sound. of course, we have others... )


The catalan you might say has some fench influence, but it´s more similar to spanish than french by a lot. (spanish is my native language and I can speak some french too). And again, Mallorqui is almost the same that catalan.

[VolklVenom]

he is a top 10 player. He just needs the eye of the tiger which he certainly doen't have, yet.