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Bionic Poster
Max Miryni and Ljubicic come to mind.
If we're including former players I would add Wilander. He's the only former Swedish player I know who speaks English without a Swedish accent.
Max Miryni and Ljubicic come to mind.
That's just an assumption.
My wife and me have Serbo-Croatian as the first language, but we speak English to each other too. Actually too much, as out son refuses to speak what should be his native language, except when we are in Serbia or Croatia...
That's just an assumption.
My wife and me have Serbo-Croatian as the first language, but we speak English to each other too. Actually too much, as out son refuses to speak what should be his native language, except when we are in Serbia or Croatia...
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If we're including former players I would add Wilander. He's the only former Swedish player I know who speaks English without a Swedish accent.
See above.I'm curious. Why would you do that?
Who said we are embarrassed? I'm very proud of my language, it's probably the only fully phonetic system of writing.
Simply, we've been abroad for about 27 years. We can speak about professional things (and few other topics) easier in English. I personaly interchangeably think in English and Serbian. We even start a sentence in one and finish in other language.
I guess it's hard to understand for people who didn't live in a completely different language environment for very long time...
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Who said we are embarrassed? I'm very proud of my language, it's probably the only fully phonetic system of writing.
Simply, we've been abroad for about 27 years. We can speak about professional things (and few other topics) easier in English. I personaly interchangeably think in English and Serbian. We even start a sentence in one and finish in other language, sometimes.
I guess it's hard to understand for people who didn't live in a completely different language environment for very long time...
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Wozniacki speaks better English than many native English speakers in the U.S.
You brought up some good points (A-D), which I agree, however I'm going by my own experience in traveling there outside of the large cities. Many times I'd be lost and I'm asking around for assistance, even young school teen kids, but none knew a word of English, not even a "yes" or "no". Even when going to restaurants and retail shops...nothing! Also having met many Japanese in Australia, many of whom lived here for a couple years and still could barely speak English.
Ha. I never said the bar was high.That's true but also a bit of a low bar, don't you think? I mean, many native Americans speak pretty horrendous English...
Rafa is capable of giving interviews in Italian.Nadal actually speaks several languages fluently, including English, but he is too humble to show off too much.
Is your first language french? If not, you might get the feeling that Montreal is a bit more English. Downtown is definitely more anglicized to cater to tourists and business.I've been to Montreal and most people in Montreal and the surrounding area speaks English and a mix of French. However if you leave and go to rural or small towns in Quebec they speak more french then english.
Most educated people in India have great English so it's basically like a native language for them. Shouldn't really be counted in this question.Leander Paes would be one of the best English speaking players on tour.
M.Wilander has lived in the United States since 1987. Do you know any other former Swedish player who has lived in the US for a long time?
Is your first language french? If not, you might get the feeling that Montreal is a bit more English. Downtown is definitely more anglicized to cater to tourists and business.
And if your accent is not perfect in French, people in Montreal are notorious for switching to English to accomodate, even if they don't speak that well. It irritates my wife, who speaks French quite well but, alas, with an accent.
-Bonjouwr, j'aimerais un crwoissant s'il vous plaît.
-Uh yes euh, rite awé, we 'ave uh toaster (toaster is pronounced correctly) rite 'ere four youuu.
Most educated people in India have great English so it's basically like a native language for them. Shouldn't really be counted in this question.
No what I mean is English is almost like a second language to many Indians since they learn it from childhood. I think what the OP wants to know who speak good English without having any formal training or great exposure to it.I understand what you mean, but your perspective seems weird to me. So we shouldn't include anybody educated? We should only include people who aren't educated and learned it directly from their parents? I disagree. I think Indians should definitely be included.
Someone in a post above said Sharapova... but there is no way. Indian speakers are far and away the best English speakers outside of the US/UK. Some of my best friends are Indian and told me because of the caste system in place... speaking English with a large vocabulary is considered to make you a more important person. Someone like Sharapova doesn't have near the English vocabulary of an average-educated Indian. Hell, I'd argue that your average-educated Indian could speak English better than half of the people in the US and UK.
I understand what you mean, but your perspective seems weird to me. So we shouldn't include anybody educated? We should only include people who aren't educated and learned it directly from their parents? I disagree. I think Indians should definitely be included.
Someone in a post above said Sharapova... but there is no way. Indian speakers are far and away the best English speakers outside of the US/UK. Some of my best friends are Indian and told me because of the caste system in place... speaking English with a large vocabulary is considered to make you a more important person. Someone like Sharapova doesn't have near the English vocabulary of an average-educated Indian. Hell, I'd argue that your average-educated Indian could speak English better than half of the people in the US and UK.
So what? Virginia Wade has lived in the US since the 1970s but still retains her English accent. Some players never lose their native accents no matter how long they have lived elsewhere. Wilander is an obvious exception (to me anyway).
You compared Wilander with other former Swedish players. But the language environments in which they have lived have been different.
Two corrections:Federer is almost a native speaker because his mother speaks English and he grew up speaking English with his mom. Federer's language skills are largely overrated. He obviously speaks Swiss German which is his native language, English is his close second language and he spent many years in a French speaking region of Switzerland. So all three languages came naturally to him.
Is your first language french? If not, you might get the feeling that Montreal is a bit more English. Downtown is definitely more anglicized to cater to tourists and business.
And if your accent is not perfect in French, people in Montreal are notorious for switching to English to accomodate, even if they don't speak that well. It irritates my wife, who speaks French quite well but, alas, with an accent.
-Bonjouwr, j'aimerais un crwoissant s'il vous plaît.
-Uh yes euh, rite awé, we 'ave uh toaster (toaster is pronounced correctly) rite 'ere four youuu.
Two corrections:
a)Fed never spoke any French until he was 14 years old and was sent to Genf to an academy. He never spent "many years" there, he spent less than a year there. Fed speaks fluent French because his physio speaks only French.
b) Fed's mother tongue is indeed Swiss-German AND English. Lynnette spoke only English to him as a baby and boy, Robbie spoke Swiss-German.
And of course it's beyond belief that you speak of a man who speaks four languages flawlessly as having "overrated" language skills. Truly cringe worthy. I'm sure is 20 slams is also "largely overrated." How about getting off the hate train?
No I think he included Spanish cuz Federer spoke Spanish once in some random commercial with Nadal and now thinks he’s fluent in it.Basel is right at the border of France and a bilingual city, anyone who's from Basel is exposed to French right from the childhood. So it's hard to believe that French was completely alien to him, or anyone from Basel for that matter. Although most people there speak Swiss German as their first language, many understand/speak French too. Federer too probably had a decent understanding of it. His language skills are overrated because commentators always go gaga over how he speaks so many languages as if he's some kind of a genius polyglot. The truth is anyone with an above average IQ would have been able to do exactly what Federer did in his position, language wise of course. This is not hate, this is a fact.
And 4 languages? I thought he only spoke Swiss German, French and English? What's the 4th one? Are you counting German as the 4th one?
No, you made assumptions about Rafa's family. I only gave an example of my own family, I didn't even speak about Rafa's.So, you are making assumptions about Rafa & his family, based on your own life experiences! But Rafa has lived his whole life in the native/first language environment. His family has lived in Mallorca and he has travelled with people who have spoken his native language. His mother once said that they avoid talking about tennis (i.e. about Rafa's "professional things") at home, because they want Rafa to relax at home. So, nothing forces Rafa's family members to talk to each other in a non-native language.
No, you made assumptions about Rafa's family. I only gave an example of my own family, I didn't even speak about Rafa's.
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Still, Japanese talk in English better than Americans speak Japanese.I'm not surprised about Nishikori's English. Most Japanese do not speak English and are neither interested in learning it. Yes even the younger generation (15-25)! There is a very small percentage, I'm guessing 1-4% that speak it, and that is only coming from those that live in the large cities and have some connection to (or have an interest in) Western countries. Outside the large cities, you'd be extremely hard pressed in finding someone that can speak some English (even remotely).
Yeah, most Americans and British don't learn any second language simply because they don't need it.I think it's simply because English is the language of the United States, the world's most powerful country and most powerful economy. If the Americans spoke French then that would be the international language today, certainly not English.
No, you made assumptions about Rafa's family. I only gave an example of my own family, I didn't even speak about Rafa's.
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... is not amazingHis English
Omg LoLYou sure, mate?
Nadal is so good in English that he translated Djokovic's English into Mallorcan English
Hmm. I wonder what was your purpose of giving the example of your family when replying to my comment about Rafa:
https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...s-native-speakers.624227/page-3#post-12610423
Most educated people in India have great English so it's basically like a native language for them. Shouldn't really be counted in this question.
You made an assumption about Rafa's family speaking only Catalan at home. I gave you an example of my family being bilingual at home, without making any assumptions about Rafa, or anyone else. It was just to show that we can not really guess what people speak at home.Hmm. I wonder what was your purpose of giving the example of your family when replying to my comment about Rafa:
https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...s-native-speakers.624227/page-3#post-12610423
On the woman's side I think Genie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova's English is pretty good! Bouchard is from Montreal which is French speaking and Sharapova is Russian.
Juan Del Proto speaks English is decent too!
You made an assumption about Rafa's family speaking only Catalan at home. I gave you an example of my family being bilingual at home, without making any assumptions about Rafa, or anyone else. It was just to show that we can not really guess what people speak at home.
Then you went ahead to accuse me of your own "sin".
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This thread is not about Nadal. Irrelevance is a reportable offence.
Depends on which part of Montreal you're from. Genie's native language is English. She learned French in school like so many other Canadians do but her family is definitely very English from the rich English speaking area of Montreal. Her French was basic until she started training at the Tennis Training Centre where she was exposed to many native French speaking players and she picked up enough of the language there to speak it well enough to conduct interviews but she's not what you would qualify as really fluent in French.On the woman's side I think Genie Bouchard and Maria Sharapova's English is pretty good! Bouchard is from Montreal which is French speaking and Sharapova is Russian.
Juan Del Proto speaks English is decent too!
Octo, leave it alone. Please.Hmm. But you have posted at least 12 (!) comments about him for some reason (I wonder, what's your reason?).
Which I never did.Yes, you can't guess what others are doing based on your own life.