why is nadal's english so poor?

[Dilettante]

From your response dogmatism and nationalism is obvious..." hey I am spanish so spanish only, get it?.." sorry dude, this is the laziest approach. A player as high profile as Nadal should know better.
At least you could come up with better excuses than movies,
You want to know why he doesnt speak good English? because he is more about brawn than brain. He spends more time body building and spends no time behind the computer or learning anything outside the gym.
Have you ever seen him post video messages during a tournament for his fans the way Federer does? No. Just go and compare their facebook pages.

Instead of defending your hero and ridiculous excuses like movies and tourists, just say he doesnt care, he is not the type to bother about those type of things. That would make more sense, and it's probably true.

Well dude, if your only intention is to bash Nadal (who I'm not trying to "defend" him but to explain him... speaking badly a foreign idiom is nothing to be "defended of") and even to bash me, I have not much more to say to you. It's obvious you have not understand my posts, maybe it's my fault for having a bad English, but I promise I'll keep on my efforts on learning it.

By the way, and maybe it's due (again) to my poor English, your answers seemed to me to be somewhat obtuse, short-minded and rigid. Also, I had the impression that you tried to twist the whole point of my messages in your responses. But maybe it's only because my English readind comprehension is not good enough. Maybe your answers were smart and interesting and I just missed the point because my mother language is different to yours (is there an option that we continue the debate in Spanish? That would solve my comprehension problems)

Last but not least, let me encourage you to try some biographic readings about Joseph Conrad (pick the language you like the most for the reading) and of course some stuff about the process of learning a language and the importance of acoustically being used to its sounds at an early age. But maybe the ignorance on these topics is (yet again!) just a misunderstanding I made because my... you know the rest.

Keep well.

 

[chess9]

English and Gremans speak to each other, not to the Mallorcans. BTW, how many English people speak a foreign language?

About as many as do in the USA,

And why would Nadal want to speak German?

Considering 2nd language acquisition is extremely difficult for an adult, Nadal speaks pretty well.

England is full of immigrants, particularly with the EU policy of allowing migration. They have lots of Eastern Europeans.

Plus, the native English learn a foreign language before age 16, for the most part. And the Scottish and Welsh must learn English! lol!

-Robert

 

[rod99]

And this differs how, exactly, from English? The vast majority of first-language English-speakers reside in the USA-- roughly 250 million (depending on the specific estimate) of our 300 million or so population. This dwarfs the populations of Britain, Australia and Canada combined. English is not widely spoken at all in India-- at most 5% of the pop. has even basic ability in it, and it's rarely used as a first language anywhere there. Hindi is the most widely-spoken language, though Tamil and Telugu predominate in the south. (Even there, in contrast to 30 years ago, a sort of basic "Mumbai Hindi" is popular as I found out there a few years ago.)

And Chinese is spoken not only by well in excess of 1 billion people in China, but also in Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, and growing as a second language in the rest of Asia, S. America, even in Europe. So it's not only by far the world's most-spoken first language (sorry, but this is not in dispute in any reputable source), but (along with German) among the fastest-growing second languages and also among the most economically important. So yes, when it comes to "universal languages," Chinese is right up there.

since you're obviously missing the point of my original post, let me simplify this to you. and keep in mind that i'm not some american snob who thinks everything should revolve around english. nor am i a nadal hater. i would make the same post if this was federer, roddick, djokovic, whoever. i'm just stating facts:

- regardless of what the international language of business is, the international language of tennis is english. it always has been and always will be. the chair umpire says the score (in addition to the local language) in english in every tournament except roland garros, media questions are always fielded in english, most sponsorship obligations require english to be spoken etc, etc. this is never going to change.

- when you are #1 in the world, you do have more of an obligation than to just play tennis. it brings about a whole new set of responsibilities. growing the game is one of them. of course, nadal cannot learn every language of every new potential player, but he does have an obligation to reach out to potential new players to encourage them to pick up the game. and the most common language which is spoken in the most countries is english (not german, not chinese, not hindi). chinese and hindi might be spokent by more people (i don't know the facts), but they are congregated within a single country's border. speaking english is easiest way to communicate with people across borders, especially when you are one of the figureheads of the ATP.

- nadal is sponsored by an american company (Nike) and most of his off the court requirements (sponsors, media, ATP awards ceremonies, guest appearances, etc) require english to be spoken. it would just make things easier on him if he improved his english.

- your comment about only 5% of Indian people speak english might be true, but Indian players like Mirza, Paes, Bhupati, Krishnan, Armitraj speak english just fine.

- again, with the amount of English that is required as a top ATP player, I just find it interesting that nadal hasn't improved his english more. he can certainly speak english, but he speaks it worse than everyone of the top 30 or so players (except maybe Davydenko). this is not subjective, this is a fact.

 

[pmerk34]

since you're obviously missing the point of my original post, let me simplify this to you. and keep in mind that i'm not some american snob who thinks everything should revolve around english. i'm just stating facts:

- regardless of what the international language of business is, the international language of tennis is english. it always has been and will always will be. the chair umpire says the score (in addition to the local language) in english in every tournament except roland garros, media questions are always fielded in english, most sponsorship obligations require english to be spokent etc, etc. this is never going to change.

- when you are #1 in the world, you do have more of an obligation than to just play tennis. it brings about a whole new set of responsibilities. growing the game is one of them. of course, nadal cannot learn every language of every new potential player, but he does have an obligation to reach out to potential new players to encourage them to pick up the game. and the most common language which is spoken in the most countries is english (not german, not chinese, not hindi). chinese and hindi might be spokent by more people (i don't know the facts), but they are congregated within a single country's border. speaking english makes things much easier when you are the figurehead of the ATP.

- nadal is sponsored by an american company (Nike) and most of his off the court requirements (sponsors, media, ATP awards ceremonies, guest appearances, etc) require english to be spoken. it would just make things easier on him if he improved his english.

- your comment about only 5% of Indian people speak english might be true, but Indian players like Mirza, Paes, Bhupati, Krishnan, Armitraj speak english just fine.

- again, with the amount of English that is required as a top ATP player, I just find it interesting that nadal hasn't improved his english more. he can certainly speak english, but his speaks it worse than everyone of the top 30 or so players (except maybe Davydenko). this is not subjective, this is a fact.

Oh no doubt.

 

[Dilettante]

when you are #1 in the world, you do have more of an obligation than to just play tennis. it brings about a whole new set of responsibilities. growing the game is one of them. of course, nadal cannot learn every language of every new potential player, but he does have an obligation to reach out to potential new players to encourage them to pick up the game.

Because you said so?

Being tennis #1 is just a circunstance in a game rankings. Being tennis #1 is not like holding a public office. You can't ask a #1 to do anything than you don't ask any other player.

- nadal is sponsored by an american company (Nike) and most of his off the court requirements (sponsors, media, ATP awards ceremonies, guest appearances, etc) require english to be spoken.

Sponsoring a player is a company's choice and let the company decide if player's level of speech is or not is good enough to them to keep sponsoring him. Let them also decide what offcourt requeriments they ask by contract, and hoy they want them to be performed. It's not up to you, not up to me, it's just up to Nike.

Unless you are Nike CEO and I didn't know about that.

 

[rod99]

Because you said so?

Being tennis #1 is just a circunstance in a game rankings. Being tennis #1 is not like holding a public office. You can't ask a #1 to do anything than you don't ask any other player.


this is not true at all. when you are #1 (which he was at the time of my original post), then it carries a whole new set of responsibilities. i've heard announcers mention this many times. beginners and people thinking about picking up the game want to know who the best is and look up to that person. there is certainly an unwritten rule that states this.

 

[Dilettante]

this is not true at all. when you are #1 (which he was at the time of my original post), then it carries a whole new set of responsibilities.

I'll ask again: because you said so?

There are no more responsabilities to a #1 player than to any other player. "Unwritten rules" and what announcers could have to say about that mean nothing.

A profesional tennis player is a private individual as any other, he's not in charge of any public office and you can't ask him to do anything that you wouldn't ask to any other individual. It's up to a tennis player if he wants to learn a language or not. If he doesn't want to do it and that affects his fame or his sponsoring contracts, it's just his/her problem but noone has the right to tell him how to spend his own time and how to spend his own efforts.

As long as I know, being a pro tennis player or becoming #1 don't give anyone more extra responsabilities other than the responsabilities inherent to any citizen in the world. I don't think they are forced to sign any contract saying "if I become the #1, I'll acquire this and that new responsabilities". I don't think there's a law about that neither.

And for the sponsoring contracts, they are just like any other private contracts in the world: two partners sign it, and it's up to them to decide if the contract is being satisfactorily accomplished.

The "responsabilities" you talk about are just wishful thinking inventions from some people according to their own mentalities, but I don't think that those same people would accept to carry with the responsabilities that I might invent any given moment.

It's easy to sit there and tell people "you should do this and that", but that's not the way the world works. There are certain written rules, and there is certain amount of individual freedom.

 

[Deleted member 22147]

Half of the people on this forum can barely speak English, confusing then and than and to and too and saying prolly instead of probably, I mean, none of you guys can talk.

 

[pmerk34]

Half of the people on this forum can barely speak English, confusing then and than and to and too and saying prolly instead of probably, I mean, none of you guys can talk.

Maybe they learned from Nadals' tutor.

 

[catskillthunder]

From my understanding the top 2 most difficult languages to learn are English and Russian. I myself speak, English (native) Italian, Vietnamese (Im slow at translation) and a little Bosnian (still learning).

 

[Forehand Forever]

We know. Try to read the entire thread before commenting. Thanks.

calm calm calm.

 

[Lifted]

I'm really don't like Nadal's game and am not a fan at all...and I don't give a poop that he speaks English "poorly." This is coming from a guy who loves language learning and encourages everyone to learn another (one or two) languages. I don't think Nadal is obligated to learn another language, either.

Dajcie spokój!

 

[THESEXPISTOL]

Besides my mother language i speak english and spanish fluently.

 

[jaap deboeck]

I assume Rafa speaks Catalan and Spanish. As noted, he spends very little time in the USA and England. More importantly, tennis in no big deal in the States any longer and outside of Murray, England isn't much intersted either. Rafa has scant need for English as his endorsement base is Europe -- this sport has really left the USA orbit some time ago.

Generally the South Americans and Spanish players are weakest in English, though Rafa is the poorest English speaker I can recall amongst the elite stars. I'd much prefer if his comments were translated (as with some boxers) as we'd learn far more about him that way than from his barely rudimentary English narrative.

 

[cucio]

From my understanding the top 2 most difficult languages to learn are English and Russian. I myself speak, English (native) Italian, Vietnamese (Im slow at translation) and a little Bosnian (still learning).

From my understanding (Spaniard) English basic grammar is a piece of cake compared to Spanish, French or Dutch, which are the other languages I know. Lexicon is tough, though. And keeping track of all those phrasal verbs is nightmarish.

Regarding worst English speakers, malakas conveniently omitted Greeks, which butcher it very proficiently . I studied for four years in a Dutch institution along with people of dozens different nationalities and it would be hard to say who were the worst collectively. Spaniards were definitely down there, with Frenchies, Greeks, Italians, Arabs... heck, even Australians you could say speak a horrible English, from an International English perspective.

Re the OP, if I were Nadal I would seize the opportunity to hone my English in an international environment as a bonus of a touring tennis player career, but that's me. I wonder too if his limited English is not a hindrance when representing other players at the ATP Council.

 

[~ZoSo~]

So Federer speaking 4 languages isn't a positive trait? Nadal not even speaking 2 languages ok for a world-class player whose job is to help build tennis up?

Its hard to believe that A-list fed ****s are still scraping this barrel but here goes.
Maybe rafa laments the fact that fed speaks more languages due to growing up in a place where everyone speaks lots of languages. Hopefully rafa is able to reflect on the many pasteings he has handed to fed in countless slam finals and the world will seem a much fairer place

 

[sjam316]

Nadal's english is actually pretty good for a spanish speaker, all the spanish speakers around here (the US) are mexicans who live her for years and years and never learn any english

 

[rod99]

Nadal's english is actually pretty good for a spanish speaker, all the spanish speakers around here (the US) are mexicans who live her for years and years and never learn any english

and those spanish speakers aren't traveling the world and being constantly interviewed by the english media. that's like comparing apples to oranges.