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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| Eriol Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6869 days ago 118 posts - 130 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Portuguese | Message 1 of 8 12 April 2006 at 12:06pm | IP Logged |
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Swedish cycling pro Magnus Bäckstedt, most known for winning the Paris-Roubaix race in 2004, supposedly speaks at least five languages at a very good level. This is of course after spending the last ten years competing for teams in various european countries. The languages are:
Swedish - mother tongue. English - his wife is from England and he lives somewhere near Cardiff most of the year. Dutch (or rather flemish) - learnt while he was competing for the Belgian team Collstrop-Lystex. French - Learnt while he was competing for the GAN (later Crédit Agricole) team in France. Italian - Learnt while representing the italian Alessio-Bianchi (later Liquigas-Bianchi) team. German - According to himself he understands 99% of the language but gets into trouble when speaking because he is confusing it with Dutch. There must be lots of sportsmen like this that have been around most of Europe during their careers? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| wombat Tetraglot Groupie Australia Joined 7120 days ago 49 posts - 50 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Thai Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 8 14 April 2006 at 9:00pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Eriol,
That's an interesting story. I think Professional Cyclists have a high level of ability in foreign languages. It's probably because they spend a lot of time in multi-national and multi-lingual teams racing in Europe. I know that a lot of Australian cyclists speak European languages such as French, Italian and Spanish, because they race for teams in those countries. I think you would be hard pressed to find other Australian sportsmen who have such abilities! When there is a big race on tv in Australia, a former or current Australian cycling pro will often interpret during interviews of Spaniards and Italians. I don't know whether you know of the commentator Paul Sherwen - he's an English cycling commentator and in Australia he is a frequent commentator during the the Tour de France etc, and he seems to know a heap of European languages. I've seen him give competent instantaneous translations of interviews with cyclists in Italian, French and Spanish, and I think I've heard him do half-reasonable job translating from German as well. I suspect he's like Backstedt and once raced in those countries, but I'd like to find out more if you have any info on him. Cheers W 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7080 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French | Message 3 of 8 14 April 2006 at 9:26pm | IP Logged |
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Many footballers are in the same boat. They obivously speak their mother tongue (whatever it may be) and then need to learn the language of where ever they may be playing at any given point in their career. This is even more true these days with the increased number of foreign players.
People like Marcel Desailly speak French, Italian and English as a minimum; I remember hearing on a commentary when he was playing at Chelsea that he spoke six languages, although I haven't been able to find out the other three. And I do not know for certain but I would guess someone like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink speaks Dutch, English, Spanish, and Portuguese since he has played in the respective leagues. A little anecdote.. When I was playing in Korea, our team was made up of Korean (obviously), Japanese, German, Dutch, Italian, Brazilian, Polish, and French players (and me, the one native English speaker). It was kind of confusing remembering which language to shout depending on who had the ball. If all else failed I just called in Korean since I figured most people would get the idea. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tjerk Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6760 days ago 54 posts - 59 votes Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 4 of 8 04 June 2006 at 7:24pm | IP Logged |
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I follow quite regularly the cycling news and I can affirm that there are a lot of cyclists who speak more than a few languages. Quite a few of them, those who changed a few times teams and are already 10+ years in the peloton speak 'the six cycling languages' : Dutch/flemish, French, English, German, Italian and Spanish. The countries where the mayor teams are based and the mayor races are held. (thinking of Johan Museeuw, Alex Zulle, Marcel Wust are all quite famous cyclists who spoke the six, but there are a lot more.. certainly also the cyclists who become after their career a soigneur or a team manager)
But although almost all cyclists speak at least three languages (Lance Armstrong is pretty fluent in both French and Spanish.. btw he knows also how to swear in flemish, pretty convincing) you should estimate this knowledge in the right context. They speak very fluent chit chat, small talk, also all stuff involved with cycling and doing races, (Of course it's not that hard to translate a comment of a collegue cyclist, these are very standard interviews with always the same expressions returning over and over) but most of them are not that fluently in reading, writing, having a prolongued conversation about serious topics. But I definitely agree that their conversational basis is a nice thing to have if you cross Europe constantly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| wombat Tetraglot Groupie Australia Joined 7120 days ago 49 posts - 50 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Thai Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 8 05 June 2006 at 6:35pm | IP Logged |
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I was under the impression that Lance Armstrong's French was pretty weak, and that he had been criticised for that in France. I've only ever heard him say a few words in the language, thought that doesn't mean that much since sports coverage in Australia would only show interviews that he did in English, so for all I know he may give loads of interviews in French. But the story I heard was that years ago when he did make an attempt at French, his efforts weren't warmly received (even mocked), so he then decided to stick to English.
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| Tjerk Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6760 days ago 54 posts - 59 votes Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 6 of 8 05 June 2006 at 7:00pm | IP Logged |
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wombat, I've heard also about that criticism against Lance Armstrong, it's true some french journalists offended him, but as you probably agree, french people aren't the easiest and most welcome people when you speak their language. I've heard once an interview in French, it was very decent and fluent from my point of view as a third language speaker, but it's true he decided not to give any interview in French anymore. But I think it's a safe bet to assume he understands everything that's written about him in the french newspapers :-)
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| wombat Tetraglot Groupie Australia Joined 7120 days ago 49 posts - 50 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Thai Studies: Mandarin | Message 7 of 8 05 June 2006 at 7:14pm | IP Logged |
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It seems a bit of a paradox. The French seem to care more than most other countries about getting people to speak their language, but then make it hard for those foreigners who do. I think many other countries don't expect foreigners to speak their language, but when someone does make the effort they are very, very supportive.
In the case of Lance reading what's written about him in French newspapers, perhaps it would be better if he didn't! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| victor Tetraglot Moderator United States Joined 7321 days ago 1098 posts - 1056 votes 6 sounds Speaks: Cantonese*, English, FrenchC1, Mandarin Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 8 05 June 2006 at 8:54pm | IP Logged |
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I briefly remember Lance Armstrong utter something in French last year at the Tour de France while watching French news. I don't remember having a good impression about it though.
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