As an Englishman (despite being based in Scotland), I must admit to getting a wee bit excited over the past couple of weeks. And I think I can be forgiven. It’s not incredibly often that the World Cup goes our way. You see, it’s not always about Eurovision with me – football gets a look-in, too.
It was a long time coming for me, this love of football. As a sports-shy teen, I was more interested in books than boots. But there’s something wonderfully enticing about international sports competitions – something that plays right into the hands of language lovers. Pelé’s jogo bonito (beautiful game) can be a beautiful way to switch on to languages, not least in the role model department.
Multilingual football players
Football players often get a bad rap for being overblown idols. We all know the stereotype of the precious, overpaid divas (perhaps fairly earned by a few!). But look a little closer, and there are some remarkable people hiding behind the headline-hoggers. Some of them make perfect polyglot pinups.
As a prime example, Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku is a standout. With six languages – or more, if you count the fact that he is currently learning German – he earns the badge of hyperglot football star, let alone polyglot. Truly a world citizen. And Lukaku has more than that to celebrate right now, with Belgium making the final four for the football trophy this week (allez les diables!).
Breaking the stereotype
On the other hand, Brits have a pretty poor record when it comes to language learning. For whatever reason, it’s a reality language teachers are working hard to change in British schools. But with international signings going both ways, some British players, like Gary Lineker, have managed to overcome this national stereotype in the past. Modern football is anything but an exclusively anglophone field (pitch?). The message to sports-mad kids is clear: love football? Then embrace language as an integral part of that!
For an inspirational line-up, there is a handy YouTube video profiling polyglot players with four or more languages (with rather more recent examples than Gary Lineker!).
Multilingual football teams
It’s also notable how multilingual teams are the norm these days. Players drafted from all over the world must learn to communicate with each other from day one. Just look at Tottenham Hotpur: its current squad includes speakers of Dutch, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili.
And it’s not always the case that English rules all as lingua franca. International sports sites must cater for all areas of the world, and English is not spoken by everybody. The FIFA site reflects this nicely in its language options, with material in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Russian and Spanish. The multilingual nature of sites like this make for excellent target language resources.
Football news
Similarly, it goes without saying that the World Cup is a fantastic time to access foreign language content about national teams in particular. And if you get into the football, you benefit from that boost to learning that is personal interest. Learners are much more likely to stick with texts that contain exciting, valuable info, rather than those with little relevance to their lives.
Most media outlets will have dedicated World Cup mini-sites, like this section from French newspaper Le Monde. ‘Unofficial’ news sources such as this YouTube channel on football in Spanish can also be great stretch goals for comprehension.
So, football can be a wonderful way in to the world of language learning, whether you need resources, or just some new, inspirational role models. Could it be what you, your language buddies and colleagues, your kids or your students need to spark the passion? With a week of the World Cup to go, milk the multilingual excitement for all it offers!
Finally, best of luck to Belgium, Croatia, England and France next week… With perhaps an understandable, healthy and sportsmanlike bias towards England on the part of this proud, international linguist!