{"id":2304,"date":"2014-06-06T15:29:15","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T14:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2021-11-18T16:05:01","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T16:05:01","slug":"10-sports-stars-who-speak-other-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/10-sports-stars-who-speak-other-languages\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Sports Stars Who Speak Other Languages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1002\" src=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1199028822.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7784\" srcset=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1199028822.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1199028822-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1199028822-700x468.jpg 700w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1199028822-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-1199028822-120x80.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<style>\nh2 {\nmargin: 3% 0 2% 1%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<p>It can often feel like life is all about sport, whether we like it or not. But have you ever wondered how good sports stars are at languages?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It turns out, pretty good. Like anyone who has to travel a lot for their work, athletes often find knowing only their native language isn&#8217;t enough. Here are 10 great examples of sports stars who speak more than one language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>1. Gary Lineker<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides English, the former&nbsp;footballer learnt <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/spanish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish<\/a> while he was playing for Barcelona, and picked up some <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/storejapanese\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Japanese<\/a> when he later moved to Nagoya Grampus Eight. He&#8217;s now a passionate ambassador for languages in schools, saying in an interview with <a title=\"Gary Lineker languages\" href=\"https:\/\/news.tes.co.uk\/b\/news\/2013\/09\/26\/gary-lineker-foreign-languages-are-not-taken-seriously-in-schools.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TES<\/a> last year, &#8216;the learning of languages, for me, will always be helpful for the vast majority at some stage in their life&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>2. Roger Federer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Not content with winning a frankly quite ridiculous 17 Grand Slam titles, the Swiss tennis player also speaks four&nbsp;languages fluently &#8211; his native <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/german-swiss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Swiss German<\/a> along with <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/french\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/german\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">German<\/a>. He&#8217;s known for his ability to switch effortlessly between languages in interviews and press conferences and can quite comfortably answer journalists&#8217; questions in their own language, a feat some of his fellow tennis players&nbsp;can&#8217;t keep up with. Wouldn&#8217;t be the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>3. Tom Daley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The British diver recently got an A in his <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/spanish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish<\/a> A-level (congrats, Tom!), and makes good use of his language skills when in Mexico, where he spends a lot of his time. Here&#8217;s a <a title=\"Tom Daley speaking Spanish\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y9u8Qbeig_Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">video<\/a> of him showing off his Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>4. Jonny Wilkinson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here in England, Jonny Wilkinson is known (at least by me) as that guy who&#8217;s pretty&nbsp;good at drop goals. But he&#8217;s also a bit of a superstar in France, where he&#8217;s been playing for Toulon since 2009. He&#8217;s now fluent in <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/french\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a> and&nbsp;was awarded <a title=\"Jonny Wilkinson Toulon honorary citizenship\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jonnywilkinson.com\/news\/jonny-wilkinson-awarded-honorary-citizenship-of-toulon-after-guiding-french-side-to-double-in-final-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">honorary citizenship<\/a> of Toulon earlier this week &#8211; giving his acceptance speech in the local language, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>5. Fernando Alonso<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Spanish&nbsp;Formula One racing driver speaks an impressive four languages &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/spanish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/italian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Italian<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/french\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a>. And in case that&#8217;s not enough, he&#8217;s apparently working on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/alo_oficial\/status\/278998722216591361\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Russian<\/a> too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>6. Arsene Wenger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Arsenal manager is well known for his interest in languages, speaking <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/french\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/german\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">German<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/spanish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/italian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Italian<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/japanese\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Japanese<\/a>. Like Gary Lineker, Wenger&#8217;s also known as an ambassador for languages, and last year he was voted Britain&#8217;s&nbsp;first <a title=\"Arsene Wenger Public Language Champion 2013\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britac.ac.uk\/news\/news.cfm\/newsid\/1022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Public Language Champion<\/a> by readers of The Guardian. In this video he explains why languages are so important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"videoWrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"580\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aSWnNRrtfw0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2>7. Novak Djokovic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Never one to let Roger take all the glory, fellow tennis champion Novak Djokovic speaks five languages &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/serbian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Serbian<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/german\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">German<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/italian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Italian<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/french\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a>. He studied&nbsp;English and German at primary school, and learned Italian when he worked with&nbsp;coach Riccardo Piati. In an interview with <a title=\"Djokovic languages Tennis Talk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tennistalk.com\/en\/news\/20130603\/Polyglot_Djokovic_a_master_of_many_tongues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tennis Talk<\/a> in 2013, he said, &#8216;We have a saying in our country: The more languages you know, the more is your worth as a person. I like to understand what people are saying wherever I am, at least to pick up a few phrases of those languages.&#8217;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>8. Paula Radcliffe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe has a first-class degree from Loughborough University in European&nbsp;Studies, and speaks <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/storefrench\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/german\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">German<\/a> fluently. She now lives in Monaco with her husband and two children, who are both bilingual, attending a French school but also&nbsp;fluent in&nbsp;English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>9. Cesc Fabregas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Another Barcelona footballer, Fabregas speaks four languages &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/spanish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spanish<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/catalan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Catalan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/french\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">French<\/a>, and&nbsp;his <a title=\"Cesc Fabregas Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cesc4official\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a> feed is multilingual. When asked about his language skills in 2005, he replied, &#8216;These days you have to keep studying, not least because my mum tells me so.&#8217; Words to live by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>10. Daniela Hantuchova<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>And finally, another tennis player, because tennis is my favourite. Daniela Hantuchova, from Slovakia, is&nbsp;by all accounts a very talented lady. Besides her tennis career, she&#8217;s also a trained classical pianist, and speaks &#8211; wait for it &#8211; six languages: <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/slovak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Slovak<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/czech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Czech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/german\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">German<\/a> fluently, and some <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/croatian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Croatian<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/store\/italian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Italian<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Does anyone else feel like a bit of an underachiever now, or is it just me?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">If you know any other examples of sports stars who speak other languages, please tell us about them in the comments.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It can often feel like life is all about sport, whether we like it or not. But have you ever wondered how good sports stars are at languages? It turns out, pretty good. Like anyone who has to travel a lot for their work, athletes often find knowing only their native language isn&#8217;t enough. Here &#8230; <a title=\"10 Sports Stars Who Speak Other Languages\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/10-sports-stars-who-speak-other-languages\/\" aria-label=\"More on 10 Sports Stars Who Speak Other Languages\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[150,49,244,231,103,3,312,9,170],"tags":[543,544,545,256,546,547,248,548,549,32,550,68,551,48,552,243,64,124,553,554,555,556,557,558,252,8,169,559,560,561,562],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8410,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions\/8410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}