How Do Footballers Communicate With Each Other Due To Language Differences?
I've always wondered how footballers normally adapt to languages, especially to a language which is a bit difficult to understand. Take for example, if I travel to China to study as a Nigerian, of course I know it will be a hard time for me to communicate with my fellow students until I get to learn and decode the basic part of the language
Now, let's relate that to football. Imagine an England born player sold to Bayern Munich, it would be difficult for him to adapt to a new language, culture, tradition and location, at least for some time. The same can be said about other football leagues too.
Looking at Gareth Bale, he did not know any Spanish before moving to Madrid but he can now speak Spanish after some years, and this same thing can be said about other players in other leagues too. As a footballer, language barrier doesn't really play a significant role during transfer since it's not a factor that will affect their performance on the pitch.
On the pitch, there are usually hand gestures players normally use to communicate with one another such as using the arms straight down, or pointing to a player they want their fellow player to pass to. This is something that happens on the pitch every now and then.
Now to my question, how do players communicate off pitch using Cristiano Ronaldo who's now at Juventus as an example, does he go around with a translator anytime he's having a hangout with he fellow players?
Another thing I'm curious about is how these same players communicate or argue with referees on the pitch since I know it's very unlikely for the ref to speak their own native language. Also we also watched world cup, not every player could speak English and not every referee can speak or understand the native language of every player yet these players communicate with the referee and you will see the referee nodding in affirmation as if he really understands what the player is saying
Please throw more light on this issue in the comment section if you have the right answers
Originally posted on my Scorum