Italian national but cant speak Italian ??

Hi,

I dunno if this is an addressed issue.. But I was just looking at a few players in my team today and I found out that Ganso (Paulo Henrique), who became an Italian national after playing at my club for the past 6 seasons or so, cant speak Italian.. It seems he can only speak Portuguese and some (basic) Spanish!! Is this a bug? I mean living in a country for 6 years or so, and becoming a national and you cant even speak some basic language ?? Or is it hidden ??

Are you sure he didn't start with Italian as second nationality? I think he has Italian passport because of his ancestry, like a lot of white South Americans.

I am reasonably sure... though I'll take a look at the db to see what that says.. But yes, I dont think Ganso, even irl has an Italian passport... Hes supposed to be the next big thing from Brazil after Neymar. and both of them play for the same club as well...

EDIT: Just checked the db.. and you are correct. The guy does have Italy listed as the second nationality.

But um, he still should learn Italian after playing in the country for 6 years, shouldnt he ??

Not necessarily. Tevez can't speak English, and he's been in this country for 5. Some players just aren't interested in fitting in.

That sounds odd...

After 6 years even the laziest and slowest learner should have acquired at least basic skills in a cognate language... I think the game should take into account the "proximity" of languages to calculate the learning/understanding process.

P.S. however, plenty of Italian players don't go past "basic Italian"... Di Natale being probably the worst of the lot

He has italian as 2nd nationality from the start of the game in 11.3

Aye, but he should learn basic Italian at least. Imagine after 5 years he goes down to the grocery store to buy stuff and he has to use sign language to shop !! Does adaptability has a say in this ??

Btw, Ganso aint listed as an Italian national in the default db, but he is in the 11.3 db. Also his adaptability is 10 in 11.3 but 0 in 11.0... And my save used either 11.2.1 or 11.0.1 ... Not exactly sure which one though..

I imagine he hasn't bothered to learn he probably has low adaptability stats.

And not all players learn the lingo I believe Puskas couldn't speak a word of Spanish yet formed an amazing partnership with Di Stefano they just let their football do the talking.

Tevez is another doesn't speak English there are plenty of others to I think Poborsky couldn't speak English or refused to learn it whilst at United.

I imagine he hasn't bothered to learn he probably has low adaptability stats.

And not all players learn the lingo I believe Puskas couldn't speak a word of Spanish yet formed an amazing partnership with Di Stefano they just let their football do the talking.

Tevez is another doesn't speak English there are plenty of others to I think Poborsky couldn't speak English or refused to learn it whilst at United.

Yeah but Italian and Brazilian are close enough to allow even a lazy, not-so-bright guy to learn the "Footballer Survival Phrasebook"... And frankly 5 years are a looooong time...

I don't really remember any Romance-speaking players not being able to limp through interviews in a cognate language after a couple of months in a new country

Not necessarily. Tevez can't speak English, and he's been in this country for 5. Some players just aren't interested in fitting in.

nore can wayne rooney but he was born here

For comparison, there are many many non-English nationals that have lived in England for many many years and have no interest in learning English. I used to live in a town that had plentiful residents from the indian sub-continent that couldn't speak a word of English

P.S. however, plenty of Italian players don't go past "basic Italian"... Di Natale being probably the worst of the lot

This. Remember that Italian is still not a fully national language, there are a lot of "dialects" like Neapolitan which have less relation to mainstream Italian than Norweigan has to Danish for example. There are 12 main groupings of dialect families ranging from Occitanian in the north to the aforementioned Neapolitan in the south.

IRL there are plenty of people of go abroad and dont end up picking up the language, just take Dubai for instance, expats have been living here for 20 years plus and never pick up Arabic, they get by without it. You will find that most people stick to their own kind when they go abroad. So even though they live in a foreign country, they still socialize with people from back home. There are thousands of brazilians living in Italy. So would it happen IRL? Yes it would.

For comparison, there are many many non-English nationals that have lived in England for many many years and have no interest in learning English. I used to live in a town that had plentiful residents from the indian sub-continent that couldn't speak a word of English

IRL there are plenty of people of go abroad and dont end up picking up the language, just take Dubai for instance, expats have been living here for 20 years plus and never pick up Arabic, they get by without it. You will find that most people stick to their own kind when they go abroad. So even though they live in a foreign country, they still socialize with people from back home. There are thousands of brazilians living in Italy. So would it happen IRL? Yes it would.

Amero..no it wouldnt. There isnt much difference between Portuguese and Italian and Spanish. On a 1-20 scale these people start out at a minimum of around 8.

IRL there are plenty of people of go abroad and dont end up picking up the language, just take Dubai for instance, expats have been living here for 20 years plus and never pick up Arabic, they get by without it. You will find that most people stick to their own kind when they go abroad. So even though they live in a foreign country, they still socialize with people from back home. There are thousands of brazilians living in Italy. So would it happen IRL? Yes it would.

BTW...you are refering to the English experience. I live in a city of millions of immigrants from several continents and very few stick to their own and refuse to learn English. Social exclusivity is something that can only be afforded by those with money.

Social exclusivity is something that can only be afforded by those with money.

I think this line in itself is enough of an explanation for the OP's situation to be believable to be honest (who can say that top level footballers don't have money?)

Social exclusivity is something that can only be afforded by those with money.

Sort of...

but the only categories of foreigners who can kinda afford not to speak the language are either rich elites who don't need "outside interaction", those who can do their job in their own language (that's why foreigners in Dubai don't need Arabic) and the lowest class of immigrants who'll basically live in secluded ethnically-exclusive neighbourhoods.

Still, footballers, while a privileged minority, can't really ignore the public part of their job... So at least a very basic knowledge of the language is required and even expected.

Sure, more languages are more complicated than others, some aren't cut for learning languages, but unless a player is really lazy (or slow) or the language is ridiculously difficult and "distant", there's no valid reason for a top-level footballer not being able to conduct a basic interview in the local language.

Like "I'm happy I played well, it was an important win, I like the new club"... it doesn't take a major in linguistics to learn that

And let's not forget it's making things easier on the pitch and in training... Hard to interact with the manager and the teammates if there are speakers of 5-6 different languages and almost no common ground...

Fine, the media will hire an interpreter if needed, but you can't have them during the match...

Kazim-Kazim played for Turky without speaking a word of Turkish during Euro 2008.

Although i do believe that he should have at least basic after 6 years.

Tevez can speak basic English but isnt fluent yet.........

Kazim-Kazim played for Turky without speaking a word of Turkish during Euro 2008.Although i do believe that he should have at least basic after 6 years.

Tevez can speak basic English but isnt fluent yet.........

He still can't even after playing for Fenerbahce and now Galatasaray, but now I think he has actually decided to start learning his own language.