Do players start taking lessons in the new language when they're due to move country?

I just picked up an Italian guy on a Bosman for my FC Utrecht side. The deal was agreed in January, shortly after it becoma possible to negotiaite with him. On the dat he joined I noticed that he already had basic Dutch listed in his languages. I checked, and he's never played in Holland, not got dual nationality or anything.

Does this mean he took classes? Pretty neat if so. Or did he just randomly have that language for some other reason?

They do indeed. Not sure if it was this one or FM11, but they start learning a language as soon as they agree a deal to join a club in a new country.

Heh, I didn't know that, neat feature.

Does this happen to every player? Or only to players who are of a certain age?

I'd rather it didn't happen to every player, it doesn't in reality and you often find players stay in a country for years without picking up the language.

I would guess it has some to do with their adaptabilty. Some players I buy have language issuses for years and years, others pick it up almost immidiedly. Have never had a guy that has picked it up before he arrives though. I would enjoy that. Shows a great deal of passion, commitment and adaptability.

I took german club as manager and papers asked about difficulties because I cant speak german. In a year I had German in the list of the languages I could speak. Should be working for players also.

I didn't know they start learning it beforehand, but this is indeed a cool feature, very useful. Why not spend some time learning a new language if you have anyway 6 months until you move in the respective country?