05.01.2009 10:00
Barça speaks a lot of languages
Sergi Nogueras
The 24 players in Barça’s first team speak 17 different languages between them. Gudjohnsen, with a total of eight, is the most gifted linguist.
UNESCO declared 2008 to be the International Year of Languages to highlight the need to use and
protect languages and especially those at risk of disappearing. Languages are a means of
intercultural communication and a good example of that is the Barça first team squad.
24 players with 11 different nationalities
The 24 members of Barça’s first team squad represent 11 different
nationalities. Apart from the home-grown talent there are also players from Argentina, Uruguay,
Brazil, France, Byelorussia, Iceland, Mali, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Mexico. Just as with any
other group of people, communication is fundamental and with all of those nationalities the
languages used are quite varied.
Plus many of Barça’s players have also played in a number of countries, which further
increases the number of languages up to 17 in the first team. Apart from Spanish, Catalan,
Icelandic, Portuguese, French and Russian, squad members also speak or have a basic level in
English, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Serbian, Croatian, Greek, Creole, Bambara and Diola.
Varied communication
All of this linguistic and cultural mix and the different nationalities
of the players mean that they often communicate using a range of languages. For example, academy
players obviously speak to each other in Catalan or Spanish. Hleb and Touré are a curious case, as
they often converse in Russian which the Ivory Coast player picked up during his time in the
Ukraine. Márquez speaks in English with Gudjohnsen and Henry because that’s the language they
first spoke in, while he uses French (having come to Barça from Monaco) with the African players
and Abidal.
Henry and Abidal sometimes speak in Creole. This language is spoken in Martinique and
Guadalupe, where the players’ families originally came from. However, the most unusual case
is undoubtedly Keita and Touré. The Mali player speaks Bambara, one of the most important languages
in his country, while Touré is proficient in Diola which is spoken where he is from in Ivory Coast.
The two languages have quite a lot of overlap which means the two can understand each other.