this conversation has already been had. English is not an easy language to learn. If you learn one Romance language, it can easily be moved to another Romance language. If you look at spanish, and the amount of irregular verbs, there really aren't that many. Look at English and the amount of irregular verbs. Good luck with that. I agree though that after being completely immersed in it for a number of months a year, he should be able to have a passable conversation.
actually, vlad can speak english, and pretty well. the only reason he was speaking spanish to the reporter was because it was an espn deportes reporter, it was not some interpreter.
Esperanto is the way of the future.
OP,
Ichiro is nearly completely fluent in English. This is a fact that has been mentioned by his teammates in local papers. Ichiro chooses to speak in Japanese and use a translator because it allows him to distance himself from the media and ensure that either (a) he won't be misquoted or (b) if he's misquoted people will know that his words have been translated and might not be entirely accurate.
Personally, I think he's a great addition to America.
how surreal was it, that they gave him a new, Chevy, SUV....a guy that is a multi, multi millionaire. How about donating to the charity of his choice?
Spanish is probably the easiest language for an English speaker to learn.
But if you think English is more phonetic than French you have a lot to learn...true compared to Japanese (hiragana, katakana) English is not very phonetic and has more sounds. But for someone who has probably memorized thousands of non-phonetic kanji characters, a few irregularities in English should be a breeze!
C'mon....it has nothing to do the income or wealth of the All-Star Game MVP....it's the same reason why he wears a Seattle Mariners jersey -- he's paid to do it, and GM pays for the priviledge of donating the car that is awarded to the game MVP.
vlad wrote:
actually, vlad can speak english, and pretty well. the only reason he was speaking spanish to the reporter was because it was an espn deportes reporter, it was not some interpreter.
Actually no. The reporter was acting as the translater to talk to ESPN. The reporter was saying "Now I am going to ask him..." then ask him in Spanish and then translate the answer from Vlad. Why would he go to that much trouble if Vlad knew what he was saying in English?
Duh, so these guys don't have to answer the same questions every night from the thoughtless reporters.
no Vlad knows English...they used the ESPN deportes reporter just to promote the channel for the large spanish speaking fans of baseball
He speaks well in the regional Mariner commercials.
The funny thing is in the Major Leagues it is not a priority for Latin American players to learn English fluently because there are so many players, coaches, and GM's throughout baseball of Latin decent that they can get by speaking Spanish alone. Most of them are bi-lingual though.
Ichiro is a baseball player. Who cares what langauge he speaks? Now imagine the US ambassador to Japan not speaking Japanese, as was the case with Walter Mondale. Now that is a true disgrace.
I consider myself fairly fluent in Spanish, and can hold a conversation fairly well.
But put me in front of cameras and 10s of thousands of Spaniards, and I would be scared shitless. Two completely different situations.
when in america, speak english wrote:
You'd think by now that Ichiro Suzuki would be able to speak English. For being such an accomplished all star and having now been here a number of years, he should be able to have conversational english. Not fluent, just able to answer a few questions in English. Look at certain people that are FOB Dominicans, and they at least make an effort, even though nobody has any idea what they are saying.
Some people come over here and are forced to learnt the language and within a few months have working knowledge. He could at least do that, yes?
"I thought it was going to go over the fence," Suzuki said through a translator. "When it didn't, I was really bummed."
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270710132
If you yourself are a self-proclaimed master of the English language, I would assume you would know that Ichiro spoke through an interpreter, not a translator. Who cares if he doesn't speak English?
Couple of you nailed it on the head. The Japanese media covers him with a microscope and Japanese fans in general pay way more attention to his exploits than American fans.
He can speak English, but because his most banal interviews are on the news every night in Japan, it makes the most sense to speak to the media in Japanese.
During the ASG interview you could see him smiling and nodding his head at the questions. He knew what she was saying.
BTW, Ichiro is close to re-signing for 5 years with the M's.
Ichiro is not fluent in any language but Japanese. He's done a few commercials in the Seattle local market. All Japanese can read basic Roman characters, Arabic numerals, and the Hindi zero.
vlad was in montreal for the first part of his career so was there really a need for him to speak english? now he's in southern california and, again, is there really a need for him to speak english?