Communcation n cauliflor lugs

 A great start to the season here in Spain, 'el clasico', 11pm kick off, 28 degrees and Cesc finally was a Barca player. 

If you did not see the match you did not miss one of the classisc clasicos but you did miss one of Mourinho's best moves yet (have a look at the photo). Maybe he could not get his point across.

mourinho and the man with the tash!! 

 

This blog post comes from a "Letters from Barcelona" mid April 2011 first published in the matchday Prog

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MATCH DAY PROGRAMME!!

When in made the move to Barcelona I came with less than no Spanish let alone the language of the region- Catalan. I had bought the “listen while you learn” CDs, which gave me at most the ability to order a glass of red wine and get the bill after a meal! So when 5 weeks after we moved I end up in a Barcelona hospital waiting on an operation to pin a broken ankle back together I could not help but wish I had a few more words. For over a week the staff and I struggled thru. After several non-vegetarian meals, a painful discovery that there was not one but three screws in my leg and plenty of hand signals I went home. I must admit this is near the top of my list of most unpleasant experience I have had, mainly due to the lack of ability to communicate.  

So you can maybe understand my skepticism that to run a top national team 100 words is all you need to get your point across. Or so Fabio Capello the England manager would have us believe. Maybe he is a fan of the picture speaks a thousand words philosophy.

After my little brush with the Spanish health service I started work as an English teacher. During my time as said teacher became quite skilled in the art of communication with no words, well I say art more like a lot a flapping hand gestures and over sized doodling. Some classes would give you that nice feeling achievement after others would leave you frustrated. What appears to be a simple piece of English is suddenly on par with complex rocket science. You literally do not have the words to explain your point. I found myself in a muddle on several occasions and I maybe have only been asking for a simple 5 sentence using I am not trying to explain the tactics in a world cup qualifier!

Barcelona is a city that is full of English and it is possible to live and work here with little or no Spanish. But as I am sure we all know local knowledge is the best knowledge and the first step to being a local is to speak the lingo! So whilst teaching English I studied Spanish. Now I am not an English teacher by trade, I am a theatrical production and lighting manager so I was also looking for work in this field during this time. I thought this was enough, a few Spanish classes and experience in the field. I was in for a shock. My first “non English job” should have been a walk over, like a friendly between a giant and a minnow. I was in for a shock. No matter how good I was at my job I just could not get my point across. What could have gone wrong did go wrong, and I had far more than 100 words!

Maybe Capello is hoping that actions speak louder than words, but I think a 1-1 draw with a minnow is a loud enough action.