Main Listening Report: Capello’s 100 Words of English

Capello's 100 Words of English

Fabio Capello has been in charge of England for three years yet he feels he only needs 100 words to get his message across. Therefore, this week's main report wonders whether a football manager needs to be able to speak the language of his or her players. There is a transcript below, while explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) can be found at the foot of the post, while other key phrases (in blue) also have meanings explained.You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at [email protected].

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Introduction

Fabio Capello is never far away from the limelight or indeed controversy. This week he has been in the news again after it was revealed that he feels that he only needs 100 words or so to communicate with the England players. Now, that of course, may be a reflection of the England players but as English language teachers interested in football we wondered if we could help with Fabio's lack of a footballing lexicon.

A Universal Language?

Football, of course is a universal language, so, for instance, the word goal is the same in Italian as it is in English, while penalty is pretty much understood by everyone. But what about phrases such as referee (in Italian arbitro), offside (fuorigioco), a corner (bandierina) or a chip shot (il cucchiaio) - oh, who am I kidding I cannot speak Italian - which means shaped like a spoon for those who do. As for positions on the pitch, well the player between the posts is clearly the one who stops the shots though he or she is not known as the stopper - that's another position, while the trequartista (Think Pirlo, Totti or Baggio) is an integral position in Italian football that does not really have a direct translation in English (probably because a player of that calibre has never really been produced in this country). Now if this football jargon is tricky enough imagine what football cliches and expressions must be like for Don Fabio? We have already noted in a previous podcast that attempting to directly translate these phrases is a potential minefield so what is he to do - apart from subscribe to a football podcast especially geared toward English language learners, that is?

Five More Words and Phrases for Capello

More to the point, what football language - and we are not counting 'colourful language' here - does Capello need to learn in order to be really able to communicate with his players? Let us know what words and phrases you think would be useful for the Italian to truly get his message across to his squad. Let's see if we can come up with 100 more words or phrases for Capello to survive in English football. Here are 5 to start with:

1. You're dropped

This basically means you are not playing on this team anymore. Particularly useful for when players constantly give possession away (see, for example, Steven Gerrard); misbehave off the pitch (for example, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Wayne Rooney); or they have been around too long without justifying their place (Hello Frank Lampard) or are simply n...