Sports and language

I was half-heartedly watching a football (soccer) match on TV the other night, and the commentary was in Chinese. I wasn’t really watching the match very closely, but I decided that I should probably be listening more closely to the speakers. Because there are a lot of repeated phrases in sports commentary, and the action is happening right in front of you, it’s sometimes quite easy to work out how to say names and terms in a foreign language. Let’s be honest, most sports commentators don’t have a vast lexicon.

I found myself more interested in the speakers than the game in the end, although it was actually a pretty good match.

Have you learned any language from watching sports in other countries?