New additions fitting in despite language barriers
Soccer is international. In most clubs, you’re bound to find at least two to three different languages spoken in the dressing room. Take the Montreal Impact for example: French, English, Spanish and Italian are languages you’re sure to hear after spending just a few minutes in the dressing room, and those are just the common ones. The challenge is finding a way for everyone to understand each other. For that, many players seem to be lending a helping hand.
Samuel Piette for example, who speaks French, English, and Spanish, can come in quite handy.
“I try to help a little with translating,” said Piette. “Take someone like Jeisson for example, who does not speak English and only Spanish. There’s me, Piatti, and Cabrera that can help him a little. The new Canadians that have joined the group, like Edwards and Petrasso, are integrating into the group slowly but surely, and I helped them introduce themselves to some of the older guys here. Same thing for our new French players like Diallo and Diop. I love the role and I take pleasure in doing it.”
Nacho Piatti has also chipped in, helping newcomer Jeisson Vargas in particular integrate into the team, offering help and advice on the city and its culture as well.
“Cabrera, Mancosu, Donadel and I spoke with him, and let him know that we’re here if he needs anything, if he has any questions on the league, the city, or anything else,” said Piatti. “We want to help him concentrate on football and not worry about everything else. He’s a great player, and only 20 years old. We need him, and he trained really well this week.”
Piatti remembers a time when he was the one coming to Montreal in 2014, not knowing much about the city expect that it played its football in MLS. The snow, he said, was quite a shocker.
“The language and the temperature are what’s most different,” said Piatti. “When you come here for the first time, your first impression is based on the snow. I’m used to it now. It’s just the first impression, then it’s great.”
The members of the coaching staff, on their end, are all from France, although they all speak English as well. For Italian Matteo Mancosu, they’ve been getting along just fine so far through a concoction of different languages.
“We understand the language of soccer,” said Mancosu, with a little smile. “There’s a few ways we can converse: in English, and even French is similar to Italian. We can understand each other in many ways.”
