Standard of English of Bangladeshi Players

[jga]

Hey guys when watching the highlights of the previous bd-aus match, when habibul bashar came up to the mic at the post-match conference, i believe he spoke well.. he had a bit of an accent but hey who among the foreign playing countries doesnt? i found that very acceptable and he said his comments to the point.

However, when Mohammad Ashraful came up to the mic, me even being a bangali found bits of his speech hard to understand! i really think that now that our players are getting a lot of international exposure that they should seriously take some grammar lessons.. no one should say anything about their accents, they can have a really thick accent.. but i really think they should get some english grammar sorted... what do you guys think? because normally i dont care about grammar among bangladesh, india, pakistan, sri lanka. Because I dont expect them to be real good at it as after all, its our second language. Its just that when i found myself really struggling to understand ash is when i asked myself the question...

[mafizraju]

I really dont care whether they are able to speak english or not............... If they can interview indians in Hindi then I guess they can make the situation to make it in our own language........ they are not out there for international job.....they are there to play their country and it really doesnot matter whether they speak english or not...... just checkout the soccer....... apart from native english speaker other ppl hardly speak a word or two

[IanW]

Jga.

Here's the plan. We'll get Ash a stock speech (actually I nicked this one from Gerry Harvey).

"It was a wonderful game. Thank you all for turning up"

It's an all purpose speech for wins, losses, man of match etc etc

Seriously, I'd prefer a good cricketer who speaks **** English (like, ummm, Boonie) to a crap player who speaks like Marlowe writes.

Ian Whitchurch

[jga]

Interviewing in a foreign language, be it in soccer or cricket seriously restricts any country's exposure.. i mean if the wider public cannot understand what our country is promoting then they wil obviously be more inclined to just shun us and pass us off like they already do..


The hard truth is that english is a universal language.. and if we were only playing cricket in a bangladesh league match then speaking in bangla is fine.. or if india were playing ranji.. then fine.. but when thousands of people are watching you, you need to convey the message in a universal language and these days i dont think merely playing on the field conveys that enough..

[jga]

Originally posted by IanW
Jga.

Here's the plan. We'll get Ash a stock speech (actually I nicked this one from Gerry Harvey).

"It was a wonderful game. Thank you all for turning up"

It's an all purpose speech for wins, losses, man of match etc etc

Seriously, I'd prefer a good cricketer who speaks shoot English (like, ummm, Boonie) to a crap player who speaks like Marlowe writes.

Ian Whitchurch

hehe.. ok then.. you can propose that to the bcb.. wouldnt work out too bad actually.. i just hope all our players dont start to use the same one.. then we're screwed..

[crickwizard]

Big deal, they should just bring a translator like you, so you have a job and everyone understands everyone. Mother language is also introduced. Their job is to play well first and then worry about their underwear later

[jga]

But you see playing without underwear might just give them rash... from the international cricket community

[IanW]

Jga,

Oh, Ash speaks a universal language.

Smacking around some of the best bowlers in the world.

I can tell you now, at least one para in every newspaper in Australia is going to be 'While Australia cruised to an easy victory, Mohammed Ashraful smacked the absolute cover off the ball in a brutal assault on Brett Lee and the rest of the pace attack'.

Thats universal.

Ian Whitchurch

[crickwizard]

when they play well, rash issue is minor, let their bat and ball talk first. get the narrow thinking of kissing English *** a prerequisite of playing cricket or representing a country. Think about JAPAN, do they speak English? Where are they?

[BangladeshFan]

Originally posted by jga
But you see playing without underwear might just give them rash... from the international cricket community

even maradona cant speak english. but do u think that has any effect for his fame?

[IanW]

Cricwizard,

Trust me. Japanese people - and Japanese business people especially - speak a lot of English.

I'd just prefer players who can cope with English pitches, rather than with English grammar.

Ian Whitchurch

[Fortuner]

Yes, i would say that the BD players need to improve on their English coz who knowes whn some one among the players needs that at its best.

Actually, our players unless and untill they dont speak in Eng between themselves they wont be very flunet at it.

Among the Bangladeshi players, Nafees can speak the best and his accent is similar to Athar Ali's accent. They dont speak in the Bangladeshi accent.

[reinausagi]

Not everyone in the team needs to be fluent in English. After all, do we not have the multi-lingual Col. Latif on staff?

[cricketboy]

Many world class Pakistani players dont speak in English. The thing that matters in how they play because they are cricketers not English teachers. Maybe Athar can translate our cricketers.

[soulkiller]

yah....i dont understand y dint they bring athar.....simpel solution...

[cricfanz]

They should have allowed Athar to interview the players for the presentation. I mean, comon, if you know that the MoM is a bangladeshi who may not be able to speak fluent english, that's the most sensible thing to do....

For example, Arun Lal switched from english to bangla during the zim series (when interviewing rafiq), when rafiq replied to his first ques in bangla..

[roi]

Originally posted by cricfanz
They should have allowed Athar to interview the players for the presentation. I mean, comon, if you know that the MoM is a bangladeshi who may not be able to speak fluent english, that's the most sensible thing to do....

For example, Arun Lal switched from english to bangla during the zim series (when interviewing rafiq), when rafiq replied to his first ques in bangla..

Arunlal's bangla was funny.....i laught a lot

[pinch_hitter]

Its really not a big deal. I mean, look at soccer for instance. Only the players who play and played in England can speak English. They also go for interviews and conferences. Their lack of English don't seem to affect his or his country's image.

But since you brought it in the spotlight, I think the players speak a lot better (!) English than when they first started off. If you look back, in Zimbabwe tour, other than Rafiq, all our interviewees spoke kom-beshi English. They managed by their own. Don't worry. They're learning.

And if you thought Ashraful's English was bad, you should have seen him recieving the man of the match award during the South Africa tour to Bangladesh. He was named the man of the match for one of the ODI-s, and when he was asked to come forward to claim his award, he didn't want to come and step on the stage; English bolte hobe ei bhoy-e. When he finally went up there, Ravi Shastri asked him questions, and he couldn't speak a SINGLE word. Sensing his discomfort, Shastri gave him the option to speak in Bangla. He even stumbled to do so (although that was from nervusness, presumably).

So believe me, he's a lot better now.

[sunny747]

Well i guess English is necessary. They have to speak good english for interview and other stuffs. U can't compare with football. Coz cricket is mostly played in commonwealth countries and they all speak english. Well atleast we are better then pakis, they sometimes try to cut away from man of the match award ceremony just to avoid english example saqlain.
In bd team, i guess basher and nafiz is okie. But rest are aweful. i remembe few years ago BCB had an english teacher for them. I guess we need full time english teacher now.

[Beamer]

Agree with Ian. Talk with your bat and ball in a match of cricket. Thats all I care about.

[Mueid]

i wouldnt care even if all the bd players dint have vocal cords as long as they played class cricket.

[amra_korbo_joy]

English is a language, may be international language. But if do not know this language, it is not a big deal.

[BangladeshFan]

this thread tends to remind me , cricket is a colonial game


Edited on, July 18, 2005, 3:04 PM GMT, by chinaman.
Reason: Please stop using font colors

[BanCricFan]

Purely for cricket knowledge, I think it will be a good idea if most of our players had a reasonable grasp of English. They dont have to speak Queens English- most in England even dont! Nevertheless, it is important for our players as most of our coaching staffs are English speaking, expert tv commentaries and useful analytical cricket literature are also in English. Pak/Ind been playing cricket for a long time, therefore, not so depended on "borrowed" knowledge of cricket( i hope this make sense!).

[IanW]

BangladeshFan,

Pretty much, yes ... it's important in that it allows us colonials the opportunity to smack the hell out of England (or, in the Tigers case, of West Bangladesh) at regular intervals.

Ian Whitchurch