A new study has highlighted the multicultural nature of football in Manchester.
Translation agency LanguageLine have found that players from Manchester City and Manchester United share a total of 14 languages in the dressing room.
The Red Devils are third in the language table with eight different dialects, whilst their blue rivals are joint fifth with six languages.
Although English is expectedly the most commonly spoken language in the league with a majority of 51.3% knowing the lingo, Spanish is the second highest mother tongue at 13.5%, followed by French with 10.7%, and then Dutch at 6%.
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, some of the world’s best players that have been attracted by the fast-paced nature of the English game – as well as the wealth that media coverage has given the clubs.
Back then, Manchester United had a trio of foreign language speaking stars, with Peter Schmeichel, Andrei Kanchelskis and Eric Cantona on the team.
Meanwhile City had Dutchman Michael Vonk and Norwegian Kare Ingebrigtsen on their squad.
LEAGUE OF LANGUAGES: Watford took the top spot in the study
Despite the increase in multilinguistic Premier League squads, English is still regarded as the most recognised spoken language in the beautiful game.
In fact, referees at FIFA events such as the World Cup are now required to attend a course before tournaments to ensure that they have a basic grasp of English words most likely to be used by players.
The study also showed that there are 26 different languages spoken in the league and that Watford have the most in their squad with a total of 11.
The footballer who speaks the most languages in the Premier League is Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, who has the ability to speak Dutch, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
The star striker also understands German and English.
Image courtesy of MrBeanyman via Youtube, with thanks.
