“The Real Madrid coach keeps praising you publicly, saying you are unique and special – he even compared you to Kaká…”
“True, but I know I disappointed him in one aspect…”
“how?”
“I don’t speak Spanish yet… I’m sorry, but I’m facing unexpected obstacles in this language. It’s difficult for me, I admit. In any case, I promise you my utmost commitment, guaranteed.”
This is how Jude Bellingham described his struggles to Italian newspaper Tuttosport before receiving the Golden Boy award for the best European Under-21 Player this week. This is the only problem the 20-year-old Englishman has faced since arriving at Madrid this summer, having scored 15 goals in his first 17 matches.
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At any other club, Bellingham’s words would not make sense given his incredible start. But at Real Madrid, players are held to higher standards by fans and the media, especially when it comes to speaking Spanish. Bellingham will be all too familiar with the example of fellow British players Gareth Bale and David Beckham, whose lack of communication worked against them at the Bernabéu.
“My biggest piece of advice: play the game at Real Madrid,” Bill Bellingham warned last month. “Because if you don’t play and do what the press wants, talk to them (in Spanish) — basically, be a puppet — you’re going to get a lot of stick.”
Bale and Beckham appeared to speak limited Spanish during their time in the capital and rarely gave interviews in Spanish. When they did, they were often unable to string two sentences together. Beckham admitted he was still having problems with the Spanish language before starting his second season at the club, while Bale said he knew more than he let on.
“I can speak Spanish but I don’t want to because I just wanted to keep everything private and quiet and not make such a big fuss around me,” the former Wales winger told The Times this year. “Maybe that’s why they attacked me because I don’t really give much away. Maybe they didn’t understand me as a person.”
Madrid offers all newcomers the opportunity to take Spanish lessons. Club sources, who requested anonymity because they do not have permission to comment, say Bellingham has been taking Spanish lessons at home and at Valdebebas’s training complex in Madrid since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund. Bellingham also installed an app on his phone for learning.
“It’s much easier than trying to learn German,” he told the PA news agency after the move in July. “I studied Spanish in school until ninth grade, and looking back, I would have continued studying it.”
Others have gone their own way. David Alaba began learning Spanish with private language school 3Phase Lingua Group in August 2021 after arriving from Bayern Munich on a free transfer. The group has tutored former Real Madrid stars Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira, and also counts Alaba’s defensive partner Antonio Rudiger among its former clients.
According to Alwin Anwander, founder of the 3Phase Lingua group, many players find it difficult to learn Spanish due to a lack of motivation.
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“Sometimes the teachers that clubs pass on to players don’t perform well because they use a very traditional style and it’s boring for them – it happened with Rudiger when he was at Roma,” says Anwander.
“But many players don’t even want to learn the language. In the case of Real Madrid, there were players who didn’t learn anything before they left because they didn’t have any interest. Often, it’s not easy.
“The player must work and perform well (on the field) and show that he deserves the money that (the club) paid.” Language is secondary, the club does not require it, the player is the one who decides. If it leads, I don’t see it as a big problem. They (the club) are not putting any pressure on them; It’s the media and the fans. And the players themselves realize this.”
Ozil and Khedira struggled with the Spanish language when they first arrived from Germany after the 2010 World Cup, and coach Jose Mourinho did not help when he said he had difficulty conveying his instructions to them. “The life of the Germans is not easy: they don’t speak Spanish and their relationship with Group Zero,” Mourinho told AS sports newspaper in 2010.
“They were the first to come from Germany to Real Madrid for a long time,” says Anwander. “At that time, the club did not ask them (to learn the language), it depends on each student. Mesut took much longer than Sami.
“Sami had more focus and interest in learning. Masoud was less enthusiastic, and was (doing it) more for his father. For Sami, it was more about him. He started from the beginning.”
Bellingham does not lack enthusiasm. He regularly uses Spanish on social media platforms, and has endeared himself to reporters by having a go at them as well. When he announced that he would be fit to start El Clásico in an interview with RTVE in October, he did so in Spanish while reading from a piece of paper – although he appeared to mispronounce the word “estare” (“I will be”).
He gave interviews to Real Madrid TV in English, but developed a good relationship with their correspondent, Victorio Calero, and signed with the program “Adiooos amigo”.
Anwander says many players find Spanish more difficult because verbs are easier to conjugate in English. He also points out that the Spanish version of “you” has both singular and plural forms, which confuses some learners, and that German speakers have an advantage when learning Spanish due to the nature of verb conjugation in their language.
While players face harsh criticism from the media when they are not open about speaking the language, some have succeeded in Spain simply by making an effort. Bellingham need only look to the example of the late Michael Robinson, the former Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion striker who moved to Spain with Osasuna in 1987 and became a broadcasting hero thanks to his distinctive, distinctive Spanish – so much so that he hosted a TV show called ‘Acento Robinson’.
As long as Bellingham continues to show “maximum commitment”, he can expect to continue to feel the love from Madrid fans.
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(Top image: Alberto Jardin/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Jude Bellingham, the young and talented English midfielder, has been making headlines for his struggles with the Spanish language at Real Madrid. However, the challenges he is facing are not uncommon, as the club has stringent language requirements for its players. With the pressure to integrate into the culture and communicate effectively with his teammates and coaching staff, Bellingham’s journey in adapting to the language is reflective of the demanding expectations faced by players at one of the world’s most prestigious football clubs.