View site in Scots

Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid

Scots Stumps American Footballer

22nd November 2011

It was reported in the press this past week (Daily Record, 19 November) that American footballer Alejandro Bedoya, is finding the Scots language a real challenge. The midfielder, who plays for Glasgow Rangers, commented on Twitter that he is having problems understanding Scottish speakers, and in particular Rangers coach Ian Durrant. Bedoya has found that many people in Scotland speak something different from English, which he was not prepared for. The same comments were also made by Glasgow Celtic player Georgios Samaras who said that he knew what English was, but what he was hearing was something different.  No doubt it takes foreign and non-Scottish players a while to tune into the accents, but clearly the language, for which they are unprepared, is also presenting difficulty.  Such difficulties could, of course, be remedied by Scottish football clubs adopting a simple taster course for foreign players, preparing them for the language.