Different circumstances though. He is already in the country and has been for over a year. He may have had more intensive lessons back when he arrived.
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Move him in with Klopp, only ever speak English in the house, heāll pick it up quick enough. Language is exposure and practice, not lessons. Youāre not going to get an A* for spelling and grammar but heās not being asked to write a physiology thesis on directed light opera.
I was only doing about an hour a week of actual classes when I was studying for the Danish proficiency test. When youāre surrounded by a new language, once you reach a certain level at least, itās much more useful to be amongst it. The lessons just fill in gaps and provide a certain structure.
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He is struggling, because Robbo is his teacher
I think thatās what the last bit of the quote alludes to, no? That the teacher said that one hour was enough, and any more would be counter-productive in his situationā¦
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I wonder if its a coincidence that its players from the Southern part of South America that are having trouble picking up English? Small sample size and all but there may be something in the way the education system is set up where learning second or third languages is not prioritised.
Iām from Australia and can say hands down Australia is the absolute worst place for being educated in a second language. I learned Indonesian (I mean WTF) and it was barely learning anything but the absolute basics.
My kids have been going to a French semi-private school here in France and the kids in Sixieme and Cinquieme (equivalent of UK yr 7 and 8) are almost fluent in English and are well on the way with Spanish. And I donāt think France particularly focuses as much on language as many European countries do. I wonder if Uruguay has a backwater education system like Australia?
Was Ali speaking Portuguese (what I like to call āSpanish-Russianā) to Darwin or was that just Spanish with a Portuguese accent?
Sounded like Portuguese
He needs to fall asleep listening to Michel Thomas and not that one.
I think I do more German than he does English though.
Und wie weit bist du?
Could you understand a JK teamtalk in German?
Not sure I could 
No but if I was a footballer with the means to learn English and it was part of my ability to do my job I would. Iām learning via Duolingo because I fancy not being a total prick on holiday in Berlin.
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I did german at school for a year, can stumble enough to at least be polite. Always think the funniest thing we did in languages at school was to ask for directions. Because whoever you ask is always, always going to give the textbook response that youāll recognise.
Excure me, could I have a beer and 2 coffees please, a room for 2 nights, thereās a frog in my bidet and the fat Spaniard from room 205 has just spontaneously combusted by the pool are all the phrases you really need.
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Ah so Duolingo is perfect 
Iāve tried that with Italian several times and still ended up sounding like a total prick on holiday.
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Quite enjoyed learning Italian, again, practice practice practice. Diechi frankobolo por anglatere perfavore springs to mind. No idea on the spelling but remember the phrase. And the key word BASTA! (enough) is the one I didnāt know when ordering sliced ham in a local deli once in Frascati. Think weāve still got some in the freezer!
Hmm, seems like itās time to rename the thread to TAN Linguistic Club 
, at least itās not eggplant 
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āle cochon dāinde est dans le prochain train et le cheval travaille dans le jardinā
GCSE French
Oh yeah, please donāt. We have enough of them.
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I wondered what the smile/wink celebration was for after the second but a helpful internet detective has figured it out.
Look at the other football aficionados in the picture, appreciating a fantastic goal.
āGet ball. Put ball in goal.ā
Thatās all he needs to know.
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