Sport Gallery
Sportsmen moving abroad can have a fantastic life: they live in stunning cities learning all about new cultures and languages. And they earn a few quid too. Here is our selection of footballers who made a success of living abroad.
Chelsea tops league table for languages
In the 2008/2009 season Chelsea was the most multilingual football team in the Premiership, coming top of a league table charting the language skills of the UK Premier League teams.
Over 80 per cent of Chelsea's first team could count languages among their skills, with The Blues speaking 10 different second languages in total. Bar English, the most popular second language spoken among the team was Spanish, with Lampard, Carvalho, Anelka, Kalou and Deco all able to 'Hablar Espanol' in the changing room.
Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger knows the importance of languages having learnt German, English, Spanish, Italian and even Japanese to further his career.
He says: "The fact that I learnt languages allowed me to be where I wanted to be – in English football.
If you want to achieve your dreams, you can do it and languages can certainly help you get there."
The full language league table reads as follows:
| 1. Chelsea (28 language points) | 9. Everton (17 language points) |
| 2. Liverpool (27 language points) | 10. Newcastle (16 language points) |
| 2. Arsenal (27 language points) | 10. Tottenham Hotspur (16 language points) |
| 3. Fulham (26 language points) | 11. Aston Villa (13 language points) |
| 4. Manchester City (25 language points) | 12. Sunderland (12 language points) |
| 5. Portsmouth (21 language points) | 13. Hull City (10 language points) |
| 6. Blackburn (20 language points) | 14. West Ham (9 language points) |
| 7. Bolton (19 language points) | 14. Wigan Athletic (9 language points) |
| 8. Manchester United (18 language points) | 15. Middlesbrough (9 language points) |
| 8. West Bromwich Albion (18 language points) | 16. Stoke City (8 language points) |
According to the research, the linguistic 'man of the match' is John Carew (Aston Villa), who in addition to his native Norwegian speaks English, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, French and Italian, followed by Sunderland's Rade Prica, who speaks Croatian, English, Norwegian, Danish and German.
British players who speak a second language
Frank Lampard (Chelsea / Spanish), Michael Owen ( Newcastle / Spanish), Andy Johnson (Fulham / Polish)
Richard Hughes (Portsmouth / Italian), Kevin Nolan (Bolton / Dutch), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester Utd / German)
Jack Rodwell ( Everton / Portuguese), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham / Spanish), Steve Simonsen (Stoke City / Danish)
Sport Spain
Is there nothing the Spanish aren't great at sport-wise? It's a 'Golden Age' for Spanish sport with them seemingly winning everything! Their football team won Euro 2008 and Fernando Torres is probably the most feared striker in the Premiership. In fact any football player in the world would love to play for the Spanish giants Barcelona or Real Madrid with their enviable records in European Cups; even Beckham, Lineker and Owen played out there and picked up some Spanish language skills!
Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal is the No.1 Tennis player in the world with a mightily impressive winning streak that includes several Grand Slam titles and an Olympic Gold.
In fact his whole generation of players has won Spain the Davis Cup three times in the last eight years! Of course we can't talk about Spanish champions without mentioning the controversial former Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, whose rivalry with Lewis Hamilton is set to last for a few years yet.
Useful phrases
Can you tell me where the nearest tennis court is please?
¿Puede decirme donde esta la pista de tennis mas cercana por favor?
How can I become good enough to play for FC Barcelona?
¿Como puedo llegar a ser lo suficientemente bueno para jugar en el F.C. Barcelona?
Does Fernando Alonso ever stop talking about Lewis Hamilton?
¿Dejara alguna vez Fernando Alonso de hablar sobre Lewis Hamilton?
Sport Germany
The football rivalry between England and Germany has existed for over 50 years, but you've got to hand it to them: the German national team has an enviable track record. They've won the World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990 plus the European Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996. Clubs such as Bayern Munich are a massive influence in European football and interestingly their women's Bundesliga (or top league) and national team is growing just as strong; the German team won the Women's World Cup in 2003 and 2007! Germany is the only country to have won the World Cup with both sexes!
And talking of both genders dominating sport, what about Steffi Graf and Boris Becker in tennis? Both No.1 in the world in their time, Graf won a staggering 22 Grand Slam titles and Boris was the youngest player to win Wimbledon at 17! All very impressive but we bet you didn't know Germany were so successful at bobsleigh!
Germany's medal count in the Winter Olympics for bobsleigh up until 1990 was double that of their nearest competitior (Switzerland if you must know) which is quite amazing; and a great fact to tell your friends!
Useful phrases
Do you think Germany will reach the final of the World Cup in 2010?
Glaubst du, dass Deutschland das Finale der Weltmeisterschaft 2010 erreichen wird?
Mr Becker, could you tell me how to improve my backhand?
Herr Becker, könnten Sie mir sagen, wie ich meine Rückhand verbessern kann?
It is very cold on this bobsleigh run isn't it?
Mir ist echt kalt auf dieser Bobbahn, dir auch?
Sport Italy
If it has a big engine and goes fast there's normally an Italian involved. The infamous Michael Schumacher won seven Formula 1 World Championships with Scuderia Ferrari (or team Ferrari) and names such as Maserati, Bugatti Alfa Romeo and the circuit at Monza are some of the most famous in racing, click here to find out more.
Italian drivers dominate even in our very own British Touring Car Championship, with Fabrizio Giovanardi a legend of the last few years. It's not just four wheels that the Italians love: millions tune in each week to TV coverage of motorcycle racing – be it superbike racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racing, motocross, supercross, enduro or motorcycle trials! Italian motorcycle racer Giacomo Agostini is the all-time leader in victories of motorcycle Grand Prix history and second is current champion Valentino Rossi who may even be venturing into Formula 1 racing in the next few years.
It would be impossible to talk about Italian sport and not mention football. Clubs like AC Milan (the Rossoneri or 'Red-blacks' as they're called) and Juventus are some of the biggest clubs in football with millions of tifosi (fans) across the world. English players from Paul Ince to Gazza have all become worldwide stars playing in Italy and who knows which of our current Premiership stars will go to Italian teams next?
Find out more about these sports here:
www.motogp.com
www.serieatalk.com
Useful phrases
Is that a famous footballer I can see coming out of Milan's airport?
É un giocatore famoso quello che sta uscendo dall'aeroporto di Milano?
How fast was my lap time?
Quanto veloce era il mio giro?
Can you tell me in which part of Modena the Ferrari museum is please?
Potresti dirmi dov'é il museo della Ferrari a Modena?
Sport Argentina
In the last fifteen years extreme sports have become massively popular. All over the world people are skydiving, scuba diving, surfing, rock climbing, snow skiing, water skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, mountaineering, bungee jumping and more!
One of the most popular locations for trying any of these sports is Argentina, with 'extreme tourism' being one of their fastest growing industries. If you're thinking of trying any of these sports somewhere like Argentina is ideal: all you need is a bit of Spanish and nerves of steel! Yes if you like hanging off ropes then try The Corderilla mountain range which is not only beautiful but has some of the most testing mountaineering experiences available!
When you're not testing your physical limits (what's wrong with a nice cup of tea and Heat magazine?) then why not dip into other sports form the unique Argentinian culture? We like the sound of 'Pato' - the national game of Argentina that basically involes riding a horse and passing a duck around! Invented in 1610, 'Pato' is Spanish for 'duck' (but it's actually a rubber ball, animal fans) and the playing field would stretch the distance between neighbouring 'estancias' (ranches). The first team to reach its own 'casco' (ranch house) with the duck would be declared the winner! We think they've got proper courts for it now but go on, admit it, you're tempted to have a go aren't you?
Useful phrases
Does anyone fancy a game of Pato?
¿A alguien le apetece una partida de Pato?
Is it possible to tackle the North Face of this mountain?
¿Es posible atacar la cara norte de esta montaña?
Where does the tour group meet for the bungee jumping?
¿Cuál es el lugar de encuentro del grupo para hacer góming*?
Sport France
The French are passionate about many sports, but in tennis they have excelled, producing many of the game's greatest heroes. 
Their female tennis players have enjoyed the greatest successes in modern tennis, including former world No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo.
One of their current stars is Tatiana Golovin who was actually born in Moscow, but she moved to Paris with her parents and earned her citizenship by learning French at an early age. Now she speaks fluent French, English and Russian which has helped her learn from English and French-speaking tennis coaches around the world. The hard work she put in on and off the court paid off - in 2004 she won the French Open mixed doubles with compatriot Richard Gasquet. Just two years later she was ranked 12th in the world and continues to have a successful career. Find out more about her here.
And while we're on the subject of multi-lingual French sports stars here's a cautionary tale from former European Footballer Of The Year Jean Pierre Papin. He used to play for Bayern Munich but never bothered to learn German – something he regretted when he got injured and couldn't explain what was wrong to the German medics. He got the wrong treatment!
Studying and working abroad
When it's freezing cold in the UK, it's quite tempting to think about being abroad! If you have a language GCSE under your belt you could think about some further study or even a job abroad, but what could you do? We've picked three areas to consider below:
Tennis coach in Spain
There are hundreds of tennis schools in Spain, mainly centred round the fantastic city of Barcelona or the coastal resorts. The majority are residential centres offering courses where bonding with fellow tennis players is as important as hours of court time – so it's a very sociable job to say the least!
Find out more here:
www.barcelonatennisacademy.com
www.enforex.com/courses-tennis.html
www.brugueratennis.com/
Gap years abroad – try a ski season?
Ski resorts in the French Alps or Swiss mountains are fantastic places to live, offer all sorts of jobs and help you really perfect that new language! The ski season in Europe runs roughly from December to April and the larger ski season employers start recruiting in mid May. Jobs go fast so register with lots of 'season worker' websites so you don't miss out.
Find out more here:
www.bestskijobs.co.uk
www.seasonworkers.com/skijobs
Fitness Club Management
Going to the gym is popular all over the world so it makes sense that if you work in the fitness profession you can get work anywhere! Let's face it – the language of exercise is universal and there are loads of jobs going where English qualifications in sport are respected as some of the best.
Find out more about Fitness Management and see what jobs are going here: