When I was at my apartment here in beautiful Bowling Green this summer, I saw something at a Reds game that really caught me off-guard. As I was sitting and watching the Reds play, they showed in the dugout Joey Votto having a conversation through a translator with Johnny Cueto. Cueto is of course from Latin America and has little English skills. I started to think about it and I came to the realization that in the 25 years of my life, this was the first time I had ever seen a Spanish translator in the dugout for a Latin American player.
I have seen translators be used for Asian players who come from Japan such as Ichiro (who was still speaking through a translator when he was traded to the Yankees this season), Hideki Matsui, Hiroki Kuroda, and Yu Darvish have all used translators at some point. This has festered with Latin American players as a huge issue. Latin American players are generally not afforded a translator for a few reasons.
One reason I could think of was because baseball is heavily populated with Latin Americans. This number is far more than Asian players coming from overseas. This allows the Latin Americans with better English skills on the team to kind of act as an impromptu translator for the Latin Americans on the team that have lower skill in the English language.
Another reason I could see being plausible is the sheer disparity in the languages. If you speak Spanish, English is much easier to learn than if you speak Japanese. I think the opposite is true as well. How many college students and high school students do you see take Spanish? Compare that with the number that decides to take Japanese, Chinese, or Korean. The reason is because the East Asian languages are highly intimidating and feature symbols and characters to represent whole ideas instead of just letters that form words which form phrases. East Asian languages are also spoken at a faster rate than English generally. This can be a hard adjustment for either an English-speaking person or an East Asian native speaker. Spanish at least shares a lot of similar words with English.
So, players coming from Asia were afforded the opportunity to have a translator. There have been a few Latin American coaches and players who have spoken out about it and the most recent is Ozzie Guillen (see attached article). Ozzie Guillen is of course known for speaking out about anything and everything though so many of his comments get swept to the side.
Either way, we now see at least one team utilizing a Spanish translator in the dugout. Johnny Cueto and Aroldis Chapman use this man heavily. I don't watch the Reds much, as they only serve to give me my baseball fix since I do not get Fox Sports Detroit in BG. So, I wanted to open it up and ask a few questions:
1. Do you think MLB is taking a step in the right direction by letting Latin American players use Spanish translators in the dugout?
2. Have you seen any other teams with Spanish translators?
3. Do you think in the future that every MLB team will have a Spanish translator in the dugout, and should they?
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2010-08-03-baseball-interpreters-translators-guillen_N.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/sports/baseball/25translate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
For the record, MLB has no official policy on providing translators and leaves it to individual teams to decide.
ReplyDelete-Geoff
I know that Vladimir Guerrero used to have a translator in the dugout and for postgame interviews during his time with the Angels and Rangers. I think that we can all agree that communication is huge in sports. For this reason, I do not necessarily have a problem with having a translator in the dugout. However, since there are a higher percentage of Latin players in the MLB (like you mentioned), I think the need for translators should apply more to Japanese players since Spanish is becoming more prevalent. I also have the belief that if a player is set on playing in the MLB that they should make some kind of commitment to learning some basic English because it is the predominant language. If an American player was heading over to Japan to play or participating in the Dominican winter league I would fully expect them to try and learn some Japanese or Spanish as well. While speaking Spanish is undoubtedly part of their heritage, I am slightly bothered by some veteran players who make absolutely no attempt to even learn any English (Mariano Rivera, Miguel Cabrera, Daisuke Matsuzaka). I think that the language barrier prevents American fans from really getting to know these players and their personalities off of the field. While I don't have a major issue with translators, I would appreciate if these athletes made some kind of attempt to at least learn some English basic baseball terminology to justify getting the help with the language.
ReplyDelete-Aaron Crouse
I also believe that communication is very important in sports because its how athletes read off one another and help each other during the game. For the Latin players I believe that there are enough players where other players can act as translators to the other teammates. I also believe that these players should try and immerse themselves into the North American culture and learn the language because most of these athletes are going to be around for multiple years. I feel that the Latin American players do a better job including themselves in the culture than the Asian players who have a difficult time grasping the language and culture. In hockey many European players come over and over time speak great English. They also relate to the fans and not isolating themselves when talking about players in the league. I think it’s very important to learn the North American culture because it makes the athlete more involved in the team and they can enjoy the camaraderie that goes along being a teammate. For the last question I don’t think there will be a translator in each dugout of an MLB team. A team is very close knit and if there is someone that is unfamiliar with the demeanor of the team it can mess up the flow behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteRyan Viselli
I assume that all teams aim to fully accommodate foreign players no matter what country they come from. Due to the large amount of spanish-speaking players in the MLB, i would assume that teammates would act as translators for the most part. However, if a player feels that he needs one, then I don't see why not. Also, Ryan makes some great points about European's ability to better assimilate into American culture especially in regards to speaking English. All the European players I have played with have extremely impressive language skills and some NHL players such as NIcklas Lidstrom barely show a trace of any accent. It is important to get foreign athletes to learn the language both for them and for the team they play for.
ReplyDelete- Marc Rodriguez
Like Geoff said the MLB has no policy of providing a translator to these players. I do think teams are heading in the right direction by providing one though. If I were a Latin American baseball player I would feel pushed to the side by these Chinese/Japanese players getting their own translator. The only other player I could remember using a translator was Vladimir like Aaron said because he use to be my favorite player. I found his story unbelievable. I feel as if a player wants a translator then he should request it. It is up to the player if he wants a translator. These teams basically hand these players everything, it should be up to the players if they want to be able to communicate better.
ReplyDelete-Pat McFall
I believe that translators should be used in the dugout. These players should be able to, in my mind, speak whatever language that they want. As long as their players and managers are able to understand them, even if that is through a translator. I remember watching a game over the summer (I don't remember who it was though), but the pitcher got injured, so the manager and pitching coach went out to check on him, but they needed the translator, and by MLB rules only coaches in uniform are able to be on the field during play. But, the manager asked the ump if the translator could go out there, and he in fact was able to, and I thought that was definitely the right decision. I think soon that every MLB team will have a translator to help players in situations such as these, as well as just everyday conversation and interactions with the managers and teammates.
ReplyDelete-Paxin Stern
I'm really glad that you brought up this issue Geoff. As we talked after class, ESPN did an Outside the Lines episode entitled "Language Barriers," in which many of the Latin players expressed the view that MLB teams seemed to favor players from Japan by providing interpreters for individual players but not doing the same for Latin players. Pedro Martinez was one of the players who was really outspoken about this. I wish I could show the video, but unfortunately I cannot since I do not have it on DVD.
ReplyDeleteDr. Spencer
I think it is a step in the right direction by the MLB. The last thing teams need at that level is to have their players unable to communicate. I have never understood why they automatically give the asian player a translator but look right past the latin player. I would like to see them address this more in the minor leagues than in the major leagues though. I think it would be beneficial to all players, even the ones that don't go pro, to have translators as well as short classes on the language to help them after they are done with baseball.
ReplyDeleteMike Frank