Breaking down language barrier

DUBAI // It is often said that in the cosmopolitan English Premier League, teams with players of varying nationalities still manage to function because football is the international language.

Rugby rarely falls back on such a cliche, but the evidence suggests it would be a fair assessment.

Because rugby terminology originates from the UK, Japan's players, for instance, will use a variety of English loanwords during this evening's game.

Six of the players in Japan's 30-man HSBC Asian Five Nations squad originate from abroad. James Arlidge, their fly-half, admits not all of them are quite as fluent in the language as they would like to be, but can still communicate effectively enough on the field.

"I can get by, tell a taxi driver how to get home and things like that, but we all wish we could speak Japanese better," Arlidge said.

"In terms of learning the moves, it is like any team: the moves have a name and it is just a matter of learning them.

"The difficult part is when you get down to the details of running specific lines. I have a fair amount of experience playing with these players, and hopefully they feel comfortable playing with me and the way I am communicating.

"A lot of words in rugby are English, and the Japanese players use English for rugby terminology."

Arlidge qualified to play for Japan after spending three seasons playing club rugby in Osaka, after leaving his native New Zealand in 2004.

He has since moved on to play Magners League rugby in Wales, and is now with the English Championship club Nottingham, meaning he is the lone overseas-based player in Japan's side.

As such, his language skills may be a little rusty, but he is grateful for the grounding he got when he first moved to Japan.

"It is a very different culture and learning the language is part of that," he said. "We were lucky we had language lessons two or three times a week.

"We were also planted in a part of Osaka which didn't have many foreigners around, so we just got on with it and learnt about the people around us."

The most adept of the overseas contingent in the Japan set-up is John Kirwan, the head coach.

He is fluent in both Italian and Japanese, having spent four years as a player in the country between 1996 and 2000, before heading back there as coach in 2007.

"The first thing I do is study culture, study people and ask questions, and I don't take anything for granted," Kirwan said.

"There is an Italian saying which translates as: don't spit on the plate you are eating off. That is my personal philosophy. I make sure I try not to offend anyone culturally.

"To do that you have to observe and respect. I try and do that. I still make the odd mistake, but I try not to."