Personalities of Non-English Speaking Fighters (Bilingual Bros GTFIH)

[B0l0joe]

I studied here in Shanghai, Xu XiaoDong is a moron

Although I don’t disapprove of his fights with those taiji masters, the way he carries himself won’t make him too many Chinese fans.
Weili on the other hand is pretty likable and modest

 

[drbolony]

You guys have Yoel Romero all wrong. His broken English is part of his mystique.

He isn't this harbinger of doom sanctioned by the almighty as many on here like to present him. At least that's how you guys make him seem when he makes his overly dramatic speeches.

Truth is Yoel is pretty preachy, corny, and overly dramatic. Of course none of us would dare tell him this, much less me.

Yoel- I’ve heard people disagree, but to me he comes across as very smart and articulate, good vocabulary and elaborate thoughts. He doesn’t come across ‘street’ or anything to me, although I’m not cuban.

This is also true, he is articulate, but I feel he comes off scripted, like someone on TV.

Yairs true idgaf troll ball busting mexican self came to light vs Jeremias Esteban. He seems to have come from money tho, given his cadence and choice of words. Idk. I believe hes from the north of México or maybe the capital. People from the north are more reserved and stern while capital people tend to joke around a lot more.

Chihuahua

 

[Hotora86]

Obvious question: what about Khabib? I speak some Russian and to my ears he sounds distinctively "foreign-ish", i.e. non-native speaker.
I mean I know that Avar is his mother language, but interestingly I can't find a link of him speaking Avar outside of the odd sentence here and there. Anytime he is with his Caucasian crew he seems to be speaking Russian with them. It could be because many of them speak another Dagestani language but then I wonder when does he ever speak Avar, in that case?
Interesting topic, IMO.

I'm no expert but I know for a fact that the Caucasian region has HUNDREDS of languages and it would not be a surprise to me if Khabib's posse consists of multiple non-Avars so they all communicate in Russian - a common second language they share. In fact, I think there must be a few Chechens in there who have their own separate language.

Khabib's accent also does not strike me as unusual - most Caucasian Russian-speakers have a strong accent but remain perfectly understandable to me. Each has his own "flavor" and I can more or less discern a Georgian from an Armenian on a good day but Dagestanis all sound the same to me.

And if you're interested in how the general Russian public views him... well, reading comments on Russian sports website I get the impression that he's more hated there than on Sherdog, tho the haters use the same kind of arguments against him - Muslim fundamentalist, Kadyrov's pal, bigot, hypocrite, not representing Russia properly (as he does not carry the Russian flag after fights) etc.

I personally liked Khabib right up to the Conor brawl. After that he had a chance to apologize and take a high road but instead got full of himself when Putin sorta gave his nod of approval for this "retaliation" - which left a bad taste in my mouth. IMO Khabib is an amazing fight and I love watching his aggressive groundwork AND I think that MMA is a great way out of poverty and conflict for people from poor Dagestani families and troubled regions in general... but they often keep a specific mentality and culture that is sometimes hard to understand or accept.

 

[B0l0joe]

Ponzinibbio- He comes across as not too highly educated, not necessarily hood, but maybe a little bit, seems like humble origins.

Tony - His Spanish is quite bad, comparable to Anderson’s English or something like that. Tons of grammar mistakes and has to resort to English for simple things, people would place him as a foreigner who learned for a couple years based on how he speaks.

Valentina’s Spanish- Really very good, way better than Tony’s for example. Strong Russian accent, which is quite charming, but very few grammar mistakes, good vocabulary and can speak fluently during long interviews. Might get a bit lost when describing technical mma terms in Spanish.

Masvidal- His cuban accent is pretty cool 100% fluent and has the same laid back street charm as in English.

Yoel- I’ve heard people disagree, but to me he comes across as very smart and articulate, good vocabulary and elaborate thoughts. He doesn’t come across ‘street’ or anything to me, although I’m not cuban.

I found that very interesting about masvidal. How someone speaks a second language so fluently (even though he was educated in english) compared to Tony who has such poor Spanish. Miami obviously has a huge Spanish speaking culture though.

 

[Doug Money]

2 kn NM Z! Zr

You guys have Yoel Romero all wrong. His broken English is part of his mystique.

He isn't this harbinger of doom sanctioned by the almighty as many on here like to present him. At least that's how you guys make him seem when he makes his overly dramatic speeches.

Truth is Yoel is pretty preachy, corny, and overly dramatic. Of course none of us would dare tell him this, much less me.

This is also true, he is articulate, but I feel he comes off scripted, like someone on TV.


Chihuahua

Es norteño el vato pues. He does sound a lil bit "fresa" when he talks, i knew a few TKD guys growing up and most of them came from money. Training isnt cheap out there.

 

[drbolony]

2 kn NM Z! Zr

Es norteño el vato pues. He does sound a lil bit "fresa" when he talks, i knew a few TKD guys growing up and most of them came from money. Training isnt cheap out there.

Ahuevo carnal así es, ya sabes como son los putifresillas. Y menos con el Dollar a $22 carnal, no mames wey! Pobre gente como le hace para comer? No sale ni para los frijoles y quieren andar tirando sus pataditas voladoras.

You grow up in baja?

 

[Askafan]

Don't know if anyone is interested in this subtitled documentary about UFC bantam Brett Johns. He's from a village just outside Swansea in South Wales and his Welsh is quite correct and typical of someone who picked up the language in school rather than on the streets or at home - his mother is an English speaker I believe.

It's something of a miracle that Welsh has survived in such close proximity to English. Some of his friends in the documentary don't speak Welsh and that's typical of a situation where parents choose not to pass on the "less useful" language. I guess you get the same thing with immigrants in the US. I watch interviews on UFC Espanol occasionally and its a pity to see fighters struggling with Spanish or not being able to speak more than a couple of words.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I'm no expert but I know for a fact that the Caucasian region has HUNDREDS of languages and it would not be a surprise to me if Khabib's posse consists of multiple non-Avars so they all communicate in Russian - a common second language they share. In fact, I think there must be a few Chechens in there who have their own separate language.

Khabib's accent also does not strike me as unusual - most Caucasian Russian-speakers have a strong accent but remain perfectly understandable to me. Each has his own "flavor" and I can more or less discern a Georgian from an Armenian on a good day but Dagestanis all sound the same to me.

And if you're interested in how the general Russian public views him... well, reading comments on Russian sports website I get the impression that he's more hated there than on Sherdog, tho the haters use the same kind of arguments against him - Muslim fundamentalist, Kadyrov's pal, bigot, hypocrite, not representing Russia properly (as he does not carry the Russian flag after fights) etc.

I personally liked Khabib right up to the Conor brawl. After that he had a chance to apologize and take a high road but instead got full of himself when Putin sorta gave his nod of approval for this "retaliation" - which left a bad taste in my mouth. IMO Khabib is an amazing fight and I love watching his aggressive groundwork AND I think that MMA is a great way out of poverty and conflict for people from poor Dagestani families and troubled regions in general... but they often keep a specific mentality and culture that is sometimes hard to understand or accept.

Yes that is my understanding as well. Islam Makhachev is Lak, for example, and as far as I know this language is not related to Avar. There are also a couple of Lezgins in the crew. So that's my theory.

And yes of course Zubaira Tukhukov is never very far and he is a Chechen.

 

[Rvd Slmr]

Yeah that's weird.
Polynesians and Quebecois are the weirdest french accents but it's definetly not that hard to understand.

Just to be clear, the Quebecois weren't talking to me, I was simply hearing them talking among themselves in the background. I never had any trouble understanding the French Canadians I had an actual conversation with.

It's a bit like this guy, he's forcing his Ch'ti accent but he would be 100% understandable if he wanted to.

 

[King.]

Something Chael said about Anderson just popped in my head. He mentioned Anderson speaks the king's when it comes to English, just pretends he doesn't. Anyone know if this is true? I remember seeing a Steven Seagal short clip where Anderson indeed seems to speak fluently and with an American accent....can't find it anymore though

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Listening to Francis N’Gannou in French changed my perspective of him. He’s actually quite articulate and clearly more comfortable.

I have a bit of trouble with European French though as a Canadian. To me, he doesn’t sound far off of what people from France generally sound like. Mild African accent but not bad

 

[Willie]

Listening to Francis N’Gannou in French changed my perspective of him. He’s actually quite articulate and clearly more comfortable.

I have a bit of trouble with European French though as a Canadian. To me, he doesn’t sound far off of what people from France generally sound like. Mild African accent but not bad

French canadian tv shows are subtitled in France.

 

[the big marmot]

Costa sometimes has the equivalent of a hillbilly accent, witch is funny.
Aldo makes a fake rio accentch, he is ashamed of his real accent from the north
Dern has a 98% perfect "rio girl" portuguese, very sexy
Wanderlei sounds very educated and articulated, which has always been a shock in the contrast of his face and body
Palhares has serious cognitive issues. People used to find cute at first but in reality is sad.

 

[PlayTheGame]

And if you're interested in how the general Russian public views him... well, reading comments on Russian sports website I get the impression that he's more hated there than on Sherdog, tho the haters use the same kind of arguments against him - Muslim fundamentalist, Kadyrov's pal, bigot, hypocrite, not representing Russia properly (as he does not carry the Russian flag after fights) etc.

Well yeah. Russians and Dagestani have very little in common in terms of culture, language, traditions, religion etc. Add some historical bad blood between Slavs and Kavkaz people, and here we go. When Conor said that he's more Russian than Khabib, he wasn't that far from the truth. It is what it is.

 

[the big marmot]

Shogun Rua has a VERY heavy southern Brazilian accent. It is hard for brazilians to understand him

Is not accent, he's diction is just fucked up, since Pride. wand and cordeiro are from the same city and are perfectly understandable.

 

[Chivas GDL]

Kid Yamamoto is dead ?

 

[Shael]

Ponzinibbio- He comes across as not too highly educated, not necessarily hood, but maybe a little bit, seems like humble origins.

Tony - His Spanish is quite bad, comparable to Anderson’s English or something like that. Tons of grammar mistakes and has to resort to English for simple things, people would place him as a foreigner who learned for a couple years based on how he speaks.

Valentina’s Spanish- Really very good, way better than Tony’s for example. Strong Russian accent, which is quite charming, but very few grammar mistakes, good vocabulary and can speak fluently during long interviews. Might get a bit lost when describing technical mma terms in Spanish.

Masvidal- His cuban accent is pretty cool 100% fluent and has the same laid back street charm as in English.

Yoel- I’ve heard people disagree, but to me he comes across as very smart and articulate, good vocabulary and elaborate thoughts. He doesn’t come across ‘street’ or anything to me, although I’m not cuban.

Valentina's Spanish is damn good. Better than a lot of American fighters with latino backgrounds.

 

[Beherit]

Listening to Francis N’Gannou in French changed my perspective of him. He’s actually quite articulate and clearly more comfortable.

I have a bit of trouble with European French though as a Canadian. To me, he doesn’t sound far off of what people from France generally sound like. Mild African accent but not bad

Francis is indeed quite articulate, he speak better french than a big part of the teenager and young adult in france ...

 

[ThaiSexPills]

French canadian tv shows are subtitled in France.

Yup. I am aware of the barrier and I’m wondering if me thinking he sounded articulate is simply because he’s speaking European French.

I kind of assumed a large, muscular man would be somewhat of a muscle dummy though where this probably isn’t the case at all.

 

[Willie]

Yup. I am aware of the barrier and I’m wondering if me thinking he sounded articulate is simply because he’s speaking European French.

I kind of assumed a large, muscular man would be somewhat of a muscle dummy though where this probably isn’t the case at all.

Francis Ngannou is actually quite soft spoken and pretty articulate. He comes across pretty likeable which is why I dont understand when his former coach Fernand Lopez say that he kinda had ego problems.