interviewing sportmen and women in T&T

[jai john]

I dont think I need to say much on how our sportsmen and women express themseves in interviews. Give any US sportman or woman a microphone and you have to take it away from them. We are full of you know what ah mean when we are really being asked to say what we mean. Yuh ketch meh, yuh understand, seen ? ... really would leave all but the true trini in the dark.
Granted everyone has their own slang or hometown lingo I often wonder if some advantage isn't lost because we cant seem to express ourselves properlly.
I really would like to get Ato's comment on how we can deal with this as an emerging sporting nation where our sportmen and women are being more recognized worldwide,as  he is one of the finest exponents on the art of intelligent, interesting conversation. I rather see it as advice on handling fame intelligently !
We only have to go back to some interviews on local radio with our warriors to see how unconvincing we are at instilling confidence in others.

[morvant]

so wait nah if ah man getting interviewed by ah arsehole on i95 who asking stupid questions. callers calling and asking what part ah asia bahrain is, and the interviewer asking shyt bout goal difference in de playoff between guatemala.

who really to blame.

or yuh just want ato to answer yuh thread.

in any case if i in trini i talking fuh trini's to understand. goals win games not interviews.

if we didnt qualify who woulda care what dem interview sound like. now we qualify men finding all kinda faults.

[jai john]

Is a general statement and not limited to recent interviews...You ever hear darrel brown talk ??

[truetrini]

yuh ever hear anyah we sportsmen and women get interviewed overseas?

Like Latapy, Yorke? Lawerence? John? Andrews? Scotland? Samuel? Shaka? Rahim? Bovell? Browne (de hockey man}?

Breds dem same fellas does answer ah little different when dey home and more relax and ting

zeen?

But some ah we men does talks real bad in trute if yuh get meh drif.  Is like we trini talk does really leave much to be desire.  Man does say ting like:  "I does play hard every game."  or "Leh meh try an explain ah little sumting."

or "well whappen was dis eh, man ah pelt ah tackle and ah miss de ball and ah foul de man boy."

Ah hope yuh get wha ah tryin tuh say now.

[Coop's]

I think our sportsmen and women are at a big disadvantage when it comes to interviews,first of all they are not used to talking to crowds or in public, in the US that's taught in school,another thing is education and knowledge of the questions being asked.
  Interviews are very scary if you are not used to doing them,and you have to know what you are talking about because their are experts waiting to put you in your place.
  I personally don't understand why from the time people go to college they tend to come back and find Trini's can't speak,if you listen to people from other countries they don't have a problem with anything,Jamaica for example and they are well respected.
  I remember when i first started coaching in the US people used to always ask what language we speak,i often threw it back at them and ask what language am i speaking.

[scarface]

so wait nah if ah man getting interviewed by ah arsehole on i95 who asking stupid questions. callers calling and asking what part ah asia bahrain is, and the interviewer asking shyt bout goal difference in de playoff between guatemala.

who really to blame.

or yuh just want ato to answer yuh thread.

in any case if i in trini i talking fuh trini's to understand. goals win games not interviews.

if we didnt qualify who woulda care what dem interview sound like. now we qualify men finding all kinda faults.

imagine ah man call in & talkin about scholes still in england midfield & gerrard MITE be on d side!! 
long steups

[jai john]

maybe what is needed here is a national  sports programme or devlopment geared towards our up and coming sportsmen and women. we have a sport development company now and some promising world class athletes so now might be the time since it is painfully obviopus the the inability to express oneself oin this age will be a setback.
We also have some very articulate sportmen, some of whom are part of this forum, who might be incrporated in this scheme... that was the point I was making referring to people like Ato....

[dcs]

jai john u are right.
I couldn't believe it when I see the US players being interviewed in SPANISH.

I see Donovon...I say ok...but then I see a next set of them being interviewed on them spanish stations.  Dem yankees doh make joke.

Being a professional athelete is more than performance on the field.
All those skills might come into play with getting contracts, swaying the fan base of the club on your side.

Not to mention endorsements and a career after sports.

But I don't think many at home consider it an integral part of the job that they need to work on.
If we ever had an academy this area should be covered...along with things like managing their money, selecting agents, learning another language and negotiating.

[trinbago]

I also see it affectin them getting a "good" as opposed top a "better" contract.....When you go on trial you have to remember it is still an interview we have talented guys yes...and there play should do the talking.....but they still have to impress their manager/coach with appearance and abilty to communicate effectively....you will be representing him for picking you as well as the club when you speak.....

So speaking in we dialect is one thing...but then as in an interview for TV or for a job(contract) you have to speak accordingly....

[lihalquay]

I also see it affectin them getting a "good" as opposed top a "better" contract.....When you go on trial you have to remember it is still an interview we have talented guys yes...and there play should do the talking.....but they still have to impress their manager/coach with appearance and abilty to communicate effectively....you will be representing him for picking you as well as the club when you speak.....
So speaking in we dialect is one thing...but then as in an interview for TV or for a job(contract) you have to speak accordingly....

That is true but for many of the athletes Standard English is a foreign language.

[dwolfman]

Even a lot of non-sporting professionals have to take classes on public speaking. It is nothing to be ashamed of being unable to effectively deal with interviews. If it was a simple thing everyone would be able to do it well. When we see international athletes answering interviews well a lot of the time it is because they have prepared for it.

Jai John has a good suggestion. First of all we need to recognise that our athletes need development off the field as well as on it. Then we can start implementing programmes that deal with a variety of issues that include public speaking / interviewing.

[Pointman]

The fact is that in Trinidad and Tobago our lengua franca is "Trini" (we does talk how we does talk). Everybody on this forum understands it when it's spoken and written(for the most part ) The "problem" comes about when our gifted athletes go abroad(US, England, Scotland) and now have to speak what is essentially a second language(standard English) and it's most of the foreign based Trinis who cringe when we hear our countrymen or women speak during interview. Maybe if we simply taught them standard English well enough in the schools there wouldn't be such an issue during interviews and the transition from one dialect to another would be smoother.

[jai john]

I hope ken butcher reading these comments. A sports company must look at the holistic development of the individual, as well as the sport,  to be really efective. If not it is just another TTFF or TTFA I guess ?

[boss]

maybe what is needed here is a national  sports programme or devlopment geared towards our up and coming sportsmen and women. we have a sport development company now and some promising world class athletes so now might be the time since it is painfully obviopus the the inability to express oneself oin this age will be a setback.
We also have some very articulate sportmen, some of whom are part of this forum, who might be incrporated in this scheme... that was the point I was making referring to people like Ato....

This is an excellent point. As a matter of fact, Shaka Hislop was on Sky Sports News this morning and he was really good. He spoke very well about T&T having a trick or two up their sleeve. He also got some coverage about the "give racism the red card" programme that he participates actively in. So people like him and Ato could teach our up-and-coming drop of athletes a thing or two.

The "problem" comes about when our gifted athletes go abroad(US, England, Scotland) and now have to speak what is essentially a second language(standard English) and it's most of the foreign based Trinis who cringe when we hear our countrymen or women speak during interview. Maybe if we simply taught them standard English well enough in the schools there wouldn't be such an issue during interviews and the transition from one dialect to another would be smoother.

When I was in school, it was common to speak in standard English to your teachers, or if you partcipate in class, even though you would obviously talk "trini" or slang when talking to your friends. Has this changed? Maybe I am remembering conveniently (or just damn old), but I find it hard to believe that standard English is "essentially a foreign language"

[dwolfman]

I might be too old as well. So what exactly do teachers teach in English class these days?

[dcs]

I might be too old as well. So what exactly do teachers teach in English class these days?

You might also ask how many of our players went to their English class while they were stars in SSFL.

Some of these guys would have benefited from an education that was tailored to their career goals....a lot of them just lock off school from early.

[A.B.]

When I think of who I like to hear speak it's men like Shaka Hislop, George Bovell.  Kim Collins of St Kitts embarrassed a whole region when he won worlds in 2003. I and all still doh know what de arse he say to this day.  Big big man sounding like an idiot in a packed Stade de France (home of WC Final 1998)

I can tell you that Maurice Greene started as one of the worst interviewees ever when he came to HSI, but because we had a manager who wanted to see us on other TV shows and doing things track athletes had never done before, and making off-track and post-track money, he trained him (and myself) in media classes every single year.  Maurice got much, much better - as did I.

It boils down to this....if you are fine with your athlete coming off of a plane for a VIP reception with a G-unit shirt and a hat turned sideways, or sounding like he/she is unintelligent, then that will be your audience.  That audience is broke and not handing out any cheques anytime soon for any contract.

The problem I have with managers nowadays (including one who manages many of TNTs track stars) is that they do nothing to develop the athlete's "off the field of play" image.  That is where the money is.  Look at who is in the broadcast booths for the NBA/NFL in the US and in ads for corporations....most of the managers now don't care - just make the money now and then when u are done I'll find the next one - and that is sad...

I would like to see Darrel Brown, Marc Burns, Asafa Powell and many other track stars from this region improve immensely in that area, because right now, no-one knows what they have to say - or cares....people don't endear themselves to athletes based solely on athletic accomplishments - ask Magic Johnson, who, if he can improve the way he sounds, anyone can!

I get criticised for sounding like my audience, (as though that is a curse as opposed to a gift) but my management are in awe of it - because which athlete can you hire to do TV/radio/gala hosting in the Caribbean AND the US. Very few.  I can sound as backyard Trini or as American as I need to.  Hence I get hired in the US and in Trinidad.  Not saying that everyone has that ability but I see some just not trying...and they have no idea how much they are limiting themselve$....If so many weren't so paranoid and insecure I might actually try to help some of them, but oh well...I have my stuff to do too...

[dombasil]

Yeah. Many of our athletes need help. While Marc Burns is not bad. Darrell Brown is simply terrible. In fact when they are together Browne tends to differ to Burns if at all possible.

[Pointman]

The "problem" comes about when our gifted athletes go abroad(US, England, Scotland) and now have to speak what is essentially a second language(standard English) and it's most of the foreign based Trinis who cringe when we hear our countrymen or women speak during interview. Maybe if we simply taught them standard English well enough in the schools there wouldn't be such an issue during interviews and the transition from one dialect to another would be smoother.

When I was in school, it was common to speak in standard English to your teachers, or if you partcipate in class, even though you would obviously talk "trini" or slang when talking to your friends. Has this changed? Maybe I am remembering conveniently (or just damn old), but I find it hard to believe that standard English is "essentially a foreign language"

When I said foreign language it was more tongue-in-cheek than anything. Going from Trini English (where you essentially don't have to consciously think about grammer, pronunciation etc(because it's your language) then having to speak in a different form where you have to be understood by others who are not your countrymen is a bit like speaking another language. Very few(if any) of us who live abroad would generally speak to natives of that country in our dialect(and I'm not talking about accent here which is totally different) because very few of them would understand us.

[morvant]

pointman yuh make rell sense they. cause even me had to change my twang when i go to any country

[Pointman]

When I was in school, it was common to speak in standard English to your teachers, or if you partcipate in class, even though you would obviously talk "trini" or slang when talking to your friends. Has this changed? Maybe I am remembering conveniently (or just damn old), but I find it hard to believe that standard English is "essentially a foreign language"

We have to admit, we LANGUAGE sweet too bad.
When I was HOME, It used to GRIND me when my parents would tell me to speak properly. Well I WAS SPEAKING MY language and who was day to tell me to speak someting else. eh?
I hope allya catch my driff. We speak Trinidadian.
And YOU are right when I came to Canada, all I used to get was "HUH, what did you just say?"
SOOOO to communicate my ideas to others i HAD to speak properly.   wait wait.....speak in a way that others would understand me......basically I was NOT talkin TRINIDADIANESE any more.

and nothing wrong with that...we need to be able to communicate with others. Back to the footballers issue , even on the Trini scene, the athletes and them need to be able to communicate properly during interviews that shows that they are capable of getting their thoughts, feeling, analyses  across... even if they are doing it in our "language".             

[palos]

All the talk about "speaking properly" is valid.

Yet

How does one account for the impact Jamaican patois has had, especially in the entertainment industry? (of which sport is a segment).

[Big Magician]

 talk yuh talk tnt.....f#ck de rest

[dcs]

and nothing wrong with that...we need to be able to communicate with others. Back to the footballers issue , even on the Trini scene, the athletes and them need to be able to communicate properly during interviews that shows that they are capable of getting their thoughts, feeling, analyses  across... even if they are doing it in our "language".             

The Dwarika and Jemmot interviews were painfu.

These fellahs could be coached for these things.  Look at Dwight.  We talking content so fuhget the accent  .  He pick up a aussie twang yet...dat go be kicks to hear.

[A.B.]

Dancehall works because it is close in speed to hip hop, something soca unfortunately doesn't enjoy...also Soca artists are stuck on the same crap every year. Jump and wave and flag and high and sky...anyhow...no-one understands Jamaicans either.

[dwolfman]

I think it's more than using slang or "Trinidadianese". I can speak properly (Standard English), but I also can be very coloquial in my language. However, I still had a lot to learn when I took a public speaking class. Speaking pubicly (including interviews) is more than being grammatically correct, it is being able to speak and be understood outside of your usual comfort zone.

When listening to English or Australian athletes you hear a lot of slang depending on their level of education. For reasons I won't go into we seldom critisize the things people say when the accent is North American or European. I think that if it is okay for the English or Australian athletes to use slang then we shouldn't have a problem with it either.

What we should have a problem with is the general content. What these same English and Australian athletes have been able to do is give a reasonable answer to a question.

- How would you describe how you felt on scoring the winning goal?
- Well, I would like to thank my teammates. They really played hard and made good passes. I'm just glad that I scored so that their hard work didn't go to waste.

That's a question and answer I remember (not verbatum) from an interview sometime last year. The guy didn't directly answer the question, but he was able to put together an answer that didn't sound totally clueless. Not everyone can readily do that. Just like Ato said, if you want your athlete to interview well you need to train them to do it.

[palos]

Dancehall works because it is close in speed to hip hop, something soca unfortunately doesn't enjoy...also Soca artists are stuck on the same crap every year. Jump and wave and flag and high and sky...anyhow...no-one understands Jamaicans either.

The interesting thing is that no one really cares if they hunderstand patois or not.  They get what they need from it.

Still....in the entertainment industry, when they interview dancehall and/or reggae artistes, they doh "speak proper".  Not only are they not ridiculed for not doing so, they are actually emulated.

So why is that?

[pardners]

Jah John you made a good point, and some of it was also touched on in the tread with the Jemmot interview.

A lot has to do with the interviewer who presenting the questions and the environment at the time of the interview.

Yuh ever notice is a different response from a sportsman when yuh listen to an interview right after a race, match or game or whatever, as opposed to in a studio settings or a controlled environment ?
Sometimes the interviewer fanning away bamsee fly and mosquito while the talk going on.  And the sportsman sweating and spitting in the camera and the mike.

MOST of the professional sportsmen...and ah talking foreign now...because we doh have much in T&T...usually went to some high school or college that they could relate to.  Good grades is a big thing when you have to make the school team, if you want to get drafted to the professional ranks, so fellas had to get educated properly.  As a pro you get training in giving good interviews.  Here we place more emphasis on skills in the particular sport to make it to pro ranks, and proper education if any is a bonus.

Slang and dialect is neither here nor there.  The important thing is delivery.  The Tobagonian boxer, Manswell does talk different to Trinis, but he exudes a certain amount of confidence in his interviews that would make you want to listen.  Ato does exude the same kinda confidence in interviews....Ato does even predict future results...thing to keep the listener in tune....sometimes even generate emotions like laughter, anger or disbelief.  Whatever it is, yuh cyah leave until the talk done.

A lot of locals I heard answer everything in the first question, so when the second and third questions come, they repeating the same answer for all...and still sticking about 15 of dem "well...yuh know....aaahhhmmm".  As a matter of fact every answer does start off with "aahhhmmmm".

Ask Anil about the interview on Spalk with Burns, Brown, Stephen De Las, Bovell and Dwayne Bravo a couple weeks ago.....

As for the entertainers...is only Trinis does copy Jamaican artistes.  Trinis will copy Jamaicans (reggae slang) and Americans (hip-hop).  NOBODY else !  I never hear trinis copying dem Bajan soca artistes slang, nor the small islanders either.  Nobody else does try to copy a trini either....

[futbolfan]

Dancehall works because it is close in speed to hip hop, something soca unfortunately doesn't enjoy...also Soca artists are stuck on the same crap every year. Jump and wave and flag and high and sky...anyhow...no-one understands Jamaicans either.

The interesting thing is that no one really cares if they hunderstand patois or not.  They get what they need from it.

Still....in the entertainment industry, when they interview dancehall and/or reggae artistes, they doh "speak proper".  Not only are they not ridiculed for not doing so, they are actually emulated.

So why is that?

 'los dis does not apply in every case...have you ever heard Sean Paul or Shaggy give an interview to the mainstream media...... they speak proper english when the situation presents itself.....at the end of the day it is all about marketing 

[palos]

Dancehall works because it is close in speed to hip hop, something soca unfortunately doesn't enjoy...also Soca artists are stuck on the same crap every year. Jump and wave and flag and high and sky...anyhow...no-one understands Jamaicans either.

The interesting thing is that no one really cares if they hunderstand patois or not.  They get what they need from it.

Still....in the entertainment industry, when they interview dancehall and/or reggae artistes, they doh "speak proper".  Not only are they not ridiculed for not doing so, they are actually emulated.

So why is that?

 'los dis does not apply in every case...have you ever heard Sean Paul or Shaggy give an interview to the mainstream media...... they speak proper english when the situation presents itself.....at the end of the day it is all about marketing 

For every situation, there is an exception.  Ato for example just stated his contempt for our soca singers saying "all they do is jump and wave", yet there are many who don't fit that mould.

If you can call Sean Paul and Shaggy as 2 examples...there are twice as many who don't.  And even Sean paul and Shaggy while speaking "proper English" still throw in their patois every now and then in their interview.

This is relevant because Jamaica went through this entire debate already.  There are advocates for teaching patois in schools just as there are vehement arguments against it.  What is common is a sense of pride and self in Jamaican's that is both their strongest asset and arguably, their biggest liability.

Anytime I hear Shaka speakin to the media, it is with a strict Trini accent while making himself quite clear.  He is articulate but unmistakenly Trinbagonian.

I am a strong proponent of our athletes or anyone representing T&T in whatever capacity to be articulate, but not everyone is going to be at the same level.  You don't have to be Ato Boldon, fluent in proper english, trini slang, ebonics and the like, to be understood. 

For those who sayin the 2 interviwes were a disgrace, I fail to see what you guys are saying.  Anybody who listened to those interviews and sayin that Arnold Dwarika was not articulate is a bole face LIAR.  So what if he trow een a couple "hoss".  He was CLEARLY understood.  Kerwyn Jemmott was less articulate but no less UNDERSTANDABLE and Andre Baptiste did a piss poor job of an interview.  Your skill as an interviewer is not judged on asking a question to somebody who love to talk.  It is asking the RIGHT quastions IN SUCH A MANNER to enable a maximum response from the interviewee.  In that respect, Andre Baptiste FAILED.

But it real easy to call Kerwyn Jemmott a dunce ent?  And no futbolfan...dat eh directed to you.  Jes a statement in general.