Theo Corbeanu

[Obinna]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

As a Spanish and Catalan speaker, I find I can understand a lot of Italian, and especially Brazilian Portuguese. I can watch the news. They are languages you access with a couple Romance languages; then if you want more you have to study, obviously. But if there is one other language I can get a small part of with that foundation, it is Romanian, which is very Latin based. I can catch the Spanish words in Tagalog, nothing more, but part of Romanian (say 10-15%) I can get (no full meaning though). 

The Romanians who have come to Spain learn very quickly, as do the guys from the Balkans, and with decent accents.

Yes, Romanian is part of the Romance Language family. It's no surprise Romanians pick up Spanish quickly. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

12 minutes ago, Obinna said:

Yes, Romanian is part of the Romance Language family. It's no surprise Romanians pick up Spanish quickly. 

I understand it maintains the three genders of Latin.  Not sure why that's relevant other than three genders was sure annoying to me back in the day, coming in having (like a lot of us) a base in French.

[Bison44]

Only 3 genders...........amateurs.  

[InglewoodJack]

I think it’s probably harder for a professional athlete to *not* pick up any Spanish from playing with guys who speak it. You see this a lot in baseball, these American guys with no Hispanic roots randomly breaking in to perfect Spanish with a Dominican accent. I would be shocked if Theo hasn’t shared a locker room with a ton of Spanish speakers and picked up some stuff here and there.

[Acid-Tone]

10 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

As a Spanish and Catalan speaker, I find I can understand a lot of Italian, and especially Brazilian Portuguese.

But not "Portuguese" Portuguese?   

[Unnamed Trialist]

25 minutes ago, Acid-Tone said:

But not "Portuguese" Portuguese?   

Do you speak it? I find it far harder to catch, it is more closed, or whatever you could call it. The vowels are small and tight. Plenty of things I hear in Portugal, or say when a player is making a statement, I would understand written but not spoken. And find, for example, I understand the Brazilians talking in Portuguese easier.

When we were in Porto and area last September, my wife and I resorted to speaking in Catalan, not Spanish, for fun but also curiosity, and found plenty of people understood it because it has similarities (people have good English in Portugal, and on top of things, are extremely polite).

[Unnamed Trialist]

6 hours ago, Bison44 said:

Only 3 genders...........amateurs.  

Check out the 5 genders of these people on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia:

https://www.counterpointknowledge.org/beyond-gender-categories-the-bissu-of-sulawesi/

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

I think it’s probably harder for a professional athlete to *not* pick up any Spanish from playing with guys who speak it. You see this a lot in baseball, these American guys with no Hispanic roots randomly breaking in to perfect Spanish with a Dominican accent. I would be shocked if Theo hasn’t shared a locker room with a ton of Spanish speakers and picked up some stuff here and there.

I have a suspicion that Larin, after 14 months here, still can't put a sentence together.

Bale never could, Beckham can't hold a conversation at the level of a 3-year-old. Then Bellingham, after a few months, is extremely good. 

An early English player in Spain, Michael Robinson who had been at Liverpool, finished his playing at Osasuna, already fairly old, then went on to have a brilliant media career in Spanish, died tragically young.

[Obinna]

2 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Check out the 5 genders of these people on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia:

https://www.counterpointknowledge.org/beyond-gender-categories-the-bissu-of-sulawesi/

"Each person is considered to have elements of both sexes, and it is the social conditions that make an individual learn to be a woman and/or a man"

I didn't read the whole article, but this struck me as being unremarkable and applicable to the vast majority of human-kind. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Just now, Obinna said:

"Each person is considered to have elements of both sexes, and it is the social conditions that make an individual learn to be a woman and/or a man"

I didn't read the whole article, but this struck me as being unremarkable and applicable to the vast majority of human-kind. 

It's still a fascinating case, I read about it years ago. The idea of designating gender tasks and even cross-dressing as a designated social role.

[Acid-Tone]

Thanks for your explanation.  I'm fascinated by linguistics/sociolinguistics and all the peculiarities that come along with it.

I'm of Azorian Portuguese roots, so that was the first language I learned.

[Unnamed Trialist]

4 minutes ago, Acid-Tone said:

Thanks for your explanation.  I'm fascinated by linguistics/sociolinguistics and all the peculiarities that come along with it.

I'm of Azorian Portuguese roots, so that was the first language I learned.

From the Toronto Azorian community? Is it a different accent?

I have a very fond memory, in May 1992 when I was in Toronto, of going into an Azorian bar in that part of town and watching Barça win its first European Cup vs. Sampdoria (basically the best way to avoid the Italians).

[Acid-Tone]

It's a slightly different accent, but not one that people can usually pick out.

We spent a year in Toronto when we first moved to Canada (I was 5), but then we relocated down the 401 to the Chatham-Kent region. When I still lived in the area I would sometimes make a trip to downtown Toronto to watch a Euro or WC game in one of those lil' Portuguese bars.  It's a great environment to watch a game at.

 

[An Observer]

8 hours ago, Obinna said:

Yes, Romanian is part of the Romance Language family. It's no surprise Romanians pick up Spanish quickly. 

Every once in awhile I come across a group when travelling in Europe at say the next table in a restaurant or bar. And I am think, is that Italian? And I think no. Is it Spanish? Nope. Is it Portuguese? Nope. And then it dawns on me it’s Romanian. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Back to Theo: amongst other things, new coach Sandoval said in his press conference that he sat down with his assistants and analysed the squad, player by player. As we saw him saying things to Theo in training, that is a positive sign, he is trying to connect with the entire locker room.

Then he said the team had to play with a bit of joy and positive energy, play in a way the fans might enjoy, and that they had to start by beating rival Cadiz next match and try to get a run over 3-4 games. They have a game in hand vs. Valencia and have 10 games to make up 14 points or so.

So he's not saying they can avoid relegation, but he wants to give it a go. Last time he helped them avoid relegation they did 10 points in the last 4 matches, but as he mentions, there were more teams in the mix, and that makes it easier.

They should keep him if they go down to 2nd because he has a strong emotional attachment to Granada and his family does too. He said when he told his teenage daughters he had a chance to return to Granada, they pulled out their Granada shirts and wore them around the house a few days. 

In dimmer news, of the many lawyers, accountants and admins arrested for corruption at the Spanish federation during the time of Rubiales, these last 2-3 days, some were former Granada employees or had recent ties. Rubiales' apartment in Granada was searched with a legal order. I am not sure it affects the current team at all though.

[johnyb]

On 3/20/2024 at 5:41 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Do you speak it? I find it far harder to catch, it is more closed, or whatever you could call it. The vowels are small and tight. Plenty of things I hear in Portugal, or say when a player is making a statement, I would understand written but not spoken. And find, for example, I understand the Brazilians talking in Portuguese easier.

When we were in Porto and area last September, my wife and I resorted to speaking in Catalan, not Spanish, for fun but also curiosity, and found plenty of people understood it because it has similarities (people have good English in Portugal, and on top of things, are extremely polite).

I speak broken Italian (Sicilian really), and I've always said I cant understand Spanish unless it's Argentinian Spanish. Must be spoken with an Italian accent or something.

[narduch]

On the bench v Cadiz 

[Unnamed Trialist]

58 minutes ago, narduch said:

On the bench v Cadiz 

I see the new coach is shaking things up a bit, two Uruguayan darlings are on the bench too.

Still a weak team imo.

[Unnamed Trialist]

He's on m. 64… I changed over from watching Lille.

Theo had a nice chance m 68 after a free kick was parried away and he first timed it on goal with his right, went to a corner. Commentators said they were the first two chances on goal.

1-0 Cadiz since m. 51. 

And Theo takes a yellow defending hard on the left.

[InglewoodJack]

Announcer keeps talking about how surprised he is that Cadiz look this good, not a good sign for Granada. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

I thought he was good, he was incisive, took defenders on, had good crosses that created problems. Tracked back. He seemed to be an outside left mid but asked to push forward into the wing. Late he was on the right but not sure if for a long time. 

You could tell the coach was experimenting in his first match, and it was also clear plenty of things were not working at all, they lost the ball dumbly and down 1-0, late, they spent too long defending and not attacking (thus the 2-0 that was called back, but looked good to me).

Almeria plays today and Granada could go last (with a game in hand).

[Unnamed Trialist]

Little heads up, Granada are hosting Valencia on Thursday in their pending match, postponed a few weeks ago. Pretty well their last chance, though I'd say it's more like claiming your spot for next year's roster in 2nd division. A win would still leave them 11 points back of avoiding relegation.

Hoping Sandoval gives him a start, he deserves a shot I think. 

When I watch Theo I feel he is still maturing physically. He is lanky, and seems a bit loose, like he could become stronger and tauter and tougher. But he has a good mentality, is disciplined, so I think he has plenty of room to grow still. 

[InglewoodJack]

My one biggest critique of him this year is that he seems a bit slower than he has in years past. He’s a big guy so he’s never going to be a speedster, but sometimes he moves like he’s wearing concrete boots. I don’t know what it could be though because according to the eye test, he’s ripped, I don’t think it’s a question of trimming down for him. 

[Obinna]

7 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

My one biggest critique of him this year is that he seems a bit slower than he has in years past. He’s a big guy so he’s never going to be a speedster, but sometimes he moves like he’s wearing concrete boots. I don’t know what it could be though because according to the eye test, he’s ripped, I don’t think it’s a question of trimming down for him. 

To me, Theo has always seemed like a guy who is deceptively fast. He doesn't look rapid like Millar, Davies or Tajon, but he moves quick nonetheless. Perhaps it's his running style, with that lanky frame of his, maybe it just seems he is moving slow, because he's pretty good at being direct and keeping the ball away from opponents, who seem unable to catch him at times. 

He's also had some injuries, so maybe his speed has actually decresed. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

2 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

My one biggest critique of him this year is that he seems a bit slower than he has in years past. He’s a big guy so he’s never going to be a speedster, but sometimes he moves like he’s wearing concrete boots. I don’t know what it could be though because according to the eye test, he’s ripped, I don’t think it’s a question of trimming down for him. 

Interesting, not something I would say.  The only real video I can find from his time at Granada is the goal.  Hard to judge because he is watching the ball the whole way but doesn't look like "concrete boots" for sure. 

Earlier, he was at fast as most of the fullbacks he faced off the mark and would beat them if it became a full sprint. 

Edited April 2 by WestHamCanadianinOxford