Learning Spanish: a three-month course

Grahame Jones of the LA Times was another English-speaking reporter out at Tuesday's presser. Jones talked about Eriksson's Spanish-speaking ability and started his story about a bit of a misunderstanding between Eriksson and a reporter, who asked Eriksson if he now eats chiles. As an aside, it's sort of a badge of honor for a foreigner to eat a heaping pile of jalapenos or drizzle of some spicy salsa over a plate of food.

It was a bit unfair, of course, since the opponent is Chile and he was asked several times about Chile earlier. I'm sure he picked up on the word "chile" and thought of the opponent so he began talking about the country.

Everyone laughed it off, of course. But that just shows that he's been accepted by the media and possibly the public at large.

After all, the man speaks Spanish. He knew no Spanish, had never even been to Mexico, before he was hired. But now he does all of his pressers in Spanish and has taken an interest in learning about the Mexican culture and history. He said he's visited the Museo Nacional de Antropología often and learned about the Mayans, for instance.

He's shown not only a desire to acclimate himself with the country beyond the sport and his job but a true interest in learning about his new country.

And while people may criticize his player choices, they can't say he has not done well to pick up on the Spanish language and Mexican culture.