Loving father, ideal husband, amazing man, successful Lakers player, businessman, and he also speaks Spanish!
Do you know who he is? How could he do it?
Feel inspired and captivated by the story of when Kobe did learn Spanish!
Who is Kobe
If you are not very connected to sports or you are from another country, maybe you don’t know who is Kobe. A great man, an ideal husband, a loving and devoted father, a gentle and generous man to those entire close to him and his fans. But such noble qualities were not the reason for his fame.
The world knew him for being a successful basketball player for Los Angeles Lakers. He played 20 seasons in the NBA at the shooting guard position for this team. Enough time to demonstrate his athletic skills and what he was made of.
He wasn´t made of coldness and toughness, but of dreams, persistence, courage, determination, valor, and above all, a deep and infinite love. Love for his loved ones, love for everything he did, love for humanity.
And it was that love that motivated him to give much more in every game, as well as in every aspect of his life. So much so that the love for his wife, his family, and his Latino fans, led him to learn Spanish.
But life always takes the best, those who have given their best, so that nothing and no one can corrupt them. And at only 41 years of age, he passed away along with one of his daughters in an unfortunate flight accident.
When did he learn Spanish?
Learning languages requires commitment, perseverance, determination, and fun. That’s how Kobe learned Spanish thanks to the 2005 novel La Madrastra. Watching it with his wife and mother-in-law helped him improve his fluency in Spanish.
Beyond the stories that emerge after his passing, he was a great family man. He always held his wife, daughters, and mother-in-law in the most important place for him.
And having shared a half-Latino home life motivated him to learn Spanish. No need to go to an academy, just by surrounding himself with the right people and enjoying his favorite TV shows together.
The process of learning other languages was neither new nor unknown to him. In his childhood he had learned Italian, he also spoke a little Serbian, French, and Slovenian.
Learning languages for superstition
There is a legend of a very bad Kobe who managed to take his opponents out of the game in a mystical way. Cursing them in their native tongue seemed to be the common complaint of several players who lost to Kobe.
Learning languages for superstition can be a very good thing. Whether they were effective curses or simple illusions, they certainly made a strong impact. But let’s analyze a bit.
Imagine you are playing basketball with an opponent from a foreign country and language. Suddenly you hear a curse in your native language.
What would you do or how would you feel? It would certainly affect your subconscious mind and your performance.
So, what was happening was not evil curses from the star player. It was more like messing with his opponents’ minds a bit to get them off their feet.
In both cases, it is clear that mastering other languages makes you look superior and gives you the power that comes with knowledge.
Why learn with a Spanish novel
Family time is sacred, untouchable, and can’t be put off. When you’re a basketball star, all your time goes into practice, travel, long stretches of games away from home.
Therefore, when you have just a few minutes to spend with your loved ones, you make the most of it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a tough and very manly man, even soap operas will overflow your emotions.
It’s not only about the kind of program, its quality, the producers, the budget, or the year it was released. It’s about taking advantage of quality time with your family or partner; it’s about the conditions that make you feel fulfilled, blissful, and happy.
That’s where learning has the greatest effect. You memorize a phrase from the novel in Spanish and remember it because your wife was stroking your hair at the time.
Why learn with a Spanish novel? Because everybody likes them, they are entertaining, come in different formats and themes. Also, you’ll never forget a “Te amo, Juan Ernesto” that you heard while your head was in your beloved’s lap.
Kobe also enjoyed other programs
Human nature integrated with socio-cultural mores shape who we are. That’s why Kobe also enjoyed other programs, both Latino and Hispanic in general.
A favorite was Sábado Gigante, with the excellent broadcaster Don Francisco. As well as other soap operas and Hispanic music.
This is what we know as language immersion. In his case, his wife, mother-in-law, and daughters are half Latino and speak perfect Spanish. This made it easier for him to practice it in his day-to-day life. However, the Spanish TV shows helped him gain vocabulary, learn accents, and improve his comprehension.
What Kobe thought of his Latino fans
“Latino fans are important to me because when I arrived (in Los Angeles) they were the fans who embraced me with the most passion.” This was what Kobe thought of his Latino fans and of course, he said it in Spanish. The phrase goes on to say, “give me two or three years so I can learn a little Spanish”.
For Kobe, his Latino fans welcomed him to Los Angeles with open arms. And what better way to repay them than by learning Spanish and speaking to them in their native tongue?
He knew that learning a new language would take him two to three years, considering his pace of life. However, he did not give up but took advantage of every second to master it.
Without telling anyone, he began the process of learning Spanish. And like the man of good surprises, he managed to sweep not only the fans but also the journalists off their feet by speaking in Spanish.