貝尼特斯到中國後對中國文化，球隊以及所有事物的感想

第一次翻譯，不是很好，湊合看~湊合看

我們在中國剛剛一個星期，我看到和經歷了很多我的第一次，就好像很輕鬆的過了一個月。我和我的教練團隊去過了很多國家，我們在西班牙、意大利和英國工作了很多年。但這次的經歷與眾不同。

上千年的文化和傳統

我們生活在一個有著數千年文化遺產和傳統的國家，這些文化和傳統意味著，你從踏入中國的第一刻起就會被注意到你的行為舉止。

很顯然，首要的是語言。我們遇到的所有外國人都告訴我們，學習普通話是一件很困難的事。在前往中國的飛機上，我看了一部關於中國的紀錄片，我被許多突出的因素所震撼，包括中國人對長輩和老師的尊重，他們向我展現中國的生活是怎樣的，以及怎麼寫中國的文字。中國書法幾乎是一種藝術形式，寫的又快又棒則需要大量的學習。自從我來到這裡以來，親眼看到人們書寫是一件令人著迷的事情

我讀了一點關於中國文化的書，我還發現他們不僅創造了長城和發明了火藥，而且還做了許多偉大的事情，包括紙，手推車，甚至意大利麵!馬可·波羅從中國回來時帶回了意麵，多年來意麵已成為意大利美食的代名詞。連接長江和淮河的大運河是一項工程成就，其複雜性、雄心和實用性堪比長城。

就像西班牙語裡說的“otro mundo”，這是另一個世界，我希望能繼續一點一點地探索它，並與那些希望瞭解我們在中國經歷的人分享。

溫馨的歡迎

從我們到達的那一刻起，我們就被他們對我們的友好和尊重所感動。俱樂部對我們體貼入微，總是熱心的讓我們處於舒適的環境。從我們的經驗中可以知道，對於足球來說，就像我們的日常生活中一樣，當人們對你表示尊重和喜愛，盡他們所能讓事情變得更容易時，即使你面臨困難的時刻，生活也會變得快樂。我必須說這周我和主席，董事長和總經理的會面比我在紐卡斯爾的三年多。這些會議不僅僅與工作相關，更多的標誌著讓我們能夠了解不同文化之間的差異和相似之處。

日復一日的工作

在開始一堂訓練課或指揮比賽之前，我發現了一些我在工作或訪問過的其他國家從未經歷過的挑戰。

當你和你的球隊一起去海外踢球時，你身邊會有翻譯，當然你會直接和你的球隊說話——你要麼說他們的語言，要麼他們理解你的語言。顯然這裡不是這樣。大多數球員和你周圍的人聽不懂你說的話，反之亦然，所以你需要一個翻譯隨時在你身邊，即使是在訓練中傳達最小的糾正。不僅是我，我所有的助手也需要翻譯，所以當我和我在紐卡斯爾的媒體朋友開玩笑的時候說到，這看起來就像馬克思兄弟的場景，周圍有那麼多人!

開始去了解大連

大連是一個經歷了快速現代化進程的沿海城市。在我們剛到的幾天裡，許多新建築引起了我們的注意，還有亞洲最大的廣場星海廣場，街道的整潔，以及連接機場、酒店和訓練場之間的令人難以置信的快速道路。這裡的人們為擁有中國最好的貝類而自豪，每年的這個時候這裡的櫻桃也很美味。

說回到交流，如果你沒有中國最重要的社交平臺，也就是微信，你就是落伍。你需要通過微信來通信、發送照片、文本和語音信息，但最重要的是支付功能。這裡沒有人需要現金或信用卡——只有他們的手機。用你的手機，你可以進行日常購物，打車和吃飯。這裡的困難之一是它是用普通話寫的，所以你又需要翻譯了，他總是在我身邊。

語言障礙

你可以想象，你從在這裡工作的外國人，或者過去在這裡工作過的人那裡得到的第一個建議，不是你應該籤一個好的前鋒，而是你應該籤一個偉大的翻譯。一個好的翻譯能把你的想法清楚地傳達給球員。翻譯人員不僅需要了解你的語言(我的母語是英語)，還需要了解足球，以便傳達你想要傳達的真正含義。

到目前為止，我已經和負責建設新訓練場的人見過面，包括球隊經理、裝備管理員和司機，當然還有一直陪在我身邊的翻譯。我日常工作中最複雜的部分是培訓課程(到目前為止我們只有五次)，在那裡，每一項練習、解釋和糾正都依賴於一名翻譯——正如我之前所說，困難不僅在於我，也在於我的全體球員。到目前為止，我們已經有三名翻譯，我們還在尋找更多的翻譯，因為我們在這個領域所能得到的所有幫助都是基礎的。

為了不讓我在分享我在中國的經歷的第一部分中過多地提及，我將以對我們第一場比賽的一些評論作為結束。

首先，我要祝賀球員們，因為他們不容易適應新的教練組。我們3-1擊敗了河南建業，我可以告訴你，這種經歷真的很奇怪。你不能直接把你想要直接傳達給球員，因為它不得不需要經過翻譯。如果你大喊大叫，他也必須大喊大叫，你必須相信他正在傳達你的想法。至少和外國球員在一起時，我們可以用英語、西班牙語交談，或者用意大利語與哈姆西克交談，儘管他已經知道我們在那不勒斯共事時需要什麼。但翻譯不可能一直在你身邊，因為第四官員讓他坐下。所以我發現自己是一個人，用手勢試圖從球員那裡得到我想要的調整。就像我說的，這和我以前的經歷完全不同。

最後，我將分享一些我第一次比賽的經驗。比賽結束後，我想走到球場上和裁判握手，就像我在英格蘭時那樣(當我不生氣的時候)，但很快就被告知回來，因為這在中國是禁止的。我必須等待所有的球員相互握手,裁判在中心圓,然後為我們的球員球場走走感謝球迷們——他們都是非常優秀的,是真正在背後支持球隊的人,因為這是一個擁有堅實的足球傳統和許多獎盃的球隊

。就像我開始說的——只有七天……一個星期……到目前為止，這是一次多麼棒的經歷啊!

英文全文：

We've hardly been in China for a week and I have seen and experienced so much for the first time, it could easily have already been a month. My coaching team and I have visited so many countries in the past and we've worked for years in Spain, Italy and England. But this experience is like no other.

Millenia of culture and tradition

We are in a country with thousands of years of cultural heritage and traditions that condition behaviour that you notice from the first moment you step foot into China.

Obviously the first thing is the language. All of the foreigners we have met have told us how hard Mandarin is to learn. Watching a documentary about the country on the plane on the way over, I was struck by many factors which stood out, including the respect Chinese have for their elders, and their teachers, who explain what life is about and show how to write the language. Chinese calligraphy is almost an art form and to write accurately and quickly requires a great deal of learning. To see people writing in person since I arrived has been fascinating.

Reading up a little on the Chinese culture I also discovered that they not only created the Great Wall, or invented gunpowder, but also are responsible for a host of other things including paper, wheelbarrows and even pasta! Marco Polo brought pasta back with him when he returned from visiting China and over the years it has become synonymous with Italian cuisine. The Great Canal which unites the Yangste and Huai rivers is an engineering achievement that rivals the Great Wall for its complexity, ambition and utility.

Well, as they say in Spanish - "otro mundo", it's another world, and I hope to continue to discover it bit by bit and share with those who wish to hear about our experiences in China.

Warm Welcome

Since the moment of our arrival we have really been touched by the kindness and respect that we have been shown. Our hosts have treated us with great consideration and are always keen to make us happy. As we all know from experience, in football, just as in everyday life, when people show you respect and affection and do everything they can to make things easier for you, life is much happier, even when you face difficult moments. I must say that I have had more meetings with the Chairman, the President and the General Manager this week, than I had in 3 years at Newcastle. They haven't just been work meetings, rather signs of respect in which we have been able to appreciate the differences and similarities in our cultures.

Day to day work

Before leading a training session or managing a match I have found some challenges that I haven't experienced in the other countries where I have worked or visited.

When you go to play overseas with your team you have translators with you but of course you address your team directly - either you speak their language, or they understand yours. Obviously here this isn't the case. Most of the players and the people around you don't understand anything you say and vice versa, so you need a translator by your side at all times, even to transmit the smallest correction in training. And it's not just me, but all my assistants need translators too, so at times as I have joked with my friends from the media in Newcastle, it can seem like a scene from the Marx Brothers with so many people around!

Getting to know Dalian

Dalian is a costal city that has gone through a rapid process of modernisation. In our first few days many new buildings have caught our attention, along with the Xinghai Square, Asia's largest plaza, the cleanliness of the streets and and the incredible network of motorways linking the airport to the hotel and the training ground. The people here are proud of having the best shellfish in China and the wild cherries gown here at this time of year are also delicious.

Going back to communication, if you don't have WeChat, the most important social platform in China, you're lost. You need WeChat to communicate, send photos, text and voice messages, but above all to pay for things. Nobody here needs cash or cards - just their phones. With your mobile you can do your daily shopping, pay taxi drivers and restaurants. The challenge here is that it's in Mandarin, so you need the translator again, who is always by my side.

The language barrier

As you can imagine the first bit of advice that you get from foreigners working here, or those that have worked here in the past, isn't that you should sign a good striker, rather that you should sign a great translator. A good translator can relate your ideas clearly to the players. The translator doesn't just need to know your language (mine speaks English) but also needs to know football in order to transmit the real meaning of what you want to communicate.

So far I have met with the person responsible for building the new training ground, the Team Manager, the kit man and the driver, and of course the translator who is always with me. The most complicated aspect of my daily work are the training sessions (we've only had five so far), where every exercise, explication and correction depends on a translator - and as I said before, not just for me, but for my whole staff. We have three translators so far and are looking for more, as all the help we can get in this area will be fundamental.

So as not to go on too much in the first instalment of sharing my experiences in China, I'll finish with some comments on our first match.

Firstly, I'd like to congratulate the players as it's not easy to adjust to a new coaching staff. We beat Henan Jianye 3-1 and I can tell you that the experience was really strange. You can't transmit what you want directly to the players, as it has to go through a translator. If you shout, he has to shout too and you have to trust that he's getting across what you want. At least with the foreign players we can speak in English, Spanish or in the case of Marek in Italian, even though he already knows what is required from our time together at Napoles. But the translator can't be at your side the whole time during the match as the fourth official tells him to sit down. So I find myself alone, using gesticulations to try to get across the adjustments I want from the players. Like I said, this is nothing like my previous experiences.

To end I'll share a little experience from my first match. When the game ended I walked onto the pitch to shake hands with the ref as I used to in England (when I wasn't angry) and was quickly told to come back as this is forbidden in China. I had to wait for all the players to shake hands with each other and the referees in the centre circle, then for our players to walk around the pitch thanking the fans - who are excellent and really get behind the team, as this is a club with a solid football tradition and many past trophies. As I said at the beginning - just seven days... one week... what an experience so far!