Christian Pulisic has been enjoying a wonderful season so far at AC Milan and he has revealed that he is making progress with learning to speak Italian.
Speaking to journalists in the United States of America ahead of a match against Jamaica (via Pro Soccer Wire), the Milan winger opened up about his life in Italy so far and what he has been enjoying the most.
Pulisic has been the best player this season for Milan without a doubt and he now has 12 goals in all competitions, more than he has ever scored in a single season before. He also has seven assists, so he has been undroppable for Stefano Pioli.
He explained that he has been enjoying the culture, the pace of life and the language since he arrived in the summer of 2023.
“I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s been a good change of pace for me. I’m loving the Italian culture. I’m trying to soak it all in. I’m doing the best I can to learn the language so I feel pretty good with all that stuff and I’m just loving it so far,” Pulisic said.
His teammate Fikayo Tomori has often been praised for how quickly and proficiently he managed to learn to speak Italian and give interviews in it, but Pulisic is still at a point where he has to answer in English.
He explained that things are getting better and the club have been asking him to do Italian interviews: “I understand just about everything. Milan asked me if I could do my interview in Italian the other day and I was like, ‘Yeah you can ask the questions [in Italian] and I’ll answer in English but next time.’ I’m getting close but still not fluent.”
Pulisic doesn’t even like doing interviews in English! 🙂
On a separate note, it puts unnecessary pressure on a player to pressure them to do public interviews in a non-native tongue too soon. He barely has time to breathe, much less become fluent in Italian. He’ll get there, and he respects the culture….but pressuring him adds to the overall stress level.
I don’t think they pressure him. It’s more like they asked him if his ready to speak italian for the interview.