LPGA to Korean Players: Learn English!
by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 26, 2008 11:08 AM EDT
17 comments
LPGA Tour Commissioner Carolyn Bivens has taken on the critics of the so-called Asian Invasion of young players. Those young players have dominated the second half of the LPGA Tour season after the law firm of Ochoa, Sorenstam, and Creamer dominated the first part.
Bivens has come out in defense of Asian players and said that their infusion to the LPGA Tour has not had a negative net impact on the game.
"I don't think there are any Americans out there today who wouldn't say that Asians have made this tour better, more competitive," Bivens said on the eve of the HSBC Champions event in February.
The LPGA Tour has made significant scheduling changes to allow for events in Asia in recent years, including the launching of an event in China in October.
The critique of the en masse flood of Asian players, though, has been that many do not speak English proficiently - if at all - and, therefore, have a difficult time assimilating into American culture and fully participating in the LPGA Tour experience.
The Tour has had difficulties in pro-ams in which Asian players will simply say hello and goodbye to sponsors that pay thousands to play with a pro player. Many attending fans have had trouble connecting to Asian players who do seem to connect to the culture of the Tour.
With that in mind, Carolyn Bivens caved. As Golfweek is reporting, Bivens has demanded English proficiency for Asian players.
At a mandatory South Korean player meeting Aug. 20 at the Safeway Classic, the tour informed its largest international contingent that beginning in 2009, all players who have been on tour for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills. Failure would result in a suspended membership.
“Hopefully what we’re talking about is something that will not happen,” said Libba Galloway, the tour’s deputy commissioner, of possible suspensions. “If it does, we wouldn’t just say, ‘Come back next year.’ What we would do is work with them on where they fell short, provide them the resources they need, the tutoring . . . and when we feel like they need to be evaluated again, we would evaluate.”
From player reactions in the piece, it doesn't seem as though the reaction is that negative. It appears that players understand the need to be able to connect in the language of fans and sponsors. But, this quote from Seon Hwa Lee may be taking it too far.
“The economy is bad, and we are losing sponsors,” she said. “Everybody understands.”
Reactions? I'll withhold mine until later.
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ain't no big thang
Like, ummm, y’know…these girls can probably learn enough English to pass a proficiency test in 6 months – The Biv gave them 2 years.
I like the requirement mostly because these girls are winning a good pecentage of the tournaments every year and the media really wants to be able to interview them and have a decent answer to repeat. If you correct their answers for print, it’s not really their answer. If you try to type what they said, it doesn’t make any sense.
And it’s not just the Koreans that will have to pass this test.
As a former English teacher, there are a few American ladies out there on and off tour who don’t seem to have a very good grasp of the language. I would like to see them take the test and see how they do just for craps and giggles.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Aug 26, 2008 11:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
yeah, the end of '09 is plenty of time
…and new members will have 2 years before they’re tested, which, coincidentally, will also show them how helpful improving their English can be in their day-to-day lives.
Next step: require all LPGA members to be able to pass a similar test in Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and any other main languages in nations that host LPGA events.
http://mlyhlss.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-stop-with-english.html
by The Constructivist on Aug 26, 2008 12:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
just another thought...
…the Korean golf machine has done such a good job preparing these girls for play as professionals – I’d have to guess that they will just start including English in the curriculum. Maybe pay a few American teachers to come over and run the classes.
Being a US based tour, and since English is pretty much the international language of business, I doubt the LPGA would require members to learn 6 or 7 languages. Besides, they rarely spend more than a week or two abroad at a time. But what would you bet that, being women, they probably already pick up bits and pieces as they go along – a few “hello’s” and “thank you’s” and “where’s the bathroom”…maybe a few swear words just for fun. :-)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Aug 26, 2008 12:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
air traffic controllers ALL speak English
Got a note from a friend on the subject – and I had never heard it before. All air traffic controllers around the WORLD are required to be fluent in English. English is the official language of this industry – no exceptions.
So there is a precident for the LPGA rule.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Aug 27, 2008 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
as i've posted elsewhere
One would be hard pressed to call the language Bahraini, Saudi and Greek air traffic controllers with whom I’ve dealt English.
Do you speak more than one language fluent enough to be interviewed without embarrassing yourself? Some of us are blessed with the ability to learn a new language as an adult, some of us (me for instance) are not. When many of the Koreans, for example, joined the Tour the only qualification was golf skill.
Those with tour promise in the future will get English classes, but it’s ridiculous to make a new language skill mandatory for those already there.
by dianemarie on Aug 27, 2008 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sorry, but I don't see a problem
This is a U.S. based tour that wishes to impose a language requirement on its members. Why is it any different than forcing players to dress a certain way, act a certain way in the media, play a certain number of tournaments each year, etc.? None of these things has to do with golf skill, and yet we really don’t have a big problem with those kinds of mandates.
As much respect as I have for other countries, in the United States, the official language is English. When I have traveled abroad in the past, I have made a serious effort to learn enough of the native language to get me through. If I had planned on living and working in any other nation, I would consider it mandatory to make the effort and I would assume my employer would feel the same way.
by Double Eagle on Aug 27, 2008 4:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
not
Since when has the official language here been English?
by The Constructivist on Aug 28, 2008 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yes, I know
I was corrected once already and admitted that I got ahead of myself, thanks. Official, no. Unofficial, yes.
by Double Eagle on Aug 28, 2008 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oooooooo
Strong points, Eagle ! Clothes and schedule are excellent examples.
However – the US doesn’t have an official language. We SHOULD have one (English) – but we don’t.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Aug 27, 2008 4:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Good point
I got ahead of myself there. You’re right. However, we could argue a sort of de facto unofficial language being English and even possibly Spanish to some extent, though that’s a whole separate political issue.
by Double Eagle on Aug 27, 2008 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
BUT...
Just because the Tour’s headquarters are in the United States, does that make it a US based tour? Especially considering where the sponsorship money is coming from, it would be easy to debate that isn’t really true anymore – or won’t be for much longer.
The Euro Tour is moving some of their offices to Dubai. (I mentioned this in my Take 2 post.) Should, then, players have to speak Arabic AND English?
by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 27, 2008 6:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes
If the HQ is in the U.S., then I’m guessing the tour is incorporated here, pays taxes here, etc., making it a U.S.-based tour. Besides, the questions are whether they have the right to do it and whether they should do it. I believe they probably have the right to do it under U.S. law (though, I’m not a lawyer), and I believe the answer to the question as to whether they should do it is – do they want to do it? It’s entirely up to them. If players don’t like it, they’ll form a new tour. If they don’t mind or don’t want to form a new tour, then they’ll learn English.
If the European Tour requires Arabic, the same logic applies. Frankly, I’m betting we’d be getting an influx of excellent players on the PGA Tour if that happens, so I welcome it.
by Double Eagle on Aug 27, 2008 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
come on Ryan...
…you know as well as I do that the Euro Tour is moving to Dubai so they can get rid of that pasty looking skin. :-D
And yes – the tour employees who live in Dubai will learn some conversational Arabic even though English is one of the languages spoken in Dubai.
Afraid Eagle got you on the LPGA being a US based tour…at least until Florida is overrun by Cuba.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Aug 27, 2008 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
But does US based really matter?
I don’t think an argument really can be centered around where a Tour is located. The only way you can really be ok with this is if you’re thinking as a marketer. Where does the money largely come from? English speaking, US based corporations. That I can go with. Still, that’s a bit of a sell out of the fact that it really boils down to the players – not the Tour – deciding to become more business friendly if they choose to do so.
by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 27, 2008 11:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The commissioner is elected by the LPGA board of directors to make those decisions. It’s no different than Major League Baseball. The teams elect a commissioner to govern the sport. The players who elect to become a part of the system agree to that. Without a system in place like that, where would they be? Where would any organization be? They sign on and give someone the power to grow their business. Without that, they’d be passing a hat amongst themselves each week to raise the prize money.
Certainly, the tour is nothing without the players. But the reverse is also true. The players would be nothing without the tour.
by Double Eagle on Aug 28, 2008 12:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
players aren't decision makers
Of course it matters that the tour is based in the US. If it didn’t, there wouldn’t be a JLPGA, or LET, or any of the other LPGA’s around the world – they would just be one big organization.
American corporations aren’t going overseas to sponsor events in Japan or Korea. There are overseas companies that sponsor LPGA events (HSBC and Evian for example), but most of those tournaments are held overseas where their consumers will see their name. If there were enough big sponsors willing to host tournaments in the US, they wouldn’t be going overseas as much. Look at the LPGA schedule – there are weeks off scattered throughout the year – sometimes multiple weeks. Do you believe that the LPGA wouldn’t love to have those weeks filled so the players could make more money ?
The players are independent contractors who hold LPGA Tour cards and agree to abide by the Tour rules. They don’t decide who the sponsors are and have no real say in where tournaments are played. (If a course is a complete wreck or other conditions are ridiculously bad, they can voice an opinion to get out of there)
The Tour sets the rules – with input from the players. The players participate in the tournaments withsome required off course (corporate and charity) and pre-tournament things (pro-ams, clinics, etc) because they are (1) required to, and (2) because they understand that people aren’t just throwing money at them like the PGA Tour – if they don’t go that extra mile, people just won’t pay as much attention.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
by courtgolf on Aug 28, 2008 9:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
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