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Harry Kane has left fans in stitches by trialling a new ‘Brit abroad’ accent with Bayern Munich – becoming the latest football personality to fall into the trap.
The striker was giving an interview from an ice bath in footage taken before Bayern’s barnstorming 10-0 thrashing of Auckland City in the Club World Cup.
It is a common linguistic strategy which people often employ, even just in different social groups, to be better understood and assimilate with their environment.
Kane spoke with a clear twang on his accent and enunciated his words clearly as he was asked about his freezing soak.
‘I think in this weather, I like it, because it’s so hot here, it’s refreshing,’ he said.
‘But when it’s in the winter, it’s tougher.’
Hardly the longest interview, but that short clip has gone viral and it has bene enough to see him lumped in the camp of British players and coaches who have swapped their voices abroad.
That company includes McClaren from his time with twente and Jamaica, Joey Barton at Marseille, Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund, and Eric Dier at Bayern.
Kane has previously said that he is doing two lessons of German each week but has been hesitant to show off his progress publicly.
‘Harry Kane here, fully falling into that “Brit abroad” tone of voice. Steve McClaren would be proud,’ one fan wrote on X.
‘It’s not Joey Barton’s French accent but more like your dad speaking to a waiter on holiday,’ another said.
‘Sssshhhhhteeeeeve,’ commented another in a reference to McClaren.
‘Sensational new accent that he’s debuting here,’ said one.
Others, however, rushed to Kane’s defence.
‘People will laugh but when you live abroad you get used to speaking English slower and also using phrases that make sense to them. Talking full speed local dialect can leave even fluent speakers confused,’ one said.
Another wrote: ‘Absolutely natural for expats to do this. I lived in California for 10 years; my accent changed a lot!
‘Back in the UK, I still say American words but with a slightly different accent. It’s natural for him to slow his speed down to help people understand him.’
Last year, Dier attracted attention for putting on a German accent while speaking English upon joining Bayern.
‘I spoke to Harry [Kane] yesterday,’ he said at the time. We just spoke about what I was going to do today. If I was going to trade or not and when I was going to see him. I think I’ll see him later in the training ground.
While he was mocked for that, fellow England star Angel Gomes rushed to his defence on X.
‘Try speaking English in France with a Salfordian accent and see if they understand,’ the then-Lille midfielder, now with Marseille, said.
‘You have to adapt to your environment for people to understand especially when they aren’t speaking their first language.’
