Trawling through the language stories to hit the headlines this week, I came across an interesting article on the BBC website that could prove inspirational to anyone struggling to learn a language, especially football-crazy boys!

Finally putting an end to months of speculation, Polish international midfielder, Radoslaw 'Raddy' Majewski, signed a three-year contract this week with Nottingham Forest Football Club.

But the football is not all he’s signed up for. 

Since arriving at the club a year ago, on loan from Polonia Warsaw, Mr Majewski has been learning English. 

Tutor Liz Nathan, from Commercial Language Training, has been teaching Mr Majewski how to handle all aspects of his job, including how to cope with post-match questions from the media and he now feels more confident about his ability to speak and understand the language:

“On the pitch I can explain what I want and my team-mate can tell me what he wants and I can understand him. Now I don't have to think too much about an answer - its automatic.”

So, I suppose the point here is that language skills are very useful if you are considering sport as a career because what happens if you make it as an international sporting star but cannot speak any language other than your own?

We could all take a leaf out of Raddy’s book and be prepared.

To read the full story, including details of how the BLC programme is persuading young people to include languages in their career plans, please visit the BBC website.