Ceddanne Rafaela, a player from Curaçāo, garnered attention for his English-language interview following a big game moment. Despite fluently speaking four languages, many players opt to communicate through interpreters to capture nuanced meanings. This trend arises from the high stakes of public communication where miscommunication can lead to viral blunders. While MLB teams employ interpreters for media interactions, some players like Rafaela choose to step outside their comfort zones, exemplifying both courage and capacity for connection in a multilingual context.
It's a matter of being able to communicate nuance—the hardest part of speaking a language that's not your first one.
Players generally prefer to speak to the media in their first language, through their interpreter, even those who speak English.
Ceddy speaks four languages. His first language is Papiamento, but it wouldn't be surprising if he'd opted to speak through a Spanish interpreter.
I give Ceddanne immense credit for putting himself out there and doing an English-language interview after the game.
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