When Shohei Ohtani explained why he devoted more time to playing baseball than learning English

Last year, in an interview with GQ, Shohei Ohtani opened up that he didn't take out the time to learn English in the United States as he invested all of his time in playing baseball. Ohtani said that if he had to speak English, he would, but currently his main focus was playing baseball.

In 2017, Japan's most prolific player left the Nippon Professional League to join Major League Baseball. The Los Angeles Angels acquired a certain Shohei Ohtani who was ready to make it big in the majors. Fans had very little idea of what was coming. After a few early hiccups with injuries, Ohtani had a remarkable 2021 season as a two-way player, the likes of which hadn't been seen since Babe Ruth's time.

The Angels player was unanimously named American League MVP and Shohei Ohtani made it to two All-Star teams, one as a virtue of his role as a designated hitter and another as a starting pitcher. He received plenty of accolades and became a media sensation, appearing in many exclusives and interviews.

In one such interview with GQ, Ohtani was asked if he ever tried to learn English. He responded in Japanese by saying:

“I mean, if I could speak English, I would speak English. Of course I would want to. Obviously it wouldn't hurt to be able to speak English. There would only be positive things to come from that. But I came here to play baseball, at the end of the day, and I've felt like my play on the field could be my way of communicating with the people, with the fans. That's all I really took from that in the end."

The question was in reference to something ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith had said about having a foreign superstar like Shohei Ohtani but having to communicate with him via an interpreter. He had mentioned that Ohtani was a household name and box office appeal, so English was necessary if the Angels had to market him as one.

Shohei Ohtani jokingly mentioned how the Japanese English curriculum wasn't conversational

Shohei Ohtani also opened up that the small bit of English that he learned was in middle school and that wasn't enough to allow him to converse in English. He had English in Japan as a subject that the teachers taught to him just for the sake of passing.

“It's mandatory in school, for, like, six years in Japan. Middle school, high school, which everyone takes. That was the only exposure to English I had before I came over. My high school English teacher was actually my baseball coach…,” he said. “Now that I think about it, he probably can't speak the language that well. But they teach it to us to, like, pass tests. They don't really teach it to be…conversational.”

Ohtani followed up the prolific 2021 season with another solid two-way season in 2022. He was runner-up to Aaron Judge for the American League MVP and would look to continue his form in 2023.