Joan Beringer is taking driving lessons and learning English in his rookie year with the Timberwolves.
One teammate he had trouble understanding early? Anthony Edwards: “His vocabulary is like a dictionary. … Every word he says is a new word for me.”
December 6, 2025
I love this 😂
Great article on how Joan is doing and adapting.
22 comments
That ATL slang is different lmaoooo
Yessssirskiii
It really will be interesting to see what the final archetype Joan winds up becoming. Rudy? Giannis? Jaren Jackson jr? Kevin Durant lol? Basketball is so new to him that everything is from scratch. No one knows exactly how good his touch is because he’s used to having touch with his feet.
We just don’t know how his body and mind will pick up each new basketball skill. All we know is that he is a fluid athlete, fast processor, and is a hard worker. Traits that bode well for development when paired with a good developmental coaching staff.
I work with a lot of international people and while their English is very fluent, when they first arrive the amount of slang that we use is insane you come to realize.
Imagine playing ANT in scrabble, he’d win everytime with his ability to make up words.
”
“Ant — when he speaks English, honestly I don’t really understand everything, but I try,” Beringer said. “I get to understand him more and more … but words I never heard. His vocabulary is like a dictionary. I really learn everything. Every word he says is a new word for me.”
”
While English serves as the world’s lingua franca, I can’t wait to hear the patois he develops, with Anthony Edwards as his informal dialect coach.
Ant should be his English tutor lol
When will he be ready to play? Wolves NEED a Backup C.
Why does a french Kid need to learn english when English usually is the first non native language you learn in school in France.
Every semi well educated central European Kid is fluent in English!
Just saying
Reminds me of when Deni Avdija said that he learned English from playing Call of Duty
Slang is the hardest part of any language
I always love hearing these kinds of stories between athletes, the language barriers are such a weird occurrence for many of us to imagine given most of us will never take a job where it’s not assumed everyone speaks a common language.
My favorite story like this was when David Beckham first moved to Real Madrid. He was nearly 30 at the time, and had played for Man United since he was 16 – it was a massive change for him, and his early days in Madrid didn’t go great – but he was largely helped through it by Roberto Carlos. Except Beckham didn’t speak a word of Spanish and Carlos didn’t speak a word of English, yet they both somehow understood enough between each other to form a friendship, and learned to play together on the pitch.
He later said Roberto Carlos was his best friend in Madrid, even though for much of that time they could barely talk to each other.
Merry Spritemas to all and to all a good Sprite
how could one love Ant any more than one can?
Wholesome story 🙂
Imagine having to learn how to be an NBA player while also learning an entirely new language. Then imagine thinking you’re getting the hang of English and Ant says thurskii to you
Lotta int’l players in nba over the last couple decades have learned to talk from their peers, which is often very slang heavy. It’s funny to hear.
Same Joan, same
“He shot that btch from Yucatán” is still one of my favorite Ant-isms
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Joan’s English is better than Ant’s. Great player, dumb as a rock.
Excellent so he should be very familiar with such iconic expressions such as:
“Bring ya ass”
“A1 since day 1”
“They have KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.”
22 comments
That ATL slang is different lmaoooo
Yessssirskiii
It really will be interesting to see what the final archetype Joan winds up becoming. Rudy? Giannis? Jaren Jackson jr? Kevin Durant lol? Basketball is so new to him that everything is from scratch. No one knows exactly how good his touch is because he’s used to having touch with his feet.
We just don’t know how his body and mind will pick up each new basketball skill. All we know is that he is a fluid athlete, fast processor, and is a hard worker. Traits that bode well for development when paired with a good developmental coaching staff.
[Gift Article](https://bsky.app/profile/christopherhine.bsky.social/post/3m7die6jia22r)
I work with a lot of international people and while their English is very fluent, when they first arrive the amount of slang that we use is insane you come to realize.
Imagine playing ANT in scrabble, he’d win everytime with his ability to make up words.
”
“Ant — when he speaks English, honestly I don’t really understand everything, but I try,” Beringer said. “I get to understand him more and more … but words I never heard. His vocabulary is like a dictionary. I really learn everything. Every word he says is a new word for me.”
”
While English serves as the world’s lingua franca, I can’t wait to hear the patois he develops, with Anthony Edwards as his informal dialect coach.
Ant should be his English tutor lol
When will he be ready to play? Wolves NEED a Backup C.
Why does a french Kid need to learn english when English usually is the first non native language you learn in school in France.
Every semi well educated central European Kid is fluent in English!
Just saying
Reminds me of when Deni Avdija said that he learned English from playing Call of Duty
Slang is the hardest part of any language
I always love hearing these kinds of stories between athletes, the language barriers are such a weird occurrence for many of us to imagine given most of us will never take a job where it’s not assumed everyone speaks a common language.
My favorite story like this was when David Beckham first moved to Real Madrid. He was nearly 30 at the time, and had played for Man United since he was 16 – it was a massive change for him, and his early days in Madrid didn’t go great – but he was largely helped through it by Roberto Carlos. Except Beckham didn’t speak a word of Spanish and Carlos didn’t speak a word of English, yet they both somehow understood enough between each other to form a friendship, and learned to play together on the pitch.
He later said Roberto Carlos was his best friend in Madrid, even though for much of that time they could barely talk to each other.
Merry Spritemas to all and to all a good Sprite
how could one love Ant any more than one can?
Wholesome story 🙂
Imagine having to learn how to be an NBA player while also learning an entirely new language. Then imagine thinking you’re getting the hang of English and Ant says thurskii to you
Lotta int’l players in nba over the last couple decades have learned to talk from their peers, which is often very slang heavy. It’s funny to hear.
Same Joan, same
“He shot that btch from Yucatán” is still one of my favorite Ant-isms
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Joan’s English is better than Ant’s. Great player, dumb as a rock.
Excellent so he should be very familiar with such iconic expressions such as:
“Bring ya ass”
“A1 since day 1”
“They have KD, but we got Jaden McDaniels.”
And countless more