100 words of English: How far can it get you?

England’s Italian football manager Fabio Capello claims he can manage his players with just 100 words. So how far could you get with a vocabulary of that size?

Despite his sometimes colourful language, communicating with Wayne Rooney does not require a Shakespearean command of English.

That’s just as well, as the England manager has admitted he’s having problems learning some of the basics.

"If I need to speak about the economy or other things, I can’t speak," he told reporters.

"But when you speak about tactics, you don’t use a lot of words. I don’t have to speak about a lot of different things. Maximum 100 words."

Find out more about Fabio Capello’s 100 words

See my blog post on this problem