Steven Taylor stands smiling, hand out-stretched, in the lobby of a mildly quirky Tyneside hotel where the management's slogan is "Dare to be different". There are several reasons why it seems an appropriate meeting place. For a start, the Newcastle United centre-half is, in the words of Alan Pardew, a maverick.

By that Taylor's manager means that a rarely bland, sometimes irreverent, character refuses to be bound by some of the unwritten conventions that dominate the lives of so many 21st century footballers. Unfailingly punctual and impeccably polite, the 27-year-old son of a retired police detective is refreshingly lacking in the sense of slightly sulky entitlement that can spoil certain peers. This combination of self-confident poise and lack of pretension promise to serve Taylor well as he aims to cement his position as a rare English presence in Pardew's increasingly Francophone first XI.

"It's probably a good thing my dad got me some French CDs for my birthday last week," he says. "I've been listening to them in the car, trying to learn a bit. I'm talking French all the time now, probably with a terrible accent but I'm trying. I'm not very good yet but Alan Pardew is worse."

During more than a decade serving under eight managers at St James' Park, the Greenwich-born – his father was doing a stint in the Met – but Whitley Bay-reared Taylor has seen imports from around the world come and go but never before has he shared a dressing room with 14 players whose first language is French.

A brave, gifted defender who enhanced a stellar partnership with Argentina's Fabricio Coloccini by brushing up on his GCSE Spanish, he knows that Newcastle's five January signings from Ligue 1 have been instructed to learn English fast, but, typically, is prepared to meet them halfway. Shoppers in Taylor's local Waitrose accustomed to enjoying regular banter with the former England Under‑21s captain in assorted check-out queues may be advised to brush up on their French conversation.

If the members of the new cross-Channel influx, spearheaded by Moussa Sissoko, have already eased Newcastle's relegation fears by helping inspire Premier League wins against Aston Villa and Chelsea, Taylor's return from the hamstring injury that had sidelined him since November has tightened a previously vulnerable defence. Against Chelsea he suggested that Roy Hodgson could do worse than offer him a run out in an England shirt, but Taylor appreciates that he and Coloccini face tough competition from Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, the France centre-half freshly arrived from Montpellier.

"You've got rise to the challenge," he says. "You've got to better yourself, you can't sulk. You're at a massive club, deal with it, new players coming in are part and parcel of professional football. You've got to perform.

"The competition is healthy. There's been players here in the last few months who got too comfortable, they've been too settled in their position. Before the new lads came in the manager didn't have competition for places but now, if people want to play week in week out they've got to keep doing well."

Tottenham Hotspur might have preferred a visit from Pardew's side a month ago rather than on Saturday lunchtime. "With the players Spurs have I definitely see them challenging for the title soon," says Taylor. "They're strong in every position and I'm pleased to see their manager doing well. From what I've heard, André Villas-Boas got a lot of undeserved stick at Chelsea."

When Newcastle beat Spurs 2-1 at home in August it was regarded as a meeting of two potential top-four challengers. A combination of injuries and the debilitating effects of Europa League involvement ensured that Newcastle have failed to live up to that billing, but Taylor believes theirs is a strictly temporary blip. "Spurs are up where we want to be, challenging for the Champions League," he says. "But the new players coming in have lifted a massive weight off our shoulders and I'm sure we'll be back up there next season."

By then he hopes Newcastle – or Neufchâteau as L'Equipe now refers to them – may have enjoyed a spot of Europa League glory and is undaunted by the impending prospect by the round of 32 tie with Ukraine's Metalist Kharkiv. "I want to win something, the fans want us to win something," says Taylor. "Everyone seems to be writing us off but we all want to succeed in the Europa League, we're playing with confidence and the new players need to establish themselves. There's no reason why we can't do well. We've got a winning mentality back."

He savours European nights that little bit more after missing the second half of last season with an injury that once would have proved career-ending. "I ruptured my achilles tendon in December 2011 and it was a learning curve, a trauma," he says. "I had two weeks of having to inject myself in my stomach every morning to thin my blood. It wasn't a very nice feeling, I got a bit twitchy about it, sometimes it didn't go in right the first time. It gave me the shakes every time I did it."

Accustomed to independence and living alone, Taylor initially moved back in with his parents. "You have to learn to cope with things like getting washed and going up and down stairs on crutches, but the surgeon did a very good job and the medical team at Newcastle were fantastic. The physios were in my head all the time, making me feel stronger and, when they needed to, behaving like a nagging wife. In the end I was back after seven months rather than the nine the surgeon predicted. To play again was fantastic."

The concern with which patients, nurses and consultants repeatedly inquired after his achilles and hamstring as Taylor joined in a pre-Christmas squad charity visit to Newcastle's Royal Victoria infirmary emphasised his importance to Pardew's side. "It was frustrating being out again with the hamstring," he says. "Particularly as we were on such a bad run and, because of all the injuries, the gaffer was having to play people out of position. But, in typical Alan Pardew style, he plugged away and wouldn't let the lads sulk. He's always got his arm round people, he's always talking to players in his office.

"On the training pitch he also spends a lot of time working individually with you. He's very demanding, a perfectionist who is always on your tail, and really into his stats, but he's also got that bit of banter with people, which is good. He's the toughest manager I've had but he knows how to deal with his players. He's got everyone's respect."

Such admiration is mutual. "Steven's an outstanding footballer," says Newcastle's manager. "The only slight disappointment has been his injuries. I'm very, very conscious that we have to protect Steven because, when he's fit, there aren't many better defenders. The only problem he's had with England and us is injuries."

Pardew, whose French accent is said to be more Del Boy than Depardieu, remains adamant that fears of his dressing room dividing into French- and English-speaking cliques are groundless and Taylor agrees. "You're not going to get a team of 11 Geordies here now, not in the melting pot of today's Premier League," he says. "I don't see it as a problem. The gaffer makes sure everybody's together. The new lads from Ligue 1 are learning English pretty quickly and we're teaching them a few Geordie phrases but, for me, seeing what they're about in training is a breath of fresh air."

It is time to take the lift back to the lobby and, being a "different" type of hotel, the automated voice announcing its arrival at various floors is French. "I'm very pleased my dad got me those CDs," Taylor says, smiling.