Portland Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese yelled out instructions to his team in English during a recent practice session at the Timbers training facility in Beaverton.

He then turned to Paraguayan midfielder Cristhian Paredes and Peruvian winger Andy Polo and carefully repeated those same instructions in Spanish.

"It's really helpful," said Paredes through an interpreter. "Having a Spanish-speaking coach is just really going to be helpful when it comes to communicating and getting things done."

Savarese, who speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, is the first multilingual coach to lead the Timbers during the club's MLS era. And his ability to communicate in multiple languages has been a major asset over the last month as he has strived to win over a very diverse locker room.

The Timbers currently have players from 15 different countries on their roster, including 11 from Latin America. Of the eight players that the club has signed this offseason, three -- Paredes, Polo and Julio Cascante -- arrived in Portland with the ability to speak only limited English.

Previously, those players would have had to rely on teammates or assistant coaches to help translate key directions during practices -- something Timbers midfielders David Guzman, Diego Chara and others have said was a challenge for them when they first arrived in Portland.

But Savarese has been able to clearly convey his philosophy and vision for the club to each player on the roster by switching between English and Spanish as needed.

"Primarily, we have to be an English-speaking team," Savarese said. "We're in the United States. But also it's important to talk in the right way for those players. There's some guys that are still learning and they need to also hear the information. We have to switch languages at some moments, but it has been very comfortable."

While the Timbers expect their players to learn English and provide tutors to those that do not speak the language, the club is also well-aware of the growing importance of having a staff that communicates in multiple languages, particularly in English and Spanish.

Teams across Major League Soccer have recruited heavily in Central and South America in recent years and the number of players joining the league from those countries is continuing to rise. The influx of Targeted Allocation Money available to MLS teams this season has enabled clubs to sign even more talented players out of Latin America as well. So far this offseason, MLS teams have signed 25 players from nine different countries within South America.

Given the trend throughout the league, the Timbers made it a priority to find a bilingual coach when they embarked on a coaching search last November.

"Having a coach that's bilingual with the number of Latin players we have is a massive benefit," Timbers General Manager and President of Soccer Gavin Wilkinson said in November. "It's something we see as being important because the number of Spanish-speaking players is not going to go down."

When Savarese was the head coach of the New York Cosmos, Cosmos Chief Operating Officer Erik Stover remembers observing the Venezuelan manager switch between Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and English in the span of three minutes as he joyfully talked with different players outside the locker room following a match.

But it wasn't simply Savarese's language skills than impressed Stover. Savarese, who competed in four different countries and represented the Venezuela National Team during a long playing career, also has a knack for connecting with players and colleagues from multiple backgrounds and cultures.

"It was not only the type of language skills that stood out, but the camaraderie that he could show with everybody in a moment's notice," Stover said.

Savarese has made an effort to develop that same camaraderie and understanding with his players in Portland over the last month as well.

When Polo joined the Timbers in early February, Savarese made sure to pull the 23-year-old winger aside after a practice. The two talked about a range of different subjects, from Polo's expected role in Portland, to his ascent with the Peru National Team to the mutual contacts that both of them had in Peru.

"He hasn't learned English yet, so to be able to communicate in Spanish with him and have this discussion I think is good," Savarese said. "I think when you're more approachable, when you can speak the language, it makes it a lot easier. It gives you the possibility to understand the players a lot better, the way they think, and I think that's a key factor when you're dealing with players."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg