Igor: so he still needs an interpreter after 3 years here?

[ThankGord]

He has to be careful about what he says on national television as well, so he’s probably more comfortable speaking in his native language.

 

[Taluss]

This is the second time I see people mentioning alphabets in this thread. Please stop it. Every literate person in countries with Cyrillic alphabet knows the Latin alphabet too. It's not an impediment to learning foreign languages in the slightest. The shitty education systems in some of these countries, however...

Not that anyone should be giving a f*** in this particular case, mind you, clearly Shesterkin's teammates understand him just fine and all interviews of hockey players are a waste of time anyway, interpreter or no interpreter.

Never knew this, why would they learn both alphabets?

 

[mjlee]

They can't all be Landeskog (after two years in Kitchener)

 

[Icarium]

Never knew this, why would they learn both alphabets?

Because everyone learns a foreign language at school and in 99.99% of the cases it's a Western language using the Latin alphabet. The alphabet is similar enough to Cyrillic that one has to be a complete idiot to not manage to learn it, assuming they have managed to learn Cyrillic.
And in any event, the Latin alphabet dominates pop culture to such an extent that many kids are already very much familiar with it by the time they start learning it at school. Especially nowadays, with video games being more popular than ever.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The reason why Scandinavians (Swedes especially) speak such good english is because their countries are small and there is not a ton of media that is created in their native tongue, so a lot of what they consume as far as TV, movies and music goes is english-speaking content.

A lot of Japanese baseball players in the MLB will go their whole career with interpreters, it was a bit of a "story" relating to Shohei Ohtani last year. I doubt very many Americans and Canadians that play overseas in basketball and hockey ever get comfortable enough to do a full interview in a different country's native tongue.

Amusing how people that likely can't speak more than a single language talk about others "terrible education systems".

 

[Love]

Podkolzin needed a translator in training camp after just arriving in North America. 8 months later he did his end of year press conference in his own and killed it. He also shared in that press conference that he and his wife were taking English lessons. It’s about priorities and effort.

It’s not a big deal, Igor doesn’t have to learn English if he doesn’t want to. But to say “English is hard!” I mean cmon. Lots of things in life are difficult. I would argue that there is perhaps no easier way to learn English than to be placed into an English speaking society and be on a team where you’re shooting the shit with your buddies all day.

 

[NyQuil]

Happens a lot in baseball, as noted. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still uses an interpreter and he's been in North America for 6 years.

I'd say the main reason is that the media is not particularly forgiving and prone to pounce on awkward phrasing or clumsy answers.

Guys like "engimatic Malkin" or "sulky Jagr" learned the hard way that speaking very little or with difficulty is interpreted the wrong way.

 

[Quack Shot]

Ohtani still uses an interpreter, but I’m pretty sure he knows English fairly well and just wants to keep his buddy employed.

 

[Big Trout]

This is one side of it. Another is that not all people are equally comfortable speaking in public, let alone in a foreign language. I'd guess he's picked up enough English to get by, but maybe he's just more comfortable with an interpreter when doing press conferences and the like.

That's how I see it too from personal experience. While I can speak in english (am french canadian) it's not pleasant for anyone when I do.

 

[Jaromir Jagr]

Igor can speak English and has done interviews this year without an interpreter (and from how I understand it, Panarin has never).

Whatever he is comfortable doing, it's fine. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rangers have a policy for official media that the interpreter be there to ensure there is nothing lost in translation.

My wife is Polish, studied in English, has lived in the USA for years, married to an American, works at a major American company, yet still doesn't understand every word and occasionally needs interpretation. She can do interviews in English, completely fluently, but if someone asked a question in a weird way she might answer it incorrectly.

 

[Bolt32]

Hmm...on ESPN's game 7 NYR-Carolina game, I learned that Igor has been here about 3 years, yet still needs an interpreter. I don't closely follow the Rangers, so wasn't aware.

Is this disappointing, or only somewhat disappointing (if at all) to the Rangers, their fans and the NHL that any player, esp. a star, hasn't learned enough English after 3 years to engage in a quick intermission interview?

I realize some or many Russian NHL players (and maybe others?) have thick accents even after many years in North America, but after 3 years, don't most or all seem to be able to function in simple interviews without an interpreter?

Is this common in MLB or the NBA? I do recall interpreters, maybe even currently, in other sports, but isn't it usually for the player's first year or so, not three years later?

I am American, and sadly only know English despite foreign language courses in high school and even a few advanced French courses in college, decades ago. I do realize how hard it is as an adult to learn a new language if not immersed in it, which I never was. But hockey players are indeed immersed in English in the NHL, so isn't three years too long to still need an interpreter?

Any current pro stars in other North American sports require an interpreter?

...

Oh, and Canes fans never serenaded Igor tonight (or all series?) unlike Pens fans. They should have started at puck drop! No excuse.

It took Kucherov 4 to 5 years before he was really fluent. After he learned it though, we turned him into Florida man. Be patient, some times it takes a while.

 

[QJL]

This should be closed. OP should go learn Russian.

 

[kp61c]

English is a very hard language to learn

you should try learning Russian

 

[Icarium]

If I were a foreigner knowing little English, I would learn a few canned phrases like "gotta put the puck deep and play hard" and repeat them regardless of the question. I reckon that someone might notice in a year or two that I am taking the piss but maybe not because I will sound exactly like my teammates.

 

[ER89]

Yes it's horribly disappointing to have a Vezina andnmvp calibre goalie for rags fans. Leafs can help alleviate your pain and suffer the non English for you all.

No but in seriousness, pretty dumb question.

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

He's here to play hockey , not doing interviews in english.

Andrei Markov was like 20 years in Montreal and still was barely speaking english.

Thats my PoV

Genuinely curious: how was Markov's French? I get that his English might never have been great spending his whole career in Montreal, but I'm curious if his French was decent after living there that long.

 

[ViD]

I know russians. They aren't very good at learning foreign languages. But there are some exceptions of course.

It’s not that they’re not good at learning languages, it’s that the foreign language environment in Russia is not very open for people. Movies are translated, foreign businesses and restaurants must translate all of their menus and products to Russian so people have very little exposure to other languages.

Shestyorkin and Panarin likely spend 90% of the time with Russian diaspora so they don’t even speak English much on daily basis.

In comparison, Svechnikov’s English is very good since he came to the NA as a teenager and had no Russians around him

 

[Kramer Industries]

This is one side of it. Another is that not all people are equally comfortable speaking in public, let alone in a foreign language. I'd guess he's picked up enough English to get by, but maybe he's just more comfortable with an interpreter when doing press conferences and the like.

Yeah, I'll fully back this sentiment as well. I've spent some time in France recently, and I've been working on learning French off-and-on for years, and I honestly think I'm to the point where I can at least formulate some sentences - however slowly in some cases - but that between my generally reserved personality as it is and lack of great comfort otherwise, I still didn't exactly do a whole lot of French speaking with natives while I was there. And that's just an average nobody living their life, not someone who's talking to media covering a large sport.

We all say things in our native language that are misinterpreted by others, no matter what we thought we were saying and how clearly we thought we were saying it. So you can imagine the risk of this happening when speaking a non-native language is significantly larger and, if avoidable, then something you'd rather do.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

In my opinion as a Russian goalie all the English he has to learn is "Hockey..it's only game. Why you haff to be mad?"

 

[ICanMotteBelieveIt]

No. Some people pick up language easily, some do not. It's completely fine that he has an interpreter.

This.

Panarin still don't speak very good english, he usually answers in Russian (99% of the time).

In other sports: Beckham and Bale never learned spanish despite playing in Real Madrid for quite some time.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Genuinely curious: how was Markov's French? I get that his English might never have been great spending his whole career in Montreal, but I'm curious if his French was decent after living there that long.

He knew the basic like Thank you and Please. But it was very limited. Im pretty sure he was going back to Russia during summers.

 

[Nasti]

If I remember correctly, it took Jagr several years before he would do interviews in English.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Podkolzin needed a translator in training camp after just arriving in North America. 8 months later he did his end of year press conference in his own and killed it. He also shared in that press conference that he and his wife were taking English lessons. It’s about priorities and effort.

It’s not a big deal, Igor doesn’t have to learn English if he doesn’t want to. But to say “English is hard!” I mean cmon. Lots of things in life are difficult. I would argue that there is perhaps no easier way to learn English than to be placed into an English speaking society and be on a team where you’re shooting the shit with your buddies all day.

That is all well and good for Podkolzin. Right now, Shesterkin is in the middle of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and is likely focusing on his play and not mastering english enough to speak it comfortably in a press conference and impress people on the internet. As you said, priorities. I'm sure the Rangers are happy with where his focus and efforts are.

 

[tfwnogf]

he should master english in secret, then one day during an interview speak in perfect english and blow everyone's minds

 

[Bandit]

Ask yourself: how many years did it take you to learn English? More than 3 I'd bet.