Player Discussion Jesse Puljujärvi 4th Overall 2016 Draft. Part IV

[Broilers]

Finnish isn't like Swedish/Norwegian - it's really different from English (most Swedes don't understand it either). Plus, Pulju seems to be the Finnish equivalent of a hillbilly.

Look at Tikkanen. He spent years in Edmonton, and when I met him in Asia, I couldn't understand a bloody word he said.

Pulju never went to high school. He moved away from home when he was 16 and since then has played hockey more or less professionally. It is a huge difference between high school graduate and the rest.

On the top of that English is pretty difficult language. You need to learn two languages written English and "spouken Inglish"

 

[FlameChampion]

"Jesse's been having English lessons since January 2016. How do you think he's doing?"



Please....

Continue.

You have to at least give him credit for asking the interviewer to do it english. Least the guy is trying to learn english.

This is one of the faults of many people who dont speak english. They would rather just speak in their native tongue.

 

[Broilers]

You have to at least give him credit for asking the interviewer to do it english. Least the guy is trying to learn english.

This is one of the faults of many people who dont speak english. They would rather just speak in their native tongue.

He will be fine! Pulju does not use an interpreter during the season. Malkin needed an interpreter at least the whole rookie season and he is doing just fine now...

 

[PBandJ]

Hasn't impressed me so far, but he's young. Hopefully he figures it out.

 

[GameChanger]

You have to at least give him credit for asking the interviewer to do it english. Least the guy is trying to learn english.

This is one of the faults of many people who dont speak english. They would rather just speak in their native tongue.

So this interview was done a bit over a year ago. He's actually doing better than I expected him to do at that time. I'm sure a year in NA has helped him a lot so it'll be interesting to hear him again to see where he's going now.

If Pulju plays more (as expected) and can keep the same /60 stats he had when playing regularly last fall I'll be happy enough. But if he gets to play with McDavid or Drai he should definitely be able to increse those numbers as well. After all, he was doing well at some point during the season, and I definitely saw him develop in some critical areas by the end of the season, so I believe he'll be much readier this season.

 

[GRadio]

If Pulju becomes good it'll be like adding a high end RW for free. I think a lot of our success depends on him working out.

 

[Heavy Dee]

You have to at least give him credit for asking the interviewer to do it english. Least the guy is trying to learn english.

This is one of the faults of many people who dont speak english. They would rather just speak in their native tongue.

that is awesome for him

 

[Vanqu1sh]

Has anyone here learned another language in adulthood? Like it's easy. People are expecting massive improvement over a few months. How long has Malkin sucked at English? Looks to me like he figured out the jist of what his coach was saying.

 

[Staghorn]

If Pulju becomes good it'll be like adding a high end RW for free. I think a lot of our success depends on him working out.

Except he wasn't free, he was a first round high pick. Earned by being a crappy team!

As for the English, I wasn't aware he didn't even go to school after 16... Can't say that's good, but he's not my kid I guess. Now that he's had a full season of training, not rehabbing, and will be better at English and more confortable here, I think he could turn some heads. I hope he's serious about getting to the next level. So much is up to the player wanting it.

 

[Always]

If Pulju plays more (as expected) and can keep the same /60 stats he had when playing regularly last fall I'll be happy enough. But if he gets to play with McDavid or Drai he should definitely be able to increse those numbers as well. After all, he was doing well at some point during the season, and I definitely saw him develop in some critical areas by the end of the season, so I believe he'll be much readier this season.[/QUOTE]
I don't believe Pulju thinks the game fast enough to play with McDavid, he looked very confused at times and needs to play third or fourth line to learn this game at the NHL level. Another year in minors may do him good but please don't play just because he's a first round pic he must earn the spot.

 

[Stud Muffin]

Has anyone here learned another language in adulthood? Like it's easy. People are expecting massive improvement over a few months. How long has Malkin sucked at English? Looks to me like he figured out the jist of what his coach was saying.

Malkin knows English very well except on days the Penguins lose, and then he pretends he doesn't. smart guy

 

[Chet Manley]

Has anybody reading this learnt a second language well enough to have a conversation with a native speaker? I'm sure many people on this forum have. Just curious if you were able to follow the conversation well in advance of trying to speak it or having to spend a lot of time constructing a sentence. Thought process being, are foreign players able to follow the coach's English much sooner than when native speakers perceive them as proficient? And I'd guess that coaching a sport doesn't require a vocabulary over two or three thousand words.

Sidenote: the only way I'd learn a new language would be to dive into a situation where English isn't common. Survival and basic human needs would be my carrot.

 

[LaGu]

Has anybody reading this learnt a second language well enough to have a conversation with a native speaker? I'm sure many people on this forum have. Just curious if you were able to follow the conversation well in advance of trying to speak it or having to spend a lot of time constructing a sentence. Thought process being, are foreign players able to follow the coach's English much sooner than when native speakers perceive them as proficient? And I'd guess that coaching a sport doesn't require a vocabulary over two or three thousand words.

Sidenote: the only way I'd learn a new language would be to dive into a situation where English isn't common. Survival and basic human needs would be my carrot.

Yes, maybe I cannot speak for all but I learned Italian as an adult and I had no problem following conversations waaaay before I could speak it properly. Right now I am learning French and even though I cannot speak it yet I have little trouble following conversations in French if I focus. You need to focus though, if someone else is talking at the same time or if you over-hear something then I normally lose the context of what is being said.

All this being said I really think people are making too much fuzz of the language. I think it has very little effect on his performance and development. There is a lot of pointing and showing and many of the things to be said on the ice can be said even with a very limited vocabulary. The language barrier is not nothing, but it is not a big deal. I think that the bigger issue is culture change, moving half way across the world and playing NA style hockey. All of that will come in time though.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

If I was looking at a career that was going to pay me potentially millions of dollars but it meant I was going to be in a foreign country where everyone spoke a different language and my job performance could be impacted by that ... I probably would take an hour or two a day to learn said language.

So what's your career then, mr justdoit?

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Has anyone here learned another language in adulthood? Like it's easy. People are expecting massive improvement over a few months. How long has Malkin sucked at English? Looks to me like he figured out the jist of what his coach was saying.

As a Finn raised in Sweden I can also add it's a hundred times easier to go from Swedish to English than from Finnish to English, due to the fact that Swedish and English are both germanic languages with very similiar grammar and the same shared loan words from Latin, French and Greek.

Some people with Finnish origin would study 3-6 years of Finnish in school and knew F all by the end of it.

 

[Broilers]

Yes, maybe I cannot speak for all but I learned Italian as an adult and I had no problem following conversations waaaay before I could speak it properly. Right now I am learning French and even though I cannot speak it yet I have little trouble following conversations in French if I focus. You need to focus though, if someone else is talking at the same time or if you over-hear something then I normally lose the context of what is being said.

All this being said I really think people are making too much fuzz of the language. I think it has very little effect on his performance and development. There is a lot of pointing and showing and many of the things to be said on the ice can be said even with a very limited vocabulary. The language barrier is not nothing, but it is not a big deal. I think that the bigger issue is culture change, moving half way across the world and playing NA style hockey. All of that will come in time though.

I can speak English and Swedish beyond my native Finnish. Most probably I can get my German back. Now I have studied Greek 4 semester and cannot speak it. The difference is that you need to start your language studies when you are a child. So, it is reasonable to expect Pulju to speak English well. He has some background from the school and he is in English speaking environment. It is important that he and Pakarinen will not share same hotel room or apartment.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Yes, maybe I cannot speak for all but I learned Italian as an adult and I had no problem following conversations waaaay before I could speak it properly. Right now I am learning French and even though I cannot speak it yet I have little trouble following conversations in French if I focus. You need to focus though, if someone else is talking at the same time or if you over-hear something then I normally lose the context of what is being said.

Italian, French and English are all more closely related than English and Finnish though, since Finnish is a Finno-Ugric language and not Indo-European like the ones you mentioned

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Pulju never went to high school. He moved away from home when he was 16 and since then has played hockey more or less professionally. It is a huge difference between high school graduate and the rest.

On the top of that English is pretty difficult language. You need to learn two languages written English and "spouken Inglish"

Pulju moved away of his childhood home when he was 13 not 16.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Except he wasn't free, he was a first round high pick. Earned by being a crappy team!

As for the English, I wasn't aware he didn't even go to school after 16... Can't say that's good, but he's not my kid I guess. Now that he's had a full season of training, not rehabbing, and will be better at English and more confortable here, I think he could turn some heads. I hope he's serious about getting to the next level. So much is up to the player wanting it.

It's not a surprise at all that some Finnish children may be some kind of learning difficulties ( i had those difficulties when i was a kid) during the elementary school.
You guys ( Oilers fans) will never know did Puljujarvi have learning difficulties in his elementary school years or whether he was in special education due to learning difficulties.

Every Finnish kid is individual and they learn things at different pace.
Some Finnish kids learn faster and other Finnish kids slower and there should be nothing special about that.
Because all Finnish children do not develop at the same pace than their North American peers.

And secondly Puljujarvi came to Oilers and NHL play pro hockey not speaking English with his teammates every single day.

 

[Bangers]

Yes, maybe I cannot speak for all but I learned Italian as an adult and I had no problem following conversations waaaay before I could speak it properly. Right now I am learning French and even though I cannot speak it yet I have little trouble following conversations in French if I focus. You need to focus though, if someone else is talking at the same time or if you over-hear something then I normally lose the context of what is being said.

All this being said I really think people are making too much fuzz of the language. I think it has very little effect on his performance and development. There is a lot of pointing and showing and many of the things to be said on the ice can be said even with a very limited vocabulary. The language barrier is not nothing, but it is not a big deal. I think that the bigger issue is culture change, moving half way across the world and playing NA style hockey. All of that will come in time though.

It's not just on the ice/in training that language has an effect; it's also culture shock and dealing with things off the ice that contributes to your overall mental state (which has an effect on your mental and professional development).

note: I speak 6 languages at a conversational level (but can only read/write 2 of them naturally).

 

[nexttothemoon]

I didn't realize it was MUCH easier going from Swedish to English than from Finnish to English.. but that makes sense as when I first heard Landeskog speak in his draft year, I was shocked how well he spoke English... he spoke with no discernable accent and sounded just like a Canadian.

 

[LaGu]

It's not just on the ice/in training that language has an effect; it's also culture shock and dealing with things off the ice that contributes to your overall mental state (which has an effect on your mental and professional development).

note: I speak 6 languages at a conversational level (but can only read/write 2 of them naturally).

I hear you there, but I still think this language problem with Puljujarvi has been exaggerated to the extent that people blame it for him not having a "Laine/Matthews-season". I think that there are other much more important factors that played in, which is perfectly normal, and I think he will be just fine in the end.

I didn't realize it was MUCH easier going from Swedish to English than from Finnish to English.. but that makes sense as when I first heard Landeskog speak in his draft year, I was shocked how well he spoke English... he spoke with no discernable accent and sounded just like a Canadian.

To be fair to other Swedes, Landeskog spoke unusually well for being an 18 year old.

Spending two years in the OHL played a part of course, but even with that he was excellent at English.

 

[Vimpelin Voima]

I didn't realize it was MUCH easier going from Swedish to English than from Finnish to English.. but that makes sense as when I first heard Landeskog speak in his draft year, I was shocked how well he spoke English... he spoke with no discernable accent and sounded just like a Canadian.

Well, since this whole thread went to commenting on Jesses english speaking skills I guess I can add to that as well.

Finnish is a very different language which makes it insanely much harder to learn english for them. Swedes don't have that problem. Also, hillbillys of both Sweden and Finland have sub-par education. Swedes from the country side are also rather terrible at speaking english. Landeskog is from Stockholm and hence has been taught good english from a very young age (7y), which has not been the case for finns.

 

[LaGu]

Well, since this whole thread went to commenting on Jesses english speaking skills I guess I can add to that as well.

Finnish is a very different language which makes it insanely much harder to learn english for them. Swedes don't have that problem. Also, hillbillys of both Sweden and Finland have sub-par education. Swedes from the country side are also rather terrible at speaking english. Landeskog is from Stockholm and hence has been taught good english from a very young age (7y), which has not been the case for finns.

This is starting to go off topic, but that is BS. The school system in Fin/Swe are pretty much set out on national level so the ENG education in Sthlm is the very same as the one in the countryside school next to Granny's farm... Some kids learn it better, other do not. My impression is actually that people focusing a lot of their time on sports learn a bit less, not because they are stupid or anything, but their attention is mostly on the sport they are playing and at least in Sweden (in the past) you could get extra time off other classes if you were an extraordinary talent in your sport.

 

[ijuka]

Well, since this whole thread went to commenting on Jesses english speaking skills I guess I can add to that as well.

Finnish is a very different language which makes it insanely much harder to learn english for them. Swedes don't have that problem. Also, hillbillys of both Sweden and Finland have sub-par education. Swedes from the country side are also rather terrible at speaking english. Landeskog is from Stockholm and hence has been taught good english from a very young age (7y), which has not been the case for finns.

Well yeah, not that it's terribly on topic but I grew up in a small village in a small school and we started learning English at 9. In general, most people would be good at English, the ones that weren't were the ones that also were bad at every other subject based on studying. So in other words, what you're saying doesn't ring true.

Who are bad at English are some of the older people. For example, my step mother can't speak or understand English at all.


Now, what I've heard of Puljujärvi he'd be in the "bad at every subject based on studying"-category.