![]() ![]() Both players understand English well enough to know what questions are being asked, but they still use translators on game days. Panarin speaks in English on practice days - a change from when he used to rely on Russian-speaking teammates earlier in his career. The Rangers have hired freelance translators over the years to assist with Panarin and Shesterkin. The Wild have used a freelance translator during Kaprizov’s two-year tenure. The most recent examples are the translators hired to work with Minnesota Wild star winger Kirill Kaprizov and New York Rangers duo Artemi Panarin and Igor Shesterkin. Sharks center Tomas Hertl is among the 26 current full-time alternate captains in the NHL who were born in a nation in which English is not an official language. The demands of the job require candidates to be available to work “long hours, including nights, holidays and weekends and be able to travel both domestically and internationally.” Those additional staff members include the travel director and equipment manager, along with those who work in medical and video, among others. The posting explains that whoever is hired will be involved with translation assistance with media interviews, press conferences, player/coach meetings, and team meetings while also supporting other MLB staff members. Louis Cardinals recently posted an opening for a Spanish interpreter. Translators have a lot of responsibilities. But that practice started to be heavily questioned when there were Japanese and Korean translators but none who spoke Spanish. It used to be that teams leaned heavily upon Spanish-speaking coaches and/or teammates to act as the intermediaries between the player, his coaches, his teammates and the media. But those translators were often included as part of a player’s contract. MLB teams have sometimes employed personal Japanese and Korean translators. At the time, a quarter of players came from Spanish-speaking nations. Major League Baseball instituted a directive for all of its teams to hire Spanish-language translators in 2016. So it leads to a question: Should the NHL consider having a translator program? ![]() ![]() This all once again proves that hockey is a global game and serves as a reminder that there are plenty of players who don’t speak English as a first or even second language. There are 316 active NHL players born outside of North America, which is one more than the 315 active NHL players born in the U.S, also per QuantHockey. Nearly 30 percent of active NHL players were born outside Canada and the United States, according to QuantHockey. But one can often hear players speaking Czech, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Russian, Slovak or Swedish. But I feel more comfortable.”Įnglish is the predominant language spoken in NHL dressing rooms. I am definitely more comfortable now. There are still a lot of words I am learning. Now, I never would have imagined I would ever be a captain and talking in front of people. You’re thinking about what you want to say but the conversation is going on. Everyone is talking and you can’t even speak to them. You come over, and you are sitting at a table with five guys and having a conversation. “In the beginning, it’s tough,” Josi recalled. Playing professionally for SC Bern as a teenager meant Josi learned what he and other players have called “Hockey English,” because he had coaches and teammates who were American or Canadian. He started learning English at an early age. Josi grew up speaking German and learned French in school. He grew up in Switzerland, where they use four official languages - German, French, Italian and Romansh - and English is not one of them. Yet a detail that might be overlooked is the fact that Josi is not doing this in his native language. Being good at hockey is the reason Josi is always being placed in front of a camera and/or microphone. This is what it means to be the captain of the Nashville Predators while being one of the NHL’s premier defensemen. ![]()
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