#excuse me acting like i understand anything about fucking . learning language. nor roope as a person

[starscelly]

i (silly) forgot tumblr doesn’t let you add videos on reblogs but to provide example of what i was yammering about at 3am est re: roope’s interviews. here’s a clip of him answering more or less the same question - “what are you seeing on your breakaway goal?” - except one is from september 2018 and one is from last night, january 2025

both answers are roughly the same length but they’re REALLY different in quality and almost understanding?

young roope you’re getting Hockey Facts. klinger passed me the puck. he saw me cutting through. i went between dmen. these are the things that happened. he’s not telling you what HE saw on the breakaway he’s telling you what YOU saw on the breakaway. its not his perspective, it’s just what happened. that’s not a Bad Answer and it fits NOBODYS definition of “bad english” but it’s very practiced. he knows how to talk about hockey in english. it’s probably how he primarily uses the language, but even then it’s still not comfortable. he clearly kinda wants to elaborate more but - “and… i don’t know.” - cuts himself off. he doesn’t know what he’s wanting to say. whether that’s because he doesn’t understand what else hes supposed to say, or he doesn’t have the words, or maybe even he was mentally done elaborating but doesn’t know how to Cleanly and Unawkwardly wrap up an answer.

versus yesterday! “what did you see on the breakaway?” oh I was trying to get ahead and I was trying to get the goalie to move this specific way and I noticed that he moved his pads this way. this is what roope is seeing, this is what’s going on in his head. this is the answer we, in theory, actually want when asking this question (not to say on other nights he isn’t just Listing Objective Events but for arguments sake he clearly understands Intention of unclear/nondirect english direction more). there’s also a sense of comfort in language - they’re still very hockey words in the context but they’re not the basics of shooting and skating, hes talking about goalie movement along with talking about Intention rather than necessarily Concrete Action.

you can also see a vibe change. both games he had two goals and they won but he’s noticeably more upbeat and emoting more in the second clip. which, normally, wouldn’t bother noting that hes Americanizing His Attitude but i think for roope it’s fair to say it’s not an american acclimation but rather him feeling more comfortable, because i feel like when you see him in Finnish Environments hes not fitting the stereotype of Cold and Unexpressive but is still very like. silly laughy very expressive. presumably that change is partially due to a more comfortable and belonging feeling for him in the locker room, but also because of a Comfort and Growth of language ability! he’s not putting all his brain power into conjuring up an answer so he’s able to sound more Natural and Human. idk! it’s just fascinating and really fun to put side by side