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Malkin's Former Teammate Reveals the Surprising Way He Learned English


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Tom Banks
April 8, 2025  (12:12)
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Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Photo credit: Sports Illustrated

Evgeni Malkin has spent two decades in North America, but when he first arrived, he chose a unique pathing to learning english, according to a former roommate.

Back in the early 2000's, the Pittsburgh Penguins landed a Russian star in Evgeni Malkin, and since then, he's done nothing but have incredible success as an individual in the NHL, while also contributing to one of the most consistent teams we've seen in decades.
While there's many challenges for a young man coming to North America from Russia both on and off the ice, adapting to a new language may be the toughest issue of all, especially as it's the way to communicate with teammates on the ice and coaches off it.
However, Max Talbot, one of Malkin's first roommates has now revealed the interesting tactic that Malkin used to learn English, and it's a story that many can relate too.
«Malkin watched Transformers, like every night-I mean, it's not a great movie. You know? You can see it once or twice, but Malkin-
He always wanted to watch that Transformers movie I said, «Geno, why do you always watch that movie?» He said, «Look at girl, learn English.» And honest to God, I laughed for the next five minutes.

He had a crush on that actress (Megan Fox). He watched the movie because she was in it, right? And I guess Sergei Gonchar had told Malkin to learn English by watching the same movie over and over. So, Geno watched that Transformers movie because he liked that girl.»
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In an interview translated from Russian to English, Talbot revealed that Malkin would constantly watch the Transformers movie starring Megan Fox, and while he insisted it was to learn English, Talbot clearly knew the real reason behind it.
Two decades later and Malkin speaks fantastic English and is still one of the most important pieces of this Penguins organization, so whatever the reason, it certainly worked.
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