Natalia Mishkutenok interview(she's getting remarried)

i respectfully disagree with that sentiment. my boyfriend is from sri lanka.. and you can bet right now i'm trying to learn sinhalese so that i may converse with his family members as not all of them will most likely be fluent in english. i'm going to travel there this year and am intensively studying the lang. in the meantime. if one is going to marry outside of their native lang./culture, then they ought to darn well try and make an effort to learn their partner's language. that is my opinion. i have dated some men whose first lang. was not english and i never expressed anger/frustration or got too upset when i heard them speaking it to their friends/relative. as a matter of fact, if i took the effort to learn their lang. first instead of being judgemental about it, i would probably feel like i fit in more with the culture/family. i personally feel that her ex. hockey player husband had more than his fair share of ethnocentrism in him.

but then again, it's not difficult for me to want to learn another language. i find it very fascinating and challenging to boot. i don't understand people that marry someone whose first language is not english and yet turn right around and criticize them when they speak their native lang.. and when they still eat their native foods..and wear their native clothes. case in point, i have a good pal who was engaged to someone from india. however, she always criticized the culture... saying the food was too spicy and terrible.. that she would never set foot in an indian restaurant, etc. she started saying some inflammatory things about her future mother-in-law.. and you can't just act like that with an indian guy's mother. they are much closer to their family members than the typical american. anyway, he had second thoughts and listened to his mom and decided that he wasn't ready to marry her in the end. i haven't said "i told you so" to my friend, but i certainly feel like i could. if you marry someone from another culture, it helps to try and embrace it instead of always nitpicking this and that. now she says she'll 'swear off of those damn foreigners'.. :sheesh:

Jaana said:

Not wishing to defend the hockkey-player, but I can well understand if he was not happy to be in a room with all the other people speaking a language he did not understand. Besides, I think it was not polite towards him from the others to behave in that way. He apparently was no linguist, and my guess is that Russian is not one of the easiest languages, LOL.

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As I said before, it's a tough call. Back when I had a non-Russian speaking bf I remember if I had a girlfriend come over, we'd speak English with her when we all had dinner together; however, after that it was understood that I would have my "private" conversation with her in Russian. If he happened to wonder in - too bad.

Also, what do yo do if there are, say, 10 Russian speakers and one American in a room. All 10 "Russians" can speak English, while the Ameriacan doesn't speak any Russian. What is the polite way to behave then? I know that when I have a party with mainly Russian speakers, and a firend want to bring along an American significant other, I always make a point to tell the "significant other" explicitly to expect everyone to speak Russian.

Bottom line, it's complicated. Somehow I think that if their relationship was fine in other aspects, this would not have been such a problem.

Grgranny said:

I do remember that they were being interviewed, with their coach, and he said he was getting married and Natalia didn't know it until then and was really upset. I always had the feeling that she was really in love with him. .

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I always had this impression too. Even though I was only a little girl at the time.

Ptichka said:

1. I believe Artur Jr. does skate; I think he participated in his Dad's show this year.

2. As to Natalia's ex-husband, she actually doesn't talk too badly about him (as "talks about the ex" go). Here is the translation to avoid any misundersanding:


Q: In one interview Tamara Moskina said that your ex-husband was almost a tyrant, and just couldn't stand Russian language. Is that so?

A: In general, yes. He would get very upset if people used Russian with him present, even though he's lived in Russia and played for the hockey team "Dinamo". This intolerance was why we broke up. Besides, he didn't want to have kids. Now, though, my personal life is back on track.



In my personal opinion, it's a tough call. On the one hand, it's hard not to use your native language. On the other hand, I can certainly understand who infuriating it is to have people in your presence speak a language you do not understand.

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I don't see anything wrong with people speaking their language, regardless of who is present. If Craig was so bothered by not understanding Russian, he should have learned his wife's language. Afterall she spoke his.

We live in a world where different languages are spoken. Some people from the same country are not comfortable speaking a foreign language with each other. They make speak Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, etc. because it is Their language, whether others understand it or not. All it takes is a little tolerance to get along.

Vash

Vash01 said:

I don't see anything wrong with people speaking their language, regardless of who is present. If Craig was so bothered by not understanding Russian, he should have learned his wife's language. Afterall she spoke his.

Vash

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I think it depends which is the country where they were mostly living? If it was USA/Canada, I don´t think he would have needed to learn Russian. Was their stay in Russia just temporary?

If I had Finnish guests and one Canadian, the Finnish friends would speak English. And if in some point the talk would be in Finnish, I would take care that a person not speaking Finnish, would not feel lonely. I think manners are important, LOL.

It would take years and years for somebody to learn a language like Finnish or Russian that fluently that one could really follow discussions and participate in them. Everyone is not a linguist, LOL.

I would hope he learned some Russian if he lived and trained in Russia with the dynamo team. (I'm kind of getting from Natalia, he knew quite a bit) Not saying he must have been fluent, but he should not prevent her from speaking her native tongue.. Also, some people can become bias against a language for personal reasons.. . I, myself, am shamefully biased against a certain language, because it has always been spoken around me and is the most popular language. I refused to learn it in high school, am forced now to learn it, in order to keep up with the huge mass of clients coming to the USA who speak this language.. I do understand one can feel left out or talked about when others are conversing in another language you can't seem to maintain or understand that well.


Lulu, I'm huge crushing M&D fan and was not a little girl back then.. No, I don't think anyone knew Artur had a girlfriend or dated.. ( I do believe even Moskvina was shocked) It was a big booming shock when it was revealed he had someone and were expecting.. I,to, felt Natalia was in love with Artur.. Some said, it was a painfully quiet love she had for him.. I was hurt, because I seen this quiet love she had and I just am a romantic at heart. :yes: But, I couldn't hold it against Artur when he expressed his love for his wife, and how when they fist seen each other out of the blue it was love at first sight, and he did everything in his power to make her his. So I had to let go and comfort my heart for Natalia.. Ok, enough of my melancholiness


I was one of those G&G and M&D fans who wanted M&D to win '94 Olympics, but that's the past and it's still all good... I had my two favorite pairs out there, and they were friends..

It's sweet to know she still communicates with Artur.

Denise

Jaana said:

It would take years and years for somebody to learn a language like Finnish or Russian that fluently that one could really follow discussions and participate in them. Everyone is not a linguist, LOL.

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Jaana, I have tried to learn Finnish (long story) and ITA that it would take several years to learn before one could participate in discussions! :yes:

IMHO, if you're going to become a part of someone's life as a bf/gf and subsequently become part of their nuclear family/inner circle and they speak a language other than English, you should expect and be respectful of that at the very least, if not make the effort to learn a little of the other language. I can't stand this "English or bust" mentality that people seem to have (maybe b/c I speak three languages and am working on a fourth). There was a big push several years ago in Oklahoma to make the state an "English-only" state, regardless of the large number of Hispanics we have in Oklahoma. It's important that people from other countries who are living here learn English so that they can be active participants in society, but the beauty of this country is that we're not a homogenous culture; we're made up of people from other countries and families from other countries who speak different languages. That should be something we embrace instead of a issue of alienation

I knew both Craig and Natalia during their marriage. He did speak Russian but couldn't always keep up. He had a lot of "issues." concerning Natalia. He wouldn't let her out of his sight, even to go to the grocerie store. I think this is a great move for her. I think she will be a lot happier without him. I, also, know that she wanted to have children 6 or 7 years ago. So, that is probably still very important to her.

Ack! It sounds as though she made the right decision. It could be that the "language divide" may have caused her to get into the marriage without thoroughly understanding him as a person. Afterwards, closer acquaintance may have shown how different they were.

I wish her the best, in any case. In "My Sergei," Katia G. states Natalia was very very quiet, but had the "need for speed" (cars and skiing)! Artur was described as much more gregarious and everybody's buddy.

Thanks for the little insight Biffy. I know we don't have Craig's POV on their marriage, but if what you say is true, than it certainly sounds as if she made the right choice.
I sincerly hope that she is happy with her new husband.

About the whole Natalia & Artur "saga." While I certainly feel for her, if she had a crush on him. I don't see what the big deal was if Artur was very much in love with another woman. :sheesh:
Maybe it is because his wife was a rhythmic gymnast-that I'm a little bit biased in her favor. LOL.

Usually crushes don't cause such hurt (if Natalia was indeed hurt by Artur marrying another woman). My guess is that Artur might have been having something on the side with Natalia and that would be why she was "crushed/surprised" that he was marrying another woman.

Soogar, that was my idea too.

soogar said:

Usually crushes don't cause such hurt (if Natalia was indeed hurt by Artur marrying another woman). My guess is that Artur might have been having something on the side with Natalia and that would be why she was "crushed/surprised" that he was marrying another woman.

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Someone call Maury Povich.

Seriously though, I have heard so many versions of the Natalia & Artur story on various messageboards-that it is hard to know where the assumptions end and where the truth begins.

The whole "baby" story was even mentioned in David Wallechinsky's excellent Almanac of the Winter Olympics (along with other such other gems as the Pasha/Sasha story). Awww, Artur jr. was "famous" even before he was born.

But as far as I know, the "conventional wisdom" is the version that DMR65 mentioned.

Just curious: Was there any mention of N&A as an off ice couple during the 1991/1992 season?
AFAIK, the rumors about whether they were/were not a couple only started after the baby was born.
But again, I didn't follow FS back then.

Sorry....I must be acronymically challenged today; who are N&A?

Natalia and Artur.

I think we DO need that fluff piece on Artur's dating life! I am sure that all of the principals would be glad to sort this out for us.

I remember Natalia weeping during an inteview when Artur said that he would find another partner since Natalia did not want to skate competitively. It always did seem as though she was more nervous during competitions than he was and the stress may have contributed to her varying weight.

As for ex-hubby learning Russian, it seems that he did have rudimentary skills. Probably enough to carry on a basic conversation, but not enough to be considered fluent. Frequently, my SIL will speak tagolog with her friends. It doesn't bother me except when the friend is a mutal friend of ours - then I feel excluded since they both speak English and I'm the only other person in the room. The parties where the whole family and some close friends attend are always divided - one room of Filippino speaking and the rest of non-Filipino's - Chinese family and assorted friends who aren't from the Philippines. Actually I should amend that - the kids all just run around like crazy. Even if you try to strike up a conversation around the snack table, they seem more interested in going back to their corner - with the exception of the few that I know from a mutual friend. I understand it's a comfort level thing, but it seems a shame since we see them every year at the kids' birthday party. Can't say that I don't try.

I guess nobody here saw the fluff piece on tv where natalia talks about her problems and her relationship with her then hubby. She shows some skating pics of her and artur with her ex hubby's head in artur's place,very bizarre stuff to say the least lol! She was not in a very good place back then,but seems to be doing great now,I'm glad

I never saw that fluff piece. Of course, I don't remember a lot of things.

Grgranny said:

I do remember that they were being interviewed, with their coach, and he said he was getting married and Natalia didn't know it until then and was really upset.

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Actually, he never broke the news to her about the baby/engagement in an interview
According to the 1994 fluff piece, he told both Natalia & Moskvina(she didn't know either) while they were on the bus AFTER they won their OGM.

heyang said:

remember Natalia weeping during an inteview when Artur said that he would find another partner since Natalia did not want to skate competitively

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I have never seen the entire interview-but I did see the "climax" part that they replayed for the 1994 fluff. What competition was this interview from?

Anyways, I really hope that this guy is "the one" for Natalia. She was one pairs skater.
In case anyone is interested, there is a great interview with Artur on velena.ru called "The 5 Women of Artur Dmitriev"(The article is not NEARLY as interesting as the title might suggest). Where he talks about he met his wife.
I wonder if Artur will ever skate an exhibition with Tatiana, like Natalia & Craig did?
She taught an edge quality class at last year's Adult Camp in Hackensack-so I would imagine that she wouldn't be horrible on the ice.
Did any posters attend the Adult camp?

I think she used her first marriage to escape from her issues. I don't understand why she tried to turn her hockey player husband into a skater if she thinks marriage between skaters don't work very puzzling.