"Talent for langauges" helping Nets international players

The Nets have three players with international passports -- Bojan Bogdanovic of Croatia, Mirza Teletovic of Bosnia and Sergey Karasev of Russia.

Andy Vasquez writes a big part of their transition to the NBA has to do with language skills.  Teletovic is the most advanced of the three --and the most multi-lingual, with English, Spanish and German his strongest languages. He says that early on, he wanted to learn English, maybe not thinking of NBA career.

"School. Television. Patience," Teletovic said, explaining how he learned English. "And I’m kind of pretty good at memorizing languages."

Bogdanovic speaks good English, although not on the level of his teammate and mentor.  He notes that he didn't come to the US until 2011, on Draft Night.  Then, he didn't return until this summer when the Nets signed him.

"First time when I came to the States it was draft day," Bogdanovic said. "But I stayed just three, four days. This is my second time I’m here. So, talking with the others you can learn."

• Nets’ imports learning on, off the court - Andy Vasquez - The Record