As this year’s Summer Olympics approach, Brazil prepares to overcome language barriers, enlisting thousands of Brazilian Portuguese translators and interpreters. Consider the role that interpreting and translation services play at this international event with athletes from over 200 countries who speak more than 30 different languages – sounds like a job for true Olympic translators…
Portuguese, French and English at the Olympics
This year in Rio de Janeiro marks the first time South America hosts the Olympics. They are scheduled to begin on August 5, 2016, and will require language support from Brazilian Portuguese translators and interpreters, as well as other language professionals in order to overcome language barriers. The opening ceremony will be delivered in the official languages of the Olympic Games: English and French. French may come as a surprise to many as there are other languages that are more widely spoken. It is used as an official language to honor the French founder of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the man who revived the games in 1896, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. All announcements made during the Olympics are made in French and English, as well as the language of the host country – in this case, Portuguese.
Language Barriers | Olympic Translators Help Prepare the Host Country
Preparing for an influx of visitors from around the world involves coordinated efforts to minimize the chance for miscommunication. 8,000 professional translators have been selected for translating the Games into over 30 languages to people from more than 200 countries. The Organizing Committee is also providing 10,000 free online English courses for taxi drivers to help bridge the language gap and encourage positive interactions between drivers and visitors. Rio 2016 has arranged for over 1,000,000 Brazilian volunteer candidates to be trained in one of three languages: English, French, or Spanish. This training will help improve communication during the Games, and the impact of these additional language skills will enrich the lives the volunteers far beyond the Olympics.
Breaking the Language Barriers | Supporting All Languages
In addition to Olympic translators at the games and language training programs for people in the host country, such a large-scale multilingual event requires translation and interpreting services at all stages of preparation and execution. There must be official website translation services into multiple languages. The Rio 2016 website is currently accessible in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Simultaneous interpreters must also be used so that all announcements can be understood by every athlete and spectator, even if they do not speak one of the official languages. With the Olympics beginning in a matter of weeks, the hard work and dedication to minimizing language barriers and encouraging cross-cultural communication is about to pay off.
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