The Role of Language at the Sochi Olympics
Did you know that there are only three languages representing all voices at any Olympics? Two permanent official languages, English and French, and a third which is the language of the host country.
But language at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics was somewhat more complicated. The planning alone required quite a bit of linguistic preparation. Language Connections shares with you the inside story on the role of language at Sochi.
Sochi Prepares for Winter Olympics
The city of Sochi not only had to prepare logistically by building additional infrastructure and tightening security in order to host the Winter Olympic games, but there was a serious effort to prepare linguistically too. For one thing, Olympic volunteers had to be proficient in English and several hundred doctors designated to work at the games were asked to improve their English language skills. The 40,000 law enforcement officials hired to provide security during the games had to ensure that they would be able to converse with ease in English, French, and even some German. Many others also worked on their English language skills, such as referees, judges and taxi drivers who spent months preparing.
Sochi 2014 Translation Forum
The first of its kind, the Sochi 2014 Translation Forum took place back in 2011 in preparation for this year’s event. The forum, composed of over 600 professional linguists and interpreting services providers met to answer the question asked by the International Olympics Committee (IOC): How well prepared was the city of Sochi to interact with the great number of linguistically diverse visitors expected to attend and participate in the upcoming games? The goal of the forum, named “Sochi 2014: Translation Issues”, was to anticipate any linguistic issues that needed to be overcome. The members of the forum predicted that more than 1,000 translators and interpreters would be required to mediate across language barriers for both visitors and participants at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
Countries at 2014 Winter Olympics
This year the Sochi Winter Olympics had the largest number of countries represented at any Winter Olympics, 88 countries in total, among which countries from the tropics reached a new high. This gave new meaning to the word multilingual. Participants, spectators, and announcers alike, despite the universal language of sports, made a great effort to overcome language barriers. For many, English was the uniting language. At the closing ceremonies, the Russian Olympics Committee official spoke in French, English, and Russian, emphasizing the importance of the three official languages of the Olympic Games. Out of the countries that attended, Russian athletes won the largest number of medals, 33 in all (five more than the US!) and 13 gold medals!
World Leaders Attend Sochi
A record number of world dignitaries attended the Sochi Olympics, triple the amount that attended the 2010 Vancouver Games. Russian organizers reported 65 different world leaders at the opening ceremonies, games, as well as official meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among those who took the opportunity to meet with the Russian President during their visit were Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Due to controversy over the position of Russia on certain issues, some leaders declined the invitation to attend, including US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German President Joachim Gauck. Despite this, the number of world leaders who did attend was still greater in number than at previous winter games.
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