London 2012 Olympics to be held in French

London 2012 Olympics to be held in French

www.telegraph.co.uk

The London Olympics will be officially conducted in French with English as its second language, according to previously secret contracts seen by The Daily Telegraph.

As the first tongue of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it must take precedence at medal-giving and all other Olympic ceremonies. "Billboards and pageantry" in French as well as English must be displayed throughout the capital.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
londonist.com
uk.eurosport.yahoo.com

I Just find this absolutely absurd, but in a way I am not completely surprised.

It just absolutely infuriates me that at every opportunity little parts of British culture are being nibbled away piece-meal.

I suppose this also brings up the question of further British intregration into the EU.

I just despair, I really do. Just when we seemed to be getting our act together in this Country and have started to show the TPTB that enough is enough, we get this kick in the testes...

www.telegraph.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nice.

Yay french!

Enough with EVERYTHING in the world in english! Give other languages a chance!

OK, I'm going to assume you're not a troll, and winding me up!

But, really, the London Olympic Games, in the United Kingdom, in FRENCH???

Now, I do know our native tongue is a little prevalent in this World, that's hardly our fault - it was the language of Shakespeare et al and was, therefore, a natural choice for a World lingua-franca... er - oops?

I think everyone's missing the real point here: French is pretty far down the on the list in terms of number of native speakers. Wouldn't it make more sense to use English,Spanish, or Mandarin as these languages are the top three with each boasting more than a 100 million speakers?

Forget about tradition,you've got to communicate using whichever method is most efficient. French is not all that efficient as they deliberately fight against letting it evolve or using borrowed words. It's a dying tongue,to be sure.

They're trying to piss you off.

Of course it doesn't make sense. They do stuff like this on purpose.

en.wikipedia.org...

English is the current lingua franca of international business, science, technology and aviation. It has replaced French as the lingua franca of diplomacy since World War II. The rise of English in diplomacy began in 1919, in the aftermath of World War I, when the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as in French, the dominant language used in diplomacy until that time. The widespread use of English was further advanced by the prominent international role played by English-speaking nations (the United States and the Commonwealth of Nations) in the aftermath of World War II, particularly in the establishment and organization of the United Nations. English is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (the other five being French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish). The seating and roll-call order in sessions of the United Nations and its subsidiary and affiliated organizations is determined by alphabetical order of the English names of the countries. When the United Kingdom became a colonial power, English served as the lingua franca of the colonies of the British Empire. In the post-colonial period, some of the newly created nations which had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the lingua franca to avoid the political difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. The British Empire established the use of English in regions around the world such as North America, India, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, so that by the late 19th century its reach was truly global,[19] and in the latter half of the 20th century, widespread international use of English was much reinforced by the global economic, financial, scientific, military, and cultural pre-eminence of the English-speaking countries and especially the U.S. Today, more than half of all scientific journals are published in English, while in France, almost one third of all natural science research appears in English,[20] lending some support to English being the lingua franca of science and technology. English is also the lingua franca of international Air Traffic Control communications.

Yes, OK, it is Wiki...

I dont want to be the buzz kill here but I just checked the Official Olympic Charter.

Section 24 on page 53 states the following:

1. The official languages of the IOC are French and English.
2. At all Sessions, simultaneous interpretation must be provided into French, English,
German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.
3. In the case of divergence between the French and English texts of the Olympic Charter
and any other IOC document, the French text shall prevail unless expressly provided
otherwise in writing.

Olympic Charter

French is the native tongue of William I Conquerer of England. It is the native tongue of every king up to the Tudor dynasty, and is the source of half of the words in English. Much of English culture, as you understand it today, is inherited or borrowed from the French.

It makes me confused ,are there many people speak French there?Why are the British government promoting French ?

reply to post by youdidntseeme


Okay, a) I interpret "the official languages of the IOC are French and English" to mean the official languages of the IOC are French and English, NOT French is the primary language and English is the secondary language, and nothing in that little blurb you've provided even slightly indicates French is primary and English is secondary, so this is pure conjecture on your part

and b), even if French was the primary language, and even if English was the secondary language, there is nothing wrong with being confused, upset or even angry that the IOC opted to use French as the primary language and Engish as the interpretive language. The Olympics are being held in London -- where most residents speak English, if you were unaware -- not France! If the IOC voted to hold the Olympics in New York, wouldn't you be a bit confused if the IOC chose to administer and narrate the games in French instead of English, especially considering English is spoken by some 90% of American residents and French is like, fifth on the list of languages spoken here? Never mind that most of the world speaks English -- not French -- as either a first, second or third language, so why not narrate the games in a language most people across the world can understand?

And if you seriously can't grasp that, then me thinks you're being belligerent for the sake of being belligerent.

reply to post by YouDoSeeMe

nothing in that little blurb you've provided even slightly indicates French is primary and English is secondary

Yes, it explicitly says that in the case of a conflict between the two languages, French is to be considered primary.

3. In the case of divergence between the French and English texts of the Olympic Charter
and any other IOC document, the French text shall prevail unless expressly provided
otherwise in writing.

The Olympics are not about nationalism. Just because they are held in London does not mean that the Olympics are governed by London. They are governed by the Olympic Charter and the International Olympic Committee. And 'most people' in the world do not understand English, it is spoken by an estimated 508 million people, hardly a majority of the world's 7 billion population.

Short version: The IOC can do as it pleases without consulting the British people, whom it does not represent or pretend to represent.

The reason why French is the first language for the Olympics is because the founder of the modern games was French and the headquarters of the International Olympic Committe is in the French speaking part of Switzerland.

This in the link bothers me far more than what language comes first.

they demand draconian powers to protect sponsors such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds, from "ambush marketing" by rivals. London is required to prevent spectators from "wearing clothes or accessories with commercial messages other than the manufacturer's brand name." This would ban them from wearing football clubs' replica strips, which usually carry the name of the club's sponsor.

Games organisers must "attempt to confiscate any infringing ambush material" from spectators, although there are warnings against being "overzealous". The city authorities must also "obtain control of all billboard advertising, city transport advertising, airport advertising etc for the duration of the games and the month preceding." Olympic "brand protection teams" must "confront violators" and "conduct surveillance" across London. Police and customs officers must enforce sponsorship rules.

Britain has complied by passing an Act of Parliament which makes "ambush marketing" at the games a criminal offence and gives officials power to enter homes and seize "infringing material".

I am speechless

reply to post by SmedleyBurlap


Actually -- and I've already had this debate with the OP of the comment -- the text only indicates that in the event there is a discrepency between the English version and the French version, the terms described within the French version supersede the terms described within the English version -- NOT that the French language shoulder supersede the English language. The only thing that this is indicative of is that the texts of the IOC were first developed in French and later translated into English. This is no way indicates that French is the primary language and English is the second.

reply to post by dizzylizzy


you are not the only one, forget about the french! what is this supposed to be? the olimpics, or the cocacola Mcd games of terror?

Warnings over overzealous behavior from law enforcement? the eye in the pyramid must be laughing its omniscient ass off.

we just swallow everything and take it as it comes, we don't ask questions, some will say, "what is the matter, the company is protecting its investment, its called business in the 21st century, and the like, but really, controlling how you dress to avoid competition?

I mean we already are walking billboards, this is the salt in the already purulent wound...

reply to post by dizzylizzy


Eh, "ambush marketing" really only refers to serious attempts by local and national brands to take advantage of the mass reach, mostly via television, that the Olympics has. Basically, no different than how the MLB bands Burger King franchise owners from sending 25 employees dressed in Burger King uniforms to position themselves in front of the camera as a marketing ploy, or from blocking out McDonald's paid billboard on the field with Burger King posters, et cetera.

They're clearly not going after the average Joe who wears a polo with his towing company logo on the front -- the guidelines specifically warn against "zealous" application of the rule -- they're only targeting brands that purposely try to get free air time with the explicit intent to advertise their product/service/business. I can't say I disagree -- if you want to advertise during the Olympics, then purchase a billboard or some advertising time or sponsor something. Otherwise, you're taking facetime away from the guys who did pay -- kind of like stepping on-screen to advertise your organization during a live commercial aired (and paid for!) by your competitor. Unless you plan on showing up in a sandwich board advertising your business, I think you're okay

This is a horrible, nasty, slovenly, slutty and down-right wrong "bump" for my own thread, since most of my UK chums may not have been awake when I posted it.

How bloody self indulgent is that?

reply to post by chukka


To be honest I seriously don't care.... and seriously could not give a stuff if the upperty Olympics committee come to Britain or not.. as far as I am concerned they can get knotted

One has to remember that Britain and Gaul together gave Constantine the Great the military power to Reunite the Roman Empire.. a good bit of global arse kicking that has gone on for a long time

The French Flag (along with the Canadian Flag) fly over my town in honour of our friendship with the French, even if they sometimes do get up my nose I don't mind them feeling they are not losing their global standing..

La langue française est une belle langue et je l'aime.

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


Yeah, and any language that denotes a table or any other bloody inanimate object as having a gender is a complete waste of bloody time, yours and mine.