Olympic English Report

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The Importance and Preparation of Language Services for the Success of the Olympic Games
Over the past 30 years, Language Services at the Olympic Games has become an
increasingly important part of the Olympic organizing process. As the Olympic Games continue
to attract attendees and athletes from all over the world, both the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have begun to place a greater
emphasis on the provision of language services to athletes, the families of athletes, guests, and
interested corporations as an important aspect of the Olympic Games. The expansion of
Language Services has continued to grow since the creation of the department prior to the 1984
Los Angeles Olympic Games, with nearly all non-native English language speaking hosts being
praised for the success of their programs.
The Language Services Department was created by the IOC in 1983 in order to address
the needs of Olympic attendees. Although the department was originally created to support the 6
most common languages, French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic as required by
the Olympic Charter, the number of languages supported quickly increased to 24.1
However, the
number of supported languages has often been even higher. Of course no Olympic host has yet to
achieve a perfect record in terms of its language support, but there has been a continual increase
in the number of bilingual and multilingual support staff and volunteers. During the London
Olympics in 2012, staff and volunteers were able to provide at minimum a telephone based
support staff capable of communication in over 200 languages.
In 1984, when the Olympic Games were hosted in Los Angeles, California, over three-
thousand language service volunteers were selected by the NOC to assist non-native English
speakers participating in and attending the games. Besides going through private and public
language training, the volunteers were also required to attend Olympic specific language training.
The sessions lasted for three hours four times a week for six week. The Languages Services
Department also took part in the development of service sports glossaries in all of the primary 26
languages that were supported at the Olympic Games. In the official Olympic Report submitted
at the conclusion of the 1984 Olympics, the Language Services summary recommended that,
“future organizers of an event of this magnitude recognize the importance of accurate
1
"Olympic Charter: In Force as from 9 September 2013." International Olympic Committe, n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
<http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf>.

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communications and the value of language services. Planning should begin early in the life of the
Organizing Committee and be maintained at a high, efficient level throughout…” Although the
1984 Olympic Language Services was generally seen as successful, it was taken to a new level in
1988 when the Summer Olympics were held in Seoul, South Korea.2
Due to what was perceived to be a lack of success at the previously held Asian Games,
Seoul’s NOC was determined to make the Language Services at the Olympic Games a success.
For the 1988 Olympic Games, 5980 volunteers were selected after passing the General Test of
English Language Proficiency (G-TELP) or other tests for French, German, Spanish, Russian,
Japanese, Chinese, or Arabic.3
From the time the volunteers were recruited until the start of the
Olympic Games, both the support staff and volunteers were required to attend language lectures
and participate in self-based learning. In the second half of their language training, education
materials were designed to help volunteers improve their speaking skills and trained in various
Olympic based circumstances that would help them effectively work as volunteers. The Official
Olympic Report from the 1998 Games states that, “No sector of the Olympic Games
organization received more attention and emphasis than human resources…and efficient and
economic operation of human resources was essential for the successful staging of the games.
The education and training, designed to enable operation personnel with diverse backgrounds to
perform their roles to the fullest, required elaborate planning and education.” Overall, the
language services were rated as “appreciable.” 4
In 1992, the Olympic Games were held in Barcelona, Spain where Language Services
continued to support a large number of languages. Although information in relation to the
number of volunteers and general operations of the Language Services department is hard to
come by, a total of 29 glossaries containing 14,306 terms were created, one glossary for each
Olympic sport and one for general terminology. A style book for each of the four primary
languages was also created. Olympic materials were translated into a total of 19 languages. The
country’s organizing committee, “began to treat the subject of language services in-depth four
2
International Olympic Committee. "Los Angeles Olympic Games Official Report Volume One Part Three." (n.d.):
377. LA84 Foundation. Web. 06 Aug. 2014. <http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1984/1984v1pt3.pdf>.
3
Djité, Paulin G. "Language Policy at Major Sporting Events." Current Issues in Language Planning 10.2 (2009): 221-
33. Web. 07 Aug. 2014.
<http://www.poliglotti4.eu/docs/Current_issues_in_language_planning_major_sporting_events.pdf>.
4
International Olympic Committee. "Seoul Olympic Games Official Report Volume One Part One." (n.d.): 23-31.
LA84 Foundation. Web. 6 Aug. 2014. <http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1988/1988v1p1.pdf>.

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and a half years before the beginning of the Games.” It was, “one of the sectors that had the most
work from a very early stage.”5
For the 1996 Olympic Games hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, over 1,400 Language Service
Volunteers were selected after passing three increasingly difficult language evaluations. All
evaluation required prospective volunteers to participate in recorded oral exercises which
included speaking skills and memory recollection. The volunteers were trained for their positions
by way of workshops, lectures, and area specific sessions. In the end, over 60 languages were
selected for translation during the course of the Games. The Language Services Section of the
Olympic Report for Atlanta states, “The importance of providing translation … in a wide range
of languages is central to planning and providing for an international environment in which to
stage the Games.”6
The 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City,
Utah, USA, were both held by countries where English is the first language. Yet the provision of
language services was still at the forefront of the services the respective Organizing Committees
wanted to provide. In both Sydney and Salt Lake City over 1000 Language Services volunteers
were selected to help with the Olympic Games.7
The training for Sydney’s Language Services
volunteers began two years before the beginning of the Games.8
By the time the Games began,
telephone interpreting services were available in 51 languages. Free English as a Second
Language (ESL) courses were also offered at the Olympic Village, a first in Olympic history.9
It
was not until 2008, when the importance of Language Services came to the forefront once again.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics have been one of the largest Games in terms of the size of its
surrounding language programs thus far in Olympic History. Over 5,000 Language Services
volunteers were selected and sent through an intensive one-year training course. Twenty-five
5
International Olympic Committee. "Official Report of the Games of the XXV Olympiad Barcelona 1992 : Volume III
Part III." (n.d.): 281-85. LA84 Foundation. Web. 06 Aug. 2014.
<http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1992/1992s3p3.pdf>.
6
International Olympic Committee. "Atlanta Olympic Games Official Report Volume Two Part One." (n.d.): 301-10.
7
International Olympic Committee. "Sydney Olympic Games Official Report Volume One Part Three." (n.d.): 325.
8
Lilama. "Language Support for International Sports Events." (n.d.): 1-15. Lilama: Linguistic Policy for the Labour
Market. Web. 12 Aug. 2014. <http://www.lilama.org/uploads/documents/Intenational%20Sports%20Events%20-
%20Australia.pdf>.
9
International Olympic Committee. "Sydney Olympic Games Official Report Volume Two Part Two." (n.d.): 134.

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languages were supported by these volunteers, and more than one-hundred other languages were
supported by way of a telephone accessible translation service. A series of more than 20 English
Olympic books along with additional sport and Olympic glossaries in English as well as other
languages were published in order to help prepare the general population, service industry
workers, and Olympic volunteers for the massive influx of non-Chinese speaking guests
expected to attend the Olympic Games.10
The most notable characteristic of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, is that for the first time
in Olympic Organizing history, more than 900 Olympic Language Service Volunteers were
selected based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
assessment. After some initial training, the volunteers were again evaluated using an
International Services (ICS) test before moving onto their Olympic and venue Specific training.
Of the 5,000 initial Language Services volunteer applicants, only 2,000 were selected based on
an online language-skills self-assessment, prior experience, and position preference. The 1,500
volunteers were interviewed for positions within the Language Services department before 1,000
applicants were offered positions by the Human Resources department.11
Although a large effort
was made to prepare Language Services for the Vancouver Olympics, and despite the fact that
French is one of Canada’s official languages, they were criticized for the lack of emphasis placed
on the use of French during the Games.12
Again for the 2012 London Olympics, a major emphasis was placed on both the
availability and quality of Language Services. Over 1,400 volunteers were selected in order to
provide consecutive interpretation services, language support to athletes, athletes’ families, and
guests, and help with accessing necessary interpretation services. However, once again, limited
10
Zhang, Jie. Language Policy and Planning for the 2008 Beijing Olympics: An Investigation of the Discursive
Construction of an Olympic City and a Global Population. Diss. Macquarie U, 2011. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Language on the
Move. Web. 06 Aug. 2014. <http://www.languageonthemove.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/PhD-thesis-
Zhang-Jie-library-copy_reduced-size.pdf>.
11
Rehorick, Sally, Kristin Johannsdottir, and David Patterson. "Using the Common European Framework of
Reference for Evaluating Language Volunteers for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."
(2011): 2-24. European Center for Modern Languages. ECML. Web. 07 Aug. 2014.
<http://www.ecml.at/Portals/1/Rehorick%20Using%20CEFR%20for%20Language%20Volunteers%20at%202010%2
0Olympics%202011-10-29.pdf>.
12
"The Language of the Olympics." ALSINTL. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://www.alsintl.com/blog/language-
olympics/>.

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preparation caused Language Services to receive poor reviews from the public due to a lack of
volunteer language training.13
For the 2014 Sochi Olympics over 1,400 volunteers, and an additional 240 bilingual
phone operators fluent in a wide variety of languages were selected to help assist Olympic
attendees with their language needs. A detailed glossary of more than 500 pages including both
Russian and English with full detailed descriptions was published before the games in order to
provide a deeper understanding of the details of many Olympic terms and events.14
A “Word of
the Day” program was designed to help the public to learn a total of 600 common English
Phrases. 78,000 hospitality workers completed a 3 year language course, 300 doctors attended
ESL programs, and 100 language lessons were attended by over 20,000 volunteers working in all
areas of the Olympics.15
,16
,17
Even with the Rio Olympics in Brazil still two years away, a big push to promote English
language acquisition has already begun. The Official Supplier of English Language Services,
English First, is already claiming that it will be teaching over one-million Brazilians English
before the start of the Games.18
,19
Registration for Language Services volunteers has already
begun and after interviews and approvals next year, all selected volunteer will be required to
attend one year of live training and an e-learning course that will continue up until the start of the
Olympic Games in 2016. Even Japan, who will be hosting the games in 2020, has already begun
preparing its Language Services nearly six years in advance.20
13
Et al.
14
"Sochi Winter Olympics Glossaries!" TermCoord Terminology Coordination Unit. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2014.
<http://termcoord.eu/2014/02/sochi-winter-olympics-glossaries/>.
15
"Sochi Residents Improve Their English Language Skills Ahead of the Olympics." Sochi Media Center. N.p., n.d.
Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://en.sochimediacenter.ru/aboutsochi/20130926/935344297.html>.
16
"Over 300 Sochi Doctors to Learn English for the Olympics." Sochi Media Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
<http://en.sochimediacenter.ru/aboutsochi/20130711/935234296.html>.
17
"Sochi Residents and Olympic Volunteers Sharpen Their English Skills." Sochi Media Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 11
Aug. 2014. <http://en.sochimediacenter.ru/aboutsochi/20130625/935221957.html>.
18
"International Education News L The PIE News L EF to Offer Language Training to 1m for Rio 2016." RSS 20. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2014. <http://thepienews.com/news/ef-offer-language-training-1m-rio-2016/>.
19
"Teaching Olympic-themed English to a Million Brazilians - The Boston Globe." BostonGlobe.com. N.p., n.d. Web.
11 Aug. 2014. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/04/08/teaching-olympic-themed-english-million-
brazilians/upEuSkCD7sXWzDpive9uCK/story.html>.
20
"Tokyo to Boost Foreign-language Signs, Info Ahead of 2020 Olympics." Japan Times RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug.
2014. <http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/28/national/tokyo-boost-foreign-language-signs-info-ahead-
2020-olympics/#.U-hyxqPm6gE>

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Over the past 30 years, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on providing quality
language services for the Olympic Games by both the IOC and NOCs. Without sufficient
emphasis placed on providing training for at least ten languages, it is likely that negative
publicity will spread as quickly as it has in the past. Providing quality language services is not
only crucial to a smooth Olympic Human Resources operations, but it is also a way for the
companies and committees responsible for providing language training to support staff,
volunteers, and the general public to become internationally recognized for their work.

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