Official language of the London Olympics - French?!

[toxicated]

Why on earth would the Olympic organisers force French through as the official language? Link

Has this happened at previous Olympics or just for us?

[hornetrider]

Not been aware of it in the past but seeing as these were signed in 2005 it must be the case for all hosts.

The Stalinist approach to 'ambush marketing' in particular also seems rather over zealous!

[Eric Mc]

The modern Olympics were invented by the French so French has always been the prime language of the organisation.

[fathomfive]

I thought French had always been the official language of the Olympics?

[poo at Paul's]

Ce sera merde.

[badgers_back]

fathomfive said:

I thought French had always been the official language of the Olympics?

its is

[ZesPak]

Why complain? It's a vastly superior language.

[Einion Yrth]

ZesPak said:

Why complain? It's a vastly superior language.

I know you're Dutch, and a bit of a wind up merchant, but even in jest that's insane.

[ZesPak]

Einion Yrth said:

ZesPak said:

Why complain? It's a vastly superior language.

I know you're Dutch, and a bit of a wind up merchant, but even in jest that's insane.

Yes, I'm Dutch and since we have to learn French from a young age, some of us really don't like it, so it was said in jest as English is a much easier language for us

That said, what do you mean by "wind up merchant"?

[4Q]

It seems Diva-like demands and corporate whoring are the order of the Olympics now.

I wonder if, as a country, we'll profit at all from the games?

[ZesPak]

4Q said:

It seems Diva-like demands and corporate whoring are the order of the Olympics now.

I wonder if, as a country, we'll profit at all from the games?

I'd actually be interested about that too. especially the cost/profit/ROI of both the olympics and the world cup.

[Einion Yrth]

ZesPak said:

That said, what do you mean by "wind up merchant"?

A 'wind up merchant' is someone who trolls, often but by no means always, for comic effect. (i.e. the comedy of winding other people up and watching them go off on one)
I appreciate I've just used colloquialisms to explain a colloquialism, but hopefully you get the idea.

[Shuvi Tupya]

ZesPak said:

4Q said:

It seems Diva-like demands and corporate whoring are the order of the Olympics now.

I wonder if, as a country, we'll profit at all from the games?

I'd actually be interested about that too. especially the cost/profit/ROI of both the olympics and the world cup.

Big Business's will profit, and politicians might get positions omn the boards of those big business's. But 'The Country' will not profit IMO.

Certainly not the people that paid for it all..

[ZesPak]

Einion Yrth said:

ZesPak said:

That said, what do you mean by "wind up merchant"?

A 'wind up merchant' is someone who trolls, often but by no means always, for comic effect. (i.e. the comedy of winding other people up and watching them go off on one)
I appreciate I've just used colloquialisms to explain a colloquialism, but hopefully you get the idea.

I got it, I almost got offended as I thought "merchant" was referring to my real-life business.


Anyway, French? really? We should send them an e-mail.


see what I did there?

[Pesty]

Eric Mc said:

The modern Olympics were invented by the French so French has always been the prime language of the organisation.

Wait what?

thought it was some bloke in Much wenlock that started it all up again. One of the reasons that a mascot is called wenlock.

Shropshire village of Much Wenlock
Its games more than 100 years ago inspired Frenchman Baron de Coubertin to found the modern Olympics

he just copied us

Edited by Pesty on Thursday 9th December 17:13

[motco]

ZesPak said:

Einion Yrth said:

ZesPak said:

That said, what do you mean by "wind up merchant"?

A 'wind up merchant' is someone who trolls, often but by no means always, for comic effect. (i.e. the comedy of winding other people up and watching them go off on one)
I appreciate I've just used colloquialisms to explain a colloquialism, but hopefully you get the idea.

I got it, I almost got offended as I thought "merchant" was referring to my real-life business.


Anyway, French? really? We should send them an e-mail.


see what I did there?

I know a chap who runs a business in Brussells - he's a Flemish speaker by birth - and he always answers his 'phone in English because, he says, "That offends either nobody or everyone even handedly".

[4Q]

ZesPak said:

Anyway, French? really? We should send them an e-mail.

In English.

[4Q]

Nothing to see here.

Edited by 4Q on Thursday 9th December 18:02

[Dave Angel]

C'est la vie, innit?

[ZesPak]

motco said:

I know a chap who runs a business in Brussells - he's a Flemish speaker by birth - and he always answers his 'phone in English because, he says, "That offends either nobody or everyone even handedly".

Very smart, answering with either "bonjour" or "goedendag" will cause offence. Often phones are answered (and I'm not kidding) by "goedendag bonjour".

Anyway, back on topic: French is the official language of the olympics, and the French have a lobby that is hard-core in keeping every bit of foreign language out (imo they are worse than even the German or the Spanish in that aspect). It's a battle they are losing, especially towards English (here in Belgium it's a battle the dutch have almost never fought, and the wallons are giving up on).

So just humor them, give them the "official language of the olympics" , and speak English for the other 99,6% days of the next four years.