Why Were The Announcements In French?

JEFF62JEFF62 Posts: 5,093
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Anyne know why each announcement was in French first and then English? What was that about? If Paris had hosted the olympics would each announcement have been in English first and then French? No. I dont get why French was used at all but English should have been first. I dont even know why French announcements were needed. Anyone know why?
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  • LudwigVonDrakeLudwigVonDrake Posts: 12,836
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    It's an IOC requirement. All announcements must be given in French - the official language of the IOC, and English then the local language.
  • allthingsukallthingsuk Posts: 6,035
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    Is French the first/official language of the Olympics?
  • gottagogottago Posts: 14,094
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    JEFF62 wrote: »
    If Paris had hosted the olympics would each announcement have been in English first and then French? No.

    Yes they absolutely would have.
  • fridgesoupfridgesoup Posts: 17,089
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    I think French is the official language of the Olympic movement. Perhaps announcing in French first is just the correct ettiquette??? :confused: Either way, it seemed nicely polite to me.
  • JEFF62JEFF62 Posts: 5,093
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    It's an IOC requirement. All announcements must be given in French - the official language of the IOC, and English then the local language.

    Oh right. Thanks for clearing that up. I just couldnt work out why they kept making French announcements. I dont remember previous opening ceremonies. So every ceremony always has a French announcement first and the local language second? It just annoyed me for some reason. At least it makes sense now.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    fridgesoup wrote: »
    I think French is the official language of the Olympic movement. Perhaps announcing in French first is just the correct ettiquette??? :confused: Either way, it seemed nicely polite to me.

    It has happened at every Ol####c ceremony that I have ever seen and probably has done since the modern games started.
  • SteelEdgeSteelEdge Posts: 6,903
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    Isn't the inventor/founder of the modern Games a Frenchman? That's what someone told me on Facebook when I asked the same question.
  • solaresolare Posts: 11,579
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    It would have been helpful if the commentators had explained it as it seems a lot of people were confused about the announcements.
  • floopy123floopy123 Posts: 6,003
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    It's the IOC rule because the founder of the modern Olympics was a French chap: Pierre de Coubertin.
    Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games.

    Also, I'm sure the French get some smug satisfaction out of making every Olympics start with the French language. :D
  • BuddyBontheNetBuddyBontheNet Posts: 28,157
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    In 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was inspired to found the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

    Coubertin built on the ideas and work of Brookes and Zappas with the aim of establishing internationally rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years.

    He presented these ideas during the first Olympic Congress of the newly created International Olympic Committee. This meeting was held from 16 to 23 June 1894, at the Sorbonne University in Paris. On the last day of the Congress, it was decided that the first Olympic Games, to come under the auspices of the IOC, would take place in Athens in 1896.

    Loads of good information here on wikipedia
  • Mark SmithMark Smith Posts: 2,728
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    I've never understood why French is the official language. It's not really a widely spoken language around the world, in fact the two most widely spoken languages worldwide are Mandarin Chinese and English.

    So a Frenchman founded the modern Olympic movement? Tim Berners-Lee started the world wide web but that doesnt mean every web page has to be in English.

    It was nice to see the French team waving Union Flags as they paraded into the stadium though, as did some other countries. :)
  • 21stCenturyBoy21stCenturyBoy Posts: 44,493
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    Mark Smith wrote: »
    I've never understood why French is the official language. It's not really a widely spoken language around the world, in fact the two most widely spoken languages worldwide are Mandarin Chinese and English.

    So a Frenchman founded the modern Olympic movement? Tim Berners-Lee started the world wide web but that doesnt mean every web page has to be in English.

    It was nice to see the French team waving Union Flags as they paraded into the stadium though, as did some other countries. :)

    It's spoken widely in parts of Europe, Asia, Carribbean and Africa- is easily up there with English in terms of it's useage.
  • steveh31steveh31 Posts: 13,516
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    It's a traditional agreement that as a Frenchman created the games that the speak his language first just what they do.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    solare wrote: »
    It would have been helpful if the commentators had explained it as it seems a lot of people were confused about the announcements.

    I would have though most people, apart from some young schoolchildren, will have seen previous Ol###c Games so it should have been no surprise to them.
  • JohnnyForgetJohnnyForget Posts: 24,061
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    It's Olympic tradition. Why are some people getting so hot under the collar about this? Sacre Bleu!
  • BalthusBalthus Posts: 2,281
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    JEFF62 wrote: »
    Oh right. Thanks for clearing that up. I just couldnt work out why they kept making French announcements. I dont remember previous opening ceremonies. So every ceremony always has a French announcement first and the local language second? It just annoyed me for some reason. At least it makes sense now.

    No, the announcements are usually in French first, followed by English, then whatever the local language is (if it's not French or English) -- it's just that in this case the local language is English, obviously.
  • 21stCenturyBoy21stCenturyBoy Posts: 44,493
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  • chemical2009bchemical2009b Posts: 5,250
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    I assume the languages for Rio 2016 will be French, Portuguese and English.
  • glyn9799glyn9799 Posts: 7,391
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    We wondered this too. I was under the impression that Chinese and English were the most spoken languages so would have thought they would have been the languages used.

    It makes sense now though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 12,190
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    It's spoken widely in parts of Europe, Asia, Carribbean and Africa- is easily up there with English in terms of it's useage.

    Whilst it is widely spoken in France, half of Belgium some bits of Switzerland, tiny bits of North Africa and the odd tiny island dotted about here and there, it is no where near English in terms of its usage.
    Its the "Official Language of the IOC" which is why it preceded every other announcement but mainly its a little bit of French conceit.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,402
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    It's spoken widely in parts of Europe, Asia, Carribbean and Africa- is easily up there with English in terms of it's useage.

    Not even close. The number of French speakers in the world isn't much greater than the population of the USA.
  • NormandieNormandie Posts: 4,617
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    It's spoken widely in parts of Europe, Asia, Carribbean and Africa- is easily up there with English in terms of it's useage.
    France - or at least the Académie Française - would like to think so.

    In fact, Arabic, Spanish and Portugese easily beat French in terms of usage worldwide though French is very popular as a language to learn... after English. ;)

    I read an article recently where a journalist was bemoaning the increasing influence of English in some of the DomToms - overseas territories - which was A Very Bad Thing and that French had to be protected as the local language.
  • CadivaCadiva Posts: 18,409
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    JEFF62 wrote: »
    Oh right. Thanks for clearing that up. I just couldnt work out why they kept making French announcements. I dont remember previous opening ceremonies. So every ceremony always has a French announcement first and the local language second? It just annoyed me for some reason. At least it makes sense now.

    Not quite, French first, English second and then the host language third if I remember rightly. French and English are the official IOC languages.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,402
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    Normandie wrote: »
    France - or at least the Académie Française - would like to think so.

    In fact, Arabic, Spanish and Portugese easily beat French in terms of usage worldwide though French is very popular as a language to learn... after English. ;)

    Popular to teach, not necessarily popular to learn :)

    I never really understand why French is taught as the primary foreign language in schools. More British people go to Spain every year than France, Spanish is spoken by more people than French, in more countries, and its much easier to learn if you're a native English speaker.
  • lundavralundavra Posts: 31,790
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    glyn9799 wrote: »
    We wondered this too. I was under the impression that Chinese and English were the most spoken languages so would have thought they would have been the languages used.

    It makes sense now though.

    Can you imagine the Frogs agreeing to that?
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