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Why Were The Announcements In French?
JEFF62
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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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Yes they absolutely would have.
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.
It has happened at every Ol####c ceremony that I have ever seen and probably has done since the modern games started.
Also, I'm sure the French get some smug satisfaction out of making every Olympics start with the French language.
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
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.
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.
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.
French, Greek, English.
It makes sense now though.
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.
Not even close. The number of French speakers in the world isn't much greater than the population of the USA.
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.
Not quite, French first, English second and then the host language third if I remember rightly. French and English are the official IOC languages.
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.
Can you imagine the Frogs agreeing to that?