Our Olympic Games Will Be Bilingual

Ask anyone outside of Quebec and Ottawa, and chances are that they speak very little French (if any), but they will be reasonably fluent in English. Even so, Canada is known as a bilingual country and the Olympic organizers want to ensure that bilingualism plays a major role in the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games.

VANOC has already stated that they are committed to bilingualism for the games -- from "commentary to cultural showcases, from Internet sites to athletes' chauffeurs" -- but in order to ensure that this bilingualism is up to snuff, a probe has been launched by Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages.

French has been relegated to a protocol language at the Olympics, and English has supplanted it as the language of work and communication. Canada should set an example by organizing and staging a bilingual Olympics.

Source: Globe and Mail

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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1. 1

   Dave said:

   Screw that!

   Posted at 10:26 AM, on January 19 2009

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