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| We love and support our people: The ladies hockey team celebrating their victory.(sauce: www.google.com) |
It is the London Olympics at this time of the year. The Olympics, which started in 776 B.C, occur once every 4 years, almost each and every country is participating or representing. People are talking about Olympics -if they are not they must be ignorant. Communication is the most key in this whole event. Now think about this: You are an athlete from South Africa, Portugal or Spain and you find that you do not know English.
If you are from Britain or USA you have the very most advantage because English is the mother- tongue language or home language.Well... Obviously the government or the planners of this event are aware of this and get to hire translators.
Yes, we should embrace our mother-tongue but up to what extent? According to The Economist of 12 January 2011, there was once a motion posed by the South African government that kids in schools should be taught in their mother- tongue language read more. I mean how can you do mathematics in your mother- tongue language? The next best thing you know, you are in tertiary and do not know how to communicate with your peers. Going for an interview is going to be even harder. Well... These sports people are representing their own countries, but how they communicate has an effect on their image and the younger generation. Playing sports and excelling in it is a talent, it’s a God- given talent, but bear in mind that you have fans that look up to you. Yes there are brands that invest in our respective sports people or sponsor them but communication is just the main objective here.
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| One of our best athletes on the 2012 team: Caster Semenya, giving a confident pose. (sauce: www.google.com) |
I find it disturbing if a well-known sports person especially from South Africa, to be so talented but yet failing to communicate in a proper manner... But who am I to judge, because we all have different gifts? The question posed is, how well do our sports people know the medium of instruction or is it a necessity for them to only know their mother-tongue and not care about English?
I think there are translators during the games to make it easier for other olympees to understand. But english is the national languege it is expected to be understood my almost everyone.
ReplyDeleteThat is why I say our sports people should know the medium of instruction because it so vital for their image at some point.
DeleteI think that people who are responsible for training their athlete should make sure that they are also well trained in terms of communications so that they can communicate with others in the right manner.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Dineo. I think the government can also help out there.
DeleteHell nooooooooooooo...we living in the world of different languages and we have to learn others languages to be able to communicate.In sport,English is the language of communication used worldwide because it is the language that everyone should be able to understand.
ReplyDeleteYes, Vongani I mean if you do not know English at all, your chances of being a brand embassador for instance, are doomed.
DeleteI think that people in the spotlight has to know all the languages in order to make conversations and interviews to run smoothly.
ReplyDeletePeople in the spotlight are required to know almost all the languages, but English should be the pre-requisite of all.
Deletei really agree with you we have to know english ain order for us to communicate with others it is kind of rude when a person is talking in english and you busy talking some language they don't understand while they also don't speak english,meaning that they can not even try to be frindly to them
ReplyDeleteYou know, it is better if the programme is aired on a channel for certain viewers who understand that language, becasue yes it is rude when questions are being asked in English and the response is in Sesotho whereby there are English- viewers and there are no subtitles or translators.
ReplyDeletethere are translators during the sports events... but the poit is our sports people should be able to stand on their own,not wait for someone from somewhere to do their work... i stil think they do not have a good communication strategy
ReplyDeleteAs much as we are a rainbow nation with 11 official languages, we are a country that competes in international sporting codes and our sports men need to grasp the concept of using english on a daily bases to make it easier for them to communicate with people outside their languages of comfort.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot be good at many things, some of our athlets are very good in sport and dont know english and other languages very well, but i dont think that should be a big deal because there are translators. whats more important, their hard work at the olympics or their ability to communicate in more than one subject????
ReplyDeleteyes we as prprs we should do media training to our clinets
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Clive and to make sure that they represent us in a positive way.
ReplyDeleteit is not so important that athletes know english, just as long as they do well on the track or field. they represent us just fine when they win... english is overrated after all.
ReplyDeleteOk point taken... But what do u mean English is over rated?
Delete.people put too much emphasis on people learning english or to speak english proparly and besides english is not the langauge most spoken on earth, chinese menderin is the most spoken langauge on earth... we should be learning that.
DeleteIt's not a big deal whether you know english or not although it would work to your advantage. But then again, the athletes' jobs aren't language, as long as they blossom in which ever sport they are doing then the rest doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteWell... As I said that we are not all gifted the same but they should at least know how to respond through the mediun of instruction as they are role models.
DeleteEnglish is a universal language but it is also important for sports persons to be aware of and able to speak various languages.
ReplyDelete