okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Monday, September 20, 2004
Special English
The alternativet discussion page (eftersnacket) has been full of comments about the English spoken by commentators at the World Champs.
I followed the live audio/video coverage of most of the middle distance and relay races. I guess I saw about 4:30 to 5:00 hours of coverage. The announcers mixed Swedish and English, with a bit of German and Finnish thrown in. Some of the runners were interviewed after they finished and some of them spoke a bit of English.
The English was fine but not perfect. Aside for one or two British and Australian runners, I don't think anyone was a native English speaker. I was impressed that someone would even make an effort to speak English at the end of a hard race.
My favorite non-native English interview was when a runner described it as being "very funny in the forest today." Of course, he meant it was "fun" not "funny." But the image of a pack of world class orienteers running around and laughing is amusing.
I'm not sure if I have a point or not. Maybe my point is just that people who are criticizing the English -- which was a part of the best live O' coverage I've ever seen -- should just lighten up.
