New | Sochi Sidelines: amusements, politics and bloopers at Russia's Winter Games
In this installment: organisers face some snags; a celebratory lap nearly turns embarrassing; and presidents try to party (with varying results)
Lost in translation
It’s like the United Nations, Olympic-style. Volunteer interpreters scrambling to communicate while transcribing quotes for the Olympic News Service. Journalists fighting over which language athletes should speak when they answer questions. And the jargon of youth – how the heck do you say “stoked” in Korean?
The 20-year-old from Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, also called Great Britain’s women’s slopestyle bronze “sick” – in the approving slang. The word became “slick” in a transcript later distributed to journalists.
While interviewing a Russian speedskater in the mixed zone, a Russian interpreter struggled with double-duty, catching minor heat from her supervisor when she could not write down the athlete’s quotes at the same time.
A day later, a news conference with Canada’s freestyle skiing sensations Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was delayed several times by language lobbying. By the last answer, Justine double-checked if she really had to repeat herself in English on an answer she had already given in French. Her handler told her yes, but keep it short.
“OK,” Dufour-Lapointe said with a slight sigh.