With over 200 countries participating in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, translation is a must! Here are some fun facts.
Three Official Languages at the 2018 Winter Olympics
At the Olympics, there are always two official languages – English and French. The others assigned are based on the host country’s official language, which in this case is Korean. While there are many more languages spoken be athletes and visitors who attend the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, these three will be the official languages.
Tourist-friendly Translation Services to be Provided by the Korea National Park Service
An ‘olympic zone’ as been built in Odaesan mountain’s fir forest during the 2018 Winter Olympics, and the Korea National Park Service will offer history and culture tours of the mountain in English, Chinese and Japanese.
Olympic Press Center Ready to Translate in 8 Different Languages
The Pyeongchang Main Press Center (MPC) is expected to host 62 delegations of foreign press from 58 countries, 111 media teams from 31 countries, and journalists from 35 news agencies. Around 3,000 total news media personnel are expected to attend the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in just a few short weeks.
The Pyeonchang Olympics Organizing Committee has arranged for real-time translation to be available in eight languages at the MPC. The languages are English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
Language Tech to be Tested at 2018 Winter Olympic Games
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), a Korean non-profit research organization, plans to test drive its language interpretation technology at the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
The “Zero UI” automatic interpretation technology developed by Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) was approved as the international standard by the International Organization for Standardization in July 2017.
Learn Korean from Park Ji Sung
Manchester United legend Park Ji Sung has some Korean language tips for you to watch over at CNN. As an Ambassador for the games, Park has got you covered in saying such phrases as “gold medal” and “curling is so cool.” If you are attending the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Park’s video of ten tips is definitely worth the watch! Even if you will just be watching from home, the video is quite entertaining.