INTERPRETING ANY LANGUAGE IN FIVE RINGS
I’m so excited because there are only seven days to go before the start of the Olympic Games in London. This is not, you will understand, because I’m a lover of all that hopping, skipping and leaping stuff, not even – if I’m honest – the beach volleyball. But what I do find exciting is that London is hosting the world’s greatest event this summer and thebigword is right at the heart of it.
As the exclusive telephone interpreting service to the Olympic Games, we are the people responsible for helping 14,700 competitors from 205 nations to talk to the organisers, LOCOG, and to each other. We’re the first point of call of LOCOG, officials and onsite volunteers in all Olympic and Paralympic venues.
Imagine an Olympic Games where no-one understood what anyone else was saying and you can imagine the chaos! Therefore, we’re taking our responsibilities very seriously and have carried out months of advance planning.
Partnering with the International School of Linguists, we have put almost 300 interpreters covering more than 30 languages through our Olympic and Paralympic training program.
We have created, printed and distributed 2,000 laminated awareness cards for the packs to be used by Olympic officials and volunteers during the Games. This means anyone can point to their own language on the card, immediately identifying it and enabling the volunteer to contact the right linguist who can interpret over the telephone.
And we have planned ahead for every conceivable scenario, from ‘please direct me the bathroom’ to contingency plans for potential terror alerts.
Just this week the whole process swung into action when the first athletes arrived in the UK and we had our first call from an organiser at the airport. It now feels to us as if the Olympics are finally here and we are so proud and excited to be playing such an important role.
The next three weeks are going to be incredibly hard work and our people will be working around the clock to make sure everyone involved can speak to everyone else. With an Olympics theme in mind, our service is less than five rings away and whatever happens on the track or field, I think our people deserve a Gold Medal. I’ll be training hard this weekend!
Hope the rain stops!
Have a great weekend,
Larry
As the exclusive telephone interpreting service to the Olympic Games, we are the people responsible for helping 14,700 competitors from 205 nations to talk to the organisers, LOCOG, and to each other. We’re the first point of call of LOCOG, officials and onsite volunteers in all Olympic and Paralympic venues.
Imagine an Olympic Games where no-one understood what anyone else was saying and you can imagine the chaos! Therefore, we’re taking our responsibilities very seriously and have carried out months of advance planning.
Partnering with the International School of Linguists, we have put almost 300 interpreters covering more than 30 languages through our Olympic and Paralympic training program.
We have created, printed and distributed 2,000 laminated awareness cards for the packs to be used by Olympic officials and volunteers during the Games. This means anyone can point to their own language on the card, immediately identifying it and enabling the volunteer to contact the right linguist who can interpret over the telephone.
And we have planned ahead for every conceivable scenario, from ‘please direct me the bathroom’ to contingency plans for potential terror alerts.
Just this week the whole process swung into action when the first athletes arrived in the UK and we had our first call from an organiser at the airport. It now feels to us as if the Olympics are finally here and we are so proud and excited to be playing such an important role.
The next three weeks are going to be incredibly hard work and our people will be working around the clock to make sure everyone involved can speak to everyone else. With an Olympics theme in mind, our service is less than five rings away and whatever happens on the track or field, I think our people deserve a Gold Medal. I’ll be training hard this weekend!
Hope the rain stops!
Have a great weekend,
Larry
