Olympic Efforts in English, Etiquette & Enlistment

Written By Daniel Allen on July 16, 2007 at 12:06 am | In Olympics, events, China

Beijing and Beijingers prepare for the 2008 Games.

Event Description

As Tiananmen Square’s Olympic clock records the ever-decreasing number of seconds until August 8th 2008, Beijing is undergoing a frenetic makeover of city-wide proportions. Urban planners seem to have taken the Olympic motto “Faster, Higher, Stronger” to heart, as construction workers toil to complete Olympic infrastructure on schedule, and the city prepares itself for next year’s anticipated influx of foreign visitors.

It’s not only Beijing’s physical environment that’s changing. As part of the drive to present the Chinese capital as a sophisticated, truly international metropolis, the government is attempting to transform Beijing’s 15 million inhabitants into cultured, service-oriented folk, ready to communicate freely with overseas guests. The government has targeted five social problems - swearing, spitting, littering, disorderly queuing and not smiling – and “courteous communities” have been organized to teach members how to mind their manners.

Beijing is also enlisting some extra helpers to ensure the Games go smoothly. According to officials from the Beijing Olympic Volunteers Coordination Group Office, 100,000 volunteers will be needed before and during the Games - 70,000 for the Summer Games, and 30,000 for the Paralympics. Recruitment began in earnest on August 28 last year. Another 400,000 people will serve as so-called city volunteers, working in key urban areas such as bus stations, service stations, subway stops and first-aid centers.

Case Studies

Chinglish Challenge

A slightly newer, if less catchy, Olympic motto, “Use Accurate English to Welcome the Olympics”, highlights the importance that Beijing places on improving the city’s literary and linguistic landscape. This has meant an ongoing and concerted effort to rid the city of “Chinglish” – China’s own brand of frequently baffling, largely comical Pidgin English.

Hotlines have been set up for beady-eyed citizens who spot an English language-related mistake on a public sign to call and notify the authorities. As China’s very own version of Pidgin English is still rampant throughout the capital, the phones are going to be busy.

“It’s an embarrassment for the local residents, and our city,” says Beijing English student Xiao Jie. “Every citizen who can read English has the duty to notify the relevant authorities about these errors, to make sure they are changed before the eyes of the world turn to Beijing.”

Image source: Pocopico

English for All

“Olympic English” classes have sprung up in every neighborhood. Armies of senior citizens armed with an official textbook delightfully titled “Don’t be shy, just try” attend English lessons every weekend. Police officers and taxi drivers have been ordered to master at least 200 English phrases. The goal is to have one quarter of the city’s 14 million inhabitants familiar with their ABC in a little over a year.

While all this looks good on paper, those planning to visit the Olympics shouldn’t dispense with their trusty Mandarin phrasebook just yet. Taxi drivers complain that they are unable to retain the dozens of English sentences they need to pass mandatory tests, and often skip class. Even though the occasional cabbie is only too happy to practice his new-found language skills, it is still usually the foreign passenger who labors to decipher the driver’s coarse Beijing patois.

Image source: People’s Daily

Olympic Volunteers

So far, nearly half a million people have applied to be volunteers – most of these will have to go through an exam and interview process to decide who is selected. The chosen few will help with a variety of tasks, including running information booths, marshaling crowds, registering journalists and helping athletes move through stadiums efficiently.

Four volunteer projects will be included in the BOVP - the “Towards Olympics” Voluntary Service Project, the Olympic Games Volunteer Project, the Paralympic Games Volunteer Project and the BOCOG Pre-Games Volunteer Project. Volunteers for the Olympic Games Volunteer Project will mainly consist of students from Beijing’s universities, but other Beijing citizens and mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents, and people from overseas will also be involved.

Image source: BOCOG & Daniel Allen

Event Impact

If the Athens 2004 Olympics were Greece’s opportunity to show the world the wonders of Greek culture, the Beijing Olympics are set to be China’s coming out ball. The Chinese government has identified three themes for next year’s Games - people, technology and the environment – all designed to show how progressive and innovative China can be, and how hard the country is working to fix some of its biggest problems.

With cheaper labor and fewer security concerns, Beijing is spending just US$2.6 billion, half of what Athens spent for the 2004 Games, to construct Olympic venues. However, the Chinese government is also splashing out another US$200 billion to give the capital a major pre-games makeover, including permanent upgrades to the city’s transportation and communication infrastructures.