Language survival guide for athletes competing at the London 2012 Games

18 July 2012

Every athlete competing in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will get a language lesson, thanks to a new handbook produced by the British Council, the UK’s international cultural relations body.

The English for the Games handbook will be included in athletes’ gift bags, which they will receive on arrival at the Olympic Park. The handbook features key English vocabulary for all London 2012 sports, along with English translations of useful day-to-day phrases from Arabic, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. The translations will also help English-speaking competitors communicate with their fellow athletes in other languages.

As well as going to the athletes, the book will be available to English learners around the world through the British Council’s global network of teaching centres and online.

The British Council has also launched a special English for the Games website, which harnesses the excitement of the 2012 Games for English learners worldwide. Visitors to the site can practise their English while learning about Olympic history and sports – with games, videos and interactive exercises. The handbook will be available on the site.

The website can be found at: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/

Mark Robson, Director of English at the British Council, said: “The English language is one of our greatest assets, building trust for the UK, bringing billions of pounds into our economy and creating life-changing opportunities for people across the globe. With the world coming to London for the 2012 Games, this is the perfect opportunity to use English to build some great new relationships, which will last well beyond the Closing Ceremonies.”

The handbook and website are part of the British Council’s extensive programme for the 2012 Games across English, education and the arts.

English language teaching generates an estimated £2 billion for the UK economy every year. In a recent Chatham House survey¹, the English language was rated as the most important factor supporting Britain’s international reputation.

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Mark Moulding in the British Council Press Office on +44 (0)207 389 4889 or mark.moulding@britishcouncil.org

 

Notes to Editors:

Separate versions of the handbook are available for the Olympics and Paralympics, and can be viewed online.

Olympics:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/visitors-handbook-olympics

Paralympics:
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/visitors-handbook-paralympics

 

About the British Council:

The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

Our 7000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes.

We earn over 75% of our annual turnover of nearly £700 million from services which customers pay for, education and development contracts we bid for and from partnerships. A UK Government grant provides the remaining 25%.  We match every £1 of core public funding with over £3 earned in pursuit of our charitable purpose.

For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org. You can also keep in touch with the British Council through http://twitter.com/britishcouncil and http://blog.britishcouncil.org/.

 

References:

¹ The Chatham House YouGov Survey 2011 –

 http://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/papers/view/176813