Again, I shall ask the question; "why is everything in English at the olympics?"
Not that I'm for diversity and puppy dogs and flowers and progressive taxation, but if we're all playing in China, and given China is 1/5th the population, wouldn't the majority of the lettering and people's jersey's be in Mandarin or Cantonese?
English is the current lingua franca in many cases. I'd say (though it's an assumption, but probably true) that most of the foreign journalists and competitors in China right now speak and understand English better than Chinese (or whatever numerous dialects of Chinese exist there).
ReplyDeleteOf course, I could be wrong. This is just a theory.
Ah... it is because the movers and shakers of most of the major industrial nations and nations of economic power speak/read English?
ReplyDeleteIs it not a realization that English is (still) the de facto standard language of international business?
My guess is that everything is in English because it's a very common second language.
ReplyDeleteBecause they're controlled by the IOC?
ReplyDeleteThe basic character set should still be readable in French and Spanish. So, names on jerseys such as "Liu" or "Lee" should make sense to Western Europeans.
ReplyDeleteAnd some of those Europeans will also know English as well...