Those of you who watched the snowboarding events, sorry… slope stylewere able to see that they took place in Franglais on Radio-Canada.
It is well known that there is an international language in the world of sport, especially in snowboarding, which exclusively uses English terms to describe the many pirouettes performed by our athletes. To name just a few out of more than a hundred, we are talking about nose grab, tail grab, frontside, backside, etc We can therefore hear a kind of hybrid language in the mouths of the presenters, their sentences containing more English words than French…
At this point, why not simply present these tests in English? It seems that the sports world makes no effort to translate these expressions into the language of Molière. However, with a little creativity and a minimum of intellectual effort and honesty, it would be very simple to successfully translate several of these expressions into French, without falling into the literal translation, of course. But on the pretext that it is part of the culture of sport, we prefer to be lazy and stick to known expressions in the field. We delight in the language of Shakespeare, without even wondering if French speakers have the right to claim a good quality of the French language during the Olympics…
In a very recent article published by Radio-Canada on February 3, 2022 and entitled “The challenge of francizing technical terms in freestyle skiing and snowboarding”, we recount the difficulties that commentators face when describing this genre. of trials. It is invoked, in particular, that because of an internal culture in these sports where English dominates, it would be risky to change things since it is a language known to all. It is also mentioned that “it is faster to describe a test that lasts less than 30 seconds with the English terms used worldwide”… Finally, it is stipulated that, if he used French terms, the commentator of this type of test would lose of its credibility with its core of amateurs… Phew!
Well, if we follow this reasoning, we ensure in the medium term that the adequate use of French will be optional at the Olympic Games. Some of the terms of snowboarding and freestyle skiing are inspired by designers who gave their name to a figure or a jump and, in this case, it is impossible to translate them, of course. But overall, it would be very easy, just with a little creativity and, above all, a real desire to serve the French-speaking audience well, to find equivalent terms in French. To cite only the few examples above, we could simply say: front grip, rear grip, front side (recto), back side (verso)… to name a few. That we hide behind pseudo-apologies or twisted justifications for not doing our duty to offer Francophones presentations of the Olympic Games that live up to what they are entitled to expect, it’s lamentable. And what about the “very short” quality of the mastery of French among certain commentators… enough to make Molière turn over a hundred times in his grave.