Why are Olympic uniforms all in English?

[smzimbabwe]

Surprised that Russia is spelled in English on all the uniforms.

Not for women's water polo, it's Cyrillic on their suits:

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/fRTtZDTa7mf/Olympics+Day+5+Water+Polo/PDmzAbijzlu

[Wilt]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

For example, why does the word "Germany" exist in the English language if they call it Deutschland in German? That would be like someone named "John" being called a different name in a foreign country. You'd still call him John even if you were speaking in Spanish or Chinese or French or whatever. Shouldn't the name just be "Deutschland" in all languages?

(Note, I'm not talking names like the United States which could actually be translated into, say, Los Estados Unidos, since there are words for "United" and "States" in Spanish.)

You would be surprised how many variations of Germany's name exist, e.g. Alemania in Spanish, Saksa in Finnish, Niemcy in Polish (you can find the whole list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany). You have to accept the fact that languages have been evolving for centuries and I think it's better to leave them as they are, especially because if you're not fluent in a given language you won't be able to pronounce correctly anyway.

[hockey week]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

For example, why does the word "Germany" exist in the English language if they call it Deutschland in German? That would be like someone named "John" being called a different name in a foreign country. You'd still call him John even if you were speaking in Spanish or Chinese or French or whatever. Shouldn't the name just be "Deutschland" in all languages?

(Note, I'm not talking names like the United States which could actually be translated into, say, Los Estados Unidos, since there are words for "United" and "States" in Spanish.)

You would be surprised how many variations of Germany's name exist, e.g. Alemania in Spanish, Saksa in Finnish, Niemcy in Polish (you can find the whole list here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany). You have to accept the fact that languages have been evolving for centuries and I think it's better to leave them as they are, especially because if you're not fluent in a given language you won't be able to pronounce correctly anyway.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/123804

That explains the different names for the same place thing the best.

I swear I read an article about the overall question not long before the olympics, and it was essentially because the english alphabet is the most translatable/transliterable common alphabet, and helped by being an official language of the olympics. I can't seem to find it now because searching "english" with anything olympic doesn't help the search results at all lol

[ARTnSocal]

Germany used to compete as two separate countries: West Germany (GER), and East Germany (DDR). The combined country is GER, but uniforms read Deutschland.

That's incorrect ........... I know I'm getting old since I remember this one

East Germany was GDR ..... West Germany was FRG

[Mingjai]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

Of the Western European countries, it seems that Italy has the most Anglicization of place names. I've often wondered why English speakers adopted Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, Turin, etc., when they could just as easily pronounce Roma, Venezia, Fiorenza, Milano, Torino, etc.

[Eye]

It doesn't just say the country's name on the uniforms though, it says it on warm up jackets too.

Speaking of which, does anybody know if any warm up jackets are being sold anywhere?

[Saintsfan]

On a related topic it was fascinating to me that the Russian basketball coach, albeit an American, was conducting time outs in English!

[Saintsfan]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

Of the Western European countries, it seems that Italy has the most Anglicization of place names. I've often wondered why English speakers adopted Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, Turin, etc., when they could just as easily pronounce Roma, Venezia, Fiorenza, Milano, Torino, etc.

Most countries have anglocized names in fact. Munich is Munchen for instance. I think some of it is probably the inability of middle age Anglo Saxon to get their tongues around foreign names!

[Mingjai]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

Of the Western European countries, it seems that Italy has the most Anglicization of place names. I've often wondered why English speakers adopted Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, Turin, etc., when they could just as easily pronounce Roma, Venezia, Fiorenza, Milano, Torino, etc.

Most countries have anglocized names in fact. Munich is Munchen for instance. I think some of it is probably the inability of middle age Anglo Saxon to get their tongues around foreign names!

After doing some looking around, I'm wondering if it's the Norman influence on English--very few French place names are anglicized. While German cities are also rarely anglicized (probably because of English's germanic roots), München and Köln are Munich and Cologne in both English and French and Wien is Vienna in English and Vienne in French. Similarly, my Italian examples of Roma, Venezia, Milano, and Torino are rendered Rome, Venise, Milan, and Turin in French--identical or very similar to their English versions.

[BlueSky]

English is also the international language of aviation. It's interesting to fire up the LiveATC.net app and tune in to countries around the world and hear their pilots and controllers speaking in English. Pretty crazy that Quebec controllers speak French except to English-only pilots and supposedly some ATC within Mexico is in Spanish. Not great for safety since commercial pilots usually try to keep a picture in their heads of surrounding traffic and it's tough to do when a bunch of the transmissions are in a language you don't understand.

A buddy of mine is in ATC and he worked Anchorage Center. He said many foreign pilots had difficulty (and it was hard to understand their accents). For example, controllers try to let pilots know what's coming and he'd transmit, "ABC Air Forty-six Heavy, expect flight level three seven zero" and they'd go, "ABC Forty-six heavy climbing to three seven zero" and up they'd go. He'd have to reel 'em in and get them back down to where they belonged.

Great topic, thanks for posting it. I like to learn and have definitely picked up a few nuggets here.

[The_Admiral]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

For example, why does the word "Germany" exist in the English language if they call it Deutschland in German? That would be like someone named "John" being called a different name in a foreign country.

Well, I mean, you do have Juan, Jean, Giovanni, Ivan, Jan, Ian, etc

[TrueYankee26]

Since it's sort of related, why do some countries have different names in English in the first place?

For example, why does the word "Germany" exist in the English language if they call it Deutschland in German? That would be like someone named "John" being called a different name in a foreign country. You'd still call him John even if you were speaking in Spanish or Chinese or French or whatever. Shouldn't the name just be "Deutschland" in all languages?

(Note, I'm not talking names like the United States which could actually be translated into, say, Los Estados Unidos, since there are words for "United" and "States" in Spanish.)

There would be confusion... Deutschland means literally "Dutch Land" (i.e. the Germans actually call themselves Dutch or "the people"), while what we Anglophones refer to as "Dutch" are the people from the Netherlands. Both "Dutch" and "Deutsch" share the same etymological root, which comes from the Germanic word for "people".

[Axis_of_Weasel]

Not all are spelled in English

Italy is spelling their apparel in Italian ........... ITALIA

Brazil is spelled in Portuguese with the 'S' .... BRASIL

Spain is spelled in Spanish ........... ESPAÑA

Ivory Coast is spelled in their native French .... CÔTE D' IVOIRE

Netherlands/ Holland is spelled in Dutch ......... NEDERLAND

and I'm pretty sure that Germany was spelled ..... DEUTSCHLAND (although I'm not 100% sure on that one)

and I'm assuming there are others

im pretty sure this

[-kj]

Right, the ISO standards. If y'all aren't familiar with these, read up.

However, the IOC uses a different list.

[RedSox44]

Not all are spelled in English

Italy is spelling their apparel in Italian ........... ITALIA

Brazil is spelled in Portuguese with the 'S' .... BRASIL

Spain is spelled in Spanish ........... ESPAÑA

Ivory Coast is spelled in their native French .... CÔTE D' IVOIRE

Netherlands/ Holland is spelled in Dutch ......... NEDERLAND

and I'm pretty sure that Germany was spelled ..... DEUTSCHLAND (although I'm not 100% sure on that one)

and I'm assuming there are others

Cote d'Ivoire is the official name of the nation in all languages. Since the late 90s, I believe, the nation wanted the French spelling of their name to be the only spelling of their name.

Also: Holland is a rather small region in the Netherlands. I have no idea why it's become shorthand for the Netherlands. The only time Holland is used officially to refer to the Netherlands is in regards to the Dutch national football team, for whatever reason.