Fie

[esskreemr]

The one thing that really grates on my nerves is the FIE (Federation International de Escrime). The FIE, now based in Switzerland, still chooses to communicate in French. To me, this is absurd and part of many of the problems that we have concerning rules and what not. The French language, though imbibed with a rich and varied history, is not the most prolific language in the world. This thread isn't meant to be about the French language, though. It's about an International Organization that publishes in a language that the majority of its members don't understand.

Of course, this is probably going to sound biased because I am an English speaker, but English is a natural choice for an International Body. If you go by sheer numbers, Chinese and Hindi stand out, however, geographic distribution need to be considered.

Rank language approx # of native speakers Countries
1. Mandarin Chinese 874,000,000 16
2. Hindi (India) 366,000,000 17
3. English 341,000,000 104
4. Spanish 322-358,000,000 43
5. Bengali (India and Bangladesh) 207,000,000 9
6. Portuguese 176,000,000 33
7. Russian 167,000,000 30
8. Japanese 125,000,000 26
9. German (standard) 100,000,000 40
10. Korean 78,000,000 31
<bold>11. French 77,000,000 53<bold>
12. Wu Chinese 77,000,000 1
13. Javanese 75,000,000 4
14. Yue Chinese 71,000,000 20
15. Telegu (India) 69,000,000 7

So while Mandarin and Hindi beat English with the number of native speakers, their relative geographic distribution is low.

This is just, of course, my opinion. I'm not a Francophobe, I just don't think that French is the best choice.

[Grey]

I couldn't agree less. Especially since the fact that they mentioned the translation of the FIE rulebook to English was NOT their responsibility but rather, that of the British. And the British charges money for it. Sorry I'm whining about this but it really does fencers injustice.

edited : Not as if the french are better than other countries in fencing... now the germans and italians are beating them to it.

[Strytllr]

I believe you meant you couldn't agree "more".

*shrug*

[duel mom]

I can't say why but French is the recognized language for diplomats and military personnel worldwide when speaking to one another when their other common languages fail. So all communications officers, ship captains, pilots and so on do learn it. I guess it's tradition. But it may be old-fashioned now.

[Army Fencer]

Tradition... fencing has strong Fencing roots. Everyone in fencing has been speaking French for a long time.

Ability... some of the best fencers come from France. Maybe not right at this time, but generally.

Percentage population... not many Chinese or Indian fencers as a percentage of their respective populations

As a side note, before English was the world-wide language, French was. A lot of this has to do with Napolean and some of the colonial and Empirical interests of France over the years.

I don't have a problem with it. Maybe someday I'll be a Francophone, too.

[Tireur]

So all communications officers, ship captains, pilots and so on do learn it. I guess it's tradition. But it may be old-fashioned now.

Sorry, but unless they've changed it, English is the international language of aviation.

[veeco]

As I said in a previous thread on the subject, I believe there are more fencers whose native tongue is French than fencers whose native tongue is English. When looking at membership numbers for the various fencing federations from which I could find numbers it seems to be the case.

General numbers of population don't really apply here, since we're talking about fencers, not just population numbers.

Also, the FIE does publish all of their press releases, minutes from conferences and meetings, official communication, etc, in three languages: French, English and Spanish. I haven't heard any communication from the FIE saying that the English translation of the rulebook was none of their business. Certainly they haven't updated the English version of the rules last time I looked, but nowhere did I hear anyone at the FIE saying that the British were responsible for it and that they didn't care about translating the rules.

Actually, both the English and French rulebooks are inaccessible on the FIE website. There appears to be a bug in their code. When that bug is fixed I'd go and look up the rules in English on their website if I were you, it is quite possible they have been updated, since they have been translating a lot of their materials on their website lately, it is quite possible that the English rulebook is available and updated now.

Also, the FIE is charging for hardcopies of the rulebook in both French and English. Softcopies can be downloaded on the website for free, when the site works, that is!

[Kemijaba]

I see no problem with it. The two official languages of the UN are French and English. Believing that the entire world should speak english is a pretty "american" ideaology, "if they don't know english, then they should". The history of Fencing is inheritly french, so I see nothing wrong with keeping to the culture in modern times. I think it should be the responsibilty of every fencer to at least learn a small amount of french, (95% of the terms you already use are french)thus allowing you to better comprehend high level directing, FIE rules and so on. My opinion is a little bias however, as I do speak a moderate amount of french. Never the less, I don't think it should be the responsibility of the FIE to cater to American laziness. It's an inseparable part of the sport, and something that everyone would benefit from learning.

Just my humble opinion...

[Tireur]

It's an inseparable part of the sport, and something that everyone would benefit from learning.

I'm with you, I think it should be Hungarian or Italian tho.

[C.J.]

This world would be a much better place if only everybody speaks binary.

[SJB]

The one thing that really grates on my nerves is the FIE (Federation International de Escrime). The FIE, now based in Switzerland, still chooses to communicate in French. To me, this is absurd and part of many of the problems that we have concerning rules and what not.

The FIE has been based in Switzerland for some time now. This is because the FIE, like the majority of international governing bodies, is located there in order to be close to the IOC.

The rules have always been in French. If you go to a world cup they preside in French regardless of the host country. And any decent American referee can preside in French should they need to.

The French language, though imbibed with a rich and varied history, is not the most prolific language in the world. This thread isn't meant to be about the French language, though. It's about an International Organization that publishes in a language that the majority of its members don't understand.

If you look at the results from the recent FIE congress meeting you'll notice there was a vote to keep French as the official language of the FIE. It passed overwhelmingly. This would dictate that the majority of the FIE's member countries do understand French.

C'est vrai!

[Strytllr]

0100111010001011001010110111010111001101011101

Translation: Hi.

[Tireur]

This would dictate that the majority of the FIE's member countries do understand French.

I'm not sure countries understand any language. I imagine the person was talking about individual members of member organizations.

det er sann

[Kemijaba]

Originally posted by Tireur
I'm with you, I think it should be Hungarian...

Lol my saber coach couldn't agree with you more, he studied in Budapest for awhile. Though, he still has a fondness for french (the man speaks like 5 languages, its nuts!)

[SJB]

I'm not sure countries understand any language. I imagine the person was talking about individual members of member organizations.

I'm pretty sure if you did a tally of countries of French speaking member countries of the FIE they would outnumber the English speaking ones.

The results of the vote to keep French as the official language seem to indicate that.

[veeco]

Actually, if you did a tally of all the countries members of the FIE, you'd find that the greatest number doesn't speak either French or English.

[SJB]

Very true. And I'm sure it drives the Chinese crazy .

But between French and English I'm sure French is dominant.