Directing in French

[Masterfulks]

I was talking to a friend about this today.

If a fencer does not understand the director, can he ask for the director to use english. Does the director have to comply?

I went to a tourney not too long ago and the directors first language was Chinese or something like that. I nor most of us had any clue to what she was saying. I didnt say anything, since I didnt want to be considered disrespectful.

But if I dont know what the director is calling its hard for me to adjust to their calls......

[Purple Fencer]

[quote]Originally posted by Masterfulks:
<strong>I was talking to a friend about this today.

If a fencer does not understand the director, can he ask for the director to use english. Does the director have to comply?

I went to a tourney not too long ago and the directors first language was Chinese or something like that. I nor most of us had any clue to what she was saying. I didnt say anything, since I didnt want to be considered disrespectful.

But if I dont know what the director is calling its hard for me to adjust to their calls......</strong><hr></blockquote>


If I was asked to recall the phrase in English, I CERTAINLY would do so. A director refusing to do so would be downright rude


I'm fairly sure the fencer has the right to ask for the phrase in a way he can understand.

[Sildar]

Technically, if this is a USFA competition we're talking about and not an FIE tournament in another country, the director is supposed to at least give the commands in English. At coaches college this last summer, Maestro Ed Richards was very clear on this point.
"Notice," he said acidly, "the rulebook says that you say 'ready' and 'fence,' NOT 'prez' and 'allez.' This is not France!"
Also, the rulebook specifies the hand gestures directors should use to explain the action, which in theory should make things easier for the fencer to follow, even if the director doesn't speak English.

[Purple Fencer]

I can HEAR Ed's voice saying that! **brrrrr**

[Boo Boo Too]

If you are talking about foreign competitions, then you may be stuck: if your referee is Russian and doesn't speak much English, then your communications must be in French and sign language.

Fortunately, however, most continental Europeans speak a large amount of foreign languages (often including English).

Boo

[soos]

errrrr ... french is THE official language of fencing ... this should mean u guys dont have to speak french, just u have to know few words to understand it, like "en garde, pres , allez" "attaque, parade riposte, contre attaque, remise ...", max 20 words ...

not that hard !

so of course if u dont fence in an english country, the ref will give u all the stuff in french ... as its the rules.

[Masterfulks]

I was meaning USFA events.

I just have heard more than one ref joke about how if he's not sure of a call that he can just say it in french very quickly and no one would be able to tell the difference.

I know (hopefully) that they were joking, but the idea of it didnt sit well with me.

Is there an official online rulebook for the USFA that addresses this anywhere?

Thanks all!

[DamedEscrime]

You're right SOOS. Of all the French there is to learn, fencing terminolgy is about the easiest. And there isn't that much to learn. I started calling some bouts in French for our littlest fencers just so they would become familiar with it and they loved it. Of course I LOVE the language.

[soos]

hehe ... its the same for Judo, all directing words + movement words r in japenese, and it doesnt matter at all !! of course u dont have to learn japenese to practice Judo !!!!

But learning Judo like it should be (= japenese sport originally) when u r young, makes u understand all the stuff like if it was ur own languange.

Of course i understand that many adult fencers who started practicising Epee late would prefer to hear commands in their languange instead of french. Actually i think that for the english/french comparison, there s ONLY ONE word that really matter :

starting the bout u guys say : ready ? PLAY !
we say in french : PRES ? allez !

so PRES sounds very close to PLAY, and thats the only problem (big enough thats true) cose PLAY and PRES represent 2 different times... so u may see the other guy running on u while u r still waiting for the command of the start

but thats it.

and of course, for only "english" champ no problem with english. But from the moment there is one foreign guy, he may ask u to speak in french for the commands ... so better to know it

Last thing, all the foreign (=none french speaking) fencers i saw in competition knew all the french commands as they were touring around the world (or europe), and there was really no matter of understanding. That was mechanical, and when the guy desagreed, there was no matter either to see what he meant hehehehe