2012 Olympic Games
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games will provide a great opportunity to welcome visitors from all over the world but will we be prepared for it?
A report prepared by Impact Research Limited for the Skills for Business Network, entitled 'Analysis of the skills needed to improve the visitor experience and sports presentation for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics Games' states that language and cultural awareness skills are acknowledged by many of the industries to be involved or directly affected by the 2012 Games as lacking in the current workforce or amongst new recruits.
Who will need language and cultural skills?
“It will be beneficial for staff working as volunteers or in customer-facing roles in cultural heritage venues to have the opportunity to participate in wider Games-related generic training initiatives, have access to relevant games knowledge and possibly access additional language and cultural awareness skills.” (taken from the above report)
Workers who may need to have language and cultural awareness skills for the 2012 Games are:
- Catering Managers
- Tourist Guides
- Tourist Information Centre Advisors
- Head Chefs
- Waiting Staff
- Receptionists
- Venue/Facility Managers
“By looking at past and future events, the extent to which foreign language skills will be a requirement for 2012 is still not clear. However, the importance of ensuring that the Games and wider workforce have adequate cultural awareness skills is acknowledged." (taken from the above report)
Download the full report (pdf 624 KB) 
Case study
The organisers of Beijing 2008 are currently investing heavily in English language training for the workforce.
A set of 13 books of Olympic training called ‘Olympic Reader’ have been compiled by BOCOG and are being distributed to all BOCOG staff, Olympic staff, millions of primary, secondary and university students and service sector employees in Beijing.
The reader includes a handbook of oral English, containing useful words associated with the Olympics, different sports and daily communications.
The books were prepared by over 200 experts and professors over the course of a year.
60,000 employees have currently received foreign language training (primarily English) in sub-sectors including transportation and tourism.
Further help
The RLN can help you and your organisation gear up for 2012 by providing language resources, access to language and cultural training, interpreting and translation services and advice on recruiting multilingual staff. Please contact us today to discuss your language and cultural requirements.
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