Non-North American races & language barrier

Jun 13, 19 13:43

Post #1 of 33 (3979 views)

For those of you who have raced IM or other events outside of North America, how much of a barrier does language present? I like to do events in places I wouldn't normally pick as a destination- Haugesund, Norway for example. I don't know that I'd ever go there as opposed to say, Cozumel or Nice if it wasn't for the fact that there is a 70.3. Domestically I've been to several states and cities that aren't high on vacation lists and always found something fun and interesting outside of the race itself. New things and experiences that I wouldn't have normally have seen, people I wouldn't have met. Usually when I travel internationally I can get by with translation apps/phrasebooks and the old "point, smile, sign language, butcher-the-pronunciation-and-hope-they-understand" route if English isn't a strong presence. (I do have a smattering of French and Spanish but no fluency or proper grammar)

But races have athlete briefings, PA announcements, and all of that- some of which are last minute changes or safety issues or quirks of the course that first-timers should know about, right?

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 13, 19 13:47

Post #2 of 33 (3962 views)

If you go race Challenge Roth, you will find almost all of the loudspeaker announcements are in English.

I'll find out how Nice is, but I expect language won't be a problem there for the WC.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 13, 19 14:00

Post #3 of 33 (3925 views)

Probably depends on the country. I did the Ironman in Sweden last year and had absolutely no trouble, because pretty much everyone spoke English, and while some announcements were in Swedish they always also repeated them in English. It was hardly any different from racing in an English-speaking country.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 13, 19 14:17

Post #4 of 33 (3885 views)

You'll be fine. English is typically the second language for athlete briefings/instructions and they use a lot of pictures/signs as well. At least that has been my experience at Florianopolis, Lanzarote, Nice, Cozumel, Goto and Frankfurt (although I do speak German). You may get some funny misunderstandings, though. Had an english speaker in Japan think he was asking for water (mizu), but said "miso," and dumped splashed hot soup on himself. Then there was the ugly american at Frankfurt who was told in german that he needed to shower (dueschen, pronounced, you know. . .) before getting in the hot tub. That almost started an international incident.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 13, 19 14:27

Post #5 of 33 (3861 views)

Every ITU, M-Dot, and large non M-Dot event I have been to in Asia have English speaking announcers and/or staff and info written in English.For races that are in the local language it isn't that hard usually to figure out what is going on.
.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 13, 19 14:33

Post #6 of 33 (3848 views)

I missed a start because of the language barrier. The start got moved up and 15 minutes. Luckily for me I was close enough and it only cost me a short run across the beach. Had I been farther away. It would have really sucked for me.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 14, 19 20:24

Post #7 of 33 (3596 views)

On a personal account I had a really rough time without Google Translate in Pontevedra, Spain at the ITU World Championships. English speaking folks were rare unless you spied a Team USA or Team Canada member. In places we ate at, we were lucky to have a single member of staff speak English, so revisited those places that did have someone who could. We found that the people who could only speak Spanish, tried very hard to get their point across & were super nice about taking their time in being patient with us. I never had a Spanish class & the languages taught growing up, were more likely to be French, Finnish, German or Polish aside from English. So it was quite hard to talk in most cases.

It was surprising that people did want to talk to us because we were English speakers--a chance for them to practice it if they knew a little, seemed like a rare opportunity.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 4:51

Post #8 of 33 (3490 views)

Not a barrier but I found running distance in "k"s instead of miles frustrating. Trying to convert ks to miles in the marathon took too much brain power at that point of the race.
It was easy when the ks were low!

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 8:45

Post #9 of 33 (3395 views)

Never had a problem in the UK, Australia or New Zealand

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [mdtrihard] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 9:36

Post #10 of 33 (3356 views)

mdtrihard wrote:

Not a barrier but I found running distance in "k"s instead of miles frustrating. Trying to convert ks to miles in the marathon took too much brain power at that point of the race.
It was easy when the ks were low!

Oddly enough I find it the opposite and I’m American although I live abroad

I think of metrics as the measurement system for athletes. I have completely lost my sense of miles. I think in KMs. Still think I Fahrenheit though. Mostly

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 11:38

Post #11 of 33 (3316 views)

I've done a few races in Northern Europe. Normally if the race is small someone will approach me and explain in English. Big races will do announcements and briefings in English and the local language.
My recommendations is to learn the words for water
Energy drink (brand)
Banana
And toilet

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 12:42

Post #12 of 33 (3288 views)

I traveled abroad to Canada. The language barriers were a huge concern. They use the word "aboot" for "about" and "boy" for "buoy". Let me tell you how much dismay I had when I thought the RD hired some kid to wear a red cap and tread at the spot to turn. That was something aboot which to get stressed.

Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 13:21

Post #13 of 33 (3266 views)

Not a problem in Greece either. Everything was repeated in English and most of the people on the mainland speak English fluently.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 17:15

Post #14 of 33 (3207 views)

I'm doing IM Norway in two weeks in Haugesund, so I can report back on how it went (going from US). My impression is that most educated folks in Europe can speak English. I know that two of the three race briefings for the race in two weeks are in English.

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Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 19:52

Post #15 of 33 (3154 views)

I live in Florida and have had NO language barriers at any of the Ironman races I've done outside of the U.S. These include:

IM Haugesund, Norway
IM Kalmar, Sweden
IM Zurich, Switzerland
IM Regensburg, Germany
IM Port Elizabeth, South Africa
IM Cozumel

I highly recommend Haugesund. It had been on my to do list for some time and when it became I full last year I jumped on it.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [Tri-Banter] [ In reply to ]

Jun 15, 19 20:04

Post #16 of 33 (3143 views)

you travelled with a broad to Canada, eh !

Last edited by: michael Hatch: Jun 15, 19 20:06

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [HuffNPuff] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 1:46

Post #17 of 33 (3080 views)

I am a little surprised that you didn't experience any problems in Port Elisabeth

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [natethomas] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 2:10

Post #18 of 33 (3064 views)

A good mate from my university swim days claims he couldn't understand anyone at IM Wales even though we all spoke English Haha

He was always a knob though from Texas ;) He's on these boards so he can chime in

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 3:30

Post #19 of 33 (3035 views)

Be adventurous and you'll have fun.

I'm British and have raced all over Europe (and travelled around most of the world) with no problems.

The 'worst' (relatively) situation was actually at ToursnMan in Tours(France) last summer, to my surprise I was pretty much the only primary English speaker in the race - however the volunteers and staff couldn't have been more excited to have someone from another country there and bent over backwards to help out when we had problems communicating.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 3:51

Post #20 of 33 (3024 views)

Have raced all around the world (a lot in Asia as well) and have not had any issues at a MAJOR race (IM / Challenge). With that being said, some of the "local"/smaller races I have done in Korea, I did find some language barriers there, but usually could find someone to interpret when needed. As long as you are doing IM/Challenge events don't really see it being a problem.

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Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [Schnellinger] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 5:11

Post #21 of 33 (2989 views)

I actually went twice ... did the IM in 2017 and the 70.3WC in 2018. No problems either time. Even the poorest sidewalk vendors spoke enough English for me to get along just fine.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 12:08

Post #22 of 33 (2870 views)

In Germany and Austria, one of the race briefings was in English. I would say, be sure to know basic things and tri specific words....on your left, how to ask for water and isotonic drink, gels..etc....that kind of thing:) Also a few bike terms so you can talk to the techs if you have the need.Have fun! We have really enjoyed doing races in other countries.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [charlietris] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 12:29

Post #23 of 33 (2864 views)

That will never be a problem i northern/western europe. They do race briefings in english, and most people are fluent in english or can at least speak some.

water/aqua and energy are pretty common in all of the world. Especially norway should be no problem, way better at english than e.g. spanish/french people

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 16, 19 14:13

Post #24 of 33 (2818 views)

I've travelled to the USA a good few times.
Their English is appalling. Spelling is pretty bad too - often missing out 'u's, or making up non-English words by adding 'ised' (even mis-spelled 'ized') or 'isation' where it's just wrong.

Plus if you try to explain about any bicycle related component made from aluminium (that's al-you-min-ium) they're clueless.

Traveller beware.

Re: Non-North American races & language barrier [ut_maker] [ In reply to ]

Jun 17, 19 8:26

Post #25 of 33 (2681 views)

Try to pick up some phrases and at least know your race number in the other language if it is a full IM so you can get special needs bag. Learning some of the language is part of the race prep and fun. Trying to get ibuprofin at a pharmacy in Klagenfurt after IM Austria was funny - after many tries, I said "Eisenman" and the pharmacist said , "Ahhhh - Eisenman" and gave me what I needed ha ha. Also fun figuring out how to communicate with other racers. Guy who spoke little english was suffering badly with me on back half of marathon - we were trying to communicate with each other but could not because my German was as bad as his English. Finally he mustered out very loudly, "Never again!" in thick accent. Whenever I think about signing up for another IM (which I hate) as opposed to short race (which I love) his voice saying "Never again!" pops in to my head. Have fun - do a race where they speak a different language and try and pick up some words.

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