Federer puts English on the ball

Posted By Stephen M. Walt Monday, June 8, 2009 - 8:06 PM Share

I watched the Men's final at the French Open tennis tournament yesterday, and I was struck by the dominance of: 1) Roger Federer, who won his 14th Grand Slam tournament handily, and 2) the English language. The announcer at *Roland Garros* Stadium reported the scores en francais and French TV apparently got the first courtside interview with Federer after the match (while NBC took a commercial break), but Federer and Swedish runner-up Robin Soderling gave their acceptance speeches in English (with a French translation for the crowd). One imagines the spirit of Charles de Gaulle whirring rapidly in his tomb, not to mention the "Immortals" in L'Academie francaise.

It’s possible that Robin Soderling (the Swedish runner-up) spoke to the crowd in English because he doesn't speak French. But Federer reportedly speaks fluent French, German, and Swiss-German, as well as English, so why wasn’t he addressing the local crowd in their native tongue?

My guess is that this was dictated by the global TV market, and by the growing position of English as the lingua franca of contemporary globalization. The tournament was being watched all over the world, and English is the language that would be understood by the greatest number of potential viewers world-wide.

Americans sometimes view the dominant position of English as another component of America's "soft power," but that view is simplistic chauvinism. With English becoming a "universal" language, no single country will own it or be able to regulate its content. Instead, it will continue to evolve as most languages do, incorporating new words, spellings, and grammatical practices from an wide variety of sources. If they haven't started already, American xenophobes are going to start complaining soon about the corruption of "standard English" by all these foreign influences. For an interesting collection of views on this topic, check out the "Freakonomics" discussion here.

Of course, this whole discussion may be moot, given the damage that email, text-messaging, and Twitter feeds are already doing to civilized discourse. Or does that comment make me sound like a technophobe?

*P.S.: Bonus points for anyone who knows who Roland Garros was without looking up the link. Answer: Garros was a French aeronautical pioneer, who developed an armored propeller that allowed the use of a forward-firing machine gun for aerial combat during World War I. His system predated the more effective synchronization device later perfected by the Dutch/German Anthony Fokker. Garros was captured by the Germans in 1915, later escaped, and eventually shot down and killed in 1918. The stadium for which he is named occupies the site of a tennis academy that he attended.

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

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BOB N.

10:02 PM ET

June 8, 2009

Federer

What are you talking about? Federer gave the bulk of his acceptance speech in French. The only times he spoke English were when he was addressing Soderling and Agassi.

NUR AL-CUBICLE

10:49 PM ET

June 8, 2009

Garros

I didn't cheat and I didn't know...thank you.

NICHOLAS WARINO

11:23 PM ET

June 8, 2009

Federer

Yup, I'm afraid you're simply wrong here. Federer gave most of his speech in French.

JOHNYBABA

12:03 AM ET

June 9, 2009

What's the agenda?

Is the writer on drugs? Federer's speech was 80% French and 20% English. Did the writer tune-out when Federer was speaking French? Can anybody just post blatant lies on this site? Do you still expect people to believe content here?

TIMMYTIMTIMTM

12:38 AM ET

June 9, 2009

French open

alright you just made me have to sign up here...

so what's wrong with a little bit of English here and there so others can also get what he's talking about ?

Why don't you write your text with more clarity so the general public can understand more of it ?

ANON2

2:30 AM ET

June 9, 2009

Of course, this whole discussion may be moot

Right, professor, because, as others have noted, either you didn't watch Federer's acceptance speech or you did but with the sound off.

He was alternating between French and English, speaking mostly in French.

Have another watch:

http://www.casttv.com/video/hpwkfx1/roger-federer-winning-speech-roland-garros-2009-video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL1Q6MJfDWE

Really - I'm curious - and I mean this with all due respect - but what could possibly be your rationale for writing "but Federer and Swedish runner-up Robin Soderling gave their acceptance speeches in English (with a French translation for the crowd)."?

Did you not really watch Federer's speech, but rather make a grossly inaccurate assumption based on your own prejudices?

Did you watch a tiny snippet of it and make a grossly inaccurate assumption based on your own prejudices?

This is a pretty embarrassing post.

GRAND SEN-OR

3:56 AM ET

June 9, 2009

Obviously the channel

Obviously the channel Professor was watching gave the english cut of the speech...I mean Professor is not G-d who listens all the speeches thru all the channels, he can make a mistake. It is stupid to generalize his mistake to all his postings. It is a pity that there are some logic-ignorants around here jumping into conclusions like that;->>
He might even be trying to test how carefully you read his posting and how would you react when he makes a mistake;->> On the other hand don't assume that Professor believes what ever he posts here, sometimes he posts things simply to provoke the Bloggers to measure how they will be arguing. This Professor is not dumb guys, look at his photo how he smiles;->>

Grand Sen~or.

KENNETH SORENSEN

7:14 AM ET

June 9, 2009

English-lessons should be compulsery in The United States

One of the most irritating things for English-speakers, is hearing the North-American pronounciation of the words: "path, vast, craft etc" . Just the other day your President was pronouncing path this way. People all over the world spend years in school struggling to get it right, and they are punished if they pronounce it the wrong way.

Civilisation takes hold

Not only can it have unforeseen diplomatic effects when you do not speak the same language as the rest of the world; it also pollutes the lingua franca of our planet, which have spread with British Civilisation, the greatest and most succesful civilisation in the history of mankind. It have spread to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the coasts of what is now the USA and to much of the hinterland. There are still some white spots on the map -- like Texas -- , but all in all it is looking good.

I am happy when I hear Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Malaysian, Arab and African people pronounce these words as they should be pronounced.

English the prefered business language of the world

English is the preferred business-language because it is simple and easy to learn. German, which have 16 different words for to be for example, is hopelessly left behind. And likewise with any other language; it's too difficult to learn in order for it to be a lingua franca. And there is something else attached to English: Clarity of thought are easier to express in a language that is simple and clear, and the proces works the other way as well: The simplicity and clarity of the language makes for clarity of thought. And the sheer numbers of people speaking it all over the world, makes it easier for Common sense to prevail.

German component dangerous when not checked

It is very fortunate for the world, that Americans are not speaking German today, which could easily have happened, where it not for the British. I for one have no doubt that a German-speaking America would have been much more militaristic, chauvinistic, and would have imposed its will on the rest of the world. Some would say that this is an accurate description of USA today, but it is not. It is due to British influence, and the common sense that goes with it, that it has been possible to accomodate Americans to what is the common good of the world. Sometimes the German component takes over, like in your Blitzkrieg up to Bagdad in March 2003 with Rumsfeld and Busch at the Helm [spurred on by Perle, Feith, Kristol, Volfovitz - all of German/Polish descent with contempt for commoners and common sense], but the mistakes and setbacks associated with such an approach are now all too obvious, so in the coming years we will see an USA cooperating more and one that are again under the influence of Common sense.

I hope that American decisionmakers will see to that proper English are taught in American schools just as it is all over the world.

J ETHER

12:47 PM ET

June 9, 2009

... and you should attend them

One thing you may, as a “true” English-speaker, want to be careful of, is criticizing the language skills of another person while ignoring your own glaring mistakes.

My major issue with your critical post is that you habitually use the word ‘have’ in place of the more correct ‘has.’ For instance:

“It *have* spread…” or “German, which *have* 16 different words…”

You have made a few other missteps in the course of belittling the English speakers of North America with the following gems:

“Clarity of thought *are* easier to express…” Silly me, it seems that 'is' might have been a better grammatical choice.

“It is very fortunate for the world, that Americans are not speaking German today, which could easily have happened, *where* it not for the British.”

Would it also be too much to ask that you learn to spell at least some of the more common nouns in your post? “your Blitzkrieg up to *Bagdad*… with Rumsfeld and *Busch*…”

Although it is in opposition to commonly accepted grammar rules to use ‘an’ before words starting with a vowel, in the case of the acronym USA, it is not preferred that the phrase ‘an USA’ be used – rather, try ‘a USA’ - it rolls off the tongue a little more smoothly and is not jarring to pronounce in conversational English.

“we will see *an* USA cooperating more and one that *are* again under the influence of Common sense.”

I hope that American *decisionmakers* will see to [it] that proper English *are* taught in American schools…”

Normally I am not nitpicky with the grammar and spelling of posters, but when you assume the self-appointed mantle of an expert, you are going to be held to a higher standard than the rest of us idiots.

UZH

10:08 AM ET

June 9, 2009

another point

True- most of Federers speech was in French - however, the official part for worldwide TV was in english (the 20% mentioned). The greetings and stuff was in french.

Another point struck me at Roland Garros: It seems that Gilpin should write a book about tennis! "Tournament and Change in World Tennis" or so. The leading position of some players, and their decline, shows the processes Gilpin writes about. It is always harder to stay on top then to come there. Additionally, Federer, supposed not-anymore-hegemon, hungry again, comes back to the top. A model for the US' future? One could say that Obama simply stole his ideas of national renewal from Federer. Prof. Walt has delivered a realist analysis of marriage - how about a realist analysis of Tennis?

;-)

BRIAN BARKER

10:57 AM ET

June 9, 2009

Esperanto?

Federer did speak in French!

The future of English as an international language however is also interesting.

I live in London and if anyone says to me “everyone speaks English” my answer is “Listen and look around you”. If people in London do not speak English then the whole question of a global language is completely open.

The promulgation of English as the world’s “lingua franca” is unethical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker!

Unethical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is how English is used internationally at the moment.

Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is long overdue.

An interesting video can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations

A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net

J ETHER

1:03 PM ET

June 9, 2009

English is here to stay.

I don’t see how it is unethical to promote English as one of several “lingua franca” operating in the world today if it is a language that is relevant on the international stage. The fact that minority languages are disappearing faster than the Amazon rainforest due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages is, rationally, a problem for the cultures that speak them, not the global majority. The onus to preserve languages that are irrelevant to a vast majority of world-citizens lies with them and while the majority must be cognizant and respectful of the desire to preserve their culture and language, the fact that language is the primary vehicle for cultural and economic transmission makes the necessity for a common language undeniable. And the dream of creating some mish-mash language from scratch that can satisfy everyone is unrealistic and a waste of time and effort. It is certainly a reasonable argument that there needs to be multiple “lingua franca” competing for that distinction to preserve diversity on the world stage, but it is unreasonable to strive to eliminate English as one of these “lingua franca.”

GRAND SEN-OR

8:22 PM ET

June 9, 2009

Summarizing languages is

Summarizing languages is another State Monopoly requirement to carry on the tyranny. Even in England there are tens of local dialects now dying due to the tranny. For SPEEs language is another identifying element like laws, but the Monopoly by not recognizing the right to law prepares the ground to assimilate languages as well. In other words State is there to degenerate all multiplicity to singularity, multiplicity of language is just another victim of State tyranny.

Grand Sen~or.