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Parade Of Athletes Signs


taichi

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In the past olympics I've seen signs that tells which country that marches in the alphabetical order. Can somebody make me a list of all the countries in Chinese, please?

Plus, are they going to have it in Catonese order or Mandarin order?

I'm just curious because I don't what's going to happen.

Taichi Steven Nomura

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In the past olympics I've seen signs that tells which country that marches in the alphabetical order. Can somebody make me a list of all the countries in Chinese, please?

Plus, are they going to have it in Catonese order or Mandarin order?

I'm just curious because I don't what's going to happen.

Taichi Steven Nomura

Mandarin, undoubtedly.

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It will be interesting on how the order will be in 2008. The last time the Olympic Games came to the general area, Nagano 1998 just used the English alphabet, if I'm right.

However, there was a topic like this in the old forum before this current one. One of our Chinese members here posted then said that a pin yin system could be used in this case.

Edited by Guardian
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It will be interesting on how the order will be in 2008. The last time the Olympic Games came to the general area, Nagano 1998 just used the English alphabet, if I'm right.

However, there was a topic like this in the old forum before this current one. One of our Chinese members here posted then said that a pin yin system could be used in this case.

Yup. That's most likely. I don't think many Mainlanders now understand the original phonetics system. The pin yin or romanised phonetic system is more widely used, particularly in Mainland China.

The first country is possibly Albania (in pin yin, it is a er ba ni ya)

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It will be interesting on how the order will be in 2008. The last time the Olympic Games came to the general area, Nagano 1998 just used the English alphabet, if I'm right.

However, there was a topic like this in the old forum before this current one. One of our Chinese members here posted then said that a pin yin system could be used in this case.

Which in essence then, would be following the Western/English pronunciations/alphabet. I think English will be used because (i) that is the more widely recognized language; (ii) it is one of the 2 official 'working' languages of the IOC; and (iii) all documents and manifests will be using the English A-Z order (& French closely). Remember, the Opening will be geared for an international audience, not a domestic one.

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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Im sure Athens 2004 used the Greek alphabet during the opening ceremony. The Chinese should use their own system as it is their games, and everyone will get a chance to march into the stadium, although Greece ofcourse will still be first.

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Im sure Athens 2004 used the Greek alphabet during the opening ceremony. The Chinese should use their own system as it is their games, and everyone will get a chance to march into the stadium, although Greece ofcourse will still be first.

Well, in Japan and Seoul, they followed the English alphabet. It would make sense if they have a matching alphabet. THere are 3000 Chinese characters; there are only about 200 teams. :blink: How do you match that against the basic 25/26 letters using the Roman system? :blink: ScotG, your shudda/cudda's sometimes don't translate well into the practical realities of the situation. How can billions of viewers around the world follow a strange alphabetic system? It would totally confuse world audiences. Just as the local Chinese folk will get used to seeing countries called by their Roman spellings (and IOC abbreviations) on the bi- or trilingual scoreboards in the various venues.

The modern Greek alphabet is akin to the ABCs in the rest of the western world. They have alpha, beta, gamma, delta, etc. The matchings are close enough.

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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Doesn't the Olympic Protocol say that the countries enter in the stadium based on the alphabet of the country that host the games?

Either that or it has become tradition to use the host country's alphabet. However, I think this concept was formulated before great-grandpere even conceived that non-Roman alpahbet-script countries could someday host the Games. But again, so what? I mean with 3,000 Chinese characters, how do you really match Albania, Burkina Fasso, etc., Venezuela, etc., with ying, yong, tching, etc., etc.? Chinese might not even have a "V" sound, just as an example? So where do you stick Vanuata, Virgin Islands, Venezuela, etc.? I mean "Greece" will still enter first, and "China" last; so, in the long run, does it really matter?

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Doesn't the Olympic Protocol say that the countries enter in the stadium based on the alphabet of the country that host the games?

Yes. However, languages like Chinese doesn't really have a set base of symbols for "alphabetization." Instead, it is a toss-up between just using the English alphabet order or use the "romanization of the Chinese language" or the pin yin system to me here.

If the pin yin is used here, Canada would be "Jia Na Da" for example.

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I vote for using pinyin in lieu of just the English alphabet order. One of my favorite parts of the OC is the Parade of Nations, and seeing the teams come in a different order than they would otherwise is part and parcel of why I like the Opening Ceremonies.

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I vote for using pinyin in lieu of just the English alphabet order. One of my favorite parts of the OC is the Parade of Nations, and seeing the teams come in a different order than they would otherwise is part and parcel of why I like the Opening Ceremonies.

I agree. It's like discovering part of the culture of the host country.

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At the end of the day guys it doesnt really matter because all that is important is that the athletes get their moment to shine and to experience the opening ceremony, and cheering crowds.

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At the end of the day guys it doesnt really matter because all that is important is that the athletes get their moment to shine and to experience the opening ceremony, and cheering crowds.

That's true. Frankly, I absolutely don't care about the order in which the teams will make their entrance. The parade of nations is too long, anyway. :D

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That's true. Frankly, I absolutely don't care about the order in which the teams will make their entrance. The parade of nations is too long, anyway. :D

Absolutely. The whole thing becomes a total drag at that point. It is INTERMINABLE!! That's the one thing that worries me about seeing this live in Beijing. Maybe I'll have to start thinking of what DVD movie to bring with me to play during that section.

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Not surprised, from the few latest posts here. If I remembered correctly, the OCOG had this kind of problem since Barcelona 1992 or Atlanta 1996, when dealing with the athletes' parade at the opening ceremony. Never mind that it will be interesting on how many new NOCs will make their debut at Beijing 2008. One that comes to mind right away. if it happens, is Montenegro.

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I liked the Atlanta closing where the athletes were already seated in the stadium, this meant that they could enjoy the show then when the time came if they wanted to they could go and enjoy the atmosphere on th efield. I guess the only trouble with this is that is takes up seates that could generate revenue for the organisers, however the athletes deserve to relax and enjoy the show.

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I liked the Atlanta closing where the athletes were already seated in the stadium, this meant that they could enjoy the show then when the time came if they wanted to they could go and enjoy the atmosphere on th efield. I guess the only trouble with this is that is takes up seates that could generate revenue for the organisers, however the athletes deserve to relax and enjoy the show.

Oh, that's why they had so much space on the field for the ceremonial acts. Since I haven't watched the ceremony at that time, I always wondered where they had left the athletes.

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I think that Beijing must use the traditional english order for the Parade of Athletes, but, on the signs on front of the delegations, they could write the country name on both chinese (pin or yin) & english (on Seoul 88, they did the same thing, putting the name on Hangul & English)

About the time that takes the parade, i readed some months ago that Samaranch, on his visit to China, recomended to the Organizers that they must learn to use wisely the time on the ceremonies, specially on the parade, that he sayed it was too long.

Yeah, the Atlanta closing put the athletes on the seats, this gaved more freedom on the stage for the performances (like the Sydney handover segment with the giant Sydney Opera house icon, or the extreme sports performances with the ramps and that sort of things).

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About the time that takes the parade, i readed some months ago that Samaranch, on his visit to China, recomended to the Organizers that they must learn to use wisely the time on the ceremonies, specially on the parade, that he sayed it was too long.

Which again brings up the issue about superflous NOCs. I mean will a Guam, a Puerto Rico, a Hong Kong NOC really add anything more to the Olympic records that the larger nations won't? I mean it's time the IOC started cleaning house and removed those tiny, excess NOCs that really just take up time and space. But that is one way to clean house. Reduce the unnecessary NOCs; and then reduce the number of sports -- and you will have a manageable Summer Olympics -- which would still be universal enough.

I would also limit the # of athletes per team marching in the IOC. Max 40 per team. That would only inconvenience the larger delegations -- the usual suspects: US, China, Russia, Germany, Brazil, Oz, France, the UK, Canada, the Ukraine, Italy, Japan -- who end up with the lion's share of the medals anyway. Even the host country should limit their athletes marching in at the OC. Let them draw straws; or those who are marching in OC, will not see Closing. But again, that would make the OC more manageable.

Hello, IOC? Are you listening?

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Yeah, I'll put my hand up also as one of those who think the whole parade of nations has become the most interminably boring parts of the whole OC. About the only interest these days is to see your personal national team enter, maybe one or two others, and to poke fun at the various uniforms the other teams are wearing. The trouble is, it seems to be mainly us veterans who have watched so many of these ceremonies that think this way. I was surprised when we polled after the Athens OC how many people chose it as their highlight, but then I remembered how when I was young and watching my first few OCs how the parade actually was one of the magical moments. And by all accounts, the athletes themselves (or at least those who aren't competing on day one and are allowed to march by their NOCs) seem to like it. There's gotta be some sort of compromise that can be worked out, but the IOC seem to be loathe to tinker with it.

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I think since Chineses really can't be put into an alphabetical order, they must choose either French or English to go by.As for the language they will use, I really woldn't know, it's probley going to be the Chineses spokenin the city

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I realize many of you think the parade is getting a little drawn out, but either all the athletes should have the opportunity to particpate or none of them should. It wouldn't be fair to exclude anyone who earned the right to be there. The parade still has a magical feel to me, it was my first Olympic memory back in Lake Placid and probably stirred my obsession with the Games to where it is today.

Hopefully Beijing will follow Torino's lead and use a lot of disco, boy did that ever make me feel like a 13 year-old again.

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