In my household, the Olympics have always been a must-watch — especially the summer games. For two weeks, the TV is always on and tuned to gymnastics, track and field, or beach volleyball, among many other sports. The 2024 Summer Olympics, hosted in Paris in late July and early August, began with a unique opening ceremony conducted as a series of boat entrances and performances down the Seine.
More than 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries competed in this year’s summer games. Because the athletes and their supporters come from all corners of the globe, bridging the Olympic language gap is a remarkable feat in itself. The official languages of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are French and English. At every Olympic games, both languages — as well as the native language of the host country — are used to introduce competitors at medal ceremonies. The competitions themselves are simultaneously interpreted in six languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.
Before the games begin, a small army of translators arrives on site to ensure that the athletes, coaches, and fans can easily move about the city. These interpreters translate menus, informational guides, and signage in the Olympic Village and public transportation. In Paris, public transport workers were provided with AI-enabled devices that could translate between French and 16 other languages to help visitors better navigate the Paris Métro.
Not only are the Olympics an incredible display of the world’s greatest athletes, they are also a triumph of translation and interpretation.
Our cover story this month discusses how process safety can suffer as a result of language barriers. Author Dalia Davila (Engineering Planning and Management, Inc.) writes, “language breakdowns are responsible for many major engineering disasters.” The article, told from her perspective as a process safety engineer who learned English as a second language, highlights several instances where translation software alone is not enough to bridge a language gap. She suggests addressing translation difficulties proactively with interpreters and providing non-written process safety materials — with graphics and animations — to ensure understanding among all facility workers. “In general,” writes Davila, “language gaps in the workplace will continue to increase as globalization and remote work increase. Acknowledging language barriers and their effects is a step toward developing more effective process safety communication that focuses on the needs of an increasingly diverse workforce.”
AIChE and the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) have prioritized the importance of bridging language gaps with Spanish and Portuguese sessions at their yearly Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS). The Process Safety Beacon, produced by CCPS and reprinted in every issue of CEP, promotes process safety for frontline workers around the world. To that end, the Beacon is available in nearly 40 languages, translated by a team of experts and volunteers.
The athletic prowess demonstrated at the 2024 Olympics transcended language. You don’t need to speak an athlete’s language to share their elation as they win gold or understand their heartbreak as they miss the podium by a few decimal points. The next summer games, to be held in Los Angeles in 2028, will give the U.S. a chance to showcase our diversity as a nation as we welcome the world to our shores.
Emily Petruzzelli, Editor-in-Chief
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