There's a reason why interviews are rarely conducted in the interviewee's native language. People end up with poor interviews. It doesn't matter about the translation, that's the easy part. Unless the interviewer is fluent the questions asked are wrong and the interviewer can't understand or respond to anything said, so no follow-up questions can be asked. You try and go up to someone in the street and conduct an interview in French if you don't speak French and they do. It will be a load of sht as you won't know what they're saying or where to take the interview. This is why the interviews are in English because even if the interviewee's English is 'poor' it's way, way better than the Tigrinya or Amharic or whatever of the interviewer.
Even if the interviewer studies the language for a few months they still won't be good enough to conduct a decent interview. When I learnt Spanish after about 12 weeks we had to do a one or two minute presentation on a subject of our choice at the end of the class. You'd be shocked at how much people struggled and that's speaking for a minute with unlimited time for preparation, memorising, nothing to respond to, no questions.
You want him to study Tigrinya but what about Amharic, all of the other languages. Also look at their alphabet:
For him or anyone to get up to interview level is going to take a lot. I don't think people realise just how good the English is of most of these athletes to be able to say what they say/respond etc.
All of this assumes that there will be profound insights offered in pre/post-race interviews with athletes. Really? We are talking jocks not geniuses here.
That is NOT what it assumes. You seem to read almost every thread here. Are you assuming profound insights will be offered? We are talking message board rats like you and not geniuses here.
There is a bigger point to be made than the fact you cant speak Amharic.
The point is that after all these races there is never a decent in depth interview with African runners to really understand their mindset and their race. NYC, Boston, Chicago, London, it doesn't matter, because what they say doesn't matter.
Its because at the end of the day no one really cares enough to do the right thing, get the right people to interview them and produce a good interview.
All of this assumes that there will be profound insights offered in pre/post-race interviews with athletes. Really? We are talking jocks not geniuses here.
That is NOT what it assumes. You seem to read almost every thread here. Are you assuming profound insights will be offered? We are talking message board rats like you and not geniuses here.
I am not assuming profound insights from athletes before or after a race. If language is an issue the solution is simple: use an interpreter. I'm sure even "message board rats" could grasp that.
So learning a language like Tigrayan is something that can be done in a weekend. You are obviously a master of many different languages - and so many other things, I'm sure.
Who said it could be done in a weekend? Obviously it takes more of a commitment than that. Gault is not a new letsrun employee, and Ethiopians are not new to the running scene. He’s had plenty of time to prepare.
This journalist speaks six (6!) languages. Why can’t Gault learn just one extra language? Do you not believe in his intelligence?
The longstanding practice of journalists using interpreters when interviewing people of different nationalities has completely passed you by. Gault's only mistake was to overestimate Gidey's fluency in English.
At least he went to Valencia. Race organizers should make translators available. You would only need like 3 to cover Ethiopia and Kenya. Maybe 4 if there's a top Japanese runner.
But 90% of athletes wouldn't say anything interesting anyway. Kipchoge is just relentlessly calm and positive about discipline and sportsmanship. I saw an NxN video with Bekele that was subtitled in English and all I remember is that he said ice cream makes him fat. Oh, he also said he was the unluckiest person (which is kinda true if you care about WRs in the marathon the same time you have the 5,000 and 10,000 records).
The only post-race interviews I can think of that were notable were Parker Valby saying she doesn't care about tangents/not sure if she understands them. And Craig Engels saying Jenny Simpson was being aggro over doping charges at Worlds the time Salazar was banned, considering they'd just had a really good conversation over breakfast about which animal they could defeat in the wild. Then he said if he had been aware of the charges swirling around Salazar before he joined NOP he still would've joined cause he would try to infiltrate and blow the whistle on 'em. Probably.
There is a bigger point to be made than the fact you cant speak Amharic.
The point is that after all these races there is never a decent in depth interview with African runners to really understand their mindset and their race. NYC, Boston, Chicago, London, it doesn't matter, because what they say doesn't matter.
Its because at the end of the day no one really cares enough to do the right thing, get the right people to interview them and produce a good interview.
Its quite sad really.
Yeah, even if the letsrun team studied these languages for a year, it wouldn't even come close to the amount required to do a high quality interview. You need high quality. translators.
At least he went to Valencia. Race organizers should make translators available. You would only need like 3 to cover Ethiopia and Kenya. Maybe 4 if there's a top Japanese runner.
But 90% of athletes wouldn't say anything interesting anyway. Kipchoge is just relentlessly calm and positive about discipline and sportsmanship. I saw an NxN video with Bekele that was subtitled in English and all I remember is that he said ice cream makes him fat. Oh, he also said he was the unluckiest person (which is kinda true if you care about WRs in the marathon the same time you have the 5,000 and 10,000 records).
The only post-race interviews I can think of that were notable were Parker Valby saying she doesn't care about tangents/not sure if she understands them. And Craig Engels saying Jenny Simpson was being aggro over doping charges at Worlds the time Salazar was banned, considering they'd just had a really good conversation over breakfast about which animal they could defeat in the wild. Then he said if he had been aware of the charges swirling around Salazar before he joined NOP he still would've joined cause he would try to infiltrate and blow the whistle on 'em. Probably.
Interviews with athletes are basically pr. The only interesting thing they do is on the track, or the course.