Aug
Talking golf
Lorna Freeman
The LPGA this week announced a controversial communications policy that will tie the hands of many international female golfers. As Lorne Rubinstein reported in The Globe and Mail, the world’s most lucrative female golf association has invoked a policy that insists “its players speak English to a certain standard or face suspension of their membership.”
How exactly does a golfer’s language level correlate to their ability to beat par? It doesn’t. But according to Mindy Moore, the LPGA’s senior vice-president of professional development and member services, low-level English language skills impede a golfer’s ability to communicate with “our core audiences throughout their careers.”
It seems that a golfer’s ability to pontificate on their sport has become more important than their ability to play the game they love. But don’t fret: it’s not all bad news. Non-English speaking golfers are being set up with language lessons and have two whole years to learn English. Bear in mind that after such lessons are complete, they will be expected to speak with fans, sponsors and media about a sport for which most native English speakers haven’t mastered the lingo.
Many of my family members are exceptional golfers, some of whom could easily have their language skills called into question (especially after a few “pops” in the clubhouse). I can also count on both hands and feet the number of people I know who have been trying to master the French language for most of their life with little luck. If this communications policy sticks, it will be interesting to see how drastically the LPGA’s member roster has changed come 2010.
I see that the dictatorial imperative that “everyone must learn English” now extends to golf.
At least the Beijing Olympics appointed an Esperanto translator and CRI broadcast daily, about the Games, in this language.
You can see detail at http://esperanto.cri.cn