Timing Graphics

[Mark]

Hopefully this will be an easy question :p

The timing graphics during Grand Prix, most of it is language neutral, but I'd assumed that the parts of it written in English would be shown in a different language depending on the country of broadcast, e.g. in France you'd see "Tour" instead of "Lap".

Is this the case?

[markabilly]

actually all i see is something like "30/70" at the top

then a column to the side (sometimes a row) of times for racers using english initals, such
MSC 2.08.78 2.09.55
-2.78 -1.78


(obviously meaning a laptime, and the other meaning some difference)

But i wonder if they use chinese characters for china, India symbols for India)

[Mark]

actually all i see is something like "30/70" at the top

then a column to the side (sometimes a row) of times for racers using english initals, such
MSC 2.08.78 2.09.55
-2.78 -1.78


(obviously meaning a laptime, and the other meaning some difference)

But i wonder if they use chinese characters for china, India symbols for India)

Lap is probably a bad example but it's the only thing I knew how to say in French :p
Yes for the most part use of language is avoided. But there are places such as "WINNER" where you'd expect a translation..

[CaptainRaiden]

Simple answer: Nope. In the last 13 years, I've seen the F1 broadcast in India and in about 3 places in Europe, and it's exactly the same. I guess it's a default feed that all these countries get from the Formula 1 administration, and they just add their commentary. Even the graphics at the start, the colors racing with F1 sounds, going onto become "Formula 1" is the same.

Also, on the Indian channel, they have a 45 minute build-up program before the race called Raceday, very similar to the BBC one, where they put their custom animation, graphics etc. Apart from that, everything else is exactly the same.

[inimitablestoo]

A shame, really. I didn't know much French before I started learning it at school but I knew what "tours de la fin" meant ;)

[CaptainRaiden]

Also, I forgot to add, they even flash the messages from race control like "Incident involving cars # and # will be investigated after the race" in English in non-English speaking countries, so it's the commentators' job to translate that and the team radio messages to the general public.

[ioan]

As far as I remember in France it says 'lap' too, they don't bother to translate any of the official messages.

[bumble1290]

In Malaysia and Indonesia all on screen graphics are shown in English.

[woody2goody]

I suppose it's only like the messages on the screen in the Tour de France, such as the 'peleton' and 'tete de la course'. That's in French no matter what country the broadcast is in.

I watched the '06 Hungarian GP (great race :) ) in Greece, and they were showing the ITV feed, however that's probably more to do with the semi-illegal satellite feeds they were probably receiving :p

[call_me_andrew]

There is that "radio message" graphic, but I think the bigger problem is people who do not understand the English convorsation that comes with the graphic.

Of course there was that one gem where the Torro Rosso engineers thought they were talking to Liuzzi and Scott Speed replied, "I don't speak Itallian!"

[Mark]

I suppose it's only like the messages on the screen in the Tour de France, such as the 'peleton' and 'tete de la course'. That's in French no matter what country the broadcast is in.


Yes but that just adds to the flavour of a French event. Whereas F1 is a World championship.

So it seems there are no translations, I thought F1 would have been a bit cleverer than that!
It's not too hard to do after all.


I seem to recall sometime in the dim and distant past seeing French graphics during a French GP (must have been in the 80's at the latest), or did I imagine it?!

[Copse]

So it seems there are no translations, I thought F1 would have been a bit cleverer than that!
It's not too hard to do after all.


It would be absolutely mad to delay updates and information in order to translate them first. The ones that are standard and can be translated beforehand are so common and simple that it barely has a point.

And if the stewards issue a message saying "Drive through for car ## for not keeping within the X car length distance behind the safety car." it would be madness to make viewers have to wait for a translator to notice, understand, translate and publish. By then he'd be in and out of the pits. Translations add delays, therefore they should be avoided.

OTOH, it bugs me seriously that they just drop the umlaut on Hülkenberg's name in an international championship. It just makes people mispronounce it.

[Mark]

Not really. The standard graphics can have translations ahead of time. There can also be standard templates for 'Car x is under investigation' and 'Drivenl through penalty for car x'. Having to display a message which is could not be pre loaded in advance is a very unusual occurence.

[Drew]

From what I remember of living abroad and desperately trying to find bars to watch F1 in, all the graphics are the same and they get the same radio feeds too. I assume that the host broadcaster / F1 / whoever create the whole live feed and then BBC and other broadcasters can briefly switch to their reporter in the pits or anyother person.

[Aikidoka]

From what I understand, the visuals you see from the moment the F1 whooshy logo plays is the FOM World Feed - BBC, ITV, RTE, SKY etc. simply rebroadcast that (after paying Bernie a substantial amount for the rights to do so). The graphics are added by the FOM World Feed team, so would naturally not be translated - why would Bernie spend any more money than he needs to.

I would imagine that there is some clause that says that the broadcaster cannot interfere with the on-screen visuals for advertising reasons, so they couldn't plaster over the FOM "Final Lap" flash or "Winner" with the local translation.

For the record, I watched the German GP in Germany (not at the circuit, I just happened to be on holiday there while it was on) and they also had all the text in English.

[555-04Q2]

Hopefully this will be an easy question :p

The timing graphics during Grand Prix, most of it is language neutral, but I'd assumed that the parts of it written in English would be shown in a different language depending on the country of broadcast, e.g. in France you'd see "Tour" instead of "Lap".

Is this the case?

No, even when I watched a race while staying in China it was all in English.

[Bezza]

It is just like airline traffic / airline pilots - they must all be fluent in English, it is now a universal language. almost everywhere they learn it - so it makes sense for English to be the default language for F1 graphics and radio conversations.

[nigelred5]

yeah, but WHICH English??? ;)

[AndyL]

yeah, but WHICH English??? ;)

It always makes me laugh when I hear British 125cc motorcycle GP rider Bradley Smith talking to his team, in the default language of the 125GP paddock - English with a Spanish accent!