Using the Common European Framework of Reference for evaluating language volunteers for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

This paper presents the results of a small-scale study on the use of a modified version of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) for the self-assessment and placement of language services volunteers at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. While many of the 25,000 volunteers working at the Games used more than one language in their role, a group of about two hundred language volunteers provided highly specialized consecutive interpretation services to athletes from the eighty-eight countries represented. Because the Games are a highly charged and fastmoving environment, we needed a practical and inexpensive way to select from the 5000
applicants to the International Client Services department where the interpreters were located. The self-assessment grid of the CEFR was sent to 1200 applicants who had indicated a high level of fluency in one or more of the thirteen languages needed by the international sport federations. This initial indication of language competence was contained in the volunteer application form via a four-point scale (basic, conversational, fluent, mother tongue).