World Updates - Page 7

I'll have to third the comments of hodie & OGBS:  it was NOT just the Americans wishing for translations.  It was people from all over the world.

I drove 500 miles EACH WAY to see this competition.  I paid for a hotel room for 4 nights, used up my vacation time from work, paid for a rental van because I couldn't afford to board my dogs and had to bring them, paid for LOTS of gasoline and tried to save money by packing most of my own food; I PAID for admission to this event and PAID for a catalog.   That's a lot of very hard-earned cash.

Why?  So I could LEARN.  Because it was a chance to see the best in the WORLD compete. AND because it was a chance to learn what presumably some of the best judges in the world thought and how they scored.   The critiques do help.  If they don't, why do them?

The learning opportunity was definitely restricted & limited by the lack of translation.  I guess the officials are saying well, we didn't do it for you, we did this for....what?  who?  the competitors?  ok, but you know perfectly well most of them didn't understand the critiques either.  So who'd you do this show for?  The German team?  German-speaking people only?

A great learning, a great educational opportunity was thrown away, and you simply do.not.care.  Sadly, this will be remembered the next time you come asking for donations to put on one of these shows.  "Give us money, lots of money, but this is for US, not for you rag-tag non-German speakers.  Don't you bother to come, but do send us money so WE can have a great time."

And there'd better not be one comment ANYWHERE in the next year from the United Schutzhund Clubs of America about "growing the sport."  Because USA just proved it doesn't give a hoot about education "for the German Shepherd Dog."  One of the comments I heard in the stands was that this was MEANT to be an "exclusive" event and the organizers had no interest at all in any spectators.  

zdog wrote:  <<Regardless, don't let this one thing overshadow a great event with great dogs and handlers.>>

Good point, and it WAS fun and otherwise the organization was BEAUTIFUL.  The rapid changes between Phases B & C each time were great.  The venue was wonderful.  Everything besides the critiques was fantastic and I don't hesitate to say so.

The dogs & handlers were so fun to watch, the international flavor of the crowd was super.  I know the days were long - but this show comes to the USA what? once every FIFTEEN YEARS?  Yeah, I would've put in the extra time for English critiques once every 15 years.

Excellent post Tess and one which mirrors what all of us have been saying above. Some want to "kill the messengers" and that is plain wrong.

I speak German fluently, but this was so incomprehensible to not provide for those many who do not that it is simply unbelievable. One ALWAYS translates, at the very least, into the host language.

And I agree 100% about the organization saying they want to promote when they actually do little to do so. USA does, in fact, about all they can to keep it a good ole' boys club. But they ask all us fools to keep paying.

USA asked us all for money. Many of us gave only to find that little publicity was done for the event as well.  Even most of the teams had liasons who could not speak a word of their language. How difficult would it have been to line up people who could speak those languages?

For those who did come, including the participants who deserved to UNDERSTAND their scores, not being able to hear critiques is tantamount to going to the symphony and having to sit outside and watch a television of the concert when the sound is turned off.

I also heard the attendance was not what it should or could have been, so I am waiting to see how and when we are all approached to pay for this...again.

What is done is done, but it should be a lesson for the next such event. I have heard from some participants that they will not attend again in the US for this very reason. It is a lot of time, trouble, effort and money to come thousands of miles and not understand why one lost what points.......

I thought it was a very well organized event.  I don't think they could have done anything differently to speed up the flow of dogs onto and off the field.  I've never seen a separate long down judge used before, and I thought it was great.

I was impressed by the use of the big scoreboard at the stadium to list the dog that was on the field at the time, and also post the score.  One thing I would have liked to have seen is to use that same scoreboard during the critique...at the very least, post each exercise in English with the rating.  For instance, "heeling, very good.  sit in motion, insufficient.  down in motion, excellent," etc.  Sort of an abbreviated closed captioning.  Complete closed captioning could have been accomplished without much problem after the initial setup, but I'm not asking for much.  At least with an abbreviated version, the spectators would have a better idea of where the competitor might have lost points.

Or another idea would have been those headphones like at the U.N.  I would have paid good money to rent a set of headphones  to hear an English translation.

oooh, headphones:  good one!  Little portable ones like in museums, and you'd have to rent it with a credit card so if you stole it you'd be charged a lot of money.  Then the critiques could be simultaneous in judge's language and host country language.

Another positive thing: the listing in the catalog of both sire and dam for every entrant was great.  SO helpful.  I really loved that.

As i said before the event began that the organisers would put on a great event, and looking at the facilities they had arranged, goes to show that they had got it right, and it seems they did, but for the mistake of not having a translator on hand, at least one who could put it into english language

I have seen this happen before, and the judge spoke and the translator replied to the crowd and handler in the Dutch language replying as the judge relayed it to her, it took hardly any time at all to do this

This could have been done at this event without it taking too much longer in time

But it is now over and done with, but i hope the next event in 2009 can learn by it and not make the same mistake

Tessj10

I bet you had a great time dispite the long drive and expense, wish i could have been there, but perhaps if some of you guys get over for the German event next year we can meet up for a beer and say hello

Steve

Yes, Steve, I LOVED it.  The translation issue was the ONLY thing I didn't like.  I thought the ballpark venue was super, having shuttle buses to tracking was great, and of course the dogs and the people were FANTASTIC.  I learned a lot and as I said on another thread, some of the performances were inspirational:  saw a number of HAPPY, HAPPY working dogs in obedience (they always seem to be having fun in protection) and I saw a lot to aspire to in my own training.

I'm certainly glad I went.  I'd made my hotel reservation back in January and had been looking forward to this all year.

I was there, and thought it was great, i had alot of fun and seen alot of cool people and watched alot of nice dogs and good handling,  I feel very Blessed to have been able to attend such an event!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS TO ALL THE TEAMS.

WAY TO GO DADDY-0   AND  NIKE

I have been to the last 5 World Championships (WUSV) and have never seen an interpreter.  In Denmark, Doug Deacon did his critiques in English; in France, Pierre did his critiques in English and so on and so on.  Hopefully, you see the pattern.  I do not speak German and struggled to understand the critiques as well but this did not detract from my enjoyment of an outstanding event.  In all the WSUV events I have been to, I have never heard the host country (or anyone else) complain about the crtiques.  Leave it to the Americans!

Uh, Schutzhund Fan, you just bashed the Americans for complaining that the critiques in the USA weren't in English, while you tell us they were in English in both Denmark and France.

And I was there, and I'm telling you the Americans weren't the only ones complaining, so "Leave it to the Americans!" is unfair and simply NOT TRUE.  There were MANY people from many lands there and English was a very common 2nd language for them; English was a logical choice for a translation language so that not only the spectators, but the COMPETITORS could understand their critiques.

And if the World Championship was in France, I would hope that there would indeed, as a courtesy to the host country, be a French translator there.