1. Is Football (Soccer) a Linguistic & Cultural
'Mirror'?
This article was originally published on the Acclaro blog.
Category: Culture, "Spot" on Language
The following post is part of the Acclaro blog series on The 2010 FIFA World Cup taking place in
South Africa from June 11 to July 11. We're covering all sorts of linguistic and cultural
phenonema that arise as 32 countries send their teams to the international tournament to
compete for glory.
It may seem obvious to state that FIFA‟s World Cup is a multicultural
celebration, as crowds from 32 different countries flock to fill South
African stadiums, chanting in more than 10 languages.
This event, for a linguist, is a unique opportunity to see how culture
and language dovetail. Football, in a way, can serve as a mirror for
language and culture.
One characteristic common to all languages is arbitrariness. That is, language is arbitrary per
se, as there are no links between the codes of language and the object they refer to; there is no
natural relationship between a word and its meaning. We just connect certain concepts to
certain words because our culture has passed down the meaning from generation to generation.
For example, because of this arbitrariness, we might each believe that dogs express themselves
by saying “guau” in Spanish, “woof” in English, “Wau Wau” in German, and “ouah ouah” in
French.
Getting back to football... the sport "speaks" its own language, with its own cultural variants.
For instance, why do so many football English idioms relate to food, such as “to do a banana
kick”, “a banana shot”, or “to nutmeg a defender”? A literal translation of this last expression
into Spanish would make no sense at all, and keep the audience on tenterhooks.
Moreover, the correct translation of “to nutmeg a defender” would be tirar un caño — which
literally translates as “to throw a pipe.” Speaking of pipes, it remains a mystery why so many
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2. football Spanish idioms relate to building. Una pared (literally, “a wall”) meaning a one-two,
and clavarla en el ángulo (literally “to pound a nail at the angle of the goal”), are just a few.
What is the rationale behind this? Is there any other explanation, other than arbitrariness?
For this very reason, translators need to master not only languages but also culture. Here's
another example: To correctly translate the Dutch expression Advocaatwissel, a translator
needs to be familiar enough with Dutch football history to know the story of Dick Advocaat, the
Dutch coach who took football star Arjen Robben out of the EC game against the Czech Republic
in 2004 — even though the Netherlands was only up 2-1! Advocaat's decision to take out his
star player turned sour when the Dutch ended up losing the match; they now use the
term Advocaatwissel to describe a bad subbing decision.
This is what sets professional translators apart — the ability to accurately convey a message
across cultures, and the skill to adapt and shape the message so that it is understood in the
target language. And there you have it! Language and culture dovetail in such a way that no
machine or system can yet comprehend, despite advances in machine translation technology.
***
Want to know more about the convergence of languages and cultures in South Africa during this
event? Read our article, Talking FIFA World Cup 2010, from the Acclaro Spring Newsletter.
And subscribe to this blog to receive all of the latest updates in the series!
About Acclaro: Acclaro is an international translation and localization company that
helps the world‟s leading brands succeed across cultures. We translate websites,
marketing campaigns, documents and software to give clients an authentic voice in
key language markets.
North America: 1-866-468-5106 Worldwide: +1-914-468-0222
www.acclaro.com sales@acclaro.com
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