Found in Translation

Translating Trash Talk at the World Cup

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More than a quarter of a million foreign visitors descended upon South Africa
for the 2010 World Cup—including fans, referees, members of the media, and
teams from thirty-two countries speaking seventeen different languages. As
with most international sporting events, the World Cup always presents plenty
of multilingual communication challenges.
The organizers went to great lengths to arrange for interpreters for all the
languages spoken by the visiting teams. In spite of these efforts, some
interpreting snafus still took place. One of the most embarrassing translation-
related moments was when FIFA provided an interpreter for a press conference
with the team from Slovenia. There was just one problem—the interpreter
spoke Slovak, which is spoken in Slovakia, not Slovenia. Teams from both
countries were at the tournament, accounting in part for the mix-up. The
Slovenes didn’t find it very funny. (Apparently, this wasn’t the first time the
Slovenian team had been given a Slovak interpreter by mistake.)
Even when the languages are matched up correctly, the interpreter ’s job is
never easy, with both fans and competitors hanging onto every word as
anticipation builds before a match. When Slovene midfielder Andrej Komac
said, “Gremo na zmago” (We are going for the win), his interpreter rendered it
in a slightly different way, saying, “We are going to win.” Because the
interpreter ’s rendition was more definitive, his opponents thought Komac was
trash-talking.
Komac wasn’t the only victim of a mistranslation during the South African
World Cup. Germany’s coach Joachim Löw said: “Wir wollen die Gegner
spielerisch in Verlegenheit bringen” (We want to outplay our opponents).
Professional translations from German into English are not exactly hard to
come by, but Löw’s quote was mistranslated and published in the British media
as saying that he wanted his team to “humiliate” and “embarrass” their
opponents. (Of course, this might very well have been a reflection on the
infamous British tabloid media rather than the translators.)
Even though Komac and Löw were not speaking ill of their competitors, it’s
common for players to curse during a game. As any soccer fan knows,
referees can eject players for using obscene language. There were reports in
the media that the referees in South Africa were given lists of curse words to
memorize in all seventeen languages spoken by players at the World Cup. FIFA
denied the reports, but some referees who speak English as a second language
went on record to say that they had to spend some time getting familiar with the
differences between British and American swear words.
Swear words and trash talk are not the only high-risk areas of translation at
a sporting event. When a reporter asked Diego Maradona a question about his

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affectionate habit of kissing and hugging his team members, Maradona took it
to mean that the reporter was insinuating that he was homosexual. He began to
defend himself, saying, “I like women,” and went on to describe his
girlfriend’s appearance. As often happens, the interpreter was blamed for the
confusion, even though the reporter ’s question was rendered correctly to
Maradona.
A lot of the translation work that took place for the World Cup in South
Africa never made it in front of the camera crews—it happened well before the
media arrived. Everything from tourist brochures, phrase books,
advertisements, and South African–language booklets had to be translated. A
multilingual country, South Africa has eleven official languages of its own—
Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga,
Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu—so many documents and written materials were
translated not only into the languages of the participating teams but into the
official tongues as well.
Signage and way-finding materials had to be translated too. These items are
critical to help the international players, organizers, and spectators get to the
right locations. The signs were not only multilingual but multicultural. One
sign showed a list of prohibited items that could not be brought into the
stadium. As with stadiums in most countries, the sign depicted things like
motorcycle helmets and umbrellas. But as a clear reminder that the event was
taking place in South Africa, the sign also showed pictures of Zulu shields and
spears.