Translation News About the World Cup in Qatar

The World Cup 2022 Qatar is the first World Cup event held in a Middle Eastern country, and it’s the second one ever held in Asia. Being so, this World Cup brought some great news to the translation world.

Arabic Became An Official Language

The World Cup is being held in a Middle Eastern country brought some good news for Arabic-speaking football fans and Arabic translators. This year, Arabic became one of the official languages of FIFA. In previous years, FIFA only had four official languages: English, French, German, and Spanish. With the addition of Russian, Portuguese, and Arabic, FIFA will now publish all its documents in English, French, and Spanish, then translate them into German, Arabic, Russian, and Portuguese when deemed necessary. Considering that the other new official languages are spoken in countries that have previously hosted World Cups, I think it’s safe to assume that the 2022 World Cup being awarded to Qatar played a role in this decision.

Sign Language Interpretation at the 2022 World Cup

The 2022 World Cup will be more accessible to the deaf community thanks to sign language interpretation both in International Sign Language and Arabic Sign Language. FIFA partnered up with an Israeli startup company called Sign Now to offer sign language interpretation for deaf football fans. Thanks to this partnership, highlight videos on FIFA’s website now have sign language interpretation for the first time. Israeli’s Sign Now company in contact with FIFA World Cup 2022 — The Daily Moth

Arabic Sign Language interpretation is also available for Arabic football fans thanks to beIN MEDIA GROUP’s initiative to add sign language interpretation to its news coverage related to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Football Translation Fails

Now that football is in the headlines due to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, I would like to touch upon a relevant topic that I find interesting as a translator: translation fails. I believe all football fans have seen some translation fail videos where the interpreter forgets he was supposed to translate into two different languages, translates in a way that can cause misunderstandings, or inadvertently calls a footballer gay.

After all, football is very popular all around the world, and the football clubs are always competing with each other to add the best players to their team, no matter where these players might be from. As a result, football became a multilingual field where translation services are both required and visible. While some people like the Spanish professional football manager Pep Guardiola can speak 5 languages (Catalan, Spanish, English, German, and Italian) so fluently that he can casually start speaking in the wrong language, other managers or football players might not be as gifted in the language department. That is when the sports interpreters step in.

Why Do Translation Fails Happen in Football?

Of course, there are numerous multilingual fields where translation fails and errors are not as common as they are in the football translation field. What is that?

Football Translation Is Very Technical

Football fans who know the ins and outs of football may not believe me when I say this, but football translation is very technical. If a translator is not a die-hard fan of football, or does not study the football terms for a long time, they are sure to eventually come across a term that they are unsure of. To further complicate the matter, the way football is played and the terms that are used for similar phenomena can vary from country to country. For example, an Italian footballer would talk about playing a role, not a position. In this case, a competent football translator would have to be familiar with both the relevant football terms, and what an Italian football manager means when he talks about roles.

Football Interpretation Is Stressful

Let’s face it: big football events like the World Cup are viewed by millions of people, and it is difficult to stay calm when you know that your translation mishaps will be viewed by such a large crowd. Another reason for translation fails might be the prevalence of consecutive interpretation at postgame press conferences. Unlike simultaneous interpretation, the consecutive football interpreters have to wait until the managers and players finish their speeches before they can start working. So, if a manager goes on and on without waiting for the interpreter, the interpreter will have to rely more on their notes and memory, which can cause translation errors.

Footballers Come From Different Backgrounds

Many famous football players do not speak English fluently, and some end up having to speak in English even when they really can’t. Even when people can speak English fluently, the way a German footballer speaks English will be different from the way a Spanish footballer speaks English. Unusual wording or tone can confuse the interpreter and cause misunderstandings or translation fails.

Interpretation Is A Difficult Field

While written translation errors can also have a large impact, most of the translation fails we see in the football world are related to interpretation, not translation. Interpretation is more stressful and difficult compared to translation. You usually only have limited knowledge about what the speakers are going to say, you can’t use a dictionary if you come across a word you don’t know, and you can’t ask for another translator’s help when a sentence proves to be a little too difficult for you. You need long hours of training and have to do a lot of research before each event to make sure you know all the relevant terms that can come up. What’s worse is that you can never know if your research was enough until the end of the event, after people have already heard your translation error.

Football Interpreters Are Very Visible

Personally, I would say that the main reason why we hear so much about football translation fails is not the difficulty of football translation or the incompetence of the football interpreters. It’s just that football interpreters are very visible. They sit next to talented footballers in the postgame press conferences, and they interpret their words for millions of eager fans. Also, as football conferences are more laid-back compared to other large events, footballers tend to address the interpreters directly, sometimes even commenting on their voice.

The combination of these factors makes football fans pay more attention to football interpreters. Unfortunately, this visibility means that their “fails” are more visible, too.