When it comes to languages, English is king. It’s the third most spoken language around the world – with an estimated 372 million speakers and it’s frequently designated as a ‘world language’ or the ‘lingua franca’ of the modern era. Interpreting professionals often find they’re using it as a target or source language. When it comes to sports, Soccer undeniably rules the globe. Even if it’s not the number one spectator sport in America (it’s more like number three), it certainly is in many, many other countries. Its global popularity comes from a few factors, including the fact that it’s a cheap sport to play. This allows many ‘developing’ nations to participate and excel in it, whereas the cost barriers to sports like crew and polo are too high. Soccer is also one of the safer sports to play out of the major spectator sports. This puts parents at ease and attracts a high number of players from a young age, thus translating into a bigger pool of players to become professionals later on. Or just more fans who will later become spectators. So it’s no surprise that the anthem for the World Cup is a huge deal. Rarely does a song get that much attention on such a global level! Read on for more about the World Cup anthem.
Interpreting Hype and Excitement
The song chosen for the World Cup anthem will be used to hype up crowds before matches and events. It’s also used for World Cup-associated advertisements—both by FIFA itself, and other companies who partner with them during the June-July tournament. Post tournament, it will be a souvenir of sorts for fans, coaches, and players. Perhaps most importantly, though, the World Cup anthem is a representation of the spirit of the games. It’s one song that fans around the world can sing together, thus translating a love of the game into something everyone can enjoy and understand—no matter whether they speak Russian, Chinese, German, etc.
What Language is the World Cup Anthem in?
As mentioned before, English is the most widely-spoken language in the world. For this reason, the song used for the World Cup anthem is usually at least partially in English so interpreting services and translation services are needed less. Often the songs are at least partially in Spanish, too. This is to avoid a need for Spanish interpreting and Spanish translation services for the overwhelming portion of Spanish-speaking fans. For those who don’t speak English or Spanish, there are often cover versions of the World Cup Anthem done in other languages. These are done both by the original artists and other artists.
What’s This Year’s Song?
This year it was announced that a song by Jason Derulo, an American (Floridian, specifically) will be the anthem. It will be Derulo’s ‘Colors’. It has the usual upbeat, positive sound the World Cup anthem often does. It’s also got a distinctly international sound to it, with musical influence from Southeast Asia, Africa, and more. Remixes have already been done by artists from around the world, including South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Uganda.
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