The EuroCup 2016 marks the gathering of 24 nations in France to compete in the prestigious tournament. The 15th edition of the tournament is the largest European soccer (football) tournament to date, as 21 official languages are being represented this summer. So how do 24 teams from 24 countries with 21 official languages communicate at Euro 2016? Translation and Interpreting services will be a must.
EuroCup 2016 | Interpreting Services Play a Role
The organizers of international events like EuroCup 2016 must make accommodations for all players, media, and fans involved. The games are expected to be aired in over 150 countries, making collaboration between announcers, cameramen, producers, and organizers essential to the success of the tournament. This requires a substantial need for interpretation and translation services. Thousands of professional interpreters are hired by UEFA to minimize any possible miscommunication. UEFA will also be accepting multilingual volunteers to assist spectators before, during and after the games. Remote interpreting services will be especially important at pre and post-match press conferences – there are forecasted to be 102 post-match conferences alone, coupled with 51 post-match interviews. All of these will require some form of language interpretation.
EuroCup 2016 | Communicating On and Off the Field
A professional interpreter can surely assist players in pre and post-game interviews, but what happens when a player needs to say something on the field? Communication can be tough when you have, for example, Italy facing Turkey with a German referee. After all, it would be impossible to have an Italian interpreter, Turkish interpreter, and German interpreter all sitting in on an ongoing soccer game. The best players radiate their emotions through body language. Most soccer players master the art of body language by the time they reach the professional level. Aside from players, the Euro cup will draw a large crowd of tourists from all across the world. Standard interpretation services and translation services will be required for everything from marketing materials to potential language dubbing and translating subtitles for matches, to even so-called “cultural interpreters”. Law officials from Northern Ireland are expected to travel to France to ensure that excited fans respect the rules of French society (although as of late Irish fans have been extremely warm, singing to law officials and babies, fixing dents in cars). There have been a few clashes, namely between the English and the Russian fans; however, law enforcement is doing its best to create a welcoming atmosphere in such a global environment.
Chanting Crowds
Speaking of large crowds of tourists – every team has a strong and loyal following. Every fan base also has strong traditions such as chants and songs that will require their own translation. The prevailing chant to be heard will naturally be “Allez Les Bleus!” from the French, but spectators can expect to hear everything from “Come on you boys in green” from the Irish to “Die Nummer eins der Welt sind wir” from the Germans. If you want to keep up with all that hype, you’re going to need to have some interpreting and translating going on.
And the Winner Is…
Regardless of who wins the soccer competition, the French economy will still benefit from a surge in their tourism industry. At least 1.5 million people from about 180 countries are expected to travel to France to attend the summer games. The French government has invested 1.6 billion euro in the renovation of ten soccer stadiums. Visitors that are comfortable speaking French as a second language will of course enjoy the benefit of speaking the native language in a country where language is also a source of national pride.
21 Official Languages of EuroCup 2016
Portuguese Italian
Welsh | Spanish | Irish | Icelandic | English | Albanian |
Ukrainian | Slovak | Hungarian | Czech | ||
Turkish | Russian | Polish | German | Croatian | |
Swedish | Romanian | French | Dutch |
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