Alhaji Righteous De Ambitious: World Cup 2010 Blog: How to Say “World Cup” in 36 Languages

Friday, March 5, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: How to Say “World Cup” in 36 Languages

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 06:00 PM PST

The World Cup is a global event. Every nation on earth watches, and talks about. Even if your nation isn’t one of the lucky 32 that gets to compete, you’re still oddly involved (speaking from personal experience there, unfortunately). Even non-football fans watch. Which is insane when you think about it.

But not everyone speaks English, so not everyone calls this tournament the World Cup. In French it’s the Coupe du Monde. In German the Weltmeisterschaft. In Spanish the ~~Copa do Mundo~~ La Copa Mundial and in Italian ~~the Coppa del Mondo~~ Il Mondiale. And in Hindi it’s विश्व कप, which I have no idea how to pronounce.

Below is a list of every translation I could find, from Afrikaans to Hebrew to Welsh…

Afrikaans: Wêreldbeker
Arabic: كأس العالم
Belarusian: Кубак свету
Bulgarian: Световно първенство
Catalan: Copa del Món
Chinese: 世界杯
Czech: Světový pohár
Finnish: Maailmancup
French: Coupe du Monde
Galician: Campionato do Mundo
German: Weltmeisterschaft
Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο
Hebrew: גביע העולם
Hindi: विश्व कप
Hungarian: Világ Kupa
Icelandic: Heimsmeistarakeppnin
Indonesian: Piala Dunia
Irish: Corn an Domhain
Italian: ~~Coppa del Mondo~~ Il Mondiale
Japanese: W杯
Korean: 세계 축구
Lithuanian: Pasaulio čempionatas
Malay: Piala Dunia
Maltese: Tazza tad-Dinja
Persian: جام جهانی
Portuguese: Copa do Mundo
Romanian: Cupa Mondială
Russian: Кубок мира
Serbian: Светско првенство
Slovakian: Svetový pohár
Spanish: ~~Copa do Mundo~~ La Copa Mundial
Swedish: Världscupen (aka VM)
Thai: ฟุตบอลโลก
Turkish: Dünya Kupası
Ukrainian: Кубок світу
Vietnamese: Cúp bóng đá thế giới
Welsh: Cwpan y Byd

Since this list was mostly put together using Google Translate and internet forums, it’s very very possible that some of the above is incorrect. Maybe some of the above are the words “World” and “Cup” correctly translated, but the tournament is actually called something else in that language.

So any corrections or additions are welcomed in the comments. Phonetic pronunciations for the more unfamiliar looking languages also welcome.