Italian language course: Crossing the language barrier

Sunday, June 11th, 2006


Berlin, June 11 (DPA) Ghana’s Sammy Kuffour is keen not only to take three points from his AS Roma teammates in Monday’s Group E clash against Italy, he is also hoping to make some serious money after having placed several bets.

World Cup referees need not worry that they will not be able to communicate with each other and players. They have received a six-language football dictionary. They will find the German translation for dive (Schwalbe), or the Italian word for free kick (calcio di punizione).

German fans are also being helped by the language departments of high schools in the World Cup venues. Phrases like: ‘Pass the ball’ or ‘dream goal’ feature in 15 different languages, amongst them Arabic, Japanese and Czech.