Pretoria - The Department of Arts and Culture has developed a soccer related terminology booklet to ensure that all South Africans are able to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, by being able to use soccer terms in their mother tongue.
The 246 page booklet contains about 348 glossary terms in the country's 11 official languages.
The booklet, which includes the African language equivalents of terms such as "attacking team" and "away game", is now available on the department's website www.dac.gov.za/doc/2010/Soccer_Terminology_2010.pdf
It will also be accessible to all provincial government offices.
"Since South Africa is hosting the FIFA World Cup, the project will promote multilingualism in the field of sports," said the department.
Last year the department, its National Language Service (NLS), the Pan South African Language Board and language specialist from various universities came together to develop the vocabulary of soccer terms.
At the time Hatu Machaba, Director of the Terminology Coordination Section of the NLS at the department said this was a step towards breaking all language barriers in soccer during the World Cup.
