Friends All Over
Did you hear about Luis Soto? He is a Peruvian sports announcer that’s broadcasts to native speakers of Quechua. According to the New York Times June 21st article:
Quechua is an oral tradition that is written in Spanish transliteration and varies in different parts of the country and the continent. Soto, like most Quechua speakers, learned the language at home, not in a formal school setting. His soccer dictionary reflects only his experience and regional interpretation. Language experts from other parts of Peru, for example, say the words “ruyruku” and “haytana” have also been used to refer to a soccer ball.
Soto has compiled a “soccer dictionary” of about 500 words since there are no words for the game of soccer. Instead of the typical metaphors and current day phrases used to describe plays, Soto uses terminology appropriate for his listening crowd. The article goes on:
Soto captures the action on the field with references closer to his home in Cusco, Peru. When a midfielder controls the ball and neutralizes attacks, he is hoeing the land. When a player kicks the ball with power, he has eaten a lot of quinoa. And when Edison Flores, one of Peru’s stars, scored an important goal against Ecuador to help the team qualify for the World Cup in Russia, he built roads where there were only narrow walking paths.
This is a great big wonderful world full of interesting people and rich cultures. I wish we were doing more celebrating than dividing.
The Boy Scout is a HUGE soccer fan so I have taken in a bit of my first World Cup and found it to be enjoyable. Next time I may even have a favorite team, although I found myself rooting for Mexico. I may take Monday morning off to see what happens between them and the Brazilians.
Quechua is an oral tradition that is written in Spanish transliteration and varies in different parts of the country and the continent. Soto, like most Quechua speakers, learned the language at home, not in a formal school setting. His soccer dictionary reflects only his experience and regional interpretation. Language experts from other parts of Peru, for example, say the words “ruyruku” and “haytana” have also been used to refer to a soccer ball.
Soto has compiled a “soccer dictionary” of about 500 words since there are no words for the game of soccer. Instead of the typical metaphors and current day phrases used to describe plays, Soto uses terminology appropriate for his listening crowd. The article goes on:
Soto captures the action on the field with references closer to his home in Cusco, Peru. When a midfielder controls the ball and neutralizes attacks, he is hoeing the land. When a player kicks the ball with power, he has eaten a lot of quinoa. And when Edison Flores, one of Peru’s stars, scored an important goal against Ecuador to help the team qualify for the World Cup in Russia, he built roads where there were only narrow walking paths.
This is a great big wonderful world full of interesting people and rich cultures. I wish we were doing more celebrating than dividing.
The Boy Scout is a HUGE soccer fan so I have taken in a bit of my first World Cup and found it to be enjoyable. Next time I may even have a favorite team, although I found myself rooting for Mexico. I may take Monday morning off to see what happens between them and the Brazilians.
That seems really cool. I read about how the majority of languages now spoken on the planet are dying off and I understand why, but it's sad. Yeah, I've never seen a downside to diversity.
ReplyDeleteSports can help bring people together, it's true. Here in Canada, we have a Punjabi broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada. It's popular even among non-Punjabi speakers just for the novelty of hearing the play-by-play in a language other than English or French.
ReplyDeleteIt is great how so many people all over the world watch soccer. Sport is a unifier.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story about Soto! Clever man!
I am not watching the games, but I am rooting for the teams in which my company has representatives, like mexico and belgium and brazil.
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with this but it's really interesting. And yes, more uniting and sharing and less dividing.
ReplyDelete