My country is hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup and it’s happening pretty soon. Kickoff is June 11. So, I decided to create a blog post with some soccer and South African related terminology in Chinese and English and for healthy measure my other native tongue, Afrikaans, which also spoken widely in South Africa.

1) Soccer:

Mandarin: 足球 (zúqiú)

Afrikaans: Sokker

2) World Cup:

Mandarin: 世界杯 (shìjièbēi)

Afrikaans: Wêreldbeker

3) Score A Goal:

Mandarin: 进球 (jìnqiú)

Afrikaans: Teken ‘n doel aan.

4) Referee:

Mandarin: 裁判员 (cáipànyuán)

Afrikaans: Skeidsregter

5) Spectators:

Mandarin: 观众 (guānzhòng)

Afrikaans: Toeskouers

6) South Africa

Mandarin: 南非 (nánfēi)

Afrikaans: Suid-Afrika

7) Cape Town

Mandarin: 开普敦 (kāipǔdūn)

Afrikaans: Kaapstad

8) Johannesburg

Mandarin: 约翰内斯堡 (yuēhànnèisībǎo)

Afrikaans: Johannesburg

9) Table Mountain

Mandarin: 桌山 (zhuō shān)

Afrikaans: Tafelberg

10) Stadium

Mandarin: 球场 (qiúchǎng)

Afrikaans: Stadion

11) Nelson Mandela

Mandarin: 曼德拉 (màndélā)

I’m so excited for the World Cup! I might not be a football fanatic, but I can’t wait to see all kinds of people touring our country.