2010 FIFA World Cup Highlights Broadcast Also in International Sign Language

Posted by NITA Administrator on June 21, 2010

FIFA offers video highlights in International Sign of World Cup matches

Football or soccer: no matter what you call it, every four years global madness erupts over what many fans refer to as “the beautiful game” when the World Cup Championship rolls around. This year’s edition, hosted by South Africa, has already yielded two words that have surged in their daily use: Jabulani, the brand name of the official and specially designed tournament ball (which – according to some – displays a somewhat unpredictable behavior) and vuvuzela, the popular and colorful plastic trumpet with its loud sound producing a characteristic monotonous noise when it is “played” by the thousands of spectators present in the stadiums (resulting in a drone which in turn gives broadcasters and some TV spectators a headache).

Speaking of broadcasting and sound: that takes us to the heart of this article. It is quite remarkable that FIFA, the organization responsible for the Word Cup events, this year also provides video highlights in International Sign of the world championship matches, on its website. As FIFA states in its announcement page:

For the first time, the Official Website of FIFA and the FIFA World Cup is enabling deaf and people with hearing impairments across the globe to follow all 64 matches of world football’s showpiece event even more comprehensively. International Sign, also known as IS, is an international auxiliary language used at international meetings such as the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) Congress and events such as the Deaflympics. The WFD represents approximately 70 million deaf people worldwide, which assists in making sign language available to deaf people, especially regarding matters of education and information.

It could of course be due to the wonderful presentation a few weeks ago by Dr. Edina Jambor of the DHHARC. But whether out of enthusiasm over the World Cup (you did watch that heroic 2-2 come-back of team USA and Maurice Edu’s phantom goal, right?) or the effort itself made by FIFA to also include the deaf and hard of hearing, or for the more pragmatic reason of the global event’s enormous visibility and hence the promotional platform value for sign languages in general, here at NITA we think it is a commendable initiative by FIFA.

And either way, a great opportunity to watch the professional excellence of our language peers at work: score one great goal for signers.

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