tips on sports translation for Global Sports Fans

Colleen Dempsey, Business Development Specialist

Sports are so much more than competing now. They involve cultivating and capturing a fan base, branding, marketing and creating a memorable game day experience. And sports are now more globally inclusive than ever.

Case in point: more than 17,000 international athletes are competing and studying at NCAA institutions.  And with international competitions like the World Cup and Olympics growing in reach and audience, thanks to digital streaming and the advent of niche sports networks, sports fans from across the globe now have access to professional athletes competing out of their native country.

To cater to a new and growing base of fans, sports organizations are producing more content to engage with fans directly on social media, such as videos and graphics. Did you know the best way to engage your fan base is by making sure content has been translated by a native speaker and localized? It’s not as simple as word for word translation as some phrases and ideas do not translate culturally.

Here are 3 tips from the LinguaLinx language experts to help you stay on your game when it comes to sports translation.

• Post-game communication: On-field interviews and press conferences are not planned. People often ask: Why do some international athletes competing in the United States, who can speak English in less formal settings, still use interpreters in these settings? The answer is simple: They want to understand and be understood without worrying that something could get lost in translation.

Make interpreters readily available and outsource to language experts any written Q&A interviews with your athletes to ensure they stay on message and communicate their answers clearly and in the right context.

• International recruitment: For college departments that take pride in recruiting international students, it’s important to make recruiting materials available in multiple languages. Even if the student-athlete is fluent in English, the gesture goes a long way, and it could be helpful for guardians who are trying to help with the college search process. 

• Sporting events: If you are hosting a sporting event such as tournament that will feature international teams, make sure your signage and reference materials are properly translated. Machine translations do not take context into account and your materials will sound inauthentic and could make you sound uneducated. To be truly inclusive, you have to speak in a language that crosses all borders and unites in a common theme that all participating athletes can make a connection with and easily understand.

 For help creating winning sports translations, our experts can help you get your game on!

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