The World Cup atmosphere is back and Eko’s Traduções, which is always breaking language barriers, could not stay out of this event. That’s why we started the Eko’s in the World Cup session. Here we’re going to tell you curiosities about the countries participating in the World Cup 2022, always bringing information about their currency, typical food, a promising soccer player and, mainly, the language spoken in the country, the writing system and pronunciation of the country name in its native language. Did you know that Germans call Germany Deutschland? Or that the Japanese call Japan 日本 (Nihon)? These and other curiosities you’re going to learn here with us, a reference company in translation. So, let’s start with the host country, Qatar.
QATAR
- Name as written in its native language: قطر (Ka’tah or Ka’tar)
- Capital: Doha
- Currency: Qatari riyal (BRL 1.42 – exchange rate on 09/20/2022)
- Main soccer player: Almoez Ali
- Typical dish: Saloona
Curiosities
The World Cup host country, Qatar, has an area of 11,437 km², which is the same area as less than half of the Brazilian state of Sergipe. This is the first time it will host a World Cup and is also the first time its national soccer team will compete in the tournament. The country became famous in the international scene thanks to oil exploration and, consequently, evolved exponentially, being among the main energy powers in the world today.
Its native tongue is Arabic, the official language of 26 countries, and there are two forms of language: classical Arabic and informal Arabic. Classical Arabic comes from the oral reading tradition of pre-Islamic peoples and this is the language used to recite the Quran, whereas colloquial Arabic is used in common interactions. Arabic is written from right to left, and the system called Abjad only has consonants, and the reader must infer the right vowel, leaving the Arabic language open to interpretations when translated. A challenge that our fluent translators can overcome.
Speaking of Qatari cuisine, one of their typical dishes is Saloona, a vegetable soup made with potatoes, carrots, eggplants, and tomatoes, which is usually served with chicken or beef, but there are also vegetarian options.
Qatar’s key player is the striker Almoez Ali who, curiously, was born in Sudan to a Qatari mother. This was also subject of debate in 2019, in the Asian Cup, when the national United Arab Emirates team lost to Qatar and lodged an appeal with FIFA, asking for the match to be annulled. The appeal was denied and Almoez Ali finished the tournament as top scorer, with 9 goals, and Qatar was the champion. Another curiosity is that Almoez Ali was chosen to be the Legend card of his team in the World Cup album, which made him well known here.
This was the first country of the World Cup, Qatar. If you liked this, follow us on our social media (Instagram: @ekostraducoes / LinkedIn: ekostraducoes) and come back tomorrow, because we will be talking about Ecuador.
