Blogging the WC 2006 from Bosnia
From Bosnia, I am still really at the WC due to the fact that wherever a person is in Europe, the three games will be on televisions at 3, 6, and 9 p.m. Yesterday, for example, I caught a couple of minutes of Spain v. Ukraine at 3 in a sidewalk cafe. Then we watched the second half of Saudi Arabia v. Tunisia for the second game and then at 9 p.m. we watched all of Germany v. Poland. For a while in the second half, Germany couldnt buy a goal, but they finally put one in the back of the net in the 89th minute.
In some ways the sport of soccer is something that unites the world. That is everyone in the world knows the laws of the game, likes to watch it, and acknowledges its importance in the world. Everyone appreciates a beautiful play, a nice goal, a nice but unsuccessful shot on goal, or a nice save by a keeper. It is in some ways a common sport language that is understood world wide.
On the other hand, soccer at the World Cup is an occasion for nationalism. That is because people tend to support their own country when their team is playing. The Brazil v. Croatia game two days ago was a big deal here. Bosnia borders on Croatia and there are Croatian people living in Bosnia. The languages are similar. Brazil, however, is regarded as the home of 'joga bonito', the beautiful game. That is, the Brazilians are master soccer players and Brazil is the home of Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and other soccer magicians.
At the USA v. Czech Republic game, there were many Czech flags and US flags. There were lots of chants and waves. The chants are for teams, the waves are general enthusiasm as far as I could tell.
The referee crews are generally of the same language. That is Chilean and Paraguayan officials worked the USA v. Czech Repulic game, so they could easily communicate in Spanish, their common language. I noticed that the crew last night on the Saudi Arabia v. Tunisia game had one Arabic speaking member but the others were not. I suppose they had one Arab on board in case of some kind of communication need.
So soccer unites and divides. The matches at the WC are attended by folks from all the two team countries of course, but also a lot of German people come out to witness the fun even if their team is not playing.
It is also true that even if our own team does not win, we appreciate the finer moments of the game. For example, as I watched Germany's first game against Costa Rica on June 9th at my cousins home in northern Germany, the first goal by Lahm and the third goal from a direct free kick by Frings, would be appreciated by anyone, whatever their national loyalties.
One aspect of international communication, a subject that Burnett deals with in her text, is common knowledge or common expertise. This commonality of knowledge about certain content areas obviously aids communication across cultures and languages. If two people who don't speak the same language or dont share religion, but both play or understand soccer, then they do, in some ways, share a common language. This point is an important one in international communication. They can exchange opinions about certain players or team with a few words and quickly understand each other.
One of my hosts here speaks no English and I speak no Bosnian, or Serbo Croatian, but we enjoyed the game last night together. He kept saying that Germany was weak and Poland would win 1 to 0. I told him it would be 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 for Germany. The final result was 1 to 0 for Germany. I reminded him of that this morning and we had a good laugh.
What are your thoughts about international technical communication? Can you think of examples similar to the soccer example?
That's all for now from Prjnavor, Bosnia Herzegovina.
In some ways the sport of soccer is something that unites the world. That is everyone in the world knows the laws of the game, likes to watch it, and acknowledges its importance in the world. Everyone appreciates a beautiful play, a nice goal, a nice but unsuccessful shot on goal, or a nice save by a keeper. It is in some ways a common sport language that is understood world wide.
On the other hand, soccer at the World Cup is an occasion for nationalism. That is because people tend to support their own country when their team is playing. The Brazil v. Croatia game two days ago was a big deal here. Bosnia borders on Croatia and there are Croatian people living in Bosnia. The languages are similar. Brazil, however, is regarded as the home of 'joga bonito', the beautiful game. That is, the Brazilians are master soccer players and Brazil is the home of Pele, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and other soccer magicians.
At the USA v. Czech Republic game, there were many Czech flags and US flags. There were lots of chants and waves. The chants are for teams, the waves are general enthusiasm as far as I could tell.
The referee crews are generally of the same language. That is Chilean and Paraguayan officials worked the USA v. Czech Repulic game, so they could easily communicate in Spanish, their common language. I noticed that the crew last night on the Saudi Arabia v. Tunisia game had one Arabic speaking member but the others were not. I suppose they had one Arab on board in case of some kind of communication need.
So soccer unites and divides. The matches at the WC are attended by folks from all the two team countries of course, but also a lot of German people come out to witness the fun even if their team is not playing.
It is also true that even if our own team does not win, we appreciate the finer moments of the game. For example, as I watched Germany's first game against Costa Rica on June 9th at my cousins home in northern Germany, the first goal by Lahm and the third goal from a direct free kick by Frings, would be appreciated by anyone, whatever their national loyalties.
One aspect of international communication, a subject that Burnett deals with in her text, is common knowledge or common expertise. This commonality of knowledge about certain content areas obviously aids communication across cultures and languages. If two people who don't speak the same language or dont share religion, but both play or understand soccer, then they do, in some ways, share a common language. This point is an important one in international communication. They can exchange opinions about certain players or team with a few words and quickly understand each other.
One of my hosts here speaks no English and I speak no Bosnian, or Serbo Croatian, but we enjoyed the game last night together. He kept saying that Germany was weak and Poland would win 1 to 0. I told him it would be 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 for Germany. The final result was 1 to 0 for Germany. I reminded him of that this morning and we had a good laugh.
What are your thoughts about international technical communication? Can you think of examples similar to the soccer example?
That's all for now from Prjnavor, Bosnia Herzegovina.
posted by Lee S. Tesdell at 2:54 AM
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