Football is Coming Home to Die Hard Translators

"It is hard to find a contemporary Brazilian Portuguese term for the word winger. This has probably to do with the change of the winger's role over the years. In a typical WM formation, the winger would be what is sometimes called ponta or ponteiro in Brazil. However, since the demise of WM formations, the winger has gone back to play wide in the midfield, such as England's David Beckham in 2006. In such case, he might be called a meia in Brazil. But not all meias will be wingers. On the other hand, some wingers, such as Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, are considered atacantes (strikers) in Brazil. Therefore, the level of detail required to specify a player's position will differ from language to language, and from position to position. Bottom line: you need to know who the footballer is in order to classify him in your target language. Your glossary won't help you."

This article was originally published in the April 2008 issue of the Translation Journal. The full content may be found here.