How have sporting ideologies been translated across cultures? Cómo se han traducio las ideologías deportivas en las distintas culturas?

Transcription

1 REVISTA MUNDO INVESTIGACIÓN (2016), Núm.1, Vol 1. ISSN: How have sporting ideologies been translated across cultures? Cómo se han traducio las ideologías deportivas en las distintas culturas? Helena Martín Gourguechon, ABSTRACT This paper analyses the way sport ideologies spread all over the world through translation. The study will mainly focus on Spanish football and the so-called tiki taka tactic. Key Words: sport, sport ideologies, translation, tiki taka RESUMEN Este artículo analiza cómo las ideologías deportivas recorren el mundo de la mano de la traducción. El estudio se centra principalmente en el fútbol español y en la táctica denominada tiki taka. Palabras clave: deporte, ideologías deportivas, traducción, tiki taka

2 Introduction The connection between sport ideologies and translation doesn t come up very easily. In fact, a lot of sport fans wouldn t think that there is a link between languages and sports. Alongside this paper, I will explain how languages can affect sport ideologies and the way these ideologies spread all over the world through translation. Firstly, a definition on sport ideologies is needed. According to the Cambridge dictionary, an ideology is a set of beliefs or principles, especially one on which a political system, party, or organization is based (2016). Therefore, a sport ideology refers to the way sports affect the beliefs of a group of people, who can be part of an organization, a club, a social group or even a society. In the field of sports, there are a lot of different ideologies that continuously interact with other dimensions. There are ideologies based on values, like solidarity; ideologies based on social issues, like racism or sexism; and ideologies based on the competition itself, like individualism or elitism. All these ideologies are generated outside the field of sport but interact and affect it as sport is part of the cultural life of a society. Nevertheless, there are other ideologies which are born within the field of sports and are spread through society. In this paper, I will focus on those ideologies and how their success in the field of sports has an impact on society. I will also focus on how those ideologies become a powerful reference of a country all over the world through translation. Methods The idea for writing this paper came up with a personal working experience in the UK during an international basketball summer camp in Two years later, I decided to present it to the Sports and Translation Conference in Bristol. However, in order to write the current paper, I have had to search for information on specialised sociology websites and on specialised sport newspapers. Thanks to the above mentioned conference, I could add some of the comments the rest of participants made on my presentation and update all the information and ideas. Results In 2008, when the economic problems and crisis started, some features of sport started to be more relevant for fans than others. When there are difficult times, sports are a very useful (and more or less free) distraction for people. Sport fans invest their free time in watching games and practising sport. During that time, they can socialise with other people: at the bar, in the park, in the field, pitch or court, etc. That s how common interests become common objectives. These objectives might be supporting a team, winning a competition, not losing against the eternal rival, etc. The explanation is easily given by Santiago Flores Álvarez-Ossorio (2005). It s all about identities: a) local identity: a team which represents a city. 86

3 b) regional identity: a team which represents a region, because it s the only one from that region, for example. c) national identity: a team which represents a state or a country. It can represent a recognised state but it can also be a way of demanding the recognition of a state by nationalisms. d) international identity: when fans from all over the world support a team. e) continental identity: a team represents a whole continent and fans identify themselves with that team. That s what has happened in Spain with different sports, although I will focus in football, the most popular and practised team sport in Spain, according to the statistics from the Spanish Culture and Sport Ministry (Estadística 2015, 2015). For more than 50 years, the national Spanish flag was not normally used as a symbol of pride and identity. According to an analysis made by Giles Tremlett (2010), indeed, Spain's red and gold flag still reminds some people of the civil war of the 1930s, more particularly, of the 36-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco. However, when the Spanish national football team won the UEFA Euro in 2008, more and more people started to feel proud of their country and their national team, as Iker Casilllas, captain of the national football team, stated in an interview to El Mundo newspaper (Suárez, 2009). Suddenly, everybody was out in the street wearing the colours of the Spanish national flag celebrating the victory. They felt identified with the effort the national team had made. That phenomenon spread across the country: even people who were not very fond of football were celebrating. And the ambition didn t stop there: two years later, the national football team was going to play the World Cup. People didn t miss any games and gathered together to watch them. The final against the Netherlands was watched by around 14 million people in Spain (Marca.com, 2010). When the game finished, Spain was for the first time the World Cup Champion. Again, everybody was celebrating and went out the next day to receive the national football team as heroes. In the midst of the crisis, people in Spain had one reason to smile and forget about their problems. Apart from the point of view of sociology, the analysis of the victory by the sport field has to be considered. The basic strategy used by the Spanish national team was the so-called tiki taka. Tiki taka (in Spanish, tiquitaca) is a football style based on short and continuous passes that allows teams to keep possession of the ball and create spaces and goal opportunities. This strategy has been very effective for Spanish football in the last decade with a wide range of different titles. It was originated at FC Barcelona and then adapted and used by the Spanish national team, among other teams. The term is not Spanish or English, but an onomatopoeia. The book Linguistics of Football explains that [tiki taka] was created by the commentator of the channel La Sexta, 87

4 Andrés Montes, during the World Cup 2006 (Lavric, E., 2008). There are some theories about why he used that word. On one hand, it s a word that expresses very well the speed of this particular way of playing. On the other hand, it could be related to the word tictac, the sound made by clocks in Spanish, which would be very accurate, as players pass very quickly and accurately in several directions. It could be also related to the word tocar", which generally means to touch but in the football field it also means to pass the ball. Nevertheless, Tiki taka emerged as a way of playing football, but it soon became an ideology. It established a benchmark for Spanish football after FC Barcelona s supremacy in the Champions League and in the Spanish national league, and after Spain s victory in the Euros. Roberto Martínez (2010) even stated that the patient, attractive approach [tiki taka] has become a hallmark of Spanish sides at club and international level this decade and will last, I believe, for far longer. As this ideology made Spanish football successful, the international media started to analyse the tactic and to research about its origins. That s how they came across the term tiki taka and adopted it into their different languages. It can be found in media from France (Bregevin, 2014), the UK (Brooks, 2016), Italy (Vitalli, 2015), among others. Concerning the translation field, the term has not been translated but used as a borrowing. This translation strategy is commonly used by sport media, not only with tactics but also with the team names, like La Roja (Bregevin, 2014). Conclusion The main question is: why do media keep the original term to talk about sport strategies from other countries? It is definitely a way of keeping in touch with the original sporting culture where the term originated. For instance, the term "tiki taka" could have been replaced by an explanation or, for example, in English, it could have been tick tock. Another option could have chosen the name of the coach who introduced the style in Spanish football, like "Cruyff's style", for instance. But, if we hear tiki taka, we are going to think of Spanish football, the same that when we hear catenaccio or jogo bonito, we think of Italian or Brazilian football. Therefore, those terms don t just refer to a tactic. They are ideologies, a way of playing football, a way of living it. Currently, in Spain, that is the way people want Spainsh teams to be. There are more tactics, of course, but every time people see players giving passes quickly and accurately, people think of it as tiki taka and enjoy it. "Tiki taka" has been expanded internationally as an ideology of accuracy and enjoyment. It is used in other sports, like hockey (Hockeyglobal.net, 2016), basketball (Cortázar, 2013), rugby (Mundo Deportivo, 2014) or futsal (As.com, 2016), but more importantly, it is used in other contexts, like in television (Sánchez, 2014). To sum up, sports are very important nowadays. Their impact is reflected not only in the sporting context, but also in the economic, political and cultural ones. That's why the international society wants to know more about a victorious team. But, if the rest of the 88

5 world wants to understand why a team is better than all of their competitors, they need to translate, not only the terms, but also the ideology, the way of thinking. Acknowledgments I would like to thank all my family and friends for their support and the participants in the Sports and Translation Conference in Bristol (2014) for their interesting ideas and comments on my presentation. Also, thanks to Lord Beagles for his support and to Eduardo and his family for this opportunity. Bibliography: Arasite.org. (2016). Reading guides to selection to selection from: Hargreaves, Jennifer (ed) (1982) Sport, Culture and Ideology, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. [online]. Available at: [Accessed 13/04/2016]. As.com (2016). Fútbol sala de tiki taka: tres jugadores al primer toque. [online]. Available at: _ html AS.com. (2015). Brutal tiki-taka a un toque que terminó en un golazo! AS.com. [online] Available at: _ html Bregevin, V. (2014). Après Espagne-Chili (0-2), notre antisèche: La Roja a sombré, le tiki-taka avec elle. Eurosport [online]. Available at: [Accessed 14/04/2016]. Brooks, G. (2016). Leicester mesmerise Liverpool with tiki-taka to show Premier League title credentials. Express. [online] Available at: Leicester-mesmerise-Liverpool-tiki-taka-show- Premier-League-title-credentials [Accessed 14/04/2016]. Cortázar, J. (2013). El baloncesto del tiki-taka. NBA4US [online]. Available at: Diariodesevilla.es. (2016). El 'tiki-taka' enamora a los ingleses. [online] Available at: /tikitaka/enamora/los/ingleses.html Estadística Anuario de estadísticas deportivas (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, pp.22, 26. Available at: pdf [Accessed 16/04/2016]. Flores, S. (2005). Fútbol y manipulación social. [online] Available at: Hockeyglobal.net. (2016). Ha llegado el tiki - taka al hockey. [online] Available at: Lavric, E., Pisek G., Skinner, A., Stadler, W. (2008). The linguistics of football. [online]. Available at: C&pg=PA354&lpg=PA354&dq=tiki+taka+andr %C3%A9s+montes+tunisia&source=bl&ots=o XuOwjI_uc&sig=- AEOezAiT5WDVzgFs9Yry6Kdwy8&hl=es&sa =X&ved=0ahUKEwjcvMzT44TMAhXDiCwK HcoVAA0Q6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=tiki%20 taka%20andr%c3%a9s%20montes%20tunisia &f=false [Accessed 14/04/2016]. Lowe, S. (2008). The definite story of how Aragonés led Spain to Euro 2008 glory. The Guardian [online]. Available at: /02/thedefinitivestoryofhowar [Accessed 13/04/2016] Marca.com (2010). La prórroga de la final del mundial ya es la emisión más vista en la historia de la televisión española. [online]. Available at ial_2010/selecciones/espana/ html [Accessed 13/04/2016] Martínez, R (2010). World Cup Final: Johan Cruyff sowed seeds for revolution in Spain's fortunes. The Telegraph [online]. Available at: /spain/ /world-cup-final-johan-cruyff- 89

6 sowed-seeds-for-revolution-in-spainsfortunes.html Mundo Deportivo. (2014). Quieren implantar el 'tiki taka' de Guardiola en el rugby. [online] Available at: bol/internacional/quieren-implantar-el-tiki-takade-guardiola-en-el-rugby_ html Sánchez, C. (2014). Las series españolas se apuntan al "tiki taka". Revista Unir [online]. Available at: Sociology.iresearchnet.com (2016). Sociology Research and Reference. Sociology [online]. Avialble at: [Accessed 14/04/2016]. Suárez, O. (2009). Hacemos que la gente lleve la bandera española con orgullo. El Mundo [online]. Available at: 6/21/futbol/ html [Accessed 13/04/2016]. Tremlett, G.(2010). Wold Cup 2010: Spain's success puts nationalists in the shade. The Guardian, [online]. Available at: spain-world-cup-final-catalonia-basques Vitelli, M. (2015). Il tiki-taka entra nel vocabulario: Quando le parole del calcio fanno gol. Il Tempo [online]. Available at: [Accessed 14/04/2016] 90