Socceranto: Birth of a Language

Football players, officials and fans across the world already share a common passion, a common culture and, it’s often said, a common religion, whose greatest festival, the World Cup, falls once every four years. The one thing they lack – and badly need – is a common language. The 32 countries taking part in this year’s World Cup, for example, boast 18 official languages between them. This is not counting the many unofficial languages and local dialects that many of the players and officials count as their mother tongues. We have called this book “Socceranto: Birth of a Language” because, well, this really is just the birth – the start of something that we hope will grow, mature and develop over time into a fuller, richer, more international, more distinct and more widely spoken language.