Languages Represented at the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023
The FIFA Women’s Soccer World Cup is played every four years between women’s national teams. This summer it will be held July 20 to August 20, and will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The games will not be missed by students, faculty, and staff at the Middlebury Language Schools.
The Women’s World Cup 2023 will have 32 teams participating, 29 qualified teams from around the globe, and three playoff tournament slot placeholders.
“Soccer, as the Americans call it, is the king of sports. Watching the beautiful game with the School of French is always a great time. My love for football most probably blinds me. Still, I always feel like these sports events have the ability to reunite students from all levels and all ages in such a special way”, said Connor Owens, Betty Ashbury Jones MA ’86 School of French Bilingual Assistant.
How many languages will be represented at the largest women’s soccer World Cup? Different teams will represent several languages and will be featured for viewers all around the world.
Women’s World Cup Soccer 2023 Teams
20 countries participated in the previous round of qualification in 2019, which resulted in the 32 nations qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. Now, it is official that all qualified teams will take part in the upcoming Women’s Soccer World Cup.
Here is a list of all the teams that have qualified for the World Cup:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- China PR
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Denmark
- England
- France
- Germany
- Haiti
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Korea Republic
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Norway
- Panama
- Philippines
- Portugal
- Rep. of Ireland
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United States
- Vietnam
- Zambia
Languages Represented at the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023
Since this is a global cup featuring different teams worldwide, the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023 will have languages from 32 different nations. Knowing the languages, or perhaps learning a new language, will make watching the biggest women’s soccer tournament even more enjoyable.
English
English will be the main language that is going to be featured throughout the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023. Several teams participating in the tournament are also from countries that use English as the official language. These participating countries include the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Zambia.
Spanish
Spanish is another language that will be represented in the women’s soccer world cup. This is the official language of Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Spain; it is a language that the vast majority of people from the said countries understand and use as their first language.
Portuguese
Portuguese is the primary language of most people in Portugal and Brazil. Both are participating in the competition, and Portuguese will undoubtedly be featured because it is among the most popular languages among the most ardent soccer fans.
Irish
Irish is a recognized language in the European Union and is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. The Irish language will be represented by the national team of the Republic of Ireland, who will participate in the competition.
Afrikaans
Given Africa’s size, Afrikaans holds the same status as English as an official language in South Africa. The Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023 will feature the Afrikaans language so that African people and others who speak it can follow their team.
Swedish
Swedish language, or Swedish Svenska, is the official language of Sweden. The Swedish language will be represented by the Sweden team that is participating in the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023
French
French is another popular language that will be represented at the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023. Its biggest representative will, of course, be France. Some nations playing in the competition will also represent French, even if it is not their primary language, since it is one of their most widely spoken languages. These countries include Canada, Switzerland, South Africa, Italy, and England.
Mandarin
Mandarin is the official language of China that will be represented by the Chinese team at the 2023 Women’s Soccer World Cup. Due to the large number of people in China who are soccer fans, it is only fair that the language will be represented and the event will also be aired in Mandarin.
Korean
The Korean language will be represented by the team from the Korean Republic. Korean is the official language of both North Korea and South Korea and is spoken by around 77 million people worldwide. The Korean Republic team will bring its unique language and culture to the tournament, adding to the already diverse mix of languages and cultures the competing teams represent.
Japanese
Japanese is another language represented at the 2023 Women’s Soccer World Cup, as Japan has qualified for the tournament and will be one of the competing teams. Japanese is the official language of Japan and is spoken by over 125 million people worldwide. Japanese players, coaches, and officials will likely communicate in their native language during the tournament, adding to the linguistic diversity of the event.
Vietnamese
The Vietnamese team will proudly represent the Vietnamese language at the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2023. As one of the participating countries, Vietnam will showcase its sporting prowess and its unique cultural identity and language.
Tagalog
Tagalog (Filipino) and English are the official language of the Philippines. They are one of the teams competing in the tournament with a large base of soccer supporters, not just in the Philippines but elsewhere in the world where the Tagalog language is widely spoken.
Danish
The Danish team will represent Denmark’s only official language — Danish. Their team will represent the Danish language for the fans to support and cheer on their team.
German
Germany’s team will represent German, the official language of Germany. German is also spoken in Switzerland; broadcasting German would benefit fans rooting for their teams.
Norwegian
Norwegian is only one of the official languages of Norway. However, the Norwegian language has been considered by many as the primary language. The national team of Norway will represent the language.
Watching the World Cup with the Language Pledge®
It is incredible how a single competition may represent so many different languages from various countries. How much more incredible is it if you learn the language and watch with your classmates during language school while only speaking your target language?
Owens said, “For the rest of my life, I will always remember screaming in Dana Auditorium when France won the men’s world cup in 2018. The place was absolutely packed, and there were even a few Spanish school students who managed to sneak in, which was actually kind of great. The same thing happened when the USA won the Women’s World Cup the following year. I will also always remember crying when England lost the final of the Euro 2021. Again, the room was packed, and students were learning loads of sports vocabulary.”
Middlebury Language Schools is a top-ranked language school that enrolls over 1500 students in in Middlebury and Bennington, Vermont. Middlebury also has a 7-week English Language School in Monterey, California.
Our summer immersion programs in 13 languages range from one to eight weeks and are designed for beginners to advanced language learners. We also offer Graduate Programs in 10 languages, which can be completed over four summers in Vermont or one summer and an academic year abroad or online, depending on the language you want to learn.
