Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports attends launch of LaLiga’s Spanish-Arabic football dictionary

Cairo, 21st of February, 2021.- LaLiga, the Instituto Cervantes and the Spanish Embassy in Egypt are celebrating UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day 2021, held on February 21st, with the launch of a Spanish-Arabic football dictionary.

Spanish Ambassador, Ramón Gil-Casares, hosted the presentation of this dictionary in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, as well as other Latinamerican Ambassadors, education officials and various directors from the world of football.

The aim of this dictionary is to promote the study of Spanish in various MENA countries through the power of football and Spain’s most famous teams and players.

The dictionary contains descriptions and information about clubs, players, stadiums, competitions, other football terminology and other useful travel and tourism phrases and expressions, with the Spanish and Arabic text presented side by side and in a colourful and engaging manner.

It contains 59 pages with expressions and illustrations where both Arabic and Spanish speakers will be able to easily understand and learn useful expressions in both languages. The translation into Modern Standard Arabic gives the opportunity to Arabic speakers from many countries in the region to comprehend the words and terms.

The dictionary will be distributed to students of Spanish Language as it will be sent out to universities, to public institutions and to libraries across Egypt. It can also be downloaded online for free in the following link:

https://elcairo.cervantes.es/imagenes/File/diccionario_futbol_espanol_arabe_instituto_cervantes_laliga.pdf

The Instituto Cervantes is a non-profit organisation created by the Government of Spain to promote the study of Spanish language and culture around the world. 

LaLiga has already partnered with the Instituto Cervantes to produce similar football dictionaries in the Chinese and Indonesian languages. This is in addition to organising football and language learning courses in countries such as Morocco and Japan.

The Spanish Embassy in Egypt plays a significant role in the promotion of this Spanish-Arabic dictionary on UNESCO´s International Mother Language Day, for languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion in education and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

Gil-Casares explained that: “Language, culture and sports are important factors that bring nations together. This project is an important step for Spain, not only in Egypt but in the Middle East as a whole, as we are bringing Arabic speakers closer to Spain and it’s working the other way round too.”

Luis Javier Ruiz Sierra is the Director of the Instituto Cervantes in Cairo and spoke about the alliance between his organisation and LaLiga, one of the most popular football competitions in Egypt, saying: “The Instituto Cervantes is proudly aligning synergies with LaLiga in order to provide Egyptians with a very innovative and interesting tool to learn Spanish, using our football to grab interest.”

As Juan Fuentes Fernández, LaLiga’s Global Network Delegate in Egypt, said: “This kind of project clearly brings institutions together for Arabic speakers to learn more about our language, our culture and our football. It’s another great example of collaboration between LaLiga and public organisations such as the Instituto Cervantes and the Embassy of Spain.”