How to Say “World Cup” in 36 Languages
The World Cup is a global event. Every nation on earth watches, and talks about. Even if your nation isn’t one of the lucky 32 that gets to compete, you’re still oddly involved (speaking from personal experience there, unfortunately). Even non-football fans watch. Which is insane when you think about it.
But not everyone speaks English, so not everyone calls this tournament the World Cup. In French it’s the Coupe du Monde. In German the Weltmeisterschaft. In Spanish the Copa do Mundo La Copa Mundial and in Italian the Coppa del Mondo Il Mondiale. And in Hindi it’s विश्व कप, which I have no idea how to pronounce.
Below is a list of every translation I could find, from Afrikaans to Hebrew to Welsh…
Afrikaans: Wêreldbeker
Arabic: كأس العالم
Belarusian: Кубак свету
Bulgarian: Световно първенство
Catalan: Copa del Món
Chinese: 世界杯
Czech: Světový pohár
Finnish: Maailmancup
French: Coupe du Monde
Galician: Campionato do Mundo
German: Weltmeisterschaft
Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο
Hebrew: גביע העולם
Hindi: विश्व कप
Hungarian: Világ Kupa
Icelandic: Heimsmeistarakeppnin
Indonesian: Piala Dunia
Irish: Corn an Domhain
Italian: Coppa del Mondo Il Mondiale
Japanese: W杯
Korean: 세계 축구
Lithuanian: Pasaulio čempionatas
Malay: Piala Dunia
Maltese: Tazza tad-Dinja
Persian: جام جهانی
Portuguese: Copa do Mundo
Romanian: Cupa Mondială
Russian: Кубок мира
Serbian: Светско првенство
Slovakian: Svetový pohár
Spanish: Copa do Mundo La Copa Mundial
Swedish: Världscupen (aka VM)
Thai: ฟุตบอลโลก
Turkish: Dünya Kupası
Ukrainian: Кубок світу
Vietnamese: Cúp bóng đá thế giới
Welsh: Cwpan y Byd
Since this list was mostly put together using Google Translate and internet forums, it’s very very possible that some of the above is incorrect. Maybe some of the above are the words “World” and “Cup” correctly translated, but the tournament is actually called something else in that language.
So any corrections or additions are welcomed in the comments. Phonetic pronunciations for the more unfamiliar looking languages also welcome.
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Comments
By diana | August 28th, 2009 at 6:27 am 
‘Since this list was mostly put together using Google Translate and internet forums, it’s very very possible that some of the above is incorrect.’
You have found the correct version of the Chinese equivalent actually, Daryl. Well done! 
With Chinese as my second language (English being the first one), that is certainly the term used in that language.
Posted from 
Singapore
By Rami | August 28th, 2009 at 6:33 am Arabic translation correct too, although a lot of Arabic speakers alternate between calling it that and just “el mondial.”
Posted from 
United States
By dylan | August 28th, 2009 at 6:33 am I think a more reliable way of doing it is using Wikipedia. Look at all the foreign language links on the left-hand side of this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup
Since most of those pages were written by native speakers, they’ll pick up certain subtleties better than a machine translator. For example, it’s “Copa do Mundo” (Cup of the World) in Portuguese, but “Copa Mundial” (Worldwide Cup) in Spanish.
Posted from United States
By abk | August 28th, 2009 at 6:47 am in Spanish it would be Copa del Mundo or preferably Copa Mundial
Posted from 
Brazil
By dylan | August 28th, 2009 at 7:09 am Here’s the Wikipedia list:
Albanian FIFA Kampionati Botëror i Futbollit
Alemannic German Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft
Arabic كأس العالم لكرة القدم
Austro-Bavarian Fuaßboi-Wäidmoastaschaft
Azerbaijani FİFA Dünya Kuboku
Basque Munduko Futbol Txapelketa
Belarusian Чэмпіянат сьвету па футболе
Bengali ফিফা বিশ্বকাপ
Bosnian Svjetsko prvenstvo u nogometu
Breton Kib vell-droad ar bed
Bulgarian Световно първенство по футбол
Cantonese FIFA世界盃
Catalan Copa del Món de Futbol
Croatian Svjetsko prvenstvo u nogometu
Croatian Svjetsko prvenstvo u nogometu
Czech Mistrovství světa ve fotbale
Danish VM i fodbold
Dutch Wereldkampioenschap voetbal
Esperanto Futbala Mondpokalo
Estonian Jalgpalli maailmameistrivõistlused
Faroese HM fótbóltur
Finnish Jalkapallon maailmanmestaruuskilpailut
French Coupe du monde de la FIFA
Friulian Cope dal mont di balon
Galician Mundiais de Fútbol
Georgian ფიფა-ს მსოფლიო საფეხბურთო ჩემპიონატი
German Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft
Greek Παγκόσμιο κύπελλο ποδοσφαίρου
Hebrew גביע העולם בכדורגל
Hindi फ़ीफा विश्व कप
Hungarian Labdarúgó-világbajnokság
Icelandic Heimsmeistarakeppnin í knattspyrnu
Ido Kupo dil Mondo di Futbalo
Indonesian Piala Dunia FIFA
Irish Corn Sacair an Domhain
Italian Campionato mondiale di calcio
Japanese FIFAワールドカップ
Javanese Piala Donya FIFA
Korean FIFA 월드컵
Latvian FIFA Pasaules kauss
Lithuanian Pasaulio futbolo čempionatas
Luxembourgish Foussball-Weltmeeschterschaft
Malay Piala Dunia FIFA
Malayalam ലോക കപ്പ് ഫുട്ബോള്
Maltese Tazza tad-Dinja tal-Futbol
Mandarin Chinese 世界盃足球賽
Marathi फुटबॉल विश्वचषक
Neopolitan Campionato munniale ‘e pallone
Nepali फुटबल विश्वकप
Norwegian Verdensmesterskapet i fotball
Persian جام جهانی فوتبال
Polish Mistrzostwa świata w piłce nożnej
Portuguese Campeonato do Mundo de Futebol
Romanian Campionatul Mondial de Fotbal
Russian Чемпионат мира по футболу
Serbian Светско првенство у фудбалу
Sicilian Campiunatu munniali di palluni
Slovak Majstrovstvá sveta vo futbale
Slovenian Svetovno prvenstvo v nogometu
Spanish Copa Mundial de Fútbol
Swedish Världsmästerskapet i fotboll
Tamil உலகக்கோப்பை காற்பந்து
Thai ฟุตบอลโลก
Turkish FIFA Dünya Kupası
Ukranian Кубок світу з футболу
Venetian Canpionato mondiałe de bałon
Vietnamese Giải vô địch bóng đá thế giới
Welsh Cwpan y Byd Pêl-droed
Posted from United States
By dylan | August 28th, 2009 at 7:13 am Sorry, my previous comments got modded, probably cos I put a link in them.
What I said was, you can probably get more reliable answers by going to the Wikipedia page and using the foreign-language links on the left. They were written by native speakers, so they pick up on little subtleties like “Copa do Mundo” in Portuguese vs. “Copa Mundial” in Spanish. So, being an obsessive nerd, I went ahead and collected the Wikipedia translations.
The mods can erase my other two posts now =)
Posted from United States
By Jonas (from Flemish area in Belgium ;-) | August 28th, 2009 at 7:40 am and in Flemmish it would be
weireldkampioenschap sjotten
Posted from 
Belgium
By Oliviero | August 28th, 2009 at 8:47 am most people in italy just call it “il mondiale”
Posted from United States
By Francesco | August 28th, 2009 at 9:51 am Not just most people Oliviero, but all of Italy calls the World Cup “Il Mondiale”. The literal translation of World Cup (Coppa del Mondo) is never used.
By Daryl | August 28th, 2009 at 10:09 am Thanks guys,
Will update the list to include Il Mondiale instead.
By Mark | August 28th, 2009 at 3:13 pm The Spanish is wrong. It’s Copa DEL mundo, not Copa DO Mundo
By EJN | August 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm In Hebrew most people just call it the Mondial (מונדיאל)
By Juan | August 30th, 2009 at 8:33 pm Even though “Copa del Mundo” is correct grammatically, most people in the Spanish speaking world refer to it as “La Copa Mundial”.
By Feyyaz | August 31st, 2009 at 1:42 am The Turkish is true.
”Dünya Kupası”
By NMY | August 31st, 2009 at 7:00 pm haha thanks for the effort for the article, but I think Dylan’s way of finding the translations worked out a lot better. I’m Korean, so i know that the article’s translation came out as “world football”, while Dylan’s method gives u the exact and correct translation. haha i do the same thing in wikipedia sometimes, clicking on the links on the left in other languages, in case i want to know a hard word in Korean. good effort on the article though~
By Edgar | October 1st, 2009 at 8:47 am most of mexico says el mundial
Posted from United States
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