Saturday 19 June 2010

Vuvuzelas, Fluch oder Segen?

Loathe them or hate them, the vuvuzelas (or lepatata as they are called in Tswana) have been a huge part of the world cup so far.

The press here in Britain has complained that they ruin the atmosphere of the game and I put this down to a severe case of sour grapes as the over-paid, under-talented prima donnas in England shirts have not had the best start to the competition.

But then I started to wonder what the press in other countries thought about them. So after an hour or two trawling the world's press, it seems that a lot of countries don't like them either.

The Germans have even invented a new word to describe the effect of the vuvuzela, "Trötinus" a word made from the German words for "Hooter" (Tröte) and "tinitus" (Tinitus).

So here are some links to articles in various languages which you could use with your students and get them to discuss the attitudes in different countries.


Spanish

Personally, I quite like the vuvuzela and thanks to those nice people at Marca in Spain for this vuvzela instruction manual.

Enjoy!


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic article and thanks for combing the international press on the Vuvuzela. One arrived at our school Friday and it did sound like a fog horn. It also created the atmosphere of South Africa for lunchtime!

Seana Maguire

Dom said...

Thanks for the comment, Seanna. I'm glad you enjoyed it. There have been no vuvuzelas at my school, but there is still time.
I really do like them. :0)

Steve Smith said...

Excellent instruction manual. Very clear. However, if I were at a match and had one of those blaring in my earhole I reckon it would irritate me pretty quickly.

Dom said...

Thanks for the comment. You may have a point, there. I like them but haven't experienced 20000 of them in one go. I may change my opinion about the vuvuzela.:0(