Free phone translation service helps foreigners as they navigate Beijing

Twenty-five-year-old Hu Xue has just completed her second year working at the Beijing Multilingual Service Center.

She is a postgraduate student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, which manages the center. It provides free language support through telephone calls for foreigners living in Beijing.

"I believe there are many foreigners in Beijing who need language help," she said.

The center was set up in 2008 ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games to provide support in 44 languages.

Zheng Dapeng, a 31-year-old teacher, has been working with the center since it was established. More than 3,000 calls were received during the Games, Zheng said.

Like many facilities that were set up especially for the Olympics, the center ceased to operate after the event. But in 2010 it was reopened by BFSU with three full-time staff members and 260 student volunteers who provide help in English, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and Korean.

The center started to work with the police emergency service 110, and also with 120, which helps with first-aid and hospital emergency services. Telephone translation is provided around the clock.

"If a foreigner had an accident on the street and called 110 for help, his call can be transferred to us. The 110 Chinese operator would stand by through the whole conversation," Hu said.

Hu and other volunteer operators work four hours every week at the center and the 30-plus English-language volunteer operators receive about 20 to 30 calls per month.

"Not many foreign people know about 110 and 120," she said.

At the center, "many calls are about asking for directions or medical help", Hu said. "We get most calls in the morning and evening rush hours."

Some calls are from people who do not speak English as their native tongue. "We then try to transfer the call to volunteers who speak their language," Hu said.

Lu Haiyue, a student majoring in Russian, has been working with the center for more than a year.

"It's a good way to learn about Russians here in Beijing," she said.

Last year, she received a call from an upset Russian student who had a bad experience when she bought what she thought was a genuine fur coat.

"We know that there is a big demand out there in providing language support for foreign people in Beijing," said Zheng, the teacher. "Yet there is still a big gap in our ability to reach out to them."

Hu knows that the center provides an invaluable service. She only wishes more foreign people in Beijing knew about it.

zhangyue@chinadaily.com.cn