SHANGHAI: The organizers of the Special Olympics World Summer Games, which open next month, are looking for more volunteer translators to help ensure the event's success.

The promotional poster for the 2007 Special Olympics

So far, more than 40,000 people, most of them college students, have volunteered to help in a variety of roles at the Games, which run from October 2-11.

However, a spokesman for the event's steering committee said yesterday there was still a need for people who can speak Arabic or Spanish, to ensure every athlete, coach and visitor is well looked after.

Chen Zhenmin, head of the executive committee volunteer department, said 65,000 people had offered their services since last September, 40,000 of whom had passed the stringent selection process.

Ranging in age from 18 to 85, more than 60 percent of the volunteers can speak a second language, including more than 2,000 who can speak less common ones.

Chen said all delegations whose mother tongue is Spanish or Arabic will be supported by at least two or three translators, but he called for more speakers of these languages to come forward.

"We have enlisted nearly all the students from the Spanish and Arabic language departments at foreign-studies colleges and universities, so now we are hoping people working at foreign companies can help us," he said at a media briefing.

"Shanghai people have shown great enthusiasm to get involved with the Special Olympics and we really appreciate their support," he said.

Since July, all volunteers have been learning about the Special Olympics, as well as getting advice from experts from East China Normal University on the specific needs of people with intellectual disabilities.

"It will be quite a tough job, but very fulfilling. We're ready to be wherever we're needed," Lu Xiaojun, a student from Shanghai Normal University, said.

Of the 40,000 volunteers, two-thirds of them are women and there are 108 foreigners. They will work at 30 sports venues, 107 hotels and 155 reception communities across 19 districts and counties.

(China Daily 09/18/2007 page4)