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Easier travel with multilingual service

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Free interpretation service now offered on mobile devices in 16 languages

 

Foreign tourists using Gimhae International Airport to arrive in Busan City or depart to another country can now do so with no linguistic hassles at all.

 

The Busan office of the Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) has signed an agreement with the Before Babel Brigade (BBB) Korea, a group of voluntary interpreters, to offer a free mobile interpretation service.

 

Thanks to the service, foreign travelers will be able to have their inquiries translated immediately in any of 16 languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese, French and Spanish (see table below).

To use the service, travelers need only dial (1588-5644) from any mobile phone or land-line in the airport, choose the language they wish to use, and they’ll be connected to one of the volunteer interpreters.

 

The phone connects to three volunteer workers at the same time, with the one answering first providing the interpretation service. If travelers are calling from overseas, be sure to include the country code as well (82-1588-5644). With its 3,600 volunteers, BBB Korea provides 24-hour language interpretation services.

 

The Busan office of the KAC will hold a campaign to promote the BBB program at Gimhae International Airport, during which it will distribute information cards and pamphlets as well as BBB brochures, electronic boards and banners with information on the service.

 

Oh Seung-chul, the director of the headquarters of the KAC in the Busan region, said “Through this arrangement we will become a language barrier-free airport, so more foreign visitors will be able to use Gimhae International Airport more easily.”

 

By language and country, the service has 1,551 volunteers for English, 839 for Japanese, 681 for Chinese, 61 for French, 114 for Spanish, 42 for Italian, 93 for Russian, 70 for German, 16 for Portuguese, 26 for Arabic, 7 for Polish, 13 for Turkish, 13 for Swedish, 14 for Thai, 15 for Vietnamese and 16 for Malay and Indonesian.

 

*What is BBB  (Before Babel Brigade)?

BBB service is a voluntary group offering language and culture interpretation. Founded in 2002, it is inspired by the vision of a world without linguistic or cultural barriers, as existed in the biblical days before Babel.

 

BBB service is the only voluntary interpretation network in the world to offer 24-hour service through mobile phones.

 

□Language Code

Language	Code
English	1
Japanese	2
Chinese	3
French	4
Spanish	5
Italian	6
Russian	7
German	8
Portuguese	9
Arabic	10
Polish	11
Turkish	12
Swedish	13
Thai	14
Vietnamese	15
Malay/ Indonesian	16

 

 

The source of news : Dynamic Busan