Central China city reaches out to foreigners in distress

2011-07-01 08:31:13 GMT2011-07-01 16:31:13(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

CHANGSHA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Foreigners in Changsha who can't speak Chinese should find it easier now getting help when in trouble as the city's police have launched a multilingual emergency call service.

The service was launched on Friday and, according to the Changsha Public Security Bureau, the city's 110 emergency center has eight volunteers offering translation services in English, German, Korean and Japanese.

According to the bureau, the emergency call center has received a growing number of calls from foreigners in recent years.

In 2010, the 110 center received 67 calls from foreigners, a third of whom could not speak Chinese.

For those who did speak in Chinese, quite a number of them were hardly able to make themselves understood, the bureau said.

The bureau said it will analyze calls by foreigners and adjust the number of volunteer translators accordingly.

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