A South Korean nonprofit is ready to assist the hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists in Brazil for this year’s World Cup Soccer with real-time language assistance, according to the Associated Press.
Before Babel Brigade, or BBB Korea, started during the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan as a way to help foreigners get around without knowing the host country’s language. Much like Portuguese-speaking Brazil, neither Korea nor Japan had many locals who spoke languages fluently other than its own, but the BBB service was able to accommodate foreigners from various countries by having them call a number and get connected to a volunteer interpreter, who could then communicate directly with local restaurants, taxi drivers or doctors’ offices.
This year in Brazil, BBB has dubbed the service Rio Amigo, and it is available around the clock throughout the World Cup, which runs through July 25. There is even a smartphone app for the service.
The service began with 2,000 volunteers providing assistance in seven language 12 years ago, but it now boasts 4,500 volunteers in 19 languages, responding to over 700 calls per day. Languages include: Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian and Korean.
“I usually don’t turn off my cellphone, but depending on how it goes, I might end up muting it at night during the World Cup,” Alice Moreira, a 29-year-old volunteer interpreter with French-Brazilian dual citizenship, told the Associated Press. “I’m really looking forward to my first call.”
The interpreters are working pro-bono, but the project in Brazil this year cost around $89,000 for printed materials and other overhead, said AP. Korean tech company Samsung is funding the project.
The Rio number to reach an interpreter is: +55-21-3554-0304.
Photo via Getty Images.
