Get help with a spoken conversation
BBB Korea — Before Babel Brigade — is a Seoul charity whose thousands of volunteers answer their own phones to interpret for strangers. Arirang News put it at a call every ten minutes, over 100,000 a year, from a pool of more than 4,500 volunteers — retired diplomats, professors, office workers, students. The live case log on its site shows requests arriving the same week, one of them a Spanish speaker at a 112 scene asking for a car door to be opened.
The number and the app
Dial 1588-5644 from a landline or mobile in Korea and follow the recorded instructions to request a language. If you use the app, complete its phone-number verification, select the languages and describe the situation. The service then tries to connect you with a volunteer. From abroad dial +82-2-818-1500 and a language extension, which reaches that language directly. The bbb 통역 interpreting app, on iOS and Android, runs the same request with a chat window beside the call for a photo or a line of text, and carries a directory of emergency numbers.
The interpretation is free. Telephone and mobile-data charges depend on your connection and plan; international charges may apply when calling from abroad.
The twenty languages
English, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish, Turkish, Swedish, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Mongolian, Hindi, Malay and Swahili.
The three-way call
A three-way call lets the volunteer interpret a conversation between you and another person. In the app, connect to a volunteer and use its three-way feature to add the pharmacist's, the landlord's or the front desk's number. Through the plain number the conference call is yours to set up through your own carrier, and you pay for it. Ask the other person before connecting them, and use a clear, stable connection.
What it will not do
BBB provides telephone interpretation rather than in-person assistance. Volunteers can interpret a discussion about a bill or booking, but they do not negotiate or make arrangements on your behalf. The service does not cover long professional assignments or document translation.
For urgent help, call 112 for police or 119 for fire, an ambulance or rescue. Ask the dispatcher for language assistance. Do not delay an emergency call while trying to reach a volunteer.
