Date: Dec. 2, 2009 
Offered by: Family & Women Policy Division (031-249-2508)

During a recent informal discussion session for foreign workers & married immigrant women hosted by Gyeonggi Province, Mrs.L, a married immigrant from Thailand, told the session that she had provided interpretation services many times for her friends who were married immigrants and foreign workers in relation to Immigration Control Law, Employment Permission Law, industrial disaster-related regulations, insurances, medical services system, criminal investigations and so on, but she was always worried whether her interpretations were sufficiently accurate, as she did not know a great deal about Korean culture.

Another woman in attendance, Mrs.A from Mongolia, said that when she went to a hospital in the province for emergency treatment last August, she had to wait a long time and was only treated after receiving help over the telephone from a married Mongolian immigrant woman who could speak Korean, as nobody in the hospital could understand Mongolian.

From now on, however, this will not be an in Gyeonggi Province. With approximately 300 thousand foreign residents in the province – and 1 million in total across the country – the Province will resolve the problem by establishing the “Multilingual Speakers Network of Gyeonggi Province.”

The “Multilingual Speakers Network of Gyeonggi Province” is composed of about 250 persons and aims to support interpretation & translation services for foreign residents by making good use of the available human resources with foreign language skills, most of whom can be found in the institutions and organizations in the province that are dedicated to providing support for foreigners, and has printed 500 booklets containing a list of the human resources by location and language, which can be utilized by city and county governments and local organizations in the province.

By building this network, support for interpretation services in 20 languages – 100 people in English, 49 in Japanese, 43 in Chinese, 11 in Mongolian, and others – has become immediately available. As a result, support for interpretation services for foreign residents has become much easier. The Gyeonggi Provincial Government is also supporting this work and helping volunteers to take pride in their contributions to the project by honoring them with awards.