“Language Service Corps” joins fight against COVID-19 in Hubei

Following instructions issued by the MOE, a 40+ strong “Language Service Corps” has been established comprising language professionals from leading higher education institutions such as Beijing Language and Culture University, Wuhan University and Central China Normal University, and other organizations including the Commercial Press, to help medical workers, brought in from outside the worst hit province of Hubei, communicate with dialect-speaking locals as they fight the novel coronavirus epidemic in this region.

Based on corpus analysis and clinical case scenario surveys, the Corps selected 156 phrases and 75 short sentences and produced audio and transcript files pairing the standard Mandarin version of these key expressions with their regional equivalents to cover local language variations in nine Hubei cities. The audio files and transcripts were then released on internet and via the social media platform WeChat. In addition, an online regional language assistance telephone hotline was launched on February 11, providing assistance to residents in nine cities in Hubei Province, namely, Wuhan, Xiangyang, Yichang, Huangshi, Jinzhou, Ezhou, Xiaogan, Huanggang, and Xianning.

More tools are being developed, such as real-time translation software, video files, and mixed-media handbooks. The mission of this special Corps is to guarantee different levels of language related support for medical workers and other stakeholders fighting the COVID-19 epidemic.