Phone card to tackle holiday language hell

Published on 17th August 2006 in News

A Howden firm has come up with an invention which promises to solve the problem of explaining holiday problems in a foreign language.

Frantic miming could be a thing of the past thanks to a telephone card devised by EITI, the interpreting and translation company based on Bridgegate.

Chief executive Carolyn Burgess has come up with the idea of a prepaid card which will allow tourists and business people to dial a number and have immediate, 24-hour access to EITI?s telephone interpreting service.

Professional interpreters will work in the language requested by the user and will either deal with the problem themselves or take part in a three-way call to sort out the misunderstanding.

?A call to a telephone interpreter from a mobile phone could make all the difference when things go wrong,? said Carolyn.

?Imagine how much easier it would be to iron out confusion in a hospital in Spain or misunderstanding over a hotel bill in Portugal if you just dialled the number on your prepaid card and let the interpreter deal with it.?

Carolyn believes the card will also reduce the need for long-distance travel, as two- or three-way conferences can usually be set up in less than a minute.

Pauline Wade, head of international trade at the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, said she would be using the card in her dealing with China.

?I think this is a fantastic idea and like all really good inventions, it is so simple,? she said.