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April 21, 2015

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Call center goes beyond call of duty to help out expats

SHANGHAI Call Center has a staff of over 50 with people from different nationalities but the services it offers goes much beyond the call of duty.

Recently it won praise in Japanese media for its meticulous and considerate service after its operators went checking supermarkets and grocery shops that cater to the local Japanese community just to find out where a specific Japanese soy sauce was available after a caller inquired about it.

While that was out of the ordinary, there have been instances when cross-border couples called up the center’s hotline 962288 seeking help over trivial domestic matters.

“Once we received a call from a Chinese woman and her German boyfriend who were facing language problems and cultural issues. They couldn’t understand each other and often argued over trivial matter,” said You Lili, a staffer. “The operators not only translated for them but even mediated for them and successfully manage to resolve the matter.”

Wu Xiaoyan, an executive, said she once told a foreigner how much he should enclose in a “red envelope” for a Chinese friend’s wedding.

The hotline, which has been running for nine years, received some 1.8 million calls from foreigners with a reported daily average of 550. The center provides information and translation service in 13 languages.

Some of them are master linguist. Desi Koleva, 25, a Bulgarian, speaks fluent English, Chinese, German, Russian and Bulgarian. She has been with the center for two years.




 

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