Shanghai municipal government yesterday designated a team of overseas Chinese volunteers to help overcome language barriers at the 2010 World Expo.

The volunteers -- who represent more than 10 countries including Germany, France, Denmark, Mexico and Thailand -- will help foreign Expo participants arrange and operate exhibitions.

"We need the help of overseas Chinese to serve the World Expo 2010," said Zhou Hong, an official with the city's overseas Chinese affairs office.

Zhou said the city did not have many interpreters, particularly in languages other than English, and the volunteers would make excellent "cultural ambassadors."

Overseas Chinese societies have been asked by the government to recruit volunteers, and in a meeting of overseas Chinese businessmen yesterday, Vice Mayor Tang Dengjie presented a banner to representatives of overseas Chinese.

Gong Liming, the honorary chairman of the overseas Chinese union in Germany, said: "The language difference could be a big challenge for the Expo."

He said overseas Chinese, with their experience with both Chinese and foreign languages, could help overcome that challenge.

So far, more than 100 overseas Chinese in Germany have shown an interest in becoming volunteers.

Gong said his union would also coordinate with Chinese schools in Germany to recruit student volunteers.

More than 400 Chinese businessmen and overseas Chinese community leaders are in town for the two-day meeting, which ends today.

Also yesterday, Huang Yaocheng, deputy director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said that the more than 18,000 families within the Expo site have all been relocated.

So far, 68 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation in the World Expo.

(Shanghai Daily September 6, 2006)