ITF helps break language barrier for seafarers
The ITF website www.itfseafarers.org, launched two years ago as an ‘online lifeline’ for everyone working at sea, has just been launched in three new languages. Originally available in English, it is now reaching out to seafarers in Chinese (Simplified Mandarin), Russian and Spanish.
ITFSeafarers is a free to use help, news, advice and support website for seafarers anywhere in the world. From the beginning it was intended to one day provide services to seafarers speaking in Chinese, Spanish and Russian and with any level of web access and computer fluency.
ITF maritime coordinator Steve Cotton said, ‘We’re proud of how widely used ITFSeafarers has become since its launch. It set out to answer a need voiced by seafarers and welfare bodies for cutting edge, free, easy to use communication from ship or shore. The unveiling of the new, additional language sites makes it a virtually universal service for the world’s seafarers, whether they’re at leisure, at work, or in trouble and needing help.’
In the new language versions www.itfseafarers.org offers information on health, pay and safety and includes advice, help, maritime news and crew talk forums. The venture has taken several years of preparation and was commissioned in direct response to research undertaken and commissioned by the ITF and seafarers’ welfare organisations that identified the need for new levels of electronic support for those working at sea, in particular a dedicated channel that could be easily accessed from PCs in seafarers’ missions and at sea.
Spanish was selected due to its widespread use in Europe and in particular among Latin America seafarers, Russian in response to it being the first language of around 10% of the international labour force in shipping as well as the second language of many older Eastern European workers and Chinese to assist the estimated 330,000 to 380,000 Chinese seafarers serving on coastal and deep sea vessels.
