– Sweden: Emergency Calls in Foreign Languages up 34 Per Cent in 2017:
The number of emergency calls to police and ambulances by people speaking foreign languages rose by 34 per cent in 2017, with Arabic and Somali being the most common.
Sweden saw a total of 7,783 emergency calls made by individuals speaking a language other than Swedish or English in 2017, requiring an even greater need for interpreters, according to SOS Alarm, the group who run the 112 emergency line.
Gunnar Bergström, who is responsible for the 112 emergency line, said: “The caller of SOS Alarm needs to be able to answer two questions: where are you and what has happened? With interpreting help, we get better precision in this in more conversations and reduce the risk of misunderstandings.
Read moreSweden: Emergency Calls in Foreign Languages up 34 Per Cent in 2017