Czech speaker Gan Li was supposed to take care of the Czech goalball athletes at a recent pre-Paralympic test event in Beijing. When they failed to show, he was seconded to the Japanese delegation.
"Few things go as planned during a test event," said the precocious 19-year-old from Jiangxi Province, who is already in his third year of university.
"Many teams did not come, so everyone ended up being reshuffled."
Such emergencies were disruptive, he said, but also served as useful confidence-builders.
"This was the first time I got to use my Japanese skills at an international event," said Gan, who taught himself Japanese.
The task was much easier for Li Jing, a sophomore who studies Malay at Beijing Foreign Studies University. She just needed to learn specialized vocabulary, such as the Malay for "smash" and "kill" in badminton matches.
She also had to learn to stay on her toes.
"One day a fire alarm went off at the venue by accident and a Malaysian reporter jumped out of his seat and ran for his life," said the 20-year-old, who hails from Guilin city in southwestern China. She followed the reporter and reassured him in his mother tongue that he was not in any danger.
"I think hearing it in his own language made him relax much more quickly," said Li.
"Although they can speak English, athletes and guests are very happy to hear their mother tongue being spoken by a bunch of young Chinese," said Guo Bohan, another language volunteer whose major is Swedish.
Language volunteers also told China Daily they google information about athletes, teams and sports federations beforehand.
They also study their chosen sports and related terms in class to function better at the event and be able to clarify any controversial decisions.
"The stuff we need to learn is endless. After all, it is not the language that matters, but the information," said Gan.
