Beijing subway acts to help tourists translate

As the number of foreign tourists increased in Beijing recently, the capital's subway authorities initiated a pilot program to install multilingual language translation machines in some subways stations.

The first group consisted of eight machines, the local government said on Wednesday.

Machines have been installed at eight stations: Tian'anmen West (Line 1), Dongzhimen (Line 2), Beijing Railway Station (Line 2), Nanluoguxiang (Line 6), Olympic Park (Line 8), Xierqi (Line 13), Maquanying (Line 15) and Batong Line and Universal Resort (Line 7).

The machines can support translations in Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean, ensuring convenient communication for passengers of different nationalities.

Meanwhile, to further meet the travel needs of both Chinese and foreign tourists, the Beijing subway is providing specialized English training for station personnel.