Tourist Police officials have admitted that language barriers remain the main obstacle for them when on duty, citing the presence of visitors from the mainland who cannot understand Mandarin, as they speak a different dialect.
Operating under the Public Security Police Force (PSP), the Tourist Police said that they sometimes have to communicate through body language and a translation device.
“Most of the problems we encounter are [related to] language barriers, because there are many tourists from various provinces in the mainland and they all speak different dialects and may not speak with us in Mandarin,” said Cheong Ka Wai, a member of the Tourist Police, as cited in a report by TDM.
“So it’s quite a challenge for us to understand what they’re saying, and sometimes we have to solve the problem through body language. As for tourists from South Korea and Japan, they might not understand English or Mandarin, so we have to communicate with them through a translation device,” the police officer added.
Currently, 55 Tourist Police are on duty at the SAR’s popular tourist areas, including Leal Senado, Ruins of St. Paul and the Cotai Strip, amongst others.
Meanwhile, the PSP announced that the bureau would add six new vehicles to its operations.
Wong Io Lun, a PSP representative, said, “We usually help tourists register their lost and found items in Tourist Police vehicles. We have helped over 200 tourists and residents handle these cases.”
“So we are planning to modify six more vehicles to be deployed at various tourist hotspots, such as the Cotai Strip and the Border Gate.”
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