Auckland City helpline in 37 languages

Migrants phoning Auckland City for information will be able to get help in 37 different languages from May.

Language Line is free and a key plank of the council's new migrant support strategy, A Bridge to Our New People.

The service will be available during business hours and is expected to attract 30 to 35 callers a week, just 0.87 per cent of the 28,000 calls the council receives weekly. Although charges for interpretation services vary, the council expects to pay an average of $25 per call.

People who ring the council's call centre will need enough English to ask for the service, and will be connected within minutes to an interpretation service already run by the Office of Ethnic Affairs on behalf of various government agencies. The information will be relayed in a three-way conference call.

The council has identified that some new settlers have little or unconfident English and risk missing out on essential information, said call centre manager Jason Hallam.

About 70 per cent of new arrivals to New Zealand settle in Auckland and the region is the most ethnically diverse place in New Zealand, home to 181 ethnic groups.

One in six Aucklanders speak a language other than English, according to the council, and 32 per cent were born outside New Zealand.

The settlement strategy embraces a range of initiatives to ensure that new settlers are engaged in civic life. Councillor Cathey Casey, chairperson of the Community Development and Equity Committee, said that access to information was one of the key elements to feeling part of a community.

* Council helpline: 09 379-2020