Staff writer

OSAKA -- Nearly 75 percent of respondents to a recent city-sponsored survey are not interested in volunteering as interpreters or translators if Osaka hosts the 2008 Olympics.

And while more than 90 percent of local residents know that Osaka has won the Japanese Olympic Committee bid, support for Osaka's effort seems less than enthusiastic. The survey was conducted between Aug. 13 and 16 by Dentsu Corp. at the request of the Osaka city government after the JOC chose Osaka over Yokohama to be Japan's candidate city for the Olympics.

Six hundred people living in Osaka were contacted by telephone, of which 480, or 80 percent, responded to questions.

City officials in Osaka have long been concerned with raising the Olympic conscience of local citizens, and have started numerous programs to drum up support. If Osaka is chosen as the site for the 2008 Games, it is estimated that up to 300,000 volunteers will be needed for everything from trash collection to medical services and language guides.

According to the Dentsu survey, nearly 42.5 percent of those surveyed said they would definitely help clean up the area around the Olympic venues, while 37.7 percent said they would only if they got the chance. Only 11.5 percent said they wanted to volunteer as interpreters or translators, while 73.9 percent said they did not want to serve in such a capacity.

There was a similar disparity between those who said they would definitely host foreign visitors in their homes, 10.2 percent, and those who said they were not interested, 70 percent. City officials said they believe that people's reluctance to serve as translators reflects a lack of confidence in language ability rather than a lack of interest in helping out.

"A lot of my friends don't want to be volunteer interpreters because they are shy about using English," said Mariko Takeuchi, 26, an Osaka cram school instructor who worked as a language volunteer at the Osaka APEC summit in 1995 and said she also wants to help out with the Olympics.

Although interest in the Olympics itself is quite strong overall, at 74.8 percent, the survey shows that it has particular appeal among the older generations. Ninety percent of the male respondents in their 60s hoped Osaka would be the IOC candidate, while only 66 percent of men in their 30s want the Olympics. Among men in their 20s, support runs at 77 percent in favor of the Games. The support rates among women in the survey showed a very similar pattern to men in the same age groups.