Photo courtesy the Lifesaving Society

Barbara Byers, public education director for the Lifesaving Society, displays translated Swim to Survive materials in Punjabi at South Fletcher's Sportsplex in Brampton, Ont.

The Lifesaving Society is translating important drowning prevention information into 26 different languages in an effort to reach out to new immigrant parents in Ontario.

The massive translation project is part of the national charitable organization's commitment to teach all children about the importance of water safety and drowning prevention skills through its Swim to Survive program, which was previously only available in English and French.

"It was essential that we reach Ontarians in multiple languages about programs offered for drowning prevention, to ensure the growing immigrant population—many of whom may have little knowledge or experience with recreational swimming and water safety—have the tools to help safeguard their children," says Barbara Byers, the Lifesaving Society's public education director.

A recent $18,000 grant from the RBC Foundation assisted in the translation efforts, allowing the Lifesaving Society to convert the Swim to Survive parent information package into several languages, including: Arabic; Chinese; Czech; Farsi; Greek; Gujarati; Hindi; Hungarian; Italian; Khmer; Korean; Macedonian; Pashto; Polish; Portugese; Punjabi; Romanian; Russian; Somali; Spanish; Tagalog; Tamil; Twi; Ukranian; Urdu and Vietnamese.

The Swim to Survive program is funded by the Ministry of Education and delivered through elementary schools, teaching children in Grade 3 the minimum standard of swimming ability for survival after an unexpected fall into the water.