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Thousands of Koreans and foreigners on Saturday gathered at Seoul’s Cheonggye Plaza to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Korea BBB Association, a network of v olunteer interpreters that assists foreigners in Korea and Koreans outside the countr y. “Beyond the language barrier, we are all friends,” read a sign on the orange balloo ns, held by about 5,000 participants, 1,000 of whom were foreigners, organizers sai d. They walked the 5.8-kilometer (3.6-mile) round-trip along the stream from the wate rfall near Cheonggye Plaza to Ogansu Bridge in Jongno 6-ga and back. The BBB, or Before Babel Brigade, has been providing free interpretation services vi a cell phones to about 100,000 foreigners in the country and Koreans visiting other c ountries. More than 3,200 volunteers offer the service in 17 languages, according to t he association. Diplomats from 17 countries, including Russia, Hungary, Australia, Peru and Laos a nd their families, joined the walk. “It is very impressive that one can get help whenev er or wherever he or she wants through a cell phone,” said Raba Hadid, Algerian a mbassador to Korea. Janet, 52-year-old office worker from the United States who wanted to be named onl y by her first name, said she met Han Hyun-woo, 52, a Korean businessman, and hi s wife, when registering for the event. The three walked together. “Our conversation started from weather and moved on to religion and philosophy,” s he said. “I met good friends today that I have wanted for the past three years of my st ay in Korea.” After returning from the walk, traditional performances by Turkish, Japanese, Vietna mese and Thai performers were held. The BBB was launched by the JoongAng Ilbo i n 2002 for the World Cup that year.