A tourist association is "desperate" for multilingual guides as thousands of European visitors are expected to descend on the Western Isles during summer.
More than 20 cruise liners are due to sail into Stornoway over the next three months and many have requested guiding services in a range of languages.
The demand exceeds the present number of 27 island guides who can speak another language, resulting in an urgent call for more people with linguistic skills.
Joan Morrison, of the Western Isles Tour Guide Association, said: "We are pretty desperate and really need people fluent in Finnish, Swedish, Spanish or Italian, and willing to undergo training."
"We need people as soon as possible within the next couple of weeks so we can start training."
She said guides get paid for accompanying bus tours around Lewis and Harris and the job is "quite good fun and you meet some wonderful people."
Germans make up the biggest group of expected cruise tourists, according to Ms Morrison.
She explained: "One vessel, the MV Lirica is coming twice in August. She can carry about 2000 passengers and is pretty full."
She said there will be French people on board but 80% of the passengers on one of the trips are from Germany.
She added: "Many of them are quite knowledgeable about the islands and have done their research.
"They are fascinated by lighthouses, the Callanish Stones and the islands’ history, as well as about the language and culture of the Gaidhealtachd (Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Islands).
"For them, a very important part of their holiday is seeing a living culture."
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