Lucas Lopes-Silva is waiting for a repairman.

His family has moved into an apartment in Marietta, and BellSouth is supposed to hook up their telephone.

"I've been calling them for two weeks, and no one shows up," he said. "Today, they said, for sure, they will be here."

Lucas waits. And waits. Finally, there's a knock at the door, and he jumps from the sofa. But it's not the repairman. It's a family friend who needs a translator.

At age 12, Lucas is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English, and his reputation as a translator has spread quickly through his circle of relatives, friends and neighbors. They depend on his talents for buying a car, for talking to doctors at the hospital, for dealing with an English-speaking world.

In Georgia, about 426,000 people speak Spanish at home, according to the 2000 census. Of all the difficulties faced by Atlanta's growing immigrant population, speaking English can be the most stressful, and families turn to their own children first.

Sometimes, it seems like a full-time job, but Lucas says he doesn't mind. He likes to help people.

When a BellSouth employee shows up and explains the phone line problem, which was caused by the previous tenant, Lucas immediately calls his father and translates the information.

"Entao, esta bom," he tells his father in Portuguese, which means, "OK then, good."

Another task done, on to the next.

"Most kids don't like this kind of work," Lucas said. "I treat it like a game."

Lucas has become something of a neighborhood celebrity.

Like many children new to this country, the boy quickly learned English and began translating from his native Portuguese just six months after he arrived from Goiania, Brazil, three years ago.

It started with his family. Lucas returned calls and made appointments for his father, Antonio Lopes-De Araujo, 41, who has a carpet installation business. He helped his sisters, Carla, 21, and Daniella, 22, get house-cleaning jobs.

"When we move, he calls the water company and makes business calls for the whole family and our friends, without complaining," his father said.

With his chubby brown cheeks, innocent eyes and skateboarder attire, Lucas at first glance seems too young to take on such adult responsibilities. Like other boys his age, he plays video games and surfs the Internet looking for the latest fad. He rattles off the current comedy movies and their plots without pausing.

But when it comes to helping family and friends, Lucas is not typical. He leads a double life --- one among his 12-year-old friends, the other in the world of immigrant adults trying to navigate their way through an unfamiliar country.

One of Lucas' emergency calls came three weeks ago, when Dilla Campos, 35, asked him for help because her son had a scooter accident and was rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.

Campos, who has lived in the United States for a year, had not been to a hospital here. Lucas, a friend of her son, stayed with the family until 4 a.m. and helped translate through the night. The injured boy ended up with six stitches in his left knee.

"Lucas knew exactly what to tell the nurse," Campos said. "He told them we had no money, but needed help." He filled out hospital forms and comforted the mother, she said.

Lucas also got the call when Helena Silva, 32, needed a new car.

Silva, who is not related to Lucas but is also from Goiania, had met his family at church in Marietta and knew he had helped others in their congregation. "He is the only child at church who is not embarrassed to translate for adults," Silva said.

Together, Silva and Lucas visited four dealerships. "He knew who to talk to and got me the best price in the end," she said in Portuguese.

Lucas' first hospital visit came two years ago, when Alicia Guerrero, a friend of his sister Carla, was having complications during her pregnancy. Lucas was called to the emergency room at 2 a.m. to translate. Guerrero was bleeding, and the doctors could not understand what she was trying to tell them.

"That really freaked me out because it was the first time I had been in a hospital," Lucas said. Guerrero was treated successfully, and a few months later had her baby.

Ruth Running, who was Lucas' sixth-grade reading teacher at East Cobb Middle School last year, said he is a model student who tutors children new to the school in Spanish and English.

"He helps students who don't speak English or who are not familiar with the system," she said. "He even helps them with opening their lockers."

Lucas says he enjoys translating, but added, "Don't get me wrong, I do get nervous sometimes when I'm talking to business people because I'm afraid that I will not say the right word."

One side effect to his proficiency in English is that sometimes he can't remember certain words in Portuguese. "I don't want to forget my heritage or Portuguese," he said.

Lucas also distributes fliers for a Brazilian restaurant and is saving the money he makes from that job.

But translating is strictly a no-charge service.

The excitement of learning the ropes of life in the United States is payoff enough, he said. "I miss Brazil, but I definitely like living here."