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Article published In: Translation in Society
Vol. 4:2 (2025) ► pp.220–247

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Multilingual accessibility of websites in relation to translation policies

Municipal websites in the Helsinki metropolitan area during the COVID-19 pandemic

ORCiD logo with link | Tampere University
 | University of Helsinki
 | University of Helsinki
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Tampere University.

Published online: 6 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tris.23017.kin
Abstract
This article analyzes the availability and accessibility of multilingual coronavirus information on the websites of the three largest cities in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to assess whether these websites fulfilled their objective of providing access to coronavirus information in the needed languages for the residents of the area. The research questions are: (1) How accessible were the websites in terms of findability, timeliness, and language coverage? (2) How did the practices on the websites reflect the translation policies of the municipalities? The material consists of website data, interviews, and municipal policy documents. The results demonstrate that the cities clearly saw the provision of multilingual information as a priority, and translations were available in up to twenty non-national languages. However, cities’ translation policies were poorly defined, they were unprepared for the timely publication of crisis information in multiple languages on their websites, and their crisis communication plans did not adequately address the needs of multilingual populations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation policy and online health communication in municipalities
  • 3.Data and methods
  • 4.Linguistic accessibility of municipal websites as an outcome of translation policies
    • 4.1Multilingual profile of the Helsinki metropolitan area
    • 4.2Preparedness of the three cities in their strategic communication plans
    • 4.3Language coverage of COVID-19 websites
    • 4.4Issues regarding the accessibility of multilingual online information
      • 4.4.1Webpage design and information placement
      • 4.4.2Navigation and findability
      • 4.4.3Timeliness of information
      • 4.4.4Evidence from interviews with municipal communication officers
  • 5.Translation policies reflected in municipal translation practices
  • Notes
  • References
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