References

City of Rauma

Client story

Openly, reliably, actively, and multilingually – this is how the City of Rauma communicates in exceptional circumstances

The City of Rauma translated COVID-19 instructions for its residents into nearly ten languages and effectively reduced the number of infections in the spring.

Lingo has been the city’s translation partner for years.

The city organisation communicates and serves residents in all circumstances

The City of Rauma is Rauma’s largest and Satakunta’s third-largest employer. It employs about 3,000 employees and provides services to more than 39,000 residents.

“Our goal is to serve the municipal residents as well as possible in all circumstances,” say the City of Rauma’s Communications Manager Raija Lehtorinne and Communications Specialist Kari Riikilä.

“We produce up-to-date and accurate information about the city’s services for the residents of Rauma and our other stakeholders in a comprehensive and fair manner.”

Multilingual communication across multiple channels

About five percent of the people of Rauma speak a language other than Finnish as their mother tongue. In addition to Finnish, the most used languages are English, Polish, Estonian, French, German, and Latvian.

“We mainly communicate in Finnish, but we have also translated our websites into English. Some of the bulletins and current news on the website are also available in English, and during COVID-19, guides and instructions were translated into numerous other languages,” reports the city’s communications department.

The City of Rauma mainly communicates through its website www.rauma.fi and www.visitrauma.fi. In addition, the city communicates actively on social media channels and through local media and newsletters.

The City of Rauma has received a lot of praise for its open and active communication. Of course, municipal residents criticise communication when they feel that they have not received enough information.

According to Lehtorinne and Riikilä, the biggest challenge in the city’s communication is reaching people. Not everyone has the internet, and not everyone reads newspapers or follows social media.

Communication needs increased during the COVID-19 pandemic

The city’s communications team has worked hard to reach all of its residents.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenge was to convey information at the right time and on a short turnaround. Information comes from many places, and it must be structured in an understandable and clear manner,” Lehtorinne and Riikilä explain.

“COVID-19 communications took priority over all other information.”

All languages are available under one roof at Lingo

Rauma has produced COVID-19 instructions in Finnish, English, Russian, Estonian, Polish, and Lithuanian. Also German, French, Arabic and Dari translations were offered. Short and concise instructions were uploaded to the city’s website for printing and distributed directly via the city’s business services.

A good translation partner was very useful in producing accurate linguistic information.

“We are very pleased with our collaboration with Lingo! The cooperation has been smooth, fast, and simple, regardless of the language.”