Espoo tests AI translations of website content for new residents

Espoo is a multicultural city with 150 nationalities and 47 different languages being taught as mother tongues.

The experiment will continue until next summer, allowing new residents to read and listen to HelloEspoo.fi content in different languages.

The City of Espoo website, including all Hello Espoo content, is available in three languages: Finnish, Swedish and English. During the experiment, you can read or listen to the content as artificial intelligence translations in French, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

The languages used in the experiment were chosen based on a number of factors, such as migration to Espoo and language groups where English is not widely spoken. We also took account of the world’s major languages, as many people understand them even if they are not native speakers.

Our aim is to later add Arabic, Estonian, Albanian, Chinese and Persian (Farsi) to the selection of languages.

The Hello Espoo website uses the life situations of new Espoo residents as its starting point. The content has been written for people who are unfamiliar with Finnish society, services and Espoo. It is intended particularly for those who have recently moved here. Our aim is to ensure that new residents find services and leisure activities as early as possible and quickly learn to do things independently. This makes it easier for them to adapt to their new hometown.

“AI models are constantly evolving. We want to use Hello Espoo content to test this new option and find out if it could help provide information to all Espoo residents in a clearer and more equal manner. Based on the results, we will look into the possibility of extending the use of AI to include the entire espoo.fi website and other city services,” says Development Manager Astrid Puumala-Thévenet.

Espoo’s AI experiment is being carried out in cooperation with Voice Intuitive.

To enable the experiment, new “Listen” and “Translate” buttons have been added to our Hello Espoo pages.

The translations may contain errors, but we hope that they help you understand the main content. We are also collecting feedback to help us assess the experiment and to develop the city’s multilingual communications.

Did you find the information you were looking for? Was the translation understandable? We hope that as many users as possible give us feedback. You can send your comments conveniently through our feedback form(external link, opens in a new window). The form is available in all languages used in the experiment.

In addition to having information available online, many people appreciate the option to discuss their concerns in person. Hello Espoo Info is located at the Service Centre in the Iso Omena shopping centre, and it provides low-threshold advice on everyday life to foreign-language speakers living in Espoo. Help is available in easy Finnish and English. A telephone interpreter is used if necessary.

At the end of 2024, the number of foreign-language residents in Espoo was 80,166, which accounts for 25 per cent of the city’s population. If the city continues to grow at the same rate, foreign-language speakers will account for one third of Espoo’s population by 2030.

Espoo’s foreign-language population consists mainly of working-age people, young people and children. The most common foreign languages spoken in Espoo are Russian, Arabic, English, Estonian and Chinese.

Astrid Puumala-Thévenet, Development Manager, tel. +358 40 6365490, astrid.puumala@espoo.fi