Support for foreign languages
One of the objectives that the council's new Service and Development Department set for itself when it was established was to better meet the needs of immigrants. Following the launch of an English website, we have added Google Translate translation functionality to the council's main website.
Over the past year, continuous improvements have been made for the benefit of immigrants in in collaboration with the project manager for multicultural affairs at the Department for Family and Child Affairs, ...liaison with other areas of the council and other stakeholders. Attitude surveys, usage metrics and user testing of websites have been carried out, but the aim is to further engage in dialogue with users.
New English website launched on 1 September 2020 and has since been regularly updated with robust news coverage in English and translations of important information. Further innovations are in development for the English website, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks and months. Web traffic is fairly steady, with around 150-200 users visiting the site each week. Each user views 2-3 pages per visit, so demand is certainly there.
Alongside the website, a robust information campaign has been run on The Facebook page Living in Hafnarfjörður which is run by a multicultural project manager and is enjoying growing attention with 850 followers.
Following the launch of our English website, we have added Google Translate functionality for the main languages spoken by immigrants in Hafnarfjörður. By having a solid foundation on an English website, the reliability of translations into other languages is greater than if we were to translate directly from Icelandic. With this addition, we believe we are even better meeting the needs of the immigrants in Hafnarfjörður, who make up approximately 13.1% of the population.
The town's primary school websites and the Hafnarfjörður Library website have also been given Google Translate functionality. An English translation of the primary school websites has not been undertaken as it would be a large-scale project; instead, the option was chosen to offer a translation directly from the Icelandic text, with a clear disclaimer regarding the reliability of the translations. We believe that this service is nevertheless of great use to immigrants and their children.
A redesign of My Pages is in preparation, and translation work for My Pages into English and Polish has begun. The new My Pages will launch next year.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the city's cultural institutions provide good information in other languages on their websites and social media. In many cases, content from the Hafnarfjörður Library is translated into Polish. The National Museum's new website , which opened shortly before Christmas, is in Icelandic and English.