LinguaSkin case study
Citizens Access and Housing
How Pembrokeshire County Council deliver a Welsh language interface for digital applications
Pembrokeshire County Council is a local authority in West Wales. It delivers a range of essential public services, including education, housing, social care, revenues and benefits, environmental services and public protection. 17% of Pembrokeshire’s residents speak Welsh.
What Pembrokeshire County Council needed to achieve
The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 makes Welsh an official language in Wales. This means it must be treated no less favourably than English and that publicly funded organisations must allow people to communicate in Welsh if they choose.
As a Welsh local authority, Pembrokeshire County Council is required to comply with the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. This legislation mandates that its website and digital applications provide a Welsh language option, ensuring residents can access information and submit data in their preferred language.
Key challenges
Pembrokeshire County Council builds bilingual capability into the digital applications it develops internally. However, the council also use third-party applications, where applying and editing Welsh language translation can be time consuming.
Why Pembrokeshire County Council chose LinguaSkin
Pembrokeshire County Council was looking for language technology that would:
- ✓ Give it bilingual capabilities
- ✓ Seamlessly integrate with third-party applications
- ✓ Allow it to update the bilingual interface
- ✓ Be quick and easy to implement
- ✓ Be cost-effective
- ✓ Ensure compliance with the Welsh Language Measure
LinguaSkin was recommended to Pembrokeshire County Council by a third-party supplier. It met all the council’s needs.
Right from the start the LinguaSkin team gave me the confidence that not only could they deliver a Welsh version of our site, they could turn it around at a rate which meant our go live date was never in jeopardy.
Implementation
LinguaSkin works with any third-party application, including cloud and SaaS-based systems. It’s installed as a ‘software proxy’ between the browser and the base application, either remotely or on the same secure server as the base application. As it doesn’t need to integrate with the base application, it’s quick and easy to implement.
It requires no technical effort from the third-party supplier, no changes to the base application or its configuration and minimal involvement from the customer, in this case Pembrokeshire County Council’s Digital Services Team.
There was no delay to the project timescale, and the base English-language application is maintained and operates as normal.
This all makes implementation fast and risk-free. The whole process can be done in as little as a week.
How LinguaSkin works
LinguaSkin forwards web requests and responses between a browser and a web application. Known as proxy localisation, this approach enhances web-based applications with no need to change them.
First, the English text is extracted and sent to a professional for translation. When complete, the translations are configured as replacement text and a language selector is added. Finally, the customer tests and edits the translations to make sure they’re correct and work in context.
It’s easy to add as many languages as you need. Unlike with automatic online translation technology, translations can be edited at any time and customised to fit with the customer’s style, terminology and dialect. LinguaSkin is also far more secure, robust and cost-effective than automated translation tools and doesn’t cause privacy concerns.
Users can switch between languages with just one click. Plus, switching languages doesn’t change page location or context. Therefore, no matter how many you add, the page structure and content are guaranteed not to change and only a single instance of the target application exists.
I have complete confidence in the product.
Support
LinguaSkin is supported by the LinguaSkin team. Pembrokeshire County Council’s Digital Services Manager, says:
We have received fantastic support from the LinguaSkin team. Issues are rare, but when they do occur, they’re resolved quickly and efficiently. Communication is excellent, and they’re a pleasure to work with.
Benefits
LinguaSkin works with any web-based application. This flexibility means it can quickly and easily add multilingual capability to any system to make it more accessible and ensure it complies with local language requirements.
Pembrokeshire County Council say LinguaSkin's strengths are in its speed, flexibility and reliability. They needed to add accurate language capability in a short timescale and with LinguaSkin they could do this.
LinguaSkin’s benefits at a glance
- ✓ Minimal involvement from Pembrokeshire County Council’s Digital Services Team
- ✓ Seamless integration with no change to the base application
- ✓ Quick and easy to implement
- ✓ No downtime or service disruption means significant productivity savings
- ✓ No problem keeping to the project deadline
- ✓ Quick and easy to change with no technical changes
- ✓ No loss of quality, control or security
What changed
LinguaSkin means Pembrokeshire County Council can meet its obligations under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and give its customers choice in the language they use when they interact with its digital services. Because LinguaSkin is so flexible, more languages can easily be added at any time.
As LinguaSkin works with any web-based application, Pembrokeshire County Council now has a quick, easy and proven tool they can use.
Key learning
LinguaSkin enables Pembrokeshire County Council to deploy Welsh language functionality quickly. This highlights the value of working with specialist suppliers, to benefit from their expertise while continuing to focus on what you do well.
LinguaSkin enhances web applications with multilingual capability. Languages are easy to add and maintain, and as the target application doesn’t need to be changed, implementation is quick with minimal hassle and cost.
Going forward
Pembrokeshire County Council intends to extend the use of LinguaSkin to other public-facing applications as they are introduced, if required.
What they said
The Pembrokeshire County Council Digital Services Manager said:
LinguaSkin is quick to implement, reliable, and has delivered significant productivity savings for us. The LinguaSkin team provide excellent support throughout the configuration and deployment process and will deliver on deadlines. The ability to add it to third-party products without delaying go-live dates is a huge advantage.
The Pembrokeshire County Council Applications and Support Manager said:
When we were building our online housing platform we were so grateful for LinguaSkin’s help in delivering a bilingual version of the site. The customer care is like nothing I’ve experienced before; they really do care about their product and their customer and that’s what makes them stand out in their field.