Government websites that are frequently used have information in official languages

Forum Reply: Government websites that are frequently used have information in official languages

I thank Forum writer Rachel Tan for her feedback (Have government website info in other official languages, Oct 15).

I share her concern. It is indeed important to ensure that information is readily accessible to everyone.

Hence, we have made available, in the four official languages, government websites and digital services that are frequently used by citizens who are less conversant in English.

These include Central Provident Fund online services (translations on trial), Active Ageing services on the LifeSG App and the Seniors Go Digital Programme on the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s website, as well as important Covid-19-related tools and services such as the TraceTogether and SupportGoWhere websites.

Our gov.sg WhatsApp channel also sends messages in our four official languages. We will endeavour to do more.

For instance, we are trialling the use of machine translation (SG Translate) and working with volunteer citizen translators to augment our translation capacity.

We also recognise that merely putting out information on websites is not enough. We have to go the extra mile.

Hence, we have many channels to reach out to as many people as we can, including using mainstream media and our ambassadors on the ground.

Huang Weixian
Director, Adoption and Engagement
Smart Nation and Digital Government Office
Prime Minister’s Office