Sıla Ilkılıç
Author directory2026
Automatic translation in public services: A survey of the Finnish public sector
Sıla Ilkılıç | Maarit Koponen | Mary Nurminen
Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 1)
Sıla Ilkılıç | Maarit Koponen | Mary Nurminen
Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 1)
This paper presents findings from a survey on the use of automatic translation in Finnish public services, conducted in autumn 2025. Adapted from a similar survey conducted at the University of Bristol, the present survey focused on users whose main professional activity is not translation or interpreting. The study analyzed those professionals’ habits around automatic translation use, the purposes and the contexts involved, and the respondents’ satisfaction and confidence in using automatic translation. Approximately half of the respondents reported using automatic translation at least once a week and across a range of scenarios, including public-facing situations. While the survey sample is not representative of the Finnish public sector as a whole, the data suggests that automatic translation may play a role in the everyday work of at least some public service employees.