Information for those who work in customer service

People working in customer service meet immigrants in person, online or by phone. The time they can spend with a customer is often short. They can use interpretation services, plain language and versatile materials during the short encounter. You should keep the steps of face-to-face customer service in mind.

Interpretation and translation According to the Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration, authorities must ensure interpretation and translation services when needed. Customer service people must make sure that the customer understand matters related to them.

InfoFinland.fi InfoFinland is a multi-lingual website providing important information in one place for those planning to migrate to Finland or already living here. The website also serves the authorities in the dissemination of multi-lingual information.

Integration in Swedish The Act on the Promotion of Immigrant Integration gives immigrants the right to choose Swedish or Finnish as their primary integration language.

Plain language Materials written in a clear and plain manner are a good tool at the early stages of language learning when the person’s Finnish skills are not sufficient for understanding communications by authorities.

Multilingual materials Multilingual materials related to Finnish society and culture help integration. You can also use the materials in customer service and guidance.

Identifying and preventing harmful practices Customer service people should be aware of and identify harmful practices, such as human trafficking, close relation, “honour”-related violence and female genital mutilation.

News for those working at customer service

Municipalities provide multilingual information regarding services in the coronavirus situation

25.6.2021 8.00

News item

In many municipalities, immigrants are advised to seek information from online services or telephone services. In the current situation with the coronavirus outbreak, municipalities offer also advice by telephone in various languages. Some municipalities have published multilingual information on the coronavirus.

Updated and published 11.12.2020.

The information provided on this page will be updated with a slight delay, as soon as updates are available. Please follow regional recommendations & restrictions at thl.fi/regions.

Helsinki

Information about the coronavirus situation (Estonian, Somali, Russian, Arabic, Swedish, English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Sorani, Dari, Urdu, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Uzbek, Farsi)
Coronavirus updates from Helsinki
International House of Helsinki (IHH): To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, International House will offer limited service

Tampere

Coronavirus information in different languages (English, Swedish, Chinese, Estonian, Somali, Russian, Farsi, Arabic)

Espoo

Coronavirus advice for Espoo residents
Coronavirus instructions in different languages (Albanian, Arabic, Dari, English, Farsi, Hindi, Chinese, Kurdish, Somali, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Russian, Vietnamese, Estonian)

Vantaa

Information about Coronavirus in different languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, Estonian, Russian, Somali, Albanian, French, Uzbek, Dari, Arabic and Persian)

Turku

Jyväskylä

Oulu

Information about the coronavirus (Arabic, Dari, Estonian, English, Farsi, Chinese, French, Thai, Turskish, Somali, Russian)
Multilingual assistance will be available by telephone

Vaasa

Hämeenlinna

Information on the Coronavirus situation in Hämeenlinna
Coronavirus at Myintegration.fi (Russian, Arabic, Somali, Polish)

Joensuu

Information about the coronavirus (Arabic, English, Russian)

Hospital discricts

HUS information about the Coronavirus
TYKS information about the Coronavirus
Information about the Coronavirus from South Karelia Social and Health Care District (Eksote) (English, Russian, Arabic, French, Turkish, Dari, Tigrinya, easy Finnish)
Information about the Coronavirus from Päijät-Häme (English, Arabic, Farsi, Somali, Tigrinya, Russian)
Information about the Coronavirus from Kymsote
Information about the Coronavirus from Siun Sote (Finnish, English, Russian)
Information about the Coronavirus from Keusote