Hugo.lv now provides automatic translation into all European languages

The public administration’s language technology platform Hugo.lv is now connected to eTranslation, the European Commission’s translation service, and offers free automatic translation in all 24 languages of the EU Member States. The platform translates more than half a billion words a year for its users.

Hugo.lv allows you to translate documents and longer texts securely and confidentially, as the platform does not store the data users enter. The solution includes publicly available translation and voice processing tools, as well as the management of virtual assistants for public administration. These solutions are freely accessible to all citizens.

Given that machine translation systems are now also available on the Hugo.lv platform, translation with eTranslation may take a little longer. In the language menu of the Hugo.lv platform, the letter “e” has been added to languages that are translated with the eTranslation machine translation systems.

The new service has been implemented as part of the European Union-funded transnational project National Language Technology Platform (NLTP) and managed by the language technology company Tilde in cooperation with the Cultural Information Systems Centre and seven organisations in different EU Member States. Hugo.lv is managed by the Cultural Information Systems Centre.

The project ran from April 2021 to June 2023, with a number of ambitious targets. Given the wide representation of languages in the EU, it is essential to offer solutions that allow every EU citizen to overcome language barriers between different EU nations and to facilitate the exchange of information in different languages. This is now possible with the latest language technology solutions.

In Europe’s highly ethnically and socially diverse cultural landscape, it’s also essential to ensure the development of an inclusive society and access to services, allowing everyone free access to public services regardless of their mother tongue, spoken language, or audio-visual perceptual limitations. At the same time, the project set itself the challenge of promoting linguistic equality and digital viability in the global age in Europe, which can be facilitated by adapting language technology tools to the specific needs of different languages.

The NLTP is co-funded by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union. The project was implemented in cooperation with the University of Tartu, Reykjavik University, the University of Malta, Malta Information Technology Agency, the Office of the State Advocate of Malta, the Croatian Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society, and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb.

Source: Press release (www.labsoflatvia.com)
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