PANDA’s Multilingual Website Upgrade

PANDA faced the dual challenge of making its website both linguistically and visually accessible to CALD communities. It was crucial that the website was easy to navigate for users with limited English proficiency. This meant optimising the site for multilingual access, including clear language switching options and accurate display of translated content. Additionally, PANDA recognised the importance of visual communication, necessitating the selection of culturally appropriate images for each language page. The challenge was to ensure that both the visuals and navigation tools complemented the translated content and resonated with diverse cultural backgrounds, while avoiding any cultural missteps or alienation of users.

Ethnolink partnered with PANDA’s digital team to implement a website optimisation strategy. This was followed by technical enhancements, such as setting correct language tags for each page and ensuring that the fonts used were fully supported across all languages. Additionally, measures were taken to ensure the accurate display of bi-directional text, and the in-language search functionality was optimised to make it easier for users to find the information they needed.

Ethnolink also coordinated in-context reviews of all 40 pages of in-language content with NAATI-certified translators, ensuring that the translations were accurate and culturally appropriate. The team used Sanity CMS to upload and test the translations, ensuring that they were displayed correctly and provided a user-friendly experience.

In terms of visuals, Ethnolink focused on sourcing culturally relevant images for each language page. After selecting culturally appropriate images, these images were then integrated into the website to enhance user engagement and ensure that the site resonated with the diverse cultural backgrounds of its users.