News
Commonwealth Notify adds Braewick and Selmarch language support
Services can now send emails, text messages, and letters in nine languages, with regional translations reviewed by native speakers rather than generated automatically.
At a glance
- Nine languages now supported across email, text message, and letters
- Translations are commissioned and reviewed, not machine generated
- Language preference is taken from Commonwealth ID with an English fallback
From today, every service using Commonwealth Notify can send messages in Braewick and Selmarch alongside the seven languages already supported. Around 340,000 people across the two regions record one of these as the language they would prefer to be contacted in.
Translations are commissioned rather than generated. Each template is translated by a native speaker and reviewed by a second before it is available to services, because a mistranslated benefits letter is worse than an English one somebody has to ask about.
Service teams do not need to do anything to enable the new languages. Where a person has recorded a language preference in Commonwealth ID, Notify will select the matching template automatically and fall back to English if one does not exist yet.
We know this leaves gaps. Around 60 templates across 14 services have no regional translation, and we are working through them in order of how many people each affects. Teams can see which of their own templates are outstanding in the Notify dashboard.
Services mentioned
Commonwealth Notify
Send emails, text messages, and printed letters from your service without building or contracting your own messaging system.
Commonwealth ID
Create one verified account and use it to sign in to every Commonwealth public service that needs to know who you are.
Related guidance
Writing for public services
How to write service content people understand first time, including the Commonwealth's rules on terminology, tone, and reading level.