Yle's duty is to provide programmes also for minorities and special groups. Yle supports the equal opportunities of the entire population of Finland to participate in society and social debate, and therefore pays special attention to the accessibility of its content and services.
Why does Yle create content in different languages?
It is Yle's duty to support the equal opportunities of the entire population of Finland to participate in the society and in the associated discourse, and to take part in shared experiences. That is why we create content in different languages.
In which languages does Yle produce content?
Yle produces content in fourteen languages: Finnish, Swedish and three Sami languages (Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Colt Sami), in Finnish and Finnish-Swedish sign language, Roma, Karelian, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Somali and Arabic. Yle also produces programmes in plain Finnish and Swedish.
Plain language
What kind of service is it?
Plain language content is more understandable than general language content in terms of vocabulary and structure. Plain language is particularly useful for immigrants who are studying Finnish or Swedish, the elderly or people who have difficulty understanding speech or writing.
What content does Yle produce in plain language?
Yle offers news, current affairs content and some children’s content on television, radio and online in Finnish plain language. Yle also publishes radio news in plain Swedish.
Some of Yle’s programmes have different audio and language settings. For example, programmes acquired from abroad may include the original commentary, in addition to the in Finnish or Swedish audio description.
How to select audio settings for a programme
You can change the audio setting in the receiver’s audio settings.
On Yle Areena, the different audio descriptions can be selected, for example, using the sound icon at the bottom right of the screen, depending on the receiver.
Some of Yle’s articles can be listened to by using the listen button next to the article. The article is read out loud mechanically. The listening feature is available for some Finnish, Swedish and Northern Sami articles. Starting in late 2025, read-out-loud articles will also be available in Karelian (Livvi-Karelian).
Video and audio speed slowdown option
The playback speed of videos and audio on Yle Areena can be slowed down, which also slows down the accessibility services related to the programme, such as subtitling, voice subtitling and audio description.
You can slow down videos on Yle Areena by clicking on the settings icon (gearwheel) at the bottom right of the media player.
The speed of audio programmes can be either slowed down or sped up. At the moment, this feature is only available on mobile devices. To adjust the speed, select a programme and press play. Once the programme has started, enlarge the programme to full screen. You will see the text 1.00x on the programme page. Press the text to adjust the speed of the audio.
Enlarging the screen to full size
In the Yle Areena browser service and mobile applications, you can enlarge the video to be viewed on the full screen. The enlargement option can be found at the bottom right of the display (square with dashed lines).
How do we develop the accessibility of our digital services?
Yle develops the technical accessibility and availability of its digital services as part of daily service development. Accessibility has also been promoted by improving the retrievability of sign-language, audio-described and plain-language content on Yle Areena.
Yle wants to develop its services and content together with the people who use them. Yle jury is a group of experts by experience, consisting of people with visual and hearing impairments, in particular. It examines Yle’s content and services as well as the public service activities from the point of view of accessibility. For example, the jury has discussed Yle Areena's login and special news articles.
Are you interested in Yle jury’s activities? Please contact yleisradio@yle.fi.
