8 elearning translation best practices

With 65% of millennials citing professional development opportunities as the reason for choosing their jobs, getting elearning translation right for international employees is no longer a “nice to have” but a crucial component of attracting and retaining top global talent.

Not sure where to begin? That’s where we come in. In this article, we’ve got eight elearning translation best practices to ensure your L&D team gets it right every time. From translating multimedia content to preparing for text expansion and contraction, our tips ensure learners stay engaged with your content whichever language they are learning in.

Before you start designing your course content or writing any drafts, your first step when translating elearning content should always be to research your target audience. By conducting in-depth research, you can ensure your translated content is relevant, engaging, and effective at communicating your desired message to target learners.

Create research goals that center around understanding cultural nuances, local beliefs, regional language differences, preferred learning styles, and the educational backgrounds of the target audience. With these objectives, the content you create will have higher engagement and comprehension rates that lead to improved overall learning outcomes.

There are numerous ways you can perform research such as:

• Sending out surveys

• Conducting interviews

• Leading focus groups

• Performing observational studies

With the quantitative and qualitative data from your research, you’ll have the information you need to craft elearning materials that truly resonate with your audiences and support them on their learning journeys.

Rather than simply translating an existing course into another language, think of your elearning course as a product for global audiences from its conception. There are numerous benefits to this approach:

• It’s a more efficient use of resources as it mitigates extensive revisions later on

• Text expansion, right-to-left languages, and other layout issues can be taken into account in the course design

• It promotes the use of clear, consistent, and concise language throughout the materials

• It streamlines the entire localization process

When designing a course that can be effectively localized and translated, it’s important to avoid the use of colloquialisms in the original source text as these often do not translate well into other languages.

You should also be careful not to use images and multimedia files which have extensive embedded text as these can be more complicated to translate. Finally, be sure to always use editable source files in the course design, as this enables linguists, editors, and local experts to easily work on the files.

A glossary and style guide are fundamental components to any elearning translation process. These language reference materials provide linguists with the key phrases, wording, and stylistic preferences to use, ensuring consistency across all materials and speeding up the translation and localization process.

In addition to the inclusion of industry-relevant terminology in your glossary and style guide, you may wish to include a section that guides writers on cultural sensitivity and considerations. This guidance will help translators create engaging content that is appropriate for the intended audience.

The main components of your translation glossary should include company and industry-specific words and phrases, relevant acronyms and abbreviations, and any words that should be left in the original source material’s language (ie., not translated).

The style guide should describe your brand’s preferred voice and tone, and offer details regarding the target audience being written for. Any other linguistic preferences and reference materials can be put in the style guide too.

Localization refers to the adaptation of content to match the cultural, regional, language, and learning preferences of a target audience. Unlike translation, which is simply when one language is converted into another, localization takes into account the user’s specific preferences to support the creation of content that truly resonates.

When this is done effectively, engagement and comprehension levels soar. Learners also frequently report feeling heard and seen by their employers when elearning content is translated and localized. This bolsters retention rates and leads to employees feeling more loyal towards the company they work for.

Examples of localization in elearning content include:

• Translating all text into the target language

• Customizing case studies and scenarios to those that will be familiar to the learner

• Adjusting cultural references and idioms to those which are relatable to the target audience

• Changing how dates and times are formatted to align with local conventions

• Converting units of measurement and currency to those used in the target region

• Dubbing or adding subtitles to videos and audio clips in the local language

• Ensuring symbols, colors, and design elements align with those the learner will be familiar with

• Adapting the layout and design for right-to-left languages where necessary

A common error in translation and localization is to neglect the translation of multimedia content such as text on images, videos, and UI elements. When this step in the process is missed, learner comprehension and engagement suffer considerably.

The reason for the impact of this oversight is because images, illustrations, graphs, and other visual learning aids frequently contain information that supports the text and enhances the learning experience. The company or team behind the creation of the translated elearning course can also appear unprofessional when these elements are not translated along with the rest of the content.

In order to ensure your multimedia content, such as online courses, is translated correctly, we’d recommend implementing a thorough localization strategy that ensures all graphics that contain embedded text are regularly assessed by language tools and professional linguists.

As part of this strategy:

• Use translation-friendly formats that enable swift text changes

• Employ professional proofreaders, translators, local experts, and subject matter experts to review UI elements

• Test the content with users from the target audiences before publication to catch any untranslated text or errors

You can use AI translation and AI dubbing tools to translate your videos in seconds. AI dubbing is a cost-effective and efficient way of ensuring language accessibility to all of your global learnings.

Text expansion and contraction refers to when translated sentences or phrases are longer or shorter than the original language version. This occurs because of differences in language structure, syntax, and vocabulary and is commonplace in multilingual courses. Text expansion occurs when the translated text is longer than the original, and text contraction occurs when the translated text is shorter than the original.

The extent to which the text expands or contracts comes down to the differences in the two languages being translated and can vary considerably.

There are numerous strategies you can adopt to be prepared for text expansion and contraction in your translated elearning content.

Here are our top tips:

• Incorporate responsive design principles into your layout design

• Use scalable text boxes

• Utilize adjustable UI elements

• Use clear and precise language

• Avoid embedding text directly within images or UI elements

• Design with ample white space to allow for potential expansion

• Use localization tools that can help you manage this such as Translation Memory (TM) and Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools

Despite the huge benefits of using AI translation tools to translate and localize elearning materials, it’s still hugely important to work with professionals, such as linguists, proofreaders, and subject matter experts when finalizing your content.

As well as being able to ensure the consistency, high quality, and accuracy of the elearning materials, these experts can take into account cultural sensitivities, nuance, and context, which are crucial to successful localization.

In addition to using language professionals, bringing on board subject matter experts and those with regional knowledge bring authenticity and legitimacy to the content, as these individuals can ensure that technical and region-specific language is being used correctly.

When working with Smartcat, you can add as many admins, project managers, linguists, reviewers, and subject matter experts as you like with the unlimited seat model. Collaborate with any team members as needed to ensure quality and consistency. You can also AI-source new linguists and reviewers from Smartcat Marketplace.

Just as research should always be your starting point for translating elearning materials, your final step before finalizing any content is to test it with members of your target audience. The type of testing you choose to conduct will depend on the materials and intended audiences, however you may wish to consider the following methods:

• Pilot testing 
  Targeting small groups from the intended audience, use interviews, surveys, and focus groups to gather detailed feedback.

• Usability testing
  Ask target users to complete specific elearning modules to identify usability or learning issues.

• A/B testing
  Using two versions of the translated elearning materials, observe which leads to better learning outcomes for learners.

• Surveys
  Ask target users to complete a survey before studying the elearning materials and after completing a set module.

Testing your elearning materials enables you to assess the effectiveness of the translation and how well the content resonates with your target users. It also gives you an idea of how engaging the learning materials are and provides you with an opportunity to identify any previously unseen errors or inaccuracies. Users can also offer feedback on the usability of the materials and how satisfied they are with their learning experiences.

What is e-learning localization?

E-learning localization adapts content to fit the cultural, regional, language, and learning preferences of a target audience. Unlike simple translation, localization considers specific user preferences to make the content more engaging and relevant.

What are the best methods for translating eLearning content?

The best methods include conducting thorough research on your target audience, designing courses with translation and localization in mind, establishing a glossary and style guide, prioritizing localization, translating multimedia content, preparing for text expansion and contraction, employing translation experts, and testing the content with native speakers.

What are the benefits of e-learning translation?

E-learning translation improves engagement and comprehension, makes learners feel valued, enhances retention rates, and fosters employee loyalty by making the content accessible and relevant in different languages.

How to quickly translate educational videos?

To quickly translate educational videos, ensure all multimedia content is included in your localization strategy. Use translation-friendly formats, employ professional translators and proofreaders, and test the content with target audience members to catch any issues.

There you have it! Eight best practices for L&D teams to follow when translating and localizing elearning materials for international employees. By following our guide, you’ll attract and retain global talent, enhance learning outcomes, and boost company productivity.