Translation and localisation of eLearning and training material: 10 ways to make projects easier

With the worldwide market for eLearning products predicted to reach £31.8 billion by 2015 (Ambient Insight Research), there is clearly a growing demand from international audiences for fully translated and localised training and eLearning material.

We’ve put together this short guide to help you make the most of these opportunities and ensure your translation and localisation project runs as smoothly as possible. After all, there’s a lot to consider when developing content for new markets, be it ensuring material is culturally relevant and engaging, using the right translation team with expertise in the particular subject matter, or recording voiceover for audio content.

1. Get to know your audience for a better response

Before doing anything else you must be aware of who your eLearning material is intended for. It may sound obvious, but knowing which language your target audience speaks is the very first step. And surprisingly this is not always as simple as you might think. If you have an office in Belgium, for example, you will have the option of translating into Flemish or French, depending on your exact location and where your employees are from. It may even be a case of translating into two or more languages for one market. Cultural considerations also come into play here - take care when translating times, dates, currency and symbols. You might also need to consider changing colours or themes for different cultures.

2. Form a team and save yourself some time

Getting the right people on board from the start is paramount. Assess who you have in your own company and encourage input from content authors, in-country colleagues, trainers and assessors – essentially anyone who has anything to do with your training courses. By communicating with them from day one you’ll be able to keep on top of any issues with content and language, saving both time and money in the long run. Comtec can advise on how best to involve these experts to ensure that the most relevant knowledge is captured and integrated into your learning content. Like us, your chosen translation partner should have a suite of tools to assist in the process, enabling local market colleagues to review translated and localised content and provide feedback quickly and easily.

Translation Guide:

eLearning and Training Translation

7. Consider the technical aspects before you start

To avoid creating anything from scratch and incurring additional cost, make sure you supply all content in editable formats. This includes images, audio, videos, presentations and any other files. When considering the technical side of the project you should also bear in mind that translated text is usually longer than the English version, so if space is an issue it might be necessary to edit the original copy and set a fixed word count for the translated version.

6. Bring all your content together and be cost effective

There’s no point in translating and localising just some of your eLearning materials initially, and then dealing with other aspects of training at a later date. It is much more cost-effective to collate everything – including worksheets, questionnaires, screenshots, videos – and localise it all at the same time. This has several benefits including helping your translation provider to gain a real understanding of the content and process as well as ensuring consistency across all elements of your training materials. Using the latest technology, Comtec creates a translation memory from the localised content. This memory is then built up as more material is translated, ensuring consistency, shortening turnaround times and reducing costs.

3. Agree on a glossary of industry and company specific terms for consistency

This is recommended for every type of translation and localisation project. It’s not difficult to do – it just involves agreeing any company or industry-specific terminology before you begin, which will be used by whoever is providing your translation and localisation services. Most companies already have a preferred set of terms which they use when referring to their product or service. Taking the simple step of ensuring your translation provider is aware of these terms reduces the risk of confusion or misinterpretations.

4. Assess your existing content to start as you mean to go on

If you’re starting from scratch with your content you should bear translation in mind right from the get-go. Using simple language and short sentences can really help make the translation process more straightforward and less time-consuming, saving money and unnecessary confusion. Avoiding slang and idiomatic expressions that can be difficult to translate (or may lose their meaning completely when translated) is also helpful. At this stage it’s also worth thinking about how you intend to visualise your message. Some symbols and pictures are universally understood and can be an excellent way of helping you to get your message across.

5. Re-assess your approach to delivery of content for effective engagement

This is really a cultural issue, but as it’s such an important one, we decided to make it a separate point entirely. What might be a successful way of training in one country might prove to be a failure in another. For example, in the UK and US it’s quite normal to include a case study example and invite the learner to ‘solve’ the problem. Yet in other countries this method of learning is not the norm; rather, trainers simply provide an instructional method of teaching. Learners in some countries have even expressed frustration at the case study method, preferring to be given all the facts first, before being asked to try and solve a problem.

Hand-picked, specialist translators for each project Working only into their native tongue, our expert translation teams are tailored perfectly to your project requirements, delivering technically correct and culturally relevant translations.One dedicated Project Manager keeping you in the loop Managing all project elements, your PM takes the time to fully understand your requirements and keeps you updated every step of the way.Award-winning ISO 9001:2008 and EN15038 quality procedures With rigorously assessed working practices and built-in quality assurance, we ensure translation excellence time after time.Providing the total package, ready to roll-out Making all the necessary changes to text, videos and images followed by comprehensive testing, we deliver the total training package for your target audience.Long-term cost reductions with advanced translation

memory software With quick retrieval of stored translations for updates to future training material, we provide a cost effective solution for on-going requirements.

So, why choose Comtec?

“Comtec took out all the stress in our first multi-lingual

eLearning projects. We valued their attention to detail, responsiveness,

capability and flexibility.”

Peter Carlin, Owner, Logicearth Learning Services

1. Are you able to provide translation and localisation of all project elements, including translation of the text, formatting of images, recording of the audio and subtitling?

2. Do you use translators with the appropriate specialist industry knowledge?

3. What quality procedures do you have in place to ensure the highest standard of output?

4. How would you engage our local teams in the translation and localisation process to capture their specific expertise?

5. What cultural value can you add to my project?

Whoever you choose for your next training and eLearning translation and localisation project, we hope this short guide has provided some useful tips to help you get started. To find out more about our range of services to support eLearning translation and localisation, contact a member of the team on info@comtectranslations.com or +44 (0)1926 335681.

We look forward to hearing from you.

10. Be clear on your audio requirements

When localising audio content, voiceover recording by professional, native-speaking voice artists provides the polished finish. There are a few key points to bear in mind to make the process as smooth as possible. With voiceover, provide a clear brief on the type of voice, i.e. gender, age range, accent and tone of voice. Will you need a different tone of voice depending on the market perhaps and the target audience? Once you get started with the recording, avoid making any changes to the script – it can be costly to make changes further down the line.

8. Take extra care when it comes to graphics

A particular point on graphics in your eLearning material – make sure you send editable versions in Photoshop or Illustrator, rather than JPEGs so the text can be translated and localised hassle free. Screenshots are also worth avoiding if possible as they can take a long time to recreate.

9. Remember your original goal: to provide effective trainingThroughout your eLearning translation and localisation project keep one thing in mind – the purpose of the material. Regardless of where your learners live and work your goal should remain the same; to train employees and colleagues effectively and efficiently. It defeats the objective of the training if a learner comes away confused or irritated because of clumsy translation mistakes or a lack of cultural understanding.

Five questions to ask your translation and localisation provider

Logicearth Learning Services Task: Translation and localisation of an ICT user guide and training video for a well-known soft drinks brand

Results: Culturally relevant training materials provided with excellent feedback from the end client