E-learning localization is necessary any time you plan to offer educational content in overseas markets or to any learners who use a different native language. Localization is a complex endeavor for any business artifact, but the process poses some additional challenges in the education industry.
The principals of curriculum design, especially on the e-learning platform, differ significantly among cultures, and the conversion process involves much more than simply translating.
Here are some of the most common challenges and critical considerations for localizing e-learning materials.
Use Globalization Principals in the Original Course Design
When localizing your content and delivery platforms, your primary goals no doubt involve delivering the same quality and experience to every audience.
If you anticipate expanding your content to additional global markets, you will save time and money by incorporating a few basic principals of globalization into your original course and delivery platform design. This includes making allowances for expanded text (text can potentially double in length when translating from English to other languages).
Terminology management, an important consideration in any industry, is especially critical for educational materials. Subject matter or industry-specific terminology often carries a different meaning than the words themselves when taken out of context.
Take, for example, the popular human resources jargon of onboarding. To a member of the HR staff, this term describes the process of orientation for a new company employee. To a non-English speaker, the term could appear nonsensical, or worse, may seem to refer to some mode of transportation.
The way you structure the language in your original course design can assist in facilitating future translation and localization efforts, saving significant time and money and ensuring a more effective result.
Addressing the Needs of Specific Markets
Although translation of text into your expansion market’s language is a critical part of the process, localization involves many more complex considerations. Primary among these considerations is native culture.
This involves everything from formatting dates and currency to images, text and colors that carry specific meaning in different cultures. For example, the thumbs-up image is a symbol of agreement or endorsement in many Western cultures; however, this image is considered a grave insult in many Middle Eastern societies.
Considerations for Multimedia Artifacts
Today’s digital training and educational design often involves a media-rich environment that includes graphics, animations, audio narration and video demonstrations. Each of these elements requires a different approach during the localization process.
If your course involves heavy video content, you must decide whether to create new videos for your expanded markets or to modify your existing content with subtitles or voice-over translation. Experts typically recommend producing new video content whenever possible, because the alternatives pose distractions that degrade the learning experience.
Using native speakers for audio and video content is also important, as this ensures that learners won’t have to struggle with distracting dialects or pronunciation errors. For graphics and animations, ensure that all images are culturally appropriate for use in the target market.
As the demand for digital training and educational resources expands around the world, the demands for providing content to global markets will increase proportionately. The brief considerations highlighted above don’t even begin to consider the complex technical aspects of e-learning platform conversion.
Verbatim Solutions specializes in assisting companies with all of their translation, interpretation and localization services. Our native specialists understand the specific implications of your target market and ensure that your content will be clear and concise as well as culturally appropriate.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help improve the success of your e-learning localization project.
