We’ve been hearing that course localization can be a painful, time-consuming process. We hate that it’s such a frustrating experience, so we’re working on some ideas to make it much easier. But to do that, we need your help!
If you can spare five minutes, we’d love for you to complete this short survey to help us understand your localization needs.
Hi Alison, I am sure others will have loads to add for a start
CCs are a real pain to export and reimport.
Repeated text strings in the text because of strings this costs money to translate
Would be much better to have one file that user selects the language on
Sometimes translations do not reimport
XLIFF should work but many times does not so we resort to the Word file but most translation agencies are cheaper ion you use XLIFF which never reimports
Variables and References can get translated
Hyperlinks often break when you import a translation file
Font sizes and colours change (not as often now but still happens)
The import reports strings not translated but these should be highlighted some how, it is time consuming to check and never find them.
I should be able to check a box to exclude notes from the translation
I'd like to have a pane that lists each element/item on the timeline showing the exact time of entrance and exit of animations. I hate working with cue points. If I know the exact times, I should be able to enter them.
If we can't enter the exact times, then at least have the option of locking the audio at the top of a Storyline timeline. This would make it so much easier when I'm syncing slides that have a lot of elements and animations. I image it would be similar to locking a header row in a table or freezing a pane in an Excel spreadsheet. I have a former teammate who use to change his monitor from landscape to portrait; however, that isn't a solution for me.
We have a lot of older courses that require maintenance. It's the syncing of audio that takes the most time.
Sure thing! I can help you craft a survey to gather insights on localization needs. for more insights, please click on Jazz Internet Packages What specific questions would you like to include in the survey?
Multilanguage CC option that learners can choose their language of preference.
Looping Emphasizing animations on objects (how is this still not a thing). Set it once, and for example, it keeps blinking or pulsating until the end of the timeline of the object.
The biggest pain point I have encountered was when I exported the xliff from 20 RIse courses, and then sent them away to be translated.
In the meantime I had created 6 copies of each course, one for each language variant, ready to update with the transalted xliff files.
Unfortunately, when I tried to import the xliff files back in to each course, it became evident that this wasn't possible. Instead I should have created my duplicate courses first, then exported each individual xliff file from them. So instead of generating 20 xliff files, that would have required me to generate 120, which seemed like unecessary work.
The work around I had to use was a major headache, as I had to start with my English version, then import a new language xliff in to it, before creating a dupliacte course to save the updates. I then had to return to my English version for each and every module/language, which cost me an awful lot of time that I hadn't factored in to my costs.
On reflection, the documentation made clear the process I should have followed, but my original method seemed so logical to me that I didn't consider that it wouldn't work.
If I was to change one thing in that process, it would be to allow me to export a single xliff per course, then have it be compatible for import back in to copies of the original.
Survey is blocked for me but in addition to what others have said here I'd like to be able to have multiple languages in a single course, which of course you can do via variable, but would also want to have the player controls change to the language selected.
I filled out the form but wanted to add more detail about multiple languages in one Storyline file.
This is a HUGE copy/paste exercise (pasting slides/graphics, not translated text). We'll be supporting 10 languages in our next output and for me, combining slides/assessments from the translated course is always a long process.
Even after doing this and having a multi language Storyline file, I then need to import my closed captions and voice over files again. My folder structure is such that I have the sounds files and SRT files in folders with the same filenames, just pointing to these for automatic substitution would be great.
Copying and pasting assessments across files is always tricky too and involves bringing over the assessment slides/question banks and a lot of tweaking to get the correct language to show.
If I could select my translated course '.story' files and somehow combine them with my base English version, that would be perfect!
This is how you (Articulate) can best leverage AI. Look at what companies like "HeyGen" are already doing. I upload a video of myself talking in English (a "talking head" video) to their website (or, in Storyline, I'd want to be able to drop a video on a slide).
Then I select what language I want (for example, Spanish).
That's it. That's all I have to do. HeyGen automatically:
Creates an AI clone of my voice based on what it hears in the video I uploaded
AI transcribes what I say in the video
AI translates the English transcription into Spanish
Reads the translated transcription using AI text-to-speech with my AI-cloned voice so it sounds like I am speaking the target language (Spanish, in this case)
AI adjusts the lips in my video so that they now sync up with the Spanish-speaking AI voice clone, completing the illusion that I am speaking Spanish.
Add to this some other AI-powered processes to take the Spanish transcription and use it to create timed closed-caption files synced with the new Spanish audio.
While you're at it, have a different voice generate an audio description of whatever is happening in the video (this is for accessibility purposes).
In other words, nearly everything in the localization and accessibility workflows should be AI-powered and automatic. As soon as I put any media on a Storyline slide, closed captions, translations (if I so desire), audio descriptions of visuals, secondary audio tracks, etc. should all be generated automatically and in the background. For images, ALT tags should be auto-generated.
This would be a HUGE time saver. And I think most of the technology to do this already exists.
Great to hear that you're working on improving the localization process! I'll be happy to complete the survey and share my thoughts. Thanks for taking steps to make this easier for us!
Ray, I appreciate this answer so much and can only second all of that!!
I really hope Articulate Storyline will step up its game since localization really has the most pain points for me and I consider it a must in that day and age.
Hoping that the survey is going to lead to some progression in that matter.
24 Replies
Hi Alison, I am sure others will have loads to add for a start
I am agree with @Phil Mayor
Please let me know if there is a solution that will allow me to replace all recordings with one click
Thanks so much for this feedback, Phil :) Appreciate you taking the time. Did you also respond to the survey above? If not, that'd be super helpful.
Yes I did the survey as well
Sent from my iPhone
My company has the survey blocked.
I'd like to have a pane that lists each element/item on the timeline showing the exact time of entrance and exit of animations. I hate working with cue points. If I know the exact times, I should be able to enter them.
If we can't enter the exact times, then at least have the option of locking the audio at the top of a Storyline timeline. This would make it so much easier when I'm syncing slides that have a lot of elements and animations. I image it would be similar to locking a header row in a table or freezing a pane in an Excel spreadsheet. I have a former teammate who use to change his monitor from landscape to portrait; however, that isn't a solution for me.
We have a lot of older courses that require maintenance. It's the syncing of audio that takes the most time.
Preach! I don't even do localization, and that would be a game-changer!
Thank You for a good news :)
Sure thing! I can help you craft a survey to gather insights on localization needs. for more insights, please click on Jazz Internet Packages What specific questions would you like to include in the survey?
Set it once, and for example, it keeps blinking or pulsating until the end of the timeline of the object.
The biggest pain point I have encountered was when I exported the xliff from 20 RIse courses, and then sent them away to be translated.
In the meantime I had created 6 copies of each course, one for each language variant, ready to update with the transalted xliff files.
Unfortunately, when I tried to import the xliff files back in to each course, it became evident that this wasn't possible. Instead I should have created my duplicate courses first, then exported each individual xliff file from them. So instead of generating 20 xliff files, that would have required me to generate 120, which seemed like unecessary work.
The work around I had to use was a major headache, as I had to start with my English version, then import a new language xliff in to it, before creating a dupliacte course to save the updates. I then had to return to my English version for each and every module/language, which cost me an awful lot of time that I hadn't factored in to my costs.
On reflection, the documentation made clear the process I should have followed, but my original method seemed so logical to me that I didn't consider that it wouldn't work.
If I was to change one thing in that process, it would be to allow me to export a single xliff per course, then have it be compatible for import back in to copies of the original.
Thank you for filling out the survey and providing these additional insights, everyone! It's so helpful. :)
Survey is blocked for me but in addition to what others have said here I'd like to be able to have multiple languages in a single course, which of course you can do via variable, but would also want to have the player controls change to the language selected.
Thanks for sharing, Brett! That makes total sense.
Hi Sander, you can loop Emphasis Animations with a single trigger :)
There is a new Action (Emphasize) for it! So the trigger would be smthing like this:
Emphasize
(Object) using
(Animation)
When animation completes
(Object)
(Animation)
I hope this helps and I absolutely second your Multilanguage CC suggestion :)
Thanks for sharing!
I filled out the form but wanted to add more detail about multiple languages in one Storyline file.
If I could select my translated course '.story' files and somehow combine them with my base English version, that would be perfect!
This is how you (Articulate) can best leverage AI. Look at what companies like "HeyGen" are already doing. I upload a video of myself talking in English (a "talking head" video) to their website (or, in Storyline, I'd want to be able to drop a video on a slide).
Then I select what language I want (for example, Spanish).
That's it. That's all I have to do. HeyGen automatically:
Add to this some other AI-powered processes to take the Spanish transcription and use it to create timed closed-caption files synced with the new Spanish audio.
While you're at it, have a different voice generate an audio description of whatever is happening in the video (this is for accessibility purposes).
In other words, nearly everything in the localization and accessibility workflows should be AI-powered and automatic. As soon as I put any media on a Storyline slide, closed captions, translations (if I so desire), audio descriptions of visuals, secondary audio tracks, etc. should all be generated automatically and in the background. For images, ALT tags should be auto-generated.
This would be a HUGE time saver. And I think most of the technology to do this already exists.
Thanks for sharing ! really informative
Great to hear that you're working on improving the localization process! I'll be happy to complete the survey and share my thoughts. Thanks for taking steps to make this easier for us!
I have a Twine branching scenario. Can I some how import it to Articulate (RISE or Storyline 360) ?
Ray, I appreciate this answer so much and can only second all of that!!
I really hope Articulate Storyline will step up its game since localization really has the most pain points for me and I consider it a must in that day and age.
Hoping that the survey is going to lead to some progression in that matter.
Kerstin
Thanks Kerstin! The more of us who get on board with this vision, the more likely it is to happen, so I am happy to see others push for this too.
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Thank you, Storyline 360, for listening to users and striving to make course localization more accessible and user-friendly