Understanding Text Considerations When Localizing Content

Text is the foundation of most e-learning courses, and understanding how it behaves across different languages is crucial for successful localization. When using Articulate's built-in localization tools, anticipating these text-related challenges allows you to design your course in ways that accommodate linguistic differences from the start. Preparing for text variations not only improves the quality of your localized content but also streamlines your workflow, helping you avoid time-consuming adjustments after translation.

Key Text Considerations for Localization

• Text expansion and contraction: Languages vary significantly in how much space they require to express the same content. German, Finnish, and Portuguese typically expand 20-35% compared to English, while languages like Chinese and Korean may contract. When using Storyline, this means designing text containers with extra space and testing how layouts respond when text length changes.
• Formatting variations: Different languages handle dates, times, numbers, currencies, and measurements differently. For instance, while the US writes dates as MM/DD/YYYY, most European countries use DD/MM/YYYY. Plan for these formatting differences in your Articulate courses by using language triggers that can be easily adjusted for each language.
• Text direction considerations: Languages like Arabic and Hebrew read right-to-left (RTL), which affects not just text but the entire layout of your course. Articulate Storyline supports RTL languages, but you'll need to plan for this by creating designs that can be mirrored and ensuring interactive elements work correctly in both directions.
• Font compatibility: Not all fonts support extended character sets needed for languages with special characters or non-Latin alphabets. Choose fonts with comprehensive Unicode support like Arial, Verdana, or Noto Sans that work across multiple languages to ensure your text displays correctly.
• Line breaks and hyphenation: Languages differ in where words break across lines and how hyphenation works. This affects paragraph flow and can create awkward line breaks in your localized content. In your course, test different text lengths and adjust line spacing to accommodate these differences before finalizing your design.

Next Steps

1. Audit your text content: Review your the courses that are being localized for potential issues related to text expansion, special characters, or formatting conventions.
2. Create a text formatting guide: Document standards for handling dates, numbers, and other formatting elements across your target languages.
3. Test with sample translations: Use the Layout Issue Finder to identify layout problems after translation.
4. Establish font standards: Select and document web-safe fonts that support all your target languages and maintain consistent branding.
5. Design flexible text containers: Update your course templates with text areas that can accommodate up to 35% expansion without breaking layouts.

Summary

Understanding text considerations is fundamental to successful e-learning localization within Articulate's tools. By planning for text expansion, formatting differences, text direction, font compatibility, and line break variations, you'll create courses that transition smoothly between languages. This preparation helps you avoid common pitfalls that can compromise the quality of your localized training or require extensive rework. With these text considerations addressed early in your design process, you'll develop more efficient localization workflows and deliver consistent learning experiences across all language versions.