How to Create One Storyline 360 Course with Multiple Languages
One of the most powerful benefits of e-learning is the ability to reach learners wherever they are—anywhere in the world. But that perk also presents an additional question: How do you create and manage e-learning content when your audience speaks different languages? Many organizations tackle this challenge by building multiple courses—one for each language they support. While that approach works, it often increases production time and costs. And it can lead to frustrating reporting headaches if you’re tracking completions. Instead, why not streamline development by creating one course for everyone? Thanks to the power of layers, variables, states, and triggers, you can quickly fulfill this linguistic feat of e-learning awesomeness all within a single Storyline 360 course! Not only that, Storyline 360 offers multiple ways to make this work. So let’s take a closer look at three of the most popular methods you can try. The Branching Method Many folks use the branching method to create different scenes in their projects, one for each language. When the course begins, learners choose from one of several language options. That choice then prompts a “jump to scene” trigger that directs them to the appropriate scene. Watch this short video to see how this method works. Pros: Branching is probably the simplest way to provide learners with language-specific content. This method also allows you to use layers and states to create a more interactive experience. Storyline 360 can now track multiple quizzes, so you can create an assessment for each language branch. No matter which one a learner takes, the course will send its completion data and results to your LMS. Cons: This approach may significantly increase your project’s file size if your course has a lot of audio, video, or animations. Branching is also useful for creating interactive stories, scenarios, and content. But using it for both content choices and supporting multiple languages can make development complex. In those situations, the two techniques below are often a better fit. The Layers Method When branching isn’t the best option, you can instead add layers on your course slides—one for each language you support. Similar to the previous process, learners select their preferred language at the start. But instead of branching to a different scene, this approach uses true/false variables and a few simple timeline triggers to show the appropriate layer throughout the course. Watch this short video to see how this method works. Pros: All your content is streamlined across one set of slides. You can use custom states to keep things from feeling too static. Cons: Typically, layers are used to add interactivity to your course. But this gets complicated when you also have multiple layers on each slide for different languages. Because of that, this method works best when you can create the course interactivity you need without additional layers. The States and Triggers Method The states and triggers technique is similar to the previous one, but it uses object states instead of layers to display content in each language. It begins much like the others—with learners choosing their preferred language on the title slide. Thanks to true/false variables and triggers, each slide in the course then automatically shows the correct object states. This one’s a bit easier to see than to explain, so here’s a video demonstrating how it works. Pros: Much like the layers approach, with states all your content is streamlined across one set of slides. This technique leaves your layers free, making it easier to create interactive content. Once you’ve built an object with all the correct states and triggers, it’s quick and easy to copy and paste and carry over the triggers. Cons: Adding translated text to object states can be a bit tedious. Changing object states means using more triggers as well—more than the other two methods. This approach tends to get in the way of using object states for other interactivity functions, such as adding a hover effect to your translated buttons. Additional Considerations Regardless of which method you choose, here are a few more things to keep in mind when creating a single Storyline 360 course with multiple languages: Course Player Labels: You can only choose one language for the course player text labels (the menu, the resources tab, the navigation buttons, etc.), which can be a challenge if some of your learners don’t understand that language. In those cases, try these workarounds: Create a navigation primer in your course for each language. Check out this article to see some examples and learn more. Skip the built-in course player menu altogether. Instead, build a custom menu on your slides with navigation buttons for each language your course supports. Check out this free download for some custom menu design inspiration. If you’re comfortable working with Javascript, this forum thread offers codes you can use to change the course player button labels on a slide-by-slide basis. Text Expansion: Content in one language may take up more or less layout space when translated to another. For instance, German copy can take up as much as 35% more space than the same information in English. So when planning your layout, base it around the lengthiest language to ensure each translation will fit. Production Schedule: Even with the help of these time-saving approaches, a multi-language course will always take more effort to create than a monolingual one. So make sure your timeline takes the additional steps into account. For example, consider the time it takes to get translations, hire voice talent for each language, and have fluent speakers review your translated storyboards and scripts. When Separate Files Are More Efficient: The methods in this article work best if you plan to include up to three languages in a single course. If you need to support more than three languages, separate project files may be the more efficient option. Summary Thanks to the flexibility of Storyline 360, you’ve got several options for creating content in multiple languages—each with its own strengths and drawbacks. So before you start building your course, consider which one is the best fit for you and your learners’ needs. Want to learn more about translating and localizing content? Browse through these articles for even more tips: Planning Your Localized E-Learning Projects Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization The Hidden Project within Your Project: Translating Your E-Learning Materials Storyline 360: Translating Courses 4 Tips for Optimizing the Translation of Your Storyline 360 Courses Rise 360: Translate Your Course What’s your preferred method for working with multiple languages? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share with others? Leave them in a comment below. Want to try something you learned here but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.Planning Your Localized E-Learning Projects
In this age of globalization and multinational organizations, companies want to deliver online training that will reach worldwide audiences. The result is e-learning content that needs to be tailored specifically for each cultural group. If you’ve ever had to design or develop a multilingual e-learning course, you know firsthand that developing content for multiple languages can be a heavy lift. This is especially true if you haven’t put in place early the proper planning measures to make the process smooth and effective. This article will identify what you need to know up front (long before any development begins!) to effectively localize or tailor e-learning content for a variety of cultural audiences. Understand the concept of localization When it comes to getting a course out in multiple languages, it’s a common misconception that all you need to do is translate the written content. There’s often confusion about the differences between translation and localization. Translation is the process of translating text and words from one language to another without making any adaptations. Localization is the process of translating and adapting content for a specific culture. It often involves making changes not only to the text but also to imagery, tone, colors, currencies, and more, to account for cultural and regional differences. In many situations, simply translating the text in a course is not enough; you need to adapt the content in order for it to make sense for learners across cultural barriers. For example, let’s say you’re developing an e-learning course for a multinational delivery service. The course is for delivery staff based in the US and India on how to safely deliver packages on time. In addition to translating the text from English to Hindi, you need to adapt the content itself to take into account local driving and workplace safety laws. You should also consider updating the imagery to more accurately reflect the learner's home environment. For example, the American version of the course might show background images of busy streets in New York City. For the Indian version of the course, those could be swapped out with images of the streets of Mumbai. The two cities look very different and each have distinct architectural styles, roadways, and vehicles. Additionally, an image of a delivery vehicle in the American course might show a cube van or bicycle; the Indian version might be a tuk-tuk or a rickshaw. These changes in imagery make the course more meaningful and relevant to the learner. Plan for localization up front The key to a successful localized project is to plan every step of the localization process from the get-go. You want to keep your multicultural audience in mind from the beginning to avoid quality issues, save time, and ensure a smooth localization process. Things to consider when you’re in the project planning phase include: Identify the target markets and languages you want to localize for You need to determine early on which languages you’ll be localizing for. Keep in mind that even though your learners may speak the same language, you may need to create multiple courses to take into account regional differences. For example, a course developed in Spanish might not work for both Mexico and Spain. Why not? In addition to the many linguistic differences between Mexican and Iberic Spanish, there are regional differences that need to be considered, for example: different products, procedures, laws, technical standards, and currencies. Plan to build in one language first It’s a good idea to plan to design, develop, and deliver the course in one language BEFORE localizing the course into other languages. If you develop all of your courses in tandem, you’ll find yourself doing a lot of re-work. To illustrate: imagine a Subject Matter Expert asks you to change two paragraphs in your course. It’s a lot easier (and more cost effective!) to do it in one language than in five different languages. Once the first course is complete, you can save time by localizing your course into the other languages at the same time. Plan extra time for development and testing It might seem obvious, but you’re going to need more development time when you’re building a course in multiple languages. In addition to developing the course in the first language, you’ll need time to adapt it to every other language, which will include development, testing, and review steps. It’s a good idea to plan for the localization process by adding in extra development and testing time to your project plans and timelines. Find the right localization resources Having the right resources in place can make the translation and localization process run more efficiently and smoothly. Resources include the tools and the people you’ll bring on board for your localization process. Authoring tool When you’re going to be translating an e-learning course into multiple languages, it’s a good idea to investigate ahead of time what translation features and multilingual options are available within the authoring tool you’re using. For example, Articulate Storyline 360 offers the ability to export text for translation and then re-import it, saving lots of development time. This is good to know up front, so you can plan your project and allocate time and resources accordingly. Translators The quality and experience of your translation team will have a huge impact on the caliber of the final localized output. When it comes to working with translators, it helps to find translation professionals who have experience with your industry or subject matter. When the translation team has even a basic understanding of the content they are working with, it makes a huge difference in helping them ensure it all makes sense and works. In terms of hiring translators, your options are generally a professional agency or a single contractor or freelancer. They each come with their own set of pros and cons. Professional Agency Pros Cons They will handle all the project management for all the languages. They often offer voice-over professionals for all languages. They sometimes offer to do the translation directly in your tool of choice. The quality is often not as high. Because at a large agency the translators do not know you personally and are not that invested in your project. Also, you work with a variety of translators who may each have a slightly different style, which could be reflected in the final output. Freelancer/Contractor Pros Cons The quality tends to be higher, as usually freelancers need to provide a good service in order to maintain a good reputation, stay in business, and ensure repeated business and future contracts. It’s often cheaper to work directly with a translator because they don’t have high overhead costs to cover. Takes more time to find, hire, and manage freelancers than it does to work with an agency. They may not offer project management, voice-over services, and more. Voice-Over or Narration Professionals If your project includes narration, you’re going to need resources to narrate in a variety of languages. If you’re working with a localization agency, as noted above, they may offer narration or voice-over services. If not, you’ll need to recruit voice actors for each language. Keep in mind when you’re on the hunt for a voice actor that differences in local dialects and accents can make a huge difference to your learners. For example, Australian and New Zealand accents may sound similar to an outsider, but to the locals they are completely different! Finding the right voice for your project can take time, so account for this in your project plans, as well as the time required to record in multiple languages. QA Testers Testing and quality assurance review is an important part of creating an effective and high-quality multilingual course. During the project planning phase, identify resources for the testing and quality assurance phase of your course development. What should you look for in your testers? They should be proficient in both the original course language as well as the language they are testing, so they can compare both versions and ensure the message is consistent. The tester also needs to be a good writer, with strong spelling, punctuation, and grammar skills, so they can spot mistakes in the written content. These are just some of the things to consider when planning a localized e-learning project. Remember that up-front planning will eliminate a lot of headaches and help ensure a smoother process and better end result. What tips of your own do you have about planning for localized projects? Let me know in the comments! Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.4 Tips for Optimizing the Translation of Your Storyline 360 Courses
Storyline 360 allows you to quickly export all the text in your project for translation and then reimport it, automatically replacing all the original text with the translations. What a timesaver! But unfortunately, no matter how powerful Storyline 360’s translation feature, the nuances of translating one language to another mean you might still need to make some manual adjustments. For example, if you’re translating English to French, the translated text will likely be 20 to 25 percent longer than the original text, so you might need to change the font or textbox size, or even move some of the onscreen objects to make room for the French text. There’s also no way to automatically replace audio files and synchronize them with animations, since the duration of each localized audio file is different. The time involved in that manual process varies depending on how many animations you’ve included in your project. As an instructional designer, I’ve developed many courses that have been translated into multiple languages. After a bit of trial and error, I came up with the following techniques to optimize the localization process. 1. Allow for Extra Space Adjusting the font or textbox size on every single slide can be a huge pain. The more white space you leave around textboxes, the less likely you are to have to adjust each font or textbox size, because even if the translated text is longer, there might still be room for it on the screen. The same goes for any shapes or buttons with text inside them. If you don’t leave extra space on either side of the text, you’ll probably have to widen the button or shape so the text doesn’t overflow or appear smaller than you'd like. Give yourself a break and leave some extra space to begin with! 2. Use Slide Masters Another way to limit the amount of manual tweaking you have to do is by putting text that appears on multiple slides—for example, the course or chapter title—on a slide master. That way, if you need to adjust the font or textbox size, you only have to do it once and it’ll be applied automatically to all the relevant slides. 3. Keep Animations to a Minimum Animations can be a great way to increase learner engagement on slides with a lot of voiceover audio. By giving them something to look at while they’re listening, you’re more likely to catch—and keep—their attention. This is true for localized courses as well; however, it’s important to keep in mind that resynchronizing the animations with the new audio files is a huge time suck when you’re translating courses. The more animations you need to synchronize with voiceover narration, the more time you’ll spend localizing your courses. It’s especially difficult if you don’t speak the target language—which is often the case! I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent listening to Dutch voiceover audio and trying to figure out when the animations should appear. What a headache! But that doesn’t mean you should get rid of all of your animations—just that you should weigh the impact of those animations against the time it’ll take you to localize them. Are all of those animations really adding value? Or could you do without some of them? 4. Break Script Up by Animation or Layer For the animations you decide to keep, split up your script by animation or layer. That way you will know exactly when the animations should appear or which part of the audio should go on which layer. So instead of grouping the entire script for a given slide together, add dividers to your script like in the example below: Before After Slide 1 There are four main rules within HIPAA that govern protected health information. Let’s take a brief look at the purpose of each of these rules. The privacy rule outlines the safeguards that must be in place to ensure that protected health information remains private. The security rule sets standards for how to maintain the security of protected health information by implementing a set of technical, physical, and administrative safeguards. The breach notification rule details the processes that entities that fall under HIPAA must follow when a data breach occurs. The omnibus rule is an addition to HIPAA enacted in 2013 that required business associates to become HIPAA compliant. Slide 1 - Beginning There are four main rules within HIPAA that govern protected health information. Let’s take a brief look at the purpose of each of these rules. Slide 1 - Animation 1 The privacy rule outlines the safeguards that must be in place to ensure that protected health information remains private. Slide 1 - Animation 2 The security rule sets standards for how to maintain security of protected health information by implementing a set of technical, physical, and administrative safeguards. Slide 1 - Animation 3 The breach notification rule details the processes that entities that fall under HIPAA must follow when a data breach occurs. Slide 1 - Animation 4 The omnibus rule is an addition to HIPAA enacted in 2013 that required business associates to become HIPAA compliant. Then, ask the voiceover professionals to name the audio files accordingly. That way all you’ll have to do is place the audio files one after the other and move the animations on the timeline to line up with the beginning of each audio file. Easy-peasy! More Resources If you’re looking for more tips that’ll make the localization process easier, look no further! We’ve got you covered: Planning Your Localized E-Learning Projects Designing Your E-Learning Course Graphics with Localization in Mind Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization QA Testing Your Localized E-Learning Courses Want to try out Storyline 360’s translation feature for yourself, but don’t have Articulate 360 products? Start a free 30-day trial of Articulate 360. And subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization
All too often, localization is an afterthought. Course designers go about their business as usual, and at the end of the project they send their course off to be localized. But successfully localizing e-learning content is about more than just translating the text. You’ve got to make sure the content resonates with people across cultures. Culture plays a huge role in our everyday lives, and yet we often aren’t aware of it. Our behaviors, assumptions, expectations, and definition of “normal” are all a product of our culture. Something that’s funny to an American could make no sense at all to a German and actually offend a French person. Or the real-life scenario you describe to help learners understand why the content is useful to them may be so far from their everyday lives that they tune out. To do localization right, you’ve got to keep your global audience in mind from the very beginning. And while it’s not possible to create content that’s 100 percent culture-neutral, being aware of cultural and linguistic differences can help you craft text that’s easier to localize. After all, no matter how skilled the translators, the translation quality can only be as good as the original text. But how do you write localization-friendly text? Here are some tips to get you started. 1. Be direct. Say what you mean and eliminate any unnecessary words. Write in the active voice and use adverbs and adjectives sparingly. Direct language is less ambiguous, making it easier to translate correctly. Say this: A car crushed your bicycle. Instead of this: Your bicycle has been damaged. 2. Keep it short and sweet. Your objective is to get your point across to learners, not to win an award for creative writing. Short, simple sentences are easier to understand and translate. Remember: if the translator misunderstands what you’ve written, your message will be lost in translation. Say this: Sarah is going to Boston for work. Afterward, she’ll visit her grandparents who live nearby. Instead of this: Sarahis going to visit her grandparents who live in Boston after her work meeting. 3. Favor basic vocabulary. This isn’t the time to show off your extensive knowledge of obscure words. Don’t use a fancy verb like “utilize” where a simple one like “use” will do. Jargon, slang, idioms, and colloquial expressions are often difficult or impossible to translate. Not to mention they make the content harder to understand, even for native speakers! Say this: Let me know when your bags are packed. Instead of this: Let me know when you get your ducks in a row. 4. Avoid humor, sarcasm, pop-culture references, and sports analogies. If you’ve never written content for localization before, you may not realize how often you reference pop culture or sports to get your point across. And I’m willing to bet you like to throw in some sarcasm or a pun here and there to make sure your audience is still paying attention. You may find it hard to eliminate such references from your writing entirely, but it’s absolutely essential if you plan to localize your content since they’re extremely difficult—sometimes even impossible—to translate. Say this: It’s your responsibility to do something now. Instead of this: The ball is in your court. 5. Use terms consistently. If the same term appears over and over in your content, it can be tempting to use synonyms to avoid repetition. However, when you’re writing for localization it’s best to always use the same term to avoid confusion and mistranslation. Say this: An authoring tool is a program that allows you to create multimedia projects, like e-learning courses. There are many different authoring tools on the market. Instead of this: An authoring tool is a program that allows you to create multimedia projects, like e-learning courses. There are many different authoring apps on the market. 6. Avoid phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs are one of hardest concepts for non-native English speakers to learn. What’s a phrasal verb? It’s a verb that’s made up of a main verb and an adverb and/or a preposition. For example: to look down on, to bring up, to fill out, etc. What makes these verbs particularly difficult for non-native English speakers is that the meaning can be dramatically different depending on the preposition or adverb that follows. For example, “to get back at” means “to retaliate” or “to get revenge,” but “to get back into” means “to become interested again.” These subtleties can also be hard for translators to grasp, so using them puts you at a higher risk of mistranslation. Whenever possible, replace phrasal verbs by an equivalent one-word verb to ensure correct translation. Say this: Did you submit your assignment? Instead of this: Did you hand in your assignment? 7. Use relative pronouns. English speakers often omit relative pronouns like “that” or “which” to shorten sentences without changing the meaning. For example, “The clothes he wore were new” means the same as “The clothes that he wore were new.” For translation purposes, it’s better to include relative pronouns, as they improve readability and comprehension. Say this: The clothes that I bought are hanging in the closet. Instead of this: The clothes I bought are hanging in the closet. 8. Avoid ambiguity. When you’re writing for localization, you want to make absolutely certain that there’s only one way to interpret your text. Any ambiguity in the source copy will only be exacerbated in the localized versions. For example, “I saw a woman on a mountain with binoculars” could mean either you saw a woman standing on a mountain who had binoculars or you were looking at a mountain through your binoculars and saw a woman. If your original message is unclear, the translated text could have a totally different meaning. Make sure your sentences are as precise as possible. One way to improve clarity is to replace pronouns (like “he” or “she”) with proper nouns. Say this: Jane isn’t coming over tonight. Tell Sarah that we’ll see Jane next week. Instead of this: Jane isn’t coming over tonight. Tell Sarah we’ll see her next week. (Who does the “her” in the second sentence refer to: Jane or Sarah? It’s unclear.) 9. Avoid phrases with too many consecutive nouns. Technical or compliance documentation often uses noun strings, or a series of nouns used one after the other without any prepositions to describe complex concepts. For example, “employee performance evaluation procedure” is a string of four nouns that together make up the name of a procedure used to evaluate employee performance. They’re intended to make things easier, but they usually end up doing just the opposite. Since there are no prepositions, readers are forced to infer the relationship between the words. Whenever possible, break noun strings into smaller units, adding in prepositions and verbs as necessary. Say this: One of this year’s top priorities is to improve employee relations. Instead of this: Our employee relations improvement program is one of this year’s top priorities. 10. Make a note of anything that needs to be adapted. Sometimes there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Things like currency, measurements, dates, times, temperatures, and phone numbers will be different depending on the language and country. Depending on the course subject, you may even run into some larger differences related to local customs and etiquette (for example, how sales calls are done) that need to be handled on a one-on-one basis. Make a list of any instances where specific adaptations are necessary and work with regional experts to adapt the content before sending it off for translation. When you’re creating courses for a global audience, a little bit of foresight goes a long way. Following these writing tips when designing your course will make the localization process easier when the time comes. What’s more, you’ll greatly improve the translation quality—leading to better learner comprehension and satisfaction. And isn’t that what everyone wants? Looking for more localization tips? Check out this great article on planning localized e-learning projects. Got some great localization advice to share with the community? Drop us a message below! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes often for the latest e-learning tips and tricks.QA Test Your Localized E-Learning Courses in 4 Easy Steps
Quality assurance (or QA) testing is when you review your e-learning course to catch any potential issues before your course gets into the hands of learners. This could include anything from improper grammar to confusing navigation. It’s an important part of any e-learning project because without it you could end up delivering a course that doesn’t work for your learners. It can be tempting to skip QA testing for the localized versions of your course. After all, you’ve already been through it once with the original version, so it’s good to go, right? Not so fast! Translators are human. They make mistakes. And since they’re likely not experts on your course topic, it’s also possible for them to misunderstand—and therefore mistranslate—certain things. E-learning developers also sometimes introduce errors or bugs when they’re importing the translation into the authoring app, and if they don’t speak the language, they might not notice. So if you want to make sure each localized version of your course works properly and makes sense, having QA testers with an eagle eye is key. In this article we’ll walk you through the four steps you need to follow to properly QA test your localized courses. 1. Select Your QA Testers Before you can start the QA process for your localized courses, you’ll need to find a QA tester for each target language. This could be members of the project team, other coworkers, or, in some cases, professional QA testers. Choosing the right person for the job is crucial, as the quality of your localized courses rests on their shoulders. Ideally, you want someone who is: A first-language speaker of the target language or someone with a high level of fluency, so they can pick up on things like register (i.e., the level of formality), tone, style, and nuances. A good writer and speller in the target language, so they can catch spelling mistakes, typos, and grammar errors. Just because someone speaks a language doesn’t mean they’re an ideal QA tester. Fluent in the source language (the language your master course was designed in), so they can compare the localized course to the master course. From or has lived in the target region for an extended period of time, so they understand the ins and outs of the culture. Detail-oriented, so they’ll catch any mistakes. Committed to your project, so they’ll make time to review your course when you need them to. 2. Draft a QA Test Plan Now that you’ve picked out your QA tester, you can set them up for success by creating a test plan—which is a document that walks testers through all the steps they’re expected to test. After all, if they don’t know what to test, they might skip some items, which could mean glossing over mistakes. Here’s an example of what a simple QA test plan might look like: Walk through the entire course from start to finish three times, clicking on every button. The first time you do the quiz, select only correct answers. The second time, select only incorrect answers. The third time, select a mix of correct and incorrect answers Click on all the items in the menu. Click on all the player tabs. Go through the course again in reverse order, clicking on all the Previous buttons. Obviously, the more complex your course is, the longer your QA plan is likely to be. And you want to make sure to include as many details as possible so they don’t miss any key steps. 3. Make a QA Test Checklist Along with your QA test plan, you need to provide testers with a checklist of things to look out for. This can include translation accuracy, text that’s embedded in images and therefore didn’t get translated, culture appropriateness of imagery, and even technical problems. Not sure what kinds of things to include on your checklist? Download this template and use it as a starting point. 4. Collect and Apply Feedback Chances are there will be at least a couple of things to tweak in each of your language versions. There might even be quite a few. To make this process as quick and painless as possible, use an app like Review 360 to centralize all the feedback and streamline communication between the e-learning designer and the QA tester. Once the QA tester has left feedback, the e-learning designer can make the necessary edits and ask the QA tester to review once again. Depending on the project, you might need to repeat this process multiple times to get to a point where the QA tester no longer spots any issues. In Sum By following these steps with each of your localized courses, you can ensure your course quality is top-notch no matter what language your learner speaks. After all, what’s the point of localizing your course if the localized version doesn’t work or communicate effectively with the target audience? Here are some more resources to help you become an e-learning localization expert: 3 Key Partnerships for E-Learning Localization Success 3 Classic E-Learning Localization Mistakes & How To Avoid Them Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization Designing Your E-Learning Course Graphics With Localization in Mind Got some great QA localization advice to share with the community? Let us know below! And remember to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).Designing Your E-Learning Course Graphics with Localization in Mind
Localization is the process of translating and adapting content for a specific culture. If you’re new to localization, you may be wondering what graphic design has to do with it. Doesn’t localization just mean translating the text? Not quite. Graphic design is one of the most complex—and most neglected—aspects of localization. Why? Because there aren’t any hard and fast rules about how to localize graphics. When you’re creating the version of your course that will serve as a template for all the other languages (often referred to as a “master course”), it’s important to understand some of the graphic design challenges posed by localization so you can anticipate them. In this article we’ll take a look at some of the things to consider when you’re designing a course that will be localized. Leave Room for Language Expansion If you’re creating your master course in English, it’s important to take into account that equivalent text can be 20 to 50 percent longer in other languages. If you don’t consider language expansion when you’re designing your screen layouts, you may find that once your content is translated, you have overflowing text that doesn’t fit on the screen. For example, if you start out with something like this: Once this text content is translated to French, you’ll likely end up with something like this: See how much more space the French text takes up? When you encounter overflowing text after translation, you have to manually adjust each individual screen. This could mean adjusting the text size, image size, or having to divide one screen into several screens to make it all fit. Depending on how much text overflows, this could end up taking you quite a while. Instead, try leaving extra space around your textboxes and buttons, so the text won’t overflow if it’s longer after translation. Take this design for example: Notice how I’ve left extra space around the textboxes and how the text within the buttons doesn’t go all the way to the edge? Now take a look at it with the French translation: Even with the longer text, this slide still looks nice. Leaving extra space will not only make it easier to localize your courses, but it will make your master courses look nicer too. Nobody likes a text-heavy design! Avoid Embedding Text in Images When text is embedded in an image, it means that the image and the text cannot be separated because the text has been saved within the image. Here’s an example of an image with embedded text: See how when I select it, the image and the text are just one object? I can’t edit the text, therefore I can’t translate it. Many authoring tools, like Storyline 360, offer an “export for translation” feature, which makes localization a lot easier. However, if your text is embedded in an image, your authoring tool won’t recognize it’s there and it won’t get sent off for translation. But with some photo-editing magic, I was able to erase that text and then add it back in directly in the authoring tool: See how the image and textbox are now two separate objects? I didn’t have the exact same font on hand, but this new font offers a similar look-and-feel and now it’s much easier to localize. If you don’t know how to use photo-editing software, you could also crop out the part of the image with the embedded text and add the text outside of the image, like this: Use Unicode Fonts Not all fonts support special characters. For this reason, it’s important to choose a unicode font, or a font that supports a wide range of characters, when you’re designing a course that will be localized. If you choose a font that doesn’t support an accent or character used in one of your localized languages, that character will be replaced by the same character in another font or by another character or symbol. When one of the characters is not the same font as the rest, it looks unprofessional. For example, look at the “è” character in this text: Even if it weren’t red, it would still look out of place. It’s larger than the rest of the letters and doesn’t have the same handwritten style. Sometimes the font even replaces the special character with another unrelated character, like in the example below, where the German “ß” was replaced with the letters “fs”: In this case, instead of meaning “larger” the word no longer means anything. What makes this last example so dangerous is that it’s harder to spot. Unless you can read German, you’re not likely to notice this small difference. Choosing a unicode font helps ensure you won’t have font issues later on. Most fonts available for online download list which languages they support, so be sure to check that information before deciding on a font. Avoid Country-Specific Images, Icons, and Symbols They say an image is worth a thousand words for a reason. Images, icons, and symbols are often rich in cultural undertones. Choosing a culturally inappropriate image could mean communicating the wrong message to your learners. If you want your learners to be able to understand and relate to the illustrations in your course, it’s important that you try to look at them from your learners’ point of view as you’re selecting them. For example, if you’re thinking about choosing the image below to represent the stress of a morning commute, you may want to ask yourself, Is this photo of a yellow cab in New York going to speak to my learners in India? What does their morning commute look like? Instead of using this illustration of dollars to represent money: You could use this pile of unidentified coins: And instead of using this Starbucks cup to represent coffee: You could use this regular coffee mug: If you’re not very familiar with the target culture(s), enlist the help of someone who is. Ask them to have a look at your images and let you know if anything stands out as not being very “local,” or if there are any icons or symbols they don’t understand. If you’re localizing your course into multiple languages, it’s best to choose “neutral” images as much as possible so you don’t have to customize your graphics for every language version. In certain cases it makes sense to adapt an image for each version. However, it’s also a lot more work, so keep that in mind as you’re choosing your illustrations. Be Aware of Differences in Color Symbolism In Western cultures, red is often used to mean “incorrect” or “forbidden,” but in China it’s a color most people associate with happiness and prosperity. The color green, which is often used to mean “correct” in the U.S., is associated with death in some South American cultures. It’s important to be aware of the meaning of these colors in the target cultures for your course so you don’t confuse or offend your learners. If you’re designing a course that will be localized in a country where color meanings are significantly different than in your home country, try to find a couple of colors that are neutral in both countries and use those instead. You can also include written explanations next to answers that are correct and incorrect, for example, to avoid any possible confusion. Choose Characters Carefully Characters are often used in e-learning scenarios to help learners understand how the information they’re learning applies to their daily work. For this reason, it’s important to choose characters your learners can relate to. This can be challenging, especially when your audience is made up of learners from all around the world. One way you can get around this challenge is by asking your learners to choose their own avatar in the beginning of your course. Based on their choice, you could adapt all of the characters in your course. (If you’re using Storyline 360 to create your course, it’s super easy to do! Just check out this tutorial.) Another option would be to use a diverse range of characters, so every learner is represented at some point during the course. One more important thing to pay attention to when choosing characters for your course is their gestures. Certain gestures are completely innocuous in the U.S., while very offensive in other countries. For example, the thumbs up is often used to mean “good job” in the U.S., but in Greece, Italy, and the Middle East it’s highly offensive. The peace sign is another example of a gesture viewed positively in the U.S., but negatively in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Make sure to research gestures in your target culture(s) before you include them in your course to avoid offending or confusing your learners. Accept That Some Adaptations Might Be Necessary It’s not always possible to adapt your master course so that no graphic design changes are necessary when you localize the course. For example, if you’re localizing into languages that read from right to left, you’ll need to rework your design so it looks like a mirror image. Or if you’re doing a tutorial, the screenshots will need to be redone in the localized interface. These are just a couple of examples that will need to be adapted on a language-by-language basis, but of course there are many more. Finding it hard to come up with culture-neutral graphics? Don’t sweat it! It’s okay if not everything is 100 percent localization-friendly. The goal here is to make it as easy as possible to localize your course while ensuring your graphics are culturally relevant to all of your learners. To do this, you’ll likely need to work with regional experts to identify things that may need to be adapted. When you come across things that will need to be updated for each language, make a note of them. That way, when it comes time to localize, you can make sure those things get updated. If you keep these tips in mind as you’re designing your course, not only will the localization process go more smoothly, but your global learners will have an easier time relating to your content. And when your learner relates to your content, it’s more likely they’re going to get something out of your course. That’s a win for everyone involved! Looking for more localization advice? Check out these other helpful articles: Planning Your Localized E-Learning Projects Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization Got some great localization advice to share with the community? Drop us a message below! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes often for the latest e-learning tips and tricks.Choosing a Translation Partner for Your E-Learning Project
Creating an effective course in multiple languages involves much more than simply translating the text—it requires localizing or adapting the content so that it resonates with learners in other countries. However, translating the text is part of the process. And the people you choose to help you do that will impact not only the overall quality of the localized course, but also the budget and time required to complete the project. When hiring translators, you can either: Work with an agency that will manage the translation of your course in all languages. Find a freelancer for every target language and work with them directly. In this article we’ll outline the pros and cons of each option to help you make the right decision for your project. Translation Agencies The nice thing about working with agencies is that they make the whole process super-easy. In addition to translating your course text into multiple languages and managing that whole process with the individual translators, they often offer additional services such as: Working with voice-over pros to re-record any voice-over narration included in your course. Re-importing the translated text and audio into your e-learning authoring app and making any necessary adjustments. If you take them up on these additional services, all that’s left for you to do is review the localized courses. Sounds pretty nice, right? The downside is that the price is often significantly higher and the translation quality tends to be a bit lower. There are a few reasons that the quality often suffers when you work with agencies, namely: Many agencies use machine translation to cut costs. Human translators often (but not always!) review these translations, but because they’re not paid very much to do these reviews, they don’t always do a very thorough job. Agencies often subcontract the translation work out to freelancers, so there’s no guarantee the same person will take your project from start to finish. When multiple translators work on the same project, it’s hard to ensure the writing style remains consistent. Since you’re not in direct contact with the translators, they often lack the context—and opportunity to ask questions—they need to provide truly great translations. Because the fee you pay the agency covers both translation and project management, the translators only see a fraction of it. And often they earn far less when they work with agencies than when they work with clients directly. For this reason, they’re more likely to speed through agency translations, often resulting in lower-quality work. Freelance Translators One major advantage of working with freelance translators is that the quality tends to be higher. There are a few reasons for that: Because you’re in direct contact with them, they can ask for additional context information when necessary, which improves the overall translation quality. They often earn more money when working with clients directly, so they’re more likely to spend time trying to get the translations just right. They need to provide a good service in order to maintain a good reputation and ensure repeat business. In addition, even though freelancers make more money when working with clients directly, you often pay LESS. That’s because they don’t have as many overhead costs to cover as an agency does. However, there are also some disadvantages to working with freelancers. For one, it takes more time to find, hire, and manage freelancers than it does to work with an agency. And because they usually don’t offer project management, voice-over, or in-app translation, it can mean a lot more work for you and your team. The more language versions you’re creating, the more time and effort these things will require. For this reason, if you’re working with a large number of languages it might make more sense to go through an agency. The Bottom Line When choosing a translation partner there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The right choice for you depends on a variety of factors, including the number of languages, the budget, your workload, and the quality bar you’ve set. Here’s a pros and cons table that recaps the information covered in this article for easy referencing: Pros Cons Translation Agencies Usually less time consuming to manage. Might include additional services like voice-over and work in e-learning apps. Quality is often lower. Cost is often higher. Freelance Translators Quality is often higher. Cost is often lower. Can be time consuming to manage. Looking for more information on localizing e-learning courses? Check out these resources: 3 Classic E-Learning Localization Mistakes & How to Avoid Them Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization Designing Your E-Learning Course Graphics With Localization in Mind QA Test Your Localized E-Learning Courses in 4 Easy Steps Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.3 Key Partnerships for E-Learning Localization Success
If your learners are spread out across the globe, you’ll likely need to offer training content in multiple languages to ensure everyone fully understands it. But unless you speak all the other languages yourself—which is pretty unlikely—you’ll need to partner with people you trust to deliver high-quality localized courses. In this article we’ll take a look at 3 key roles and how they contribute to your project, and then point you to resources that’ll help you select the right people to fill them. 1. Translators It’s easy to understand why translators are an important part of ensuring high-quality localized courses. After all, if they don’t do a good job translating your content, your key messages could be misconstrued or even lost, making it impossible for your learners to achieve the desired learning outcomes. Not only that, but it’s hard to grab and keep learner attention if the translation is stiff, dry, or awkward. When it comes to hiring translators, you can either: Work with an agency that will manage the translation of your course in all languages. Find a freelancer for every target language and work with them directly. So how do you know which option is right for your project? Good question! There are a lot of factors to consider, including the number of languages you’re translating your course into, the budget, your workload, and the quality bar you’ve set. Here are some pros and cons to help you make the call: Pros Cons Translation Agencies Usually less time consuming to manage. Might include additional services like voice-over and work in e-learning apps. Quality is often lower. Cost is often higher. Freelance Translators Quality is often higher. Cost is often lower. Can be time consuming to manage. For more detailed explanations about the above pros and cons, check out this article: Choosing a Translation Parter for Your E-Learning Project. 2. Voice-Over Professionals If you’ve ever created a course with professional narration, you likely know how hard it can be to find the right voice actor. Selecting someone with the right tone of voice, intonation, accent, and tempo is crucial because it can literally make your learners want to tune in—or out. And this is true no matter what language the course is in! But how do you choose a voice-over professional in a language you don’t speak? Typically you have two options: Go through a translation or voice-over agency that works with voice-over professionals across the globe. Work with freelance voice-over professionals in all the target languages directly. Not sure which option makes the most sense for your situation? Here’s a handy pros and cons list: Pros Cons Translation or Voice-Over Agency Less work on your end since they manage the whole process for all the languages, from selection to recording. Could be more expensive since you’re paying for their project management services on top of the voice-over fees. Freelancer Voice-Over Professionals Might be cheaper since you don’t have to pay for project management services. Likely more time consuming because you have to manage each voice actor individually. No matter which option you go with, it’s best to enlist someone you trust—like a coworker—who speaks the target language to help you in the selection process. The person you choose should be proficient enough in the language to recognize regional differences in accent and speech patterns. Otherwise you could end up choosing a Parisian voice-over professional for your French-Canadian audience, which might not go over too well with your learners. 3. Quality Assurance (QA) Testers Testing your localized courses is an extremely important—but often overlooked—part of creating courses in multiple languages. Translators are human. They make mistakes. And since they’re likely not experts on your course topic, it’s also possible for them to misunderstand—and therefore mistranslate—certain things. E-learning developers also sometimes introduce errors or bugs when they’re importing the translation into the authoring app. That’s why having QA testers with an eagle eye is key. This could be people on the project team, other coworkers, or, in some cases, professional QA testers. I recommend finding a person for each language version who is: A first-language speaker of the target language or someone with a high level of fluency, so they can pick up on things like register (i.e., the level of formality), tone, style, and nuances. A good writer and speller in the target language, so they can catch spelling mistakes, typos, and grammar errors. Just because someone speaks a language doesn’t mean they’re an ideal QA tester. Fluent in the source language (the language your master course was designed in), so they can compare the localized course to the master course. From or has lived in the target region for an extended period of time, so they understand the ins and outs of the culture. Detail-oriented, so they’ll catch any mistakes. Committed to your project, so they’ll make time to review your course when you need them to. To learn how to QA test your localized courses, check out this article: QA Test Your Localized E-Learning Courses in 4 Easy Steps. The Bottom Line Finding translators, voice-over professionals, and QA testers you can trust is crucial if you want to ensure your localized course is top-notch. But building this team doesn’t have to be stressful or hard. The tips and resources in this article will help you find the people you need to get the result you want. And if you’re looking for more localization best practices, head over to these articles: Planning Your Localized E-Learning Projects Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization Designing Your E-Learning Course Graphics With Localization in Mind QA Test Your Localized E-Learning Courses in 4 Easy Steps Follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.
