The Best Practices for ELearning Localization

In recent years, knowing the value of eLearning localization best practices has grown exponentially on a global level. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the freedom eLearning offers students has made it increasingly indispensable in today’s world. As its popularity grows, it’s crucial to make sure eLearning content can relate to various cultures abroad while maintaining your brand’s integrity. The only way to guarantee the effectiveness of your course in new consumer markets is by ensuring your eLearning content is localized properly. There are a few strategies that can help you build and publish localized content quickly and accurately.  

Keep It Simple

One of the most important practices when it comes to eLearning localization is simplicity when authoring the course. ELearning typically values complex and interactive user interfaces, but localization is much easier when processes are kept simple. The more buttons and interactions you have, the more expensive and time consuming translation will be, especially when multiple languages are involved. Keeping it simple allows for a quicker localization process and makes your content easier to translate. Here are the top three factors to consider as you develop your course:  

1. Text Boxes

It’s important to remember not to cram too much text into each text box. Some languages use more characters than others, so adding wiggle room is necessary to ensure the translation fits into the text box without interrupting the interface.  

2. Interactions

Creating more buttons and animations to allow more interactions between users and your course can personalize the users’ experience, but it will also cost you more time and money. Localization platforms will often quote exorbitant prices to translate complex interactions, and ensuring they do it efficiently can be a very drawn-out process.  

3. Fonts

Although customized fonts may help tailor courses to individual students’ preferences, they might not translate well to other languages–it’s best to use universal fonts to avoid this issue.  

Have a Quality Control System

Ensuring the translation quality of your course is another important practice of eLearning localization. This includes having consistent translation memory reuse–as the site updates, it’s important to localize similar content to reduce time and cost. Quality control also includes an in-depth review process at every stage, beginning with approving each course’s glossary. To do this, choose a stakeholder who can establish the glossary as well as the translation memory. Having a stakeholder dedicated to a specific course allows them to thoroughly review the material and ensure the project’s coherence. Before you build the site, the stakeholder must review the course materials, and another native speaker must use them. This eliminates the need for tedious, costly revisions after the site has gone live.  It’s also vital to test your course on mobile devices–more and more people are using cell phones and tablets for all their daily activities, including eLearning. Some eLearning platforms even emphasize their mobile apps over their websites, as apps offer users the chance to learn anywhere, anytime. Because of this, mobile response review has become just as important as any other stage in the review process, especially since mobile apps are updated more frequently.  

Mimic Widely Used ELearning Platforms

You can reduce the learning curve for eLearning localization tools by modeling your work after other widely used eLearning platforms. This will streamline the localization process for your course. If you use pre-existing methods, it will also help any engineers working on your project—they’ll already be familiar with the technology. Here are some platforms to consider:  

• Articulate
• Atomi
• Captivate
• Camtasia
• DomiKnow
• Elucidat
• iSpring Suite
• Koantic
• Lectora
• Lessonly
• Nickelled

Some of these platforms also offer webinars and communities to help you author your course with an eye toward simplifying localization.  

Choose the Best ELearning Localization Practices and Service for Your Content

While high-quality writing and comprehensive reviews are essential, the most important factor in eLearning localization is choosing a localization management platform that can help you establish your course in new markets successfully. The right localization service will care enough about your content to help you preserve it during the translation process and build a course that translates well across various languages and cultures in a timely and cost-effective way.