Global audiences: the rules are changing in eLearning

While English is the most common language in learning and development, not everyone online is English proficient or feels comfortable learning in languages in which they are not native.

With 12 years of experience in the eLearning industry, our team has worked in projects that range from compliance training, to online school projects focusing on reaching audiences worldwide. The pandemic reality and the immediate need for digitalization is forcing us to consider using local languages for courses, and to understand the benefits this will bring to our productivity and effectiveness.

If you are in the eLearning development industry, you probably have been asked to develop an eLearning course for a global audience, and you probably thought: why not just create the course in English and then send it to the translation guys we typically use?

The need for creating eLearning courses for global audiences resides in the linguistic and cultural diversity most organizations face. You have to think universal. Also, most technical terminology is different in each country, and that is not something which adding captions or subtitles can fix.

So, how do we create universal courses?

1. Identify the language of target audiences.
2. Make a list of specific terminology and learning assets that require translation and localization, such as slides, videos, infographics, graphical images containing texts, etc.
3. Review the script and do a universal check. Is there any text that can be offensive in other countries? Is it culturally neutral? Are the terms simple and straightforward to translate?
4. Create a pronunciation guide.
5. Find a voice talent your client can approve
6. Work thoroughly on the synchronization of audio to visuals, including closed captioning. Take into account that most languages expand when translated from English.
7. Test the course for validation.
8. Publish!

The technology available to us today removes any geographical limitations. Employees and clients shouldn’t be restricted to receive training in a language in which they are not proficient. If you are looking for more eLearning solutions give us a call or make sure you tune into our next webinar with our team of experts in the field.