Best Practices: What to keep in mind when translating an eLearning course

We have gathered our eLearning team, with over 12 years of experience in the translation of eLearning courses, and asked them to give us some tips. Below you will find tips from the experts to save you time and avoid mistakes.

Text expansion

Did you know that Spanish typically increases about 25% the number of characters when translated from English? When thinking about target audiences you have to consider the language, and with that in mind, expect original text to expand or contract. Keep in mind the slides containing text boxes, as content size might change after it has been translated.

Provide your translation partner with the storyboard

This is a great way to make sure the translation team understands the purpose of the project, and can get started with the organization process required to make the eLearning translation a success.

extra tip Do not leave out of your checklist important details such as text direction (in Arabic, reading is from right to left), numbers’ formats, line breaks and alignment.

After translation comes integration

A team of native translators and subject matter experts is the best choice. By following the storyboard, a linguist will check and correct any mistakes. After the final translated version is approved, it is time for eLearning developers to integrate all elements of the course.

Does it meet the target audience requirements?

Cultural issues, images, and dates and times, are important details to be translated correctly for the intended locale. Make sure you perform this important localization check with all the non text elements.

Create a pronunciation guide

Before going through your script, take time to work on a pronunciation guide for each target language. Oh, and also test diverse voice talents until you find the one you feel suits best. Here is an article on that

Double check quality!

Pay attention to text, video and audio sync. Make sure the target language is appropriate, double check it with a bilingual instructional designer.

Test and deliver

Once you have completed the translation and review steps, it’s time to test the course from a functional perspective. We suggest to have the test performed by your in-country reviewer so the experience is as close to real training as possible. Received feedback? Okay, some slight changes won’t hurt anyone. After that, you are ready to go!

Most eLearning software supports the XLIFF translation process which easily lets you export your original course document to the translator and then import it back into your course. However, if you are not familiar with XLIFF handling, shoot us an email at XLIFFHELP@ideatranslations.com and we would be happy to get you in touch with one of our eLearning consultants.