E-learning is a booming business. Estimates show that the current market size for e-learning products is about $300 billion, with projections of about $850 billion possible by 2030. That would make it one of the fastest-growing industries, with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19%. One of the best features of e-learning is that it is truly global. Language and physical barriers are no longer constraining when it comes to learning. With e-learning, companies can have employees take the same course concepts in multiple languages and with different cultural sensitivities, ensuring a consistent experience. As such, for many e-learning providers, e-learning localization becomes particularly critical – ensuring everyone has a high-quality, enriching experience, no matter what language they speak.

In most cases, e-learning localization is more complex than swapping words on a page. There are often nuances and complexities unique to e-learning scenarios that are essential to understand and navigate to ensure everyone gets the most out of the course content. Here’s what you need to know about these localization challenges and how to overcome them.

How Is E-learning Localization Different?

As noted above, e-learning localization often involves nuances that make direct word-for-word translation ineffective. The reason for this is the content itself and the intended users.

Consider the following scenario. Let’s say you are a nutritional company creating an e-learning course on the benefits of milk intake for children (higher calcium leads to strong bones and other health benefits). In this e-learning course, you reference the “Got Milk?” ads, widely available in the US, as an example of successful advertising in promoting milk consumption.

In Spanish, the literal translation for “Got Milk?” is “¿Tienes leche?” However, this has a different connotation in Mexico, and the question essentially asks if the person is lactating. That’s not what you want your readers to take away from your e-learning course!

Though it may sound unlikely, this happened, and the team behind these ads had to change the phrase to appeal to Spanish-speaking audiences.

Or consider the scenario where you have an e-learning course on specific parts of cars, planes, trains, computers, or some other device requiring great precision – any term not translated with 100% accuracy may lead to significant problems. Furthermore, children’s courses must respect various nuances regarding cultural sensitivities.

E-learning localization must be more precise than other localization efforts because of the material’s very nature and intent: it’s for learning!

Why Is Localization Necessary?

Some companies, aware of the potential pitfalls, try to play it safe by not localizing their content. Localization is crucial for two key reasons: market expansion and the diversity of our world.

You’ll need to localize your products if you want to expand your offerings into multiple markets. Offering content in just English, the most popular language globally, limits your reach to about 18% of the global population. To reach 50% of the world, you’d need to localize your content into a few languages (English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and French would add up to over 50% of the population, statistically).

Even if you’re not looking to expand globally, our world is so diverse that offering content in one language typically won’t be as effective as providing localized options. Only about 50% of New Yorkers, for example, speak English at home. If you were making e-learning resources about COVID back in 2020 for residents of NYC, you’d have to make this content in a wide variety of languages to reach all residents.

Localization is critical in many scenarios, and it’s often best to consider support for multiple languages throughout the course development process.

Which E-Learning Elements Should You Localize?

E-learning materials are often different from other media forms in that they are frequently not just passively consumed. Many courses offer multiple pathways, interactive elements (like mini-tests to ensure that people understand the material), and videos explaining various concepts. When localizing the material, it’s crucial to understand what elements your particular course needs localizing.

In particular, most courses require at least the following localized:

  • Text content: All course text content, including labels, instructions, and assessments, must be in all supported languages. If your material includes accessibility features like alt text on images, that also must be localized.
  • Multimedia: All audio narration, video subtitles, and other on-screen text needs to be in all supported languages.
  • Interactive: The localization pipeline must include interactive elements: Quizzes, tests, and other exercises.
  • User Interface: Menus, buttons, and other navigation elements need consideration.
  • Other Graphics: If you have images, animations, simulations, or even comments in code, they must also be translated.

When designing your course, it’s vital to take stock of all content that needs localization so that it’s easier to inventory and ensure it gets appropriately translated.

Challenges Often Encountered During Localization

When localizing this type of content, many people encounter various challenges. Here are five of the top challenges we find that e-learning platforms encounter when bringing their products to different languages and markets:

  • User Experience: Maintaining a consistent and engaging user experience across different languages and cultures can be challenging. For example, humor and tone may translate poorly, requiring careful adaptation.
  • Language and Cultural Challenges: Nuances in language, cultural references, and learning styles can significantly impact the effectiveness of your course. For instance, colors, symbols, and gestures can have different meanings in different cultures.
  • Content Design Challenges: Text expansion and contraction can affect the layout and formatting of your course. For example, translating English into German often results in longer text, requiring adjustments to the design.
  • Quality Assurance and Version Management: Ensuring the accuracy and consistency of localized content across multiple languages and versions can be a logistical challenge.
  • Multimedia Localization: Translating and adapting audio, video, and interactive elements can be complex and time-consuming. Synchronization of audio and video is crucial for localized multimedia.

When designing your course content, including the layout of your graphical elements, please consider the above top challenges with localization in mind. For example, the fact that some languages, like German, are longer than English can make UI look vastly different between locales. What might look great in English can have cut-off text, bad wraparounds, and more in a language like German.

E-learning Localization Best Practices

There are many best practices for localization, but perhaps the two most important are planning for localization early in the process and the necessity to involve native speakers in the review process.

Consider the following example. Suppose you are designing an e-learning course that involves a video. You pay for a video; the creator hands you a finished product with titles, subtitles, captions, and more. The footage looks fantastic.

There’s only one problem. Localizing a video after the fact will require a significant amount of editing! What about all the titles, captions, and other text elements in the video? All you have is the finished product, so you must do significant editing and dubbing to create a video that may not look as good as the original.

By involving localization early, you could avoid this issue altogether. You could ask for all the video components, including the source for the title scenes, to get them localized and generate the video for each market.

Additionally, involving native speakers in the review process is crucial. Often, someone who has learned a language academically does not know all the connotations that someone who has grown up with the language knows. As such, getting the native speaker’s perspective is vital for QA.

E-learning Localization: A Quick Recap

In today’s diverse world, e-learning localization is essential to create a quality product. Whether you’re looking to expand your market or develop materials that resonate with more users in a specific region, localization will help boost your content’s effectiveness. Employees, public customers, and other consumers of your e-learning platform will undoubtedly be thankful that they do not have to navigate a language barrier while trying to learn your material.

At Ulatus, we specialize in e-learning localization. We localize all course content, including user elements, infographics, mobile apps, e-books, and more. Learn more here if you’re interested in localizing your platform.