The world doesn’t seem so small these days, thanks to mobile devices, high-speed internet, and connectivity not being the issue it once was. You can easily connect with someone on the opposite side of the world with the touch of a button. This means a lot of businesses have had to rethink their target audience, and hiring managers have an even bigger pool of employees from around the world. Even universities have a bigger reach thanks to online courses.
Reasons your business might need eLearning translations
- Corporate training
- Talent management
- Internal learning and development departments
- Qualification and assessments
- Educational institutions
Now that the world is more connected than ever, businesses are branching out into new countries to get a greater global reach. This means they are setting up offices all over the world, with local people to head those up. So, the task is to make sure that they translate training in exactly the right way to ensure that the business is just as successful.
Working with foreign countries means making sure that your eLearning translation works for a variety of languages and cultures. After all, the way the reader receives the information will greatly impact their understanding of it, and of you as a business.
eLearning translation challenges
Here are some of the challenges that you’re faced with eLearning translation:
- eLearning courses are often real-life scenario-led. Linguistic and cultural factors play a huge part in this. So if the person reading the text cannot identify or connect with it, you are not going to be getting the best out of them.
- Symbols, idioms, and colloquiums are very specific to each language and culture. So your symbol could mean something completely different to someone else. For example, in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, a thumbs-up sign is interpreted as offensive. This can be said for colours too. For example, in South African, the colour red is associated with mourning. In France, the colour yellow is associated with jealousy, weakness and betrayal. This is why your videos, graphics and images need to be considered when you translate training documents.
- When using local humour and slang language, you need to make sure that it’s culturally acceptable. If you accidentally include an insensitive remark you could totally disengage the reader.
- Another challenge you will face is when an eLearning translation does not connect with the learner. This may result in them not retaining the information and skills.
All these reasons make it essential for you to enlist the help of an eLearning translation professional. Not only does the content need to make sense from a cultural and linguistic point of view, but you need a subject matter expert on your industry or course.
At Global Lingo, we only work with subject-matter experts who are also experts in the relevant linguistic field.
The benefits of eLearning translation
Let’s explore the many reasons why you need to have impeccable eLearning translation services for your project:
Your employees will feel appreciated and included
The more effort you put in to make the learning materials more accessible and relevant to your team, the more they are going to appreciate it. This will also lead to better retention of the information and much better development of skills. If they are trained in a language that they are more comfortable with, they will learn and understand more. So, you’ll have employees that perform much better in their role.
You will get a much greater reach
By translating your eLearning and course into multiple languages you will be better equipped to deal with multiple clients from all over the world. This will mean more growth and profitability for your business. It also gives you the edge over your competitors, especially if they are yet to go global.
Better customer satisfaction
With effective eLearning translation, your team will better understand the products or service you offer. This will lead to a much better customer service. So your clients will be happy and keep coming back for more.
Better communication
By getting a translation company to help you with this, you will undoubtedly improve your communication. Ensuring that everything makes sense in the language you need, is going to increase performance and engagement.
There are so many benefits of using Global Lingo services for your eLearning translation needs. We offer full end-to-end solutions for localising eLearning courses. This typically includes Learning and Development courses, Education and Qualifications and eLearning. Whether it’s course translation or video and subtitles, testing and QA, we can help you. Check out our full list of services here.
How to make your eLearning content accessible globally with Global Lingo
We work very closely with eLearning content creation teams and corporate learning departments to localise training and LMS’ for use in local markets. So, whether your training is delivered via PowerPoint or uses a custom-built eLearning platform for a more interactive course, we can work with any tool you have.
Check out our case studies to see how we’ve helped businesses like you to reach a more global audience. Contact us today to discuss your product.