According to WFH research, in 2023, about 12.7% of individuals who work full-time now work from home, and around 28.2% have a mix of home and office work. The shift towards remote and hybrid work arrangements has fueled a rapid increase in the need for digital workplace learning solutions. Organizations seek ways to effectively train and engage employees across diverse locations and cultures as the world embraces a hyper-virtual work environment. While translating eLearning courses into local languages is a step in the right direction, true cultural relevance requires a more comprehensive approach known as eLearning localization or learning content localization.
The process of learning content localization extends beyond mere translation, encompassing the customization of eLearning content to suit the cultural nuances of the intended audience. This involves ensuring the content is linguistically accurate and culturally sensitive, avoiding potential misunderstandings or offenses. Customizing eLearning content for specific regions allows organizations to enhance the engagement and effectiveness of the workplace learning experience for every employee, irrespective of their background or geographic location.
eLearning Localization vs. Translation: Unraveling the Key Distinctions
Translation makes your course available in different languages, simply taking the words from one language and turning them into another. On the flip side, localization is all about tweaking your course to suit a particular country or region, making it fit in with the people there as well as meeting their expectations and preferences. Think of it this way: translation deals with language, while localization deals with culture.
Beyond just translating the text, localization goes the extra mile by tweaking various elements to make the content feel right at home in a specific culture or region. This includes:
- Figurative language and idioms
- Tone
- Storylines
- Images, graphics, and avatars
- Date and time
- Symbols, currency, and measurement units
- Addresses
- Fonts
- Acronyms
eLearning localization aims to articulate course content clearly, connecting with the intended audience by understanding their ideas, customs, and social behavior.
Top 5 Benefits of Localization in Workplace Learning
1. Expands eLearning Content Reach to a Wider Audience
eLearning localization opens doors to a diverse audience, enhancing training experiences and boosting revenue. Instead of focusing solely on the English-speaking market, embracing localization enables access to lucrative regions, expanding reach and increasing financial gains. While the upfront costs may seem daunting, the long-term rewards far outweigh the initial investment.
2. Maximizes ROI on Learning Initiatives
Multinational corporations can enhance global adherence to company standards by translating online training content into local languages. This improves employee understanding and performance, ensuring consistent quality worldwide. Localized training modules are a cost-effective alternative to hiring training experts for diverse locations.
3. Boosts Brand Image
Localizing online training upskills your employees and builds a brand that embraces diversity and inclusion. This move strengthens employee engagement and enhances your reputation among stakeholders, propelling growth. It’s a strategic decision that elevates an organization’s brand to a new level.
4. Improves Resource Utilization
Effectively serving a global learner base requires time and effort, but localization offers a strategic solution to optimize resources. It is a cost-effective alternative for organizations expanding globally, avoiding the need to create entirely new content. Translated workplace learning content often leads to confusion due to communication gaps and irrelevant references. Localization addresses these issues, enhancing comprehension and retention by aligning content with cultural nuances, benefiting your workforce.
5. Enhances Knowledge Retention
Offering eLearning courses in multiple languages through localization can significantly improve the workplace learning experience and knowledge retention for employees from diverse backgrounds. Even for those in the United States with varying nationalities, localized eLearning materials provide a more effective way to understand course content and gain the most from training.
7 Tips for Localizing Workforce Learning Content
Localization of eLearning courses for a global audience can be challenging. Ensure success by avoiding typical mistakes, such as:
- Failing to prioritize localization from the outset.
- Ignoring cultural nuances and local contexts.
- Choosing an inappropriate language style.
- Ignoring cultural differences.
- Neglecting the translation of audio and images.
- Failing to plan for text expansion.
Proactive consideration of these factors and collaboration with experienced localization professionals are essential for delivering high-quality and culturally sensitive eLearning content.
As per the 2023 Global Trends in Marketing Localization survey findings, most international marketers acknowledge the beneficial influence of content localization on the expansion of revenue. A significant 84% of survey participants indicated that content localization had a notably positive impact on their revenue, ranging from moderate to highly positive.
Let’s delve into 7 tips regarding the localization of eLearning content for an online training program.
1. Diverse Content Formats
Content localization refers to adapting learning material to suit the target audience’s requirements and preferences. This means changing and arranging the content to truly connect with the people who will be consuming it. Localized content should preserve its original integrity even after translation, giving the impression it was expressly authored for that audience. When localizing training materials, prioritize ensuring the messaging effectively and suitably reaches the target audience.
2. Scrutinize for Linguistic Accuracy
Language is key to communicating effectively, especially in training. Ensuring the training materials are linguistically accurate is important to avoid confusion and distractions. Using your own bilingual online translation teams can save money, but it’s important to choose translators who are fluent in the nuances of the target language. After all, the same message can be interpreted differently in different languages, and even minor errors can lead to learners getting lost.
3. Intercultural Awareness and Language Learning
Localization can be tricky, as you risk offending your target audience when converting information from one culture to another. Therefore, hiring a translation agency or localization firm with a proven cultural and social awareness track record is essential. This will help ensure that your eLearning training programs are culturally sensitive and do not offend your employees or clients. Major localization companies have extensive networks of translators so that the training programs are not affected by time zones or other logistical challenges.
4. Getting the Most Out of Technology
eLearning projects can be costly to convert locally because they contain so much content. Identify and replace repeated phrases and terminology with approved translations to save money. This will reduce the word count of each localized project and lower the overall cost.
5. Use A Single Language Before Localizing
Tailoring a course to a specific language or creating a prototype is a smart way to ensure it’s free of mistakes. This saves eLearning designers time and effort and stops them from having to redo courses in different languages, making their work more efficient.
6. Precision in Visualization
Use relevant images and graphics that are related to the topic. Ensure that any text in the images is localized for the intended market. Thoroughly review all graphics before presenting them to the intended audience, as some symbols and signs may be considered offensive in certain cultures.
7. Customized Multilingual Interface Optimization
Customized multilingual optimization tailors the graphical user interface to meet the diverse needs of multilingual users, with special consideration for languages like Hebrew and Arabic, which follow a right-to-left (RTL) reading orientation.
Conclusion
Localization of eLearning content is an essential element in any comprehensive global training strategy. It enables organizations to overcome cultural barriers and provide employees with engaging and effective learning experiences, regardless of their location or native language. By localizing eLearning content, organizations can boost employee engagement and retention, enhance job satisfaction, cultivate a culture of inclusiveness, and ensure standardization in methods, practices, and outlook.
