Companies spend huge amounts of time, money and effort developing training programs, creating learning packages and ensuring their workforce continue to advance their skill set.
This is a straightforward process if your company operates in only one country, with staff who all speak one language. However, in today’s digital age this type of business is becoming the exception, rather than the norm.
Businesses are now recruiting head office staff from other countries, expanding into foreign markets and operating on a global, rather than, local scale. So how do you create a learning experience for such varied personnel?
As with all tasks the key to success is preparation; while you are still in the early stages of developing your training, plan your content to allow for translation in the future. Review why and who is likely to access your training, and design the content to be user-friendly. This does not mean you need to start from scratch on already prepared materials, but it does mean you should consider various design concepts and consult a translation provider in the early stages to give you the end product you require.
The following information will help you work towards creating multilingual training materials that can be simply translated into different languages, and become accessible to all your employees.
Training objectives
If you have already decided to offer in house training, and are designing your own materials, you should already be aware of your overall objectives. If you know these are likely to be required in a variety of languages there are a few options you should consider.
Option one is to offer your training in English only. Many of your employees are likely to be comfortable speaking English but would their learning advance quicker, and with greater retention if it was in their native tongue?
Option two would be a partial translation. You might offer a web based training course that has subtitles with an English voiceover, or vice versa. This often means costs are lower and ensures the materials are accessible for all. However, this doesn’t offer the best learning experience – listening and reading in different languages can be tricky when you are training – the consolidation process can take considerable effort which detracts from the learning experience.
Talking to your translation provider early on in this process will enable you to create a tailored package that fits your employee’s needs and yours. Keep learning objectives in mind and discuss them with your chosen translation provider.
Design layout
You can design your training with translation in mind so that whether they are web based, instructor led or paper based, they will still look as good once they’re translated – and they will still have the same impact and intention.
The following need to be considered before finalising designs for training materials:
• Text – text expansion or contraction must be accounted for when designing materials. This can vary by as much as 20% so ensure white space is accounted for in your plans.
• Direction of text – can vary depending on the language. Arabic and Hebrew read right to left so be aware that entire layout may need to be altered if translating into these languages. Simple layouts with left-aligned margins for English text will flip easier than complicated designs and will still look good.
Language choices
Idioms, slang and colloquialisms should be avoided in training content as these do not translate well. Would an Arabic employee comprehend the English idiom of ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’? If it isn’t essential to the training consider removing it.
Acronyms, crosswords & word clouds can be useful learning tools but don’t easily translate. Keep them to a minimum unless you know they translate the same.
Avatars, or animated figures, in web based training are common. Be aware of cultural, racial and gender diversity when selecting avatars to use in your materials. If the avatar has a name ensure the name transcends the language barriers as some do not translate easily.
Images are vital learning tool, especially for visual learners. Care should be used when selecting images for your training materials as it is possible to cause offence. Keep images separate from text elements in the design process as they can then be removed or altered with ease.
Videos are another visual education tool that increase learner retention and recall. Any text in a video will require translation – this includes images that contain words, voice-overs and actors, so be aware of this in design stages. Leave blank space at the bottom of the screen for subtitles, provide translated voice-overs for visuals as a separate track if necessary.
Units of measure such as weights, lengths and so on will require translation. Most countries use the metric system, but not the US.
Numbers, dates and currencies may also need to be translated. Be aware of differing date formats in the US and UK for example.
External resources are frequently used in training; you might make use of trade or journal articles or well-known books on the topic. An easy way to check to see if a book has been translated into other languages is to do an Amazon search. Check for availability before adding to your resources lists.
Translation providers
Your translation provider can be involved from the early stages of your design process so they can give valuable input about the translation process.
If you are translating highly technical, or industry specific material, such as medical machinery, you should check with your translation provider to ensure they cover this type of translation. Many translation services focus on specific industries so they are familiar with particular terminology and can often give expert advice on exact requirements.
If you are working on long-term training projects it is worth compiling a glossary of frequently used words, or common phrases with your translation experts as this can speed up the translation process at later dates.
Proofreading, editing and reviewing of your translated material will be completed by your translation provider. Once this is done it can be passed to your in-country teams who can then review the whole translated project before it goes out to the rest of the company. Native speakers should complete final reviews where possible.
Designing training materials that are easily accessible contributes to a corporation’s success. Be sure that the material you are developing will provide the training you need for your team members wherever they are around the world.
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