Why Translation and Localization Are Key to Global Learning Success

The emerging technologies in today’s world, offering e-learning platforms, online courses, and digital training and learning, have made education available globally. ‘Global’ entails a multilingual audience. Hence, offering content in only English does not serve the purpose.

So, how can we make global learning possible? The answer is in one word: Translation! By translating the educational content into the local language, the language barriers are broken and education is made available across the world. E.g. a Management course in Japanese or a coding workshop in French.

But just the translation of the content does not help. Localisation is also an important aspect of global learning where the translated content syncs with local customs, lifestyles and ways of thinking of the target audience. The purpose of localisation is to make the end learner feel that the content was designed and developed specially for them. This makes the content more acceptable amongst the target audience and increases retention capacity and making them complete the courses they have enrolled for. Retaining a learner’s attention is the goal of eLearning. At no time should the learner feel a disconnect with the content.

Further, localisation makes use of real-life examples, and hence they are realistic and the learners can relate to them, and this in turn boosts the course’s impact and satisfaction for the learner. For global organisations, localisation further ensures that all their employees get steady and clear information regardless of which part of the world they are in, and this is very important for professional growth as a uniform culture prevails across the organisation, even though there are regional differences.

When a global organisation gives localised content to its employees, they understand that the impact of the learning becomes more effective when it is delivered in the local language. Moreover, localization is legally needed.

Translation and localization ensure a powerful and uniform learning experience for the learners across the globe. To conclude, translation and localization have become a necessity of the digital learning environment. It is helping to break geographic barriers to bring content to the learners across the globe.