Localisation V/S Translation – The right choice can increase ROI
By admin June,2018
Rapid change in technology has enabled organisations to move beyond their geographical boundaries and setup successful Multi-National companies with a culturally diverse staff.
E-Learning has proven to be an essential component to help in the proliferation of teams across globe. With a changing need to adapt training modules to truly make an impact, translation of training content gained prevalence in the past decade.
In recent times, the need for providing experiential learning has become critical in helping teams connect with the training content and help them implement this knowledge in real-life situations.
At Multiversity, we are aware of this change in training demands and pursue a holistic approach to localising training content.
So whats’s different?
Localisation of content goes beyond the stereotypical approach of translating content to another language. It’s more than just a copy-paste job from the several online translation softwares that are present on the internet, that use SMT based tools to translate content! At every stage of the process, we look at various aspects of content localisation. Here’s an insight in to our process :
Estimation
During this phase, our team works with L&D managers, subject matter experts & company executives to understand the scope of work and consult on solutions that would be effective and easy to integrate.
We offer localisation in the 7 most widely spoken languages across the globe and 9 Indian languages
The deliverables can vary from developing pure content to audio & video transcription and production
True localisation through development of characters & animations that are in sync with a varied set of cultures and traditions of a team
Pre-Planning
In this phase, our Instructional designer creates a design approach that is simple, flexible and localisation friendly
The ID at Multiversity, dwells in to use of signages & colours used that can affect cultural aspects of planning the training material as well. For example: A Thumbs Up sign in western culture is perceived as a sign of approval while in the Middle East it’s construed as an offensive sign
We also select the style of narration based on the culture of the teams we are building the training content for. There have been marked differences in studies carried out between Asian & Western professionals
Designing to make content easily readable & navigable is of importance as well. Our design team works with our language experts to carve out a clean & well designed interface
Development
Our team uses unicode characters that are compliant with various LMS tools
Use of idioms in the English content developed is not the best way to pursue localising content to another language
We use advanced localisation softwares for a quick turnaround without comprising on the quality of the content. This is possible because of our expertise in using tools like Articulate Storyline to best of its capabilities
Integration
Our developers understand that every country uses the internet in vary different ways. And even the platforms through which they consume information are different.
We develop the content in formats that are most easily accessible and most widely consumed. For example: Countries like India & Nigeria have lower bandwidths of internet than the Middle East or certain south-east asian countries like Singapore. Hence content is optimised to suit these discrepancies
Usage of devices & browsers have also been known to vary from region to region. During the final stages, our team conducts extensive testing to deliver glitch-free training modules
Hence, localisation goes beyond the most common understanding of translation content from one language to another. Translation might just bridge the language barrier but localisation uses techniques to employ regional specificity. At Multiversity, our team understands the nuances of corporate training across cultures. Get to know more, visit our office or contact us, today!
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