Localization of e-learnings - Articulate Studio in focus

With the rapid development of digital content and electronic media, more and more e-learning materials are coming our way for localization. Some were particularly tricky for getting them localized properly. In this article we will focus on e-learning courses created in Articulate Studio.

For those who have never heard of this product, it’s a solution for PowerPoint enhancement and design of e-learnings on its basis. This tool is fit for creating short e-learnings, especially if you already have a prepared PowerPoint presentation.  

Let us assume that you made a presentation for your co-workers on a new reporting approach in your company. Isn’t it reasonable to reinforce the presented information by using applicable training materials? You may want to consider Articulate Studio as a tool to help you.

With this software you will be able to fill your presentation with interactive quizzes, flowcharts and animated explanations. However, its primary benefit consists in providing an interactive course with presentation material, extended questions, audio feedback and additional reading. As a matter of fact a common PowerPoint presentation turns into a SCORM-compatible course with all its advantages.

Yet, at the same time, one might experience certain difficulties when localizing this type of material. Let’s suppose your company has other offices overseas, therefore it would be great to have these types of materials adapted for colleagues in other countries.

The first and biggest problem we have encountered concerns the process of translating the text content. Articulate Studio is equipped with a convenient method of exporting texts to .doc file. Unfortunately, there is no reverse conversion function. Without a reverse conversion you will have to substitute the original text with the translations manually, which takes lots of time and efforts. PowerPoint has the same flaw, though.

Apart from this not all interface strings of the e-learning are exported to .doc file, such help texts as “Click next to continue”, “Your score”, “Result”, etc often do not get to the .doc file.

Another disappointing moment consists in the limited number of built-in interface languages (only 10), though the product allows to add new languages manually.

It was noticed that the title length of the Articulate Quiz or Articulate Engage has limitations. When translating the English title we had to considerably shorten the translation.

However, on the whole if putting aside the localization problems this software solution can be considered sufficiently smart and helpful. The author has a possibility to add interactive content, flash videos, various quizzes, sound effects, and additional learning materials in the form of supplements, etc. The product is perfect for companies that have a large stock of learning materials, such as presentations, and wish to import them to LMS.

Just yesterday I got a new Articulate Studio version. One of the new features is import in Excel spreadsheet or txt file. I will write about the improvements soon. I hope there is something for localization too.

About Articulate Studio - http://www.articulate.com/

By Bohdan Kruk

Senior Localization Specialist