How To Easily Translate Your eLearning

By: Justin Ferriman • May 2, 2012
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At some point there will come a time when you will need to translate your learning to another language.  Unless you are fluent in that language, then you really shouldn’t attempt this on your own.  This is because there are natural nuances in any language which limits the ability to do a direct one-for-one translation.  In other words, going to Google Translate is probably (no, definately) a bad idea.  Your training will go from professional to amateur pretty fast.

So how do you translate your courses in a short amount of time and on a budget?

You have a couple of options, but the most cost effective method is to outsource the work on one of the many outsourcing websites available.  I have my personal favorite, but you should explore the other options as well, in fact, you should use them all.

Create an account for each site and create a job posting on each one.  This will broaden the available resources for the work.  Make sure you are clear about communication expectations, when the project MUST be done, and any other considerations you want your translator to be aware of.  Remember, you are the project manager here, so you need to put these expectations up-front.

Once the project is complete, you should create another post (or ask a native speaker if you know one) to take the coure(s) and let you know if it is clear (makes sense in the langauge).  This is probably the most important part since reviewing this kind of work will be a lot more difficult.

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter