Throughout the world, despite all of our differences, there is one thing most of us can agree on. Education matters. Thanks to technology, education has left the confines of the classroom and can be accessed globally online. This is where e-learning courses come in handy. Skills can be taught and knowledge can be shared through these digital courses. This is especially helpful for companies looking to train employees on complex software or to distribute safety training to a large workforce. In order to spread the reach of an e-learning course, localization may be necessary. Tools such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and Lectora Inspire can be used to make the translation and localization of e-learning courses much simpler.
What is Lectora Inspire?
Lectora Inspire is an authoring tool that can be used during the localization process. This tool allows the creator to export an RTF file that contains the text included in the course. Lectora Inspire offers “Translation Tool” and “Multi-language Publishing” features that assist with the process of translating e-learning course material.
A powerful function of Lectora Inspire is that it can create courses that can be viewed on multiple devices. This allows the user to easily convert existing courses into ones that are responsive to a variety of devices (such as a computer and a smartphone), without having to do the work manually.
How it Works
The Translation Tool extracts the text from the course and converts it to an RTF (rich text format) file. Once you have that file, you send it to your translator partner to make the necessary changes. The way this tool works is that it publishes a number of strings automatically as part of your course. As some text is not exported with the RFT, its translation needs to be handled separately. Strings of text like default feedback, test results, and confirmation or error messages will need translation alongside the title text.
Another handy feature of the tool is that it offers a “Multi-Language Publishing” option which is useful when creating separate courses in different languages. Once your main title is published, Lectora Inspire can publish a different version of the same course for each language you have a translation file for.
Helpful Tips
Before you begin using Lectora Inspire for the localization of e-learning courses, there are a few helpful tips worth remembering:
- To start, when you first create an RTF file, make sure you know which text you can and can’t alter. Some of the text in the file must be left untouched for the tool to work properly. Luckily, this text is highlighted red to remind you to leave it be.
- When working with RTF files, you should not open them or edit them in Microsoft Word. Doing so will automatically format your text which can cause issues upon re-importing it. It is recommended that you use WordPad or Notepad++ instead.
- It is also important to remember that there might be additional resources in your course that may need translating like audio or video files. As well as any attachments or documents that require updating.
