NAVIGATING E-LEARNING LOCALIZATION
A practical guide for translators, instructional designers and e-learning specialists
Streamlining e-learning localization with AI: innovative tools for smarter, faster, and more cost-effective multilingual content
NAVIGATING E-LEARNING
LOCALIZATION
A practical guide for translators, instructional designers and e-learning specialists
Preparing e-learning materials for a global audience. Internationalization, neutralization, translation and localization
Who’s involved in the process? Key roles and stakeholders
Step 0. Internationalization. Laying the foundation for effective e-learning localization
Localization workflow
Step 1. Finalizing the source version
Step 2. Extracting content for translation
Step 3. Translation
Step 4. Reengineering
Quality assurance: ensuring the accuracy of localization
Common challenges and possible solutions in e-learning localization
Streamlining e-learning localization with AI: innovative tools for smarter, faster, and more-cost effective multilingual content
07. STREAMLINING E-LEARNING
LOCALIZATION WITH AI: INNOVATIVE TOOLS FOR SMARTER, FASTER, AND CHEAPER MULTILINGUAL CONTENT
Many AI-powered tools that are not primarily thought to localization can actually be very helpful to improve the accessibility of your e-learning materials and greatly contribute to your internationalization and localization processes.
AI video and voice-over generator
You can use these AI platforms to create video with high-quality voice-over in many languages, making it easy to adapt multimedia content for localized e-learning modules. This means that instead of hiring multiple voice actors, AI-generate voices can mimic the tone and style needed for the course, offering a more cost-effective solutions. It is easier to review and update your multimedia content since making changes doesn’t require schedule time with the actors and can be done straightaway in a couple of minutes. The large number of accents available within the same language can also be an interesting feature to consider.
Now, this type of tool is suitable for specific types of video – mainly explanatory, knowledge-based – but does not seem to be a good fit for more realistic videos where emotions and specific nuances play a key role.
Some platforms also offer the possibility to create your custom avatar. So here is an idea to finally get that get explanatory video you wanted to do with your very busy subject matter experts: get your SMEs on video – a couple of minutes is enough - and create their avatar directly on the platform. Their voice is also cloned to any of the languages available.
I have personally worked with Synthesia and there are more are more tools available everyday: WellSaid Labs, Animaker, Elai.io
Please note that I am not encouraging to create “e-learning video with AI within minutes” – as their usual marketing moto goes on their websites. Video creation for e-learning is a complex process that requires good instructional design and a lot of creativity for the video to be impactful and meaningful. Personally, I have never been able to create a high-quality e-learning video “within minutes” but now with AI some projects can afford to have video.
Automated subtitle generation and synchronization
Another area where AI can be a major asset is generating subtitles, synching them, and transcribing videos, in particular when those multimedia features have landed on your project without meeting the required accessibility standards and you are facing hours of manual transcript and captioning.
AI-driven tools like Descript or Rev can automatically generate subtitles for video content, providing another layer of accessibility in e-learning. These tools not only transcribe audio but also align subtitles with voice-over and spoken content in real time. Subtitles can then be automatically translated into multiple languages, helping ensure that video content is accessible to learners worldwide.
Please note that the accuracy of these tools is never 100% and you still need to review the output. Nonetheless, automating this process reduces the manual effort that usually takes long hours to complete.
