In today’s interconnected world, businesses are expanding their operations globally at an unprecedented pace. With the rise of international markets, remote work and global teams, it has become crucial for organizations to provide effective and localized training to keep learners engaged and inspired.

Conducting comprehensive and effective global training programs can often be a costly and time-consuming endeavor. Fortunately, there are simple strategies that businesses can use to reduce costs without compromising on the effectiveness of their global training initiatives.

Global Training Must Be Localized for it to Be Effective

There are significant differences in language, culture, values and context across different regions. For instance, the work culture in Japan, with its emphasis on group harmony and collective identity, is completely different from France, where there is a greater emphasis on individualism and work-life balance.

For global training to be effective, it must be effectively localized. Localization involves adapting content and delivery to suit the specific needs, preferences and cultural nuances of different audiences.

Localization goes beyond just translation — it includes customizing all aspects of content including tone, colors, images, fonts, examples, numbers, currency, units, symbols and acronyms.

Different courses require different levels of localization. For example, technical training on how to use a machine doesn’t require cultural adaptation and in-depth localization. However, a course on the prevention of sexual harassment needs every aspect from language and tone to examples and images and dialogue to be effective.

Similarly, some regions have similar work culture, language and context and the level of localization needed is low. If a U.S. company is localizing a course for learners in the U.K., in most cases, just the spelling, measurements, currency and expressions need to be localized. If they are localizing a course for a team in the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, they might need to localize examples, images, colors and tone in addition to a full translation.

Plan for Localization in Advance

Treating localization as an afterthought is a common mistake made by many companies. By proactively planning for localization during the initial learning design phase, organizations can make informed decisions that save time and costs in the long term. Consider the following:

Pick an LMS That is Localization Friendly

The most common issue when it comes to localization is the difficulty in exporting the content in a way that can be easily translated. Pick or create a learning management system (LMS) that can export content in an XLIFF or other editable format for easy localization.

Keep the Source Files for All Your Assets

Keep the source files and packages for your images, charts, diagrams, PDFs and videos. If you use an external vendor, make sure to get all the source files from them. In the absence of source files, assets need to be recreated — an expensive and time-consuming exercise.

Keep the Original File From the Authoring Tool

If you outsource course development to an external vendor, make sure to get the source files from them in the format of the authoring tools they used to create the course. If you don’t have these, it will be impossible to edit or translate your files and new versions will have to be created from scratch.

Avoid Using Text in Images

When text is embedded into images, extracting, translating and reinserting it becomes difficult. Keep text outside your images and diagrams as much as possible. If you can’t, make sure you have the editable source files for all your images.

Keep the Scripts for Your Audio and Video

Keep the source scripts for your video narrations, subtitles and audio. If you don’t keep these, they will need to be transcribed during localization, adding time and cost.

Minimize the Use of Multimedia

Multimedia like animations, charts and images cost more money and time to localize. Keep multimedia use to a minimum. When you do use it, make sure you keep the editable source files.

Leave Room for Text Expansion

When you translate your content from English into other languages, typically content expands anywhere between 10-200% depending on the target language. For example, a sentence can expand up to 150% when translated from English to Malayalam.

When you are designing your buttons, slides and assessments, leave room for text expansion in the source files.

Avoid Jokes, Idioms and Cultural References

These are a nightmare to localize and often get misinterpreted or poorly translated. When authoring your content, avoid jokes, idioms, cultural references, sports references and non-standard acronyms as much as possible.

Subtitles vs. Voiceovers

Video can be an effective modality, by itself or when blended into other learning experiences. Most training modules made today contain a mix of text and video-based content.

Video content is much harder to adapt for global learners — you need to take into account accents, pace of speech, body language and on-screen text (OST). The most expensive part of learning localization is that video localization and companies have to choose between adding translated subtitles versus adding voiceovers.

Here are the two main factors to consider when making the choice between subtitles and voiceover:

• • EPI of the region: If the region has a high English proficiency index (EPI), subtitles are usually good enough. The Netherlands, the Nordics and Singapore the highest EPI and can easily follow English dialogues with subtitles in their native language to improve comprehension.
  • Target audience: If your training is for a software engineering team, it is likely they have a high level of education and technology exposure. On the other hand, if your audience is truck drivers or factory workers, they may have a lower level of tech fluency.

For audiences with low tech fluency, audio should be translated for training to be effective.

Most companies test both and see whether voiceover localization leads to more effective learning through assessments and learner engagement rates.

Provide Local Context and Stories

Training is well-localized when a learner feels like it was created just for them. To make training effective, it is important to provide examples and case studies from local teams, clients and events.

For example, if you are localizing safety training for a factory in India, use examples of things that are right and wrong in the regional factories. You can include case studies, pictures and stories that happened in the region to make the training more relatable and effective.

Context and local examples become especially important when the training is behavior- and/or culture-related, like sexual harassment prevention or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) trainings. The incidents, issues, stories and case studies need to be local so learners relate to and apply the learnings.

You can even add videos from local managers and personalized messages from company leaders so your global team is engaged and inspired to learn.

One Module First

Adapting your training for global learners can be a herculean task; each region has its nuances and presents unique challenges. It can be difficult to correctly assess learner requirements and reactions to content in advance.

A lot of experimentation and testing is needed to figure out the right localization formula for different regions. Do they need subtitles? Should currencies and measurements be localized? How does the speaker’s accent affect understanding? Does a formal or casual tone work better?

One mistake companies often make is localizing and launching all their modules in one go.

Big training courses cost thousands of dollars and can take several months (or even years) to localize. The best approach (if you have the time), is to localize one module or one part of your training and test it with learners. Get feedback on the translations and the comprehension, do assessments and check learner engagement. Based on responses from your global teams, make changes and run more tests till you are satisfied with the results.

This is especially important if you are doing localization for the first time for a country. Every team and region is different and you need to experiment to understand what level of localization is needed for effective learning.

Using this approach can save you a lot of time and money that might go into correcting or completely redoing full courses. It will also improve learner experience, engagement and course completion rates.

Training for a More Interconnected World

Reducing costs and increasing the effectiveness of global training programs are crucial for organizations operating in today’s interconnected world. Planning for localization from the outset, selecting suitable tools and platforms and minimizing multimedia use can significantly reduce costs and streamline the localization process. Moreover, seeking feedback, testing and refining the training modules iteratively ensures that the content resonates with global learners, leading to improved learning outcomes.

By implementing these cost-effective and impactful approaches, organizations can achieve their training objectives while maximizing return on investment and creating a global workforce that is involved, inspired and interested in their work.