The eLearning Trend Means More Work for Translators

By 2020 the global corporate eLearning market it projected to reach an approximate revenue of $31 billion. That figure does not include other likely eLearning outlets such as higher education and primary and secondary school education. According to the eLearning industry, eLearning is growing in five main areas: education, healthcare, information technology, retail and ecommerce, and construction. Construction may surprise you as an outlet for eLearning, but there is a growing need for engineers and contractors to be able to access and assess information quickly.

What does the growth of eLearning mean for translators? It means more work.

Most non-academic eLearning programs are developed for workplace training. As companies become more international, and remote workplaces become more common, eLearning as a way of conducting even basic employee training is becoming more common. Employee training is definitely not an area where companies want to leave things to chance and rely on amateur translators. Compliance laws, international laws, local laws, and technical language all require professional translation services in order to be effective. For companies branching out to more remote areas either as employers or as service providers, localization services are incredibly important.

Companies wishing to take advantage of the possibilities that eLearning presents would be wise to consider professional translation services as a way of saving time and money, while reducing employee turnover. Many companies already view eLearning as a cost-saving technique. Remote learning reduces travel and trainer costs and makes regular updates to course content (based on new systems, guidelines, or laws) more cost effective. Developing a high-quality training course and then translating and localizing it is clearly a more cost-efficient approach than developing multiple courses and sending the courses, and instructors around the world. Having courses properly and professionally translated also saves time and money over relying on untrained employees to do the translation. Making sure that your training materials are easy to access and understand in the employee’s language of choice may help reduce employee turnover, as employees will feel more confident about their work.

While most of the eLearning translation work will come from large multinationals, smaller companies would also do well to consider developing eLearning materials, and having the materials professionally translated. Remote work and training can help smaller companies who wish to recruit in remote locations or those with a niche business that may require translation into less common languages.

As the trend towards eLearning continues to grow, it only makes sense that companies make sure all of their materials are appropriately translated. At Alpha Omega we specialize in both technical and business needs, making us a perfect fit for your eLearning translation needs.

Tags: business translation, elearning, translation software, translation trends

Category: Translation Tools