Most organizations these days operate in a distributed and globalized environment. They have to work with employees who live in different geographic regions and speak different languages. Many organizations adopt English as the world’s most studied language to facilitate communication and collaboration in a global environment. But your organization cannot facilitate employee communication, training, and development without making the employees learn in their preferred language.
According to Babbel.com,
“Out of the world’s approximately 7.5 billion inhabitants, 1.5 billion speak English — that’s 20% of the Earth’s population. However, most of those people aren’t native English speakers. About 360 million people speak English as their first language.”
The multi-language learning management systems (LMS) make it easier for your business to implement employee training and development in a globalized work environment. You can leverage the new-age LMS systems to make each employee acquire knowledge and hone skills in her own language. The features provided by multi-language LMS make employees understand and retain information without interpretation and translation.
Also, the employees remain engaged and confident when they can access the content and information in their native language. You can create training programs in multiple languages to eliminate the chances of errors and misinterpretation associated with translated content. But you must focus on some important factors to deliver multilingual employee training and development to a diverse and global workforce.
How to Design Multilingual Training Programs Effectively Using Multi-Language LMS?
Identify the Target Audience
The multi-language LMS helps you to design courses and training programs in multiple languages in a short amount of time. But you can make the training program relevant and engaging for each employee only by understanding her preferred language and cultural background. You must do some initial research to collect the information required to design training programs that engage and retains employees by creating a positive learning experience.
Allow Each Employee to Choose from Multiple Languages
While creating multilingual training programs, you must remember that many employees nowadays communicate in multiple languages. Hence, you must make employees access content and training materials in their native language. It is always important to allow employees to access the content in their preferred language. The modern multi-language LMS allows each learner to choose her preferred language while enrolling in the training program.
Integrate Content in Multiple Formats
The successful employee development and training programs must explain concepts and present information by combining content in multiple formats – eBooks, PDF documents, videos, images, infographics, audiobooks, and spreadsheets. The new-age LMS supports multiple languages and content formats of content. But you can keep the employees engaged and interested by allowing them to access each type of content in a format of their choice. Hence, you must create several versions of the content in multiple languages.
Make Employees Connected with the Content
In addition to allowing the employees to access content in her native language, your training program must focus on making them connect with the content. The employees will connect with the visual and multimedia content only when the content reflects their own culture and nationality. While creating images or videos, you must use actors who look and speak like the employees. For instance, while creating visual content for Indian employees, you must hire actors who look and speak like Indians. The connectivity is essential to make employee training and development more effective.
Provide Access to Supporting Materials
You can make employee development and training programs more effective by complementing the content with supporting materials. The supporting materials will help learners to understand a concept elaborately and gather additional information pertaining to the concepts. But you need to ensure that an employee can access the supporting materials in a language of her choice. Also, you can enable the employees to gather information from external sources by linking various sections in the content to online resources.
Complement Translation Software with Professional Translators
While creating multilingual training programs, most managers use online translation software to save both time and effort. But you must remember that the translation software lacks the capability to explain complex concepts and understand the context. Hence, the translated content often does not suit the targeted region or culture. That is why; you must avail the assistance of professional translators to present the information in the right context and right way. You should encourage professional translators to leverage translation software to reduce the time required to create multilingual content.
Create Culturally Sensitive Content
While translating the content, the software often ignores differences in date formats, currencies, and jargon across languages. The employees cannot connect with the training material if the content is not culturally sensitive. Hence, you must make several changes to the translated content to make it culturally sensitive and relevant. Also, you can instruct the professional translations to localize the content instead of translating the English content word by word.
Start with Simple Concepts
You cannot keep the employees by structuring the multilingual content in the most appropriate way. While deciding the course structure, you must organize the content and information according to their complexity. The employees can easily retain information when they learn simple concepts before complicated concepts. Also, you must explain the jargon and keywords related to your industry clearly to make the employees acquire and retain knowledge without putting in extra time and effort.
Eliminate Chances of Ambiguity and Misinterpretation
The professional translators and translation software help you to translate the original training material into multiple languages in a short amount of time. But you must remember that accuracy of the content is often lost in translation. You must compare the original and translated content elaborately to ensure that there is no ambiguity and misrepresentation. It is also important to get the translated content reviewed by a professional who is proficient in both English and the native language.
The LMS developed by Mintbook helps businesses to train, upskill, and reskill employees by creating courses and training programs in multiple languages. The users also have the option to integrate the multilingual LMS with a robust digital library consisting of the content in many languages. Your business can rely on the multi-awarded LMS to create a training program for each employee in her native and preferred language.
