3 Considerations When Training International Teams
1. All of your learners will be different, and taking a diversified approach to their training will help you engage with a wider audience. This can mean using a mix of approaches in the content itself, such as hosting webinars, implementing gamification, and mixing in media content to the lesson plan, but also means making sure you have a diverse project team when developing the source content. This will bring a nuanced perspective and relevant expertise to each project. For example, in the American market, language tends to have more flourishes and sentences use more hyperbole. In contrast, Nordic markets use more straightforward and literal language. A diverse team that is familiar with the nuances of each market will be able to create content that best meets the needs of either American or Nordic readers.
Word choice and dialogue structure can have a noticeable impact. In the same way that you would design training for a C-suite executive differently than for an entry-level employee, you want to make sure when creating training for global audiences that you're not trying to make one size fit all.
The more you build in potential opportunities for your learners to identify with the content, the more likely it is that the training will be engaging and impactful.
2. If you are planning to translate your original content, then there are a few areas to consider. First, use native speakers of the target market or country so that terms and phrases are correctly understood. For example, Spanish is spoken in many countries around the world, yet a Spanish translation for Spain would not be as easily understood or as engaging for someone in a LATAM country because there are variations across spelling, terminology, and day-to-day language. By using resources familiar with that market, you help your learners connect
Second, more and more educators are integrating media into their lesson plans to engage with an increasingly media-driven world. This, however, adds additional challenges and additional costs. If you know that media is part of your strategy, there are certain practices, such as reducing the amount of graphics in your media, that will make the process easier and more cost-effective when it comes time to localize. Voiceover can also be a powerful tool to engage learners, but given the costs, you may want to consider whether you can achieve the same effect with images and text-based media if you know you will need to localize a lot of media content in your training.
3. Finally, consider the countries your learners are sitting in. Does your content need to be adapted before translation to ensure it meets those countries' requirements? Do the regulations differ across markets? Is the same training content applicable across all markets or should this be customized and localized to make it meaningful and correct?
If the answer is yes to any of these, then creating training in a way that you can tailor it to each market without drastically re-creating content will be essential to delivering your training on time and under budget. A good example of this is building content templates that you can adjust by slotting in relevant information, easily changing content for each market rather than having to create bespoke courses.
Also, what time zones do your learners sit in? If you’re hosting live training, can you offer interpretation? Is it hosted at a time that works for all markets? Can it be recorded and shared afterward with subtitles? Can the pre/post-work materials be translated and shared ahead of time to create a more engaging experience?
If you consider all of these factors and create training with them in mind, you can be sure that you're creating content for a truly global audience. If you’d like to discuss your e-learning strategy with a member of our team and create more engaging learning content, please contact us today.
