Translating learning content to another language isn’t always enough. You also need to consider the social and cultural backgrounds, as well as the learning preference, of your customers. What’s more, you must understand a wide range of unique linguistic nuances, which may not always be evident through translation alone.

You need to go a step further — rather than translation, you need to adopt a content localization strategy.

Key Differences Between Localization and Translation

Whereas translation simply shifts materials from one language to another, localization of content adapts those materials to resonate with their new audience. Localizing content involves adjusting its context, visuals, and tone to align with the market where it’s being delivered. It may also involve replacing anecdotes and examples — or, in the case of experiential learning  — developing entirely new hands-on content. 

Why Localization Matters in Customer Education

Customer education is all about cultivating a relationship with your audience. The more your content resonates with learners, the more effective it’ll be at helping you accomplish that objective. Not only that, properly localized content allows you to connect with a more diverse customer base.

This makes it easier to break into new markets, as you’ll be doing so with content adapted to how customers in those markets think and learn. 

Best Practices for Seamless Localization in Customer Education

To effectively localize your content and extend your customer education to new markets and demographics, the following best practices often apply: 

• Research the social and cultural norms of your target market, and consider how they differ from your own. 
• Examine the learning styles and needs of your target audience. 
• Rework multimedia content within your materials to be more culturally relevant. 
• Collaborate with experts based in the region you’re trying to localize for. 
• Invest in the right sales enablement technology, such as content localization management systems.
• Consider building out a local community. 
• Ensure your localization team is properly trained and understands the regions for which they’re localizing. 
• Regularly assess your localized content to ensure continued relevance and accuracy. Update it as needed.
• If you use automated translation software, hire native speakers to assess the accuracy of translated materials. 

Technology also plays an essential role in localization. Make sure your virtual lab solution is both multimodal and multilingual. This applies to any other customer-facing platforms or tools you might use, including your learning management system and your content management system. 

When to Use Translation and Localization

Translation is best applied when you’re trying to convey basic information that’s unaffected by social context or cultural nuance. Examples of content that’s well-suited for translation include basic product brochures, product listings, and technical documentation. Some certification programs may not require full localization, either. 

If your goal is to engage and connect with learners, use localization. An understanding of your audience’s unique background and context will allow you to more readily connect with them and build deeper, more successful relationships over time. 

How Can You Tell You’ve Successfully Localized Your Content? 

The good news about localization is that you can measure the success (or failure) of your efforts in more or less the same way as you’d assess any other customer education campaign. Simply look at your key performance indicators (KPIs) and then compare them to a campaign you know is successful. If the localized education is performing more poorly, then there’s likely an issue.

Potential metrics include:

• Engagement rate
• Completion rate
• Learner behavior
• Learning outcomes
• Direct feedback from customers