E-learning translation 101: How to build content that travels well

What is e-learning translation?

E-learning translation covers digital training content like videos, courses, quizzes, and other learning resources. Like any other translation, this approach translates the materials from one language to another in a way that feels natural to learners. 

That said, this translation approach pays special attention to the content’s tone, context, and clarity. The goal is to explain every concept accurately and share easy-to-follow instructions for every tutorial. 

Why e-learning translation matters

On the fence about investing in translation for your e-learning resources?

Here are a few reasons why you should do it:

Higher knowledge retention

Learners process and retain information better when it’s presented in their native language. 

Why? Because they don’t have to put extra effort into mentally translating the content and contextualizing the examples or steps. They can fully concentrate on the materials and understand the lesson within its context. 

Cultural relevance and engagement

Training content with unfamiliar references or phrases can feel distant and unrelatable. 

With a well-planned translation and localization process, this content becomes more authentic and intriguing. You can add cultural references, visuals, case studies, and even humor that feels natural to your learners and engages them better.

Maximize training accuracy 

Industries like healthcare, finance, aviation, or manufacturing require highly accurate and practical training. But poor translation can lead to misunderstanding and serious consequences, ranging from compliance violations to safety hazards. 

Translation helps you convey the correct terminology, regulations, and standards for every region. As a result, your e-learning materials become more actionable rather than just theoretical.

Increased inclusivity 

Investing in localized training shows your organization’s respect for diverse cultures. It’s a sign of inclusivity, which builds trust and creates a more welcoming learning environment. For global companies, it also prevents the risk of alienating employees who might otherwise feel overlooked.

Put simply, e-learning translation can create a positive environment among learners, whether they’re employees or students.

Our tried-and-tested e-learning translation best practices

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel for e-learning translation. 

Here are a few best practices we recommend when you want to make your e-learning translations faster, smoother, and more effective

1. Define clear goals and learner profiles before starting

Before diving into translation, you need to know what success looks like. Are you trying to:

• Upskill employees for career growth
• Meet industry compliance requirements
• Onboard new hires faster across different regions

Each goal sets a very different direction for your project. 

A compliance course needs precision and clarity. An onboarding program might need warmth and encouragement. You get the gist. 

Now add another layer to this: who are your learners? 

You want to build learner profiles to customize the content for different markets and varying skill levels. For example, a course on “soft skills at the workplace” will sound different for retail staff versus regional managers, just as it will differ for learners in Portugal and Peru.

Here’s what to capture in your learner profiles:

• Demographics: Age, education level, and job type help you strike the right tone.
• Cultural context: Swap out references that might feel tone-deaf or irrelevant to learners.
• Language proficiency: Simplify the language for beginners, but don’t oversimplify for experts.
• Professional profile: Tie the training directly to learners’ day-to-day roles so it feels useful, not abstract.

Look at this example of a learner persona created for a hospital:

When you combine clear goals with detailed learner profiles, your translated content will create learning experiences that people can connect with, regardless of the language they speak.
 

2. Prepare source content for translation

Translation can only be as good as the source material. 

If the original content is unclear, full of jargon, and long-winded sentences, no amount of linguistic expertise can fix it. But when your source content is clear, concise, and well-structured, translators can do their job faster. Plus, it becomes much easier for learners to understand this content.

Here’s how you can make your original content translation-friendly:

• Plain, direct language: Create your e-learning materials using simple language without jargon, flowery words, and complex sentences. Instead of writing “Employees must adhere to organizational health & safety paradigms”, write “Employees must follow the company’s health and safety rules.”
• Consistent terms: Use the same terms across your content to avoid confusion for both translators and learners. Don’t mix terms like “clients”, “customers,” and “users” in one course. Go for consistency to reinforce your message.
• Avoid idioms and metaphors: Figurative language doesn’t translate well, especially if you’re translating to multiple languages. Phrases like “Hit it out of the park” may mean nothing to someone unfamiliar with baseball.
• Clear structure and flow: Use a logical hierarchy of headings and formatting to make the content easier to follow. Break down long paragraphs into short sections or lists. For example, you can rewrite a long policy paragraph into 3-4 key points that are easy to translate.

Check out these examples of good vs bad content to see what each of these best practices looks like in action:

3. Use a style guide, glossary, and terminology database 

Let me put you in an all-too-common scene in e-learning translation.

You’re launching a medical training course in five languages. The English version uses the term “hypertension” multiple times. One Spanish translator translates it as “alta presión sanguínea,” another as “hipertensión arterial.” 

Both are technically correct, but your learners don’t know that. So, in assessments and case studies, the inconsistency breeds confusion. 

This is why consistency is non-negotiable in e-learning translation. And here’s when a style guide, glossary, and terminology database come in. 

• Style guide (the rulebook): Your style guide sets the tone and personality of your training. Should the course sound formal and authoritative, or approachable and friendly? It also covers practical rules like spelling preferences (US vs. UK), formatting, and grammar quirks.
• Glossary (the dictionary): The glossary lists your key terms, acronyms, and product names with their approved translations. No guessing, no mixing “clients,” “customers,” and “users.” Translators always have a clear reference point.
• Terminology database (the safety net): The term base is a more advanced, structured version of your glossary. When plugged into your translation tool, it flags errors and enforces approved terms automatically, so nothing slips through the cracks.

With these tools in place, your translations can sound more accurate and consistent across every market. And most importantly, your learners won’t have to second-guess which term to use in their assessments.

4. Choose the right e-learning translation platform

If you’ve ever juggled translation projects with endless spreadsheets and email threads, you know how quickly things spiral. One mistake, and you’re looking at lost files, delays, and poor quality output. 

The right translation platform can make all the difference here.

Here are a few essential factors to consider when evaluating translation platforms for your e-learning projects:

• Review content formats: Consider the kinds of content formats you want to translate — documents, slides, videos, quizzes, interactive content, and more. Then, check if translation tools support these file types natively.
• Collaboration tools: Translating e-learning content is rarely a solo effort. You’re likely working with subject matter experts, translators, designers, and more. So, carefully assess how each platform supports real-time collaboration and review workflows.
• AI and translation memory: Platforms with AI translation can speed up your translation process  while translation memory helps in reusing existing terminology to maintain consistency.
• Integrations with LMS tools: Integrating a translation platform with your LMS saves all the effort spent in tedious copy-paste cycles. Check which LMS platforms a translation tool supports.
• Scalability and support: If you’re rolling out training in 10+ languages, you’ll need advanced features like version control, analytics, and user management. Test how the platform scales based on your projects and whether it offers responsive customer support when you hit roadblocks.

Put simply: While pricing is a crucial consideration when choosing translation software, remember to evaluate these key features for making an informed decision.

5. Adapt and test content before rolling it out

The final step in your e-learning translation workflow is making sure the training actually makes sense to your learners in different regions. 

For starters, you want to run linguistic QA checks with native speakers to review the translation for clarity, tone of voice, and natural flow. They can spot the little things you’d never catch: a phrase that’s technically correct but feels clunky, or a tone that sounds too casual for a professional audience.

Then go one step further: pilot test the course with a small group of learners in each region. 

Watch how they respond. Do they breeze through the modules or stumble on certain examples? Do the quizzes feel relevant? Are there cultural references that fall flat?

Here are some key translation review factors that you should look for when testing your learning materials:

Top 3 e-learning translation tools to level up your workflow

With your e-learning translation framework in place, the next step is choosing the right tools to support it. Here are a few platforms worth considering for your translation projects.

1. Lokalise: Central hub for translation management and collaboration

Lokalise builds a single source of truth for all translation projects. For e-learning, this means you can centralize everything from course text and UI strings to subtitles and assessment items in one place.

Its real-time collaboration and project management capabilities make Lokalise a good fit for translation projects of all scales. With automated workflows and QA checks, Lokalise reduces errors and makes it easy to translate your learning materials into many localized versions.

2. DeepL: High-quality machine translation

When speed matters, DeepL is one of the most accurate AI-powered translation tools on the market.

DeepL is a machine translation tool known for its accuracy and natural phrasing. You can paste or upload training materials, and DeepL instantly generates draft translations in over 30 languages. While it isn’t a substitute for human review, it provides a strong starting point that subject-matter experts or professional translators can refine. 

DeepL also offers a Pro version with API access, which makes it possible to connect directly to authoring tools or content workflows.

3. Redokun: Translate learning documents

Redokun is a good choice if your training content involves lots of PDFs, manuals, or slide decks. These are often used in e-learning for handouts, guides, and slide-based training.

The platform allows you to upload a file, translate it collaboratively in a web interface, and download it back in the same format—without losing the original design. This eliminates the time-consuming reformatting that usually follows translation.

Key challenges in translating e-learning content 

In e-learning translation, word-for-word conversions just don’t cut it. 

More than translating text from one language to another, you have to essentially recreate learning experiences across cultures, contexts, and expectations. And that comes with a set of challenges you can’t ignore.

1. Creating cultural relevance beyond language

Language alone rarely carries the full meaning of a course. That’s why literal translation isn’t enough. 

Think about it: a course designed for one audience might reference local laws, cultural norms, or familiar notions. Translated literally, those examples may be meaningless, or even confusing, to learners in other regions.

Even humor, metaphors, and visuals can lose impact. To truly engage global audiences, you need to adapt scenarios, swap out examples, and sometimes even redesign visuals.

2. Balancing speed, cost, and accuracy

The pressure to deliver training quickly and on budget is real. It’s tempting to run everything through a machine translation tool and call it done. But these shortcuts can lead to costly errors, such as a mistranslated safety instruction, which can risk workers’ lives. 

At the same time, relying solely on human translation can slow down delivery, especially at scale. And it’s costly when you’re operating in more specialized fields like finance, healthcare, and similar. 

The challenge is finding the sweet spot: using AI-powered translation to accelerate the process, while building in human review for nuance, accuracy, and compliance-critical content.

3. Managing continuous updates 

Unlike a one-time publication, training content evolves constantly. Regulations change, product features get updated, and learning materials need to keep pace. 

Every single update to the source version ripples across all translations. And unless you have strong version control, things can quickly spiral. 

Without a system to track and synchronize changes, you risk leaving international learners behind with outdated instructions. A big challenge is building an airtight system that can handle ongoing updates smoothly.

4. Maintaining learner engagement

Even the most accurate translation doesn’t guarantee that learners stay engaged. Your content’s tone, style, and even the way instructions are delivered matter. 

A conversational tone that works well in English might feel overly casual in Japanese, while humor in Spanish may not land the same way in German. 

Engagement also depends on how people expect to interact with content. Some learners prefer structured, linear courses, while others expect flexibility. If you don’t localize with learner experience in mind, you risk producing courses that are technically correct but don’t engage learners enough to make an impact.

Translation = Better learning outcomes

Done right, e-learning translation can have a massive payoff. You can achieve stronger learning outcomes, higher engagement, and fewer costly errors.

Along with the best practices we discussed, the right tools can make this process much easier to manage. Platforms like Lokalise give you a central hub to collaborate with your team, maintain consistency, and scale effortlessly. 

Try Lokalise for free for 14 days and learn how you can deliver impactful training with high-quality translations.