Distance learning might seem like a relatively new phenomenon. The past two years have brought remote work, virtual meetings and all the associated technology to the forefront of our day-to-day lives, and meeting someone who “works from home” isn’t as rare as meeting a lottery winner anymore. But the truth is that “distance learning” is almost as old as the modern newspaper: In 1728, a local teacher from Boston by the name of Caleb Phillips put an ad in the Boston Gazette offering lessons in shorthand writing, or stenography. This popular course may well be the first example of distance learning on record, but many were to follow in a similar fashion.
Since the 18th century, the technology has improved, but the underlying concept is still the same: you don’t need to share the room with your instructor to learn a skill, trade, or language. And this simple but beautiful concept has been re-shaped, re-cycled and re-used by a myriad of teachers and companies, including Masterclass, who trusted us, Beatbabel, as their partner in Quality Control. Over the course of a year (and some change), our incredible team of language captains, linguists and user experience supervisors oversaw the localization results for over a hundred courses, in a few languages.
Our experience with this ambitious project gave us a lot to think about regarding distance learning, and we extracted some practical learnings ourselves, which you might want to consider when localizing content in this field:
- The WAY things are presented is just as important as WHAT is being presented:
The success of any given course lies in the content itself AND in the way it is presented by the instructor. During localization, respect the voice, style and personality of the instructor, as it plays a huge role in student retention and capacity for learning.
- Pick the right linguist for the right topic, regardless of formal training:
When assembling our teams, we obviously took into account the formal training and background of each of our linguists, so we could avoid putting a translator with an engineering background on a course about abstract art. However, we also conducted a second poll, one where we enquired about the hobbies and interests of our linguistic team. This second poll proved much more useful in the long run, as the linguists who actually liked the content they were overseeing had a much deeper sense of the final user’s experience and interaction with the course. This helped them spot inconsistencies and spots where the content might lose the attention of the student.
- Lay off the dictionary of specialized terminology for a while:
Some of our favorite videos on YouTube are the “explaining a concept in 5 levels of difficulty” series. Watch one and you will see how one doesn’t always need the extremely specialized terminology to shine light on complex subjects and abstract concepts. In fact, sometimes it’s better to keep it close, personal and informal to immerse the student in the concept and not lose them at the first sharp turn.
If you would like to know more about how BeatBabel handles distance learning and other e-learning materials and projects, check out our website or write our team an email! We’d love to help you reach your students and impact them in a meaningful way.