Storyline 360 allows you to quickly export all the text in your project for translation and then reimport it, automatically replacing all the original text with the translations. What a time...
Published 6 years ago
Version 1.0
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Thanks Allison, timely topic! Love the idea to use the Slide Master wisely.
We translate many courses into French, Italian, German and Chinese. I'm developing the "Essential Guide To Translations" to be used among our Agile design teams and have been accumulating tips and war stories among a few peers. Fortunately, we don't use a lot of narration that requires translation too, but there's plenty of challenges with text alone. Do you know of other threads, tips to share?
Our top 8 are these:
1) QC check & scrub the Word translation file before importing into SL.
2) Limit the use of text triggers such as jumping to a file or URL since importing corrupts the trigger requiring it be deleted/re-added. Try hotspots instead.
3) Word export table is gray shaded to help the translator not overlook white text; the shading is roughly RGB 271-271-271 so don't use light grey text either.
4) Remind parties if necessary to not change any styles/rich text attributes in composing the translation like bold, font size/color, etc. or that will carry into the course on import.
5) Delete rows off the export (or note with pasted shapes) to skip translation. Designer notes or other text on Notes tabs is common.
6) Don't overlook items not in the export and have a plan for or consider them: player text (default/custom), bitmapped images, audio/narration/scripts (including cue points in English so translators can mark the equivalent), files in resources.
7) Space - space - space. As you mentioned, the French equivalent of an English sentence is easily 25% more words. German even more-so. We generally avoid shrinking font size as the 'last resort' adjustment. On the front end, keep your English as concise as possible to begin with and avoid expressions that simply may not translate.
8) Ask your translator for some easy grammatical formatting tips.
A designer can clean up more of the text avoiding some reviewer edits having a cheat-sheet of some basics. French example: spaces before ending punctuation other than periods (.), double chevrons << or >> that are used instead of " ". etc. so we can catch/repair things that dangle/orphan to the next line that shouldn't. And don't be tricked by the many French cognates (words spelled the same as English) like "Menu" or "Correct" - they didn't get overlooked!
We translate many courses into French, Italian, German and Chinese. I'm developing the "Essential Guide To Translations" to be used among our Agile design teams and have been accumulating tips and war stories among a few peers. Fortunately, we don't use a lot of narration that requires translation too, but there's plenty of challenges with text alone. Do you know of other threads, tips to share?
Our top 8 are these:
1) QC check & scrub the Word translation file before importing into SL.
2) Limit the use of text triggers such as jumping to a file or URL since importing corrupts the trigger requiring it be deleted/re-added. Try hotspots instead.
3) Word export table is gray shaded to help the translator not overlook white text; the shading is roughly RGB 271-271-271 so don't use light grey text either.
4) Remind parties if necessary to not change any styles/rich text attributes in composing the translation like bold, font size/color, etc. or that will carry into the course on import.
5) Delete rows off the export (or note with pasted shapes) to skip translation. Designer notes or other text on Notes tabs is common.
6) Don't overlook items not in the export and have a plan for or consider them: player text (default/custom), bitmapped images, audio/narration/scripts (including cue points in English so translators can mark the equivalent), files in resources.
7) Space - space - space. As you mentioned, the French equivalent of an English sentence is easily 25% more words. German even more-so. We generally avoid shrinking font size as the 'last resort' adjustment. On the front end, keep your English as concise as possible to begin with and avoid expressions that simply may not translate.
8) Ask your translator for some easy grammatical formatting tips.
A designer can clean up more of the text avoiding some reviewer edits having a cheat-sheet of some basics. French example: spaces before ending punctuation other than periods (.), double chevrons << or >> that are used instead of " ". etc. so we can catch/repair things that dangle/orphan to the next line that shouldn't. And don't be tricked by the many French cognates (words spelled the same as English) like "Menu" or "Correct" - they didn't get overlooked!
Wow! Thanks for sharing all those technical tips, Chris :)
- You bet, true war stories! Any more you've seen to share?
- Honestly, I think you've uncovered more here than I ever did! Nice work.