How to Translate Your Online course (And the Reasons Why it's a Great Idea) -

The field of education and learning is an area that transcends the boundaries of language. In fact, we all require an education of the highest quality and thorough, no matter if we have a common and/or have multi-lingual abilities. As such, if you offer an online course is a great option to accommodate more than one language.

Based on the method you choose, but, it can be a daunting task. First, you'll need something which integrates the one you choose to use, namely Learning Management System (LMS.) Then, you'll have to manage and create the translations , and ensure that your site has a number of technological considerations.

As such, for this article, we'll look at how to translate online courses. We'll cover quite a bit of topics, and, at the end, show you how to use one standout translation service to save time, energy, and hassles.

Why you'd want to make your online course available in a different language

Whatever your preference, whether it's one language or a number of them, you'll probably appreciate content in a specific primary text. For example, around 20 percent of people within the United States speak at least one other language. It means that 80 percent have to access content that is only available in one language. If your online course is in English, so far everything is fine.

But, take a look at the remaining 20 percent. There's no assumption that of the multiple languages they speak, English is the primary one. Indeed that in the US more than 50% of people who are multilingual are fluent in Spanish at home.

Furthermore, it's only based on a single country. If you're offering a typical online course, you'll attract learners from around the globe. Some of these people are likely to have some level of proficiency in multilingualism, however not everyone.

The words you'll need to be able to do is translate your course website

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty with regards to how to translate your course online You'll need to know what you'll need you'll need to translate. There is a mistake in thinking that you'll only need to translate your course's core material. There are a myriad of aspects of your LMS and site that should have a multilingual strategy:

• The text in your video should be written in whatever language your student is comfortable in. This is also true for images.

There are other site-agnostic technical aspects that you must always translate too:

• Your metadata such as categories, tags, and different taxonomies.
• Your website's URLs must also reflect the main language that you are translating into.

This latter concept can send one down the rabbit hole, but it's essential for your success. The discussion on the next.

The technical requirements of an international website

Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be 'on point' so that you stand a chances of having visitors find your website. When it comes to online courses the importance of traffic is paramount and SEO is among the ways to do it.

There are certain multi-lingual SEO issues you'll have to consider when that you undertake to translate your online course. In addition to your metadata and URLs, you'll need to research and implement the following:

• You'll want to arm and employ yourself with knowledge about Hreflang tags. They are the foundation of SEO that is multilingual, and consequently, it is vital to translate and present the online class.

This is an HTML meta tag, which assists a search engine serve the right page language to the appropriate region for its use. It'll be a solid design, and you'll insert it in the header of your page. In this case, for example. ...:

...references a French language page for readers specifically for French Canadian readers. This is a time-consuming, complicated job that leaves little room for errors. It's nevertheless necessary to be implemented, even though there are methods to complete it with no contemplation.

The different methods you'd use to translate any site

There are many ways to translate a site However, none of them could serve as your primary tactic. For example, you could argue that with the translation tools you find in most modern browsers you don't need to offer content that is translated.

However, this has two big problems. First, you have no control over the translation experience as well as how it will appear on the front end, and what content gets translated. This can be a nightmare for your UX site, and drive users off to sites who take more care.

The second reason is that the translations may not be correct. It's the case for all so-called 'machine tools for translation. While the accuracy continues to increase, you'll need an element of control and editing rights on what's shown on your site.

Manual approach is one of (if the case) the most exact ways to convey your online class. You're able to pass off content to an expert with established (and sometimes certified) skills, then use them to improve the content until it's perfect. But the downside is the cost and time you'll have to factor into the approach.

Instead, there is an alternative that combines the most efficient of manual and machine techniques for translation.

Using WordPress plugins to help with the translation process

But, it's likely that you'll prefer to buy a premium upgrade to access more support, additional features, and regular updates from the development team. If you'd like to make use of a popular and prominent WordPress translation plugin, keep going!

What Weglot can bring to your online courses

If you want the equivalent of 's quality but for your translating needs, Weglot is the service for you. It's a major player for websites that are multilingual that lets you (and the likes of DoorDash, HBO, and United Nations) spin up the translated content within a few seconds. All without code.

Weglot comes with a mountain of options, a lot of functionalities, and an utter ease of use as follows:

• It translates every part of your website - including the metadata and images with the help of a layer of machine translation. The automatic translation draws the power of the top companies in the field (such such as DeepL, Google, Microsoft, as well as Yandex.)
• Once you have that, you are able to examine each string that has been translated using the Weglot personal dashboard. You can also order professionals to help you perfect your copy or add your own translator team.
• There's an in-context editor to demonstrate how the translation will appear on the screen as well as edit it should you need to.

What's more, Weglot applies all of the usual practices used for multilingual SEO and does not require you to touch a finger. It uses the most optimal URL structuresand helps index your pages using Google to maximize exposure, and much more.

Weglot's starts from $9.90 each month for one site and 10,000 translations. However, you can raise the cost if you've higher requirements. You can also avail the ten-day free trial available, so you can try the program on a test run before you spend your money.

How to make your online course accessible using Weglot (in 3 steps)

Before you start using Weglot it is recommended that you join for a 10 day trial at no cost, and then add and install the plugin on your site. It's good to know that it's comparable to the other WordPress plugins and, therefore, if you already know the procedure and procedure, you'll begin in just a few minutes.

Once you have things ready and ready, look over the Weglot display on Your WordPress dashboard. It will allow you to enter the API key here. However, there are additional fields you need you need to fill in. Take a look at this.

1. Add languages

The Weglot tab in WordPress is where you'll first set the languages you'd like to offer for your site. You'll choose options from two categories:

• The language that is the original one of your site - i.e. choose the current language you are using.
• The languages of all the destinations you'd like. This includes all those languages you'd like translate into.

The first time you save your changes, you'll see the message "Success" and your online course is now translated into the languages of your choice! As mentioned before this is using a first layer of automatic translation (we'll guide you on how to modify those translations further down).

2. Customize the language switcher

Given the variety of languages you will be able to translate your online courses into the future, you need an easy method for a visitor to access them all. The language switcher is a small menu located on every page . It lets you select the language, which will then change the text on website:

There's an array of options to help you create this system:

In this case, you could choose whether flags from a country are displayed and the format in which they are displayed, change the format of the switcher, change it to drop-down menus, and many more.

The best part is that the language switcher is always available as soon as you install Weglot. On this page, you are able to look to translate the content on your website.

3. Log on to the Weglot Dashboard to begin to transliterate your online course

The Weglot Dashboard gives you the ability to edit your translations. While we can't dive into each option however, it's best to go straight to the page for the Translations screen to view how the machine translations of Weglot have translated your website.

You can choose from a number of different screen options. For example, you can see an overview of the different languages that you can offer, as well as a collection of translated URLs as well as'slugs' that you can use for your website, or get professional translations.

However, there are two other important screens. First, on the Languages screen, you can click any option to look at a line-by-line breakdown of your translation:

Each line provides further information and preview options with the possibility of marking the line as  reviewed.'

The other important option here is to start the line in the Visual Editor. It will let you see what your translations appear at the top of your site:

You can use the language switcher exactly like in the live version However, you're able to modify the translations in situ depending on the way it appears and reads:

This means that you are able to translate the text as users read the translations. It's a perfect, zero-code solution to translate an online class or other web site.

The wrapping up

There are few more global endeavors than studying. Education can be big business - particularly if you provide courses online that are well-known and highly valuable. Although you may already have a solution such as as your LMS, translating your content for those global users needs an additional solution of high-quality.

Weglot is a WordPress translation plugin with a solid pedigree and a stellar track record. It will help you translate the entire web page quickly - with no need for code - and integrate complex technical requirements as well. It doesn't matter if you want to employ high-powered machine translation, or go through each word, Weglot can be an excellent translation solution.

For a chance to test Weglot, you can join to receive an 10-day trial period for free and there is no commitment to purchase or renew until the time is up.