You have probably heard by now that corporate MOOC’s (Massive Open Online Courses) and webinars can help you solve many of your business challenges: you can present findings, launch products, demonstrate new tools, update stakeholders, fundraise and report results, announce organizational news, and train employees.
Just have a look at the latest trends in corporate e-learning and how it can benefit your company. For all of these purposes and more, e-learning gives your company the technology and solution to reach people across geographies and time zones…but why stop there? It can help you cross linguistic barriers as well.
Multilingual communication is engagement
Having English as a main corporate language allows for standard communication within an organization, but this is not always enough; for example, when a deeper understanding of complex information is required, or when information must be assimilated quickly. Challenges such as these require a multilingual approach. However, even as corporate MOOCs and webinars are becoming common tools in businesses, there is still resistance to using them. Why? There are many attitudes and misconceptions that play a part…
- Belief that the target audience speaks English well enough
- “Our corporate language is English (or other)”
- Assumption that a multilingual solution is not technologically possible
- Assumption that multilingual e-learning is expensive
These are some of the reasons that companies have for offering their corporate MOOCs and webinars in just one language; but the benefits to going multilingual are worth the effort of moving beyond your corporate comfort zone. Multilingual e-learning allows you to reach your stakeholders or employees in their own languages, communicate cultural and linguistic nuances, and thereby increase inclusion, participation, and – most importantly – engagement.
The bottom line of multilingual e-learning
Companies frequently make the mistake of believing that English is enough, but even in multilingual Europe consumers prefer information in their own language. According to the European Commission study “User Language Preferences Online”, internet users in the EU said that they always visit websites in their own language when given the option. 63% of the respondents said that they missed out on interesting information online because it was not available in their own language.
This can be a nuisance when searching for information on the internet, but when it comes to issues like your employees’ comprehension of training, employees’ productivity and quality of the work done or your clients’ understanding of new products and services that you are offering them, the effects can be far more serious.
There are many potential losses to consider by offering your corporate MOOCs or webinars in just one language – and many returns on the investment of choosing multilingual. According to the Common Sense Advisory report “Translation at Fortune 500 Companies,” companies that expand their language services are 1.5 times more likely to increase their total revenues. Companies that translated or interpreted information in order to communicate with their stakeholders, partners and employees are 2.7 times more likely to generate improved profits because of it.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Nelson Mandela
How CPSL can help
The days of gathering employees or other stakeholders together in a meeting room are long gone – as business becomes increasingly global, this option is losing its appeal and practicality. MOOCs and webinars are the way forward – but e-learning is still growing and changing. Offering multilingual e-learning modules will position your company at the forefront of innovation in communication and engagement. It will also increase your probability of attracting the best talent.
In CPSL we partner with the most innovative technology software providers (Captivate, Articulate…etc) to adapt our clients’ requirements and help them to transform their content into a multilingual one, for training solutions aimed to their employees. No matter the format or the purpose, we can help you to translate and localize the voice and the subtitles of your next e-learning program: from ethical code of conduct manuals online or product courses for your multicultural Sales team, to employees’ interactive marketing team-building video games. All these e-learning and training solutions will require multimedia elements in different languages and we know how to bring it you.
What are you waiting for? Don’t miss out – contact us at CPSL to find out more!
ONEstopShop: Do you need to create an efficient, easy-to-use, multilingual e-learning content or multimedia project from scratch? CPSL is partnering up with a renowned immersive and interactive technologies provider to offer state-of-the-art, comprehensive multilingual digital solutions.
Take a look at our YouTube channel.