Support for Non-English Languages in the LMS

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LatitudeLearning® comes standard with language support for English (United States, United Kingdom, Australia), Canadian French, Mexican Spanish, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Chinese (Simple) translations. This document explains how portal administrators can customize their LMS with translated content.

Once translated content has been uniformly established, users whose preferred language is something other than the default English can change their "Preferred Language" settings from their homepage, under the My Details tab.

We offer additional student-view language packs as paid LMS Add-On options. For more information, please contact the LatitudeLearning® Sales Team.
 

General Information

  • The LMS Login page displays text in the language selected within your browser language settings. Refer to your browser's online help or your organization’s IT support for details.
  • LMS Administrators should continue to use English for their browser language, as many of the administration pages do not provide content translated in any other language.
  • After logging in, the Preferred Language settings on a user’s My Details page control the language shown for LMS site texts and labels. LMS menus, tab titles, and other standard texts will reflect an updated language setting, but any custom texts that an administrator has added via HTML pages and other areas must be manually translated and entered into the LMS according to this steps outlined below.
  • If a user sets a non-English Preferred Language, they will only see custom content translations for pages in which the Portal Administrator provided matching language text.
  • The LMS does not translate SCORM content for eLearning courses. If you wish to provide language-specific course content, you must author the course in the desired language, and create an eLearning course with matching language settings in the LMS. For a single course, it is possible to load multiple SCORM packages in different languages. Some instructional designers can also create multiple languages branches within the same SCORM package so that the course can be loaded in English, but students can select the language branch they wish to pursue after launching the course.
 

Translate HTML Content

You can provide language-specific information for editable HTML pages. Placeholders for translated HTML content are provided for the Custom_Left_Nav, login_page, home_page, and register_page content files.

To provide a translation for an existing HTML content file, follow the steps below, which show an example of adding a Canadian French translation to the Home page.
 
  1. From the left navigation menu, select Site Management > Edit HTML Content.
  2. In the “HTML Content File” field, select the file entry for the translation you want to provide.
     

     
  3. In the “Content” text box, remove the placeholder text and type or paste the translation you want to show. You can author your own text or copy the English version of the content file and use it as the basis for your translation. Format the text as desired using the HTML Rich Text Editor buttons or click Source to edit the HTML code directly.
     

     
  4. Click Submit. When users with that Preferred Language log into the LMS portal, they will see the translated page.
    Note: if there's not a file listed for the language you want, you can click Add under the HTML Content File list, name it for the language version you're adding, then provide the HTML content in the language you wish.
 

Language Control Settings

There are a number of LMS pages that provide Language Control settings. These settings allow Portal Administrators to provide language-specific information for learners who have Canadian French or Mexican Spanish selected in their LMS profile settings.

Note: All translated content must be written and saved in English before other translations can be saved.

You’ll find a complete list of language-controlled pages at the end of this document. The instructions on how to use the controls are similar for each of the pages in the list.
 
  1. Go to the page for which you want to provide a translation. Make sure the fields on that page already have English entries in place.
  2. In the Language field, select the language for which you want to provide a translation, such as Français-Canada or Español-México. For pages with tabs, Language is normally found on the “General Information” tab.
  3. After selecting the language, most editable fields will become blank or will contain placeholder text you can replace. On some pages, like those managing the rules in the Certification process, the original text may remain. You must type over it with the translation.
  4. Click Submit (or depending on the page, the appropriate alternative).
  5. Test your entries by toggling between the English and other versions and viewing the text.

If you are translating pages with required fields, as noted by an asterisk (*), you must provide translated text for those fields. As a courtesy to users who are working in non-English versions of the LMS, you should provide a translation for all fields in which there is an existing entry in English. For instance, if a course has a “Description” in English, you should provide a description in the other language. If you do not, users logged in using the other language will not see a course description at all.
 

 

LMS Pages with Language Control Settings

  • Announcements
  • Add/Edit Audience
  • Add/Edit Course
  • Add/Edit Accreditation
  • Add/Edit Department
  • Add Equipment
  • Add/Edit Facility
  • Add/Edit Generic Rule
  • Add/Edit Goal Rule
  • Add/Edit Instructor [set instructional languages for each instructor]
  • Add/Edit Majors
  • Add/Edit Messages
  • Add/Edit Offering
  • Add/Edit Organization
  • Add/Edit Position
  • Add/Edit Position Group
  • Add/Edit Primary Rule
  • Add/Edit Program
  • Add/Edit Resource
  • Add Room
  • Add/Edit Skill Profile
  • Add/Edit Topic
  • Add/Edit Training Providers
  • Add/Edit User [set preferred language]
  • Add/Edit User Group
  • LMS Information (LMS-wide Branding Section)
  • Report Writer
  • Review Interests Graph
  • Review Interests Summary