Between 2021 and 2025, the worldwide eLearning market is expected to see 147.8 billion USD in growth. Online learning has never been more relevant, and that relevance is only going to deepen. What does this mean for the language industry? Here are the top three trends.
1. Neural Machine Translation (NMT)
When it comes to cross-cultural eLearning, you’re bound to run into automated translation. The issue is how to get around the clunky or botched results we oftentimes see from machine translation. After all, how are we to learn when the text itself doesn’t seem to understand what it’s talking about?
Prepare to become acquainted with a new concept and eLearning translation trend: context-aware machine translation. The idea is that instead of translation occurring word by word, it should rather occur document by document.
If you replace a program that translates text verbatim with a program that relates to a previous human translation, the result is a software that can learn to correct itself. In this way, human translation effectively acts as a defined reference for software.
In assimilating human translation, programs retain more about translation between the languages at hand and optimize their lexicon in the subject-matter. This top-down translation approach represents neural machine translation.
2. eLearning as a Part of the EdTech Umbrella
The trend of EdTech is all about planning and design for online education. It touches on user interface, pedagogical approach, and content. With international curricula, it is increasingly important to build linguistic features into these programs.
One of the qualities that makes EdTech special is that it allows for systematized personalization. When it comes to language translation, this can mean, for example, different options in the desired level of linguistic complexity.
This can be very meaningful if your target audience or activities consist of:
- Children who are at ascending grades at school
- Training language interpreters
- Providing professional training to foreigners
- Language students
EdTech is also defined by being a form of education that connects people from all over the world. Translation and interpretation systems are key in ensuring that users can actually benefit from this global reach.
When it comes to designing teaching methods, EdTech makes it possible to take different learning styles into account. For instance, some learners may benefit from collaborative work, while others, individual. This calls for volume and diversification in language services.
3. eLearning Voice Work
This particular trend is downright multi-pronged. A large part of the translator’s work is carrying out pre-recorded dubbings. eLearning is rife with spoken content, creating exorbitant demand. But dubbing is just the tip of the iceberg.
Human and machine work together to create all the voice products that are erupting in eLearning. Among these is user voice recognition. For instance, younger generations across various nations are finding it simpler to take notes using voice-to-text software.
If you take this a step further, you can see possible results that are groundbreaking, like widespread educational integration of users with speech impediments. Whether the ailment is physical or neurological, these users can participate in new learning experiences.
The artificial production of human speech is also part of this taskforce, since not all courses are live or even have instructors. Translators are part of the road to creating these voices, in the different languages of the world, that are effective and sound natural.
Services for eLearning
From the city of Boston, Language Connections serves the world in its multi-faceted eLearning translation needs. Work with the most sophisticated linguistic service in the field and be a leader in this unprecedented educational movement.
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, localization services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
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