Articulate Localization enables you to deliver multi-lingual training to your global workforce at record speed. See these FAQs for answers to common questions about Articulate Localization.

General

• What is Articulate Localization?
• Can I try Articulate Localization features before making a purchase?
• What languages are supported?
• Are there limits to how many languages we can translate a course into?
• What gets translated?
• What is language formality?
• Do you support a glossary of terms? Is there a size limit for the glossary?
• Do you have a translation memory? Can we use or integrate our translation memory?
• What translation engines are you using? How will you decide which to use for a given project?
• How accurate are the AI translations?
• I see four variants for Chinese. How do they differ?
• Does Articulate Localization work with Reach 360?
• How do my Reach 360 learners select a language?
• In a learning management system (LMS), can a learner switch between languages while taking the training?

Authoring and Support

• Where can I find information on how to use the Localization features?
• How can I share feedback or report issues?
• Do language validators need an Articulate 360 creator license? 
• If we embed a Storyline block into Rise 360, will that get translated?
• Will validators be able to edit the source files?
• Can Rise 360 collaborators access multi-language courses?
• Can Storyline 360 collaborators access multi-language project files?
• How does Storyline manage multiple languages in one project file, and what are my options if I need language-specific customization?
• Can I use my translation management system (TMS) or translation provider with Articulate Localization?
• Can export and import XLIFF or Word files with Articulate Localization?
• What happens to my content if my paid Articulate Localization plan ends?

Account Management

• How do I track the number of published translations I’ve used?
• Can I limit who can run translations?

Sales

• How much does an Articulate Localization plan cost? How do I activate it?
• Can I purchase Articulate Localization if I’m on an individual Articulate 360 subscription?
• What counts as a billable publish?
• Aside from publishing localized content, what additional features are available when I activate a paid Localization plan?

Security and Privacy

• How are you ensuring data security with Articulate Localization?
• What data will Articulate Localization have access to, and how will it use my data? 

General

What is Articulate Localization?

Articulate Localization is a localization solution built specifically for L&D, with native integration to the #1 e-learning platform for creating workplace training. It allows course creators to deliver multi-language training to a global workforce, streamlined with integrated AI translation, in-context translation validation, and end-to-end workflow—all right from within Articulate 360.

Can I try out Articulate Localization before buying it?

Yes. All active Articulate 360 subscriptions and Articulate 360 trials include Localization’s translation and validation features in Rise 360. You only pay when you’re ready to publish and distribute your multilingual training. Refer to these user guides as you explore Localization in Rise 360:

1. Creating Multi-Language Rise 360 Courses
2. Streamlining Language Validation With Review 360
3. Importing Suggestions from Language Validators
4. Publish Multi-Language Rise 360 Courses (requires a paid Localization plan)

Read Rise 360: Discover Articulate Localization at No Additional Cost to learn more.

For Storyline 360, you can download a pre-built multi-language demo file to experience the Localization workflow. From the app, navigate to File > Translation > Download Example. Refer to these user guides as you test out the demo file:

1. Creating Multi-Language Storyline 360 Projects
2. Streamlining Language Validation With Review 360
3. Importing Suggestions from Language Validators
4. Publishing Multi-Language Storyline Projects (requires paid Localization plan)

If you have additional questions about using Articulate Localization in Storyline 360 or just want to learn more, contact sales@articulate.com. 

What languages are supported?

Find a complete list of 80+ supported languages here.

Are there limits to how many languages we can translate a course into?

You can translate a course into as many languages as we support. Find the complete list here. 

What gets translated?

Course texts, customized alternative text,  and closed captions in Rise 360 and Storyline 360 are translated. Text-to-speech narration created in Storyline 360 and AI text-to-speech in Rise 360 are also translated. See more details about what gets translated here.

Text within images or videos, embedded media originating from outside Articulate 360, or linked/attached resources (like PDFs) are not translated at this time.

What is language formality?

In some languages, formality adjustments affect the tone, pronouns, and related words used in the translation. The Automatic setting—the default—determines the best tone based on your content.

Use our language lookup tool to see if your target languages support language formality.

Do you support a glossary of terms? Is there a size limit for the glossary?

Yes, when you activate a paid Localization plan. Any 360 admin can upload glossaries of terms under the localization settings of the Manage Subscription tab in the account management console. Learn how to use the translation glossary.

You can upload up to 15 glossaries per subscription. Each glossary file can be up to 10MB, but each individual glossary entry must be less than 200 bytes.

Do you have a translation memory? Can we use or integrate our translation memory?

We are actively evaluating and prototyping translation memory models to determine the best fit for our workflow. Although integrating an external translation memory is not currently on our roadmap, we are exploring its potential benefits and may consider it in future developments.

What translation engines are you using? How will you decide which to use for a given project? 

We are using a combination of DeepL, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud, which we thoroughly vetted for translation quality, language coverage, and privacy and security standards. 

Our built-in translation defaults to DeepL (the industry-leading provider) for most languages and to AWS or Google Cloud for languages that DeepL doesn’t cover. 

We’re also working to add more translation engines to expand our language coverage.

How accurate are the AI translations? 

Accuracy can vary depending on the language pairs involved in the translations. We chose industry-leading translation engines based on quantitative evidence presented in academic research. Customers across global markets report that the quality compares well to other machine translation tools, especially for business and workplace learning content. However, translation quality is subjective and depends on factors such as language pairs used, subject matter, and each organization’s preferences. That’s why we also included a glossary and developed an in-context human validation workflow in Review 360, to make the content just right for your audience.

I see four variants for Chinese. How do they differ?

Articulate Localization offers both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. In addition, each variation has a regional version, “Chinese, Simplified (China)” and “Chinese, Traditional (Taiwan)”. This table shows the different variations and their language codes.

Localizing content is complex, so you should explore which written variation works best for your target audience. Here are some very basic geographic guidelines: 

• Simplified Chinese is most often used in China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
• Traditional Chinese is more commonly used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
• Overseas Chinese communities may use either form.

A key difference to consider when using Articulate Localization is the number of languages a variation supports for translation: 

• The regional variations—“Chinese, Simplified (China)” and “Chinese, Traditional (Taiwan)”—can only be paired with English, Khmer, Lao, Luxembourgish, Maori, Nepali, Nyanja, Samoan, Tetum, and Tigrinya. 
• “Chinese, Simplified” and “Chinese, Traditional” can be paired for translation with any of the languages listed in the table below:
  

  Arabic (ar)	Hebrew (he)	Romanian (ro)
  Bulgarian (bg)	Hungarian (hu)	Russian (ru)
  Czech (cs)	Indonesian (id)	Slovak (sk)
  Danish (da)	Italian (it)	Slovenian (sl)
  Dutch (nl)	Japanese (ja)	Spanish (Spain) (es-es)
  English (UK) (en-gb)	Korean (ko)	Spanish(Latin America) (es-419)
  English (US) (en-us)	Latvian (lv)	Swedish (sv)
  Estonian (et)	Lithuanian (lt)	Thai (th)
  Finnish (fi)	Norwegian (nb)	Turkish (tr)
  French (France) (fr-fr)	Polish (pl)	Ukrainian (uk)
  German (de)	Portuguese (Portugal) (pt-pt)	Vietnamese (vi)
  Greek (el)	Portuguese Brazil (pt-br)

Does Articulate Localization work with Reach 360?

Yes! Simply publish your multi-language training to Reach 360, then enroll learners. Learners see the course in their preferred language (if available) and can select other languages without disrupting their training progress. 

Question-level reporting also supports multiple languages. Even if a learner switches between languages for each question, all responses are included in the report. Learn more about distributing multi-language training with Reach 360.

How do my Reach 360 learners select a language?

Reach 360 learners automatically see content in the language they selected in their user profile, if it’s available. They can also switch to other languages without disrupting their training progress.

In a learning management system (LMS), can a learner switch between languages while taking the training?

When a multi-language Storyline 360 or Rise 360 training is hosted on an LMS, a learner’s progress must be reset before they can choose another language. Most LMSs save a learner’s progress when they exit a course so they can resume where they left off later. That saved progress includes the language they chose, so they don’t need to select it every time they launch the training.

Storyline 360 course creators publishing to an LMS can set the player resume behavior to Prompt to resume to allow learners to choose Restart and select a different language when they exit and relaunch the course. This means they’ll start the training from the beginning again.

Rise 360 currently doesn’t support allowing learners to reset their progress in courses hosted on an LMS. As a result, the learner’s progress must be reset in the LMS if they need to switch languages. That may require help from your LMS administrator.

If you need this capability, you can use Reach 360 to distribute your Storyline and Rise training. Reach 360 lets learners switch between available languages without disrupting their progress.

Authoring and Support

Where can I find information on how to use the Localization features?

Check out our Articulate Localization user guide series to get started.

How can I share feedback or report issues?

We’d love to hear about your experience with Articulate Localization. Look for the Help & Feedback links in:

• Rise 360: Launch a multi-language course from your dashboard. From the stack overview, click the Help & Feedback link at the bottom of the sidebar.
• Storyline 360: Open a multi-language project file. Click the language menu on the top right and choose Help & Feedback… at the bottom of the menu.
• Review 360: Launch a multi-language item from the dashboard and select any target language from the sidebar. Choose the Translate tab at the top and click the ? (question mark icon) at the bottom right.

From your chosen app, select the Share Feedback / Report an Issue button from the pop-up message to launch the feedback form on your browser. Fill in the details and submit.

Do language validators need an Articulate 360 license? 

No, language validators don’t need an Articulate 360 license. Similar to reviewers for Review 360 items, they only need an email address. 

If we embed a Storyline block into Rise 360, will that get translated?

Embedded Storyline blocks are not translated in Rise 360, but you can use Storyline 360 to translate and validate them before adding the translated versions to your Rise course. Once translated, publish the final copies to Review 360, and then embed each Storyline language version to the corresponding language in the Rise 360 course. Find detailed steps in the user guide.

Will validators be able to edit the source files?

In our workflow, validators use Review 360 to review the translation. That means the edits they make are saved as suggestions, which the author can accept or reject from Rise 360 or Storyline 360. If you want a validator to edit the source file directly, they'll need an Articulate 360 creator license to use the authoring apps and proper permissions to access the source files. 

Can Rise 360 collaborators access multi-language courses?

Yes. Course managers and editors can view and edit multi-language courses. However, only course managers can manage languages. Course managers can also initiate course translations or add new languages within the same subscription. If the subscription has an active Localization plan, make sure translation access is enabled.

Can Storyline 360 collaborators access multi-language project files?

Collaborators must have Articulate Localization to access multi-language project files. If they don’t have Localization, they’ll be prompted to save the languages individually.

How does Storyline manage multiple languages in one project file, and what are my options if I need language-specific customization?

To keep all language versions aligned and maintain consistent retranslations, multi-language files initially share everything except the text itself. That means if you edit a slide in one language, your edit will apply to all the other languages in your course. However, you can still create language-specific content. Here are your options:

• Change audio assets in target languages without affecting other language versions after translation.
• Use language trigger conditions to display different media or content by language, such as videos, images, or slide layers. 
• Save the translation as a separate file if you need full independence for a specific language. Keep in mind that this breaks the link to the source project and requires separate publishing and ongoing maintenance per language file.

We’re also working on improvements that would offer more per-language flexibility while still keeping a clean connection to the source language.

Can I use my translation management system (TMS) or translation provider with Articulate Localization?

Not at this time. However, we are working on an HTML import/export workflow for Localization that would allow customers to use their own translation provider to translate an HTML document containing the course content. It would then be possible to import the translated versions of the source HTML file into the course, turning it into a multi-language course.

Can I export and import XLIFF or Word files with Articulate Localization?

You can’t export and import XLIFF or Word files in multi-language courses. However, you can save languages as separate courses or project files and export/import the XLIFF or Word file for each language as you would in a regular single-language course. Note that localization features like language validation and multi-language workflow management won't be available for these course copies. Here’s how to save translated courses for Rise 360 and save translated projects for Storyline 360.

What happens to my content if my paid Articulate Localization plan ends?

You retain access to all the content you created and can localize new content and validate translations in Rise 360, but you won’t be able to publish any localized content. That includes target language versions you’ve saved as a separate course or microlearning.

In Storyline 360, you lose access to all Localization features if you don’t have a paid Localization plan.

When you reactivate a paid Localization plan, you can continue where you left off.

Account Management

How do I track the number of published translations I’ve used?

Total published translation usage and purchase reporting will be available soon. In the meantime, you can work with your account manager to discuss aligning Localization plans with your expected publish volume.

Can I limit who can run translations?

Yes, when you activate a paid Localization plan. Primary admins and 360 admins can grant or remove translation access from the Manage Team page. Note that when you start a Localization trial, all creators are automatically granted translation access in Rise 360 and Storyline 360. If you purchase directly without a trial, creators aren’t automatically granted translation access.

Sales

How much does a paid Localization plan cost? How do I activate it?

Contact our sales team. Articulate Localization is priced according to your specific needs, and they can help you find the right fit. 

Can I activate a paid Localization plan if I’m on an individual Articulate 360 subscription?

Yes. Articulate Localization may be purchased for both individual and Teams subscriptions.

What counts as a billable published translation?

Each time you publish a translated course in a target language or dialect to any destination other than Review 360, it counts as a published translation. For example, if you publish two courses in five target languages, that counts as 10 published translations.

In Rise 360, a course is a tile in your dashboard, either a course or microlearning. In Storyline 360, a course is a project (*.story) file. 

You can republish the same course in the same language(s) to any destination within the same term without using additional published translations. However, if you create a copy of the course (using Save As... or Duplicate), it counts as a new course. That includes creating a single-language version of a target language. Publishing any of those copies will count as additional published translations (one per target language or dialect).

Aside from publishing localized content, what additional features are available when I activate a paid Localization plan?

With a paid Localization plan, you can localize and publish Storyline 360 projects, utilize multiple glossaries, manage who can translate on your team, and more. This article compares the features available with and without a paid Localization plan.

Security and Privacy

How do you ensure data privacy security for Articulate Localization? 

Security and privacy have always been our top priorities. We will continue to ensure safety and confidentiality for Articulate Localization through: 

• Data privacy and integrity
  • Other than the glossary, AI features do not retain or log customer data.
  • Customer data is not used for training AI translations.
  • Our AI translation partners (DeepL, AWS, and Google Cloud) have been thoroughly vetted for data privacy and security.
• Data protection and encryption policies
  • We employ robust encryption protocols.
  • All data is encrypted in transit with a minimum of TLS 1.2 for all third-party localization services. 
  • We comply with data protection protocols including GDPR and CCPA.
• Ethical AI implementation
  • Our features were designed to adhere to our stringent security and ethics guidelines.

What data can Articulate Localization access, and how does it use my data? 

Articulate Localization treats your data in the same way that Articulate 360 does. Here are some specifics:

• Data is processed in the DeepL data center, the AWS data center, or the Google Cloud data center in the United States or the European Union, depending on your Articulate 360 data center. No data is retained or stored.
• Glossary data will be stored in the United States or European Union depending on your Articulate 360 data center. We retain glossary data for the duration of the subscription to provide the services under your agreement. Similarly, glossary data is processed in the DeepL data center, the AWS data center, or in the Google Cloud data center in the United States or the European Union, depending on your Articulate 360 data center, but no data is retained or stored in those external data centers.

As with Articulate 360, you can be confident that none of your Localization content or data will be retained after the translation process, used to train translation engines, or shared with others.