When you need to provide content in multiple languages, Frontline lets you translate every artifact in a kit with a single workflow. Keep reading to learn how to translate your kits, insert language-specific media, and update translated content. You’ll also find out how to manage languages and share your multi-language training with others, and get answers to frequently asked questions.

• Translate Kits
  • Insert Language-Specific Images, Audio, and Video
  • Update Translations
• Manage Languages in Kits
  • Add a Language
  • Delete a Language
• Share Multi-language Training
• FAQ

Translate Kits

Note: Translating a kit consumes credits. Learn more about credits in this user guide.

When your kit is ready to be translated, open the kit from your library and click the translate icon in the upper-right corner. In the translation dialog, follow these steps:

1. Ensure the source language is correct. 
2. Select the target languages you want to add. 
3. Click the Translate button in the lower right to create a multi-language kit.

That’s it! All existing artifacts in the kit now include translations for each selected target language. Here’s how it works:

• Each multi-language artifact in a kit shares the same theme and structure for all language versions. If you add, move, or delete a block, lesson, or section in one language, those changes will apply to all other languages in the course.
• When you open an artifact to edit, the language dropdown at the top lets you switch languages while authoring. Keep these guidelines in mind when choosing a language from the dropdown:
  • Stay in the source language if you want to make changes in all languages, such as updating content, adding new blocks, lessons, or sections, and changing themes.
  • Switch to a target language if you want to make language-specific changes, such as replacing media assets or editing existing text.

Insert Language-Specific Images, Audio, and Video

After translation, media assets like images, audio, and video stay synced across all languages by default. If you update media in the source language—for example, by changing alt text or adjusting image alignment—those changes are applied to all target languages.

To use a different media asset for a specific language, edit the asset in the target language where you want the asset to appear. Editing media in a target language disconnects it from the source language, so future changes to the source media won’t apply to that language.

For audio assets, you can reset to the target language by clicking the Options (...) icon to the right of the audio player and selecting Revert to source audio.

Update Translations

The translation workflow detects changes made to your source language since the last translation. That means you can translate those changes without affecting other portions of the course. Follow these steps: 

1. Update existing text or add blocks to your source language.
2. A yellow exclamation point appears on the language dropdown at the top to indicate that changes have been made. 
3. Click the language dropdown and select Update translations.
4. When the translation run completes, the Update translations option disappears.

Additional information:

• Adding blocks, lessons, or sections to any target language will also apply to other languages, but they won't get translated. If you accidentally added them to the target language, simply delete them and recreate them in the source language.
• Updating translated content consumes credits. The volume depends on translation units called text segments. A text segment breaks down the source text into smaller parts while retaining its meaning in context. Segments can vary in length and structure—from single words to complex sentences or even short paragraphs, depending on context. In general, a segment includes the text in a block. Any text change in a segment will retranslate the whole segment.

Manage Languages in Kits

Add a Language

When you need to translate the artifacts in an existing multi-language kit into a new language, follow these steps:

1. Open the kit from your library and click the translate icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Click +Add language.
3. Select the target language or languages you want to add. 
4. Click the Translate button in the lower right to create a multi-language kit.
5. When you add new artifacts to a multilingual kit, translated versions of those artifacts are created automatically.

Delete a Language

If you no longer need a particular language version, you can remove it from every artifact in a kit by following these steps:

1. Open the kit from your library and click the translate icon in the upper-right corner.
2. Click the trash bin icon beside the language you want to delete.
3. Select Remove from the prompt that appears to confirm.

Share Multilingual Training

Sharing your multi-language training is easy. Simply click Share from either an artifact card on the kit page or from the top menu within an artifact. Choose from Quick Share or Export options:

• Quick Share distributes your training to an audience and collects analytics. Viewers can select their preferred language from among those available when they launch the training. Refer to this article for more information about sharing and distributing content with Quick Share.
• For guides and quick references, Export lets you download a PDF version of the artifact, enabling stakeholder review, ensuring compliance, or offering a physical alternative .

FAQs

What languages are supported?

Our language lookup tool lets you see which target languages are supported for your source language. Here’s how: 

1. Launch the language lookup tool in a separate browser window.

2. Choose your source language from the Select a Source Language dropdown.

3. All the supported target languages for the chosen source language are displayed, with columns for glossary, formality, and right-to-left support. A green checkmark in these columns means the corresponding target language supports it.

Note: Glossary and formality support are currently available only with Articulate 360 AI. Frontline users in a Hybrid subscription will always use the current default glossary when applicable.

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

You can translate a kit into as many languages as we support. Note that translating kits consumes credits, and credit consumption is determined by the number of characters in your source content, multiplied by the number of target languages.

What gets translated?

All texts, customized alternative text,  and closed captions are translated. Chapters and checkpoints in interactive videos are also translated.

AI-generated text-to-speech is translated automatically, with a new audio version generated for each target language. (Applies to: training decks, guides, and quick references)

Text within images or videos and embedded media originating from outside Frontline are not translated at this time.

How many credits does translating kits consume?

Translation consumes 2 credits per character in your source content, multiplied by the number of target languages.

Are spaces counted as billable characters in translation?

Yes, spaces are counted as characters for translation billing purposes.

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

We use a combination of DeepL, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud, which have been 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.

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

Frontline 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 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 with more languages. Use our language lookup tool for a full list.