The Multilingual feature allows administrators and instructors to show different versions of specific content and items according to a user’s profile language.
For example, an admin can create a course (title and units) in two different language versions (e.g., Swedish and Norwegian). A learner who has set Swedish as their profile language will see the course title and content in Swedish.
Remember that languages need to be set as active in the portal in order to be available as an option in the Multilingual menus.
Multilingual items
Multilingual entities exist in different sections of your eFront account. Here’s a list of all content types that can be translated using the Multilingual feature:
- Certificates (templates)
- Categories
- Curricula
- Course (course titles, descriptions, units, assignments, tests, and surveys)
- Groups
- Lessons
- Notifications
- Questions
Language selection when creating content
To check if you can create a different version of your portal in one of the available languages, you will see the language selector (1) at the top-right corner of your screen:
Clicking it shows the language version you’re currently using and gives you the ability to change it — all active languages will appear on the scroll-down menu.
The language marked as “Required” is the default language. This is also the language that will be used if the learner/end-user profile language has not a version or the language is inactive in the portal.
Languages that have already a version created for the current item will appear above the line break (2).
To delete a specific Multilingual version, click the trash-bin icon (3). However, the default language (marked as “Required”) cannot be deleted.
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Note: Multilingual content and portal interface language are two different features. The Multilingual entities appear in the user language only if there is a translation available in that language, while the language of the interface and system messages is the same as the user’s profile language. |
Example 1 - Course title and description
When creating a new course as the main administrator, you have to give it a title (Name*) to it.
After you create a course, in the Properties section, you will see that the course title and description have been created in the Required default language.
Click the language selector to pick a different language or create a new, translated version of the title and the course description (4) as well (in the example, Italian).
For this specific example, your course will appear this way to users whose profile language is Italian:
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Note: When providing a translation for a multilingual unit, the “How to complete it” and “Source” fields cannot be changed. When a multilingual unit has more than one translation (i.e., it is translated to at least one more language than the default one), these fields cannot be changed even when viewing the unit’s default translation. In order to do so, all translations except for the default one must be deleted. Multilingual units need to be consistent between translations. For example, you cannot create a unit by uploading a video and then translating it using a PDF or a different file type. |
Example 2 - Certificate template
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Note: Certificate templates and Notifications don’t work the same way other Multilingual sections do when it comes to the default language. In these two cases, the default language is always the system’s default language. |
With the Multilingual feature, you can issue different certificate translations for learners based on the learner’s profile language. To do so, you have to create separate certificate templates — one for each language/translation.
The certificate is issued automatically in the user’s language upon completion. All learners with a profile language that does not correspond to a specific template will be awarded a certificate in the default language (shown as “Required” in the language selector).
Example 3 - Questions
When creating a new language version for a question, only the question text can change, but the answers remain in the default language and order so that there to avoid logistic confusion.
For example, in a Multiple Choice - Single answer question and with the first two options being wrong and the third one correct, with a new language version is added, the third option remains the correct one.
English (required/default) version
Italian (translated) version
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Note: If a course creator tries to change the order of the answers and/or pick a different one as correct, the system will show an error alert. |
Language selector
The Language selector allows a user to change the language currently in effect in the platform quickly. You can set it to appear before, after, or before and after a user logs in. The Language selector is also convenient for Administrators when testing multilingual content.
Here’s where you can find and enable the Language selector.
As an Administrator, go to System settings (1).
Go to Appearance > Show language selector (2) and then choose when you would like the language selector to appear for your users: before login, after login, or before and after login (3).
