Best eLearning Translation Software Features to Look for

We also discuss the features you should look for in translation software for eLearning, as well as a specific suggestion for the software you should be using to translate your online course offerings.

Whether you’re using Captivate, Lectora, Articulate or other authoring programs, this checklist will help tremendously in your search for the best translation platform. Skip to the end of this post to learn about the best translation software for eLearning content.

Why Choose the Best Translation Software for eLearning Development

If you don’t choose the best translation software for eLearning development, you will expend more energy, money and time than you planned to invest in the overall production of your online learning programs.

This can eat into your budget and even derail other projects you have on your plate at work.

While the needs for every company will vary when it comes to choosing a language translation system, there are some that will make your translation process simpler than others depending on the types of features available within them.

What’s more, the right translation software for eLearning development will provide you with features that support your company’s process for translating text and files as accurately as possible.

After all, machine translation alone cannot produce the highest quality translations, which is likely why you’re searching for translation software in the first place.

Your eLearning videos and course materials must be translated accurately for the intended multilingual audiences. Otherwise, the subject matter you teach could be lost in translation. This can have costly implications for either your business or your customer (or both).

Top 5 Features to Look for in eLearning Translation Software

When you start to evaluate the various options available to you for translation software for eLearning development, you should bring the following checklist with you. This checklist contains all the features vital to high-quality, efficient translations for all digital eLearning components specifically.

There are many language translation platforms out there that don’t include these features, so it’s important you check off all these boxes so that you find the right software for eLearning translation specifically.

eLearning File Translator

• Offers translation file formatting preservation so that you never need to re-format the layout, image placement, font properties, line spacing, paragraph breaks and more.

• Quickly and simultaneously translates multiples files and file types (batch translation).

• Compatible with all the various file types that you might provide to students as reference materials within your courses, depending on your subject matter or teaching method.

• For ambitious eLearning designers, the translation software you adopt should be compatible with the following list of file types to allow you the flexibility to develop a wide array of future course offerings to market globally:

• Word (.docx)

• Excel (.xlsx)

• PowerPoint (.pptx)

• HTML

• XML

• XML for Android

• Adobe InDesign (IDML)

• ARB

• Autocad (.dxf)

• MS Visio (.vsd)

• PDF

• Resource files (.strings)

• JSON (.json)

• Portable Objects (.po)

• Plain Text (.txt)

• DXF

• RTF

• Srt (subtitles)

• Sub(.txt)

• Xliff

Text-to-Audio Output for Voiceovers

• Create synthetic foreign voiceovers from one language to another within minutes, not days or weeks. This will allow you to produce instant voice-overs at a fraction of the cost of a human audio voice-over service. You need to have script text typed out first for this.

• Provides the option to select male or female voices

• Proves the option to export audio to .wav or .mp4 files

• At the very least, supports translation to all major languages, especially those used most frequently in commerce. This includes the following languages:

• Chinese Simplified

• Chinese Traditional

• Dutch

• Danish

• Finnish

• French — Euro

• French — Canadian

• German

• Italian

• Japanese

• Korean

• Norwegian

• Polish

• Portuguese — Brazil

• Russian

• Spanish — Mexico

• Spanish — Spain

• Swedish

Translation Memory

• Includes translation memory technology for storing your text in a bilingual central repository and reusing it for future translation projects.

This allows the software to learn the human translation of your specific words and phrases to be used over and over again. This is especially important for specialized vocabulary and technical terminology used in various eLearning subjects and industries. You must know that this requires human translation in order to work.

Translation Collaboration

• Allows you to quickly share translations with your designated authorized users and edit together in real-time

• Provides translation tracking so that you can view user edit history by segment

Translation Data Security

• SHA-2 and 4096-bit encryption

• 256-bit SSL certification

• Encrypted file storage in transit, in use and at rest via AWS

• “No Return” to machine translation providers

• PCI-compliant payment processing via Stripe

• HIPAA, SOC1 and ISO27001 compliant datacenters

• Multi-Factor Authentication

• TLS 1.2 (Transport Layer Security)

• Last login date and time display in footer

• Automatic session logoff if idle for more than 30 minutes

• Password expires after one year

• Auto-lock after 4 failed password attempts

• Device Authentication

• Compliant with GDPR & HIPAA

• Single Sign-On

• Supports secure browsers; Chrome, Firefox, Edge & Safari

• Third-party security audit & assessment records

Conclusion

Choosing the right translation software for eLearning development is crucial to saving time, reducing costs, and ensuring your training content is accurately adapted for global audiences. By selecting a solution that offers advanced features — such as translation memory, file formatting preservation, voiceover capabilities, collaboration tools, and robust data security — you’ll be better equipped to deliver high-quality, multilingual learning experiences. With the right platform, your organization can streamline the translation process, maintain consistency across languages, and expand your eLearning offerings with confidence.