Interface design and graphic selection
Because the English version of the training was for development purposes only, the team built the interface in both languages with a right-to-left design. (See Figure 2.) This was a bit awkward at first for the training team, but made developing the Arabic version later on much easier.
Figure 2 The interface organized content from right to left, regardless of language.
The team created several interface prototypes for review by the target audience. From previous projects, I-3 had already learned about some Iraqi preferences; in general, Iraquis prefer interfaces and styles far more ornate than those normally seen in business applications. The interface went through several revisions, with minor adjustments made along the way. The design of the training interface influenced the design of the software interface; after seeing early prototypes of the computer-based training, the developers went back and put more effort into designing the look of the software.
Graphical elements
In the analysis phase, the team received conflicting information on the education level of the learner audience. While the population in general is well educated and computer-literate, this project was to be released across the entire country. (See Figure 3.)The team wasn’t certain of the education level and computer literacy levels in more remote areas. Under the assumption that the translations would not be perfect, they designed graphic elements to strongly support the content.
Figure 3 Uncertainty about the quality of translation led to creation of graphic elements that would strongly support the content.
For a diverse, nationally-dispersed population, creating appropriate graphics provided new challenges. Generic blue featureless figures originally represented people in all of the training graphics. This changed with the need to differentiate between types of users of the system; the system was for the Iraqi Police, and I-3 needed to differentiate between police officers and recruits. (See Figure 4.)
Figure 4 Graphics had to differentiate between different types of users of the system, for example, between police officers and recruits.
Later, the team changed the graphics again to reflect an appropriate representation of audience types. Even more so than in the United States, in Iraq it is important to have both male and female police officers, because only men can search and interview men, and only women can search and interview women. Clearly, the graphics needed both male and female figures, and a later change included the addition of skirts and head scarves, or hijab, for some of the female figures. (See Figure 5.)
Figure 5 Graphics needed to represent individuals in culturally appropriate ways.
Photographs augmented the drawings, and some portions used video. It was easy to obtain photographs of the equipment, but for the video elements, it was important that the people in the video be consistent with our target audience.
Security considerations for graphics
Traditionally, the biggest concern for training graphics was getting proper releases from the subjects who were photographed or videotaped. In Iraq, this presented a new concern. Iraqis working as policemen and policewomen, as well as their families, faced a significant danger if they were broadly identified as being part of the police force. Finding any Iraqis who were willing to serve as models for the training was impossible.
Not wanting to use American models, the team tried to use models from other Middle-Eastern countries, but test subjects immediately identified them as “non-Iraqi.” Furthermore, in Arabic culture, people generally consider it rude to photograph any female.
Using caricature type representations of the Iraqi police that were sometimes static and sometimes animated proved to be the best solution. We could use real models in cases where their faces did not show. This solution turned out to have some unexpected benefits.
First, the Iraqi police uniform was undergoing rapid changes at the time the teams were developing the training. By using cartoon-style graphics, the training depicted a general uniform idea, not any specific uniform style. (See Figure 6.) This eliminated any problems reconciling differences between Baghdad Ministry of Interior police uniforms and Kurdish Regional Government police uniforms. Furthermore, because the cartoon figures had no real faces, there were no issues related to representing females.
Figure 6 Cartoon style graphics solved a number of problems related to uniform details.
The cartoon figures also provided more flexibility in presentation. Instead of having to keep going back to Iraq to get a different pose for a model, we could just change the graphic.
Timing considerations for audio
The computer-based training modules consisted of a mixture of video, flash animation, and static images. By not relying entirely on video, the audio recording process was much easier. With video, the timing of the video sequence limits the length and timing of the audio. Because we relied mostly on Flash animation, the Arabic speakers were not concerned with limiting their translation and recordings to a specific time period. They could easily manipulate the animation to match the timing of the Arabic audio. Moreover, the animator did not need to understand the Arabic audio files because their segmentation matched each scene in the training module. The e-Learning included Flash elements with embedded audio. In order to create the Flash with Arabic text and audio, translation and recording of the content had to be in both English and Arabic.
The first audio recording was in English in a draft form, using neither professional voice talent nor a recording studio. (See Figure 7.) It was only for the working version of the program. The English audio helped the developers time the Flash interactions.
Figure 7 Making the first recording in English helped developers time Flash interactions.
The developers broke the content into chunks based on the animation timing. The translators also worked with the text. In this way, the team could redevelop the animations using Arabic text and audio while maintaining proper timing. The development team could not read or understand spoken Arabic, so a sound QA process was critical for project success.
I-3 used a mix of male and female voices for audio. The team opted for a mix instead of a single narrator because of uncertain availability of voice talent. They knew they would have to do a lot of re-work, and a single, original narrator might not always be available. By intentionally using a mix of voices, I-3 ensured that the audience would not be surprised or distracted when the voice of a narrator changed.
Initially, developers received advice that both male and female Iraqis respond better to a male voice. However, after further investigation, it became clear that this was far from universally true. Using a mix of male and female voices increases the training’s appeal to different audiences, and keeps the learners engaged with different voices as well.
Lost in translation
On the other side of the world, the translating team had varying degrees of experience in translating technical and training content. One team member was fluent in both English and Arabic and was a skilled translator; others had less experience, but were more familiar with technical vocabulary. For example, in one early version, the team discovered that the word “training” had been translated using an Arabic word more appropriate to “training an animal” as opposed to “learning.” The team adjusted the translation process to include a step for having a second Arabic-speaking native double-check each translation. This turns out to be an essential and critical step, especially in the case where the training development team does not speak the language of the deployed training system. There is little reason to have an instructional designer take the time to carefully craft learning interventions if the nuances of meaning are lost because of poor translations.
Another added benefit from having a central QA person who reviews all the translation is that this person will experience the training module in its entirety, and will look for consistency in wording and style in various sections that, due to the time crunch, were translated separately or by multiple people.
We used the same translators to translate the text, to translate the user interfaces, and to review the audio, animation, and video in the final and completed training module.
Integration
Adobe hinted that Flash would support bidirectional languages like Arabic in the latest version, but the support wasn’t available in time for this project. As a first approach, the development team searched the Internet to find some sort of code that a fellow Flash-user might have written that would parse through the text and invert characters so that Arabic would display properly. This approach didn’t cost any money, but it didn’t yield perfect results.
The developers didn’t know enough about Arabic to write such a function themselves, and the functions they found didn’t always display mixed strings (with Arabic, English, and punctuation marks) correctly. They adapted it to fix one obvious problem, but the approach was still not bullet proof.
Another drawback was that the team could not embed fonts in the Flash movie. They could only get the code to work properly by using the default sans-serif font on the end user’s computer, and this meant that they couldn’t apply special filters to the text (e.g. drop shadows) or get text to fade in and out.
More recently, the team purchased a component that seems to be well coded and well supported: Flaraby (http://www.arabicode.com/flaraby/flash_arabic_support.php ).This component permits the embedding of either the “Traditional Arabic” or “Andalus” fonts, and seems to handle the various text mixtures without error. It’s trickier to use (you must use scripting to implement it), but it enables normal visual effects and doesn’t display parentheses in the wrong places or facing the wrong direction (left to right versus right to left).
Another integration challenge is that Arabic fonts display at about two sizes smaller than English fonts. When we increased the font size so that the Arabic user could better read the text, we had to check for possible changes in line breaks and make sure all text was still visible.
Summary
The lessons we learned from this interesting and challenging experience were:
- Keep an open mind about the culture, language intricacies, the technological challenges and advances for the language, design preferences, talent pool available and expectations of your target audience. Working with a new culture or language will be a learning experience, and it is important to set up your team so that it can adapt to the cultural variations – some of which you may discover while the project is in progress.
- If you don’t already do this, use a portal or a file sharing mechanism that allows you to collaborate with all teams in their various locations, and include the client if required. We used a SharePoint portal because some of our government clients did not have FTP access, whereas everyone has access to the Internet via a Web browser. We also found regular conference calls instrumental in collaboration.
- Use varying training media (CD, Internet, paper, instructor-led courses, etc.), and base you choice on the technologies available to the end-users. The infrastructure in other countries is not always the same as in the US. Some countries have a better infrastructure, but in most cases the infrastructure is either similar to the U.S., or worse.
- One of our advantages is that our software developers had worked with the Arabic language before, even though the training team had not. It’s good to have technical persons accessible who understand the technical challenges of working with the language. It may also be useful to provide the team with a brief understanding of the cultural and language differences. Such information is available online, but a linguist or native of the language who is working with your team will be able to provide a better explanation.
- Assign a primary translation QA person who will oversee all of the work. This person’s role is to understand the full training module, and make sure the translations are in context. This person will also help unify the terminology and style of the training course. Repetition is one important learning technique, and the translations will not have the same effect if different synonyms are used to relay any deliberately-repeated information.
- If your development team does not speak the language, if possible use a dynamic training solution that allows them to flip back and forth between English and the target language.
- Show your work at different milestones to the translation team, and to the client if that is possible. It’s important to obtain feedback about critical issues early on.
- Research technical issues that arise with the language you are working with. Others out there may have encountered the same issues and have found useful work -arounds.
Developing training modules for a client in a foreign culture, who speaks a language different from your own, can be very challenging. However, in our global economy, where the world is constantly shrinking due to the advances in technology, it can be a rewarding experience, expanding the expertise of the team and expanding the horizons of each individual team member.
