English to Spanish Case Study: Mathematical Elearning Translation
As of 2015, there were 4.6 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. public schools whose first language was predominantly Spanish. ELLs are expected to meet the same content and achievement standards as native English speaking students (National Center for Education Statistics), and participate in language assistance programs to do so. While these programs can vary, some introduce U.S. schooling in a bilingual manner to help with adjustment. As such academic content must be provided in the native languages of ELL students which often requires English to Spanish translation services.
Language Connections has worked in education since our founding 25 years ago. Based in Boston, we have had the unique opportunity to partner with some of the most prestigious academic institutions on projects ranging from course material translations to large executive education programs. Our services also extend to translating materials for PK-12 instruction.
One such client Reasoning Mind, a non-profit education organization, came to us with a technically and creatively complex project involving the adaptation of mathematical elearnings for Spanish speaking school children. The work required English to Spanish translation services and narration of close to 300 different lesson plans and tests.
Q: How Do You Adapt 300 Lesson Plans Involving Technical & Creative Teaching Methods For Young Spanish Speaking Students?
The Client:
Reasoning Mind is an educational non-profit located in Houston Texas. Their mission is to approach math education through appealing, computer based learning modules that are implemented in schools across the country. They hope to provide tools for teachers and students that increase student engagement with mathematics, while improving the availability of high-quality resources for teachers.
The core service provided by Reasoning Mind is a series of mathematical, online learning modules (or elearnings) for students in prekindergarten through middle school.
When they approached Language Connections, the team at Reasoning Mind was interested in English to Spanish translation services for multiple elearning modules used by Pre-K through 1st grade Spanish speaking students. They requested our assistance with both the translation and narration of the curriculum.
The main requirement for us? That our team have expertise in both the Spanish language and early education mathematics.
The Challenge:
One challenge in particular presents itself straight away with all education translation services: the need to account for language and cultural differences in the approach to learning.
Alongside this, several other challenges stood out in regard to linguistic and technical aspects of the work:
Linguistic Challenges
- Audio scripts (later used for narration) needed to be translated and adapted for U.S. Spanish.
- The content was creative and required localization for some terms without Spanish equivalents – namely character names used throughout the different lessons.
- The Spanish mathematical terminology and lesson plans needed to meet U.S. guidelines for math curricula taught in schools (based on the Common Core).
- An evolving translator’s glossary was required due to project time constraints.
- The narration needed to be consistent and emphasize key learning outcomes for the intended audience.
Challenge 1: Adapting the Translation for U.S. Spanish Speakers
Spanish is an extremely widespread language and as such there are many dialects that have formed alongside European Spanish. For this project we needed to provide elearning translation services specifically for U.S. Spanish.
The U.S. Spanish dialect formed thanks to the melting pot of Spanish speakers living and interacting in the United States. Due to the country’s proximity to Central and Latin America, two regions with multiple Spanish dialects of their own, the Spanish spoken in the States carries influence from a number of different countries.
In this project our team of translators needed to use terminology describing mathematical concepts easily understood by young, U.S. Spanish speakers.
Challenge 2: Translating the Untranslatable
The elearning modules developed by Reasoning Mind are aimed at increasing engagement with mathematical education by young school children. As such, much of the content used throughout the teaching plans is creative in nature.
In the modules being adapted to U.S. Spanish, children engage with fantastical monsters as they learn and practice their math skills. To best complete the more creative portions of the English to Spanish translation services, we were provided with a genealogy of different monsters and characters that appeared throughout the lessons – and not all of them had direct Spanish equivalents.
This meant that a large amount of “transcreation” and transliteration would be needed to appropriately and consistently represent the story lines in the elearnings.
Challenge 3: Mathematical Terminology Needed To Be Standardized
Curricula taught in the U.S. is relatively standardized to gauge learning development. When it comes to math, 45 states adhere to the Common Core State Standards for mathematics. As such the elearnings needed to be consistent with those guidelines, even when taught in Spanish. To complicate things further, the age demographic of Reasoning Mind’s elearning modules is younger children, and much of the content involves tests.
Therefore, the content needed to be explained accurately and at appropriate comprehension levels for the students.
Our linguists and editors were required to be familiar with the U.S. math curricula used for Reasoning Mind’s target age groups to ensure that lesson plans and tests were 100% accurate, easily understood, and in accordance with the appropriate standards.
Challenge 4: A Frequently Updated Glossary
Most translation projects have a set glossary compiled at the beginning. This glossary is a constant, and is used to make sure the translation remains consistent for repeating terminology and themes important to overall comprehension of the text.
However, the timeline of this project did not allow for a complete glossary to be created and translated from the onset. There were also frequent changes and updates made to the language of the source lesson plans that would make this difficult.
As such the glossary was created in parallel with the actual English to Spanish translation services.
Using an evolving glossary meant that when changes in meaning of certain mathematical terminology or concepts occurred (depending on the context they were used in), the entire glossary needed to be updated to maintain consistency in previous and future translations.
Challenge 5: Narration
Upon completion of the English to Spanish translation services, the client requested Spanish audio narration of the modules.
While many may regard narration as a relatively straightforward process, it does have caveats that need to be considered in order for video materials to have the most impact. For one thing, narration in a foreign language requires that the voice talent be a native speaker of said language.
However, when it comes to elearnings, particular care needs to be paid to the tone used throughout the lesson plans and modules. If the end goal of the content is to teach an audience, the narrator needs to be able to clearly articulate and emphasize the key points or objectives of the lesson.
Not only that, the narrator’s voice needs to appeal to the audience’s state of mind and expectations when using the elearning. This could mean speaking in a more conversational tone, a motivating one, or an extremely professional one. It is important that tone remain consistent as well in order to avoid placing unnecessary emphasis on some portions of the content and not others.
To address this challenge, steps must be taken in the actual writing of the script (choosing the appropriate terms to reflect the learning outcomes and tone of the dialogue) alongside choosing voice talent.
Reasoning Mind also required that we use one narrator for all the modules to maintain consistency.
Technical Challenges
- Spanish translators needed to properly manipulate animation tags included after specific words in the script, otherwise the code would not function properly.
Challenge 1: Ensuring Proper Tag Placement Throughout The Spanish Code
When we received the scripts for translation they were presented with coded elements throughout – namely animation tags. The tags were placed after trigger words in the script and used by animators to match certain on-screen elements with the narration (for example, to highlight a certain shape described in the audio).
However, the tag placement in the English script did not directly correspond with that in the Spanish script, as the grammatical structure of sentences change between English and Spanish. So a trigger word with an animation tag located at the beginning of a sentence in the English script, may appear at the end of a sentence in the Spanish script.
In order for the animations in the elearning translation to work properly, these tags would need to be moved around by the translators to match the Spanish narration.
The Solution:
In order to address the unique linguistic and technical challenges of the project, the team at Language Connections put together a solution that not only met the client’s specific needs in terms of professional qualifications, but that was able to adapt to frequent updates and the creative nature of the Spanish translation.
First
We chose a talented team of project managers with experience in educational and software localizations, as well as video narration, to oversee the entire process.
These project managers were responsible not only for coordinating the constantly updating English to Spanish translation services, but also for ensuring consistent communication between the client and linguistic teams.
SECOND
In order to address the client’s request that the linguists have appropriate knowledge of mathematics, we put together a team comprised of U.S. Spanish speaking translators and bilingual editors with professional backgrounds in the publishing of math textbooks.
Our team would directly correspond with a math editor on the client’s end throughout the duration of the project. This combination would allow us to translate and adapt the content appropriately for U.S. Spanish speakers, while ensuring that the subject matter adhered to Common Core standards and remained accurate for the target age group.
THIRD
As the elearnings were divided into multiple lesson plans and activities, our team completed the English to Spanish translation services in batches to maximize the volume of output in short time frames. The script files were first processed through computer assisted translation (CAT) tools, and then translated.
To maintain consistency across all the Spanish modules alongside the evolving glossary, our team frequently edited and re-edited content to ensure all mathematical terminology was used properly. This process was coordinated, and overseen by our skilled project managers.
Once the elearning translations were completed our editors, in conjunction with the client side math editor, checked the language, arithmetic, and placements of all animation tags to ensure they corresponded with the source modules.
Final translated scripts were then sent back to the client’s team to be implemented into the software code.
Transcreation & Transliteration of Monster Names
Transcreation is a creative process that goes beyond the usual scope of simply translating content, to re-imagine it with the target audience in mind. It is often used in literary and marketing contexts to adapt themes to the social and cultural norms of the target audience.
In order to make the educational modules appealing, the team at Reasoning Mind invented a world of characters and monsters to accompany young students throughout their lesson plans. Some had standard names that could be easily translated into Spanish; however, others were entirely made up.
As such, our translators were tasked with developing corresponding Spanish identifiers for these characters – predominantly the different monsters. This would require a fair amount of transcreation. Each translator would come up with names for the monsters, and then they would compare notes, choosing the names that best suited the overall appearance or purpose of the characters.
To come up with new names that were in line with the original scripts, our translators took a few things into consideration:
- Defining features of the monsters (Did they look like animals? Did they resemble common objects?)
- The activities being performed by the monsters
- The sounds comprising the English name of the monsters that could be used to transliterate corresponding Spanish names
Some of the names described how the monsters looked or what they did, others were transliterated from English to U.S. Spanish. To transliterate the names, the translators would not create an entirely new word for the monsters, but instead render the English word into Spanish based on how the sound of the English would be represented with the Spanish alphabet.
FOURTH
Once our linguists had finalized the English to Spanish translation services, the final portion of the project involved the narration for the elearning modules. The scripts were passed on to our narration team, who selected the appropriate voice talent based on Reasoning Mind’s specifications.
It was extremely important that we only use one narrator to maintain consistency throughout the lesson plans. The narrator chosen was fluent in U.S. Spanish, and meticulously crafted his tone throughout the various modules to both emphasize the key learning points of each lesson plan, and to appeal to the young audience using the program.
A: You Trust Language Connections’ 25 Years Of Experience In Academia And Technically Knowledgeable Project Managers
The Result:
Language Connections’ English to Spanish translation services met the client’s standards for their adapted mathematical curriculum, and were completed on time.
All the content was successfully re-implemented into the software code, and the voice talent fit seamlessly into the overall educational experience.
Thanks to the professionalism and expertise of our linguists and project managers, we look forward to future work in the education-tech space with Reasoning Mind!
A: You Trust Language Connections’ 25 Years Of Experience In Academia And Technically Knowledgeable Project Managers
The Result:
Language Connections’ English to Spanish translation services met the client’s standards for their adapted mathematical curriculum, and were completed on time.
All the content was successfully re-implemented into the software code, and the voice talent fit seamlessly into the overall educational experience.
Thanks to the professionalism and expertise of our linguists and project managers, we look forward to future work in the education-tech space with Reasoning Mind!
Interested in Learning More About Language Connections’ English to Spanish Translation Services or Work in Education? Check Out The Following Resources:
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
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