Localizing an e-course isn’t easy, given how large these projects can be. But it's even harder if you're translating a course based on XLIFF files out of Articulate Rise — the popular e-course platform. Complexity sometimes gets in the way of practicality, but as luck would have it, we've found a way to make things much easier for Articulate Rise course providers expanding into other languages.

Rise XLIFF is now easy to parse with Smartcat

The complexity of Articulate Rise XLIFF files makes them challenging for just about any CAT tool out there, and Smartcat was no different — until recently.

Because of the nature of course authoring, files are structured with a lot of intricate text formatting — see the screenshot below. Before the change, this is what an Articulate Rise XLIFF file would look like when imported into Smartcat:

And what you see here is already a result of better segmentation, compared to other CAT systems. Even so, it is simply not enough.

In case you’re not familiar with Smartcat, the yellow tags indicate protected text formatting. What you see is the paragraphs and list items fused together in a single translatable segment. Suboptimal segmentation and visual noise tend to snowball into problems with translation memory, slowing down the whole localization effort.

Now, Smartcat is capable of parsing Rise XLIFF files with ease, thanks to its dedicated support for this particular kind of XLIFF file structure.

Let’s see what the same content looks like now:

Nice and clean. Now you don’t have to worry about fixing the text before you get to translation. Here’s what one of our customers thinks about it:

I finally had a chance to use this enhancement… it’s great! Much fewer tags to copy over. Thank you so much for working with your programmers to get this implemented for us!

Nicole Matushenko

How does this parser work, exactly?

It’s a custom parser we’ve made specifically for XLIFF files exported from the Articulate Rise platform. Most CAT tools can parse XLIFF files (with varying degrees of success) but the difference with Smartcat's is this:

  • Correct segmentation of paragraphs and lists with respect to Articulate Rise-specific formatting
  • Less visual noise (fewer tags)
  • Better translation memory reuse and reduced translation costs as a result

Here’s a short guide on how to use the parser in Smartcat:

  1. After uploading an Articulate Rise XLIFF file into a new or existing project, click on the cogwheel icon to access the parsing settings:

2. Choose "risexliff" as the parsing method:

Simple as that. The Articulate Rise XLIFF file parser is available to all our paid customers.

What else can Smartcat do?

There are more goodies Smartcat brings to the table, free of charge. Here are some things an e-course localization manager is likely to enjoy:

  • Pick and choose among 350,000 freelancers in our Marketplace. Find talent right on the platform — no need to do any extra legwork to find top-rated translators.
  • Pay your freelancers through Smartcat. Find freelancers, assign them jobs, and pay them through the platform interface. Done.
  • Enjoy the benefits of centralized communication and file sharing. Invite people from anywhere, collaborate with mixed in-house and freelancer teams, and share projects.
  • Don’t forget the CAT in Smartcat. Speed things up with translation memory, automated QA, contextual suggestions, and more.

Small change, big difference

Smartcat’s parser makes sure the localization of Articulate Rise courses is easy, not a nuisance. It may look like a small improvement, but it will save you a lot of time and money down the road.

Join Smartcat and start localizing your e-learning content today!