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Smartcat is an eLearning translation platform for corporate L&D teams. It translates courses, SCORM packages, quizzes, video and handouts into 280+ languages, routes each language to your reviewers and returns files your LMS accepts, so every learner trains on the current version.
More than 80 of the world’s largest companies have chosen Smartcat
eLearning translation (also written e-learning translation) is the process of converting an online course into other languages: its on-screen text, narration, quizzes and attached materials, with its structure, interactions and LMS tracking left intact. Smartcat does this by translating the course file itself, such as a SCORM package or an XLIFF export, with AI, your glossary and expert review, then returning a file your LMS accepts.
15K+
eLearning courses localized
Smartcat has localized more than 15,000 eLearning courses.
96%
lower translation costs
Enterprise teams using Smartcat cut translation costs by 96% compared with traditional agency rates.
280+
languages
Translate one course into 280+ languages from a single project.
Translating the words is rarely what slows eLearning translation down; rebuilding the whole course in every language is. See the full update chain on the L&D page.
Each language starts as a copy of the course, rebuilt screen by screen in the authoring tool: text pasted in, layouts fixed, buttons and menus redone.
Add the SCORM package or the XLIFF export from your authoring tool. For SCORM courses, Smartcat lists the images, videos and attached PDFs inside.
Narration is re-recorded and subtitles re-timed for every language, often by a separate vendor, while text inside images waits for a designer.
Smartcat AI translates the course text, transcribes the narration for subtitles or AI voiceover, and translates the images you select.
Questions, answer options and feedback are pasted back by hand, then every interaction is tested again in the LMS.
Quizzes, interactions and layout stay as built. Reviewers preview each language as learners will see it and approve it before export.
A changed screen or policy sends every language through the whole cycle again.
Export each language or one multilingual SCORM package. When the source changes, only the changed parts are re-translated.
Every learner gets the same structure, assessments and tracking.
Subtitles, voiceover and images are translated alongside the course text.
Approved text is reused from translation memory, so each change costs only the new words.
eLearning translation converts a course’s words into another language. eLearning localization adapts the whole course for a market, including examples, images, video, voiceover and anything that depends on local rules. Most L&D teams translate every course and fully localize the ones where culture, regulation or brand matter. For the full process, read the eLearning localization guide.
| Compare | eLearning translation | eLearning localization |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | The course’s words: on-screen text, captions, quiz items and narration scripts. | The whole learning experience for one market, including the words. |
| What changes | The language. Layout, examples, images and media stay as built. | The language plus examples, names, units, dates, images, video, voiceover and any references to local rules. |
| Interface and assessments | Buttons, menus, navigation and quiz feedback are translated, and questions and answer options are translated as written. | Interface text is checked in context, and questions, scenarios and answer options are adapted so they test the same skill in every market. |
| Who’s involved | AI translation and a linguist or bilingual reviewer. | Linguists plus in-country trainers and subject-matter experts, and often a designer or voice talent. |
| When you need it | Internal training on shared tools and policies, quick refreshes, or a first version in a new language. | Compliance, safety and customer-facing training, regulated markets, or examples that won’t make sense locally. |
| How Smartcat handles it | AI translation with your glossary and translation memory, returned in the original file format. | The same project plus review steps for your experts, a choice of which images, videos and PDFs to translate, and AI voiceover. |
To translate an eLearning course in Smartcat, export or upload the course file, choose your languages, let AI translate with your glossary, have your experts review each language and download a file your LMS accepts. 92% of words translated by Smartcat AI are accepted without a single human edit, so reviewers spend their time where it matters.
1
Export the course text as XLIFF from your authoring tool, or use the published SCORM package if you don’t have the authoring files.
2
Add the XLIFF file or SCORM package, plus the slides, documents and videos that go with the course. For SCORM courses, you choose which images, videos and PDFs to translate.
3
Pick every target language in one project. The Content Translator Coworker translates with your glossary, the Reviewer Coworker pre-reviews, and your experts approve each language.
4
Download each file in its original format, or one multilingual SCORM package, and upload it to your LMS or re-import it into your authoring tool.
Courses from most authoring tools reach Smartcat one of two ways. If the tool exports XLIFF, translate the export and import it back. If you only have the published course, upload the SCORM package: SCORM Studio translates packages published from iSpring Suite, Easygenerator, Adobe Captivate, Absorb Create and CEGID without the source files. Not sure about your format? Send a sample package.
Most authoring tools, including Articulate® Rise® and Storyline®, export course text as an XLIFF file. Upload it to Smartcat, translate it with AI and your glossary, review it, then import the translated file back into the tool.
Only the words travel, so the design never leaves the authoring tool, and the file’s tags are protected so it re-imports cleanly. More detail: translating course files.
If you only have the published course, upload the SCORM .zip instead. Smartcat translates SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 packages exported from Rise directly, without the authoring files, and writes the package structure back unchanged, so navigation and tracking keep working.
Courses published from iSpring Suite, Adobe Captivate and other supported tools go through SCORM Studio. Read more about SCORM translation.
Multilingual eLearning means learners in every market take the same course in their own language, with the same structure, assessments and completion rules. Smartcat handles it as one course with many languages: you add every target language to one project, with one glossary, translation memory and review loop, instead of opening a project per language.
Every language of a SCORM course can ship in one multilingual SCORM package. Here is how the rest works for the eLearning content L&D teams ask about most.
Course video doesn’t need a separate vendor. When you upload a SCORM course, Smartcat lists the videos inside it, and you decide which to translate. Choose subtitles for software demos and talking-head clips, or AI voiceover where learners need to keep their eyes on the screen.
For large video libraries, Smartcat transcribes the narration, so you get a transcript, subtitles and optional AI voiceover for every language from the same project. The track record: 35,000+ hours of video and audio translated. Standalone training videos go through the video translator.
Assessment text is translated with the rest of the course: questions, answer options and feedback messages. Because Smartcat translates inside the course file, scoring and completion rules stay as they were built.
Give quizzes an extra review, since a loosely translated distractor can change what a question tests, and run a quick check in each language when answers depend on exact wording.
When the source course changes, Smartcat reuses approved text from translation memory, and segments matched 100% or more use no Smartwords on current plans, so an update costs only the new words. To update a translated SCORM course, change the text or media in Smartcat’s course editor and re-translate just the new or changed sections.
Large course libraries move as projects, not files. In Smartcat you can put many courses, every target language and their handouts and videos into one workspace, with one glossary and translation memory, and track each language’s status in one place.
Automated project setup removes the per-course admin. Intradiem translated 20 Rise courses, plus job aids and videos, into Canadian French in six weeks or less.
Smartcat can create a course and translate it in the same workspace. The Content Creator Coworker drafts the course from your PowerPoint, Word or PDF material, and the Content Translator Coworker translates it into every target language before export. Changes to the source course are re-translated in the same project.
Start from your own files in the SCORM course builder, or from a course idea in the AI course creator.
Training material translation covers the files around a course: PDF handouts, PowerPoint decks and Word job aids. Smartcat writes each translation back into the original file, so slides keep their layout and documents keep their headings, tables and images. Inside a SCORM course, attached PDFs are detected for you and can be translated in the same project as the course text.
Each coworker handles one step of translating a course, from the first draft to the last check. Your reviewers approve every language.
Chief of Staff
Tell your Chief of Staff which courses and languages you need, and it coordinates the coworkers that translate and check them.
Content Translator Coworker
Translates course text, quizzes, subtitles and voiceover into 280+ languages with your glossary and translation memory.
Content Update Coworker
Helps find the translated courses a source change affects and re-translates only the new or changed sections.
Reviewer Coworker
Pre-reviews every language for fluency, tone and terminology, so in-country reviewers approve a strong draft instead of starting over.
Quality Assurance Coworker
Checks each translated course for terminology, formatting and accuracy errors and gives it a quality score before export.
Translate and review content where your teams already work, from Google Drive and Figma to your help center and CMS. See all integrations
Google Drive
Translate the training docs, decks and sheets your team keeps in Drive.
Google Docs
Send job aids and SOPs from Google Docs and get them back in every language.
Google Sheets
Translate quiz banks and glossaries kept in spreadsheets.
Figma
Localize course visuals and catch text expansion before designs ship.
Contentful
Keep learning content in your headless CMS current in every language.
Zendesk
Translate the help-center articles that support your training.
ServiceNow
Keep knowledge-base articles accurate in every language.
Salesforce Service Cloud
Keep service enablement content current in every language.
WordPress
Publish multilingual learning portals and resource hubs.
Sitecore
Keep intranet and portal content aligned across locales.
Training teams use Smartcat to move more courses into more languages with less rework.
70%
less editing workload on regulated content
Smith+Nephew reduced editing workload by 70% and now produces 15–20 online courses per language every quarter, with turnaround 4x faster than its previous 10‑day agency SLA.
Up to 70%
lower translation costs
Stanley Black & Decker cut translation costs by up to 70% for L&D content such as online courses, quizzes and PDFs, and shortened average turnaround by two weeks.
298
projects in two years, most of them eLearning
Topcon cut the time to produce one eLearning course in 10 languages from 13 hours to 11, with about two more hours saved per course through automated project management.
90%
faster program rollout, at a 90% lower cost
“We don’t remove humans from the process; we reposition them to provide human review where edits are captured permanently.”
Cummins used Smartcat to localize its global sales and service enablement program. Before, only 10–15% of its training content was available globally.
Watch the Cummins webinar
Keep building where you build today: Smartcat works with the file your authoring tool exports.
What Smartcat adds is the workflow around translation
Smartcat translates the text inside the course file and writes the structure back unchanged.
So these keep working
Run a quick functional check in each language on custom interactions, because translated text can run longer than the source.
Add Smartcat Marketplace linguists to any language that needs professional review, alongside your own subject-matter experts.
Your LMS delivers and tracks courses; it doesn’t translate them. Smartcat sits before the LMS, so your LMS setup stays as it is.
The best eLearning translation software translates your course files without a rebuild. Smartcat suits L&D teams translating many courses into many languages: it handles SCORM packages and XLIFF exports, routes each language to reviewers and returns LMS-ready files. Compare tools on formats, quiz and tracking support, review workflow and update cost. If you translate one short course a year, a one-off agency job may cost less than a platform.
Translate the course file once with AI, have your own reviewers approve it, and reuse that work on every update. In Smartcat, segments matched 100% or more by translation memory use no Smartwords on current plans, so an update costs only the new words. Enterprise teams using Smartcat cut translation costs by 96% compared with traditional agency rates.
Yes, during a free trial. Smartcat’s trial runs for 15 days with 15,000 Smartwords and no credit card, which is enough to translate a real course module, review it with your team and test the result in your LMS. After the trial you choose a paid plan, and your projects, glossaries and translation memory stay in place.
Start from the file you have. If you can open the course in its authoring tool, export the text as XLIFF, translate it in Smartcat and import it back. If you only have the published course, upload the SCORM package from a supported tool and get a translated package back. Either way, AI translates with your glossary and your experts approve each language before export.
Yes. Smartcat combines a localization platform with vetted linguists from the Smartcat Marketplace, so you can localize eLearning with your own team, with Marketplace experts, or both. AI translates each course first, and linguists matched to your subject and languages review it in the same workspace. For more on service options, see eLearning translation services.
Accurate enough that reviewers mostly confirm rather than rewrite: 92% of words translated by Smartcat AI are accepted without a single human edit. Accuracy on your own courses improves as your glossary and translation memory grow. Reserve expert review for what carries risk, such as assessments, compliance wording and safety steps, and keep the final approval with your team.
Smartcat prices course translation in Smartwords: one Smartword per source word for each target language, and AI dubbing for narration uses 10 Smartwords per dubbed word, charged on download. Users are unlimited, so adding reviewers doesn’t change the price. See current plans on the pricing page.
Start with terminology: upload a glossary to Smartcat or let it build one from approved material. Translate from the final source version, and keep on-screen text editable rather than burned into images or video.
Translate the course, its video and its handouts in one project, have subject-matter experts review in the same workspace, and re-translate only what changed when the course is updated. More in our eLearning translation best practices guide.
Smartcat translates Rise and Storyline courses through their XLIFF export, and Rise SCORM packages directly. SCORM Studio, part of Smartcat, translates SCORM packages published from iSpring Suite, Easygenerator, Adobe Captivate, Absorb Create and CEGID without the source files. Other tools that export XLIFF follow the same round trip. Not sure about yours? Send a sample package to check.
Export the course text as XLIFF, translate it in Smartcat and import it back. In Rise, open the course, go to Settings → Translations and export the XLIFF file, then import the translation into a duplicate of the course. In Storyline®, use File → Translation → Export, and later Import. In between, Smartcat translates the file with AI and your reviewers check it.
Smartcat keeps terminology consistent with one shared glossary and translation memory for every course and language. The Content Translator Coworker applies your approved terms during AI translation, the Reviewer Coworker checks terminology before your experts review, and every confirmed edit goes back into translation memory, so the next course starts from approved wording.
Yes. Smartcat works on the exported course file rather than copied text, so structure, layout and interactive elements stay intact. You re-import the translated XLIFF into your authoring tool or upload the translated SCORM package. Translated text can run longer than the source, so preview each language and adjust tight layouts before you publish.
Yes. In Smartcat’s SCORM course builder, the Content Creator Coworker drafts a course from your PowerPoint, Word or PDF material, and the Content Translator Coworker translates it into every target language in the same workspace. Reviewers approve each language before you export one SCORM package.
Yes. Smartcat is SOC 2 Type II compliant and encrypts course files in transit and at rest. Each workspace is isolated, and enterprise plans add SSO, role-based access and audit trails, which helps when unreleased product training or internal policies are involved. Your content is never used to train public AI models and is deleted or returned within 30 days of a written request.
No. Smartcat is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise associated with Articulate Global, LLC. Articulate, Rise and Storyline are trademarks of Articulate Global, LLC. All product names and trademarks on this page belong to their respective owners and are used only for identification.
Didn’t find your answer? Talk to an L&D specialist
Trademark notice. Smartcat is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise associated with Articulate Global, LLC. Articulate®, Articulate 360®, Rise®, and Storyline® are trademarks of Articulate Global, LLC. All product names, logos, and trademarks referenced on this page are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification and descriptive purposes only. Smartcat’s file-format support is built on publicly documented standards and does not imply any partnership or certification.
Book a demo to walk through the workflow on your own material, or start a free trial: 15 days and 15,000 Smartwords, no credit card.