Norwich-based Real Projects has produced a stable of award-winning business courses over the past year, covering everything from information security to remote working. Now it’s preparing to roll them out in other languages to reach a far wider audience. Eastern Daily Press: The Future 50 programme is powered by the partner businessesThe Future 50 programme is powered by the partner businesses (Image: Archant)

“We're going to start with Latin American Spanish, then Portuguese,” explains Scott Hewitt of Real Projects. “They're two key markets for some of our partners, and it allows us with effective route to routes to get the courses out.”

Eastern Daily Press: Real Projects MD Scott Hewitt ensured that courses developed in English could be easily localised into multiple languagesReal Projects MD Scott Hewitt ensured that courses developed in English could be easily localised into multiple languages (Image: Real Projects)

Latin American Spanish is spoken not only in Central and South America but also widely in the USA. The first courses to be translated will be the five most popular from the Norfolk firm. “We know they've been successful," says Mr Hewitt. “It's a low-risk route into existing markets with existing publishers.”

Eastern Daily Press: The Real Projects Hybrid Working course has been very popularThe Real Projects Hybrid Working course has been very popular (Image: Real Projects)

Localising the courses into each new language is about 20% of the cost of creating a new online-learning package. “We've already developed the content and built the shell. We prepare a foreign language script, re-import this and then the software have prepared a file for us to work on,” Mr Hewitt says.

The Norfolk business works with a localisation partner that not only generates and proofs the translation but then checks the finished course to ensure it works correctly.

Eastern Daily Press: Colourful graphics and a clear structure make learning with Real Projects courses straightforward - in any languageColourful graphics and a clear structure make learning with Real Projects courses straightforward - in any language (Image: Real Projects)

"When we were developing the courses, this was in the background and we did it in such a way that we would be able to localise content into any other language if we wanted to, at some point down the line,” says Mr Hewitt.

The partner firms are seeing good growth across the world, presenting a huge opportunity for Real Projects. "They're looking for foreign-language versions of content - not just Latin American Spanish, but also European or Castilian Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, German and French,” Mr Hewitt says.

Eastern Daily Press: After Latin American Spanish, courses will be translated into Portuguese and German - then potentially other European languagesAfter Latin American Spanish, courses will be translated into Portuguese and German - then potentially other European languages (Image: Real Projects)

“We have courses that have been really successful with our UK customers and with our US partners, so we know the content is good. Now we can deploy it to as many languages as we want,” Mr Hewitt concludes.

For more information, see www.realprojects.co.uk