How Bilingualism Helps Create Better Learning Experiences

As a polyglot who has lived and worked in different countries and even continents, I've found my language abilities have helped in numerous areas of my life, including my career as a Learning Experience Designer. In today's increasingly globalized world, where the internet and other digital technologies have made communication and collaboration across borders easier than ever before, businesses and organizations need to ensure that their online learning content is accessible and relevant to learners from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by working with bilingual or multilingual instructional designers, who possess the language skills, cultural competence, and instructional design expertise required to create high-quality, engaging, and effective eLearning content. Here are some of the key benefits of working with bilingual or multilingual instructional designers:

Access to a Wider Range of Learners

One of the most obvious benefits of working with bilingual or multilingual instructional designers is that they can create content that is accessible to a wider range of learners, including those who may not be fluent in the primary language used. This can be especially important for businesses and organizations that operate in multilingual or multicultural environments, where learners may come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

By creating content that is accessible to all learners, regardless of their language or cultural background, bilingual or multilingual instructional designers can help organizations achieve their learning goals more effectively and efficiently.

Cultural Sensitivity and Relevance

Bilingual or multilingual instructional designers are not only proficient in multiple languages, but they also have a deep understanding of different cultures, communication styles, and educational practices. This allows them to create content that is culturally sensitive and relevant to a variety of learners, regardless of their cultural background.

For example, a bilingual or multilingual instructional designer may be able to incorporate cultural references or examples that resonate with learners from different cultures, which can help to engage learners more effectively and create a more meaningful learning experience.

Improved Communication and Collaboration

Working with bilingual or multilingual instructional designers can also improve communication and collaboration within organizations. By having team members who can communicate effectively in multiple languages, organizations can more easily collaborate with colleagues and partners from different regions of the world.

This can be especially important for businesses and organizations that operate globally or have a diverse workforce. By having team members who are fluent in multiple languages, they can more effectively communicate with customers, partners, and colleagues from different regions of the world, which can lead to more effective collaboration and better business outcomes.

Enhanced Instructional Design Expertise

Finally, bilingual or multilingual instructional designers bring a unique combination of language skills, cultural competence, and instructional design expertise to the table. This allows them to create content that not only meets the needs of learners from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds but also incorporates effective instructional design principles that promote engagement, retention, and knowledge transfer.

For example, a bilingual or multilingual instructional designer may be able to use language-specific instructional design strategies that have been shown to be effective in engaging learners from specific cultural backgrounds.

In short, working with bilingual or multilingual instructional designers can bring numerous benefits to organizations that create online learning content. By leveraging their language skills, cultural competence, and instructional design expertise, organizations can create content that is accessible, engaging, and effective for learners from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, which can help to improve learning outcomes and drive business success.