Localization & Language Support

Adding New Languages

According to many organizations operating in multilingual environments, supporting additional languages in your learning management system is essential for effective learner engagement. Acorn PLMS makes this expansion straightforward and cost-effective.

Current Language Support

Accorn PLMS currently supports the following languages:

Albanian
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
English (Australia)
English (US)
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Polish
Romanian
Serbian
Slovak
Spanish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese

The platform is continuously expanding its language offerings based on client requests. If your required language is not currently listed, you can request it through your account team.

Adding a New Language: Process and Timeline

No Additional Cost

One of the key benefits of Acorn PLMS is that adding new languages to your platform incurs no additional cost. Language expansion is included as part of your system configuration, making it an accessible option for organizations serving diverse learner populations.

Required Timeline

When you identify the need for a new language—whether during your initial onboarding phase or after your system is already live—Acorn requires approximately eight weeks (two months) of advance notice. This timeline allows Acorn's team to:

Scope the language requirements for your organisation
Configure the new language within your system environment
Deploy the language in alignment with your rollout schedule
Conduct quality assurance testing to ensure accurate translation and functionality

Providing adequate runway during the planning phase ensures a smooth implementation that fits your deployment timeline without rushing the configuration process.

Language Requirements

Accorn PLMS currently supports left-to-right languages. If you require support for right-to-left languages, contact your Acorn account team to discuss your specific needs and potential solutions.

How Language Detection and Delivery Works

Automatic User Language Detection

Once your new language is deployed, Acorn PLMS automatically detects and serves content in your learners' preferred language through two methods:

User Settings: Acorn identifies the language preference stored in individual user settings and displays the interface in that language automatically when the learner logs in.
Browser Language Detection: The platform can also detect your learner's web browser language settings and adapt the interface accordingly, providing a seamless experience without requiring manual configuration.

Course Content and Language Versions

It is important to note that Acorn PLMS does not automatically translate course content you upload to the platform. Instead, Acorn recommends that you create separate language versions of your courses—for example, a Spanish version and an English version—and upload each as distinct course offerings.

When a learner logs in, Acorn determines their preferred language based on their user settings or browser language detection and automatically serves them the appropriate course version. This approach ensures that your course content maintains its intended design, accuracy, and cultural relevance across different languages.

Planning Your Language Expansion

When you are ready to add a new language to your Acorn PLMS environment, follow these best practices:

Identify Your Languages Early: Determine which additional languages you need to support as soon as possible, ideally during your implementation planning phase.
Provide Sufficient Notice: Submit your language request to your Acorn account team at least eight weeks before your target deployment date.
Plan Your Course Content: If you are adding a new language, begin preparing separate-language versions of your course content in parallel with the language configuration process. This ensures that content is ready to deploy when the new interface language becomes available.
Coordinate with Your Team: Work with your content and instructional design teams to ensure that course translations maintain accuracy and are culturally appropriate for your target learners.
Test Before Launch: Once your new language is deployed, conduct user acceptance testing with learners who use that language to confirm that the interface and course delivery meet your expectations.

Continuous Expansion

Accorn is constantly evaluating and adding new languages based on client requests. If a language you require is not currently supported and does not appear in the list above, contact your Acorn account team. Acorn can often add new languages in a short period when necessary, and your request contributes to the platform's ongoing localization roadmap.

Next Steps

To request a new language for your Acorn PLMS environment, reach out to your account team with the language name and your intended deployment timeline. Providing the eight-week advance notice ensures that your language implementation is fully scoped, configured, and tested before your learners need access to it.

Supported Interface Languages Supported Interface Languages

Acorn PLMS provides comprehensive language support to serve global organizations and diverse learner populations. The platform supports 23+ left-to-right languages out of the box, allowing you to deliver a localized experience without requiring additional configuration or custom development.

Available Languages

The following languages are currently supported by the Acorn LMS user interface:

Albanian (Shqip)
Bosnian (Bosanski)
Bulgarian (Български)
Croatian (Hrvatski)
Czech (Čeština)
English (Australia)
English (United States)
French (Français)
German (Deutsch)
Hungarian (Magyar)
Italian (Italiano)
Japanese (日本語)
Nepali (नेपाली)
Polish (Polski)
Portuguese (Português)
Romanian (Română)
Serbian (Српски)
Slovak (Slovenčina)
Spanish (Español)
Swahili (Kiswahili)
Tibetan (བོད་སྐད་)
Ukrainian (Українська)
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)

This extensive language library ensures that your organization can support learners and administrators across multiple regions and language communities.

Language Selection and Customization

User-Level Language Preferences

Your platform supports flexible language selection at the individual user level. Learners have the ability to adjust the interface language according to their personal preferences, giving them control over their learning experience. Language selection is available directly from the login screen, making it convenient for users to choose their preferred language before or after authentication.

Users can also modify their language preference at any time through their user profile settings. This ensures that language changes can be made quickly without requiring administrative intervention or system configuration adjustments.

Administrator-Level Language Configuration

If your organization requires a standardized language experience, administrators can pre-set the interface language for individual users or user groups. This capability is particularly useful when you need to ensure consistency across teams or departments, or when managing learners who may not be comfortable changing settings themselves.

Administrators can configure language settings both at the user level and site-wide, providing flexibility to tailor the user experience to your organization's specific needs. Whether you need uniform language settings across your entire platform or customized configurations for different departments, Acorn accommodates both approaches.

Browser Language Auto-Detection

Acorn can automatically detect your browser's default language settings and reflect that language in the platform interface. This feature streamlines the initial user experience by eliminating manual language selection for users whose browser language matches one of the supported languages. The auto-detection feature respects your explicit language preferences if you have already selected a language in your profile.

Language Module and GUI Modification

The Acorn language module allows you to modify the graphical user interface (GUI) to your language of choice. This is classified as a Priority 2 requirement within the platform, reflecting its importance to the user experience.

The language module is accessible from multiple entry points:

Login Screen: Select your preferred language before entering your credentials
User Profile: Change your language preference at any time after logging in
Site-Wide Configuration: Administrators can set default languages for groups of users or the entire organization

Organization-Wide Language Management

Acorn's language support is designed with organizational flexibility in mind. Your organization can implement language packs at multiple levels:

Individual User Level: Each learner or administrator can select their preferred language independently
Site-Wide Level: Your organization can establish default language settings that apply across the platform

This dual-level approach allows you to balance organizational standardization with individual user preferences. You might, for example, set English as the default language for your organization while allowing individual users to switch to their preferred language at any time.

Benefits for Global Teams

Supporting 23+ languages enables your organization to:

Improve Accessibility: Provide interface content in languages your learners understand natively, reducing cognitive load and improving comprehension
Increase Engagement: When learners interact with the platform in their preferred language, engagement and participation typically increase
Support Compliance: Meet regional language requirements and accessibility standards in multiple markets
Enhance User Experience: Reduce support requests related to language barriers by allowing learners to work in their preferred language
Enable Global Expansion: Scale your learning program internationally without requiring significant platform customization

Implementation Considerations

When implementing language support for your organization, consider the following:

User Communication: Inform learners about language selection options during onboarding
Administrative Setup: Determine whether your organization will use auto-detection, user-selected preferences, or administrator-configured settings
Support Resources: Ensure your support team is aware of the language preferences of different user groups
Content Localization: Note that language selection affects the platform UI; content (courses, materials, assessments) should be managed separately through your organization's content strategy

Getting Started

To begin using Acorn's language support capabilities:

Log in to your Acorn account
Navigate to your user profile settings
Locate the language preference option
Select your preferred language from the available options
Save your changes

For administrators needing to configure language settings for multiple users, access the administrative language management tools through your organization's system administration panel.

Acorn's language support is designed to be intuitive and require minimal configuration, allowing you to quickly establish a multilingual learning environment that meets your organization's global needs.

Tenant-Level Language Configuration Tenant-Level Language Configuration

Acorn PLMS supports comprehensive language configuration at both the organizational and individual user level. This flexibility allows you to provide a localized learning experience for your global workforce while maintaining centralized administration of default settings.

Supported Languages

Acorn PLMS provides multilingual support across 20 languages to accommodate diverse workforces. The following languages are available:

Albanian
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
English (Australia)
English (US)
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Polish
Romanian
Serbian
Slovak
Spanish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese

Simplified Chinese can also be added to your Acorn language pack upon request through Coherent.

Setting Tenant-Level Defaults

Your organization can establish a default language for your entire Acorn tenant. This default applies to all users when they first access the platform and serves as the fallback language for system-generated content and interface elements.

Tenant-level language settings provide centralized control over the user experience while still allowing individual customization. When you configure a default language at the tenant level, all learners inherit this setting unless they select an alternative language through their user preferences or browser settings.

Per-User Language Preferences

Individual learners have the flexibility to select and change their preferred language once they access the Acorn system. This per-user preference overrides the tenant default and ensures each learner can work in their most comfortable language.

You can pre-assign languages to users at multiple levels:

Individual user profile level: Set a specific language preference for any learner within your tenant.
Cohort level: Assign a default language to an entire cohort, streamlining onboarding for groups with common language needs.
Tenant level: Establish an organization-wide default that applies to all users unless overridden.

This hierarchical approach gives you flexibility to balance standardization with personalization. For detailed instructions on configuring learner language settings, refer to the Learner Language Settings documentation.

Browser-Based Language Detection

Acorn PLMS can automatically detect the language preference set in your learner's browser and apply it as their platform language. This auto-detect capability provides a seamless onboarding experience—learners see the platform in their browser's configured language without requiring manual intervention.

Browser-based detection works alongside your tenant defaults and user preferences:

The system first checks for an explicitly set user preference.
If no user preference exists, it detects the browser language setting.
If neither is available, the tenant-level default language applies.

This layered approach ensures that every learner can access the platform in an appropriate language while minimizing administrative overhead.

Email Notifications and Localized Templates

Automated reminders and notifications in Acorn are fully customizable to match your organization's language requirements. Email templates can be configured per language, pulling from user provisioning data and language preferences set at the browser, user profile, and tenant levels.

This means that:

Learners receive notifications in their configured language.
Your organization can maintain consistent branding and messaging across all communications.
Templates are editable, allowing you to customize email content while preserving multilingual support.

Understanding Language Configuration Scope

It is important to note that Acorn's language configuration applies to the platform user interface and system-generated communications. Content language—such as course materials, forms, and surveys—is determined by how that content is authored and uploaded to the platform. Acorn does not provide in-platform translation tools, so content must be created in your target languages before being added to your learning programs.

Forms and surveys, in particular, must be created separately in each language you want to support. Once created, learners will see these assets in their configured language when viewing the platform.

Additional Localization Features

In addition to language configuration, Acorn PLMS supports:

Multiple time zones: You can configure personalized time zones for individual learners and set a default timezone at the tenant level. This ensures that all scheduling, deadlines, and time-sensitive notifications display correctly for your global audience.

Best Practices for Language Configuration

When implementing language configuration in your Acorn tenant, consider the following:

Set a clear tenant default: Choose a primary language that matches your organization's main operating language or the majority of your learner base.
Enable browser detection: Allow auto-detection to ease onboarding for learners from different regions.
Communicate options to learners: Ensure users know they can change their language preference in their profile at any time.
Prepare multilingual content: Before enabling additional languages, have course materials, forms, and surveys authored and ready for upload.
Coordinate email templates: Customize notification templates for each language you support to maintain professional communications.
Monitor usage: Track which languages your learners are using to identify any gaps in your language support strategy.

Support and Documentation

For detailed configuration instructions, refer to the Tenancy Language Settings and Learner Language Settings help articles. Please note that while Acorn PLMS provides comprehensive multilingual support for learners, Acorn's customer support team is available in English only.

Summary

Tenant-level language configuration in Acorn PLMS provides a flexible, scalable approach to supporting global learning programs. By combining tenant defaults, per-user preferences, and browser-based detection, you can deliver a localized learning experience that meets your organization's needs and respects individual learner preferences—all while maintaining central administrative control.