Empowering e-learning with localization

Despite a very impressive growth of computers and internet over the past few years, most of the content on internet and ICT based solutions in India are available mainly in English. This is in stark divergence to the small population of hardly 10% percent of Indians who can use English as a language for communication. Consequently, hardly 4% of the total population is conversant with IT. For this percentage to increase substantially, it is necessary to facilitate use of computers and other information access devices in local languages. Through this paper, we have highlighted the importance of localization in E-Learning and the basic steps for its implementation to facilitate enthusiastic learners with little or no knowledge of English. Apart from localization standards that need to be adhered to, we have discussed necessary tools and resources that are essential for content creation and search in local languages as well as localization of the backend databases.