Intro

This article will not be interesting for you if you always create courses in the same language, and you have Captivate in that same language. In my casen Captivate is not released in a Dutch versoin, and moreover I sometimes also need to create French courses, along with English courses. Practical tips to save time when localising are always welcoem. Today i will focus on Quizzes. I have an English version of Captivate but want to create a quiz in Ducht and in French. What is the work flow?

Quiz Preferences

Start by localising Default Labels  in the Quiz Preferences. That dialog box allows you to translate messages and labels on buttons. You don’t have to translate labels that you’ll never use. As you can see in this screenshot, I never use Skip/Back, Submit All nor the Timing message.

After savibg the Preferences, usie File, Export, Preferences. You can import them later on in any project where you need the same language for a Quiz.

Master slides

The changes you made to the labels are not relected in the quizzing master slides, which is a pity. It can be necessary to increase the width of the buttons if the new labels are considerably longer than the original ones. I will not bother about that now, nor about editing any of the texts, like “True” and “False” which need translation. The embedded object ‘QUestion title’ is a placeholder, will be replaced by the questiob type on quiz slides, you cannot even edit it if you want those indicators translated. Most can be done with:

For the score slide, you have to edit the master slide if you want the field labels to be localized.  Those labels are not included in Quiz Preferences which is too bad. As master slides are part of the theme you can include them in a custom theme. It would be great if the labels translated in Quiz Preferences were included as well, but that is not the case.

GIFT text

Several versions ago the possibility to import a GIFT file to create quiz slides was introduced. That is not only a great way to import lot of questions, but also to localise the questions. I include a txt file created with the GIFT rules, to allow you to try out this feature (and to learn some Dutch ).  Here is an example of a question, MCQ with multiple corect answers and partial scoring:

// === Multiple Choice MA ===
::Meerkeuzevraag (meerdere correcte antwoorden) ::
Welke componenten maken deel uit van een thema?
{
~Aangepaste Effecten
~%30%Master Slides
~%40%Objectstijlen
~Taal met spellingcontrole
~%30%Kleurenpalet
}

After importing the GIFT from Quiz menu, the third question shown above, looks like this:

Watch how the Question title placeholder now has a Dutch text. The feedback messages are translated as are the labels on the used buttons: ‘Submit’ became ‘Indienen’ en ‘Clear’ is now labeled ‘Wissen’. The tiny progress indicator is translated as well. You may have to check the score, because the partial scoring will have rounded numbers. In this case it is not necessary: 3 points go to the second and fifth answer, 4 points to the third answer.

You will have to contact me if you want to try out the GIFT. Impossible to upload it, and links are not allowed.

Final edit T/F slides

Something cannot be done automatically, which is the translation of the words ‘True” and “False” on that type of slides. For that finishing touch, which can only be done after inserting the Quiz slides, I use the Find and Replace functionality.