Course language versions with review, chapters and subtitles

Translating a course is not just swapping text: it is deciding which version each learner sees, who has checked that it is right, and when it goes live. If you manage it with folders and spreadsheets, sooner or later a Brazilian learner opens a half-translated lesson. This article explains how LearnSuite organises the language versions of a lesson, the review gate before publishing, and how chapters and subtitles behave.

It is the technical piece behind a very common problem, which I describe from the instructor's side in teaching in several languages without re-recording.

One lesson, several versions

Each lesson has one version per language. The one matching the source language is the original, and the rest are derived. The available content languages are Spanish, English, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Russian.

Each version moves through states:

1. Draft.
2. Translated.
3. Dubbed, if there is audio in another language.
4. Reviewed.
5. Published.

A version also records how it was produced: original, a person, a language model or an avatar engine. Over time that tells you which part of the course came from you and which from a machine.

The workflow in the dashboard, step by step

1. You choose the target languages for the course on the dashboard's languages screen.
2. You prepare each version (text, and video or audio if needed). For audio and video in another language you can use dubbing with lip sync or upload your own material.
3. You mark the version as reviewed. It is a deliberate step: someone on your team has looked at it.
4. You publish it. The system will not let you publish a version that has not been reviewed: the gate is in code, not a recommendation.
5. If something goes wrong, you pull it back. Unpublishing returns it to reviewed, without losing the work.

When you publish a version, the academy tutor is updated with that content so it can answer in that language.

What the learner sees

The learner picks the content language inside the lesson, independently of the interface language. They can have the site in Spanish and watch the lesson in Portuguese. They only see published versions, and they can tell whether a version is original, translated or dubbed, so they know what they are watching.

Chapters and subtitles in the player

• Chapters. Each version can carry its own chapter index, which the player shows so learners can jump to a point. If a version has no chapters of its own, it inherits the original's. The system sorts chapters, drops invalid ones and trims any that run past the duration.
• Subtitles. These are per-language tracks tied to the published version. On a paid lesson they require a licence and, in protected playback, they travel signed (see protected course video).
• Where subtitles come from. Today they come out of the dubbing flow: the audio is transcribed and the track for that version is generated.

To decide when to subtitle and when to dub, read subtitles vs dubbing.

Who it is for

• Instructors with their own method who already sell in one language and want a second market without rebuilding the course.
• Academies with learners in several countries, where interface language and content language do not match.
• Anyone who wants editorial control: nothing goes live until someone marks it as reviewed.

If you have no academy yet, start with launching your academy without a tech team.

Honest limits

• There is no one-click automatic text translation button that we can guarantee in the dashboard today. Translated versions are prepared by you, your team or the dubbing flow.
• Review is simple. One person presses "reviewed" and "publish". There are no sentence-level comments, multi-person approval or change history.
• There is no chapter editor or subtitle upload in the dashboard. Chapters and subtitle tracks are currently loaded outside the dashboard, with LearnSuite's help. If you need full autonomy over them, factor that in.
• There is no automatic subtitling from the dashboard for videos outside the dubbing flow.
• The dashboard interface is in Spanish, English, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian; emails also in Polish.
• The plan's language limits (3 on Professional) are stored on the subscription and shown in the dashboard, but we do not present them as a hard cut-off: confirm before planning.

Which plan includes it

Language versions, review, chapters and subtitles are part of the course and are on every plan. Professional covers up to 3 languages; Institution covers more. See pricing for detail and the 14-day free trial.

When it is not the best option

If you need a professional translation workflow with translation memory, glossaries and several reviewers, a dedicated localisation tool does that better. And if your course is single-language and single-market, these versions give you nothing. LearnSuite fits when you want the opposite: few steps, a clear quality gate, and every learner seeing their own language without surprises.

To complete the picture: translated versions help learners finish more happily, because a lesson in your own language gets abandoned less.