How Absorb Determines what Language to Display

There are a number of places in Absorb where Language settings can be applied for users. Between the user profile, course settings, enrollments key settings, deep links, and portal settings, language settings will work depending on a particular hierarchy. Below we have listed out the priority from highest to lowest, and how each works. 

Browser Cookies

While a user's profile will have their preferred language set, learners can update the language appearing in the learner interface on the fly. They can do so by using the Language option found in the footer as seen in the screen capture below.

This will temporarily override any other settings as it is stored in the cookies of whatever browser the user is currently using. Upon logout or session timeout, however, the language settings will go back to how they were prior to updating them on the fly. 

Deep Linking

Another place where the language can be manipulated is with Deep Links. You can specify a specific language for users to see when using the deep link https://yourdomain.myabsorb.com?Language=languagecode. If the user already has an account, the language as set up in their user profile will be the one that they see after logging in. 

Enrollment Key

When setting up an Enrollment Key, the option of selecting the language a user sees when redeeming their Key is one of the settings available to admins. This will ensure that once they use the URL, or enter the Key, the language is updated to whatever is specified by the admin. If the user isn't given the option to choose their preferred language when using the Enrollment Key registration, their language will be set as per the language determined in the Enrollment Key settings. 

User Profile

When not otherwise overridden by cookies, the language as set up in a User's profile, will be what users see in the learner interface. Users have access to their Profile through the dropdown menu found at the top right, which once open, will allow profile changes through the Edit Profile option. Once the Edit Profile modal window appears, the language can be chosen from the dropdown menu. Note: The language dropdown menu will only appear if it has been made available in the User Profile tab through Portal Settings. 

Portal Default Language

While there are a number of other ways to determine the language that appears for a learner, you can also set up your portal's default language in Portal Settings under the Defaults tab. This language will be what any new user sees when first visiting your portal. They can, of course, update their profile to reflect their own language preferences. 

Course Language

When creating an Online Course, Instructor Led Course, Curriculum, or Course Bundle, admins have the option of specifying a language. It's important to note that this doesn't affect the translation of the course, or how what language is displayed for the learner. You can think of it as a way of managing and categorizing the courses within your portal. In specifying a language here, you can filter your data in the Courses report accordingly.