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Hi everyone. Les Mills programs are taught around the world and everyone speaks different languages. I am from Chile and we speak spanish. The thing is that when I printed my choreo notes for BA66 a while ago, I couldn't help to notice that translation was really a mess. Some parts were in portuguese, others in spanish and some in english. This happens to be true for most of my cds (BP, BC and BS) and not just now, regularly. I have had the opportunity to see choreo notes english speakers get in their countries and they are in a whole other level.

When I think about the effort that Les Mills and choreographers put in every release and how important is the delivery of the programs, I can't help to feel that things could be better. In Latin America we don't get DVDs as most countries do because of the costs. Instead, we get a CD with the music, video and choreo notes all included. This results in:

1. We just get a low definition video of the master class without the education sessions included in all Les Mills DVDs.

2. Education session in the DVD is supposed to be explained again in the choreo notes, however, the choreo notes we get are messy and often lack important information. I know that choreo notes have evolved a lot, and it seems that during translation what we get are just pieces of that knowledge and severly scrambled. I know that Les Mills has tons of information for instructors in its website, however we don't have acces to it because we don't get DVDs... it's like a vicious cycle!

As an instructor I try to give my best every class. As you probably know, information is power and in this case, the power to improve your teaching and delivery of every program. New releases are cheaper in Latin America than most countries, however to what extent this compromise the quality of the material?  I was just wondering, what happens in other countries? What kind of material you get with every release? 

You have a really good point. I'm an Australian currently living in The Netherlands, and they've just started translating the notes into Dutch here. My Dutch is minimal at the moment, but people tell me that the translations are direct translations and don't always actually make sense in Dutch, ie. you wouldn't say it that way.

Likewise here the nice DVD packs are not available. Well they are, and all gyms get a nice shiny new DVD pack to keep at the gym, but all instructors get the "cheaper" photocopied notes. I understand that the UK doesn't get the DVD packs either.

It is to do with the agents in the individual countries making their own decisions. Apparently here the LM agent offers the photocopied versions to make it cheaper for clubs (and it's the clubs who pay for the materials, not the instructors).

I think LMI should truly standardise their programs across the world and develop policies which should be enforced in all countries. Policies including whether the club pays for the materials, whether clubs do, and to reach a higher level of quality ensure all countries use the better quality DVD packs. Perhaps a paper translation could be included for other countries, however, I think if people cannot understand English they should not be teaching, since all the videos are in English.

Or maybe LMI need to tape the DVD's in other languages aswell, wherever the greatest demand is........however I really do think they need to standardise it more. Too many decisions are being left in the hands of the agent.

I assumed that in developed countries most people speak english, so choreo notes translation is not so necessary. Nice that your gym pays for your material!. Over here, it's not the case.

I was wondering what happens in Spain considering we speak the same language, and how they do it with choreo notes translations.

I agree that english speakers could use better the information in the videos, coaching cues etc. It's also relevant when the lyrics are related to the choreography. But not allowing them to teach seems a little extreme.

Anyway... today I launch BA66 and I wish I could have had all the advice and comments from Lisa in the DVD in order to deliver a better class. I've been teaching BA for a while but there is always room to improve. Hopefully things will get better in the future. Best wishes to everyone.

Eduardo 

eduardo_perez:

Nice that your gym pays for your material!. Over here, it's not the case.

Actually to be honest I don't think it is. I thought it was nice in the beginning, but now I've seen it in action I don't think it's a good solution. If the gym pays for the training it means that:

• instructors are bound to that gym and cannot teach elsewhere, even if it means they don't have enough classes
• once the gym has paid for it, they will keep you on (good for the instructor), even if you are a terrible instructor (bad for the participants and industry standards)
• those who do the training are generally "selected" by the gym whether they have a passion for the program or not. This could mean the young gym staff boy who hates bodypump..........goes on bodypump training. Meanwhile the diehard pump addict in the front row misses out
• Wages are lower

To sum up, if you have to pay for the training yourself it generally means you REALLY want to do it, and some effort will be made into trying to become a pretty good instructor. In Australia, if an instructor is terrible or doesn't cut it, they won't get classes. With this system in the Netherlands (where they gym pays for it), there is a large percentage of instructors that really shouldn't be on stage.