105 EDUCATION JUNE 2021 IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE I n this article, we discuss best practices for developing multilanguage remote sensing training. Our discus- sion is based on the approach developed by the NA- SA-funded Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) program for Spanish-speaking countries. Best practices include incorporating Spanish language at all phases of the training cycle, from outreach activities to program evaluation, and full integration of Spanish-speaking translators and scientists into educational activities. About 95% of participants from Spanish-speaking countries report an improvement in knowledge and ability to access remote sensing data, with a statistically significant relationship between learning outcomes and the number of ARSET trainings taken. In addition to decision-making activities related to disaster-impact analysis, hydrological modeling, and indigenous land management, a large fraction of students and teachers are using ARSET Spanish training resources in the class- room and for research. These benefits are also illustrated through a case study in Bolivia. THE APPLIED REMOTE SENSING TRAINING PROGRAM Many students and professionals around the world face the challenge of learning scientific content in a foreign language, most frequently English [1], [2]. The first hurdle is learning the technical terminology in a second lan- guage, and the second and possibly greater issue is the comprehension and retention of information with differ- ent sentence constructions, grammar, and syntax [3], [4]. Therefore, there is a need for multilanguage technical ed- ucation and training to help improve learning outcomes and access to more equitable learning opportunities. The ARSET program provides free classroom and on- line instruction in English and Spanish on the use of remote sensing assets [5]. It focuses on the use of these assets for air quality, disasters, fire, health, land, and water management at four levels of difficulty. It was established in 2009 with the purpose of offering class- room instruction for working professionals. After incor- porating online training courses in 2011, it very quickly reached a global audience. Between 2009 and May 2020, there were nearly 42,000 participants from 9,400 organizations and 173 countries. In 2020, more than 87% of participants came from outside the United States. This trend has made it even more imperative to provide access to learning con- tent in languages other than English. From the beginning of the ARSET program in 2009, there has been a special focus on providing technical content in Spanish. Spanish is the second language in the world according to the number of native speakers [6]. A student from Uruguay recently noted how language impacts learning, including the language in which the data are found: The biggest barrier is at a more basic level: lan- guage. I think that if you don’t work on it, the other technical improvements lose importance. In the event that the data are in a single language, it partitions and slows down the development of any one area. Of course, language is not the main purpose of this, but the accessibility of data is strongly marked in the first place and in a basic way by the language in which they are found. (Au- gust 2018, text translated from Spanish) Disseminating technical information in Spanish presents some unique challenges. Spanish is spoken in many countries, which, added to the sheer number of stakeholders, means that technical terms vary widely and what is standard in one country may not be in an- other. The term remote sensing itself symbolizes this chal- lenge, translating into “teledetección,” “percepción re- mota,” or “teleobservación,” among others. This makes Best Practices in Multilanguage Satellite Remote Sensing Training Case studies in Spanish-speaking countries Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2021.3060777 Date of current version: 17 June 2021 ANA PRADOS, ERIKA PODEST, DAVID BARBATO, ANNELISE CARLETON-HUG, BROCK BLEVINS, SELWYN HUDSON-ODOI, AMITA MEHTA, AND CRISTINA KAREN OVANDO CRESPO