Overview: Translation

Introduction

SurveyOptic can deploy surveys in over 20 different languages. By doing so surveys can be used internationally or gain greater response rates domestically.

How it works

Once a survey has been finalised, a translation manifest can be exported from SurveyOptic to be shared with translators. Upon receipt of a completed translation manifest the translation is uploaded to your system and the system will translate the survey language. (Standard system language is ready translated for use)

Upon arrival to a translated survey, SurveyOptic will detect the language preference in the respondent’s browser and match language used in the survey to this preference. Users can manually switch between available translations at the bottom of the page if they wish. Results can be compared between languages by either asking a language question in the survey or sharing separate links for different languages and comparing these separate links in reporting.

Automated reporting can also be sent out in alternative languages, based on the language preferences of the users managing the survey. This is most commonly used in multinational organisations where survey managers may be from one of many different countries.

Parallel surveys

In some cases, translated surveys will be substantively different from the original. This can be due to local laws for example, necessitating a survey with different content or structure. In this case, a parallel survey can be run. This also gives the flexibility of using different open & close dates if desired as well as localised “pretty url’s” for the surveys.

Notes on translations

It is important to review any large blocks of text, such as instruction text, for stray spaces and remove any HTML mark-up that is not required, as this can cause extra work for translators.

Translating the language is part of the process. You may also need to 'localise' your survey, which means adapting it to meet the needs of a particular language, culture or desired population. For example, if your survey contains links to resources, you will want to provide links to an alternative or translated resource. Any images or media resources should also be reviewed to ensure that they are accessible and appropriate for the local culture. If any links are changed in the master survey (for example English) following translation, this will also require an amendment to the translation as the originating content will have changed.