Guidelines to setting up a multi language survey

Question

It's been a while since I've worked on a multi-language survey. So I'm a bit rusty.

I was hoping to get a few pointers in the right direction.

Let's assume my primary language is English.

I understand you need to write the survey in English first and fully test it before thinking about the next steps of language setup.

Let's assume I need to set the survey up in Italian.

Using the File | Translation | Export Text For Translation menu option, I can export to a number of formats. Which format is most widely used? Is Excel the way to go?

The translation file can be passed on to a translation house / translator where they populate the file with the Italian script.

This next issue has me concerned - I noticed the translation file has HTML, CSS, Perl Script, JavaScript, SSI Script, error script, etc. How does the translator know about these programming scripts and how do they know to stay clear from editing them?

Assuming the translator has completed their task, we make a copy of our English survey and import the translated file back in to the copied survey via the File | Translation | Import Translated Text menu option.

Then we arrange for someone who knows Italian to conduct the testing of the Italian version survey.

I can setup a landing page which says something like "Which language would you like to complete the survey in?"

1/ English - skip to English survey
2/ Italian - skip to Italian survey

Upon survey closure, I can blend the 2 data files together.

Have I left anything out of this explanation?

Appreciate any relevant notes you would like to make.

Answer 1

My multi-language studies typically don't come through a translation house but are outsourced (usually by my client).  I typically program in English and then create a print study document and provide that (after I've cleaned it up a bit and saved into a Word document) to my client.  This way I can reference the correct questions/lists as labeled in my survey.  Then I will go through and copy and paste to all the relevant areas.  Usually with additional scripting areas I will highlight what I want/need translated.  I also have a document I append that has all the default error messages and button text for translation as well.  Can be a bit time consuming, but works if using a translation house isn't an option.

Comments

Jay, so your client provides the translated document back to you and you manually copy and paste in the appropriate areas (e.g. errors, navigation buttons, question script, code labels, etc.)?

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Do you know if you can export the translation file out to Excel and remove certain elements of it, have it translated and then merge the edited / cut-down version back in?

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Yes, they provide it back and then I manually copy and paste.  Not sure about the translation file that is used for translation houses.