IntelliSurvey's software can host multiple markets and languages concurrently in a single survey. Survey translation management is a built-in element of survey administration found in the Manage Translations applet under the Structure button group.
This page covers the process of creating translations via the Manage Translations applet. For programming considerations, see Translation tags.
Before beginning translations, it is best to ensure that:
- The base survey is finalized (or as close to finalized as is practical).
- The original language version of the survey is tested, ideally with actual respondent data.
- The survey source is prepared for translations. Any survey elements that should not be translated should have a
translate: ntag affixed.
The first two points above are to mitigate the need for version control. In the case of translations, there are always multiple parties involved: researchers, Survey Programmers (SPs), and translation vendors, at minimum. Making changes to the survey will likely necessitate sending updated files to clients or translators. The less often this needs to happen, the less chance there is for human error.
Tip! For a list of current languages into which IntelliSurvey can translate surveys, see List of languages and abbreviations.
Translations are accessible from the Survey Navigation menu, by expanding the Structure button group and selecting Translate.
The default view for the Translations applet displays a Create New Language Version section at the top, with the Country and Language selection menu, followed by the Available Languages grid. The Country field is the main target country expected for the translation being created, and this defines the
base_country for the respondents coming into the survey with the translated link. The Available Languages grid provides access to all survey translations.
The language set as the default language in the survey configuration will appear as the first language. The default language should be the language used in the base survey programming, and therefore, does not need a translation overlay itself. All other language versions of the survey will then appear in alphabetical order.
The Available Languages grid contains the following columns.
| Display Name |
Lists the language selected for the survey. This is what controls the Language Picker, a dropdown menu displayed while a survey is being taken, which allows respondents to switch the displayed language. If the language is spoken in multiple regions or countries, the region/country will be listed in parentheses (e.g., 'French (Canada)'). The name listed here is editable. |
| Selectable |
Indicates which languages are displayed in the survey's Language picker when checked. To display the Language Picker, two or more languages must be checked. |
| ID |
The Survey ID (SID) for the translation. This ID is used to generate the URL which runs the survey. Each language has a different suffix. Note that the main (or "base") survey does not contain a suffix because it is the default language chosen for the survey. |
| Overlay Status |
Indicates the current status for a particular language's overlay.
|
| Language |
Displays how the language is referred to for the |
| Translation Counts |
Displays counts of translated elements by their status.
|
Generating and uploading overlays
To create a translation for a survey and generate an overlay, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Select and create the translation language
Select the desired language from the Language menu at the top of the applet. If there is a mapped country for this language, the Country field will default to the mapped country. This can be changed by selecting a new country from the drop down menu. If there is no mapped country for the language, the Country field will remain unchanged. Select the intended country for the translation being generated, then click Create to add the new language. A notification will appear when the translation has been successfully added. Once created, the language's survey links are generated in the Survey Info applet.
A list of all available languages and their abbreviations can be found in List of languages and abbreviations.
Tip! The same exact language (e.g., 'English (U.S.)') cannot be created and used twice. If you need additional languages that are not listed in the Language menu, please reach out to Support.
To interact with a specific translation version, including running library or machine translations, first click anywhere in the language's row. From there, the Actions pulldown menu will become enabled.
The following functions are available under the Actions menu.
| Download Overlay | Downloads an overlay (an Excel file with rows that map lines of translation from one language to another) for the selected translation. |
| Upload Overlay | Uploads an overlay for the selected translation. |
| Apply | Takes an overlay that has been uploaded only to the Dev (development) version and applies it to the Pub (published) version of the survey as well. |
| Machine Translations | Retrieves machine translations for overlay items that do not already contain a status value. |
| Library Translations | Retrieves library translations for overlay items that do not already contain a status value. |
| Download Source | Downloads the survey's source code with integrated overlay text translations for the selected language. |
| Test | Initiates a test of the translated survey. |
| Quex View |
Displays the QuexView (questionnaire view) of that translated version. |
| Review Compact View |
(COMING SOON) Displays a sample of what the translation would look like in Compact View for the selected language. |
| Download Compact View | (COMING SOON) Downloads a Word document of what the survey would look like in Compact View for the selected language. |
| Delete | Deletes the selected translation of the survey. |
Note: If using library and machine translations, run the library translations first, then the machine translations. Library translations have a higher likelihood of passing inspection as they are pulled from similar translations on previous studies.
Step 2: Download the overlay
The next step in the translation process is to download the overlay by selecting the Download Overlay option from the Actions menu. The overlay is a six-column Excel file that includes the following columns.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| ID | A system-assigned numeric reference to the translation element. |
| Source Line | The line number of the code in need of translation. |
| Reference | The parent widget (as programmed in the survey source) to which the translation element belongs. This may include questions, variables, table rows/columns, or sheets referenced in the source. |
| Source Language | The as-programmed version of the text to be translated; often this will be 'English (U.S.)'. |
| Translation Language | The translated survey text; for example, the 'French (EU)' translation. |
| Status | The present condition of the translated survey text. The software can assign the statuses library and machine. An external user utilizes the status ok for approved translations and the status skip for items intentionally left untranslated. |
In r8.1+, the download will also automatically include an Instructions tab, which includes a list of general protocols for preparing translations. See image below for an example.
Note: Survey sheet content is pulled into the overlay, but only if the sheet column label has 'text' in the name. This includes the default '[text]' column, as well as any custom data that includes the word 'text'. To completely remove an entire sheet from an overlay, use the definesheet widget.
definesheet: mysurvey.mysheet translate: n
Step 3: Review and prepare the overlay for translation
The Translation Language column is blank by default, but may be pre-filled with a machine translation, or a library match if those respective icons were clicked in the Actions menu prior to download. Surveys that have not yet been professionally translated can use library and machine translations. The purpose of machine and library translations is to give Survey Creators a head start in the translation process by providing a starting point. Rather than create from-scratch translations, translators may be able to simply edit and amend the pre-populated overlay.
At this point, the overlay should be reviewed for completeness and/or extraneous content. The survey should be adjusted with appropriate translation programming methods (e.g., using the translate: n tag to remove items from the overlay or using the unchain: y tag to allow for duplicate overlay items). Once the necessary changes have been made to the survey, a new overlay should then be downloaded.
Step 4: Translate the overlay
Once the survey source is prepped for translation, the overlay can be sent to the client or the third party translation service. Any rows that do not require translation and were missed in the reviewing process mentioned above can be deleted from the overlay before sending it off for translation. These items will be automatically given a "skipped" status.
If translators are reviewing library and/or machine translations, they should update the status column as they move through the overlay. When a row translation is edited/approved, the status cell in that row should be changed to "ok". This indicates to the system that the line has been checked or modified by a human translator.
Ensure the translators review the best practices provided in the Instructions tab in the overlay. An example of the best practices can be seen below.
Step 5: Upload the overlay
To load a translated (or partially translated) overlay, select the Upload Overlay option from the Actions menu to browse for the completed overlay file.
|
When the latest version is published |
When the Dev version is not published |
When the latest version of the survey is published, users can decide if the overlay that is being uploaded should be applied to Pub and Dev, or applied only to the Dev version of the language. If the overlay is uploaded to Dev only, and this is the initial overlay upload, the Pub version of the language will remain in the initial language. If the overlay is applied to the Dev version only, users will need to manually apply the translations using the Apply option in the Actions menu. When the main survey is published, any unapplied overlays are automatically applied.
Users can specify whether the spreadsheet being uploaded contains either Incremental changes only or ALL needed translations are included. Note that in the latter option the system will mark missing rows as "skipped". The ALL needed translations are included option, when selected, indicates to the system that all translation fields should be updated with the contents of the sheet, even if they are blank or removed. The Incremental changes only option should be selected if the translation overlay does not yet have all rows translated, or if there are contents translated that are already loaded and they should be preserved. This is helpful when you are correcting a few translations in the revisions process.
Once uploaded, the Available Languages grid reflects the changes in the overlay with the new Translation Counts.
Tip! It is best practice to review all missing translations. Write in "skip" or "ok" as needed in the translation overlay status column for each missing translation. Before a survey language is launched, "Missing" translations should be '0' (zero).
Survey updates
When the survey code is updated, the translation system attempts to match the new elements with any existing, translated elements in the survey. Depending on the number of untranslated and translated matching elements the system locates, the overlay's Status column will reflect one of the following statuses (where "X" is the copied-from translation resource).
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Moved from X (low confidence) | Two or more existing elements with translations matched this element's source text, but the translations among those matches are not identical. This element was populated with either the first (if updated on overlay load) or most popular (if updated on source code load) existing translation. |
| Moved from X (medium confidence) | Two or more existing elements match this element's source text, but some are untranslated. The one that is translated is applied here. |
| Moved from X (high confidence) | Translation originates from one or more existing elements with identical source text that have translations. If more than one, they all had identical translations. |
| SKIP | There was not enough information to determine the validity of any matches. |
Note: It is best practice to have the same Translator review these new items and approve or edit the translation as needed. Users should only upload any edits as incremental changes to both the Pub and Dev versions of the survey.
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