The Translations applet allows users to translate surveys for multilingual, multi-market fielding. To manage translations, go to Build > Translations in the survey navigation menu.
For survey setup and programming tips for translations, see Preparing a survey for translations.
Overview
A translation consists of a language and one or more countries. Translations use Excel overlays, which replace the base language text while keeping the same data structure. All translations share the same survey home.
Translations and Countries
The first row shows the primary language and country selected when the survey was created. Add more languages by assigning them to a country in Survey Configuration or clicking New Translation in the Translations applet.
Translations adds languages first, then countries, while Survey Configuration adds countries first, then languages.
Languages added via Survey Configuration are grouped as one translation by default. For example, if Mexico and Guatemala both use Spanish, it appears as a single translation, as shown below. To create separate translations for the same language, use the Translations applet. Each new translation generates a unique language and translation key, allowing multiple versions of the same language.
Tip! Changes sync automatically between the Survey Configuration and Translations applets. Use the applet that best fits your needs.
Translation Key
The Translation Key column displays unique translation keys that map each translation to the countries that use them. These keys are also used as input for the translate and language picker tags.
Status
The Status column indicates whether a translation has been applied to the Draft or Pub (published) version of the survey:
- A grey dot
indicates that the translation has no translated content.
- A yellow dot
indicates that the latest version of the translation has been applied to the Draft version of the survey only.
- A green dot
indicates that the translation has been applied to the Pub version of the survey.
Translated and Missing
The Translated and Missing columns show the number of source lines translated or missing for each survey translation. These counts may change if survey content is edited.
Uploading an overlay or generating a translation increases the Translated count and decreases the Missing count. Before launching a survey, check that the Missing count is "0." If not, review the overlay file to confirm any skipped translations are intentional.
In-Survey Picker
The In-Survey Picker controls which translations can be selected in the survey's language picker. The language picker will only be shown to respondents if it is enabled for two or more translations for the same country, and if the translations have been published.
Tip! language is system variable that records the most recent language used in the survey, and the language_hist variable tracks all the language(s) the respondent used to take the survey.
Actions
The Actions column has several options. Hover over each icon for details.
-
- Download/Upload the Excel overlay.
-
- Edit the translation in the interface.
-
- Apply translations to the Published survey.
Click the (three dots) for additional options for editing, viewing and testing the translation. The checkbox in the first column must be ticked to activate these menu options.
- Edit Countries - Add or remove countries for the selected language.
- Test - Opens the translation in Testmode.
- AI Translations - Generates translations using Artificial Intelligence.
- Download to Word - Downloads a Word file (.docx) with all survey elements in that language.
- Download Source - Downloads a text file (.txt) of the survey source (programming content), with the translations in place of the original content.
- Delete - Deletes the translation for all associated countries.
Creating a new translation
To create a new translation in the Translations applet, click New Translation in the top right corner of the screen, select the Language from the dropdown menu, and choose one or more Countries from the dropdown. Type in the dropdown menus to filter the options.
| Scenario | Action needed |
| Two countries speak the same language and will use the exact same translation, for example, Spanish for Argentina and Uruguay. | Click New Translation, select Spanish as the Language, and add both Argentina and Uruguay as the Country. |
| Two countries speak the same language but will need localizations to change vocabulary, for example, Spanish for Argentina and Mexico. | Click New Translation, select Spanish as the Language, and add Argentina as the Country. Click Create. Then, repeat this step separately for Mexico. |
| One country speaks three languages. For example, Switzerland needs a German, Italian, and a French translation. | Click New Translation, select German as the Language, and add Switzerland as the Country. Click Create. Then, repeat this step for each new language, even though the country will be the same. |
| Two countries will share the same language, while also offering a different, second language. For example, the United States and Canada will both share the same English language, while the U.S. will offer Spanish and Canada will offer French. | Click New Translation, select English as the Language, and add both United States and Canada as the Country. Click Create. Then, repeat this step again to add Spanish for the United States. Repeat this step again to add French for Canada. |
|
Three countries were added in the Survey Configuration, all using English. However, one country needs a separate translation for localization. For example, the U.S. and Canada share English, while the U.K. has its own translation. |
Go to the |
Tip! When a country has multiple languages, considering using the Survey Configuration applet, which adds countries first, then languages.
Adding translated content
There are three ways to add or edit translated content:
-
Download an Excel overlay and then
Upload the translated content.
- Use the
Edit Inline tool to add or edit translated content directly.
- Apply
AI translations, found in the
Actions menu and within the inline editor.
Non-AI translated content must be supplied by the user or an external source, such as a professional translation service.
Using translation overlays
Overlays list each piece of content to be translated, one per row. Overlays provide flexibility and efficiency when managing translations for larger surveys.
Every overlay comes with an Instructions tab. These instructions are provided for translators who may not be familiar with IntelliSurvey's software and formatting. Following these protocols will minimize the need for revisions to the overlay after receiving it from the translator. After the translated content is added to the overlay, review the completed overlay for errors before uploading it to the survey.
Tip! The file name of the overlay includes the version number of the survey source. Use this to confirm that the overlay you're working on matches the latest version of the survey.
Translate By column
The platform updates the Translate By column based on the method used.
- ai – Translated with the platform's AI translation tool.
- human – Manually edited with the inline editing tool or uploaded with the Excel overlay.
- Blank – No translation entered in column E for this row.
Uploading the overlay
When uploading an overlay, choose one of these options:
- Incremental changes only – Recommended for partial translations. Blank or missing content in the overlay will be ignored, leaving those lines unchanged.
- All translations – Assumes the overlay contains all needed translations. All rows, even blank ones, will be processed, and existing content will be overwritten by what's in the overlay.
Updating a translated survey
To update a translation, follow the same steps as the initial translation: make inline edits, upload a new overlay, or use the AI tool. Note, the AI tool will only look for blank/missing translations.
When using an overlay for edits, we recommend selecting Incremental changes only to retain previous translations.
When a survey translation is updated, the platform tries to match row IDs and source lines in the overlay with the latest survey code. If a survey change or overlay edit disrupts a match, the platform may skip the translation. However, if it can estimate the correct placement, it will process the translation and flag those rows with a "confidence level" in the Translated By column. Flagged rows should be manually reviewed to confirm translation accuracy.
Applying translations to a published survey
Translation updates apply to the latest draft version of the survey language. If there are no unpublished changes in the main survey, you can also apply the translation directly to the published version by selecting the Apply to published version immediately option in the Upload Overlay pop-up. Alternatively, you can publish translations later by clicking the Apply button in the Actions column. The translation status will turn from yellow to green, indicating it has been published.
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