Translating a survey

Difficulty level: Easy

This screen appears after you have clicked the Translate survey button at the Languages setting. At the top of this screen, you can use the selection list (1) to select the survey question and accompanying answer options from which you want to record the translation into another language. Alternatively, you can use the arrow buttons.

In the two drop-down lists (2) below, you select the two languages you currently wish to work with, e.g. the default language of which the text is already present (English) and the language into which it is to be translated (German).

  • If a survey question and its answer options have not yet been translated, this will be indicated by the percentage 0 for that language. A warning icon with an exclamation point is displayed to the right of this percentage.
  • If a survey question and its answer options have been partially translated, this will be indicated by a percentage between 0 and 100 for that language. Additionally, a warning icon with an exclamation point is displayed to the right of this percentage.
  • If a survey question and its answer options have been fully translated, this will be indicated by the percentage of 100 for that language. This time an approval icon with a tick mark is displayed to the right of this percentage.

If you have fully or partially translated the survey and you wish to return to the previous screen, you can click the X cross at the top right of the screen. The texts already translated are saved automatically. The percentage listed after each language in the Languages setting gives you an indication of the amount of survey text that has already been translated of a particular language.

Download/Upload translation file

In order to translate a survey, you can also download a translation file, see the Download translation file icon framed in red at the top right of the Translate survey screen. The survey text of the default language (i.e. the language in which the survey was created) and the already translated chunks of text of one or more other languages are then included in an Excel file.

In order to translate the chunks of text into another language (e.g. Dutch), you must edit the Excel file. You can then provide all empty cells with the correct information. For each language, the survey questions and corresponding answers are displayed below each other in a column.

When translating, the HTML code must be included. Special characters need not be encoded as they are automatically encoded on upload.

You can also add a new language to the translation file in this Excel file by inserting a new column (for example, between columns C and D in the figure above) and entering the appropriate language code in the first row. You can subsequently enter the survey text for this language in the new column. When uploading the translation file, this new language will then also be added to the survey.

Note: The cells containing the grey characters should not be changed, as this defines the element in your multilingual survey while uploading the file.

After you have supplemented the translation file and saved it on your computer, you can import it using the red-framed Upload translation file icon (top right of the Translate survey screen). On the follow-up screen, you must click in the grey box and select the modified translation file. Once you have selected this, you will end up on the File analytics screen.

This screen indicates the number of rows detected and the number of data updates. After clicking the green Import button, you will return to the Translate survey screen. In order to move back to the settings screen from here, you can click the X cross at the top right of the screen. The percentage behind each language in the Languages setting will be significantly higher after the translation. If the survey text has been completely translated into all languages, you will see something like the illustration shown below.

Updated on November 18, 2022

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