Survey Translation For Global Market Research

Globalization has allowed customers to buy anything they want from anywhere in the world.

To reap all the benefits of globalization, however, it is crucial for goods and service providers to fully understand the preferences and needs of their international customers.

In the last few years, surveys have become an established method for gaining insight into global audiences.

If your customers come from all over the world, then providing survey materials in only one language might not be enough. So, you should consider survey translation services.

Surveys are translated into various languages, depending on the target audience. This allows respondents to choose the language they feel most comfortable answering in.

The following blog will help you better understand the importance and benefits of survey translation. What’s more, it offers an overview of the greatest challenges and how to overcome them.

What is survey translation, and why does it matter for global market research?

Survey translation refers to the process by which a single survey is translated into multiple languages spoken among the target respondents.

In global marketing research, survey research is the primary data collection method. It allows for gathering valuable information about customers, their preferences and attitudes, and their consumer purchase behaviour.

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Survey translation is indeed crucial for obtaining such high-quality data while also ensuring inclusivity among all target groups.

What’s more, surveys are a useful tool for navigating your business. The gathered data can show you where you need to make changes to accommodate the needs of your customers.

The biggest benefit of survey research is its flexibility when it comes to its form. We have all taken part in surveys via email, online, or in person.

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Also read: Top 6 Languages For Your Business

How could we overcome the language barriers in global marketing research through survey translation?

Imagine that you are trying to find out more about how your company is perceived around the world by your international customers. For this purpose, you create a survey with a set of questions.

But if you provide your survey in only one language, you might not be able to draw the broad, universal conclusions you would expect.

Why?

When you try to reach out to a wider, more international audience, you are always faced with the issue of the language barrier.

Indeed, sometimes language barriers exist within the same community or country if there are a few different languages in use simultaneously. A good example would be Switzerland, where German, French, and Italian are widely spoken.

What’s more, things get even more complicated when you take into consideration language varieties, such as Argentinian or Mexican Spanish, or dialects.

Also read: Language vs Dialect vs Accent: What Is The Difference?

These aspects should not be overlooked when devising and translating your surveys. Only in this way can accurate and profound findings be made.

According to research done by the Columbia Business School, language can have a significant impact on consumer behavior: “In recent work conducted in a consumer behavior marketing context, we have found that structural aspects of a language can critically affect one of the most basic aspects of consumer behavior—categorization of products. Grammar, phonology, and semantics are fundamental building blocks of a linguistic system and should therefore have an impact on consumer behavior.”

Providing surveys in the languages of your target audiences reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings and inaccurate data.

What’s more, translated surveys often minimize the survey abandonment rate. When providing the information in the mother tongue of your target audience, the respondents are less likely to encounter unfamiliar words and thus feel frustrated due to a lack of understanding.

Advantages of Survey Translation

Survey translation brings about major advantages, such as

More in-depth market insights

Survey translation can help you explore more in-depth the customer experience of a diverse, multilingual group of respondents.

Survey translation can give you a better understanding of a target market in which you might want to expand. As a result, you would be able to tailor your marketing and sales strategies concerning specific customer segments.

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For instance, if you want to offer your products or services in the South American market, you could utilize survey translation to provide your research materials in Spanish and Portuguese.

This would allow you to gather reliable feedback on the customers’ preferences and needs while also learning more about competitors in the market.

Also read: Portuguese vs Spanish: Is Spanish Similar To Portuguese

Increased diversity and inclusivity

In global market research, it is crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of your target groups. This includes being aware of existing tensions regarding social, political, or religion-related issues.

Being aware of the social and political situation in your target market will help you study phenomena such as behavior, attitudes, and interpersonal relationships in more detail.

Awareness of such cultural peculiarities will help you better resonate with the needs of a culturally diverse audience while also enhancing cross-cultural understanding.

Improved customer satisfaction

Survey translation helps you cater to a diverse population, helping you understand your international customers better.

In this way, you can adapt your products and services to the cultural beliefs and special needs of your customers.

Surveys can help you show your customers that you care about them. Fulfilling their wishes, in turn, and granting them an experience tailored to their preferences and needs will guarantee improved customer satisfaction.

Also read: Top Qualities Of A Good Translation

More informed policies

Multilingual surveys can be greatly beneficial in devising your policies.

Indeed, receiving direct feedback on various policies, programs, and services you intend to offer can help you make better, more informed decisions.

For example, if you would like to update your confidentiality policies, a good idea would be to devise a multilingual survey. Once you receive feedback from your international customers, you will be able to better understand the gaps and work towards more inclusive policies.

Challenges in survey translation

Survey translation has its pitfalls. Bearing in mind that the main goal of any survey is to gather genuine insights, a good translation needs to be able to deliver all the intended information.

However, this might seem easier than it is.

Conceptual variation

Oftentimes, a word might not have a standard equivalent in the target language.

At other times, seemingly similar words might mean completely different things in different languages.

Take, for example, the word “pasta”, which many people associate with Italian noodles. The same word, however, is used in Polish and some other Slavic languages for “toothpaste”.

Another example would be the definition of equality. This term is defined differently in the United States, England, and French-speaking Canada.

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Such conceptual variations are among the greatest challenges for survey translation. The tiniest mistake might lead to ambiguity and, thus, provide faulty data.

Also read: 11 Elements To Consider For A Successful Localization Strategy

Culture-related disparities

Cultural and regional variations are yet another stumbling block in survey translation.

Such culture-related variations result from disparities between two languages when it comes to expressing identity or lifestyle.

Unless a translator is well aware of these disparities, they would be unable to translate/ adapt tangible or abstract notions to the target culture.

Most often, cultural variations boil down to certain gaps in the target culture concerning cultural beliefs, education, behavioral norms, customs, etc.

For example, sharing personal information might not be regarded with suspicion in some cultures. Thus, it’s the translator’s job to paraphrase the question in such a way that it does not raise any suspicion.

Also read: Business In Japan: Cultural Differences You Need To Know

Inadequate context

When translating survey materials, it is crucial to provide more information on the intended meaning or message of each item in the survey.

Even the most talented and well-trained translator is prone to inaccuracies if they do not fully comprehend the context. Without a comprehensive contextual background, a translator cannot decide on the appropriate use of specific jargon, slang, or appropriate wording in the target language.

What’s more, if translators need to find out the intended message on their own, a project might take longer than anticipated.

Best practices of survey translation