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Challenges and Best Practices in Translating Multi-Wave Tracker Surveys

Writer's picture: Rick White - Director of Client ServicesRick White - Director of Client Services

Market research surveys play a critical role in shaping business strategies by providing valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and market trends. Multi-wave tracker surveys, which are conducted over an extended period to monitor changes and trends, present unique challenges in the realm of translation. These challenges stem from the need for consistency, accuracy, and cultural sensitivity across multiple waves of data collection. If best practices aren't followed during initial setup, and on on-going waves, it's very easy for data to be impacted. The impact is magnified by the number of target languages, and potentially the specific languages required.


Let’s explore these challenges and the best practices to overcome them, ensuring high-quality translations that maintain the integrity of the research.


What are the Challenges in Translating Multi-Wave Tracker Surveys?


  1. Maintaining Consistency Across Waves (the biggest challenge): Multi-wave tracker surveys generally revisit the same questions repeatedly in order to track changes over time. Any variation in translation between waves can skew the data, making it difficult to compare results accurately. It's also important to put a solid process in place to handle just text that's updated in new waves of the tracker, while not allowing modifications to translation that haven't changed.

  2. Complex Terminology: Many tracker surveys involve industry-specific or technical terminology. Translators must ensure that these terms are consistently translated across waves while remaining clear and understandable to the target audience. This is particularly true when translating technical or life science related content.

  3. Cultural Relevance and Localization: As market conditions and cultural nuances evolve, what was culturally appropriate in one wave may require adjustment in subsequent waves to remain relevant and resonant with respondents. This requires attention to not just translation, but culture and localization.

  4. Time Constraints: Tracker surveys often operate on tight schedules, especially when multiple languages are involved. Rapid turnarounds increase the risk of errors or inconsistencies in translation.

  5. Version Control: With multiple waves and potentially multiple updates to the survey content, keeping track of changes and ensuring that previous translations are correctly referenced can be challenging.


Best Practices for Ensuring Consistency in Multi-Wave Tracker Survey Translations


1. Combine Technology with Professional Human Translation


Tools like translation memory store previously translated segments, allowing translators to reuse consistent phrasing across waves. This not only improves consistency but also reduces turnaround times and costs. You'll want to make sure that you have a firm strategy in place for leveraging translation memory with an on-going tracker survey translation process. This usually will mean creating and managing a translation memory database that's unique to that specific study, as opposed to maintaining a translation memory that is language specific and is used across multiple trackers and surveys (which is common practice in order to gain the most cost leveraging).

  • Example Tools: SDL Trados, memoQ, Wordfast

  • Benefit: By leveraging TM, translators can ensure that repeated survey questions are translated identically unless intentional updates are needed.

2. Maintain Translation Glossaries and Style Guides


Translation glossaries define key terms, and style guides establish tone, formatting, and stylistic preferences. These resources should be developed at the outset of the project and updated with each wave to reflect any new terminology or guidelines.


  • Key Components: Approved translations of industry-specific terms, brand voice preferences, and formatting standards.

  • Collaboration: Engage with the client to regularly review and approve updates.

3. Implement a Quality Assurance (QA) Process


A robust QA process ensures that translations are free of errors and inconsistencies. This will often involve a Validation step which allows the translator to review the survey as if they were a respondent. Another option is to review translation in an online translation review platform like intellireview. This also includes:


  • Automated checks for terminology consistency.

  • Linguistic reviews by subject matter experts.

  • Back-translation and reconciliation for critical survey items. This generally is only required when translating life science content.

4. Leverage Project Management Software


To manage version control effectively, use project management tools that provide clear documentation of updates and changes across waves. Tools like Asana or Trello can help streamline workflows and communication between linguists, project managers, and clients.


5. Conduct Regular Alignment Meetings


Periodic meetings with the translation provider ensure that expectations are aligned and that any changes to the survey or its objectives are clearly communicated to the translation team. This collaborative approach minimizes misunderstandings and ensures that updates are reflected across all languages.


6. Use AI and Machine Translation (MT) with Human Oversight


AI-powered tools can speed up the translation process, particularly for repetitive content, but human translators and reviewers must oversee the output to maintain nuance and cultural appropriateness.


  • Example: Neural Machine Translation (NMT) tools like DeepL or Google Translate

  • Human Involvement: Post-editing by skilled linguists ensures that MT output meets the required quality standards.

Conclusion


Translating multi-wave tracker surveys requires a meticulous approach to maintain consistency and accuracy across waves. By utilizing advanced translation technologies, maintaining comprehensive glossaries and style guides, and fostering effective client collaboration, translation companies can overcome the challenges associated with these complex projects.


With the right strategies in place, businesses can rely on their multi-wave surveys to deliver reliable, actionable insights that drive success in a global marketplace.


If you are interested in partnering with an experienced Market Research Translation Service please contact us today for more information about how we can help you with your Multi-Wave Tracker Survey Translation!


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