Multilingual forms (translating questions)

[mfb]

Form questions may need to be translated into multiple languages.

Actual behaviour

There is just one text field to enter the question. The form becomes unwieldy when questions are lengthy, and have been translated into many languages.

Expected behaviour

If the form creator has enabled multilingual questions for the form, the form creator can translate each question into multiple languages. The end user filling out the form could first choose their language, and then questions are presented in that language. Answers for all translations are stored in the same field as the original version.

[agentlibre]

As my main organization spreads all over Switzerland (FR/DE/IT/RM), I would definitely appreciate having multiple language versions within the same form. The same is true for organizations pursuing Europe-wide activities.

To be noted:

• There should be an option to edit automatic translations if provided by default [in collaboration with DeepL?]. Automatic translations are not always accurate and sometimes you do not want a word for word translation.

• Different links should be made available, perhaps by change one or two characters within the URL link. Alternatively, an choice of language could be made when someone starts filling the form.

[jancborchardt]

Definitely a good enhancement, but a bit further down the line since we’re still in the basics. :)

Do you have examples/screenshots of how other form software like Google Forms, Typeform or others solve this, if they do?

[agentlibre]

@jancborchardt

For the form user, I believe that a mere choice at the beginning would suffice as an interface.

For the form creator, I believe this could be a choice in the configuration bar, then you could navigate through the different languages "created". There should probably be an option to compare language versions as it would be tiresome to go back and forth each time you want to check for a wording in the "original" version; a mere text comparison would probably suffice.

I've found these, which could serve as an inspiration:

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/forms-pro/create-multilingual-survey
• https://www.jotform.com/blog/multilingual-forms/
• https://wpml.org/documentation/related-projects/gravity-forms-multilingual/

Thanks for the attention you give to our requests! Much appreciated!

[ei8fdb]

For the form user, I believe that a mere choice at the beginning would suffice as an interface.

I think this is an elegant and easy to implement (he says hoping! 🙏) initial way to handle it!

In order to do this, I guess forms would need at least to support pagination and simple logic (if answer A go path 1, if answer B go path 2, etc...)?

For the form creator, I believe this could be a choice in the configuration bar, then you could navigate through the different languages "created". There should probably be an option to compare language versions as it would be tiresome to go back and forth each time you want to check for a wording in the "original" version; a mere text comparison would probably suffice.

Possibly give the form creator an option "make multi-lingual" form - then they can write the question in different languages at the same time as the answers instead of having to flip over and back as you mention that would be tiresome.

I've not thought in depth about this, put can do some paper sketches if it helps?

[agentlibre]

Possibly give the form creator an option "make multi-lingual" form - then they can write the question in different languages at the same time as the answers instead of having to flip over and back as you mention that would be tiresome.

Ideally, for a form creator/manager, there shouldn't a separate/dedicated multilingual form as opposed to a regular one. You might just want to add other languages (including a friendly UI to do so) to an existing single language. Just wanted to point this out in the sake of clarity ;)

I've not thought in depth about this, put can do some paper sketches if it helps?

Since the feature isn't planned to be carried out soon, I believe this would be a good basis for brainstorming ideas!

[GVLLIFESTYLE]

I would like to see this feature in future as well :)

[ni-ka]

@jancborchardt this is how odoo does it:
you set up your form in your main language and can provide translations for questions & choices for all configured languages (by clicking EN on questions label field):

Google Forms does not have this feature, you would have to use a branch at the beginning of the form to ask a user's prefered language and then jump to a specific questions. The downside is that this results in different data fields for different languages.

[it-1313]

Hello,
is there any progress for that feature?

Fully aware of privacy issues, but not all surveys need the same amount of privacy: would it be a possibility to make the nextcloud-form google translate compatible (or using another website translation which doesn't need an account, sign-in)? deepl only offers website translation for the pro account, so this is not an option to ask all participants to create a (free) deepl account.

If I try to google translate a survey
(which ends up as https://my-domain-org.translate.goog/index.php/apps/forms/s/my-form-id?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=fr&_x_tr_hl=fr
it just keeps showing English, although it should translate. I think it worked some time ago, but then I still couldn't submit the survey when google-translated.

thanks!