The standard procedure here is known as "back translation." After a first translator converts the scale from the original language into the new language, a second translator independently translates it back into the first language. Comparing the original version and the back-translated version will reveal any discrepancies that have been introduced by the translation process, and then the two translators can confer to reduce those discrepancies.

Back-translation is a good procedure in order to translate a scale.

I'd recommend reviewing PROsetta Stone protocols for translating pat-reported outcomes (pros) as a basis for other measures.

Hope this helps,

Matt

Thank you all for the answers!

Brislin's back-translation seems to be the most used method, as I've encountered it many times in literature. Thank you David L Morgan for the detailed description, it's helpful! Do you think a pilot study is necessary to test validity of the translated scale? If so, what would be an ideal study design?

Thank you for the recommendation Matthew Kerry ! I looked up PROsetta Stone Protocol, and it seems exclusively used in the medical field, and specifically for patient-reported measures. So is it suitable for other fields and types of respondents?

Rather than a full-scale pretest, I would recommend cognitive interviewing to assess how well the questions work.

Thanks a lot David L Morgan for pointing out the cognitive interviewing technique! It will be great if you can share with us some resources on how it is used in validating scales.

Take a look at the work of Gordon Willis, starting with the attached file.

The guide is very helpful David L Morgan , thank you for sharing it and for the recommendations!

You have received some great practical tips already. For us out in Kazakhstan, we are both translating tools from English to Russian and also Kazakh and have learned a few things that could be useful. Within your team, you will want to decide how you are defining your key terms, for instance is the literal translation the best for your study or is a more conceptual definition better. For example, we studied "wellbeing" and in Kazakh there is no one word to define this. Instead people describe it differently and depending on how we defined it, we were giving the participants a direction of how we wanted them to respond to a question about "what is wellbeing for them?" Also we found that our community members often switched between languages, in particular Russian and Kazakh, and therefore having the same tool in two languages, side-by-side, was preferred. Then participants could look at each question and compare their understanding of wording and their preferred way to respond. This does mean extra consideration for back translation not just to English, but to a third language if you are needing that aspect as well. Or it is just a consideration for having the English side-by-side with your other language if your participants might know both languages. Good luck!

The idea of using two languages simultaneously in a questionnaire is interesting, especially in countries where English is popular, so original English scales can also be presented to enhance perceived meanings. Thank you A. S. CohenMiller for sharing your experience, and best of luck with your research!

Hi, you may also find this article of use:

Sousa, Valmi D. and Wilaiporn Rojjanasrirat. 2011. “Translation, Adaptation and Validation of Instruments or Scales for Use in Cross-Cultural Health Care Research: A Clear and User-Friendly Guideline.” Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 17(2):268–274.

I cite this work in an article that I just published:

Adapting the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-being: a 28-Item Vietnamese Version for University Students.

See attached file. In my paper, I describe the collaborative and iterative method that I used to translate my scales.

Good luck

Raul Calderon Jr , thank you for the recommendation, and for sharing your recent article, they both seem interesting!

There are many guidelines available for translation and adaptation of a questionnaire from its original language (usually English) to a target language (your country national language). Examples include:

(1)Beaton, D. E., Bombardier, C., Guillemin, F. & Ferraz, M. B. (2000). Guidelines for the Process of Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Self-Report Measures. Spine, 25(24), 3186-3191.

(2) Guillemin, F., Bombardier, C. & Beaton, D. (1993). Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures: literature review and proposed guidelines. J Clin Epidemiol, 46(12), 1417-1432.

Both are the most cited papers for translation and adaptation of scales to another language.

Thank you Siong Ting Wong , these resources seem quite helpful!

Hi,

I'm also translating an English questionnaire into Urdu (Pakistani language) and experienced that we do not have some words in Urdu for like well-being, Coma, Weightlifting. I was wondering if someone can guide me how to resolve this issue.

So far, I have this idea:

1- Type the word in Urdu as is.. same phonetics. like COMA ( کوما) Weightlifting (

ویٹ لفٹنگ).

2- Use the most relevant Urdu word for it and provide the English word in Parenthesis. like for Coma:

طویل بے ہوشی (COMA).

Any advice is appreciated. Also, any references will be appreciated.

Thanks!

A. S. CohenMiller

Sultan Sabr