Furthermore, a researcher cannot assume that a translation into one language will suffi
ce in all areas where that language is spoken. For example, a researcher in Mexico requested
a translation of the word outlet , as in retail outlet , to be used in Venezuela. It was
read by Venezuelans to mean an electrical outlet, an outlet of a river into an ocean, and the
passageway into a patio. Of course the responses were useless—though interesting. Thus,
it will always be necessary for a native speaker of the target country’s language to take the
“fi nal cut” of any translated material.
In all countries all marketing communications, including research questionnaires, must
be written perfectly . If not, consumers and customers will not respond with accuracy, or
even at all. The obvious solution of having questionnaires prepared or reviewed by a native
speaker of the language of the country is frequently overlooked. Even excellent companies
such as American Airlines bring errors into their measurement of customer satisfaction by
using the same questionnaire in Spanish for their surveys of passengers on routes to Spain
and Mexico. A question regarding meal preferences, for example, may cause confusion
because to a Spaniard, orange juice is zumo de naranja , while a Mexican would order jugo
de naranja. These apparently subtle differences are no such things to Spanish speakers.
Marketers use three different techniques, back translation, parallel translation, and decentering,
to help ferret out translation errors ahead of time.
Back Translation. In back translation , the questionnaire is translated from one language
to another, and then a second party translates it back into the original, and the two original
language versions are compared. This process often pinpoints misinterpretations and misunderstandings
before they reach the public. In one study regarding advertising themes, a soft-drink
company wanted to use a very successful Australian advertising theme, “Baby, it’s cold inside,”
in Hong Kong. It had the theme translated from English into Cantonese by one translator and
then retranslated by another from Cantonese into English, in which the statement came out as
“Small mosquito, on the inside it is very cold.” Although “small mosquito” is the colloquial
expression for “small child” in Hong Kong, the intended meaning was lost in translation.
Parallel Translation. Back translations may not always ensure an accurate translation
because of commonly used idioms in both languages. Parallel translation is used to
overcome this problem. In this process, more than two translators are used for the back
translation; the results are compared, differences discussed, and the most appropriate translation
selected. Most recently, researchers have suggested augmenting this process by integrating
pretesting steps and iteratively adapting the translations. 19
Decentering. A third alternative, known as decentering , is a hybrid of back translation.
It is a successive process of translation and retranslation of a questionnaire, each time