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Multilingual surveys

Run one PollPe survey in multiple languages from a single share link. Respondents pick a language, and PollPe shows the matching translation per question, choice, and screen.

Add a language​

Open your survey, go to the Create tab, and look for the language ribbon on the left of the builder canvas. EN is always present and acts as your source language by default.

  1. Click the + button at the bottom of the ribbon. The Add translation language dialog opens.
  2. Search and pick one or more languages from the dropdown. PollPe supports 180+ ISO language codes including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Arabic, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, and more.
  3. Optionally tick Auto translate to translate every question, choice, and screen with AI as soon as you add the language.
  4. Click Add language.

Each added language appears as a circular pill in the ribbon below EN.

The language ribbon​

Hover over any language pill in the ribbon to open its menu:

  • Star sets that language as the default. The default is marked with a small star on the pill. Respondents land on the default unless they switch.
  • Reload re-runs AI translation for that language. Useful after you have edited questions in English and want translations refreshed.
  • Remove deletes the language. The translations stored under it are deleted.

Click a pill to enter translation mode for that language. The builder shows an amber banner reading Editing <Language> translation, English shown as placeholder. Click EN to leave translation mode and return to editing English.

What is translatable​

In translation mode, type the translated string into each field. PollPe stores translations sparsely, so blank fields fall back to the English value automatically. The following fields are translatable per language:

  • Survey title and description.
  • Question titles and descriptions.
  • Choices for single choice, multiple choice, dropdown, yes/no, and picture choice.
  • Matrix rows and matrix columns.
  • Placeholder text for short answer, long answer, email, phone, URL, and number questions.
  • NPS labels (left and right end labels).
  • Likert scale labels.
  • File upload prompt text.
  • Section names.
  • Per-question proceed button text.
  • Welcome screen title, description, and start button text.
  • Every end screen title, description, and properties.
  • Quiz mode correct and incorrect feedback strings.

Layout-only properties (logic conditions, question types, score points, choice IDs) are language-independent and do not need translation.

Fallback behavior​

PollPe reads translations sparsely. If a field has no translation for the active language, the English value is shown instead. You can ship a survey with partial translations and fill the gaps later without breaking the form.

What respondents see​

When at least one extra language exists, the survey header shows a Globe language picker. Respondents tap the globe to switch language at any point during the survey.

  • Default language comes from the star you set on the ribbon. The survey opens in that language for every respondent.
  • No browser auto-detect. PollPe does not infer the language from the respondent's browser locale. The default is whatever you set in the builder; respondents change it from the picker if they want a different one.
  • If you only have EN in the ribbon, the picker is hidden.

Quiz mode and multilingual​

Quiz scoring runs on choice IDs, not labels, so scores carry across languages. A respondent picking the correct answer in Hindi gets the same points as a respondent picking it in English. The Correct answer feedback and Incorrect answer feedback strings on each scored question are translatable per language, so you can deliver feedback in the respondent's chosen language.

See Quiz mode for the full setup.

Conditional logic and multilingual​

Conditional logic evaluates on choice references, not displayed labels, so a rule like If "Yes" then go to question 5 works in every language without re-configuring. See Logic.

Tips​

  • Lock the English copy first. Re-translating uses the current English version, so finalize the source before running auto-translate.
  • Spot-check right-to-left languages. Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu render right-to-left in the survey. Open the respondent preview after translating to confirm layout looks right.
  • Use AI for first draft, edit for tone. Auto-translate produces a usable base, then switch into translation mode for each language and polish phrasing where it matters.
  • Re-translate after structural changes. If you add or rephrase a question, click reload on the affected language so the new strings get translated alongside the existing ones.

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