How to translate Inquisit scripts into different languages

Due to widespread use of English in the psychological sciences, most of the tasks in Millisecond's library are in English. But Inquisit can handle much more than just English! In fact, we endeavor to offer our library tests in as many languages as possible.

This topic will explain 1) how to how to create tests in left-to-right (LTR) and right-to-left (RTL) languages, and how to work with Millisecond to translate Millisecond's library tests into different languages

Language Possibilities with Inquisit

Inquisit supports a wide variety of LTR and RTL languages – not just English!

Left-To-Right Languages (LTR)

Programming a script in Inquisit to present in an LTR language should not be a problem at all. You may want to play around with different fonts to find the one that will present your script the best. In general, we recommend to use fonts that should be widely available across different platforms. We have used "Arial" for above "Welcome" examples.

Example: BART (Balloon Analogue Risk Task) by Lejuez et al (2002)

https://www.millisecond.com/download/library/bart

The Inquisit library currently offers the BART script in the following LTR languages:
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish….and we hope to add many more!

Right-to-Left (RTL) Languages

RTL languages are also supported by Inquisit; they are just a tad bit more finicky to implement (we won’t lie).
In addition to finding a font that works, you also need to add the following ‘bidirectional’ attribute to the <defaults> element in your script and set it to 'true' (the default setting reverts to LTR languages).

<defaults>
/ bidirectional = true
/ canvasAspectRatio = (4,3)
/ minimumVersion = "7.0.0.0"
/ inputDevice = mouse
/ fontStyle = ("Tahoma", 3.52%, false, false, false, false, 5, 0)
/ txBGColor = white
/ txColor = black
</defaults>

Word of Caution: the Inquisit Editor tends to "scramble" the look of RTL words. It is recommended to edit RTL Language instructions in a simple text editor (e.g. Notepad in Windows) and only then copying the text into the Inquisit Editor. Once the script runs, the words will present correctly despite the scrambled display in the Inquisit Editor.

Likewise translating html-files may be tricky and in some cases images have to be used instead.

Example: Hebrew BART (Balloon Analogue Risk Task) by Lejuez et al (2002)

https://www.millisecond.com/download/library/bart

The Inquisit library currently offers the BART script in the following RTL languages:
Hebrew….and we hope to add many more!

Note how the entire display was switched from the LTR display (seen in the French example above) to the RTL display by setting ‘bidirectional = true’: Whatever was presented on the right side in the LTR display will be displayed on the left side in the RTL display.

Translations of Inquisit Library Scripts

The Millisecond task library offers a variety of different different tasks and surveys. The default language is English.

If you are interested in converting a library script to a different language than is currently offered, contact sales at Millisecond Software (sales@millisecond.com) and request a translation document for the script in question.

We will pull out all the relevant text (for instructions and stimuli – basically all text that participants see on screen) for you. If the script in question runs verbal voice-over instructions as well, we may ask you to provide the necessary soundfiles or record the soundfiles using the Google Translate App.

Once you return the translated document to us, we’ll edit the script and share the ‘translated’ script with you for final feedback and corrections. We will then offer the translated script along with the original one in the Millisecond Library. Of course, you the translator will be credited for providing the translation!

Please note that using surveys in languages other than the original may not simply be a matter of translating the items. Often, officially translated surveys are subjected to rigorous validation studies to ensure the reliability and validity of the translated survey (e.g. German UPPS: Keye et al, 2009). Nevertheless, this may just be the goal of your research, so happy translating!

Reference: Keye, D., Wilhelm, O., & Oberauer, K. (2009). Structure and correlates of the German version of the Brief UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scales. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 25(3), 175-185. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759.25.3.175.