ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the nuances of translating survey questions and answer categories in a questionnaire. Using the proposed sociolinguistic framework, this chapter approaches questionnaire translation by examining three key components of language use: (1) linguistic rules that govern a language, (2) cultural norms of language use, and (3) social practices that are encoded in a language. Based on findings from studies on translation evaluation, this chapter shows how an adequate questionnaire translation should address these three components and discusses different degrees of translatability of the three components. It further breaks down the adaptation process into three levels - lexical, syntactic, and pragmatic - and demonstrates how adaptation can be done at each level. It is at the pragmatic level that most survey translations run into a problem and that adaptation at the pragmatic level deserves the most attention.
