Asking in the language people think in

Most people in India are at home in more than one language, and the one they think in is often not the one a survey is written in. Ask in a language that is not theirs, and you get shorter, safer answers.

Tell people they can choose

Say at the start that they may answer in whichever language they are most comfortable in. Many people assume a survey from a company expects English unless told otherwise.

Write the question the way they would say it

If most of your respondents speak Tamil, write the question in Tamil. A question in the respondent’s own language signals that the answer can be in it too.

What comes back

askingIndia transcribes each answer in the language it was spoken, across 23 languages: the 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule and English. It does not translate. So plan who on your team will read which answers, or allow time to have them translated, before the results are due.

Keep the original

When you quote a respondent in a report, quote the words they used, and add your translation beside them rather than in their place.