How to use translation in your surveys to reach more of your community
We all know data is key these days, whether you’re asking questions for yourself or measuring a project for a funder. Using translation is a great way to make your project and any surveys or questions you ask more accessible!
In September 2024, we teamed up with SNUG to deliver a project helping residents connect with nature in Crowcroft Park’s Orchard Garden in Longsight. Many of the community in Longsight speak Urdu, so to help address the language barrier we included facilitated translated workshops, translated advertising materials and surveys into the project.
Key benefits of including translated materials to reflect the local community:
Local community feel welcome to get involved and take part
Local community can be a part of the project – a workshop translator helped residents get involved with activities
Capture great feedback and impact that would have otherwise missed
“Having you here was immensely beneficial for us. Saman could communicate with us in Urdu and Punjabi while understanding our feelings, and sentiments. You have also helped us build relationships with others and express our thoughts to them.”
In Manchester the second most commonly spoken language is Urdu, so we wanted to share these surveys for everyone to use. Below you’ll find a standard measurement survey in both English and Urdu that can be used to gather information for your project. These surveys cover overall wellbeing benefits, what people enjoyed and any feedback they might have.
We’d recommend using these surveys at the end of a project to help find out how people found it. Once you have them filled in you can gather the information together to help review the success of your project, share with funders or just find out how you can improve next time!
If you don’t speak Urdu but have people to who come along to your sessions who do you could always ask them to help translate the survey responses with you!
Want to have a go? Download our surveys to measure your project below:
Participant survey – English
Participant survey – Urdu
Want to find out more about SNUG and their work in Longsight? Click here.
Find out more about this project by clicking here!
