Configuring Your Project for Multiple Languages

If your project plans to enroll participants whose primary language is not English, you can configure your project’s content (including names & descriptions, surveys, and notifications) to display in additional languages.

The MyDataHelps app (names, descriptions, and surveys) will utilize the primary language setting of the device. The Preferred Language demographic field determines which language is used when sending notifications.

MyDataHelps Designer allows you to configure projects in English (Default), Spanish, or Chinese. If you need to configure your project for a different language, please contact us.

Adding Additional Languages

To configure your project for additional languages, you will need to update the following:

• Workspace Settings (Display Name & Display Description)
• Project Settings (Display Name, Display Description, & Learn More Title)
• App Layout (Tab Title)
• Survey Content
• Notification Content

Workspace Settings

The Organization Display Name and Description can be updated by clicking the “Default” drop down to the right of the text field within the Workspace Settings. Once you’ve added the translated display name, click “Save Settings” at the bottom of the page.

Project Settings

Next, you should update the project’s Display Name, Display Description, Learn More Title (if applicable), Supported Languages, and Default Language. These settings can be located in the About Settings tab within your project. Once updated, make sure to click Save Project Settings at the bottom of the page.

App Layout

If your project utilizes the participant-facing MyDataHelps app, add the translated Title of each tab within the app by going to App Layout, editing each tab, then clicking Save Tabs in the upper left corner.

If you’ve created a Custom View URL to be displayed as one of the tabs in your app, you will need to translate that as well. That should be configured within your external app and should respect the device’s language settings.

Survey Content

The translated Survey Name and Survey Description can be updated within the survey’s Settings tab.

The contents of the survey can be updated by switching Languages on the left hand side of the Survey Editor, then editing the content.

For more information, see Creating Multilingual Surveys.

Notification Content

To update notification content, open an existing notification, switch the Language at the top of the Edit Notification window, update the text fields, then click Save in the bottom right corner.

For more information, see Creating Multilingual Notifications.

Collecting the Participant's Preferred Language

The Preferred Language demographic field determines what language is used when sending notifications. If the Preferred Language field is left blank, notifications will be sent in the default language, English. If this field is not left blank, it must be one your project's supported languages.

For example, if you will be using a survey question to populate Preferred Language and your study was configured for three languages, you would create a survey step with the following settings.

See Populating Participant Fields for more information on how to populate this demographic field.

Testing Additional Languages

Once you’ve updated and saved all of the configurable settings mentioned above, you should enroll a test participant in your project and verify that all of the translations appear as expected.

The MyDataHelps app will utilize the primary language setting of the device, while the notifications (email, push, SMS) will respect the Preferred Language demographic field value for the participant.

To begin testing, update the language used by the app in one of three ways:

1. Change the primary language in the device’s settings (all platforms).
2. Update the preferred language within the MyDataHelps app’s settings (mobile app only).
3. Toggle between English and Spanish in the upper right corner of the screen by clicking the language button (web only).

From there, navigate to the MyDataHelps app on your device and confirm the workspace, project, and tab settings have been translated.

Next, deliver a survey to the test participant and confirm that you see the translated version.

Finally, update the participant’s preferred language:

1. Click on the participant from the Participants tab.
2. Navigate to the Participant Info tab.
3. Update the Preferred Language.
   
4. Click Save in the bottom right corner.

If your project uses a survey to update the participant's preferred language setting, you should test that as well. 

Once the preferred language has been updated, send the participant a notification and confirm that they receive the translated version.