Test Delivery > Delivering tests in different languages

Delivering tests in different languages

IMPORTANT: Item language variants are not available by default. If you would like item language variants enabled on your Surpass instance, contact your Surpass Customer Success Manager.

Surpass tests can be delivered in multiple languages. Language variants of items can be created in Item Authoring – you must author your items in their designated languages. Surpass does not provide a translation tool.

To be scheduled and delivered in a different language, every item in a test must have a valid language variant for that language.

This page contains useful information relevant to the delivery of tests in different languages, including known limitations.

Content language vs. test driver language

Content language refers to the language of each item’s question and answer content. You can create item language variants for items in multiple languages in Item Authoring.

Test driver language refers to the navigation buttons, menus, and any warning messages that might appear to candidates during the test. For a comprehensive list of available test driver languages, read About Surpass test driver languages.

Content and test driver language work independently of each other – for example, you could deliver a test with all its item content in French, but have the test driver’s interface display in Spanish.

Enabling item language variants

Item language variants are not available by default. If you would like item language variants enabled on your Surpass instance, contact your Surpass Customer Success Manager.

Once enabled, language variants can be configured in Site Settings. Here you can choose in which languages item authors can create variants of items. You can also configure the default language of all subjects. This can be amended when creating a subject.

For more information about site settings, including a comprehensive list of available content languages, read ‘About Language Variants settings‘ in About Site Settings options.

NOTE: Once enabled in Site Settings, item language variants cannot be disabled.

Creating item language variants

When creating an item, you can create variants for the item in multiple languages. Language variants can only be created for four question types: Multiple Choice, Multiple Response, Either/Or, and Essay questions. You can also create language variants for item sets; and Introduction, Information, and Finish Pages.

Item details and content are inherited by item language variants from the default language (parent item). Language variant content can then be translated into the new language.

To learn how to create item language variants in Item Authoring, read Creating and managing item language variants.

NOTE: You can update multiple item language variants (for existing items) using Bulk Update. For more information, read 'Updating language variants' in Using bulk update.

About item default languages

The parent item is an item’s default language. The default language of all items in a subject is defined at subject-level, in Setup. For more information on choosing a subject’s default language, read ‘3. Fill out the Create Subject dialog’ in Creating a subject in Setup.

Items in the same subject can have different default languages, if they have been:

moved from a different subject with a different subject default language,
duplicated without duplicating the item’s default language,
or the subject’s default language has been changed between the creation of items.

This may result in a test being delivered in multiple languages if scheduled for delivery in Item Default Language.

TIP: Use the Item Default Language option when scheduling a test that doesn’t rely on having item language variants for every item. This is useful for testing components that aren’t content-specific and helps avoid issues with test delivery once language variants are enabled.

About language codes and identifiers

All language variants of an item inherit the parent item’s unique identifier (ID) with the test’s language code appended, separated by a pipe symbol; for example, for a French language variant: 123P456|FR.

These identifiers are visible in Reporting so you can differentiate between parent item and language variant reporting data.

Creating test forms in different languages

When creating a test form in the Test Wizard, you can choose the test form’s available content languages and view which items have valid item language variants for those languages. For more information, read ‘Test form details’ in About test form settings in the Test Wizard and ‘About item language variants’ in Adding items to a test form in the Test Wizard.

The available languages are determined by the Language Variants site settings (for more information, read ‘About Language Variants settings’ in About Site Settings options).

To be available for scheduling in a language, each item in the test form must have a valid language variant for that language.

Scheduling test forms in different languages

You can choose which language your test is delivered in at the point of scheduling.

When scheduling a test form in Test Administration > Schedule, the content languages listed in the Content Language drop-down menu are the languages that have valid item language variants for the language for all items in the test form (and were selected as a content language for the test form).

For more information on scheduling test forms, read Scheduling a test session in the Schedule (Standard) screen.

Item language variants limitations

Some Surpass functionality is not supported for item language variants. Expand the following section for a list of these limitations.