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--- en:create:multilang [16.01.2015 09:56] – [How to change language dynamically] admin
+++ en:create:multilang [09.02.2025 13:17] (current) – [Non-Western Languages] paula.dees
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Multilingual Surveys ======
+====== Multilingual Surveys  ======
 In a multilingual survey, you can easily deposit one or more translations for all visible texts (e.g. questions, text modules, scale labels, error messages).
@@ Line 102: / Line 102: @@
   * control the order of items depending on the language.
   * create your own language selection.
+===== Non-Western Languages =====
+The standard Western fonts may not contain all the characters you need for Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Persian, Hebrew, etc. The best solution is to add fonts with the appropriate characters in [[:en:create:layout|Questionnaire Layout]] for the fields //Default font size// and //Font for input fields// in the //General Settings//. For Simplified Chinese, the list of fonts could then look something like this:
+    Arial, Helvetica, tahoma, verdana, 宋体, SimSun, 华文细黑, STXihei, sans-serif
+In front in this example are additionally the western fonts. This __can__ be useful but does not have to be. It makes a difference especially when Western and non-Western characters are mixed in the questionnaire.
+But you may also want to use a different font for the complete questionnaire (but only for a single language version). So e.g. "Arial" for the German version and "Sim Sun" (宋体) for the Chinese language version.
+In this case, adjust the predefined text module //Layout: HTML-Code in <head>// under **Text modules u. Label**. Namely, you deposit the following HTML/CSS code for the Chinese language variant:
+<code html>
+<style type="text/css">
+body,
+textarea,
+input,
+select {
+  font-family: 宋体, SimSun, 华文细黑, STXihei, sans-serif;
+}
+</style>
+</code>
+For other language versions you can of course store other definitions. If you do not specify anything, the definition from the layout is used.
+===== Language selection =====
+There are several ways to select a language for the interview:
+  * You can specify a language under **Compose questionnaire** in the //Settings// tab.
+  * You can add a [[:en:survey:url#language_version_default_l|language parameter]] to the link.
+  * If you work with serial mail, you can specify a language in the address field.
+If the language is not specified by any of the above options, SoSci Survey will by default show a selection of available languages, symbolised by flags, when the questionnaire is started.
+You can customise this selection under **Language versions** -> **Questionnaire language selection**. For each language there is a short HTML code with placeholders.
+<code php>
+<div class="option">
+   <a href="%link%">
+        <div class="flag">%flag%</div>
+        <div class="desc">%lang%</div>
+   </a>
+</div>
+</code>
+The placeholder ‘’%link%‘’ ensures that the language selection works, ‘’%flag‘’ is replaced by a flag and ‘’%lang%‘’ by the name of the language in the respective language.
+If you do not want to display any flags, you can simply remove the line with ‘’%flag%‘’, if necessary for each language.
+<code php>
+<div class="option">
+    <a href="%link%">
+        <div class="desc">%lang%</div>
+    </a>
+</div>
+</code>
+If you want to display a different label, replace ‘’%lang%‘’, e.g.
+<code php>
+<div class="option">
+    <a href="%link%">
+        <div class="flag">%flag%</div>
+        <div class="desc">Boarisch</div>
+    </a>
+</div>
+</code>
+If you want to use a different flag, upload it in **Images and media files** (do __not__ use the protected file storage) and add a ''<img>'' tag pointing to the image file. The CSS class ''s2t-flag'' ensures correct scaling.
+<code php>
+<div class="option">
+    <a href="%link%">
+        <div class="flag"><img src="bavaria.png" alt="Boarisch" class="s2t-flag"></div>
+        <div class="desc">Boarisch</div>
+    </a>
+</div>
+</code>
+To sort the languages in a different way, prefix a comment with the desired position.
+<code php>
+<!-- 2 -->
+<div class="option">
+    <a href="%link%">
+        <div class="flag">%flag%</div>
+        <div class="desc">%lang%</div>
+    </a>
+</div>
+</code>
+Optionally, you can also specify a text //above the language selection// that will be displayed above the flags.