Hire a real-time translator

I cannot stress highly enough the value of a high-quality translator. Neither my colleague nor I spoke Portuguese. We knew we needed someone to moderate the interviews, and we knew it would be important for us to be able to ask follow-up questions. We requested that when each of the three firms sent us a quote they included the cost of a real-time translator for ten 90-minute sessions. The quotes for translation ranged from $5,600 to $8,500 USD and it was worth every penny. The translator has a unique role not to be confused with someone who is simply fluent in two languages. Experienced translators are able to comprehend and verbalize meaning very quickly. If the subject matter of your study is very specific, like healthcare for example, you need to find a translator with experience translating on those topics.

The real-time translation worked just about as you think it would if you were at the United Nations. The participant, moderator, translator, and myself would all sit around the participant’s kitchen table or in their living room. The translator wore a headset with a microphone and would speak very softly in English, which would come through on my headphones. The speech was very nearly real-time and incredibly effective – most importantly, it didn’t disrupt the conversation between the participant and the moderator.

It was imperative for us to understand exactly what was said. There were many colloquial phrases that did not have direct translations into English. For example, one participant used a common Brazilian phrase that goes something like, “If a cat gets burned once he will never get burned again.” The participant followed up by saying “Good luck translating that one!” Our translator did a great job helping us understand these colloquial phrases, which in turn helped me better understand the participant’s reactions. Make sure you use a translator who comes recommended – and remember that Brazilian Portuguese is different from European Portuguese.

Real-time translation.

Limit the number of observers and make sure your client observes a few sessions

It’s always a good idea for clients to observe user interviews because watching in real time usually means they are more focused and catch more detail – it’s easy to get distracted by other tasks when watching a recording on a laptop after the fact. However, there is such a thing as too many observers. Aim to bring only two to four people to each interview, otherwise the participant can feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. If you’re not fluent in Portuguese then two of those people will likely be the moderator and translator; beyond that, plan to either bring a client observer or colleague, but not both.

This goes for research in other countries as well. My colleague recently conducted in-home user interviews in Hyderabad, India where participant homes were very small. In addition, it’s typical for extended families to live under one roof in India (parents, kids, aunts, uncles, grandparents). In her case she could only bring one observer to each session because there simply wasn’t enough space for a third person to sit.