"Supports Arabic" can mean two very different things: a platform built with right-to-left (RTL) layout and Arabic-native question types from the ground up, or a Western tool with a translation plugin that mirrors the English layout and hopes for the best. The difference shows up in your response quality, not just your interface.
Signs of genuine Arabic support
- •Full RTL layout - not just mirrored text, but correctly flowing scales, matrix grids, and navigation
- •Arabic numerals and date formats handled correctly by default
- •Native Arabic keyboard and text input support for open-ended questions, without character encoding issues
- •Side-by-side bilingual authoring, so a researcher can write and review both language versions in the same interface
- •Respondent-facing UI (buttons, progress bars, error messages) fully translated, not just the questions
Signs of a bolted-on translation layer
- •Scales and matrix questions that visually break or misalign in RTL mode
- •Respondent-facing system messages still in English
- •No native handling of Arabic numerals or right-to-left number entry
- •Open-ended text fields that mishandle Arabic diacritics or long-form text
Why this affects your data, not just your look and feel
A survey that feels foreign or clunky to an Arabic-speaking respondent produces shorter open-text answers, higher drop-off, and more satisficing (picking the easy answer instead of the accurate one). Respondent experience quality is a data quality issue, not a cosmetic one.
“If a respondent has to fight the interface, they'll rush the questions.”
- Survey design note
Tayqun's survey builder is designed Arabic and English side by side from the start - see how bilingual studies work on our services page, or read about our approach to writing good survey questions in either language.