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Bilingual use (German/English)

Abstimmbar is bilingual on two levels: the interface is available in German and English, and you can store your content — titles, descriptions, questions and answers — in both languages. That way you can run a course with international participants without maintaining two question sets.

Interface language

  • For you: in the user menu (your initial at the top right), choose German or English. Your choice is saved to your account and applies on other devices too.
  • For your participants: the participant page initially follows the browser's language setting (a link with ?lang=en or ?lang=de fixes the language). Participants can switch between German and English themselves at the top right; the device remembers the choice.

Content in two languages (expert mode)

Text fields in the editor have language tabs DE · EN. Click a tab to edit the text in that language. At your institution, one of the two languages is the source language (usually German): every required field must be filled in that language; the other language is optional.

  • Show all fields in one language: the DE · EN bar at the bottom right switches all fields of the form at once. If it covers something, move it by its handle (double-click resets it); on a smartphone it sits at the top of the form.
  • Machine translation (optional): if your institution has set up a translation service, “Translate all fields” in the bar pre-fills the empty fields of the other language — your own wording stays untouched. On a single empty field, or one marked as outdated, “Translate from German” (or from English) translates it afresh. The translation is a suggestion you can edit. Without a configured service these buttons are missing; you can still work bilingually.
  • Outdated translations: if you change a text in one language after the other one has already been filled in, Abstimmbar marks the other language as possibly outdated — with a dot on the tab and the note “The other language was changed since this translation.” The question list then shows “translation may be outdated”. Adjust the text (or translate it again), or confirm with “Mark as up to date” that it is correct as it is.

In simple mode you only edit the source language; existing translations are kept.

What participants and the projector show

  • Participants see every text in the language of their participant page — provided it is available in that language; otherwise the source language appears. So a partially translated set works too; it just mixes the languages.
  • The projector shows the content in the language of your interface (with the same fallback). If you want to present in English, switch to English in the user menu beforehand.
  • Results and export: the results page also follows your interface language; the CSV export contains the texts in the source language. Votes from both languages are counted together, since it is the same question.