title: [The translation of questionnaires and of tests: techniques and problems].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To summarize the difficulties involved in translating tests, to describe the translation methods and the test validation procedures, and to apply those to a personality test.
  
  
  METHODS
  The revised Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI-R) was translated, then subjected to the following test validation methods: backtranslation, pretest, and review by a carefully selected expert committee.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We used a literature review to clarify FPI-R translation problems. These include in particular the different types of equivalence between the source language and the target language (for example, semantics and idioms, as well as experiential and conceptual equivalence). Statistical validation procedures are employed in principle only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current method combining translation with backtranslation is not sufficient and must be used with, at least, a pretest and step-by-step review by an expert committee. The presence of unilingual experts to explain the smallest details of the target language, which bilingual experts could miss, seems to be mandatory.
authors.affiliation: Service de psychiatrie adulte, C.H.U. de Saint-Etienne, Hôpital Bellevue, 42055 Saint-Etienne, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Massoubre
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Burkard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jaeger
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jullien
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pellet
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D014175:Translating