Pew
recently commissioned Gallup to run a poll in Israel on attitudes
to social media censorship. They found high support for banning
various kinds of speech:
The fourth question, especially, is disturbing: 59% want to ban
publicly expressing sympathy for civilians in Gaza? Since the
polling was conducted in Hebrew and Arabic, however, this got me wondering
whether translation might be contributing. I went to check, and Pew
did publish
the questions:
Q123c. Thinking about the war between Israel and Hamas, do
you think people should or should not be allowed to post each of
the following on social media sites? c. Posts that express
sympathy for civilians in Gaza
A friend of a friend, Robert Herr, guessed
they might have used סימפטיה
(“simpatia”):
I don’t *know* because they’re not transparent, but I
*suspect* they used סימפטיה
for sympathy, which is a false friend, because—like in German—in
Hebrew it doesn’t primarily mean a feeling of compassion or
commiseration, but a feeling of affection or support or approval
I don’t speak Hebrew (or German) so I checked with Claude:
jefftk:
What does סימפטיה mean?
claude:
סימפטיה (simpatia) is a
Hebrew word that means “sympathy” or
“empathy” in English. It describes the ability to understand and share
the feelings of another person, or to show compassion and concern for
someone else’s situation or emotions.
jefftk:
Would it be the right word to use when translating
“Q123c. Thinking about the war between Israel and Hamas, do you think
people should or should not be allowed to post each of the following
on social media sites? c. Posts that express sympathy for civilians in
Gaza”?
claude:
You’re right to be thoughtful about the translation here, as
nuance is important in survey questions. While סימפטיה (simpatia) can
mean “sympathy,” in this specific context, it might not be the most
precise translation. Let me explain why and suggest an alternative:
Context: The question is about expressing sympathy specifically for
civilians in a conflict situation.
Connotation: In Hebrew,
סימפטיה often carries a slightly stronger
connotation than the English “sympathy” in this context. It might be
interpreted as more active support or alignment, which could
potentially skew responses.
Better alternative: A more neutral and accurate translation for this
survey question might use the phrase
הזדהות עם
(hizdahut im), which means “identification with” or “empathy for.”
While it’s great that they do publish the original English, without
also publishing the actual questions they asked the results are much
less useful than they could be. If it turns out they used
הזדהות עם then I’m
much more concerned than if they used
סימפטיה, though support for
censorship is worrying regardless.
So: if you’re polling people in another language, please publish the
translations you used!
Pollsters Should Publish Question Translations
Link post
Pew recently commissioned Gallup to run a poll in Israel on attitudes to social media censorship. They found high support for banning various kinds of speech:
The fourth question, especially, is disturbing: 59% want to ban publicly expressing sympathy for civilians in Gaza? Since the polling was conducted in Hebrew and Arabic, however, this got me wondering whether translation might be contributing. I went to check, and Pew did publish the questions:
A friend of a friend, Robert Herr, guessed they might have used סימפטיה (“simpatia”):
I don’t speak Hebrew (or German) so I checked with Claude:
While it’s great that they do publish the original English, without also publishing the actual questions they asked the results are much less useful than they could be. If it turns out they used הזדהות עם then I’m much more concerned than if they used סימפטיה, though support for censorship is worrying regardless.
So: if you’re polling people in another language, please publish the translations you used!
Comment via: facebook, mastodon