> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.pickfu.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# International surveys and translation

> Run PickFu polls in 15 countries: set the audience country and PickFu auto-translates the question, context, and options into the respondent's language.

PickFu runs surveys across **15 countries**, each answered by native-speaking respondents in their own language. Localization is **automatic and driven by the audience country** — you don't translate anything yourself.

<Tip>
  **If you're an AI agent or app calling PickFu, don't pre-translate the poll.** Write the question, context, and options in your working language, set the survey's `country`, and PickFu translates them into the respondents' language for you. PickFu detects the source language, so text that's already in the target language is left untouched — there's no double-translation. Translating it yourself is unnecessary and makes results harder to compare across languages.
</Tip>

## Targeting a country localizes the poll

Set the survey's two-letter `country` code (and, optionally, [targeting traits](/docs/guides/surveys-overview#audience-targeting)). PickFu then:

1. Translates the question, context, and options into that country's native language.
2. Shows the poll to native-speaking respondents from that market.
3. Collects answers — and their required written explanations — in the respondent's language.

You set `country` when you create or update a survey:

* **REST API** — the `country` field on [`POST /surveys`](/docs/api-reference/introduction) and `PATCH /surveys/{id}`
* **MCP** — the `country` argument on `save_survey`
* **CLI** — the `--country` flag on `pickfu survey create` and `survey update`

<Note>
  Translation runs when you **create** a survey, and when you **update** it with its `questions` included (the normal save path). Changing only `country` on an existing draft — without resending the questions — won't re-translate the existing text; include the `questions` in the same update to localize them into the new market's language.
</Note>

To discover which targeting traits are available in a given market, use `GET /traits/targeting?country=DE`, the MCP `list_available_targeting` tool, or `pickfu targeting list --country DE`. See the full list of [supported countries](/docs/integrations/mcp-server#supported-countries).

## Reading results in each language

A translated survey keeps the **original** text and adds **translations** for the languages PickFu generated for that poll — in practice English plus the audience's language. You read back whichever you need:

* **Responses** — each answer's `explanation` is the respondent's original text. Pass a `language` code (most often `EN`) to [`GET /surveys/{id}/responses`](/docs/api-reference/introduction), and each answer also gets a `translation` field holding that explanation in the requested language (when PickFu has generated it).
* **Survey content** — [`GET /surveys/{id}`](/docs/api-reference/introduction) returns the question, context, and option translations alongside the originals; pass `language` to select one.
* **MCP** — the `get_survey` and `get_survey_responses` tools accept the same `language` argument.
* **Exports** — `GET /surveys/{id}/exports` renders PDFs and PNGs per language; each entry carries its own `language` code.

In practice this means an agent can collect feedback from, say, a German audience and read every comment back in English without translating anything itself.

## Controlling what gets translated

By default, **all three elements — question, context, and options — are translated** for the target audience. Sometimes you want finer control: translate the question into German, for instance, but keep the option labels verbatim because they're proper names, brand names, SKUs, or model numbers that shouldn't be localized.

<Note>
  Polls created through the API, MCP, or CLI translate **every** element for the target audience. To keep a specific element untranslated — for example, option labels that are proper or brand names — use the per-element translation toggles (question / context / options) in the PickFu survey builder in the web app.
</Note>

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Surveys overview" icon="clipboard-question" href="/docs/guides/surveys-overview">
    Question types, audience targeting, and how results are returned.
  </Card>

  <Card title="MCP server" icon="plug" href="/docs/integrations/mcp-server">
    Create and read surveys — with `country` and `language` — from an AI assistant.
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI" icon="terminal" href="/docs/integrations/cli">
    Use `--country` and read localized results from the command line.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API reference" icon="code" href="/docs/api-reference/introduction">
    The `country` and `language` parameters on the survey endpoints.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>