It is a mere accident of birth that the majority of 360-degree feedback questionnaires are in English.

It happened because 360 spent its gestation among the English-speaking populations of the US, Great Britain, and Canada.

Plus the fact that English has been, till now, the language of both trade and the Internet.

Spanish, French, Romanian, Chinese….

But increasingly, other world languages are showing up in 360s.

Spanish, for instance, because it's the second language in the US and a major force in the world. French because it's an official language of Canada.

Norse because Norway has a significant 360-degree feedback history. Romanian, Czech, and Hungarian because of the startling growth of 360 in those languages.

Japanese because Japan's trade is focused on achieving high productivity. Chinese because China is attempting to develop a top-quality leadership group in a fraction of the time available to other cultures. And so on.

That's why many international organizations see the value of presenting 360-degree feedback in other languages.

"But our people speak English!"

It's tempting to say, "We'll just do it in English, because everyone in the company speaks English." But this misses a crucial limitation of surveys, which is that the more comfortable people are in responding, the more generous their responses and the more clear their feedback.

So yes, it's true that your colleagues know enough English that you don't have to learn their language to converse with them. But that does not mean that they will interpret the wording of your questionnaire like a native-born English speaker. The subtleties of language may trip them up.

As well, it will take them more time to respond, and they'll fatigue more quickly, which means that by the end of their second questionnaire, they may have little energy, or confidence, to provide those all-important narrative comments.

And if they have to comment in English, well, they may just decide it's not worth the effort, and skip it. Or they may fear that their imperfect use of the language will identify them.

So if you have non-native English-speakers in your group, it's worth the time and effort to offer your 360-degree feedback program in their languages, as well as English.