AbstractBy using an ‘index of dissimilarities’, the present study demonstrates that certain questions and response categories worded in English and Japanese did not yield functionally equivalent responses in a series of surveys conducted in Japan and the United States among bilingual students. When students are thinking in Japanese, they are more likely to select a middle position response such as ‘it depends on…’ than when they are responding in English. The trend was observed among American students responding in Japanese as well. The study also analyses possible effects of cultural environment on response to survey questions through the use of Hayashi's ‘correspondence analysis