I have defined the following strings.
var sTerm="2017/08/01";
var eTerm="2017/09/01";
The following will produce escaped "/" as "/".
$("#refSearchTerm").attr("data-i18n","glossary:survey.surveyPeriod").localize({ startDate: sTerm, endDate: eTerm });
2017/08/01 ~ 2017/09/01
To produce the unescaped character "/".
$("#refSearchTerm").attr("data-i18n","[html]glossary:survey.surveyPeriod").localize({ startDate: sTerm, endDate: eTerm });
2017/08/01 ~ 2017/09/01