The substance hierarchy contains both universal and culture specific concepts. If the whole or parts of this hierarchy will be translated, the translator will face the challenge of such culture specific concepts, for example 226674006 |Welsh cake (substance)|.
In the Norwegian translation, the translator couldn't find a Norwegian equivalent to this concept.
What should the translator do?
The translator should reach out to the translation project owner, suggesting a possible solution.
Which translation strategies could be adopted?
Strategy | Detail |
Exclusion | As Welsh cake is probably not baked nor consumed in Norway, a possible strategy is to exclude this concept from the scope of the translation project. |
Preservation of source language | As with culture specific concepts in general and gastronomy in particular, an established strategy is to preserve the name from the source language. This strategy would render Welsh cake in Norwegian. |
Creation of Neologism | A possible solution is to create a neologism in the target language which makes the concept understandable. |
Proposal/Outcome
In Norway, a national user needs this concept, excluding strategy 1 as an option. Rather, strategy 2 was adopted, keeping the English term as the preferred term in Norwegian.
Additionally, a neologism was added as an acceptable term: walisisk pannekake (Welsh pancake).