Crossing the Linguistic Causeway: A Binational Approach for Translating Soundscape Attributes to Bahasa Melayu

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Lam, Bhan, Chieng, Julia, Watcharasupat, Karn N., Ooi, Kenneth, Ong, Zhen-Ting, Hong, Joo Young, Gan, Woon-Seng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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_version_ 1866914922926964736
author Lam, Bhan
Chieng, Julia
Watcharasupat, Karn N.
Ooi, Kenneth
Ong, Zhen-Ting
Hong, Joo Young
Gan, Woon-Seng
author_facet Lam, Bhan
Chieng, Julia
Watcharasupat, Karn N.
Ooi, Kenneth
Ong, Zhen-Ting
Hong, Joo Young
Gan, Woon-Seng
contents Translation of perceptual descriptors such as the perceived affective quality attributes in the soundscape standard (ISO/TS 12913-2:2018) is an inherently intricate task, especially if the target language is used in multiple countries. Despite geographical proximity and a shared language of Bahasa Melayu (Standard Malay), differences in culture and language education policies between Singapore and Malaysia could invoke peculiarities in the affective appraisal of sounds. To generate provisional translations of the eight perceived affective attributes -- eventful, vibrant, pleasant, calm, uneventful, monotonous, annoying, and chaotic -- into Bahasa Melayu that is applicable in both Singapore and Malaysia, a binational expert-led approach supplemented by a quantitative evaluation framework was adopted. A set of preliminary translation candidates were developed via a four-stage process, firstly by a qualified translator, which was then vetted by linguistics experts, followed by examination via an experiential evaluation, and finally reviewed by the core research team. A total of 66 participants were then recruited cross-nationally to quantitatively evaluate the preliminary translation candidates. Of the eight attributes, cross-national differences were observed only in the translation of annoying. For instance, "menjengkelkan" was found to be significantly less understood in Singapore than in Malaysia, as well as less understandable than "membingitkan" within Singapore. Results of the quantitative evaluation also revealed the imperfect nature of foreign language translations for perceptual descriptors, which suggests a possibility for exploring corrective measures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2206_03104
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Crossing the Linguistic Causeway: A Binational Approach for Translating Soundscape Attributes to Bahasa Melayu
Lam, Bhan
Chieng, Julia
Watcharasupat, Karn N.
Ooi, Kenneth
Ong, Zhen-Ting
Hong, Joo Young
Gan, Woon-Seng
Applications
Sound
Translation of perceptual descriptors such as the perceived affective quality attributes in the soundscape standard (ISO/TS 12913-2:2018) is an inherently intricate task, especially if the target language is used in multiple countries. Despite geographical proximity and a shared language of Bahasa Melayu (Standard Malay), differences in culture and language education policies between Singapore and Malaysia could invoke peculiarities in the affective appraisal of sounds. To generate provisional translations of the eight perceived affective attributes -- eventful, vibrant, pleasant, calm, uneventful, monotonous, annoying, and chaotic -- into Bahasa Melayu that is applicable in both Singapore and Malaysia, a binational expert-led approach supplemented by a quantitative evaluation framework was adopted. A set of preliminary translation candidates were developed via a four-stage process, firstly by a qualified translator, which was then vetted by linguistics experts, followed by examination via an experiential evaluation, and finally reviewed by the core research team. A total of 66 participants were then recruited cross-nationally to quantitatively evaluate the preliminary translation candidates. Of the eight attributes, cross-national differences were observed only in the translation of annoying. For instance, "menjengkelkan" was found to be significantly less understood in Singapore than in Malaysia, as well as less understandable than "membingitkan" within Singapore. Results of the quantitative evaluation also revealed the imperfect nature of foreign language translations for perceptual descriptors, which suggests a possibility for exploring corrective measures.
title Crossing the Linguistic Causeway: A Binational Approach for Translating Soundscape Attributes to Bahasa Melayu
topic Applications
Sound
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.03104