Flavor wheel terminology and challenges in translation -Focusing on english and Japanese vocabulary for wine, sake and soy sauce -

This report highlights the delicate and complicated issues of English and Japanese translation of terms that express the flavor and aroma characteristics of foods/drinks. First, we compared English and Japanese terms on the aroma wheel for wine, and flavor wheels for sake and soy sauce. Our analysis focused on whether the subjects denoted by the Japanese and English terms representing taste, aroma and flavor are the same in the contexts of Japan and UK / US - regions with different food cultures; if there is the possibility of a discrepancy; and where there are differences, what kind of measures are taken to share the true meaning of the term. Our research enabled us to classify the subjects denoted by terms for aroma and taste into four categories: 1) subjects that are more or less the same in the original language as in the translation (further classified by ease of access); 2) subjects for which a translation exists but may carry a different meaning; 3) subjects for which the translation deviates from the original; and 4) subjects for which no translation exists and are therefore shown in the original language. We then recognized that in order to understand characteristic foods and drinks, which are intricately linked with the identity of each region, it is not sufficient to provide literal translation; it is important to be sensitive to similarities and differences in both concrete objects and general concepts across regions in order to accurately capture the meaning denoted by the terms for them in the original and translated forms.