  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.
