Core Glossary

translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.

Composition

The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural risks identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:

• The approved Nepali translation and transliteration
• The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
• Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons drawn from both Hindu and Buddhist frameworks where relevant
• Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice

Governing principles

1. Established Nepali Bible usage over invention — where Nepali Bible Society translation already has a settled rendering (परमेश्वर, येशू, प्रभु, ख्रीष्ट), this glossary follows it rather than proposing an alternative.
2. Dual-framework rejection, not single-framework avoidance — every Critical-risk term with a religious-syncretism concern records why both a Hindu-tradition word and, where relevant, a Buddhist-tradition word are wrong. This is the defining structural difference from single-religious-context languages in this pipeline.
3. Explicit rejection, not silent avoidance — every Critical-risk term records why the tempting alternative is wrong, so a translator or reviewer understands the reasoning rather than just following a rule.
4. Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2 — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, never silently improvised per-document.

Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry

Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters.