"Dungeon" Translation

[jackwayneright]

I'm working on translating Crawl to Swedish over on Transifex. I'm in a difficult spot on how to translate the word "dungeon". Clearly in Crawl it refers to a huge underground labyrinth which is not the same as the actual English meaning of the word. The closest translation of the English meaning of "dungeon" in Swedish is one that translates to "prison hole". I'm not sure if this should really be used.

Probably the most translated game that uses similar terminology is Dungeons and Dragons. After doing some research, I've found that many translated versions of Dungeons and Dragons either uses the word that most closely translates to the actual meaning of the English word "dungeon" (in this case, the Swedish word meaning "prison hole" should be used still). Another large group of translations just uses the English word "dungeon" even in the translated version. And probably the smallest group uses some more accurate word (translating to labyrinth or underground castle). Are there any recommendations on what to do here?

Similarly, should other names (like Lair, Abyss, or Pandemonium) be translated to a similar word? Or should the word just be kept as is with a description where the player will just learn that area as having that name?

Thanks!

[Patashu]

My 2 cents:

Words mean things, and translations should preserve the meaning, not the word. (Or in cases when humour/puns are based off of something idiosyncratic to English, then come up with a different humour/pun that the native speaker of the new language would know of)

When an English speaking person sees 'Dungeon' in the context of D&D, roguelikes, RPGs, whatever, they think 'big underground construction of rooms and corridors full of oppressive monsters and loot and soforth'. In your translation, pick the words that are most likely to evoke the same concepts to your target audience.

[galehar]

Actually, it's exactly the same in english. Dungeon means the prison in the center of the castle. It's only in the context of RPG that it has the meaning of underground complex with doors, monsters and treasures. So it's fine to use the translated word, swedish gamers should understand it just fine.
Pandemonium is a proper noun I think, you should probably not translate it. Abyss is a common word turned into a proper noun, doing the same with the translated word should work. Words should be translated as long as they are real words. When they are made up words, like merfolk or halfling, you can either invent a translated word, or if you can't find a good one, then using the original one is acceptable IMO.

[jejorda2]

The Swedish wikipedia page on Pandemonium calls it that.
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemonium