Dharma vs. Religion

Translation is the trickiest job, because very often words represent concepts unique to a particular culture. For example, dharma is a concept unique to Indian culture. It denotes a way of life, your duties, etc. It is a dynamic concept- one's dharma varies as per situation and role. One may follow separate dharmas of a son, a father, a husband, a citizen, etc. at the same time. It follows, therefore, that religion can never be its English equivalent.
In Indian context, a concept parallel to that of religion, was that of 'mat', and followers of one belief used to be called mataavalambis. In ancient times, jains, vaishnavas/sanatanis, shaivas were denoted as different mataavalambis.
Is Hinduism a religion? It can not be. The word itself is of medieval origin and draws from a Persian word 'Hindu' meaning black, as in Hindukush mountains.Hindus came to be known as Hindus through Mughals; there is no such word in ancient scriptures. Some people link this word with 'Sindhu'and say that 'Hindu' word was used to denote people living on this side of Sindhu (Indus) river.But whatever the origin, even if Hinduism is a dharma, it can never be confined to a different concept, that of religion.

karma concept: translation tragedy

I often come across people misquoting Bhagwadgita ascribing to it the quote "Do your duty; reward is not thy concern". Nothing could be farther from the truth. All that Lord Krishna said in the relevant quote was," You can only have control on your actions, and probably(actual Sanskrit word used was kadachan)not on results. Let not obsessive concern for results paralyze you." He could never have said not to be concerned about 'rewards'. He himself was, about winning the war.
Not only the defective English translation misrepresented the nuance of Karmic philosophy, it was retranlated into Hindi as 'karma kiye ja, phal ki ichha mat kar'confusing even Indians, in the land of Gita.