The influences of culture on the translation of third year english majored students at thu dau mot university

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES  GRADUATE PAPER TITLE: THE INFLUENCES OF CULTURE ON THE TRANSLATION OF THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY Student name: Truong Diem Linh Student code: 1722202010173 Class: D17AVKD03 Course: 2017 – 2021 Major: English Language Lecturer: M.A Cao Xuan Tho Binh Duong, DECEMBER/2020 THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES  GRADUATE PAPER TITLE: THE INFLUENCES OF CULTURE ON THE TRANSLATION OF THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY Student name: Truong Diem Linh Student code: 1722202010173 Class: D17AVKD03 Course: 2017 – 2021 Major: English Language Lecturer: M.A Cao Xuan Tho Binh Duong, 12/2020 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Student full name: Truong Diem Linh Student ID: 1722202010173 Title of paper: The influences of culture on the translation of third-year Englishmajored students at Thu Dau Mot University I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of the paper presented Where the work of others has been consulted, this is duly acknowledged in the paper’s bibliography I have also not consulted any other unnamed online sources All verbatim or referential use of the sources named in the bibliography has been specifically indicated in the text Binh Duong, December 15th , 2020 Truong Diem Linh Place, Date Signature ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research work was supported by Master Cao Xuan Tho, who guided and helped me a lot in choosing topics, sharing with me extremely useful scientific research experiences, but a good document that I can refer to and guide me to edit more complete I would like to thank you deeply I would like to thank all the third-year English language students for helping us conduct surveys and interviews so that we have more material and information to complete this study Moreover, thank you to my classmates and together for their comments to make our reports more complete iii ABSTRACT Translation is an indispensable part of learning a foreign language The 3rd year English-majored students of Thu Dau Mot University also learn translation Translators can express culture in their translation through language, style and so on Besides, there are two main directions of translation: reverse translation and forward translation In this study, the author decided to study only the influence of culture on language in translating from English to Vietnamese Each person will have different ways of using different words in the same sentence and context due to the cultural influence of each region in which they are adopted This study is conducted to investigate the effects of culture on the translation of third-year English-majoring students at Thu Dau Mot University By surveying and interviewing specific subjects, the writer has identified cultural influences in translation After conducting the research, the researcher has proposed several conclusions and translation methods for the 3rd year English-majored students from Thu Dau Mot University Keywords: culture, translation, influence, language iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Term Definition 2.1.1 Definition of Culture 2.1.2 Definition of Translation 2.1.3 Definition of influence 2.2 Recent research in the influences of culture on the translation 2.3 The contribution of culture and translation 2.3.1 The contribution of culture 2.3.2 The contribution of translation 2.4 The role of culture in translation 2.5 Purpose of the study CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 3.1 Participants 3.2 Research questions 3.3 Technique of data collection and data analysis 3.3.1 Questionnaire 3.3.2 Interview CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Questionnaire 4.2 Interview 14 CHAPTER RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 16 5.1 Limitation 16 5.2 Conclusion 16 5.3 Recommendations 17 v 5.3.1 For translators: 17 5.3.2 For third-year English Linguistic students: 17 5.3.3 For future researchers: 17 REFERENCES ix APPENDIX x APPENDIX A x QUESTIONNAIRE x APPENDIX B xii vi LIST OF TABLES Table Using local language when translating 12 Table The degree of agreement about the influence of culture on translation 13 Table Suggestions for avoiding the influence of culture on translation 13 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Difficulty of translation according to the perception of 3rd-year English-majored students Figure How often third-year English-majored students practice translating Figure Using support equipment on translation 10 Figure Using translation Tools 11 viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Currently, Vietnam is in the stage of integration and development, English is considered a global language For young children, learning English is also prepared very early and English is a compulsory subject from elementary school Being good at communication in English may seem a basic condition to develop better in the future However, for students majoring in English Linguistics, learning English not only to communicate but being good at English and having good translation skills is also an advantage for students to have a chance to find a high-paid job in the future, especially for specialized students Therefore, the 3rd year English-majored students must learn more specialized subjects in Language including Translation before graduation Translation is not a simple field To be able to produce a good translation, translators need to translate accurately first and then they will practice translating well Translation is not an exact science but an intellectual product in which different degrees of concentration of the same translator can produce different end products That is not to mention sub-standard products made by groups or translation sites that are inexperienced, inexperienced, and unskilled Most importantly, every word is a translator's decision, a person's decision may be right or most likely wrong The likelihood of making mistakes is proportional to the number of words to be translated Those are the reasons why it is necessary to have a strict guarantee of quality Otherwise, it may lead to undue consequences However, each person will have a different translation method, even different words and it depends on the receiving culture and from there it becomes a habit of using words The local word is a cultural feature of the word region During the translation, some translators have made it a habit to use local languages instead of common words, which make readers misunderstand or miss information To clarify the effects of culture in the translation of 3rd-year students of Thu Dau Mot University specializing in English Linguistic The researcher decided to this research to have a better view and find solutions to help students improve in translation work However, because the study period was not enough, so to achieve the best possible effect and to avoid rambling, the author only studied the influence of culture on language in translating from English to Vietnamese Page of 17 In this study, the researcher used both of the above methods by collecting data from third-year English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University's Foreign Language Department through interviews and questionnaires to find out photos cultural benefits to their translation The study used the interview form and the questionnaire attached in the appendix for detailed information during each implementation 3.3.1 Questionnaire In this study, the questionnaire aims to find out some more information about the words that 3rd year English language students use to translate English words into Vietnamese In addition, to find out your perceptions of how culture influences while translating In the questionnaire, the writer combines both multiple-choice questions and short answer questions so that surveyors can come up with clearer ideas The nine-question questionnaire includes seven multiple-choice questions and two short answers Based on the choices, the researcher can conclude how culture plays a role and influences students' language and translation style Then give a reasonable solution 3.3.2 Interview For more information on influences of culture on the translation of thirdyear English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University The writer interviewed a group of third-year English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University with four question After interviewing students, the researcher collected the answer, analyzed and excerpted depending on the answers from the interview forms Page of 17 CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Questionnaire Number of choices So Hard Hard Normal Easy So easy Number of choices So easy 10 15 Easy 20 Normal 13 25 Hard 31 30 35 So Hard 11 Figure Difficulty of translation according to the perception of 3rd-year English-majored students The researcher can see that 31 out of 60 3rd year English-majored students find translation difficult (51.67%) Being a student in English Linguistics, the author personally feels that translation is a difficult field To be able to create accurate, good and personal translation requires a lot of factors Perhaps for that reason, 11 students (18.33%) find it very difficult to translate or they are not confident in their translation skills In contrast, 13 students think that translation is normal for them (21.67%) or even easy (8.33%) This shows that not all students are concerned about the subject However, none of the students chose the answer it is very easy for them to translate (See Figure 1) Page of 17 How often third-year student-majored English practice translating 9% 10% 58% 23% Once/week Once/month Twice/month Everyday Figure How often third-year English-majored students practice translating Figure shows how often students practice translating Most students take the time to practice once a week (58%) This is a good sign as the frequency of such exercise is appropriate Later students can gradually increase the frequency from once a week to to times a week Such regular practice not only helps translators improve their translation skills, improve their vocabulary, but also helps them practice writing skills Besides, 23% of students have a weekly practice rate that is once a month This can also be one of the most influential in translating students' skills Furthermore, the percentage of students who practice twice a month or practice every day is nearly equal (10% and 9% respectively) Page of 17 Is it good to use support equipment on translation? 28% Yes No 72% Figure Using support equipment on translation Many students agree with the use of tools in algorithms (72%) During the translation process, students can use support tools like Google Translate, Online Dictionary, etc Nowadays, the Internet more and more developed In addition to using paper dictionaries, students often use online support tools to complete their translation Using support tools can help students have better quality and more elaborate However, the rest of the students claim that it is not good to use the support tools because it will make the translator rely on and not show their style and culture in the translation (See Figure 2) Page 10 of 17 Using translation Tools 6% 24% Google Translate Wordfast Microsoft Translator 61% Other 9% Figure Using translation Tools To clarify the use of the translation tool, the researcher surveyed the participants about the tools they used often Figure shows the number of users for each tool And it is not surprising that Google translate is the website used by most students with a rate of 61% This website is too familiar to those who need help if they not understand the meaning of another language and this website is improving day by day to help users get the best translation Next, 29% of students often use Microsoft Translator (See Figure 4) Microsoft is also a popular software, but besides some software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, there is also a translation support software The remaining few use Wordfast and other software With these tools, the translation will also become easier because almost all translations use common words and easy to understand They help people avoid misuse or confusing words However, the abuse of aid tools also makes it impossible for students to translate well without them because of their dependence on tools Page 11 of 17 Table Using local language when translating Question Answer Do you use your local language when you translate from English to Vietnamese? Number of choices Percentage Always 13,33% Sometimes 32 53,33% Never 10 16,67% Table contains data about students using local words when translating texts from English to Vietnamese To better understand how the 3rd year students use English language major in translation, the researcher questioned the participants about the degree of using local words in the translation process Based on Table 2, there are students (13,33%) and 32 students (53.33%) who always or sometimes use local words, which means language has a lot of influence in their text translation process For instance, with the same word "mother", each region in Vietnam has different translation words such as people in the South will use the word "má" while people in the North use "mẹ" and Central people can use the word "mạ" However, there are still many ways to translate the word "mother" from English to Vietnamese These different ways affect the quality of the translation and can be confusing to the reader At the same time, the rest of the participants not use the local language in their translation Page 12 of 17 Table The degree of agreement about the influence of culture on translation Question Answer Do you agree with culture influences translation? Number of choices Percentage Strongly Disagree 0% Disagree 8,33% Normal 10 16,67% Agree 25 41,67% Strongly Agree 20 33,33% 75% of students agree that culture influences translation, reaffirming that culture has a certain influence on translators Only 25% of the students felt that culture does not influent translation Snell-Hornby (1988) argues that the relationship between language and culture was first formally formed by Wilhelm Von Humboldt Language is the expression of the culture and personality of the writer “Differences in the source language and target language culture may require additional information in the target text to explain unfamiliar facts and ideas to recipients In other cases, they can lead to the omission of extraneous details” (Komissarov,1991) (See Table 3) Table Suggestions for avoiding the influence of culture on translation Question Have you been influenced by culture while translating? Answer Number of choices Reading more books 45 Increase Vietnamese vocabulary 55 Learn Mandarin to avoid using local words 58 Others 30 Page 13 of 17 To improve the influence of culture on the quality of the translation, the researcher surveyed 3rd-year English-majored students for suggestions for this problem 45 students chose to read more books and because this study focused on translating English words into Vietnamese, the author suggested the answer "Increase Vietnamese vocabulary" 55 students choose this answer Indeed, for the voice to be better and the words to be richer, the translator needs to equip themselves with a good vocabulary In particular, to avoid using local words, most participants chose to study more high school words to avoid using local words (58 students) Vietnamese is very diverse, so to improve the quality of the translation, the translator needs to improve himself so that all readers can understand the words in the text In the end, 30 students chose another opinion They suggest that translators learn more about the cultures of many regions or practice a lot on their own to improve their use of words To be able to get more survey participants' opinions In addition to the multiple-choice questions, the researcher also has short answer questions When asked about the role of culture in translation, the majority of respondents said that culture has a very important role, it shows the personality of the translator and the cultural characteristics where that person lives A few say that translation is the translator himself using skills and culture does not play a role in that process Next, when responding to the question of how to use words in translation and reference sources, more than 75% of participants answered that using language in a natural way even many people use local language For the rest, they selectively word from the dictionary or select common words to put into the text and avoid using separate words that confuse 4.2 Interview In addition to the questionnaire survey, the writer also interviewed 40 more students and selected the answers of 30 students from all regions for analysis The content of the question did not change much because the researcher wanted to hear the answers directly instead of doing it on paper When being interviewed, many students answered that they had read through documents using confusing local words That makes the reader uncomfortable and lose information or lead to unclear communication At the same time, most of the students answered that they used to use local words in class and communicate even though they tried to avoid it so they improved gradually Because of the habit of using local words, when translating the article, the Page 14 of 17 translator naturally uses local words Finally, similar to the questionnaire survey, many respondents said that translation is a difficult field and it takes time to become good at this subject Page 15 of 17 CHAPTER RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Limitation When implementing the project, the author realizes some limitations and difficulties Firstly, because during the time of the study, the researcher still goes to school according to the schedule, hence, it is limited in time Moreover, the writer also has an internship in the process of doing this research, which leads to some shortcomings, especially during the survey phase The writer has tried to be able to arrange a reasonable time to be able to timely report Second, in the process of doing the survey, there was a participants' non-cooperation, so it was difficult to get data for the study Finally, because this topic has not many domestic studies or there are some studies related to culture and translation but not the same topic, so it is difficult for the writer to compare The author can only find information in other references such as books, magazines, etc 5.2 Conclusion After researching The influences of culture on the translation of third-year English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University as well as analyzing data, the writer has found some research results Many 3rd year students majoring in English believe that translation is a difficult field and requires many factors to have a good translation Besides, most of the students participating in the survey and interviews affirmed that culture plays an important role in translation Moreover, when translating English - Vietnamese, many students believe that culture influences the translation and specifically in this study language, for example, many students have used local words in the translation, which makes readers misunderstanding because in each region there will be different ways of saying the same word or sentence And this is a problem that they need to improve in the translation process Second, to avoid cultural influence on the translation, specifically translating English words into Vietnamese, many students choose to read more books or learn more common words to expand their vocabulary Besides, the researcher also found that in able to improve their translation skills, the majority of students practiced once a week In addition, the researcher found that many students used software and tools to assist with the translation process The websites most used by students are Google Translate and Microsoft Translator Page 16 of 17 Using support tools to help students limit the use of local words, but this also makes students dependent, relies on and makes the translator unable to promote their ability to translate from English into Vietnamese In short, when translating from one language to another, culture influences the writing style and language of the translator In which language is also one of the aspects of culture Through the text, the reader can see the cultural features that the author is carrying However, while translating English into Vietnamese, if the translator uses the wrong local word, the quality will be affected In order not to happen in that situation, the writer must be more proficient in Vietnamese vocabulary and practice a lot 5.3 Recommendations 5.3.1 For translators: After doing the research, the author hopes that when translating from English to Vietnamese, the translators will not be influenced by culture to the quality of the translation, especially in terms of language They can read more books or magazines to have a richer vocabulary In addition, they need to be aware of how appropriate words are used Last but not least, translators should not be too dependent on support tools and they should have their own translation style These tools only help the author to improve the product but cannot decide all that the translator wants to convey 5.3.2 For third-year English Linguistic students: Students should read more like reading books, reading magazines translated from English to have more vocabulary, avoid using wrong words, wrong words and slang, local words You can still keep your own culture, but when you are in the field of translation, you should still use words you like, with a translation suitable for the general culture 5.3.3 For future researchers: This research still has many weaknesses, we hope that the researcher will have their ideas to make this research more complete The writer hopes that the next researchers can continue to study the cultural factors influencing translation because this study has only studied a small part The author expects the follow-up studies to be of great value and with good results Page 17 of 17 REFERENCES (1) Catford, J.C (1965) A Linguistic Theory of Translation London: Oxford University Press (2) Hatim, B.,& Mason, I (1990).Discourse and the Translator Longman: Longman Group Limited (3) Kramsch, C (1998).Language and culture Oxford: Oxford University Press (4) Kroeber, A L., &Kluchohn, C (1952) Cultures: A critical review of concepts and definitions, Peabody Museum Papers, 47 (1), Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University (5) Larsen, M (1984).Meaning-based translation: A guide to cross-language equivalence (2nded) Lanham, New York & London: University Press of America (6) Leppihalme, R (1997) Culture bumps Clevedon: Multilingual Matters (7) McGuire, S.B (1980) Translation Studies Methuen London and New York (8) Munday, J (2001) Introducing translation studies: Theories and application New York: Routledge (9) Newmark, P (1981) Approaches to translation Oxford: Pergamon Press (10) Newmark, P (1988) A textbook of translation.Hamel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall (11) Newmark, P (1995) Paragraphs on translation, Clevedon/Philadelphia/Adelaide: Multilingual Matters Ltd (12) Nida, E.A.&Taber, C R (1969).The theory and practice of translation Leiden: E.J Brill (13) Paluszkiewicz-Misiaczek, M (2005) Strategies and methods in dealing with culture-specific expressions on the basis of Polish-English translations of certain administrative and institutional terms Theory and Practice in English Studies, 3, 243-248 (14) Pedersen, J (2005) How is culture rendered in subtitles? In Mutra Conference Proceedings (15) Plotkin, H.(2001) Some Elements of a Science of Culture In: Whitehouse, Harvey (ed.), The Debated Mind Evolutionary Psychology versus Ethnography Oxford, New York: Berg, 91– 109 ix APPENDIX APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE Preliminary Survey of the influences of culture on the translation of thirdyear English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University This survey is conducted to gain an overview on the influences of culture on the translation of third-year English-majored students at Thu Dau Mot University The findings may reveal the extent to which such activities affect students’ interest in language learning All the data collected will be treated confidentially If you have any questions, contact my e-mail address Please answer the following questions Do you feel translation is difficult? A So easy B Easy C Normal D Hard E Too hard How you practice translation? A Once/week B Once/month C Twice/month D Everyday In your opinion, is it good to use support equipment for translation? A Yes B No What translation tools you usually use?  Google Translate  Wordfast  Microsoft Translator  Other:……………………………………………………………………… Do you use your local language when you translate from English to Vietnamese? x A Always B Sometimes C Never Do you agree with culture influents translation? A Strongly Disagree B Disagree C Normal D Agree E Strongly Agree From your point of view, what good suggestions you think would be for avoiding local language influencing translation? □ Reading more books □ Increase Vietnamese vocabulary □ Learn Mandarin to avoid using local words □ Others:…………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what role does culture play in translation? ……………………………………………………………………………… How you usually use words when translating? What sources you usually refer to? ……………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR KIND CO-OPERATION xi APPENDIX B INTERVIEW ABOUT DIFFICULTIES IN LISTENING AND SPEAKING ENGLISH OF FRESHMEN MAJORING IN ENGLISH LINGUISTIC AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Please answer these questions below In your opinion, what role does culture play in translation? Have you ever read a translation from English to Vietnamese using local words? Do you often use local words in the classroom? Do you feel translation is difficult? xii ... and translation style Then give a reasonable solution 3.3.2 Interview For more information on influences of culture on the translation of thirdyear English- majored students at Thu Dau Mot University. . .THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES  GRADUATE PAPER TITLE: THE INFLUENCES OF CULTURE ON THE TRANSLATION OF THIRD- YEAR ENGLISH- MAJORED STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY. .. QUESTIONNAIRE Preliminary Survey of the influences of culture on the translation of thirdyear English- majored students at Thu Dau Mot University This survey is conducted to gain an overview on the