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HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
Nguyễn Thị Nhàn
A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH
TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE
VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
(Nghiên cứucáchdịch Việt-Anh cácphụđềhiện vật
tại bảo tàngdântộchọcViệt Nam)
M.A.THESIS
Field: Linguistics
Code: 5.04.09
Hanoi, 2005
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HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
Nguyễn Thị Nhàn
A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH
TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE
VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
(Nghiên cứucáchdịch Việt-Anh cácphụđềhiện vật
tại bảo tàngdântộchọcViệt Nam)
By: Nguyễn Thị Nhàn
Supervisor: Dr. Trần Xuân Điệp
Hanoi, 2005
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PART I. INTRODUCTION
I. RATIONALE
In Vietnam as well as in every country of the world, museums have been open to help
people understand and appreciate the natural world, the history of civilizations, and the
record of humanity’s artistic, scientific, and technological achievements. Museums exhibit
objects of scientific, aesthetic, or historical importance for the purposes of public education
and the advancement of knowledge. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnography founded in
1997 is a cultural and scientific center. It studies, collects, classifies, preserves, restores
and exhibits cultural and historical values of all ethnic groups in Vietnam. People visit the
museum not only to amuse themselves but also to study ethnic groups as well as various
cultural values of Vietnamese people. Therefore, people from all over the country as well
as foreign visitors, scientists as well as students can find interesting things in here. For the
purpose of welcoming foreign visitors, all the exhibit labels are written in Vietnamese and
then translated into English and French.
The translation of exhibit labels is not at all an easy process as many concepts about the
life of ethnic people in Vietnam do not have equivalents in the English language. The
translators have to use lots of translation strategies in transferring the concepts in a way
that is the most understandable to foreign visitors. However, the translators also have some
difficulties in translating the concepts for the problem of non-equivalence at word level.
So far, little research on the Vietnamese – English translation of exhibit labels has been
done. Therefore, an investigation on the Vietnamese – English translation of exhibit labels
in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography is really necessary. In the hope for some
suggestions of implications that can be of some use to those who are responsible for
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translating exhibit labels in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography as well as in other
museums, the author would like to carry out this minor thesis to answer the question: What
are the translation strategies and procedures used in the translation of exhibit labels in the
Vietnam Museum of Ethnography (VME)?
II. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
There are several types of exhibit labels in a museum: title or headline labels giving the
title of an exhibit; primary or introductory labels providing an overview or introduction to
the exhibit; secondary or text labels giving an intermediate level of information between an
introductory label and the more specific object labels; and object labels providing
information, such as description or title, date or age, artist or user, material composition,
and sometimes a brief text on a particular object. This study limits itself to the analysis of
the Vietnamese-English translation of object labels in the Vietnam Museum of
Ethnography in Hanoi.
III. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study aims at:
• Analysing the strategies and procedures used in the translation of exhibit labels
from Vietnamese to English in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography.
• Working out the difficulties of translation process that the translators in the
museum may have.
• Giving some suggestions for the problems.
IV. METHODS OF THE STUDY
To accomplish this thesis, we will go through a number of materials on translation studies
to build up a theoretical background for the research. Then, as it was stated in the aims and
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scope of the study, we will collect the authentic exhibit labels in the Vietnam Museum of
Ethnography in Nguyen Van Huyen street, Cau Giay district, Hanoi for description and
analysis. From these sources, we will analyse and draw out the methods and techniques
used in the translation. Furthermore, some translators who have translated the labels, will
also be interviewed for more specific information about the translation.
V. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
This study consists of three major parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion; a
bibliography, and some photographs for illustration.
Part I - Introduction
The rationale of the study is given in this part. It also gives the aims, scope and methods of
the study.
Part II - Development
Chapter I - Literature review
This chapter provides the theory of translation, translation equivalence, translation
strategies and procedures.
Chapter II - The translation of exhibit labels in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography
This chapter presents the current context of the translation of exhibit labels in VME; it also
deals with the methods and procedures used in the translation.
Part III – Conclusion
This part summarises all the things mentioned in chapter II and gives comments on the
suggestions for better translation and further research on the problem.
The appendix shows photographs for illustration.
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PART II – DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I – TRANSLATION THEORIES
I.1. Definition of translation
Translation has been approached from a scientific point of view by linguists through times
and thus has been defined variously. Many have concluded that translation is scarcely an
aspect of applied linguistics or it is just regarded as a complicated process of
communicating, in which one decodes from one language and encodes into another. Some
others, who have considered translation as something scientific, however, think of
translation merely in terms of complex techniques of comparative linguistics (Jumpet
1961, Carry and Jumpet, 1963). In order to find an adequate definition of translation,
prominent figures in linguistics such as Cat Ford, Bell, Hatim & Mason, Nida, and many
others have carried out careful analyses of the process of translating, especially in the case
of source and receptor languages having quite different linguistic structures and cultural
features.
We start with a definition quoted from the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
(1992:4739):
“Translation is the replacement of a text in one language (Source Language-SL) by an
equivalent text in another language (Target Language-TL).”
And it is then followed by the linguists’ definitions:
“Translation is the expression in another language of what has been expressed in another,
source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.”
Bell (1991:5)
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“Translation is basically a change of form. In translation the form of the source language is
replaced by the form of the receptor (target) language.”
Larson, M.L. (1984:3)
“Translation is a communicative process which takes place within a social context.”
Hatim & Mason (1990:3)
“Translating consists of producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to
the message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style.”
Nida, E.A. (1975:33)
These five definitions, in spite of slight differences in the expressions, share common
features that they all emphasize the importance of finding the closest equivalence in
meaning by the choice of appropriate target language’s lexical and grammatical structures,
communication situation, and cultural context. Through their definitions these scholars also
confirm the possibilities of effective interlingual communication by translation if a set of
basic requirements which are considered “Laws of Translation” could be achieved. Nida
(1964:164) proposes four major principles:
1. Making sense
2. Conveying the spirit and manner of the original
3. Having a natural and easy form of expression
4. Producing a similar response
Whereas Savory (1968:54) sets up twelve objectives for a translation:
1. A translation must give words of the original
2. A translation must give the idea of the original
3. A translation should read like an original work
4. A translation should read like a translation
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5. A translation should reflect the style of the original
6. A translation should possess the style of the original
7. A translation should read as a contemporary of the original
8. A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation
9. A translation may add to or omit from the original
10. A translation may never add to or omit from the original
11. A translation of verse should be in prose
12. A translation of prose should be in prose
Nida and Savory’s principles are different in number. However, they all pay their first
attention to correspondence of meaning over correspondence of style. And it is also
recognizable that equivalence in both meaning and style cannot always be retained
altogether. In concrete textual situation, it is the translator that decides which principles
must be achieved and it is the meaning that must have priority over the stylistic forms.
I.2. Translation equivalence
Equivalence can be considered a central concept in translation theory; many theorists
define translation in terms of equivalence relation. Pym (1992) has even pointed to its
circularity: equivalence is supposed to define translation, and translation, in turn, defines
equivalence. Here are some elaborate approaches to translation equivalence:
Nida 91964) distinguishes formal equivalence and dynamic translation as basic
orientations rather than as a binary choice:
+ Formal equivalence is achieved when the source language and target language words
have the closest possible match of form and content.
+ Dynamic equivalence is achieved when the source language and target language words
have the same effect on their effective readers
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Newmark (1988a) terms Nida’s dynamic equivalence as ‘equivalence effect’ or
‘equivalence response’ principle: “the overriding purpose of any translation should be to
achieve ‘equivalence effect’, that is to produce the same effect (or one as close as possible)
on the readership of the translation as was obtained on the readership of the original”
(Newmark 1988a). He also sees equivalence effect as the desirable result rather than the
aim of any translation except for two cases: (1) if the purpose of the source language text is
to affect and the target language translation is to inform or vice versa; (2) if there is a
pronounced cultural gap between the source language and the target language text.
Koller (1979) considers five types of equivalence:
+ Denotative equivalence: the source language and target language words refer to the same
thing in the real world.
+ Connotative equivalence: provides additional values besides denotative and is achieved
by the translator’s choice of synonymous words or expressions.
+ Text-normative equivalence: the source language and target language words are used in
the same or similar context in their respective languages
+ Pragmatic equivalence: with readership orientation, the source language and target
language words have the same effect on their respective readers.
+ Formal equivalence: produces and analogy of form in the translation by either exploiting
formal possibilities of target language, or creating new forms in target language.
I.3. Non-equivalence at word level
According to Baker (1992:20), non-equivalence at word level means that the TG has no
direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the ST. The type and level of difficulty posed
can vary tremendously depending on the nature of non-equivalence. Different kinds of
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non-equivalence require different strategies, some very straightforward, others more
involved and difficult to handle
I.3.1. Different kinds of non-equivalence
(a) Culture-specific concepts
The SL word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The
concept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a social
custom, or even a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as ‘culture-specific’.
Speaker (of the House of Commons) has no equivalent in many languages. It is often
translated into Russian as ‘Chairman’, which does not reflect the role of the speaker of the
House of Commons as an independent person who maintains authority and order in
Parliament.
(b) The SL concept is not lexicalised in the TL
The SL word may express a concept which is known in the target culture but simply not
lexicalised, i.e. not allocated a TL word to express it. Landslide has no ready equivalence
in many languages, although it simply means ‘overwhelming majority’.
(c) The SL word is semantically complex
This is a fairly common problem in translation. A single word which consists of a single
morpheme can sometimes express a more complex set of meanings than a whole sentence.
(d) The SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning
The TL may make more or fewer distinctions in meaning than the SL. What one language
regards as an important distinction in meaning another may not perceive as relevant.
(e) The TL lacks a superordinate
The TL may have specific words (hyponyms) but no general word (superordinate) to head
the semantic field.
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[...]... CHAPTER II – THE TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY I THE CURRENT CONTEXT OF TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY The Vietnam Museum of Ethnography on Nguyen Van Huyen street, Cau Giay district, is both a scientific and cultural center This museum studies the ethnic groups in Vietnam; its main function is to collect, classify, preserve,... When asked about the translation process of the exhibit labels from Vietnamese into English, La Thi Thanh Thuy, one of the translators, said that the most difficult aspect of the translation was some terms or name that did not exist in English; then they had to choose words and phrases in English that could be best suitable for that name After that, the editor, an English native speaker, would give comments... ‘ống chọc tiết’ is something used to kill an animal by stabbing it and taking its blood, which is named ‘sticker’ Therefore, ‘ống chọc tiết lợn’ should be ‘bamboo pig stickers’ 36 PART III – CONCLUSION We have completed an investigation on the Vietnamese-English translation of exhibit labels in the Vietnam Musem of Ethnography In this section, we would like to end by briefly summarising what we have... has to be on one’s guard Vietnamese is a language that has so many borrowings, especially in recent times when the influence of foreign cultures is stronger than ever Examples of borrowings in Vietnamese are: Internet, vitamin, live show, hormone, axit, virus, dollar, email… (English), toilette, cravate, fromage, savon (French), etc 17 Similarly, when translating from Vietnamese into a foreign language,... translators have explained the meaning of the word ‘bưng’ by a longer expression The English label, in this case, can be also useful for some Vietnamese visitors Sometimes, Vietnamese visitors do not know what ‘bưng’ means as this word is not common in the Vietnamese language If they can speak English, the English version of the label will be helpful Example 2 Tủ sách của thầy đồ = portable cabinet for... area In English, it is named ‘loincloth’ So ‘khố trẻ em’ should be translated as ‘children’s loincloth’ Similarly, ‘khố’ = ‘man’s belted apron’ should be changed into ‘man’s loincloth’ Example 4 Ống chọc tiết lợn = bamboo pig bleeders A bleeder is a blood vessel that is bleeding during surgery and requires clamping or other measures to stop it (Encarta dictionary) But ‘ống chọc tiết’ is something used... cultural values of all ethnic groups in Vietnam Of all these functions, exhibition is always the most important The museum considers exhibits the core as these exhibits reflect the peoples’ everyday life The permanent exhibition of the museum shows around 700 objects Each object is accompanied by a label showing its name and origin The labels are written in Vietnamese, French and English for the purpose... equivalent This is therefore a question of situational equivalence Eg Bụt lại xuất hiện, khuông mặt hiền từ như người mẹ an ủi cô: con đừng khóc The Goddess of Mercy appeared again, with a face as sweet as a loving mother, and comforted her: "Do not cry, my child” (Source: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/tam.html) In Vietnamese culture, But is understood as an old fairy man, but when ‘Tam Cam’ is translated... throne Khăn đắp mặt người chết = face shrouds Gối tre = bamboo pillow Cồng săn = hunting gong III.3 Transposition It is known that Vietnamese and English are two distinctive languages This is shown in the way of using different word-classes for one idea In general, Vietnamese speakers prefer using verbs and active voice rather than nouns and passive voice in English 31 Therefore, the translator has... puppetry, a traditional art of Vietnam If translated as ‘announcer’, it won’t be comprehended by foreign visitors Therefore, it is advisable to put ‘water puppet’ behind ‘announcer’ Example 3 Khố trẻ em = belted child’s apron Encarta dictionary defines ‘apron’ as ‘a garment worn over the front of clothes to keep them clean during working, especially cooking’ Whereas, in Vietnamese culture, ‘khố’ is understood . VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH
TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE
VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
(Nghiên cứu cách dịch Việt- Anh các phụ đề hiện vật
tại bảo tàng dân. VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH
TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE
VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
(Nghiên cứu cách dịch Việt- Anh các phụ đề hiện vật
tại bảo tàng dân