THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER TOPIC A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS IN ENGLISH FACULTY AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN ENGLISH VIETNAMESE INTERPRETING[.]
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER TOPIC: A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS IN ENGLISH FACULTY AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY IN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE INTERPRETING Supervisor : Vu Thi Thanh Hoa, MA Student : Nguyen Thi Song Class : K54N6 Student Code : 18D170284 HANOI, 2022 ABSTRACT Today, the trend of globalization and integration is developing strongly in countries all around the world, including Vietnam All international commerce transactions, including import and export transactions, as well as reciprocal communication, are now primarily conducted in English In this setting, the interpreter's role as a link in international relations is becoming increasingly important Interpreters play a critical role in translating and transmitting meaning in international talks and diplomacy, which has a direct impact on a country's image among foreign friends One of the required subjects for English Faculty students at Thuongmai University is interpreting There are two sessions in interpreting: English-Vietnamese interpreting and Vietnamese-English interpreting The interpreting course is mostly taught to thirdyear English Faculty students Many pupils, however, have difficulties in interpreting skill, particularly when interpreting from English to Vietnamese The reason for this is that in order to be a skilled interpreter, students must not only be fluent in English, but also have a strong command of their mother tongue and foreign language They must also comprehend diplomacy and international integration, as well as the cultural variations between the two countries, in order to effectively communicate the supplied message Recognizing the impact of these issues on students' interpreting abilities, the researcher performed a small study at Thuongmai University to learn about the difficulties encountered by third-year English Faculty students and to offer methods for students how to become competent translators and earn their own skills for the future workplace Because they have taken an interpreting course and have experience with interpreting assessments, the study will focus on third-year English Faculty students at Thuongmai University The survey questionnaire was utilized as the research method in this study, which is a list of questions designed to uncover the obstacles that students confront The researcher expects that this study will be valuable to both students and teachers in creating the ideal teaching and learning environment at Thuongmai University, with the goal of increasing students' interpreting skills ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Vu Thi Thanh Hoa for her precious ideas and tireless efforts in guiding and aiding me to keep me confident to accomplish this study successfully I would not have been able to finish this graduation paper without her assistance and suggestions In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the teachers at Thuongmai University in general and the teachers in the English Faculty in particular because I have received great help from teachers since I have been studying and participating in activities at our school With your erudite knowledge and dedication, you have taught vital knowledge and invaluable lessons to me during my study Besides, I would like to show my sincere thanks to all the third-year students in the English Faculty at Thuongmai University for their enthusiastic participation and completing the survey questionnaire Their cooperation is a significant contribution to the sources of data in this study In addition, I'd like to express my gratitude to all of the writers of the books, papers, and other materials listed in the reference section for their insights and knowledge, which have been reflected and expanded upon in this research Finally, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to my family and friends They are the people who have always been by my side, supporting and encouraging me throughout my study and growth They are always a great motivation to overcome challenges in the process of doing this research And I will never forget how grateful I am to my parents for lending wings to my dreams There will be some flaws in this study due to the limited knowledge, practical abilities, and time As a result, I am hoping for further suggestions and feedback to help me strengthen this graduation paper Hanoi, April 14 th, 2022 Song Nguyen Thi Song TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF CHARTS vii CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.1.1 Research issues .1 1.1.2 The reasons to choose the topic 1.2 Previous studies 1.2.1 Previous studies abroad .3 1.2.2 Previous studies in Vietnam 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Aims of the study .5 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope of the study 1.7 Research methodology 1.8 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of interpreting 2.1.1 The concept of interpreting 2.1.2 The definition of E – V interpreting 2.1.3 The importance of E – V interpreting 2.1.4 Factors affect the interpretation process 10 2.2 Modes of interpreting .12 2.2.1 Consecutive interpreting .12 2.2.2 Simultaneous interpreting 13 2.3 Interpreting process 14 2.4 Necessary skills for interpreting 15 2.5 Difficulties in E - V interpreting 17 2.5.1 Difficulty in listening skill 17 2.5.2 Poor vocabulary 18 2.5.3 Lack of grammar 18 2.5.4 Cultural barriers 19 2.5.5 Difference in style .20 2.5.6 Weak re-expression ability 21 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 21 3.1 Survey questionnaire results 22 3.1.1 Participants 22 3.1.2 The students’ attitude toward the interpreting course and the E – V interpreting section .23 3.1.3 Factors affect E – V interpretation skill .29 3.1.4 Difficulties in E – V interpreting process 32 3.1.5 The influence of teachers on learning E – V interpreting of the students 35 3.2 Discussion 37 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 39 4.1 Recommendations for students 39 4.1.1 Recommendations for students to improve listening skill 39 4.1.2 Recommendations for students to enhance their vocabulary and grammar 40 4.1.3 Recommendations to overcome difficulties of cultural barriers and differences in literature style 41 4.1.4 Recommendations for students to overcome difficulty of weak re-expression skill .42 4.2 Recommendations for teachers 43 4.3 Some limitations and suggestion for the further research 44 CONCLUSION 45 REFERENCES I APPENDIX II SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviations Word UMY Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta E–V English – Vietnamese TMU Thuongmai University DTU Duy Tan University LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 3.1 Students’ attitude toward E – V interpreting section 25 Table 3.2 Methods students to improve their E – V interpreting skill 27 Table 3.3 The influence of teachers on learning E – V interpreting of the students .36 Table 3.4 Methods teachers should apply for teaching and learning V – E interpreting 36 Chart 3.1 The importance of E – V interpretation for the future work 23 Chart 3.2 The students’ attitude toward interpreting course at TMU 24 Chart 3.3 Level of E – V interpretation skill that English Faculty students have25 Chart 3.4 The amount of time per week students spend on practicing E – V interpretation .26 Chart 3.5 The most important skill in E – V interpreting 29 Chart 3.6 Factors affect the E – V interpretation process 30 Chart 3.7 Frequency of difficulties of practicing E – V interpreting 32 Chart 3.8 Difficulties students encounter during interpreting English to Vietnamese 33 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.1.1 Research issues Google Translate is currently the most extensively used translation and interpretation application in the world, and in Vietnam in particular Because it supports more languages than its competitors, namely 103 different languages, and because of its extensive, superior feature set, it is especially appropriate for travelers This application can interpret languages straight on the device using the camera, as well as interpret offline for a number of popular languages The process of using Google Translate is fairly simple: users simply choose the source and target languages they wish to interpret, then type the information they want to translate or speak it which they want to interpret into the microphone The information's length will be determined by the user; it could be a single word, a sentence, or a paragraph of text The application will read aloud the interpreted content after it has been interpreted into the target language Aside from Google Translate, there are a slew of other translation apps designed to fulfill the demands of people all around the world, including iTranslate Converse, Sogou, Microsoft Translate, and others However, no matter how advanced these applications are when combined with artificial intelligence, they will never be able to entirely replace the interpreter in all real-world scenarios Because these apps are created and maintained by individuals, they are nothing more than a system that cannot fully comprehend the meaning of phrases, especially when the information to be interpreted involves cultural aspects or polysemy For example, Google Translate interprets the term "extendable ears" from J.K Rowling's Harry Potter into "tai kéo dài", which can be perplexing for the reader or the word "horcrux" which is impossible to find a word with equivalent meaning in Vietnamese Only highly trained, culturally aware, and experienced interpreters can fully comprehend the source language's exact meaning before effectively and coherently translating it into the target language TMU has designed interpreting courses for English Faculty students, particularly 3rd year students, in recognition of the importance of interpreting in today's world During the learning process, however, students confront numerous challenges as a result of a variety of subjective and objective causes, resulting in poor academic achievement as well as inadequate interpretation practice abilities As a result of encountering many difficulties while studying for an interpreting course, the researcher hopes to be able to use this research to find the best solutions to the problems, assisting students in acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience for their learning journey 1.1.2 The reasons to choose the topic Communication is a basic human need to share information and connect with others It can be tough to communicate ideas, thoughts, and sentiments if you not communicate with others And, as the country continues to develop in an era of worldwide integration, the demand for people and businesses to learn from and receive expertise from industrialized countries is growing So, how are we supposed to learn from them if we can't understand what they're saying? A satisfactory solution to this problem is translation and interpretation In the transmission of information between countries, translation and interpretation are vital Citizens of each country can better comprehend each other's cultures and exchange information through translation and interpretation Nowadays, English is regarded as the most widely spoken language on the planet According to statistics, English is spoken in more than 70 countries out of more than 200 countries and territories English has played a key part in the world's integration process throughout a long period of formation and development English is used in the majority of scientific documents, corporate contracts, and international conferences However, many students in general, and English Faculty students at TMU in particular, make a lot of blunders when practicing interpreting due to variables such as cultural and stylistic differences, specialist terminology, complexity, and many other factors Many of them are unable to demonstrate their interpreting abilities in tests and classroom practice For the reasons stated above, I have decided to choose the topic "A study on difficulties encountered by the third-year students in English Faculty at Thuongmai University in English-Vietnamese interpreting" with the goal of enhancing the interpreting performance of students at TMU's English Faculty, as well as the quality of interpreting teaching and learning The researcher expects that this study will aid students who want to become interpreters in the future in identifying and overcoming difficulties encountered when learning and practicing interpreting It will also aid in the development of other English skills necessary for students' future employment 1.2 Previous studies 1.2.1 Previous studies abroad In the foreign context, Ai Nurfauziyah from UMY conducted a study on exploring problems experienced by students in interpreting practices The research method used here is an interview This research has revealed the difficulties that students at UMY confront when undertaking consecutive interpretation The study's findings revealed that students struggle with listening comprehension, taking notes, decoding notes, expressing, and reformulating when conducting interpretation Students face the aforementioned issues as a result of a lack of attention to the source language, a lack of practice, a lack of symbol knowledge, a lack of vocabulary in interpreting exercises, and so on However, because the study only included three students who were chosen based on their results in consecutive interpretation practices, the research scope was too narrow and not comprehensive Furthermore, the study simply identified the obstacles that students have when practicing consecutive interpreting, as well as the reasons of these issues, without offering particular solutions to assist students in overcoming and improving these issues Another study on investigating students’ challenges and strategies when interpreting was conducted at UMY by Sri Rejeki Murtiningsih and Queen Fiqi Ardlillah in 2020 The goal of this study is to look into the challenges that students have when interpreting The study will also aim to explore the strategies used to overcome the challenges The data for this study was gathered by interviewing indepth three students from UMY's Learning Express program In addition, the study's scope is limited and incomplete Language competence, cultural understanding, time restrictions, the other person's speaking speed, and students' capacity to memorize are all problems that students experience when practicing ... significance and the aims of the study state the expectations the researcher wants to contribute and the purpose of the study The organization of the study outlines main parts of this graduation paper... personally contribute to the creation and dedication in all areas of life? As a result, translation and interpretation play an increasingly important role in people''s lives nowadays We can make purchases,... researchers in order to establish a clear explanation of interpretation According to Oxford Dictionary, interpretation is simply defined as the translation of one language into another as it is spoken And