Difficulties in translating tv programs in english into vietnamese a study at lam dong radio television station

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - NGUYEN LE UYEN MINH DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING TV PROGRAMS IN ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE: A STUDY AT LAM DONG RADIO-TELEVISION STATION Major: English Language Course code: 1741900025 HO CHI MINH CITY, MAY 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS xi CHAPTER - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.1.1 The need for English translation and interpretation 1.1.2 The evolution of Vietnamese Television and broadcasting involved in translating foreign language programs 1.1.3 The foreign language translation at Lam Dong Radio-Television Station 1.2 Problem Statement 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definitions of key terms 1.8 Organization of the thesis v CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Introduction 11 2.2 Definition of Translation 11 2.2.1 What is Translation? 11 2.2.2 The General Theory of Translation Studies and Translation 12 2.2.3 Audiovisual Translation and Voice-over Translation in TV programs 15 2.2.3.1 Audiovisual Translation 15 2.2.3.2 Voice-over Translation 16 2.3 Difficulties in translating TV programs 18 2.3.1 Linguistic difficulties in translating TV programs 19 2.3.1.1 Lexical issues 19 2.3.1.2 Grammatical problems 24 2.3.2 Cutural issues in translating TV programs 28 2.3.2.1 Non-equivalence 28 2.3.2.2 Different humors, irony, idiomatic or fixed expressions 30 2.4 Error Analysis 31 2.5 Solutions for translation errors 34 2.6 Review of related research 38 2.7 Conceptual Framework 39 2.8 Summary 42 CHAPTER - METHODOLOGY 43 3.1 Introduction 43 3.2 Research design Error! Bookmark not defined vi 3.3 Research site 44 3.4 Sample and sampling procedures 44 3.5 Research instruments 45 3.5.1 Document analysis 46 3.5.2 Interviews with the translators 47 3.6 Data collection procedures 47 3.7 Data analysis procedures 48 3.8 Summary 49 CHAPTER - RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 50 4.1 Introduction 50 4.2 Document Analysis 50 4.2.1 Linguistic Errors 52 4.2.1.1 Lexical errors 52 4.2.1.2 Syntactic/ syntax errors 57 4.2.2 Culural errors 63 4.2.2.1 Inappropriate translation by SL cultural background inadequacy 63 4.2.2.2 Inappropriate translation by TL cultural background inadequacy 69 4.2.3 Rendition Errors Error! Bookmark not defined 4.2.3.1 Too lengthy expression and redundant rendering 75 4.2.3.2 Substance errors such as incorrect spelling, typing, punctuation, and capitalization 76 4.4 Discussion 81 4.4.1 Translation errors made by TRs and the ingruence of PTs‟ voice during interviews 813 vii 4.5 Chapter summary 834 CHAPTER - CONCLUSION 855 5.1 Conclusion 855 5.2 The implications of the research 866 5.3 The limitations of the research 876 5.4 Recommendations for further research 877 References 888 Appendix A: Questions for Interviewing the Translators 955 Appendix B: The PTs‟ suggestions to revise the TRs‟ translation errors 977 Plagiarism checking report 1132 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: The order of the Vietnamese auxiliary verbs (Nguyễn Đình Hịa, 1957) 26 Table 2.2: Types of Translation Errors partially adopted from the above scholars‟ classification 33 Table 4.1: Translation errors in the translations of the trainees at LTV 51 Table 4.2: Linguistic errors in the translations of the trainees at LTV 61 Table 4.3: Cultural errors in the translation of the trainees 74 Table 4.4: Rendition errors in the translation of the trainees 77 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Nida‟s Model of Translation Process 14 Figure 2.2: The professional translation process with four steps 15 Figure 2.3: The components of the connotation of a word 22 Figure 2.4: An example of word order differences between English and Vietnamese 27 Figure 2.5: Conceptual Framework of the study 41 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS AI: Artificial Intelligent AVT: Audiovisual Translation CSI: Culture-specific Items CSR: Culture-specific References DTS: Descriptive Translation Studies FCC: Federal Communication Commission GALA: Globalization and Localization Association LTV: Lam Dong Television Station PACTE: Processes for Acquisition of Translation and Evaluation Competence PT: Professional Translator RQ: Research Question SL: Source Language ST: Source Text TT: Target Text TL: Target Language TR: Translation Trainee VLLF: Vietnam Law and Legal Forum xi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study Over the last three decades, Vietnam has been integrated into various international organizations and communities, first in the Asian region and then in the world In this process of integration, the use of foreign languages has become significant Among them, English has become the language to fill the gap between cultures, developed a market-oriented economy, contributed to diplomatic relations and improved national security More and more multinational residents speak English It is important that the Vietnamese people learn English so they also can communicate with this growing number of international citizens 1.1.1 The need for English translation and interpretation In view of the fact that the Vietnamese people were controlled by foreign forces and suffered a variety of armed conflicts in their history of struggle, the Chinese, French, Japanese and Americans all left behind strong cultural influences Although many Vietnamese intellectuals and scholars can fluently speak one or more languages, they were unable to read original foreign documents such as Russian, Chinese, and English (Bousquet and Brocheux, 2002, p 444) Working in the translation profession has never as simple as it is thought An exact translation is nearly impossible, and much change in meaning often happens The ideas of the translators become a crucial part of original communication For example, translators have assumed a key backstage impinging on the national diplomacy Escort interpreters, while working with elected officials or military commanders in political negotiations, insert their own concepts in interpretations These interpretations may be then passed on to the news agencies who broadcasted them nation-wide If the translators mistranslate the idea or documents, it may cause a diplomatic scandal between two countries The legal or technical documents which are incorrectly translated can deliver wrong messages and lead to illegal decisions Indeed, there is a growing need of English translation and interpreting service providers in the Vietnamese society up to the present A professional translator (PT henceforth) who has a good language and culture intelligence when doing their job is even more needed 1.1.2 The evolution of Vietnamese Television and broadcasting involved in translating foreign language programs Before 1945, possessing a radio receiver was limited The French colonial government controlled broadcasting, and in the late 1920s, set up the first radio station in Saigon (Headrich, 2012) In the early 1960s, the United States and South Vietnam established the television broadcasts with black-and-white FCC system They started two channels (one in Vietnamese and the other one in English) The American-run radio and television stations were part of the national network after the reunification in 1975 (Hsiao, 1996) With the aim of protecting national security, the Vietnamese government controlled access to foreign television channels until the reforms known as “Đổi mới” (1986) opened Vietnam to the whole world (Goldstein, 1970) The options of overseas programs on TV and the Internet are now available for Vietnamese audiences; however, according to Vietnam Law and Legal Forum (VLLF), the Vietnamese government requires the contents of foreign broadcasts to be translated and edited by a certificated local TV translator/censor These regulations enforced the provision of “healthy contents” The subscribers of TV network services need to understand the content of TV programs (VLLF, 2016, para 2) As a result of these requirements, Vietnamese translators also supply numerous services such as subtitling, voice-over translation and dubbing for TV news, game shows, documentaries and movies Translations have increasingly been in demand by the broadcasting industry „Cha nấy.‟ Cultural (PT6) equivalence (40) Throw a spat to catch a „Thả tép, bắt Cultural herring tôm‟ (PT6) equivalence C1(7): (41) The emotional stress Tâm bệnh đáng sợ Cultural Inappropriate was harder than the physical đau đớn thể xác (PT4) translation of strain C1(6): (39) Like father like son Inappropriate translation of idioms equivalence proverbs C1(8): Under- (42) So he called up Rick Vì vậy, ơng gọi cho translation and Baker to it with make-up chuyên gia trang điểm inaccurate instead Rick Baker hóa trang Addition cho diễn viên (PT5) identification of proper name/ entity (43) this beloved film Bộ phim yêu adaptation of Diana Wynne thích chuyển thể từ Jones novel … tiểu thuyết tác giả Addition Diana Wynne Jones… (PT2) (44) From the brilliant mind từ trí tuệ tuyệt vời of Ian Fleming… nhà văn Ian Fleming… (PT2) 107 Addition (45) Is it an awesome way to Đó cách báo hiệu tell us that a T-Rex is cho biết coming khủng long ăn thịt/ Addition T-rex đến (PT1) C1(9): (46) And if a clown falls Nếu té ngã Inappropriate over in a forest and nobody rừng mà chẳng translation of laughs, does he still get thấy để cười cả, ironies paid? trả cơng Explanation làm trị chứ? (PT3) C1(10): (47) 'Singing in the Rain's' Điệu nhảy dùng đạo cụ “Meaning- Confusing umbrella is a wonderful ô driven” proper names song and dance version of phim “Khúc hát translation/ with content this mưa” trở thành free translation phiên ca vũ tuyệt words vời (PT5) C2: Inappropriate translation caused by TL cultural background inadequacy 108 C2(1): Informality and overgeneraliza tion of personal pronouns/ objectives in translating short documentary videos (48) But where would we be … thiếu Paraphrasing if we didn't mention the sót khơng đề cập and original trilogy's practical đến hiệu ứng thực tế reconstruction effects? ba phim gốc (PT5) (49) Check it out, there‟s no Mời quý vị (và Addition bạn) kiểm chứng, computer here khơng có can thiệp/trợ giúp máy tính (PT3) (50) Right, just kidding it's (Omitted) (PT1) Omission (without making information loss or causing ambiguity) 109 (51) Every effect is hand- Mọi hiệu ứng Transposition modeled by (Rob) Bottin Bottin ê-kíp and his team… mình/ ơng ấy) thực thủ công (PT5) C2(2): Failure (52) „Star War: A New “Chiến tranh in translating Hope‟ Explanation sao”, phần phim “Niềm hi vọng mới” titles (PT5) C2(3): (53) …to model that first … nhằm dựng mơ hình Unchanged Star Destroyer at 50 feet tàu Star Destroyer measurement long Localization với độ dài khoảng 15 mét (PT3) units and other specifically social details from SL to TL (54) Monitoring your weight Theo dõi cân nặng is difficult when it can điều khó khăn fluctuate three to five pounds dao động từ đến hai kilogram in a single day ngày (PT3) 110 Localization (55) Drink a lot of water – Hãy uống nhiều nước, 10 8-ounce glasses a day khoảng 10 cốc 250 ml Localization ngày (PT3) (56) a child or adult's Nếu nhiệt độ temperature is over 103 đứa trẻ người lớn degrees, see a doctor 39 độ C, nên Localization khám bác sĩ (PT3) (57) Call 911 if your child Hãy gọi 115/ xe cứu Localization thương bạn bị gets hurt badly thương nghiêm trọng (PT3) Rendition Errors R1: Too lengthy and/or redundant rendering (58) If you're thinking Đó phim “Kẻ cắp Paraphrasing Inception, that's a good giấc mơ” với thiết kế and guess, because the fight võ thuật đáng kinh reconstruction choreography in the hallway ngạc phân cảnh sequence is absolutely đánh hành lang astounding (PT5) 111 (59) any soccer mom with tự Replacement iMovie could probably tạo video không create a home video Stargate gian ảo nhà với ứng montage dụng Imovie R2: Misinterpreting the source languge Misinterpreting by (60) We want to honor Chúng muốn đề cập Faithful mishearing things, items, objects, đến đạo cụ translation stuff… đồ vật… Misinterpreting by misunderstanding (61) If you're on a Nếu tên bạn đứng đầu first-name basis with danh sách all the UPS guys or can anh chàng làm name every pitch nhiệm vụ chuyển phát person on the Shopping nhanh chí Network… đặt tên cho người Mạng Mua Sắm có lẽ bạn mắc phải vấn đề chi tiêu (PT3) 112 Faithful translation PLAGIARISM CHECKING REPORT Viper Plagiarism Scan Plagiarism Report For '4 CHAPTER 1-5.docx' Document Text: MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING TV PROGRAMS IN ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE: A STUDY AT LAM DONG RADIO - TELEVISION STATION Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 1741900025 By NGUYEN LE UYEN MINH Supervised by NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, PHD Matching Content 0.59       0.22 % https://subsaga.com/bbc/childrens/octonauts/series-1/20-the-snot-seacucumber.html , 0.10 % https://www.ijser.org/paper/Investigating-Some-Lexical-problems-inEnglish Arabic-Translation-Confronted-by-Undergraduate-Students-andProposing-Solutions-for-them.html , 0.08 % http://www.data.ulis.vnu.edu.vn/jspui/bitstream/123456789/432/1/Thesis_Bach AnhHong_K13B.doc , 0.07 % https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/translation-shiftsin-students-translated-texts-english-language-essay.php , 0.06 % https://www.slideshare.net/YuliaPutri/error-analysis-summary , 0.06 % https://es.scribd.com/doc/40524289/Non-Equivalent-Binh 113 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING REPORT ON MASTER’S THESIS REVISION Student name: Nguyen Le Uyen Minh Student code: 1741900025 Thesis title: Difficulties in Translating TV Programs in English into Vietnamese: A Study at Lam Dong Radio-Television Station Academic supervisor: Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PhD N0 Comments Revision Re-writing Abstract This study examined the difficulties in translating TV programs in English into Vietnamese and the possible solutions The project involved a multidisciplinary study of audiovisual translation; in particular, voice-over translation that was undertaken with a mixed methodology including a descriptive model of content analysis and structured interviews The framework linked translation difficulties and translation errors as a causal relationship The translation difficulties were 114 associated with the factors that caused translation errors The proposition with three ramifications of linguistic, cultural and rendition categories and their subsets were a grid to spot and parse these errors The research was conducted with the content analysis of the translation tasks assigned to the translation trainees and structured interviews with the professional translators at Lam Dong Radio-Television Station The results revealed the most prominent translation errors that the translation trainees committed while doing the tasks of translation were linguistic errors (73.2%), followed by rendition errors (14.6%), and cultural errors (13.6%), respectively The sources of these errors found in this thesis included absence of English equivalents, a lack of linguistic proficiency, and inadequacy of cultural knowledge from SL and TL The findings might be a parameter of skill-training for the futuristic voice-over translation for TV programs [199 words] It is suggested that some information in the “Background section” should 1.2 Problem Statement Translation is a hard work to and voice-over translation is even more be moved to the “Problem challenging Most of the students from Dalat University have encountered hardships with this kind of work because it is very different from what they studied statement” section at school Many more complaints have come from the translator-supervisors when the waystages are working within internships Some blunders sometimes make TV 115 audiences think the programs are translated by translation software Several translated programs use far too many words and complicated vocabulary that the typical audiences not understand Modern TV onlookers seek relaxation and information in TV shows or movies, but inappropriate translations may annoy them These shortcomings should be eliminated if LTV wants to retain its viewers who struggle to catch on to the content and lose trust in the competence of the translators The high demand of translations and the requirement of TV show quality force the translators to consistently strive These changes and improvement are goals of the Program Department Moreover, there is no doubt that the translation staff has faced challenges during their work because of linguistic and cultural barriers The most obvious linguistic crisis is the constant alternation of vocabulary The difficulties seem to be a … has untouched Rewriting aims This study aims to identify and analyze translation difficulties so that PTs and TRs at LTV can avoid errors and achieve a correct translation of source text in 116 Vietnamese to improve TV program quality Swapping research questions (1) What translation errors the translation trainees make in translating TV and programs in English into Vietnamese? (2) What are the difficulties that the professional translators and the translation trainees at Lam Dong Radio-Television station encounter in translating TV programs in English into Vietnamese? Complementing the citation for The concept of the voice-over translation is based on Cintas‟ (2003) study voice-over translation Conceptual in Framework (chapter 2, p 40) 117 Moving substance errors from Table 2.2 rendition errors to syntactic/ Types of Translation Errors partially adopted from the above scholars‟ classification syntax errors; adding misinterpreting the text to rendition errors source Linguistic Errors L1: Lexical errors L2: Syntactic/ syntax errors (wrong word orders, wrong sentence structures, substance errors (e.g., incorrect spelling, typing, punctuation, and capitalization.) Cultural Errors C1: Inappropriate translation by SL cultural background inadequacy C2: Inappropriate translation by TL cultural background inadequacy Rendition Errors R1: Too lengthy and/or redundant rendering R2: Misinterpreting the source text 118 Adding Vietnamese research to Chapter (p 37) Adding translation studies in Vietnam in the Review of In Nguyen Thị Thu Hang and Trieu Thu Hang‟s (2014) studies, they already related research (Section 2.6, emphasized Vietnamese-English translation errors made by second year Chapter 2, p 37) translation-major students, but there is a glaring dearth of literature when considering the sample of translation trainees in this occupation Describing the criteria of Adding more details to Section 3.4.1 (Chapter 3, p 45) comparing TRs‟ translations An evaluator cannot totally enable to judge on how a good or a bad translation is and PT‟s translations Translation quality judgments depend on a wide range of matters that the criticism emanates from comparative process of translation versions and arguments The reasons for choosing PTs samples to be the criterion for the translation comparation are that they have been certificated in the English-major and worked in the translation discipline for long time Experience seemingly equipped PTs more knowledge and skills in translation tasks than TRs did Their translation outcomes have been approved by an editor board with some members who were highlytrained in translation and journalism The use of some terms should Using consistently some terms such as linguistic difficulties, linguistic errors, be consistent translation trainees, professional translators… 119 10 Adding translation difficulties Adding Section 4.4.2 (Chapter 4, p 83) in “Discussion” section 4.4.2 Translation difficulties and translation errors as a cause-and-effect relationship Translation difficulties were divided into linguistic difficulties and cultural difficulties as seen in the PTs‟ interviews The findings came to a conclusion that the difficulties as well as the source of these errors founded in this thesis included absence of English equivalents, a lack of linguistic proficiency, and inadequacy of cultural knowledge from SL / TL and negligence It proves that two research questions had a cause-and-effect relationship That means, the translation difficulties impact the process of doing translation tasks that caused the translation errors The translation errors may lead to misunderstanding and no communication that the receptors cannot receive the transmitted message 11 Section 4.4.3 is about Moving PT’s recommendations from Chapter to Chapter (from p 83 to p 85) Recommendations (p 83) It should be moved to Chapter 12 Grammar and spelling Correcting all errors 120 I hereby state that the comments given by members of the Examination Committee have been taken in full consideration and necessary revisions have been made under the supervision of the Academic Supervisor Hochiminh City, June 2019 Student: _Nguyen Le Uyen Minh Academic supervisor: Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PhD Dean of Faculty of English Language: _Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PhD 121 ... programs in English into Vietnamese? (2) What are the difficulties that the translation trainees at Lam Dong RadioTelevision station encounter in translating TV programs in English into Vietnamese? ... translating English into Vietnamese is a big challenge Translating voice-over TV programs is even more demanding Machine translators cannot accurately replace humans Google Translate or translation... foreign language translation at Lam Dong Radio- Television Station The Radio and Television Station of Lam Dong province (LTV henceforth) is one of the sixty-seven radio and television institutes at