The effects of english and vietnamese culture on translation process

DECLARATION I hereby declare that no part of the enclosed Master Thesis has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, 15-11- 2013 Approved by Dr Nguyen Dang Suu Candidate Nguyen Thi Hien i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT During the process of writing this graduation paper I have received a lot of useful guidance and instruction First of all I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Dang Suu who has given me valuable suggestion and enthusiastic instruction in the time I carry out this paper My sincere thanks also go to Dean and all lecturers at Faculty of Post Graduate Study for their constructive ideas and assistance Apart from that, I would like to express my special thanks to my friends who gave me great support and kindness with the interesting and valuable materials Finally, I am deeply indebted my parents for their great encouragement and support during my study at Hanoi Open University Nguyen Thi Hien ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii THE EFFECTS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE CULTURE ON TRANSLATION PROCESS PART A: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY .1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study .2 Research question Scope of the study .3 Methods of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THERIOTICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Overview of translation studies 1.1.1 The concepts of translation 1.1.3 Translation’s process .8 1.2 Overview of culture ***** .9 1.2.1 Overview of Vietnamese culture 10 1.2.2 Overview of Western culture 14 1.2.3 The relation between culture and language 17 1.2.4 The role of culture in translating foreign language 19 1.2.5 Overview of cross-culture 20 1.3 Researches so far 21 1.4 Summary of chapter: 21 CHAPTER II: METHODS AND PROCEDURE 22 2.1 Aims of the research 22 iii 2.2 Research Design 22 2.3 Method of research 23 2.3.1 Data Source .23 2.3.2 Methods and Technique of Collecting and Analyzing Data .24 2.4 Summary of chapter 24 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25 3.1 Some cultural differences between English and Vietnam .25 3.1.1 The cultural background of Vietnam 26 3.1.2 The cultural background of English 28 3.1.3 The differences between English culture and Vietnamese culture 29 3.2 Exotic value 30 3.3 Effects of culture on translation process 34 3.3.1 The effects of culture on translation at word level .36 3.3.2 The effects of culture on translation at phrase level 43 3.4 Conclusion of chapter 51 CHAPTER IV: SOME TYPICAL EXAMPLES UNDER CULTURE’S VIEW 52 4.1 Obama’s inauguration speech 52 4.2 Blast snatches breadwinner from family 55 4.3 G-20 Leaders Tighten Grip on Banks 56 4.4 My Bubble Burst Again 57 4.5 Localities prevail state regulation 58 4.6 Bush Administration Urges Congress to Back Trade Ties With Vietnam .59 4.7 Theory of translation- Cultural Untranslatability .59 4.8 Other examples 61 PART C: CONCLUSION .64 Recapitulation 64 Limitations of the study 65 Suggestion for further study 65 REFERENCES 66 iv THE EFFECTS OF ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE CULTURE ON TRANSLATION PROCESS PART A: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Rationale of the study First of all, I would like to tell a story relating to the reason why I choose this title to research in my graduation paper In a letter to her Vietnamese boyfriend, an oversea student wrote: “He is a real John Bull” to tell about her boss However, the boy doesn’t think so, he thinks that the girl has had new boyfriend named John Bull so he doesn’t reply the girl’s letter Days passed by, they separated in the doubt of the girl Evidently, the girl said that saying because she knows English culture very well, “He is a real John Bull” means “He is a real English gentleman”, but the boy didn’t know that, he insisted that the girl was appraising a man, John Bull In this case, no one can be blamed for; it’s just because of cultural differences Based on the above example it is obvious that culture is very important, if translators not understand deeply the cultural differences between two nations, they will easily get confused and misunderstanding while translating In Vietnam, there has been a growing concern about the quality of translations Some have been called by prestigious translators as “disaster of the translation art” Indeed, the practice of translation is not only a craft, but also a science and an art, which needs to be constantly improved with a view to bringing the Vietnamese mass culture to a new height Particularly, English is the language of billions of documents available in all fields, academic or popular Therefore, it is hardly surprising that many scholars and lecturers of translation at universities have spared no efforts to work on the frequently seen types of mistakes in translation as well as techniques translators may employ to avoid them They devote their lives to find out and resolve common pitfalls that make a translation unnatural and sometimes even incomprehensible At present time, in the information technology era and global economic integration, English has been considered a bridge to link the countries all over the world Consequently, communication in English is indispensable demand of human beings However, it is very difficult for learners to apply English fluently in real communication with foreigners, especially for the learners who have the different culture with the one of the language they are studying, like Vietnamese culture Most of the English learners pay attention only to the development of the language skills but not to the culture of the language they are studying That is the main reason I choose this topic to my graduation research, “The effects of English and Vietnamese culture on translation and students’ mistakes when learning translation” I hope that this paper, to some extent, will help English learners understand more and pay more attention to the culture in the translation process Once the English learners understand clearly and profoundly the sourcelanguage as well as the target-language cultures, they will know how to deal with some difficult situations, find out some mistakes and choose the best translation in their learning process Aims of the study As a matter of fact, each language fills with its invisible cultural background that we hardly take notice of it in translation In the translation process, many misunderstandings as well as some difficulties are caused by differences of language This gives rise to confusion for the interlocutors However, it is just the differences of culture which can be considered the greatest barrier Our society is getting developed day by day; the needs of translation also become more and more complicated People gradually realize that studying of translation and cross-cultural translation is very necessary for everyone Therefore, the objective in my study is to help the English learners know and understand more profoundly about the importance of culture in study English as a foreign language Research question Consequently, one main question will be investigated: What are the effects of English and Vietnamese culture to the translation process? Scope of the study Language and culture in translation activities are very wide fields that require a lot of time to study Because of the limitation of time, my graduation paper cannot cover all the aspects of this issue Therefore, the writer focuses on researching the culture, translation and cross-cultural translation focusing on the differences between two culture and find out some students’ mistake when learning translation to choose the best ones Methods of the study This study mainly based on scientific theories about culture and translation, I have to collect materials and find the most suitable ones to systematize as well as analyze them The main methods of the study are: Firstly, descriptive method is used to describe and make a general overview of culture and translation Secondly, statistic method is used to gather information about culture and translation, apart from that giving the study point of view of this thesis Also, survey method is used as a technique of gathering data from students by their own translation some sentences to find out mistakes and how to improve it Thirdly, contrastive method is used to figure out the differences between English and Vietnamese culture to give their effects to the translation Design of the study To gain the above aims and the logical systematical paper, my graduation paper is divided into three parts and a reference: The first part introduces the rationales, the aims, the scopes, the methods and the design of the study The second part includes four chapters as follow: Chapter Literature Review which gives general theory relating to the research maters: overview of translation, translation methods, language, culture, cross culture Chapter Methodology and Procedures includes an overview of data as well as the methodology that were used in analyzing the effects of culture on translation base on some typical culture view Chapter Finding and discussion: Some cultural differences between English and Vietnam and the effects of culture on translation Chapter some typical examples under culture’s view The third part is the conclusion, which gives the summary of the whole study and gives some suggestions for further study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THERIOTICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Overview of translation studies 1.1.1 The concepts of translation Translation is the transmittal of written text from one language into another one Although the terms translation and interpretation are often used interchangeably, by strict definition, translation refers to the written language, and interpretation to the spoken word Translation is the action of interpretation of the meaning of a text, and subsequent production of an equivalent text, also called a translation, that communicates the same message in another language The text to be translated is called the source text, and the language it is to be translated into is called the target language; the final product is sometimes called the "target text." The purpose of translation is the establishment a relation of equivalence of content between the source and target texts, i.e to ensure that both texts have the same message, while taking into account a number of constraints including context, languages’ grammar, conventions, idioms, styles… “Translation Studies” (Hoang Van Van, 2000, p.5) quoted some definitions of translation as follows: “Translation consists of producing in the target language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, firstly with respect to meaning and secondly with respect to style” (Nida & Taber 1974) According to Cartford (1965) “Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in another language (target language)” “Translation as the process of conveying message across linguistic and cultural barrier is an eminently communicative activity, one whose use could well be considered in a wider range of teaching situations than may currently be the case” (Tudor, cited in Duff, 1989) “Translating is the transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text in different language retaining as far as possible the content of the message, and the formal features and the roles of the original text” (Bell, 1991, p.13) The above mentioned definitions indicate that a translation must maintain the ideas and the style of the original It should be read as a contemporary of the original and it may add or omit from the original We have seen that even within a single language there are a great variety of ways in which form expresses meaning Only when a form is being used in its primary meaning or function is there a one-to-one correlation between form and meaning The other meanings are secondary meanings or figurative meanings Words have these extended meanings and in the same way grammatical forms have extended usages Each language has its own distinctive forms for representing the meaning Therefore, in translation, the same meaning may have to be expressed in another language by very different forms To translate the form of one language literally according to the corresponding form in another language would often change the meaning, or at least result in a form which is unnatural in the second language Meaning must, therefore, have priority over form in translation It is meaning that is to be carried over from the source language to the receptor language, not the linguistic forms Unless the source language and the receptor language are closely related languages, from the same language family, it is not likely that there will be much correspondence of form between the source text and the translation The nature of language is that each language uses different forms and these forms have secondary and figurative meanings which add further complications Apart from the translation concepts of Nida and Taber, Catford, Hatmann and Stock, Dubois, Wiss, Tudor, Hatim and Masson and Bell, I am looking closely at the following: Firstly I would like to discuss the first sentence in the inauguration: “My fellow citizens” ” If this phrase is addressed to Americans, it should be translated into Vietnamese as “Thưa toàn thể nhân dân Mỹ” If the listeners are Vietnamese, it should be translated as “Kính thưa đồng bào nước” or “Thưa quốc dân, ñồng bào” like the Declaration for Independence of Ho Chi Minh in Viet Nam Why should translator translate this way? It’s just because Vietnamese have a legend that Vietnamese are sibs of the same womb with the common parents: Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ “Đồng bào” is a borrowed word from Chinese; it means “the same womb” As mentioned in the chapter 3, in Vietnamese culture respects the elders of the family, the high position of the society, the order in the family as well as in society are deeply respected, that’s why translator should use the word “Kính thưa” This word expresses the speaker’s respect to readers or listeners Besides, President Obama used the word “fellow” because the USA is said to be a democratic nation, and everyone is equal, and no one is servant or boss Why did Obama use the word “citizen” but not “cultizen”? It’s just the difference between two cultures American is an industrial city, so the people living in the city will be called citizen In contrast, Vietnam with the typical feature of wet rice agriculture, most of them are farmers; hence, they are called “cultizen” When translating this sentence, translator must choose the right word in order to be reasonable with expected culture Followings are some paragraphs expressing the typical features of English: */ “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness” Once again, Scripture and the God are symbols of a Catholic country Western people respect and completely trust on Christ and Bible They totally obey every ideology of Jesus In this paragraph, the thought that everyone is equal is repeated This means that they have emphasized and evaluated the human right for a long 53 time This idea was mentioned in Independence of American, France and Viet Nam The nomadic people, due to the commercial life, tend to think highly of equality and justice In this paragraph, features of Western culture cannot be applied to Vietnamese because “God” is the typical culture of Western countries while Vietnamese only trust and obey the advice of “Buddha-Đức Phật” and “President Hồ Chi Minh” Therefore God should be kept and translated into “Đức Chúa” -> Suggested translation: “Tuy quốc gia non trẻ, theo lời Kinh Thánh, ñã tới lúc phải biết gác lại điều nơng Đã đến lúc cần tái khẳng ñịnh tinh thần kiên nhẫn, ñể có lịch sử tốt đẹp hơn, để chuyển tiếp quà quý giá ý tưởng cao thượng vốn ñược truyền từ hệ sang hệ khác: lời hứa Chúa trao người bình đẳng, tự do, có hội mưu cầu hạnh phúc” */ “For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers” It was given in the “Culture characteristics of UK” There are many religions in these countries including Jews, Hindu, Muslims, Christians and even nonbelievers and these are main religions which not exist in Viet Nam Viet Nam is an Oriental country; Buddist, Taoist, Confucian’ ideology are main religions in Viet Nam Jews, Hindu, Muslims and Christians must be translated into “Thiên Chúa Giáo and Hồi Giáo, Do Thái and Ấn giáo” Most of Western countries are shaped by every language and culture, the author has reminded everyone of their origins, they gathered from many different places founding a united nation (United Kingdom, United State) Therefore, they have a diversified language and multinational culture -> Suggested translation: “Bởi biết di sản mà thừa kế sức mạnh khơng phải yếu đuối Chúng ta dân tộc gồm người Thiên Chúa Giáo Hồi Giáo, Do Thái Ấn giáo, người không tôn giáo 54 Obama’s inauguration speech is a popular and valuable speech over the world through which readers have good knowledge about a powerful United Nation It have been shown in the speech that, America is in the crisis but they have power and they all will unite and stand together to overcome the crisis to prove their strength The most valuable in the speech is that the writer is so clever in the use of speech, use of words in order to express his implication Language he used has combined with his nation’s culture in harmony, gained the best effect That’s the reason why the speech is so popular; it can be compared with the oath of expresident in America 4.2 Blast snatches breadwinner from family (http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/blast-snatches-breadwinner-fromfamily/342310/ May 6, 2009) “He said: “Vijay was the sole breadwinner in the family and no one knows who will now take care of his wife Sangeeta (25), their two daughters Reshma (8months-old), Rohini (5), son Piysuh (2) and his parents “Due to poor financial conditions, he was unable to send Rohini to school, but was looking forward to sending both Piyush and Rohini to school next year Now, that's all over.” he said” We all know that English agriculture is different from the wet rice agriculture in Vietnam The chief grain crops are cereal which is suitable to British dry cold climate such as wheat, barley; hops and the main food are bread “Breadwinner” is used to refer to a primary ability or basic function, which is central or fundamental to one's business, survival, or income Meanwhile, rice is the main food in wet-rice culture like Vietnam In order to express this meaning, to the Vietnamese culture, “breadwinner” should be translated into “cần câu cơm, trụ cột gia đình, nguồn thu nhập chính, người kiếm cơm…” Besides, English people can use the proverb “bread and butter” to refer to the important matter For example, an election campaign may say "Our focus is going to be on bread-and-butter issues." -> Suggested translation: “Ông cho biết: “Vijay trụ cột gia đình chẳng biết chăm sóc cho vợ Sangêta (25 tuổi), ñứa 55 gái Reshma tháng tuổi, Rohini tuổi, đứa trai Piysuh tuổi cịn bố mẹ đây?” Ơng nói thêm: “Do điều kiện tài khó khăn, khơng thể cho Rohini ñi học ñược hy vọng Piyush Rohini ñược ñi học vào năm tới tất chấm dứt rồi.” 4.3 G-20 Leaders Tighten Grip on Banks (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122679484106131155.html May 6) */ “President George W Bush, U.K Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the other G-20 leaders vowed to take the necessary steps spending programs, tax cuts or interest-rate reductions to restart a global economy teetering on the edge of recession” There are three words “President” in this paragraph which may confuse the translator As analyzed in the chapter 3, translator must define which political regime the country is in order to have suitable translation Like Vietnam, China is a democratic country so Chinese President is translated into Chủ Tịch but in US and France “President” is translated into Tổng thống -> Suggested translation: “Tổng thống Mỹ George W Bush, Thủ tướng Anh G Brown, Chủ tịch Trung Quốc Hồ Cẩm Đào, Tổng thống Pháp Nicolas Sarkozy với lãnh ñạo khác khối G20 cam kết có bước tiến cần thiêt kế hoạch chi tiêu, cắt giảm thuế hay lợi tức, để khơi phục kinh tế tồn cầu bờ suy thối” */ “The leaders embraced a renewed effort to unblock global trade talks and promised they will refrain from using commercial barriers to protect their own industries for the next 12 months "We agreed on the importance of rejecting protectionism," Mr Brown said "It is the first time that a meeting of world leaders has instructed ministers to come to an agreement and I think we will see an agreement in the next few weeks." The differences concerning time, place and source of news between English and Vietnamese is obvious For English News, the news source and time, dates are often put at the end of the sentence On the contrary, in Vietnamese they are 56 normally placed at the beginning of the sentence Moreover, the reporter or the spokesman is usually mentioned in the first place -> Suggested translation: “Các nhà lãnh ñạo ñang nỗ lực ñể mở lại ñàm phán thương mại toàn cầu, họ hứa thực ñược dỡ bỏ rào cản thương mại ñể bảo vệ cơng nghiệp vịng năm tới Ơng Brown cho biết “Chúng tơi trí vai trị quan trọng việc bảo vệ kinh tế Đây lần ñầu tiên họp nhà lãnh ñạo toàn giới ñã thuyết phục trưởng ñể ñi ñến thống cho vài tuần tới ñi ñược ñến thống nhất.” 4.4 My Bubble Burst Again (http://www.bipolarworld.net/Graham/graham16.htm/ may, 08, 2009) “Aren’t our roller coaster lives like that – one moment we are doing really well and things are looking up for us and then; bang, our bubble bursts and we are down into the depths of despair or up in the clouds of mania!” English people use the proverb “up in the clouds or down in the depths” to express someone’ plight It means that, anyone has the happy time and wealthy but someday, they can also be in the plight, coinless, broken or in desperation, sadness To English culture, the highest position is the clouds where no one can touch, and the lowest is the depths because Western countries always aware of the space and time In contrast with, in Vietnamese culture- culture of wet rice and animal breeding, in order to express this situation, Vietnamese think that the golden age of someone just is their happiest time, they have good salary, high position, and they have never had before At that time, they feel so lucky and happy, everything is so great Vietnamese will compare this time to an elephant, because elephant is the biggest animal in Viet Nam which has cushy life Also, there is no animal in such lowest position as the dog, so it is not respected and his life is often in difficulty Therefore, in this case “Up in the clouds or down in the depths” can be translated into “lúc lên voi xuống chó” 57 -> Suggested translation: “Phải đời thăng trầm vậy, hồn thành tốt cơng việc, dường thứ chờ đón phía trước, mà,… bùm… giấc mơ ñã tiêu tan Cuộc ñời lúc lên voi xuống chó.” 4.5 Localities prevail state regulation (http://ps2.27netneutralityandstates.pdf / May, 08, 2009) “Though Comcast – like another VoIP provider, Vonage locality, before it – will prevail in fighting back state regulation of its Internet voice service, that does not preclude a litigious road before certainty is achieved” This is the sentence describing the rules in the village which appears only in feudal country like Viet Nam Viet Nam has a village culture: Confucian values emphasis on hierarchy, family, social obligation, collectivism, harmony, loyalty and education A sense of obligation to the community, the obligation of individual group, and interpersonal relationships while Taoist values focus on the harmony between man and man; man and nature Vietnamese have a habit of taking care of others so carefully that foreigners think that Vietnamese are so curious but it is not in fact It is just due to the agriculture and community style Vietnamese society in thousands of years is an agricultural society; its culture is also agricultural one Families, relatives, villages have blended into a community That is the base of principle that appeared for a long, a long time, values of family and community is put above the personal interest In the village community, authority issue rules that everyone in the village has to obey State regulations and legal documents which are put into practice should be implemented through village conventions These conventions of village, sometimes, are more powerful than the law of the state Viet Nam is a feudal country and the most powerful is the King That’s why this sentence should be translated into “phép vua thua lệ làng ” This saying sounds negative but it has positive points Each village has its own features which bring about its strength Any outside factors which wants to be imported into village, have been adapted to the village rules 58 -> Suggested translation:”Mặc dù Comcast quyền Vonage hãng cung cấp VoIP khác trước ñi ngược lại quy ñịnh chung dịch vụ truyền qua internet khơng ngăn vụ kiện tụng định trước Đơi phép vua phải thua lệ làng.” 4.6 Bush Administration Urges Congress to Back Trade Ties With Vietnam (http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-07/2006-07-12) “The Bush administration is calling on Congress to approve normal trade relations with Vietnam Congress must endorse permanent normal trade relations with Vietnam before that country can join the World Trade Organization” The translator may get confused about this sentence if they not have good knowledge of the United State political regime There are some differences from the other countries In the United States, we use “Administration” to replace “Government”, and “Congress” to replace “National Assembly” or “Parliament” United State political regime is a multi party politics so the government will belong to the winner party It can not be called that “Chính phủ ơng Bush” but “Chính quyền ơng Bush However, Viet Nam has the sole party, when we mention the current party in Viet Nam, reader will know definitely which the party we are mentioning is In terms of political regime, American Congress has two senates: House of Lord and House of Common American Congress is called “Nghị Viện” or “Quốc hội”, meanwhile National Assembly in Viet Nam is only called “Quốc hội” not “Nghị Viện” -> Suggested text: “Chính quyền Bush kêu gọi quốc hội thơng qua việc bình thường hố quan hệ thương mại với Việt Nam Quốc hội phải tán thành việc bình thường hố vĩnh viễn quan hệ thương mại với Việt Nam trước Việt Nam gia nhập WTO.” 4.7 Theory of translation- Cultural Untranslatability (http://yeungon.org/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=10.0) */ “Men are prepared to go to extra ordinary lengths to get political power They will sacrifice health, comfort and domestic peace, up with almost unlimited 59 amounts of public criticism, and risk the humiliations and disappointment of defeat.” Translator should concentrate on saying “up with almost unlimited amounts of public criticism” Vietnamese have a habit of taking care of others so carefully, it is said that they interfere into other’s business so much resulting critics which annoyed others In this situation, the saying should be translated into “những lời trích, bàn tán vào bàn dân thiên hạ” -> “Những người chuẩn bị vào thời gian thử thách để nắm quyền trị phải hy sinh sức khoẻ, thảnh thơi tinh thần, n bình, fải đối mặt với vơ vàn lời trích, bàn tán vào bàn dân thiên hạ, lời lăng nhục thất vọng bị thất bại” * “Why did you believe him when he said he wasn't married?” asked Mary “Because”, replied Pamela, “he was so good-looking and well-dressed, and had such a nice voice” ''All that glitters is not gold'’, Mary reminded her The saying “All that glitters are not gold” means that, you should not look at the outside to evaluate and review something Western countries with the commercial economy, they use the image of gold to express this idea On other hand, Viet Nam is an agricultural country; they express this idea by many ways -> “Mary hỏi: “Sao mày lại tin lời chưa có vợ?” Pamela đáp lại: “Vì người khả ái, ăn mặc lịch giọng nói thật ngào” Mary nhắc nhở Pamela: “Đừng có tưởng đỏ chín” */ “Why are you writing science fiction”, asked the friend of an author, 'instead of the historical novels you used to write? “Because”, replied the author, science fiction has become very popular and “I'm making hay while the sun shines.” “I'm making hay while the sun shines” means that someone takes advantage of an opportunity “Hay” means the dried grass- typical symbol of nomadic countries- which is used for animal food When it’s sunny, grass will be dried quickly, we can save time and dry grass effectively In this saying, translator should rephrase the meaning of the sentence 60 -> “Một người bạn hỏi tác giả: “Sao ông lại viết truyện viễn tưởng khoa học tiểu thuyêt lịch sử ông thừơng viết?” Tác giả trả lời: “Vì viễn tưởng khoa học phổ biến, muốn tận dụng hội ñể viết.” */ “I applied for a fortnight's holiday, but we've so short-handed that they'd only give me a week Still, half a loaf's better than no bread.” As mentioned above, bread is the main food in the Western countries This saying is used to indicate that, bread is very useful; it is better than having no bread Translator should re-express the meaning of the sentence in this paragraph -> “Tơi nộp đơn xin nghỉ nửa tháng chúng tơi ñang vội nên họ cho nghỉ 10 ngày Dù méo mó có khơng” 4.8 Other examples The above examples I have given are the examples of Vietnamese culture’s impact on translation In this part I would like to present some more relating to the Vietnamese ideology which also has a great effect on translation During implementation of this paper I have read a lot and got some knowledge materials, books, magazine or internet, I got some information which in my opinion will help improve my translation skill There is an “East sea” which Vietnamese named Biển Đông because it is located in the East of Viet Nam However, its international name is the “South of China Sea” In the same way, Đông Dương peninsular with an international name Indochina due to the fact that this land is between Indonesia and China, whereas, Vietnamese often call the land Đông Dương peninsular because the land stay by side of South of China Sea Western countries often prefer “mile” to “kilometer” as their habit in the daily life On the contrary,Vietnamese people prefer mentioning time to distance For example: * “It’s miles from my house to school” -> Từ nhà ñến trường 3km * “It’s 90 miles from Ha Noi to Ha Long, about hours driving” -> Từ Hà Nội ñến Hạ Long 150km”, xe tơ khoảng tiếng đồng hồ 61 Viet Nam is an agricultural country with over 80% of the population living on agriculture It’s easier for farmers to use “span” rather than “mét” as the unit of measurement Farmers are in favor of concrete thought than abstract thought They not concern how long one “met” is, but it’s easy for them to know how long 10 spans are Western people often use the measurement “dozen”, meanwhile, Vietnamese use the measurement “chục” Therefore, Western people will say “half dozen” to express the meaning “gần chục” In the article “Vietnam’s invasion to Cambodia” from website: http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/jan7.htm, an argument appears: “Was it "liberation" or "invasion" of Cambodia by the Vietnamese Arm Forces” for many (not all) of those who have lived through and managed to survive the Khmer Rouge's regime between 1975 and 1979 certainly share the feeling about Vietnam's role as "liberator" of Cambodia Understandably, for some who have not personally suffered under the Khmer Rouge's regime may think otherwise Depending upon whom you ask this simple question, Vietnam can be either a "liberator" or an "invader" of Cambodia With the goodwill of Viet Namese government and people, it should be translated in to “VN tinh nguyen sang giup Campuchia” However, in the Viet Nam war, when American sent troops to Viet Nam, they had the intention to occupy Viet Nam in order that Viet Nam would become one of their colonies so in the “Invaders for Covert Operations in Vietnam” from “http://home.att.net/~jbaugher4/a26_29.html”, American should be translated into “invader” Another example, when the puppet government in Southern Vietnam collapsed in 1975, it was said that Viet Nam was totally liberalized That’s why “Southern Vietnam collapsed” should be translated into “Miền Nam giải phóng” In English, passive voice is often used, for instant: “It’s said that; It’s believed that; It’s known that…” However, Vietnamese not feel comfort when saying a passive voice, translator should translate this kind of sentence into an active voice by the words “Người ta bảo rằng, có người nói rằng/ cho rằng…” 62 Moreover, the proverb “To carry coal to Newscastle” is a cultural proverb This implies that Newcastle has much of coal, so it’s wasteful to carry coal to Newcastle, meaning that somebody does irrelevant job This is the symbol of London, but in Viet Nam, forest resources are very rich, wood is always available in the forest Like the implication in English, it’s wasteful to carry wood to the forest Therefore, in the translation, translator should pay attention to the meaning of the sentence to transfer the meaning suitable to the cultural context of the target language text * Summary of chapter: These are obviously some typical examples showing the effects of culture on the translation process On other hand, the effect of culture is also expressed in the field of communication, proverbs, idioms, etc that writer has not good opportunity to study in the paper, due to the limited time A notice to take into consideration is that the Vietnamese cultural characters which must be paid much attention to Based on the above-mentioned, the effects of culture on translation will properly dealt with in accordance with Vietnamese culture 63 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation Obviously, it is undeniable for us to realize the interaction and interrelation between language and culture They are two separated parts of a whole Language serves as a bridge linking us to a new society, new knowledge, and new culture If people are sharing the some culture, their communication may have no obstacle However, apart from positive aspects, culture sometimes causes trouble for the learners due to the differences between cultural backgrounds of each country Especially, it becomes more important for the translator to comprehend the author’s meaning in order to transfer the text reasonably in the translation process It is, therefore, necessary for English learners to be equipped with back ground knowledge of the culture so that they can overcome culture barrier and achieve the best translation Translation is not just a movement between two languages but also between two cultures Cultural transposition is present in all translation as degrees of free textual adaptation departing from maximally literal translation, and involves replacing items whose roots are in the SL culture with elements that are indigenous to the TL The translator exercises a degree of choice in his or her use of indigenous features, and, as a consequence, successful translation may depend on the translator's command of cultural assumptions in each language in which he or she works Decisions about translating names provide good examples of this It can be concluded that theoretically a text which is embedded in its culture is both possible and impossible to translate into other languages If practicality is considered first, however, every translation is possible To close, it is suggested that the translator considered the procedures explained above to translate culturally-bound words or expressions My graduation paper is presented carefully and logically by the following order: The first chapter of the Graduation paper is the overview of all aspects of culture and language as well as some remarkable concepts relating to the subject 64 The second chapter is an exploration about analysis of the differences between British and Vietnamese cultural characteristics cross culture, the key issues of translation are presented and examined carefully to find out the basic points of the subject in the work Moreover, some notes about the effects of English and Vietnamese culture on the translation are also mentioned in detail in this chapter The last chapter is an achievement of giving some typical examples to illustrate the content mentioned above These are detailed examples so the learners can learn some translation methods or avoidable problems to acquire the best translation as possible Limitations of the study Although the study is rather limited, it still points out differences between British and Vietnamese culture and some effects of culture on translation process Hopefully that taking into consideration my subject will partly help the English learners improve their awareness of the importance of cultural knowledge which improves their translating skills However, many matters are unsettled and mistakes and errors as well are unavoidable, every contribution is warmly welcomed in order that I can better my title Suggestion for further study For these above reasons, further research on this matter is very necessary And I hope that I myself can develop this topic if there is an opportunity For the better and further research in the future, the number of student should extend to have better data collection and analysis 65 REFERENCES English materials Bell, R.T (1991) Translation and Translating: Theory 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