Some features in the application of communicative translation on short stories

HO cm MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -roW0.J- GRADUATION PAPER SOME FEATURES IN THE APPLICATION OF COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION ON SHORT STORIES TV Dgi Hgc H;~it 1111111111111111111111 III III 101000671 II -, ADVISER: DR NGUYEN DUC CHAU STUDENT: NGUYEN THI MINH THI STUDENT NUMBER: 0271260 CLASS: BA0202 HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to my adviser, Dr Nguyen Duc Chau, who provided me with good materials and spent much time to read my manuscripts I own a particular debt to him for his invaluable help, advice and guidance I'd like to send my special gratitude to Ms Bui Thi Thanh Truc and Ms i;> Nguyen Thi Duc Tan for their initial encouragement They playa crucial role in helping me to choose the right adviser as well I'm also grateful to all my classmates in class BA0202 and other students in class BA0201 as well as class BA0302 My special thanks go to Loi, my close friend, for her priceless assistance I also would like to thank Phuc, Bac and Hanh in particularly for giving me a hand to deliver and collect the questionnaires I sincerely thank my beloved family who has given me a strong support and encouragement The final thanks go to the staff of the Department of Foreign Languages of Huflit University without whom I would not have had an opportunity to carry out this graduation paper EXAMINER'S COMMENTS - ABSTRACT Translation of short stories depends largely on various factors It's not an easy task for the translator of short stories to delve deeply into the author's thought to discover and transfer exactly the style of the story line as well as the intention of the writer This study attempts to present some of the difficulties that students majoring in interpretation they translate requirements English short stories and translation often face with when into Vietnamese, giving possible that students need to qualify and suggesting an appropriate method in English short stories translation Through questionnaire analysis and informal interviews, it's found out that students often have problems in language barrier, cultural aspects and the method chosen In order to overcome these difficulties, students are obligated to have good command of two languages, wide knowledge in the field they're translating, passion for their jobs and extensive daily practice Translating a short story from one language to another is too complicated and no one seems to provide a perfect translation to the original However, it's possible to choose an appropriate method that can result in a better version And communicative approach is considered to be the best method to applying and solving potential problems in short stories translation There's no doubt that the theories of translation and a clear-cut of the method applied sparkle with vitality because they are very necessary and always relevant to those who are interested in translation Beautiful English short stories have conquered the heart of millions people all over the world Understanding and enjoying literature works in general and short stories in particular is a proper demand of Vietnamese people This study tries to provide to some extent a clearer vision of the method used in short stories translation so that equivalences between the original text and the target language one could be maximized However, the truth is that few men are really qualified for this kind of job It's hoped that more and more translators would come to the field of short stories translation to investigate and offer fresh insights into this area of literature works, an aspect that is not only interesting but also difficult at the same time Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Cllau Graduation Paper Chapter INTRODUCTION Without a doubt, translation plays a crucial role in international relations, the growth of trade and tourism, the sharing of science and technology, the construction of cultures, national identities and ideologies It has an important contribution in human society Translation is the bridge that connects human beings all over the world by transferring messages across languages and cultural barriers In recent years, more and more researchers have come to the field of translating academic literature works in which short story is a vital part By doing so, they attempt to bring people closer together because "art and literature does not address itself exclusively to the intellect, instead, it directly addresses the whole of our souls, especially the world of our emotions which is the most familiar, also the most profound and most "human" aspect of life" (Nguyen Dinh Thi, in Nguyen Trung Tanh, 1997: 215) However, it's very rare for a translator to be able to produce an equal version to the original text, even though they are professional ones For students learning to translate, such texts often cause them a lot of difficulties They not only need to depend on the talents but also on their souls and spirits capable of compassion to create a translation that preserves as much as possible of the original information contained in the source text And it's clear that few students can obtain such qualifications As a result, they will permanently confront an abundance of all the obstacles in short stories translation The research questions of this study are: Student: Nguyen Tlli Minh Tlli Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Cltau Graduation Paper (1) What are the difficulties that students majoring in interpretation and translation often face with when they translate English short stories into Vietnamese? How to overcome these difficulties? (2) What are the requirements that students need to qualify in order to become a good translator of English short stories? (3) What are the best ways to approach an English short story and how to translate an English short story in a proper manner? Nowadays in Vietnam market, we can find numerous English- Vietnamese literary translation However, materials on each author deals with different aspects of literature and they have their own styles as well as points of views The focus of this study is on translating English short stories into Vietnamese only Due to the limitation of time and the lack of materials, it's unable to avoid making mistakes in this paper Moreover, poor experience of the researchers also makes it not very deeply studied I hope further research on this field could be studied more carefully This research paper begins with an introduction The next chapter is literature review It then continues to present the methodology in chapter The study is then followed by chapter with communicative translation for short stories And the final chapter is the conclusion Student: Nguyen Tlti Minlt Tlti Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW There are many different ideas about translation Susan Bassnett & McGuire (1980: 15) stated that translation study in English has devoted much time to the problem of finding a term to describe translation itself Some scholars, such as Theodore, Savory defined translation as an "art", others, such as Eric Jacobsen, defined it as a "craft", whilst others, perhaps more sensibly borrowed from the German and described it as a "science" Horst Frenz even went so far as to opt for art but with qualifications, claiming that translation is neither a creative art nor an imitative art, but stands somewhere between the two Also according to Susan Bassnett & McGuire (1980: 13), translation has been perceived as a secondary activity, as a "mechanical", rather than a "creative" process, within the competence of anyone with a basic grounding in a language other than their own; in short, as a low status occupation Conflicting attitudes towards translation has been for centuries and gradually there was a shift in the status of translation Randolph Quirk (in Susan Bassett & McGuire, 1980: 16) said, "Translation is one of the most difficult tasks that a writer can take upon himself" In general, translating any thought expressed in one language into another language is not a mechanical process Translation is rather a thoughtful understanding of the initial expression and very careful attempt to express that thought in the target language Danila Soleskovitch, a brilliant interpreter and writer has said: "Everything said in one language can Student: Nguyen Tid Minh Thi Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper be expressed in another - on condition that the two languages belong to cultures that have reached a comparable degree of development" However, Peter Newmark (1988: 6) disagreed with her and said, "The condition she makes is false and misleading Translation is an instrument of education as well as of truth precisely because it has to reach readers whose cultural and educational level is different from, and often "lower" or earlier, than that of the readers of the original" And in producing the target language text, "the translator changes its plane of expression (linguistic form) while its plane of content (meaning) should remain unchanged That's to sayan equivalent (target language) message should match the original in the plane of content" (Nguyen Tien Hung, 1986: 3) In general, more attention has been paid to the translation process and greater emphasis placed on "equal response" of the target language readers In literary translation, the matter is more complex because the process is effected by numerous variable factors, such as whether the translation should be source-language-oriented or target-language-oriented, or whether a given original should be adopted for certain pragmatic purposes Youngfang Volume Hu (The Socio-semiotic 4, No 4, Approach October 2004 ) and Translation [accessed of Fiction, April 2006], stated, "translation of fiction is much more complicated than the translation of other genres, as it deals not only with bi-lingual, but also bi-cultural and bi-social transference, including the entire complex of emotions, associations and ideas, which intricately relate different nations' languages to their lifestyles and traditions" Due to the' complexities of literary translation, not many good versions are produced In Vietnam, translation was probably formed in the 12th century during the Tran Dynasty when Nguyen Thuyen Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi encouraged and expanded the use of Graduation Paper Vietnamese Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau hieroglyphics Lately, the phonetic of rendering Vietnamese into the Roman alphabet was initiated and developed by Alexandre Rhodes priest, those poets and translators like Doan Thi Diem (born in 1705) and Tan Da Nguyen Khac Hieu (1989-1939) has produced consummate translations which were not a little bit inferior to the originals However, it's a pity that good translations are only a few and not those who are scholars that can result in masterpieces of translation Nguyen Van Tao in his book of Press Translation (1965) ran the scholars down because he supposed that these scholars have translated the Bible into Vietnamese in a clumsy manner Dr Duong Ngoc Dung, a brilliant literary translator and a professor at the University of Social Science & Humanities has criticized the Kieu story translation of Nguyen Van Vinh scholar into French for being lengthy and heavy, regardless of sound and rhythm (Deprived from Nguyen Due Chau, 2004: 25-27) However, whether the outputs are well translated or not, those should be appreciated for their efforts and contributions to the field of translation To some extent, translation of literature works in general and short stories in particular can be said as an eyeopener to readers for helping them to understand the outside world That's the reason why translation of short stories still has a large-scale social influence and more and more short storie s are being translated into different languages Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper glimpse of the black mass of the boat thily cai kh6i lli lli mau den cua lying in beside the quay wall, with tau, dang d~u ben cua be'n tau illumined portholes She answered voi nhil'ng a cua nhO chie'u sang Nang nothing She felt her cheek pale and khang tra Wi Nang earn thily hai rna cold and, out of the maze of distress, tai di va gia l,:!nh, long nang r6i rAm she prayed to God to direct her, to nhu tel va, nang du ChUa hay dua show her what was her duty The boat duong diin 16i cho nang, chi cho nang blew a long mournful whistle into the bie't nhi~m vI,! cua nang la gl Chie'c mist If she went, tomorrow she would thuy~n keo mQt h6i coi dai the luang be on the sea with Frank, steaming Ian suang quanh d~c Ne'u di, towards Buenos Ayres The passage mai nang se li~nh denh tren bi~n had been booked Could she still draw voi Frank, xuai thuy~n v~ Buenos back after all he had done for her? Her Ayres Chuye'n di da dUQc d~t truoc distress awoke a nausea in her body Nang can co th~ rut lui sau tilt ea and she kept moving her lips in silent nhil'ng gi rna anh da lam cho nang fervent prayer khang? Canh kh6n cling lam tr6i d~y long nang earn giac bu6n non va nang khang ngung milp may mai thffm du nguy~n A bell clanged upon her heqrt MQt tie'ng chuang lanh lanh dQi vao tim Nang earn thily anh dang nAm She felt him seize her hand: lily tay minh "f)i nao em! " "Come! " All tumbled the about seas of the her heart Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi world Hlnh anh tilt ea nhil'ng vling He was bi~n tren the' giOi hi~n h6n lo,:!n 55 Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper drawing her into them: he would tim nang Anh dil gieo vao long drown her She gripped with both nang nhling hinh anh d6: anh se lam hands at the iron railing d~m chim nang mllt th6i! Nang dung hai canh tay gili chi!.t Illy rao ch~n bang s~t "Come! " "Di nao em!" No! No! No! It was impossible KhOng! Kh6ng! Kh6ng! Kh6ng Her hands clutched the iron in frenzy th~ dUQc.Tay nang xie't chij.t Illy Amid the seas she sent a cry of s~t va danh gU'i theo tie'ng keu ng~m anguish ngui dau kh5 gilia bi~n "Eveline! Evvy!" "Eveline! Evvy em!" He rushed beyond the barrier Anh nhao h.ti phia rao ch~n va and called to her to follow He was g9i nang di theo Nguoi ta bet len bao shouted at to go on, but he still called anh phai tie'p tlJC cUQc hanh trlnh, to her She set her white face to him, nhung anh vh passive, like a helpless animal Her nhin anh voi khu6n mij.t dh, g9i nang Nang nguoc thlJ eyes gave him no sign of love or dQng nhu mQt v~t dang thuong farewell or recognition D6i m~t nang danh cho anh kh6ng chUa dl!ng mQt anh nhin nao clla tlnh yeu, clla chia ly hay clla nh~n thuc SOME SUGGESTIONS: In translating, equivalence at word level is the first element to be taken into consideration by the translator It's most insufficient for us to develop an approach to translation which can render the text quite freely so as to better convey the intended meaning We might make or suggest certain changes so "0 Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi 56 Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper that our translation works better, omitting or adding material or rewriting the text so it's more suitable for the target audience We should take particular care to ensure it's translated clearly, accurately, unambiguously, smoothly and \ contains no factual errors We should translate just as the bees make honey, not keeping the flowers but turning them into a sweetness of our own •: Source language: few people passed => Target language: duong vitng thua nguoi : Source language: but usually little Keogh used to keep nix => Target language: nhung be Keogh thuong khang tham gia vao cUQcchoi : Source language: to leave her home => Target language: roi bo t6 11mthan yeu cua nang : Source language: she tried to weigh each side of the question => Target language: nang c6 gitng can nMc th~t kI luang : Source language: she had shelter and food => Target language: nang co du~c noi an ch6n d : Source language: her place would be filled up by advertisement => Target language: vi tri cua nang se du~c quang cao tuySn nguoi lam thay the' : Source language: he said that she had no head, that he wasn't going to give her his hard-earned money to throw about the street => Target language: ang noi ding nang chhg co dfiu oc suy nghT g'i ca, ding ang se khang dua s6 ti€n m6 hOi nuCic mitt dS nang nem qua cua s6 " : Source language: keep the house together => Target language: giu cac vien gia d'inh ben Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi 57 L Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper : Source language: how well she remembered the first time she had seen him ~ Target language: nang nho nhu in lfin dfiu tien g~p anh : Source language: the evening deepened in the avenue ~ Target language: man dem tham u bao trum khu phD' : Source language: the white of the two letters in her lap grew indistinct ~ Target language: mau trifng C!hai buc thu long nang trC!nen melh6 : Source language: she had been laid up for a day ~ Target language: nang bt b~nh ph:ii nfim tren giuong milt mQt •: Source language: she knew the air ~ Target language: nang da: tUng reli vao hoan canh nhu the' : Source language: strange that it should come that very night ~ Target language: co di~u li,l la no li,li Mn dung vao cai dem d~c bi~t : Source language: the organ player had been ordered to go away and given sixpence ~ Target language: nguoi cheli dan ogan dUQccho sau xu va bt du6i khoi neli : Source language: as she mused the pitiful vision of her mother's life laid its spell on the very quick of her being-that life of commonplace sacrifices closing in final craziness Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi 58 Graduation Paper => Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Target language: nhln h.d cUQcdai x6t xa cua my, nang lien tu'dng se som Mn 1u' Target language: chie'c thuy~n keo mQt h6i coi dai the lu'dng Ian su'dng quanh dij.c : Source language: amid the seas she sent a cry of anguish => Target language: va danh gui theo tie'ng keu ng~m ngui dau kh6 giii'a bi~n Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi L 59 Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper Chapter CONCLUSION 5.1 Conclusion: The research includes principle parts The first important part is literature review that represents some outstanding viewpoints in the field of translation and interpretation as well as gives the general theory of translation The second one figures out the questionnaire analysis in which difficulties in English short stories translation and requirements for students are showed The last part is a few features in approaching and translating short stories and the translation application, which a short story of James Joyce named Eveline, is taken as a selection translators, the methods understanding clearer The translation of translating of literature observation theories bring basic knowledge short stories gives us a on the process of short stories translation Basing on for translating translation help us get better works and the selection translation analysis foundations, it's believed that communicative choice for English is a complicated short stories approach is the best into Vietnamese However process, one suggestion is that translators of literature should not only master the translation theories but also extensive practice in reading and translating books in both languages Due to the limitation of time, materials and my insufficient knowledge as well as experience, this research must be far from being perfect Therefore, it would be useful for me if I get the feedback from readers I appreciate all your ideas, comments and advice for the development of this study I hope this paper Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi 60 Adviser: Dr Nguyen Due Chau Graduation Paper • A will be a good reference for students, especially those who are majoring in English interpretation and translation 5.2 Limitation: It's because there were only my classmates joining the informal interviews and the questionnaires were distributed to 70 students majoring in interpretation and translation at Huflit University, the results my not be appropriate to all other students More over, poor experience and knowledge of the researcher doesn't permit communicative translation generalizations for short stories about the This paper application of emphasizes on translating short stories from English into Vietnamese only 5.3 Futher research proposal: Futher research application should be carried of communicative translation out to find out the interesting for short stories in the opposite direction which means from Vietnamese into English More and more studies in the field of short stories and other genres of literature works such as poem, novel or drama should be done to serve the needs of newcomers to a subject that can at times be difficult but ought to be enjoyable and interesting most of the time Student: Nguyen Thi Minh Thi 61 L "- APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE I'm carrying out the graduation paper with the topic "Some features in the application of communicative translation for short stories" and I really need your help to fulfill it Please complete the following by placing a circle around the most appropriate answer Your reliable answers will help me a lot In your opinions, communicative approach is better for translating English short stories than semantic approach a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree You prefer a short story translated communicatively e strongly disagree to the one translated literally a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree In communicative approach, the most important purpose is to produce in the target language a text that has equivalent effect on the readers as that produced by the source language on its readership a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree In translation, it's better to transfer the core content than to produce an equivalent form that doesn't work at all a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree L '- S In order to achieve equivalent effect where there is conflict between the content and the form, correspondence in meaning must have priority over correspondence in style a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree Once we set it as our goal to bring into the target language as much meaning as the original text as possible, we should not pay too much attention to preserving the form and structure of the original text in our translation a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree When translating English short stories, the translator often faces with the biggest difficulty: language barrier a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree Sometimes though the short story is written in an easy English, still many target translators within a particular language and culture are almost bound to misunderstand it because of cultural differences a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree Though the translator can understand thoroughly the meaning of the original text, he still has problems in determining an appropriate method in the process of translating a short story a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree 10 It's expected that good translators should be sensitive to language and good at both languages: the source language and the target language a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree 11 A translator must have wide knowledge in the field that he is going to translate a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree 12 Without a strong love towards literature works in general and short stories in particular, you can't be patient enough to translate a short story in a proper manner a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree 13 In order to become a good translator of English short stories, it's necessary to read literature books in both languages and to practice translating them into Vietnamese frequently a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree 14 In translation, it's expected to have a satisfactory translation rather than a perfect translation a completely agree b agree c no idea d disagree e strongly disagree THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP! APPENDIX INFORMAL INTERVIEWS What are the difficulties that you often face with when you translate a piece of writings? Do you practice translating every day? What kind of written documents that you often work with? Have you ever tried to translate a short story from English into Vietnamese or vice versa? Do you find it difficult or easy? If you find it difficult, then what are the difficulties? In your opinion, translation in general and short stories translation in particular is interesting or not? What are the reasons? You are a student majoring in interpretation and translation; you intend to become a professional translator or interpreter in the future? Can you explain why? 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