Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61AEXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe study identified a variety of difficulties faced by BE students when translating Vietnamese idioms in short stori
The perception of BE students of Vietnamese idioms in general
Perceptions of BE students about definition of idioms
Figure 3.1: Perceptions of BE students about definition of idioms
Among the three given definitions, there was one precise definition of idioms, one definition of proverbs, and one wrong definition.
According to the survey of 60 BE students, since they have gained a considerable amount of knowledge about idioms through various courses related to Vietnamese and English linguistics, the majority of them (58.4%) chose the correct definition of idioms, which was "combinations of words that are special, fixed, stable in form and structure, complete and glossy in meaning, and are widely used in daily communication, especially in speaking language" (according to the research study Vietnamese Idiom by Hoang Van Hanh).
Besides, the concept of a proverb is often confused with that of an idiom, so there were 33.3% of the students surveyed who chose the answer: "short, stable, rhythmic, and visual sentences express people’s experiences in all aspects (nature, production, and society) and are used by people in their daily lives, thoughts, and everyday words", which was the definition of proverbs In fact, two
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A concepts are totally different A proverb is a complete saying, fully expressing an idea with the content of commenting on social relations, conveying life experiences, giving moral lessons, or criticizing things On the other hand, idiom is a common fixed phrase that cannot be a complete sentence, is only equivalent to one word, and does not state a comment, a life experience, a moral lesson, or a criticism, so it often has an aesthetic function, not a cognitive and educational function.
The students participating in the study who had a misunderstanding of the features of idioms, therefore choosing the wrong definition, "Flexible phrases in form and structure that are widely used in daily communication, especially in speaking language," just accounted for 8.3%, which was much smaller compared to the percentages of BE students who selected the correct definition and the confused definition of proverbs.
Through the survey, it could be seen that the majority of questioned BE students had accurate knowledge of the definition of idioms Some of the 60 BE students still confused idioms with proverbs, and a few of them chose the wrong definition because of their false knowledge of idiomatic characteristics.
The BE students’ confidence in their understanding of
Figure 3.2: The BE students’ confidence in their understanding of
Vietnamese people in general and BE students in particular have the opportunity to be exposed to idioms from almost every area of their lives, from spoken to written language, in ordinary communication or in literary, poetic, and prose works Therefore, when it comes to their understanding of Vietnamese
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A idioms, the 60 BE students who participated in the survey showed that they had quite a lot of confidence.
As can be seen from the chart, the majority (41.7%) felt confident in their comprehension of Vietnamese idioms 28.3% believed that their knowledge ofVietnamese idioms was average The figures for those feeling not very confident and extremely confident were quite low, at 16.7% and 10%, respectively In addition, just 3.3% of the students questioned showed unconfidence regarding their understanding of Vietnamese idioms.
The perception of BE students of Vietnamese idioms in short stories 3.2 Difficulties of BE students when translating Vietnamese idioms in
Figure 3.3: The BE students’ frequency of coming across Vietnamese idioms in short stories
All 60 BE students participating in the study had a high frequency of encountering Vietnamese idioms in the short stories they read More specifically, 61.7% stated that they often came across idioms in the Vietnamese short stories they read The figures for those who sometimes or always noticed idioms in Vietnamese short stories were also high, at 21.7% and 16.7%, respectively None of the surveyed students claimed that they rarely or never encountered idioms in the literary works they had read This is quite understandable when idioms are frequently integrated into popular short stories or those taught in the lower-grade literary curriculum The authors of these literary masterpieces, including Nguyen Hong, Nam Cao, Nguyen Du, and Ho Xuan Huong, are highly known for their skillful use of idioms in their writing.
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
Figure 3.4: Evaluation of BE students on the importance of idioms in
Idioms are short, concise, and full of vivid imagery; they capture the nation's cultural potential and imply closeness and familiarity Besides, they enable the author to demonstrate the personality, attitude, or function of something that ordinarily requires a large number of words to express yet still fails to convey the full meaning and leaves the reader or listener confused. Idioms are perfectly suited to the succinct and concise characteristics of short stories’ language.
The importance of idioms in short stories is undeniable, and the results of the survey about the evaluation of BE students on the importance of idioms in Vietnamese short stories also prove that The survey data revealed that no students thought that idioms in short stories were not very significant or insignificant Idioms in short stories were regarded as important or extremely important by a significant portion of those surveyed (60% and 38.3%, respectively) Only 1.7% of the students polled considered the importance of idioms in short stories to be neutral.
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
BE students’ evaluation of their ability to translate Vietnamese idioms in short stories into English
Figure 3.5: BE students’ evaluation of their ability to translate Vietnamese idioms in short stories into English
When it came to their ability to translate Vietnamese idioms in short stories into English, there were many different ratings from BE students who participated in the study, ranging from extremely proficient to bad.
The majority of research participants (31.7%) believed that their ability in translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories into English was average The figures for those who evaluated their ability to translate these idioms into English as not very good were ranked second with 28.3% Just 6.7% of the 60 surveyed students thought that they had a bad ability in translating Vietnamese idioms from short stories into English As idioms are always regarded as a challenge for all translators, not just unexperienced linguistic students, it is logical that the BE students feel unconfident when evaluating their idiomatic translation abilities. Idioms in short stories will be even more challenging to translate because they must be translated according to the context of the sentence or paragraph, fully containing the feelings and intentions of the writer.
Only one-fourth of the surveyed population felt that they could translate idioms in short stories into English proficiently, and 8.3% thought that they were extremely proficient in translating these idioms into English.
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
3.2 Difficulties of BE students when translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English
Identifying and understanding idioms in the source language, finding equivalent idioms in the target language, using idioms in the target language in the wrong context, and conveying both the literal and figurative meaning of the idioms when translating them into the target language are several challenges that may be encountered when translating idioms, as stated in Davies' 2004 analysis.
This study will apply Davies' theory to examine the challenges BE students face while trying to translate Vietnamese idioms from short stories by
Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English.
Difficulties of BE students when translating Vietnamese comparative
comparative idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into
Results of translating the idiom "Den như mực”
Being unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.6: Results of translating the idiom “Den như mực”
After synthesizing and analyzing the results of the survey on the ability to recognize and translate the familiar comparative idiom "đen như mực” among 60
BE students, the findings were highly positive Especially, no BE students had difficulty recognizing this idiom.
However, there were still five answers that could not be translated into English despite being recognized and two wrong answers, like "black as squid", which were non-existent and meaningless This idiom is simple to comprehend
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A because its meaning is partially conveyed through its separated words; thus, it was likely that BE students did not face difficulties understanding this idiom, and the lack of knowledge of comparable English idioms was the main reason these students failed to translate it.
The remaining 53 answers collected were all correct, although they were based on different translation methods Most of them used equivalent idioms in
English to translate this idiom Specifically, up to 48 students used the idiom "as black as coal" or the shortened form "black as coal" and three students answered with the expression "as black as ink" In this case, both answers were correct, but
"as black as ink" would be more contextually correct In addition, two students chose to translate by using a generic word or phrase, "pitch black," to indicate total darkness with no light at all.
This idiom literally and figuratively both expressed darkness, which led to the inability to see anything, so there were no BE students who had difficulty conveying both the literal and figurative meanings of this idiom when translating it into English Also, according to the study results, no BE students surveyed employed English idioms that belonged to another context.
Results of translating the idiom "Nhanh như cắt"
Being unable to translate the idiom Wrong answer
Figure 3.7: Results of translating the idiom “Nhanh như cắt”
Similar to the idiom "den như mực”, the comparative idiom "nhanh như cat" is also very familiar to BE students, and its meaning can be partially guessed through the words in the idiom Therefore, all the surveyed students were likely to realize and comprehend this idiom In other words, the recognition and
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A comprehension of Vietnamese idioms were not the problems that BE students encountered in the process of translating this idiom into English.
However, there was still a small number of questioned students (six students) who could not translate this idiom into English, although they were able to recognize it In addition, the number of students who had the wrong translation for this idiom was very small; there were only four students with answers like "as fast as the slice", "fast as a cut" and "as quick as a hawk", which were nonexistent and meaningless English idioms The main reason for this failed translation was that the BE students did not know the equivalent idiom in English for this idiom.
The rest of the surveyed students got the correct answers with corresponding English idioms like "as fast as lightning" or "as quick as a flash".
The idiom "nhanh như cắt", through comparison with the falcon, the fastest bird in the world, describes and praises someone for doing something very quickly This idiom is only used with a single meaning, so no BE students participating in the study had difficulty conveying both the literal and figurative meanings of this idiom when translating it into English Besides, 60 BE students also did not encounter difficulties in misusing English idioms in other contexts when translating this idiom into English.
Results of translating the idiom "Hiền như đất"
Being unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.8: Results of translating the idiom “Hién nhw dat”
For this type of comparative idiom, all 60 BE students could easily recognize it, and "hién nhu dat" was no exception This idiom is very familiar
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A when it can easily be encountered in daily conversation or in literary works students have read and studied, and its meaning can be deduced from its separated words, so it is likely that no surveyed students faced difficulties comprehending this idiom.
However, the number of those who could not translate this idiom into English in spite of the fact that they recognized it has increased compared to the previous two idioms, at 13 out of a total of 60 In contrast, the figure for those who answered incorrectly decreased when there were only two wrong answers, including "as gentle as the earth" and "as good as the dirt", which were nonexistent Being unable to find the equivalent English idiom seemed to be the main cause of this failure and mistranslation.
The number of BE students surveyed with correct answers was still dominant, at 45 out of 60 In which, there were 18 students who chose to translate using equivalent idioms with the same comparative structure in English as "meek as a lamb" or "gentle as a lamb", while the rest translated with the equivalent idiom with a different structure as "can't say boo to a goose".
None of the students who participated in the study had any trouble translating the literal and figurative meanings of the idiom "hiền như dat", which is solely used to describe someone who is extremely gentle and simple Similar to the above-mentioned two idioms, no difficulties related to using an English idiom in the wrong context had been met.
Results of translating the idiom "Sắc như dao"
Being unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.9: Results of translating the idiom “Sac nhu dao”
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
The idiom "sắc như dao" was also recognized by all BE students who participated in the survey It is a common idiom whose meaning can be deduced from the words in the idiom As a result, none of the questioned students had difficulties recognizing or comprehending this idiom.
However, there were still 13 students in the total of 60 BE students who were unable to translate this idiom into English, although they knew it, mainly because they did not know the equivalent English idiom.
The idiom "sac nhu dao" has both literal and figurative meanings This idiom literally means something very sharp, having a keen edge suitable for cutting On the other hand, its figurative meaning indicates someone who has sharp eyes and is always exuding intelligence, alertness, and formidableness. According to the survey data, only 34 students had the answer "as sharp as a razor", which was the correct answer because it was suitable with the context of the sentence and expressed all the literal and figurative meanings of the
Difficulties of BE students when translating Vietnamese metaphorical
metaphorical idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into
3.2.2.1 Difficulties of BE students when translating Vietnamese symmetrical metaphorical idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and
Results of translating the idiom "Chan yéu tay mém"
Unable to recognize and translate the idiom
Unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.10: Results of translating the idiom “Chan yéu tay mém”
According to the survey results, a small portion of 60 BE students had difficulties recognizing the symmetrical metaphorical idiom "chan yéu tay mém", which accounted for about 11.7% of the total.
There were eight students who recognized this idiom but could not translate it into English, and five students got the wrong answers when using word-by-word translation to translate it into "weak legs, soft hands" The meaning of this idiom is very easy and can be guessed partly based on the meaning of its separated words, so it seemed that comprehension of Vietnamese idiom would not be a big problem for BE students In fact, the idiom "chan yéu tay mềm" has no equivalent in English, so that is likely to be the main challenge some BE students faced in the process of translating this idiom into English.
However, there were still 40 BE students who were able to give the correct answer to this question They relied on the meaning of Vietnamese
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A idioms to use a generic word or phrase to describe it as "powder-puff" (ten students) and "extremely weak" or "very weak" (30 students).
The idiom "chan yéu tay mém" is only used to refer to some people who are thin, weak, and unable to do heavy or great work, so BE students participating in the survey faced no challenges related to conveying the literal and figurative meanings of this idiom when translating it into English Besides, there was no evidence to show that they struggled with applying English idioms in the wrong context in this case.
Results of translating the idiom "Me tròn con vuông”
Unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.11: Results of translating the idiom “Me tròn con vuông”
The idiom "me tròn con vuông” seems to be more familiar to the 60 BE students who participated in the research, so the survey data showed that there was no problem related to the recognition of this idiom.
This idiom means that the woman gives birth successfully, the baby is healthy, and the mother is safe It can be encountered in different contexts in life, ranging from daily conversation to written documents; therefore, it is likely not a daunting task to recognize and comprehend this idiom, especially with the linguistic students like BE students.
Only one student seemed to misunderstand the meaning of this idiom, so there was a false translation as "when giving birth, trust the god" In addition, there were still ten students who could not translate this idiom into English,
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A although they recognized it The main reason is probably because there is no equivalent idiom for this idiom in English.
However, based on the meaning of the idiom, the remaining 49 students could still translate the idiom with the correct answers by using a generic word or phrase translation method, like "successful delivery", "healthy delivery," and
This idiom has only one meaning, so the questioned students didn’t have to struggle to convey both the literal and figurative meanings when translating into English Moreover, no student gave the wrong answer because they used
English idioms that belong in another context.
Results of translating the idiom "Chay ngược chạy xuôi”
Unable to recognize and translate the idiom
Correct answer Unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.12: Results of translating the idiom “Chạy ngược chạy xuôi”
The results of translating the symmetrical metaphorical idiom "chay ngược chạy xuôi" revealed that the percentage of BE students who had difficulty recognizing this idiom was quite high compared to the above idioms, at about
17.1% 25.7% of the surveyed population could not translate this idiom despite recognizing it.
In addition, through the survey results, there were three wrongly translated answers, including "loan like a woman", "has been on the run" and "backwards".
The student whose answer was "loan like a woman" seemed to have difficulty recognizing idioms, so he or she translated the general meaning of the entire sentence "To be on the run" is an idiom used in another context, when describing someone who is trying to escape or hide from someone such as the police or an enemy, according to the Collins dictionary "Backwards" means towards the direction that is opposite to the one in which you are facing or opposite to the
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A usual direction, which is totally different from the meaning of the Vietnamese idiom “chạy ngược chạy xuôi”: to work hard, to come here and there to take care of work, or to earn a living Besides, this idiom has no equivalent in English, which can be one of the reasons why the BE students who were questioned failed to have the correct translation.
37 correct answers were recorded with the translation according to the meaning of the Vietnamese idiom method, such as "struggle everywhere trying to take care of work", "run everywhere to finish work", etc.
Results of translating the idiom "Tre gia mang moc"
Unable to recognize and translate the idiom
Unable to translate the idiom Correct 2U
Figure 3.13: Results of translating the idiom “Tre già măng mọc”
When it came to the idiom "tre già măng moc", some of 60 BE students had difficulty recognizing and translating this idiom In detail, up to 16.7% of surveyed students had difficulty recognizing this idiom and therefore cannot translate it into English, and 18.3% could not translate it into English despite knowing this idiom.
Moreover, 15% of the total students polled gave wrong answers based on word-by-word translations such as "old bamboo shoots grow", "when the bamboo is old, its shoots sprout", etc One reason for this failed translation could be that BE students could not find its equivalent idiom in English.
Besides, the difficulty related to conveying both the literal and figurative meaning of the Vietnamese idioms was caught in the process of translating this Vietnamese idiom into English The evidence was that there were only half of the surveyed population who gave the answers that were mostly accepted as the translation of this idiom into English: "As bamboos grow old, young shoots spring up", which conveyed both figurative and literal meanings of the
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
Vietnamese idiom The idiom "tre già măng moc", when understood literally, refers to the occurrence of young shoots emerging in place of the old bamboo. But, in terms of its figurative meaning, this idiom indicates that a successor class will take its place when the original class of individuals becomes older (one class after another, never ending).
About the problem of using wrong English idioms that are used in another context, no BE students surveyed encountered that in the process of translating this idiom into English.
Results of translating the idiom "Tứ cố vô than"
Unable to recognize and translate the idiom
Unable to translate the idiom
Figure 3.14: Results of translating the idiom “Tứ cố vô thân”
The frequency with which BE students encounter some difficulties
Being unable to 8 13,3% recognize the idiom
Being unable to 10 16,7% comprehend the idiom
Finding the English 35 58,3% equivalent idiom
Using the English idiom 4 6,7% in the wrong context
Conveying both the 3 5% literal and figurative meanings of Vietnamese idiom when translating it into English
Table 3.1: The frequency with which BE students encounter some difficulties when translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen
Hong and Nam Cao into English
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
The results of the survey questions about how often BE students face each kind of difficulty in translating Vietnamese idioms in Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao's short stories into English showed similarities with assessments when analyzing the results of idiom translation by BE students in the above section.
In detail, the difficulty that surveyed students most often encountered was finding the corresponding idioms in English, with 58.3% of students choosing it.
BE students participating in the study also occasionally had several difficulties recognizing and understanding some idioms in the short stories of Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao, with 13.3% and 16.7%, respectively Just a small number of BE students faced difficulties related to using English idioms in an inappropriate context (four students) or conveying both the literal and figurative meaning of Vietnamese idioms when translating them into English (three students).
3.3 Reasons for the difficulties faced by BE students when translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English
Lacking knowledge of Lacking knowledge of English Differences in culture Differences in the structure of
Vietnamese idioms idioms idioms in two languages
Figure 3.18: Reasons for the difficulties BE students encounter when translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam
The reason for the difficulty BE students have when translating idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English is shown in this section.
The results of the survey revealed that, according to the evaluation of BE students, the most common cause was the different idiomatic structures between the two languages Baker (1992) also noted that the target language's idiom must match the source language's idiom both in form and in meaning in order for the play on idiom to be successfully duplicated in the target text.
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
Next, cultural differences were rated as the second most frequent reason, as this option received the greatest amount of three points in the evaluation of BE students about the reasons leading to the difficulties in translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English Some idioms may also be culturally specific, as Baker (1992) noted In this case, it is not the specific elements that make a term difficult or impossible to translate, but rather the meaning it conveys and its connection to a culturally distinctive circumstance.
Lacking knowledge of English idioms was the third-ranked cause of the difficulties faced by BE students in the process of translating Vietnamese idioms from short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English This result was understandable when, through the survey on the ability to translate Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English, it could be seen that a considerable number of BE students had difficulty finding and using English equivalent idioms, as well as a small portion of them also having trouble using English idioms in the wrong context The knowledge of BE students about English idioms seemed to be quite limited.
Finally, the reason BE students agreed with the least was a lack of knowledge of Vietnamese idioms It was quite consistent with the survey results about the confidence of BE students about Vietnamese idioms in general and in short stories, as well as their ability to translate Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English, because they all showed that
BE students had a good grasp of Vietnamese idioms.
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A
3.4 Recommendations to improve the idiomatic translation ability in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao of BE students
Translating based on the context
41 (68,3% of the sentence and/or whole p ( ®)
Using translation tools like hs 9
Searching the equivalent English 0, idioms on Google 39 (65%)
Translating according to the 9 meaning of Vietnamese idioms 36 (60%)
Figure 3.19: Solutions for the difficulties faced by BE students when translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam
The next part was to show several proposed methods for BE students to deal with the difficulties of translating Vietnamese idioms in short stories by Nguyen Hong and Nam Cao into English.
According to the survey results, the option of translating based on the context of the whole sentence or paragraph was supported by the majority of BE students, with more than 68% The fact that many students choose this option is quite understandable Firstly, the best approach to grasping idioms is to rely on context, according to O'Dell and McCarthy (2002, 2010) Besides, the treasure trove of Vietnamese idioms is very rich, so it will be a daunting task for not only
BE students but also translation experts to fully understand the meaning of every idiom In addition, the survey results on the frequency with which BE students face difficulties in translating idioms into English also show that they often face problems related to the comprehension of the Vietnamese idioms As a result, when they are unable to understand the meaning of the idiom, translating based on the context of the sentence in which the idiom is used seems to be the best option.
The option of searching the equivalent English idioms was rated as the second-most effective with 39 votes from 60 BE students In the era of advanced technology, Google broadens human understanding about different fields in life, ranging from economics to the arts, culture, and language, and idioms are no exception Equivalent English idioms and the context for using those idioms can
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A easily be found on Google, except in the case that there are no equivalents in English BE students can search them easily and conveniently Therefore, to ensure the most accurate translation, many BE students have chosen to search for similar idioms in the target language through Google instead of just using the generic word or phrase or translating according to the meaning of Vietnamese idioms.
In the case that Vietnamese idioms are simple to understand but their knowledge of equivalent idioms in English is limited and they need to translate in a short period of time and don't have much time or conditions to access a dictionary or Google to look up and research corresponding English idioms, BE students will choose to translate Vietnamese idioms according to their meanings.
In detail, 60% of surveyed students chose this choice, making it popular.
The method that was evaluated as effective by 60 BE students and ranked fourth is using a generic word or phrase to demonstrate Vietnamese idioms when translating into English 27 of the surveyed students chose the option of using generic words or phrases to describe Vietnamese idioms when translated into English.
Finally, the option that was chosen by the fewest people, accounting for only 26.7% of the total, was to use translation tools such as Google Translation to translate Vietnamese idioms into English Automatic translation applications, especially Google Translate, with deep learning technology have raised the level of accuracy to unbelievable levels However, machines still have their limitations, and Google Translate cannot accurately translate all kinds of texts, and idioms are one of the aspects of languages that machines cannot accurately process and need to be translated by skilled translators Therefore, the number of students who chose this option to translate idioms was very small.
In conclusion, BE students have a variety of methods to help them overcome the challenges they encounter while trying to translate Vietnamese idioms from short stories into English Each student can select one or combine several alternatives to maximize their capacity for idiom translation, depending on the kind of difficulty they encounter as well as their translation ability and skills.
Khương Phương Linh — 11192826 — Business English 61A