The topic of this study is “An analysis of word collocation errors in translation committed by English-majored students at Thuongmai University”. The current study aimed to analyze Vietnamese to English collocation errors in translations committed by English-majored students at Thuongmai University. This research concentrate on finding out common collocation errors in translating skill among English-majored students and factors causing these collocation errors. Then, some solutions to avoid collocation errors suggested by researchers.
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Rationale
Language is so much more than just a tool allowing us to communicate It is the expression of culture, society, and beliefs Thousands of cultures exist around the world, all expressing the specifics of their daily life through their own language In the present- day, translators have been entrusted with the role of facilitating communication and understanding between people who come from various cultures and speak different languages Translations are more than just changing the words from one language to another Translation builds bridges between cultures It allows us to experience cultural phenomena that would otherwise be too foreign and remote to grasp through our own lens In addition, translation is the transferring of verbal language messages into non- verbal forms (Jakobson, as cited in Munday, 2009) According to Munday (2001), the nature of translation is multilingual and interdisciplinary, covering languages, linguistics, communication studies, philosophy and a variety of cultural studies In recent years, translation has become more and more popular in Vietnam, attracting many people to the profession However, a lot of students majoring in English confess that they face a lot of difficulties in translation
The translation of English collocations is one of the greatest challenges for translators and students, since there is no fixed rule for it Collocations are sub-categories of formulaic language (Wray, 2002) which is seen as one of the main concerns in language processing and language acquisition (Schmitt, 2010) Lewis (2000) also suggests that learners need to know not only what is right, but also what is wrong Moreover, Hill (2000) reported that up to 70% of language is made up of fixed expressions, with the number of collocations far outnumbering the number of single- word items Similarly, Erman and Warren (2000) found that 58.6% of spoken discourse and 52.3% of written discourse consisted of multiword combinations adds that collocation is something that translators need to be aware of As collocation poses a lot of challenges to find the target language equivalents, students may mistranslate collocations due to various factors, typically their limited knowledge and the influence of their native language Therefore, so as to become competent translators and interpreters in the future, it is necessary that students be well aware of their errors and know how to correct them Lewis (2000) claims that only helping students pay more attention to their collocation mistakes can raise awareness of collocations From the researcher’ observation, students at Thuongmai University (TMU), especially those majoring in English language, are having some problems relating to the collocation capacity Some students are hesitant when using collocation in their translation or using them but still make some mistakes such as making an appointment instead of taking an appointment, or inflicting pain instead of creating pain
Finding that it is really essential that a thorough and detailed study on students’ collocation errors and strategies for translating collocations be made, the researcher decided to carry out a study on “An analysis of word collocation errors in translation committed by English-majored students at Thuongmai University”.
Previous studies
Collocation is considered as one of the key components in translation That is the reason why collocation has attracted a lot of researchers’ interests With the goal of completing the study in the best way, the author reviewed many documents relating to the study which the author is working on In general, in previous studies, scientific researchers would provide background theories on the topic they were studying
1.2.1 “Analysis of Collocational Errors of Thai EFL students”, Chittinan
The first study was named “Analysis of Collocational Errors of Thai EFL students”, Chittinan Yumanee, Thammasat University, Thailand The study aimed to analyze collocational errors produced by Thai EFL students at two proficiency levels, to examine whether such errors are attributed to first language interference, and to investigate other plausible sources of errors The researcher suggested two hypotheses:
Thai EFL learner’ native language influence contributes to their English collocational errors
In addition to native language transfer, other factors contributing to Thai EFL learners’ collocation errors are the strategy of paraphrasing, the strategy of synonymy, learners’ creative invention and the strategy of analogy, and low knowledge of grammatical collocations
In order to find out the research results, the author invited a total of 60 twelfth- grade students at Satri Si Suriyothai School in Bangkok to participate in the study Each student was required to take two collocational tests: (1) a 45-item multiple-choice test and (2) an 18-item Thai-English translation test The two tests consisted of nine major types of collocations, which included nine lexical and three grammatical collocation patterns The results revealed that the performance of Thai EFL students in both the receptive test and the productive test appeared to be influenced by mother-tongue transfer when they were confronted with difficulties in dealing with English collocations Furthermore, it was discovered that there were other potential factors that contributed to the high degree of collocational errors committed by the high-proficiency and low- proficiency groups, namely the synonymy strategy, the learners’ creative invention and the strategy of analogy, the paraphrasing strategy, and low knowledge of collocational skills
Some advantages and disadvantages of research methods:
The study found out collocation errors and factors that cause these errors of Thai EFL students The method was used to focus on a specific work so that it made the data clear, accurate and had many grounds for analyzing the topic clearly That the author only used tests to collect the data made the reader easy to follow and understand On the other hand, using only collocations tests in collecting data did not cover all the objects
The study lacks objective as all the factors which researchers found in the tests was the author’s opinion
1.2.2 “Some of common collocation mistakes among second-year students”, Duong Thi Diu, and Lai Thi Hien, University of Language and international studied, faculty of English language teacher education
Further, the second one is a study of two students, Duong Thi Diu and Lai Thi Hien, of University of Language and international studied named “Some of common collocation mistakes among second-year students” The study aimed to introduce students and readers to a thorough look on collocation in writing skill Then the study was expected to show some common mistakes in collocation that second-year students often make Finally, the researchers suggested some solutions to help English learners reduce their collocation mistakes when they have to deal with writing assignments
The researchers used two data collection methods, which involved portfolio analysis and structured interview The authors collected about twenty-five portfolios of second-year students to point out common collocation mistakes They also interviewed three second-year lecturers of writing skill in University of Languages and International Studies- Vietnam National University, Hanoi to find out specific solutions to the collocation problems
After collecting and analyzing data, the researchers found out that the most common mistakes were the combination of adjective and noun, preposition and noun, verb and preposition The least ones were type 2 (Quantifier +Noun), type 12 (Adverb + Adjective) with 0.85% Besides, type 14 (adjective + verb +adjective + noun + preposition + noun) was the type that students did not make mistakes After that, they proposed some useful solutions to help students avoid basic collocation mistakes They were reading much to enrich vocabulary, learning based on structure and phrases and taking advantage of “Oxford Collocation dictionary”
Some advantages and disadvantages of research methods:
Here are some advantages and disadvantages of the method used in this study Firstly, the authors used diverse methods to make clear and accurate data Besides, the data used in the research were clear, the questions to survey in accordance with the topic given Nevertheless, the research question focused on common collocation mistakes in writing and solutions to avoid collocation mistakes They did not give factors causing these mistakes, that makes readers have difficulty following the study and understand easily
1.2.3 “The Use of English Collocation in Written Translation – A Case of
University English-Majored Students”, Nguyen Huynh Trang, Khau Hoang Anh & Truong Nhat Khanh School of Foreign Languages for Economics, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and School of Foreign Languages, Tra Vinh University, Vietnam
Another study is “The Use of English Collocation in Written Translation – A
Case of University English-Majored Students” The three authors, Nguyen Huyng Trang, Khau Hoang Anh, and Truong Nhat Khanh, come from two illustrious universities, School of Foreign Languages for Economics, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, and School of Foreign Language, Tra Vinh University Their study was published in the International Journal of Higher Education Vol.10, No.1; 2021
This research was an attempt to examine a group of fourth-year English majors’ ability in using English collocations in written translation What was more, to ensure the quality of the results collected from the test of collocations, the current study endeavors to explore the translation teachers’ opinions on their students’ ability in using English collocations in their written translation To gather data, the researchers used two instruments: a test of English collocations including five types of collocations: an adjective going with a noun, a verb going with a noun, a noun going with a verb, a noun going with a noun and a verb going with an adverb After data analysis, it revealed that just slightly over half of the student participants were able to find the correct collocations in written translation Furthermore, a noun going with a verb and a noun going with a noun are the two main lexical errors made by most of the students The interview was also used to seek translation teachers’ perspectives on students’ ability to translate texts in general and strategies of translation in particular They perceived that most of their students were not aware of collocations in written translation and still had difficulties in both grammatical and lexical collocations Finally, some recommendations on improving English collocations in written translation were also made based on these findings
Some advantages and disadvantages of research methods:
The first advantage of this research method is that researchers used a variety of methods to collect data, which made the study more objective The data collected in the test and interview were clear that helped the authors clear data to analyze However, the scope of the study is too broad, the accuracy may be shifted and make the readers have difficulties in following the study and understanding easily.
Aims of the study
The study is designed to examine:
- Analyze the Vietnamese to English word collocation errors in translation committed by English-majored students at TMU
- Find out factors causing these common errors
- Propose some recommendations and suggestions to help them use collocation in translation correctly
With the view to attaining these goals, the current research tries to answer the following questions:
1 What are common errors in translation committed by English-majored students at TMU?
2 What are possible causes of these common errors?
3.What are the suggestions to rectify these errors?
Research subjects
The research is an attempt to examine Vietnamese to English collocations word errors in translations committed by a group of English-majored students to investigate their ability in using English collocation in written translation What is more, to ensure the quality of results collected from the translations, the current study endeavors to explore students’ ability to use collocation through the test of collocation given in the questionnaire and their opinion toward statements about factors causing their collocation errors These two aims were given so that the researchers can gain more information about this group of students in using collocations in their written translation in particular.
Scope of the study
As could be seen from the title of the study, the researcher examines the Vietnamese to English collocation errors committed by English-majored students at TMU who are learning advanced translation in their weekly homework About 200 errors and 100 good collocations will be investigated in order to find out the results At the same time, the researcher also tries to find solutions to avoid mistakes and improve translating skills.
Research methodology
The researchers in this study follow the analytical descriptive methods in this qualitative kind of research The collection methods involve portfolio analysis and questionnaires The researchers collect and analyze the collocational errors that are mentioned in 10 Vietnamese to English translations committed by English-majored students who are studying Advanced Translation at TMU
Besides, the study also employed two instruments: a test of collocations for the student participants and a questionnaire First, the test consisted of 13 questions embracing only one correct collocation and the remaining options were pseudo- collocates Furthermore, all the items serving for the test were adopted from the book English Collocations in Use Advanced (O’Dell and McCarthy 2017)
Second, the questionnaires for students included two main parts The first part was participant’ demographic features including course, class, and gender The second part of the students’ questionnaire consisted of 13 statements about the causes of collocation errors Participants need to choose which statement is the factor causing their collocation errors based on their experience
At the beginning, the collected portfolios are analyzed and find collocation errors The collocations are examined to the accuracy of their translation, then the researchers find out the collocational errors based on the Oxford Collocation dictionary for students of English by Moira Runcie (p.9) The study adopts Baker’s (1992) model of collocational errors which indicate that translators commit errors in translating collocations
With the test and questionnaire, the data collected from them were directly analyzed by online software, Google form, in order to find out the common collocation errors as well as factors causing collocation errors.
Organization of the study
The rest of the paper consists of four chapters as follows:
❖ Chapter 2: (Literature Review) presents the theoretical background of the study, including an overview of English collocations, their characteristics and classification; definition of translation, translation process and purpose of translation In addition, this part will also find out some common collocation errors and factors causing collocation errors
❖ Chapter 3: (Research findings) provides detailed answers to all research question raised in the study, as well as comparison between factual findings and assumptions discussed in the Literature Review
❖ Chapter 4: (Recommendations and suggestions) from the problems discussed in chapter 3, making some recommendations and suggestions to students to help them use collocation correctly
❖ Conclusion: Summarizes all problems discussed in the paper, some recommendations for students
❖ Conclusion is followed by reference.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Collocation
The verb collocate originates from the Latin verb collocate and the translation given by the Online Etymology Dictionary is place, arrange The term collocation is relatively new in linguistics, first introduced by Firth, who argued that collocation was
‘lexical meaning at the syntagmatic level’ (Firth, 1957,p.96) Despite his attempts to describe meaning at the syntagmatic level, many researchers and scientists still define collocation in terms of a tendency of words to occur with other words The concept of collocation was later refined by Halliday and then by Sinclair and became central to their study of lexis (Palumbo, 2009)
The most commonly used definition states that collocation is a pair or set of words that commonly occur together (McCarthy, O’Dell, 2005; Handl, 2008) Parrot (2010) claims that collocations is a term used to describe two-word combinations when there is a limited number of words that may precede or follow another word Some authors define collocation as a group of words that have ‘mutual expectancy’ (Jackson, 2007, p.106) It means that words have the ability to predict the likelihood of the occurrence of another word There is a limited number of words that can be used with other words and the direction of words is important, as demonstrated in the collocation ‘green tea’: green may occur with many words (pen, car, bag, etc.), while the word of tea expected to occur only with a limited number of words (green, brown, black) This example demonstrates that mutual expectancy of words can be stronger or weaker, and it depends on the direction of words Many word combinations so frequently recurrent that the choice of one of their constituents appears to automatically trigger their selection of one or more other constituents in their immediate contexts’ (Bartsch, 2004, p.11) Besides, defining through collocation’s function, Mitchell (1971, p 65) states that collocation is to be studied within grammatical matrices which in turn depend on their recognition on the observation of collocation similarities
To sum up, there are a lot of collocation’s definitions given by linguists in different ways All definitions above consider collocation as collections of words being used together Generally speaking, the definition in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary that collocation is ''A combination of words in a language that happens very often and more frequently than would happen by chance'' is the most comprehensive
Collocation can possibly be summarized in three characteristics
Collocation is regularly arbitrary Smadia (1989) says, “Many wording choices in English sentences cannot be accounted for on semantic or synthetic grounds; they can only be expressed in terms of relations between words that usually occur together” In fact, there is no rule or particular reasons for words when they are combined with each other
For example: “Do some cooking” not “making some cooking”
“Catch a bus” not “take a bus”
As a result, people make the correct collocation based on lifetime’s experience of hearing and reading the words in set combination
Each language has its own way and convention to combine words Therefore, collocation is difficult to translate across languages For example: “eat dinner” in Vietnamese must be “have dinner” in English In other words, collocation's ability to combine with another is restricted by linguistic conventions
2.1.2.3 Collocation is recurrent in context
Another characteristic of collocation is that its combinations are very often repeated in a given context
For example; “To do a crossword”, “to make a mistake” are typical of the language
The classification of collocations was based on the syntactic, semantic characteristics of the collocation, and the commutability of its elements First, restricted collocations were classified according to the word classes in which their elements appear included Adjective + Noun, Noun + Verb, Noun + Noun, Adverb + Adjective, Verb + Noun, Verb + Noun Whereas, Aisenstadt proposed the classification of collocations as follows, Verb + Noun, Verb + Preposition + Noun Second, semantic characteristics of collocation (in Hausmann’s terminology) classified into lexical function which defined as a typically general meaning that may be expressed by a variety of different lexemes, but in given collocation, the lexeme which express this meaning is chosen by the keyword (Hausmann’s ‘base’) Third, commutability of its elements is variability that meaning can combine
The translation of collocation could be studied through the discussion of their commonest types in English Their transfer should be the commonest equivalent in target language Thus, principally, fixed phrases of all types come under the general umbrella of collocation Based on Benson, there were several types of collocation Collocation is commonly divided into lexical collocation and grammatical collocation
The grammatical collocation was a phrase consisting of a dominant word (noun, adjective, and verb) and a preposition or grammatical structure such as an infinitive or clause
Nobody seems to be responsible for the budget
I have no desire to discuss the matter further
Not all noun + preposition combinations can be considered as collocations due to the highly predictable meaning of some prepositions, such as of and by So, noun + of / by combinations are considered free combinations
The noun + that-clause combinations that are considered collocational are those using subject pronouns
He is also having intensive treatment in the hope that he will be able to train on Friday
Dutch police are investigating the possibility that a bomb was planted on the jet
Any combinations of preposition and noun can fall into this category, however, the choice of preposition with a certain noun is not at random
In my opinion, he likes you too much
It tends on the contrary to be low on days of fog or rain
Some adjectives are followed by a prepositional phrase The adjective + preposition combination that is considered collocational is the one that occurs in the predicate (verbless clause) However, past participial adjective followed by preposition by is not considered collocational because this construction is regular and predictable
I don’t feel comfortable in high heels
My mother is very skilled in dressmaking
(5) Collocation consists of predicate adjectives and a following to + infinitive
These adjectives occur in two basic constructions, with infinitive
- Adjective with dummy subject “it”:
It is necessary to collect the items in time
It is interesting to find out about your family history
- Adjective with real and animate subject
She is ready to go
He was bonded to find out this problem
He works for an engineering company
I must write and thank Mary for the present
In contrast to grammatical collocation, lexical collocations consisted of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs The various types of lexical collocation were described in the following explanation
The first type of verb + noun collocations are called CA because it consists of a verb debiting creation or activation and a noun/ a pronoun
(Denoting creation) Come to an agreement, compose a music
(Denoting activation) set an alarm, launch a missile
The second one is called EN (eradication and nullification) collocations
Reject an appeal, revoke a license, annul a marriage, withdraw an offer
In some instances, more than one adjective (or more than one form of the same adjective) can collocate with the same noun
Strong/ weak tea; kind/ kindest/ best regards
The verb names an action characteristic of the person/ things designated by the noun
Alarms go off, bees buzz, boom explode
This type of collocation indicates the unit that is associated with a noun
- Larger unit to which a single member belongs
For example: a herd of buffalo, a bouquet of flowers
- The specific, concrete, small unit of something larger, more general
For example: a bit of advice, an article of clothing
The meaning of most adverbs in this combination is “very”
For example: deeply absorbed, hopelessly addicted
Mary whispered softly in John's ear
I strongly recommend you try this suit
Translation
It is necessary to understand the concept of translation as mentioned by many translation theorists to obtain an overall picture of the translation process
The first one is “Translation is the transfer of a message from a language to another in the written form or by means of writing”
Another linguist quotes translation as the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language (the source language-SL) and the production of an equivalent text in another language (the target language — TL) that communicates the same message
One more translation theorist suggested that translation is the expression in target language of what has been expressed in source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences
Newmark (1981,p.7) indicates that translation is a craft that attempts to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message or statement in another language Also, he views translation as a science, a skill, an art, a matter of taste
As a science, translation includes the knowledge and assessment of the facts and the language that describe them; as a skill, translation contains the appropriate language and acceptable usage; as an art, translation differentiates good writing from bad and involves innovative, intuitive and inspired levels; and lastly, viewing translation as a matter of taste includes the fact that the translator resorts to his/her own preference; so, the translated text varies from one translator to another.
Translation of collocations
Translating collocations is considered a real challenge for translators This difficulty of translation due to the linguistic and semantic features that the collocations have A translator needs to have a wide knowledge of the linguistics of the two languages Some different translation procedures to overcome the problem of translation collocation Some of them adopt free translation, literal translation, cultural equivalents, formal equivalence, paraphrase, reduction, omission, and others Those are the most used procedures of translating collocation
Catford (1965) believes that translation is an act of replacing linguistic units from the source language (SL) into the target language (TL) However, translators have to bear in mind the difference between the lexical, syntactic and semantic systems between the two languages Hatim and Munday (2004) state that translating collocations starts by recognizing them in the ST, then to find the appropriate equivalence in the TL Newmark (1988) states the main difficulty of translating collocations is “the continual struggle to find the appropriate collocations” He also believes that “the sensitivity to collocation is most useful when considering source language collocations and relating them to transparent TL collocations” (p 213) Finding the exact equivalence of collocation in the TL is one of the major problems that the translators face (Hatim and Mason, 1990) They add that even experienced translators are always in danger of having unnatural and unnoticed TL collocations due to the SL interference In this regard also, McCarthy (1994) argues that even advanced learners of a language make inappropriate or unacceptable collocations Since collocations habitually occur together, they sound natural to native speakers of a language, but they may not be acceptable to language learners or translators The duty of the translator is to facilitate this strangeness of the ST collocation to sound natural to the TL readers.
Difficulties and Problems in Translating Collocation
The translation of collocations is difficult for non-native speakers of a language and creates many problems for students and translators
The main difficulty for students is to find the proper TL equivalent collocations According to Amstrong (2005, p.98), “the difficulty for translators is not so much to recognize an SL collocation as to find an acceptable TL equivalent” That is to say, although the equivalent may exist in the TL, to choose the appropriate equivalent requires a good competence in both languages On some occasions, one word collocation (SL) needs to be translated with two to three words collocation in TL (difference of collocation patterning across language For example, “Service-based economy” is two words in English while its equivalent “nền kinh tế phát triển dịch vụ” in Vietnamese consists of seven words and expression, or “racism” is one word in English while you need five words “nạn phân biệt chủng tộc” to express its meaning in Vietnamese So, to do this translation successfully requires the translator’s competence
Another difficulty the students face is misinterpreting the meaning of an SL collocation This is due to the influence of their native language (TL) This happens when an SL collocation seems familiar to students because it resembles another one in their native language For example, students may use “We are meeting many difficulties” because it is familiar to Vietnamese, while native English speakers often use “We are encountering/ experiencing/ facing many difficulties” The choice between accuracy and typicality is another problem; students face a big difficulty when they have to choose between a typical collocation in TL language and preserving the source meaning at the same time For example: Vietnamese doesn’t have the general word for “rice” It is translated as “mạ, lúa, thóc, gạo, cốm, bỏng, etc.” depending on the context, or English doesn’t have the general word for “đàn”, depending on word such as: “a flock of bird/ sheep, a pride of lions/ deer a pack of dog” and so on
Third problem that students face is the difficulty of generalization Especially, when dealing with synonyms or near synonyms Baker (1992) states that carry out, undertaken and perform are synonyms that look as they may collocate to the noun visit
However, English speakers pay a visit, not perform a visit Thus, translation difficulty starts again with synonyms that are not acceptable in a language to collocate For example, the translation of “do exercise” in Vietnamese could be “làm bài tập” or “tập thể dục”
The fourth problem of translating collocation is the considerable variation in collocability across languages There is more than one possibility of collocation in the
TL for the same SL collocation For example, the word “màu vàng” in Vietnamese can be expressed by many words in English such as “yellow, canary, gold, daffodil, flaxen, butter, lemon, blond, bumblebee, etc.”
Students may also face difficulties in translating some new English collocation According to Saricas (2006, p.37), “new English collocations which use noun compounds or adjective + noun are proved to be difficult to translate” They are usually common in social sciences and computer language These are some examples: social fabric (kết cấu xã hội), internet traffic (lượt truy cập internet), internet transaction (giao dịch trên internet), design label (hàng hiệu của các nhà thiết kế, hàng thiết kế) The translation of a new English collocation is difficult because it needs a specific use that needs a clear context
Not only linguistic differences between English and Vietnamese that constitute difficulties in translating collocation, culture difference also plays a significant role in these difficulties Which means that a collocation includes cultural aspects or signs Such collocation is very difficult to translate due to the culture gap between languages Even some cultural signs may be shared between two cultures, but the way of using this cultural sign may differ accordingly In fact, some kinds of collocation are highly connected with culture connotation and discourse stereotypes, especially unique collocations such as idioms For example, “as easy as pie” in Vietnamese is “dễ như ăn bánh”, or “cut it out!” means “đừng làm việc gì xấu” These collocations are perceived to be more appropriate by native speakers in specific contexts
Finally, it is worth saying that translating collocations is a challenging task for students or even for experienced translators This study investigates these difficulties of translating collocation by discussing the translational errors that are found in translation committed by English-majored students.
RESEARCH FINDING
Methodology
As the subject of the research was to find Vietnamese- to English collocation errors in translations among the English-majored students, ten portfolios which are Vietnamese-English translation from students who are learning advanced translation were chosen as samples In each portfolio, the researchers analyzed the second draft of three first writing assignments For such a limited scope, this number was considered suitable In addition, the researcher carried out a questionnaire with participation of 48 English majored students of Thuongmai University
In order to answer all the above research questions, some portfolios were collected with the help of students who are learning Advanced translation This was an effective way in identifying common errors or problems of students
In addition, in order to have an overview about the ability of using collocation in translation, the author carried out a questionnaire with participation of 48 English majored students of Thuongmai University The questionnaires for students included three main parts The first part was participant’ demographic features including course, class, and gender The second part of the students’ questionnaire consists of a mini test The test consisted of 13 questions embracing only one correct collocation and the remaining options were pseudo-collocates The third part is 13 statements about the causes of collocation errors Participants need to choose which statement is the factor causing their collocation errors based on their own experience
At the beginning, the collected portfolios are analyzed and find collocation errors The collocations are examined to the accuracy of their translation, then the researchers find out the collocational errors based on the Oxford Collocation dictionary for students of English by Moira Runcie (p.9) The study adopts Baker’s (1992) model of collocational errors which indicate that translators commit errors in translating collocations due to five main reasons: (1) the engrossing effect of the source text patterning, (2) misinterpreting the meaning of a source-language collocation, (3) the tension between accuracy and naturalness, (4) culturally specific collocation, and (5) marked collocation in the source text The found errors of the translated collocations relate to the error of conveying the collocational meaning that might be non-translated, slight change in meaning, significant change in meaning and distortion of meaning
The study attempts to explore the reasons behind committing errors by discussing the found errors in these translations
The researchers adopt the following procedures for the present study:
1- Reading the source text (ST) and highlighting its collocations manually
2- Reading the target texts (TTs) and highlighting the equivalents of the ST collocations manually
3- Comparing the meaning of the ST collocation with its equivalence in the TTs
4- Extracting the errors that the translators commit in their translations
5- Categorizing the found errors based on Baker’s model of collocational errors
With the test and questionnaire, the data collected from them were directly analyzed by online software, Google form, in order to find out the common collocation errors as well as factors causing collocation errors
Data analyzed are described in the following part.
Results and Discussion
3.2.1 Research question 1: What are common errors in translation committed by English-majored students at TMU?
3.2.1.1 Portfolios of translation committed by English majored students
To find common collocation mistakes in translations, researcher analyze ten portfolios committed by English-majored students who are studying advanced translation The following table shows the result of each portfolio’s mistake
Table 3.1: The types of errors in each portfolio
Table 1 shows the proportion of thirteen types of collocation errors, which were collected in ten portfolios with ten Vietnamese-English translations committed by students who are learning Advanced Translations Lexical collocation type 4 (noun + noun) is the combination that students make most errors, accounting for 27% The second-highest group includes lexical collocation type 1 (verb + noun, 17%), grammatical collocation type 6 (Verb + Preposition, 18%) and lexical collocation type 2
(adjective + noun, 20%) The third group involves grammatical collocation type 3 (Preposition + Noun, 7%), and grammatical collocation type 1 (Noun + Preposition, 4%) The next group consists of lexical collocation type 6 (verb + adverb), and type 7 (adverb + verb) which are both account for 2%, and grammatical collocation type 4 (Adjective + Preposition), and type 5 (Collocation consists of predicate adjectives and a following to + infinitive) are both made up 1% Grammatical collocation type 2 (Noun + that clause, 0%), lexical collocation type 5 (adverb + Adjective, 0%) all get no errors
Based on the statistics above, researcher realized that students make the most errors in the lexical collocation type 4 (noun + noun) For example:
Po Source text Students’ translation Suggested version
Field The product must bring value
2 Quy trình phát triển Development process Development procedure/ strategy
Quán cà phê truyện tranh
Tâm lý sống theo đám đông
Age of marriage Type of entertainment Coffee-comic
All night long Mentality of living depending on crowd
Marriage age Form of entertainment Comic cafes
Năm quốc gia hàng đầu về nhu cầu robot công nghiệp
Area of life Top five countries for industrial robot demand
Aspect of live Top five in terms of industrial robot demand
5 Công việc được chia nhỏ Subdivided work Divided work
Table 3.2: lexical collocation type 4 example errors in portfolios
The second group in which students make errors consist of three types, which are displayed in the table below:
Table 3.3: The second-high proportions of errors in 10 portfolios
There are the second-highest groups of collocation errors author found in 10 portfolios The following table is some examples of errors
Po Source text Students’ translation Type Suggested version =JI
10 Ứng tuyển vào Apply to 6 Apply for
Quá trình đầy khó Arduous process 3 Challenging process khăn Health and social 3 Medical and social Bảo hiểm y tế xã insurance insurance hội
Khiến các ứng viên Make candidates 1 may bore candidates chán nản và “bỏ frustrated and “run and drive them away chạy” away”
Nghỉ việc Leave work 1 resignation
Có quyết định cuối Have a final decision 1 make final decision cùng
9 Tồn tại lâu trước đó
Exist for a long time before
3 Exist long before Paying habit
8 Làm việc xa nhà Far away from home 6 Work away from home
Găn kết Bond with 6 Connect with
Chen lấn khi tham Jostling in traffic 6 Overtaking when gia giao thông participating in traffic Ánh nhìn không Unfriendly look 3 Critical view thiện cảm Legal
Sự cưỡng ép từ Coercion from law 3 pressure/regulation pháp luật Make phone calls to
Gọi điện thoại về Visit their parent on 1 their parents nhà thăm ba mẹ the phone Deprives many people
Làm cho nhiều Made many people 1 of time for families người hầu như almost no time for không còn thời family gian cho gia đình Husbands and wives
Vợ chồng không Husband and wife 1 cannot watch a TV thể cùng coi một can't watch the same program together chương trình TV show truyền hình,
7 Hỗ trợ cho học sinh Support for students 6 Support to students
Phối hợp với Work with 6 Combine with Đồng hành Accompany 6 Accompany with
Góp phần giúp đỡ Contribute to helping 6 Help
Bảo hiểm y tế Insurance premiums 3 Medical insurance medical Quyền lợi học tập Learning interests for 3 Student’s right in their của học sinh students study
Thu các khoản tiền Collect payments at 1 Collect various fees for đầu năm học mới the beginning of the the new school year new school year Đặc biệt, căn cứ Based on actual 3 Particularly, based on vào điều kiện thực conditions, many non- specific situation, many tế, nhiều trường public schools have non-public schools ngoài công lập đã actively reduced have decided to cut chủ động giảm học tuition fees for tuition fees and taken phí cho học sinh; students; At the same 1 measures to suppose đồng thời, các time, schools deploy students in difficulty so trường triển khai solutions to support that they may feel safe những giải pháp hỗ students with difficult about their study/ may trợ những học sinh circumstances so that be more devoted to có hoàn cảnh khó they can study with their study khăn để các em yên peace of mind tâm học tập
Table 3.4: Second-high collocation group examples in portfolios
The third group involves grammatical collocation type 3 (Preposition + Noun, 7%), and grammatical collocation type 1 (Noun + Preposition, 4%)
Table 3.5: The third high proportions of errors in 10 portfolios
From the table above, it í clarified that students sometimes make errors in the combination of preposition + noun, and noun + preposition The following phrases are some typical examples:
“trong buổi đầu khởi sự”: In the beginning (P.2) => at the beginning
“khó khăn về vốn”: difficulty in capital (P.2) => difficulty in terms of capital
“cuối tháng 9”: at the end of September (P.3) => in late September
“không thể tồn tại nổi nếu thật nghiệp”: people cannot live if unemployed => people cannot survive without job
Besides, students hardly commit errors in lexical collocation type 6, 7, and grammatical collocation type 4, 5 For instant: “sign contract quickly” (ký hợp đồng một cách nhanh chóng-P.9) should be “sign contract rapidly”, “commensurate with” (xứng đáng với-P.10) should be changed into “proportional to”, “reasonable with” (hợp lý với” should become “appropriate with” Moreover, students did not make mistakes in grammatical collocation type 2 (noun + that clause) and lexical collocation type 5 (adverb + adjective) That does not mean that students are good at this kind of combination The reason is that they may not use this kind of combination frequently or they do not have much vocabulary about this combination
As collecting errors in ten portfolios is not enough for researcher to summarize the overview of students’ ability to use certain types of collocation, researcher gives them a mini test for students about fourteen types of collocations
The test consisted of 13 questions embracing only one correct collocation and the remaining options were pseudo-collocates 14 questions in regard to 14 type of collocation which are grammatical collocation: (1) Noun + Preposition Collocation, (2) Noun + that clause Collocation, (3) Preposition + Noun Collocation, (4) Adjective + Preposition Collocation, (5) Collocation consists of predicate adjectives and a following to + infinitive, (6) Verb + Preposition Collocation; lexical collocation: (1) Verb + Noun
Number of participant who chose the correct answer
Type 1: Niềm đam mê với
Type 2: Có khả năng rằng
Type 3: Đình Type 4: Nhạy cảm Type 5: Lo sợ làm Type 6: Xin lỗi ai công về gì đó
Number of participants who chose the correct answer
(2) Adjective + Noun Collocation, (3) Noun + Verb Collocation, (4) Noun + Noun Collocation, (5) Adverb + Adjective Collocation, (6) Verb + Adverb Collocation, (7) Adverb + Verb Collocation The test was completed by 48 English-majored students who participated in the questionnaire After being received, the data was analyzed as follows Then, the results were displayed and explained in the charts below
Figure 3.1: The results of grammatical collocation correct answers in the test
The bar chart shows that there were three types of grammatical collocation that fewer participants found it hard to choose the correct answers, these are type 1 (Noun + preposition), type 4 (Adjective + preposition) and type 5 (adjective + to-infinitive) The grammatical collocation type 3 (Preposition + noun) received the highest right answers from participants with 38 correct answers, the following is grammatical collocation type
2 (Noun + that clause) with 35 correct answers In addition, the combination of grammatical collocation type 6 (verb + preposition) was also selected by the majority of the participants, which accounted for 25 and 20 respectively
4 Đừng hỏi phụ nữ những câu hỏi về cân nặng, họ khá nhạy cảm về chủ đề này đấy
A Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive with this topic
B Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive on this topic
C Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive in this topic
D Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive about this topic
Here are English versions of these collocations: niềm đam mê với (fondness for), có khả năng rằng (possibility that), đình công (on strike), nhạy cảm về (sensitive about), lo sợ làm gì (afraid to), xin lỗi ai/ cái gì (apologize to somebody/something)
Figure 3.2: Percentage of choices in the question “nhạy cảm”
The pie chart explains the proportion of each answer that chosen by test-takers The question ask student to choose the correct version that translate the given sentence include collocation “nhạy cảm về”, and only 10 chose the correct answer (accounting for 21%), the answer received the large number of selections is answer B-sensitive on, which comprised 37% The sentence in this question talk about people’ emotions which easily upset or annoyed by something Therefore, the correct answer is “sensitive about”
Figure 3.3: Percentage of choices in the question “niềm đam mê với”
According to the pie chart, there were 37% participants (18 students) who chose the right combination Although this was the most highly selected, 14 students still opt for answer B-fondness which account for 29% In contrast, the other two options made up low percentages (“fondness to”, 17%; “fondness about”, 17%)
As defined in the Cambridge dictionary, “fondness” is a great liking for someone or something Then, if we use word-for-word translation strategy to render this combination, it can explain why there are many students who preferred to choose the answer “fondness with” As the preposition “for” on English means intended to be given to so that in order to say someone give their affection for something we use “fondness for”
1 Anh ta có niềm đam mê mãnh liệt đối với đồ ăn và có thể ăn bất cứ thứ gì miễn là nó không gây ngộ độc
A He has a great fondness to food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
B He has a great fondness with food and can eat virtuallyanything without ill effects
C He has a great fondness for food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
D He has a great fondness about food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
Figure 3.4: Percentage of choices in the question “lo sợ việc làm gì”
The graph shows that there were 20 answers (made up 42%) choose the right collocation Besides, there also 17 students (approximately 35%) selected answer “afraid of” The selection “afraid in” made up 18% total answers, only one student picked answer D-afraid about One more student contributed another suggestion that is “Many of us hide behind masks, and are afraid of showing people who we really are”
RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
To teachers
In translation teaching, teachers should raise students’ awareness of collocation so that they can make appropriate collocation in both English and Vietnamese It is advisable that teachers organize activities for students to study English collocations, especially marked collocations, as this is the most challenging type Another effective way to raise students’ awareness of collocation is that teachers could ask students to translate a part of an article immediately at class, teachers can correct the translation directly in class so that the problems are found and solved easily In addition, if teachers intend to incorporate their translation classes with collocations, they had better attract students’ attention to collocations and those teachers whose collocation range is limited should be trained more Besides, teachers should create group work and peer-correction in the classroom in order to assist students in achieving their knowledge of collocations With respect to teaching, teachers should encourage students to think in the target language to avoid the interference of mother tongue language when they write or speak, providing collocations in a particular topic might help attract the students’ attention, especially romantic topics In addition, classroom instructors are advised to ask students to make sentences with new collocations they have learned.
To students
Problems of collocational errors mostly come from the lack of knowledge in collocations, the reliance on dictionary and automatic translation tools and word-for- word translation Therefore, when translating, students had better treat words in their collocates rather than translate each word individually Moreover, building vocabulary is also a key factor for students in avoiding errors of collocation when translating, so that students should make a habit of reading and listening to authentic English and Vietnamese in order to create the most natural and appropriate word combinations Students should spend much time on practicing reading and writing skills to improve their vocabulary and grammar It helps students not only to develop creative thinking in order to arrange main points and supporting points suitably but to develop information in their translating skill as well Additionally, foreign language learners can practice collocations by writing and speaking, and it is useful for them to communicate with native speakers in order to find out their natural word combinations Moreover, students should also learn to make good use of dictionaries and other reference source such as the Internet or newspapers to find out good collocations Finally, training yourself to pay attention to all the collocations appearing in texts, conversations, films, songs, lectures and so forth and “record” all would help widen the knowledge of collocations It is recommended that students develop their own strategies and tips to remember collocations and therefore can achieve better translation quality in the long term
In this research the author gave general information about collocation, Vietnamese to English collocation errors, importance of collocation in translation More importantly, the common collocation errors and factors causing these errors were pointed out specifically and clearly The most common errors include grammatical collocation type
1 (Noun + preposition), type 4 (Adjective + preposition, and type 6 (verb + preposition); lexical collocation type 1 (verb + noun), type 2 (adjective + noun), type 3 (Noun + verb) and type 4 (noun + noun) and type 6 (verb + adverb) In addition, there are three main factors causing these errors: the translators’ low knowledge of collocations (11.3%), the translators’ reliance on dictionaries or automatic translation tools (10.73%), the translators using word-for-word strategy to create new collocation (10.17%) In the meantime, the useful solutions were also provided to help students to avoid collocation errors when translation They had better treat words in collocating words rather than translate each word individually, enrich their collocation vocabulary, learning base on structure and phrase are also key factors for the student in avoiding errors of collocation when translating
Despite a great deal of effort to finalize this paper, some of possible limitations are inevitable Firstly, the study only carried out with Vietnamese to English errors collocations so that it does not convey ability of using collocation of students In addition, the analysis just focused on ten portfolios, hence, the data could not reflect the level of all English-majored students at Thuongmai University Secondly, the test was delivered to the participants via Google Form Therefore, the researchers could not exercise greater control over the participants’ use of dictionaries and this test was undertaken mainly based on the honesty of the implementers However, from the recorded data, it hinted no interference of the dictionary sources Thirdly, although 48 participants joined this study, the sample size of the study was quite small, so the data collected were not highly generalized Furthermore, the test has only one sentence for each type of collocations, therefore, it does not cover exactly students’ ability of using correct collocations Finally, solutions given in this research can only help teachers and students realize and avoid collocation errors in general, not in specific types of collocation errors
As a result of the limitations above, the researchers hope that the next researchers who share the same interest in collocation should have larger scale with more participants and translations, and study more kinds of collocations In addition, collocation errors should be analyzed and discussed more specifically In Particular, the solutions for each type of mistake should be given
In short, the researcher hopes that this research paper will be useful material for English-majored students in particular and students at Thuongmai University in general
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Po Source text Students’ translation Suggested version
3 khi bắt đầu bước chân lên con thuyền khởi nghiệp
5 nghĩ đến tiền trong gọi vốn
9 Sản phẩm của doanh nghiệp được đánh giá khá
13 Đem lại lợi ích cho nhà đầu tư
3 when start to step on the startup “boat”
5 consider about money in raising
9 the product of the business is evaluated quite well
3 when stepping on the startup “boat”
4 difficulty in term of capital
9 product of the business is evaluated quite highly
11 be prepare/ aware that 12.achieve effectiveness/ efficiency
2 1 Nôn nóng gọi vốn sớm
2 Trong buổi đầu khởi nghiệp
3 khi bắt đầu bước chân lên con thuyền khởi nghiệp
5 Kiến thức của người khởi nghiệp
2 in the beginning of its operation
3 when start to step on the startup “boat
2 at the beginning of its operation
3 when stepping on the startup “boat”
8 Risk failure/ at risk from failure
10 Determine the state of mind
19, nền kinh tế độc thân đã bắt đầu bùng nổ
4 Tìm ra nhiều cách thức sáng tạ
6 Phòng hát karaoke một người
3 Before the appearance of COVID-19 pandemic, the single economy has broken out
4 Found out a lot of creative way
3 The solo economy already, developed before the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic
5 Long-lasting/ long standing demand
9 đọc truyện tranh thâu đêm,
9 Reading comic all night long
11 mentality of living depending on crowd
11 tâm lý sống theo đám đông
12 hướng tới 12 go toward 12 moving towards
2 Các lĩnh vực cuộc sống
5 nguy cơ tạo ra bất bình đẳng thu nhập
5 risks creating higher income inequality
6 đe dọa chủ yếu đến các công việc đòi hỏi kỹ năng thấp
7 công việc cơ học được chia nhỏ
9 khó khăn về nhân khẩu học
12 Năm quốc gia hàng đầu về nhu cầu robot công nghiệp
6 major threat to low- skill jobs
11 At the end of September
12 The top five countries for industrial robot demand
5 result in/ lead to higher income inequality
6 mostly threatening low-skill jobs
7 steps of the divided work
12 Top five in terms of industrial robot demand
5 1 đe dọa chủ yếu đến các công việc đòi hỏi kỹ năng thấp
2 công việc cơ học được chia nhỏ
3 khó khăn về nhân khẩu học
6 Năm quốc gia hàng đầu về nhu cầu robot công nghiệp
1 major threat to low- skill jobs
5 At the end of September
6 The top five countries for industrial robot demand
1 mostly threatening low-skill jobs
2 steps of the divided work
6 Top five in terms of industrial robot demand
6 1 Về con số thất nghiệp
3 Đây là con số khiến nhiều người ít quan sát các số liệu thống kê kinh tế cảm thấy khó hiểu
3 This is a number that makes many people who barely observe economic statistics find it difficult to understand
3 This is the rate that people who regularly observe economic statistics find confusing
9 làm việc hỗ trợ gia đình
10 công việc trả lương theo giờ
12 trợ cấp thất nghiệp dài hạn
13 gói cứu trợ kinh tế
14 khu vực kinh tế phi chính thức
15 quyền lợi hợp pháp cơ bản nhất của người lao động
15 Basic legal rights of workers
15 Basic labor rights guaranteed/ ensures
7 1 Các khoản tiền đầu năm học
6 Nguyên tắc công khai, minh bạch
7 huy động các nguồn lực để có chính sách hỗ trợ thêm cho học sinh
9 học sinh có hoàn cảnh khó khăn
10 đảm các khoản thu đầu năm đúng với quy định
1 collected payments at the beginning of the new school year
7 mobilize resources to have additional support policies for students
10 ensure that the revenues at the beginning of the year are in accordance with regulations
1 collected various fees for the new school year
6 principles of ensuring transparence and openness
7 mobilize financial resources to provide further supports to students
10 ensure that all fees comply with regulations
11 tuyệt đối không để xảy ra tình trạng lạm thu
12 Quyền lợi học tập của học sinh
13 Chung tay cùng ngành giáo dục
16 góp phần giúp ngành Giáo dục
13 Joining hands with the Education industry
16 contribute to helping the Capital Education sector
12 students’ rights in their study
13 Sharing difficulties with the Education sector
16 help the Capital’s Education sector
8 1 Trong khó khăn của dịch bệnh
2 Những con người bận rộn
3 Người đi làm xa quê
4 có thời gian hơn để điện thoại về thăm hỏi ba mẹ ở nhà
5 cuộc sống hiện đại bộn bề
8 Chạy theo công việc và học tập
9 làm cho nhiều người hầu như không còn thời gian cho gia đình
10 cùng coi một chương trình truyền hình
11 là niềm khao khát, là giấc mơ xa vời
1 In the midst of the pandemic
4 have more time to visit their parents on the phone staying at home
8 pursuit of work and study
9 made many people almost no time for family
10 watch the same TV show
4 make more frequent phone calls to their parents back in their hometown
5 hustle and bustle of the modern life
8 great work amount of time on work and studies
9 deprives many people of time for families
12 to connect with our families for family togetherness
14 chen lấn khi tham gia giao thông
17 giữ khoảng cách tối thiểu hai mét
18 ánh nhìn không mấy thiện cảm
21 sự cưỡng ép từ pháp luật
17 a minimum distance of two meters
14 overtaking when participating in the traffic
17 keeping at least 2 meters away from others
9 1 ứng dụng công nghệ thông tin
2 tồn tại rất lâu trước đó
6 ký hợp đồng một cách nhanh chóng
10 thói quen thanh toán của người dân
10 1 quá trình đầy khó khăn
3 quy trình tuyển dụng chặt chẽ
5 khiến các ứng viên chán nản và “bỏ chạy”
11 có quyết định cuối cùng
13 lời mời gọi” đối với các ứng viên
14 tham khảo thị trường tuyển dụng
17 hiểm y tế và xã hội
5 candidates frustrated and “run away”
5 may bore candidates and drive them away
13 good lure to any jobs seekers
14 refer to the job market
A QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT FINDING FACTORS THAT CAUSE
VIETNAMESE TO ENGLISH COLLOCATION ERRORS OF ENGLISH- MAJORED STUDENTS AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY
My name is Nguyen Thi Phuong, I am doing my graduation paper entitled: “An analysis of word collocation errors in translation committed by English-majored students at Thuongmai University” Therefore, your assistance in completing this questionnaire is greatly appreciated Please be sure that all the information will be kept confidential and be used for the research purpose only
Please provide some information to help classify and compare groups of survey subjects:
Your major: ……… Your school year: ……… PART B – The mini test
Without using dictionary or any automatic translation tool, choose the most suitable translation for the following sentences:
1 Anh ta có niềm đam mê mãnh liệt đối với đồ ăn và có thể ăn bất cứ thứ gì miễn là nó không gây ngộ độc
A He has a great fondness to food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
B He has a great fondness with food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
C He has a great fondness for food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
D He has a great fondness about food and can eat virtually anything without ill effects
2 Nếu như tôi đoán không nhầm thì tình huống như thế này có thể sẽ tái diễn
A It not beyond the bounds possibility which a similar situation could arise again
B It not beyond the bounds possibility that a similar situation could arise again
C It not beyond the bounds possibility when a similar situation could arise again
D It not beyond the bounds possibility in case a similar situation could arise again
3 Chúng Mình phải bắt taxi thôi, tớ nghĩ mấy ông tài xế xe bus đình công hết rồi
A Let’s take a taxi I think the bus drives are in strike
B Let’s take a taxi I think the bus drives are on strike
C Let’s take a taxi I think the bus drives are within strike
D Let’s take a taxi I think the bus drives are for strike
4 Đừng hỏi phụ nữ những câu hỏi về cân nặng, họ khá nhạy cảm với chủ đề này đấy
A Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive with this topic
B Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive on this topic
C Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive in this topic
D Don’t ask women questions about their weight, they are sensitive about this topic
5 Nhiều người trong chúng ta luôn ẩn mình sau lớp mặt nạ, và luôn lo sợ để cho mọi người biết con người thật của mình
A Many of us hide behind masks, and afraid of showing people who we really are
B Many of us hide behind masks, and afraid in showing people who we really are
C Many of us hide behind masks, and afraid to show people who we really are
D Many of us hide behind masks, and afraid about showing people who we really are
6 Loài người chúng ta thực sự nên xin lỗi Mẹ Thiên Nhiên
A Humans really should apologize to Mother Nature
B Humans really should apologize for Mother Nature
C Humans really should apologize in Mother Nature
D Humans really should apologize with Mother Nature
7 Vào tháng Năm vừa qua, tòa án tối cao đã bác bỏ đơn kháng cáo của Jack
A In May, the Supreme Court overrule an appeal by Jack
B In May, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Jack
C In May, the Supreme Court disproved an appeal by Jack
D In May, the Supreme Court refuted an appeal by Jack
8 Tất cả mớ cảm xúc hỗn độn trong đầu anh ta đã tích tụ lại trong lòng
A All those mussy feelings were back in his stomach
B All those messy feelings were back in his stomach
C All those mixed feelings were back in his stomach
D All those rough feelings were back in his stomach
9 Hãy lắng nghe tiếng sóng vỗ rì rào trên bãi biển và ánh đèn nhấp nháy của những con tàu đi ngang qua ở Sky Lounge
A Relax to the sound of the waves clapping on the beach and flickering lights of passing ships in the Sky Lounge
B Relax to the sound of the waves flapping on the beach and flickering lights of passing ships in the Sky Lounge
C Relax to the sound of the waves wlapping on the beach and flickering lights of passing ships in the Sky Lounge
D Relax to the sound of the waves lapping on the beach and flickering lights of passing ships in the Sky Lounge
10 Anh ta bị tấn công bởi một đàn chó
A He was attacked by a pack of dogs
B He was attacked by a heard of dogs
C He was attacked by a flock of dogs
D He was attacked by a team of dogs
11 Mấy cái thứ này rẻ như bèo ấy, nên tôi đã mua chúng
A They were meagrely cheap, so I bought them
B They were ridiculously cheap, so I bought them
C They were insignificantly cheap, so I bought them
D They were absurdly cheap, so I bought them
12 Cô ấy quyết tâm quên hết mọi chuyện đã xảy ra và bắt đầu mọi thứ lại từ đầu
A She's willing to forget everything that's happened and start newly
B She's willing to forget everything that's happened and start afresh
C She's willing to forget everything that's happened and start originally
D She's willing to forget everything that's happened and start initially
13 Tôi thực sự rất khâm phục sự hy sinh của anh