NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISHVU THUY TIEN ASTUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE IDIOMSIN BUSINESS DOCUMEN
Phiên An, Kinh tế châu A có thé phục hồi sau đại dịch nhanh hon phương
Tay, VnExpress, thang 3, 2020 URL: https://vnexpress.net/kinh-te-chau-a-co-the-phuc-hoi-sau-dai-dich-nhanh-hon- ong-toa-4085333.html
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human-body parts and their Vietnamese Equivalents: A case study of two English Novels and their Vietnamese translation versions, Tap chí Ngoại ngữ
7 Bao Huyền, Be the last straw, Tiếng Anh Thú Vị, tháng 5, 2013 URL https://tienganhthuvi.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/be-the-last-straw/
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Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 584
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
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Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
13.Tan, W., Asian economies may ride out the coronavirus crisis better than the
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16 Wall Street Journal, The Month Coronavirus Felled American Business, April
2020 URL
https://www.wsj.com/graphics/march-changed-everything/?fbclid=IwAR2oy9 kxUZ2BNetgNKmnQOLPwO0DsNjgz1bOpXWfUed-aXXRGMCSOcMEFIIEMỹ =_
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
A study on the difficulties in translating idioms from English to Vietnamese in Business documents of Business English students.
I am an intake 58 students from Faculty of Foreign Language in National Economics University I am conducting a research to classify the difficulties in translating Business documents from English to Vietnamese of BE students.
This is not a test, so there is no “right” or “wrong” answer I am highly appreciated if you can answer these questions truthfully Moreover, this questionnaire's result will be used only for my research so I can assure that your own information will not be identified in any discussion.
Please write in the space provided, tick a box and/or the column of your choice.
Thank you for your cooperation!
Q1: Which one is the definition of idioms? a) Semantically arbitrary restrictions which do not follow logically from the propositional meaning of a word b) Fixed combinations which have different structure compared to normal words.
The meaning of the whole words is different from its separated lexical items c) Short sentences which refer to something most people have experience then giving advices or warnings.
Q2: Can you name 3 idioms you know?
Q3: What do you think about the role of idioms in Business documents? a) Very important b) Important c) Neutral d) Unimportant e) Very unimportant
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
Q4: Please translate these sentences to Vietnamese If there any sentences you are unable to translate, write 'X" next to the number of the sentence.
Underline the idiom and it’s translation in each sentence.
1 A month earlier, he had told the company’s management to model out what would happen if they had to close their Houston hotels and the South Street
Seaport restaurant and bar area in New York City 2 If you have bad news, don’t beat around the bush
3 The virus appears to be more contained in Asia now, while it’s still running its course in the West
4 Life throughout the city has been altered in ways big and small.
5 But with the result also pushing China towards its first economic contraction since 1976, urban middle class consumers are instead tightening their belts amid growing fears of an economic downturn, darkening job prospects and high debt levels.
6 A 30 March report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development offers an early glimpse of what lies in store for emerging and developing economies
7 When people are living hand to mouth in the absence of adequate social protections, a loss of income could mean starvation.
8 But there will inevitably be more crises down the line, which means that sovereign-debt restructuring should be high on the agenda for the post-pandemic reckoning.
9 Crooks are trying to get in on the act as hospitals have become desperate and prices have shot up.
10 “But I love being with my kid during the day She is good at keeping quiet.
Everything comes with a price,” she explained.
Q5: On a 100-point scale, how do you evaluate your ability to translate idioms in Business documents from English to Vietnamese? Write your point below
Q6: To what extend do you encounter when translating English-Vietnamese idioms in Business documents?
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
Unable to recognize the idioms
Unable to find the exact phrase in Vietnamese which convey the meaning of its English idiom
Unable to express/paraphrase the meaning of the idiom into Vietnamese
Unable to understand the meaning of the idioms
Q7: If you find any other difficulties in translating idioms in Business documents from English to Vietnamese, please write down below.
Q8: How do you evaluate the level of difficulties in translating idioms from English to Vietnamese in Business context?
Very Difficult |Rather | Not | Not difficult difficult | sure | difficult
Understand the meaning of the idioms
Find the exact phrase in Vietnamese which convey the meaning of its English idiom meaning of the idiom into Vietnamese
Q9: Could you recommend some solutions to improve translating idioms inBusiness context?
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
- What do you think about the role of idioms in Business documents? Why?
- Why do you find difficult when translating idioms in Business documents from English to Vietnamese?
- Do you have any recommendations helping BE students to overcome problems in translating idioms in Business documents from English to Vietnamese?
Understand definition of idioms 39/60 Have wrong understand of idioms 21/60 | 35%
2 Evaluate the importance of idiom in Business documents
3 The answer of Idioms' definition of 10 students having the neutral option in the idioms' role
Collocation’s definition 8 students Proverb’s definition 2 students
4 The number of sentences which students are able to translate among the 10 ones given
3 sentences that some students were unable to translate are:
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
- A 30 March report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development offers an early glimpse of what lies in store for emerging and developing economies
- When people are living hand to mouth in the absence of adequate social protections, a loss of income could mean starvation.
- But there will inevitably be more crises down the line, which means that sovereign-debt restructuring should be high on the agenda for the post-pandemic reckoning.
5 Types of idioms students translated correctly (compare to the standard translation)
Types of idioms Idioms the number of times idioms were translated correctly Demotivated idiom | beat around the bus 58/60 lies in store 50/60 (including non-translated cases) live hand to mouth 50/60 (including non-translated cases) down the line 49/60 (including non-translated cases) non-translated cases)
Vu Thuy Tien — 11165194 — Business English 58A
8 The way students often translate the idioms (total idiom which were translated correctly: 665/720)
Find an idiom conveying roughly the same meaning and | 117/665 | 17.6%
Use paraphrase to explain the idioms (beat around the | 528/665 | 79.4% bush, lie in store, live hand to mouth, down the line, get in the act, run its course, tighten belt, big and small, model out, shoot up, high on the agenda)
Leave out the idiom (down the line) 20/665
9 Students evaluate their own ability to translate idioms in Business documents from English to Vietnamese from the scale of 100
10 The extend difficulties students encounter when translating idioms in Business documents from English to Vietnamese? (per 60 students)
Unable to recognize the | 2 idioms
Unable to understand the meaning of the idioms
11 The level of difficulties in translating idioms from English to Vietnamese
Very Difficult | Rather | Not Not difficult difficult | sure difficult
Understand the meaning | 5 of the idioms in Business context documents from English to Vietnamese - Lack of business major knowledge
- Lack of idiom knowledge: never use idiom before, do not know many idioms - The difference of culture between 2 languages
13 Some solutions to improve translating idioms in Business context - External impact solution: e Improve both idiom and Business knowledge by: read more English
Business books/articles, write down the idioms that are unfamiliar and look for the meanings Then learn by heart and apply in speaking/conversation.