NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITYFACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISHNGUYEN THI HUONG GIANG ERRORS IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH RELATIVE CLAUSES INTO VIETNAMESE AND SOME RECO
Research aims T0 113
This research was conducted with two aims The first one is seeking to investigate what common errors are currently made in translating English relative clauses into Vietnamese by forth-year English majors at NEU Second, on the basis of the findings, possible suggestions were provided for improving these translation errors.
Research QUeStiONS eccesceeesceeseceseeceeecsaecenecesceceaeeesaeceeeceaeersaeeenneesaes 10
This research is implemented with the aim of investigating and answering two questions:
1 What errors do forth-year BE students often make in translating English relative clauses into Vietnamese?
2 What are recommendations that the translators should use to avoid to make mistakes in translating English relative clauses into Vietnamese?
Scope of the research 5 HH TH HT HH ngà 10
The questionnaire (see Appendix ẽ) 6 + + sesserssersrke 11 1.5.3 Interview (See Appendix 2) - -. cv HH ng HH kt 12
In the questionnaire method, the researcher produced a carefully questionnaire and gave to the forth-year students in order to have deeply investigation into the interviewers’ perception about translating relative clauses as well as common errors in translating English relative clauses into Vietnamese.
The survey questionnaire consisted of eight questions written in English and it was anomymously responded through Google Forms This anonymity allowed the participants to show their attitudes and opinions in a truthful way As a result, the researcher could analyze the data more objectively The objectives of this method can be described as below:
The first six questions were grouped to find out the students’ perception as well as attitude towards translating relative clauses.
Question (1) was designed to investigate students’ perception about relative clause’s name to see whether they understand the basic function of it.
In the question (2), the researcher listed some of sentences including relative clauses and the participants had to choose the sentence which was thought to be relative clause In other words, this question was to test the student’s ability of recognizing relative clauses.
Question (3) was for seeking the frequency of translating relative clauses There are a number of translation topics with different kinds of sentences So this question helps the researcher grasp the level of popularity in using relative clauses in translation texts.
The methods of translation which forth- year BE students often applied in translating relative clauses were clarified in the question (4).
Question (5) was on purpose to find out the student attitudes toward translating relative clauses, whether they found translation relative clauses difficult or not.
Question (6) was on the survey to find out the satisfaction of paricipants in their translation practices.
Question (7) was applied to see whether given factors had an significant influence on translation errors.
In this question, in order to have an insight into the level of influence of the factors which affect students’ making errors when translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese, the searcher required respondents to evaluate each factors with a 5-point Likert scale (Strongly disagree, Disagee, Neutral, Agree,
Strongly disagree) After that, a means of data calculation widely used in ancient Indian mathematics was applied.
The formula can be shortly described as below: ax1+bx2+cx3+dx4+ex5 n x= x : level of influence
XI, Xa, Xa, X4, Xs: the value of point ( from ẽ to 5 respectively) that a student gives for a level. a: the number of students choosing 1 b : the number of students choosing 2 c : the number of students choosing 3 d: the number of students choosing 4 e : the number of students choosing 5 n: the total number of respondents
Score Interval (Mean) Evaluation Criteria
1,00 - 1,79 Very low level 1,80 - 2.59 Low level
2,60 — 3,39 Medium level 3,40 —4,19 High level 4,20 — 5,00 Very high level
Table 2 Evaluation criteria for Likert scale questions The final question of the questionnaire examined some necessary skills that need improving to obtain a satisfied performance.
In order to have an insight into the students’ opinions, attitudes as well as experience so that the researcher can investigate the in-depth errors of forth-year
BE students and some recommendations to overcome the poor performance, an interview between the researcher and 20 interviewers was conducted The students were coded from 1 to 20 The interview was performed during the second semester in the 2019-2020 school year The interview included six fixed questions and they were all listing free questions It took approximately ten minutes for each participant to answer.
The first question was aimed at exploring student’s perception toward translating relative clauses The second one was to analyze the level of frequency of relative clauses in the translation text Moreover, the attitudes of students about translating relative clauses were shown in this question as well The objective of the forth one was to ask participants whether they use “mà” when translating relative pronouns In the question five, the reasons which caused mistakes in case the relative clauses were translated in wrong way was seeked And a number of
12 useful suggestions to deal with those obstacles were absorbed by students in the last question.
Most answers were recorded during the interview process However, some students were uncomfortable when being recorded because they felt like being on a test This may cause untruthful answers, which led to wrong result Therefore, in that case, the students’ responses were noted down rather than being recorded.
Then, the answers were collected and as the raw data The researcher used selective encryption to carefully sort out phrases or sentences which was useful for the deeply investigation The main viewpoints were kept as the original responses, however, the researcher analyzed and added some words or phrases which made the answer more smoothly.
This research consists of six chapters:
Chapter 1- Introduction provides the motivation, aims, methodology and organization of the research They are some background that lead to the research.
Chapter 2- Literature review presents the theoretical background of the study including definition of translation, translation process, translation methods, translation errors and translation equivalence In addition, this chapter also focuses on the overview of English relative clauses.
Chapter 3- Findings describes data collected from method instruments
Chapter 4- Recommendations discusses findings to the two research questions.
Besides, some useful suggestions to improve translation also given in this chapter.
Chapter 5- Conclusion will summarize the findings and address limitations of this study and suggestions for further research.
Translation plays an indispensable part in the world development According to
Anne D Cordero (1984, p350) “the need for translation is especially acute in our modern world”.
So far, there have been a large numbers of studies about the definition of translation Among them, word-for-word and sense-for-sense translation studies were discussed by two of the pioneers are Horace and Cicero (first century B.C). Subsequently, they are the premise for progressions and advances in the field as well as have an influence up until the twentieth century The following definitions are considered as the most outstanding and typical opinions about translation.
Bell (1991, p5) has argured that translation is the demonstration in another language of what has been represented in one language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences The production can be in the written or oral form; however, they both transfer the thoughts and ideas of source language to target language It means that the main purpose of translation is that the original text and the production have to transfer the same message and make the same feeling to the readers.
Wilss (1982, p3) stated that translation is a transfer process with the aim at the transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text With the same opinion as Bell, Wilss said that translation requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the SL.
“Translators are concerned with the written texts They render written texts from one language into another language Translators are required to undertake assignments, which range from simple items, such as birth certificates and driving licenses, to more complex written materials, such as articles in specialized professional journals, business contracts and legal documents”.
(Bui Tien Bao and Dang Xuan Thu, 1997).
LITERATURE REVIEW Ghi 14
Problems in translating English relative clauses into Vietnamese
Most Vietnamese linguists believe that in Vietnamese, there is no relative pronouns and some English learners mistaken the word "ma" which they use in some cases with the linking function as relative pronoun Actually, it must be considered as prepositions, “connector” or “conjunction” However, it is necessary to understand that in spite of the absence of the relative pronouns, there are still forms of expressions equivalent to them.
In Vietnamese grammar, there is only the existence of pronouns “ Dai từ là từ loại của các từ có chức năng thay thé” (Dinh Van Duc, Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, p-199) ) In English, it can be understood that pronouns have the function of replacement Bui Y (Basic English sentence patterns, 1980) presents that the level of frequency of relative clauses in Vietnamese grammar is very low.
E.g: The boy whom you see at the door is his brother (Đứa bé mà anh trông thấy ở cửa là em anh ta day.)
( Bui Y, Basic English sentence patterns, 1980, p.111)
The below example clearly illustrates the translation from “who” into its equivalent in Vietnamese “mà”.
The difficulties in translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese arise probably because our Vietnamese does not have this relative pronouns and therefore Vietnamese people who learn English can hardly imagine a grammatical phenomenon that does not exist in the mother tongue.
In summary, there is a little relevance between relative pronouns as well as relative clauses in English and those in Vietnamese However, the difference is that in Vietnam, relative clauses rarely appear This is the reasonable answer for the awkwardness in the Vietnamese students’ translations of relative clauses from English into Vietnamese In some cases, the meaning can be correctly conveyed; however, in a ambiguous expression This may lose author’s tone as well as relieving the SL’s idea.
In regards to this problems, the researcher decided to conduct this study with the aim to deeply investigating into commons errors and improve the quality of final- year BE students in translating English relative clauses into Vietnamese.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Students’ perception towards translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese
This research aims at studying on translating relative clauses from English into
Vietnamese Therefore, the first and foremost thing that need to be studied in this study is the forth-year BE students’ level of knowledge on the translation of relative clauses.
With the raw data collected from 70 questionnaire test responses, it can be clearly seen that 58 out of 70 respondents ( 82,9%) chose the other name of relative clause correctly The result was significant because the participants are forth-year students and they all have a certain knowledge about grammar in relative clauses Relative clause has the function of adding information to a noun in the main clause, so it functions as an adjective Therefore, some grammarians call it adjective clause Only if getting the basic function of relative clause, the respondents can easily choose the correct answer.
A small percentage of participants which stood at 8,5 % thought relative clauses’ other name to be adverbial clause The answers of noun clause and appositive clause were selected by the same number of students (3 students which is equivalent 4,3%).
In responding to the first interview question about the basic knowledge of relative clause, most of interviewers well grasp the definition as well as the functions of relative clauses The responses are transcribed as below:
Code 10: To me, relative clause is the part of a sentence to describe a noun It cannot exist independently because it makes the sentence meaningless The main purpose of relative clause is specifying or giving additional information about a person or thing.
Code 1: I think relative clause comes after a noun or pronoun and I notice that it often begin with a relative pronoun such as “who”, “which”, or “that” ẽ am not sure but it seems that relative clause functions as an adjective and answers the questions: What kind? How many? Or which one?.
Code 8: As far as I know, the meaning of a sentence can be expressed in a more specific and sophisticated way with relative clauses.
Students' perception toward relative clause's other name m Adjective clause
Figure 3.1 Students' perception toward relative clause's other name
From the next question output, the participants’ ability of recognizing relative clauses was revealed.
For the given answer “David tells the truth to his wife, who he loves the most”,
59 out of 70 respondents ( 84,3%) thought that it contained the relative clause.
Code 5 : I choose this one as relative clause because the clause ‘who he loves the most’ comes after the noun “his wife” Moreover, the clause begins with the relative pronoun “who”
Regarding the sentence “I am excited about the notification that I have passed the university entrance.”, only 4,3% ( 3 students) selected wrongly The clause “I have passed the university entrance” is used as the modifier of the adjective.
Surprisingly, none of participant choose the sentence “Selena wasn’t in the conference on Monday, so she wants to know who is the host of the conference.” as relative clause.
Code 7: The clause “who is the host of the conference” start with “who”; however, it is just a noun clause, not a relative clause.
8 students (11,4%) had the inaccurate answer when selecting “John decides to going abroad, which makes his family surprised.”.
Code 3 stated that this form often makes English learners confused about relative clause Although he knew that “ which” is used to modify the whole clause
“John decides to going abroad”, he still couldn’t make it clear and as a result, he did not identify correct relative clause.
It is inferred that forth-year BE students have firm knowledge about identifying relative clause This data can be clearly illustrated in the below graph:
Number of students aware of English relative clause
David tells the truth to his lam excited about the Selena wasn’t in the John decides to going wife, who he loves the most _ notification that | have conference on Monday, so abroad, which makes his passed the university she wants to know who is family surprised entrance exam the host of the conference.
Figure 3.2.Number of students aware of English relative clauses
The next question discoverd the students’ level of difficulty in their translation of relative clause When being asked about the level of difficulty, one-third of interviewers (22 out of 70 participants) stated that it is very difficult to translate relative clauses from English into Vietnamese 43 students accounting for 61,4% reported that they encounter difficulty in their translation practice This was additionally proved by the interview response.
Code 12: I can not translate the relative clause naturally and smoothly It takes me much time choosing appropriate words and phrase in order to transmit the meaning from the source language into target language.
Code 14: For me, it was very hard task There are some relative clauses which makes me confused due to the complicated grammar structure.
The translation of relative clause only satisfied five surveyed students, which is equivalent to 7,2% Code 9 shared that she practiced translating relative clause in a long time She also expressed that if English learners got some basic strategies and tips, translating relative clause will no longer be a difficult task.
Student's opinion about the level of difficulty in translating relative clause
Very difficult Difficult Not difficult
Figure 3.3 Student's opinion about the level of difficulty in translating relative clause
Students were also asked about the frequency of translating relative clause 38 participants (54,3%) claimed that relative clause often appear in their translation test.
The interviewee named code 11: When I practiced translating, I noticed that there was at least one relative clause in each exercise.
The number of students who always encounter relative clause accounted for
22,9% This result was also similar to the number of students who sometimes translate relative clause Surprisingly, none of 70 respondents rarely experienced in translating.
Students’ frequency of exposing to relative clause translation
Figure 3.4 Students’ frequency of exposing to relative clause translation
Based on eight types of translation methods suggested by Peter Newmark (1988), a question to investigate the most useful methods was designed A rather high percentage of the students (60%) employed word-by-word translation method.
This result was understandable because despite the fact that the translations conveyed as much as possible the meaning of the original text, they sounded odd and awkward The number of students who applied literal methods were similar to those who used semantic methods (7 students) The faithful method was selected by 8,6% of them equaling 6 students Surprisingly, none of participants applied free translation and idiomatic translation in their performance 5,7% of the respondents preferred adaption method and this result is similar to the communicative translation.
Translation methods applied when translating
Figure 3.5 Translation methods applied when translating English -
The next finding of the study illustrated the satisfaction of the final- year BE students about their outcome of the relative clause translation As it can be seen from the chart below, no one was extremely satisfied with their perfomance on the translation Meanwhile, in the total 70 participants, there are 56 students
28 stated that they were not satisfied, which accounts for 80% The translation of
English relative clauses satisfied only 20% of the respondents (14 students).