Khóa luận tốt nghiệp: English-majored students’ perceptions of the difficulties in learning legal English-vietnamese interpreting skills at Hanoi Law University

‘MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGHANOILAW UNIVERSITY 453231 ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE INTERPRET

‘MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOILAW UNIVERSITY

453231

ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE INTERPRETING SKILLS

AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

GRADUATION THES

Hanoi - 2024

‘MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOILAW UNIVERSITY

TRAN VŨ MINH THU’

453231

ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING LEGAL ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE INTERPRETING SKILLS

AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

NHAN THỨC CUA SINH VIÊN NGÀNH NGON NGỮ ANH VE NHUNG KHO KHAN KHI HỌC PHIEN DỊCH PHÁP LÝ ANH-

VIET TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC LUẬT HÀ NỘI.

Major: Legal English

GRADUATION THES

Supervisor

La Nguyén Binh Minh, MA

Hanoi - 2024

STUDENT DECLARATIONThereby state that I Tran Vu Minh Thu — ID 453231, being a candidate for thedegree of Bachelor of Arts, accept the requarements of the University relating tothe retention and use ofthe Bachelors Graduation Paper deposited in the libreny.

Interms of these condhtions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in thebrary should be accessible for the purposes of study andresearch in accordancewith the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan orreproduction of the paper

Aguil 4% 2024

Supervisor's confirmation Researcher's signature

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTCompleting a thesis is never a solitery endeavor, it requires the support,encouragement, and guidance of numerous individuals I am deeply grateful to allthose who have contributed to the fruition of this work

First end foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to mysupsrvisor, Ms La Nguyen Bình Minh, whose unvavering support end insightfulguidance have been invaluable throughout this research journey Her expestise andpetience have significantly shaped this thesis, endl am immensely grateful for herdedication

Tam slsoiadebtedto the faculty members and staff of the Faculty of ForeignLanguages st Hanoi Law University, whose commitment to education andresearchhhas served ase source of inspiration for me Their support and encouragement haveplayed a crucial ale in my academic pursuits

Furthermore, I would like to extend my gratitude to the members of thethesis defense committee for their valuable time and constructive feedback, whichhhave greatly enniched this werk

Special apprecistion is also extended to the students of K45 and KA6 fortheir enthusiastic participation in the research, which hes made « significentconttibution to its completion

Finally, Iam deeply grateful for my family’s umvavesing love, support, andconfidence in me, which have been the bedrock of my achievements, Theirconstant backing hes propelled me forward, and hold their presence in my liẾ inthe highest regard Additionally, I offer heestfelt thanks to my peers andclassmates, whose unfelteing encowagement end motivetion have beenindispensable throughout my academic endeavors, providing me with resilienceend inspiration

To all those mentioned end countless others who heve contributed invarious ways, I extend my heartfelt thenks Without your support, guidance, andencowagement, this thesis would not have been possible

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Ta a globalized economy, legel interpreting plays an essential role insupporting effective conversations in legal end paralegal settings Besides, just «few institutions treininterpreters, end aminosty of studieswere conductedin egalinterpretation This paved the way for the cwrent greduction thesis to beconducted The focus of this graduation thesis was to investigate the legal English.mejored students’ difficulties in learning legal English: Vietnamese interpretingstalls end proffer some practical strategies to help them overcome them In theesearch process, the reseercher applied œ quantitetive method through œsesearcher-made survey questionnsise, The pasticipents partaking in this researchere 84 English majored students from two intakes K45 and K46 et Hanoi LewUniversity The study findings reveal thet pesticipents usually encounter problemsselsted to background knowledge, specialized interpreting sills, linguistic Factors,English competence and psychology Among them, insufficient backgroundknowledge was voted as the most influential factor Some tips and techniques forEnglish-major students are proposed accordingly to umount the difficultiesmentioned sbove Besides, several recommendations for lecturers in legalinterpreting end the institution ere also put forward to addkess such challenges,

‘ultimately improving the teaching end learning quality of legal intexpreting skills

in general, and legel English-Vietnam ese interpreting sillsin pasticuler et the ssid

institution

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TABLE OF CONTENTSSTUDENT DECLARATION

1 Retionale for study

2 Aims of the study

3 Research questions

4 Scope of the study

5 Significence of the study

6 Orgenizetion of the study

PART Il DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.2.2 Common difficulties in learning egal English

1.3 Legal Interpreting sll from English to Vietnemese at Hanoi LawUniversity

1.4 Previous studies on common difficulties in leaning interpreting skills1.41, International studies

1.42 Studies in the Vietnamese context

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CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 202.1 Research design 202.2 Research questions restated 202.3 Pasticipants end setting a2.4, Research instrament 2

26 Data analysis 23

37 Summery +CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 25

31 Results +3.1.1 Students’ motivation to learn legal English-Vietnem ese intespreting

leseners difficulties 36

3.2 Discussion 373.3 Summery 40CHAPTER 4 RECOMMENDATIONS 4L4.1, Recommendations for legal English-majored students 41

44 Summery “4PART III CONCLUSION 45

1 Summary of the mein findings 45

stions for fudher research2.1 Limitations of the study:

2.2 Suggestions for further research,

REFERENCES

APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

BEES

English for Specific PurposesEnglish for Academic PurposesEnglish language teachingEnglish for Legal PurposesEnglish as e Foreign LanguageGeneral English

Hanoi UniversityHanoi Law UniversityHanoi University of Science and Technology

Ho Chi Minh City Open UniversityUniversity of Lenguages and International StudiesVietnam University of Commerce

LIST OF FIGURES/TABLES.

Figure 1 Interpreting process

Table 1 Profiles of the respondents involved in the study

Table 2 The students’ motivation to learn legal English- Vietnamese interpretingstalls

Table 3 Psychology-ralsted difficulties

Table 4 Language competence-selated difficulties

Table 5 Interpreting sills related difficulties

Table 6, Background knowledge related difficulties

Table 7 Linguistic-releted difficulties

Table 8 Other selated problems

Table 9 The mean score of different contsibuting factors

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25+283031333536

PARTI INTRODUCTION

‘This pact is designed to set up the foundation for the research paper bylucideting its rationale, sims, research questions, scope, significance,methodology and orgenizetion with en unequivocal focus, purpose, and direction

1 Rationale for stuly

Edtuceting English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become a trend of thetimes because the labor market is in need of personnel whose English cepacitynet the needs of specific working environments Jendrych (2013) discusses thedevelopments in teaching ESP with the sim of resolving the sophistication of ESP

teaching in the 21 century and showing the enhencem ent in teeching English for

specislized communication t the higher educetion level According to her, in ESPteaching English tumed out to be the desires, requirements, end demands ofindividuals who are not teaching languages Within the sphere of English languageteaching (ELT), teeching end leaming ESP has a tendency to prevail over generalEnglish (GE) or English for Academic Purposes (EAP) (Dang et el, 2023) Also,cone reseerch found out thet ESP is expesiencing sustainable development andcontibuting significantly to the ares of ELT (Negova & Umerove, 2

Dang et el, 2023) ESP pays attention to the needs of leemers as essential es howthe language is tought (Jendkych, 2013) Also stated in her ticle, ESP is a generalong thet contains various English teeching types such es English for Science andTechnology, English for Academic Purposes, English for Business andEconomies, English for Finance end Barldng English for Lew, etc English forLegal Purposes ELP) is designed! especielly for students or people who ere inegalmejor or have & need to explore legel English to support their profession As aresult, teaching legal English is e sub-type of ESP and needs more attention todevelop educating quality to train more legal English graduates

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companies need a legel teem to operate smoothly in a non-mother nation Theinterpreters can make a contribution es a bridge bebveen the multinationalcntesprise and the reguletions in Vietnam.

Inthe context of Vietnam, trining interpreters hes taken place in e number

of institutions such as Hanoi University (HANU), University of Lengueges andInternational Studies (ULIS), ete for many years However, ESP education hasgrinedmore populasity for two decedes, for example, commercial interpretation stVietnam University of Commerce (VUC), snginsering interpretation at HanoiUniversity of Science and Technology HUST), ete Since 2014, legal interpretingstall has been one subject of the English cwriculum at Hanoi Law University(HLU) which is also one of two privileged institutions focusing on this area of

‘ueining This emphasizes the prerequisite of optimizing the English cwsiculum toceducete professionals

Hence, the English curiculum of English mejors at Hanoi Lew Universityhhas been concentrated more on trining « high mumber of skilled English lenguage

‘bachelors However, from the researcher's observation, English-msjored studentsfind it challenging to master legal interpreting skills Previous researchers havepinpointed some problems in educeting interpreters such as inadequate leseninghhows, shortage of euthentic studying materials and class practices, and limitedcounsel for real practice (Wang, 2015), leemess’ psychology Bontempo & Napier,2011; Amsiz-Castro & Diez, 2016; Zhao et al, 2023, ch), poor backgroundknowledge (Gefiystova & Pomortseve 2016), ee

Despite the pivotal role of legal English intespreting sills, just a smellsmumber of studies have been conducted about this reelm In Vietnam, Pham andBui (2013) end Nguyen and Nguyen (2021) carried out studies on students’difficulties in leeming interpreting sills in Vietnamese universities Inthe context

of HLU, interpreting skills have not been adequately investigated, however, there

xe several erticles concentreting on legel English (Nhac, 2021; Nhac, 2023) Apartfrom studies on interpreting, several ones on translation skills have been conducted

et HLU (Le & Nguyen, 2023; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2023; Nhac, 2023, Vu & Le,2023), Perceiving the importance sole of legal English interpreting skills, together

‘with the chortage of previous studies o lack of interest in this field, this paper willdelve into seeking the students’ existing difficulties dhưông interpreting lessonswith the intention of coming up with beneficial solutions to ameliorate theproblems’ dire consequences end enhance the capacity of each individual'sinterpreting still as well as the general quality of this module in Hanoi LawUniversity

2 Aims of the study

‘The sims of the study are two-fold:

~ To investigate the difficulties encountered by English-majored students inAcesning legel English Vietnamese interpreting sills at HLU

— To proffer some recommendations for English-majored students, lecturers

in lege interpreting, end the institution to addvess such challenges

3 Research questions

‘The study sims to explore the difficulties of legal English majored students

in the process of leaning English Vietnamese interpreting skills end accordinglyrecommend some useful solutions to the problems, ultimetely improving thequality of legal interpreting training at HLU

To achieve the eforementioned goals, two rossarch questions wereformulated as follows

(2) Whst are the difficulties in leaming English Vietnamese interpretingstalls thet English-m sjored students Fece?

@ What ae some solutions to elleviete the students’ encounteredobstacles?

4 Scope of the stuly

‘The research is conducted et HLU to unearth the difficulties in leeminglegal English-Vietnamese intexpreting skills from English-majored students’perspectives, The study was carried out from Jamuery to Merch, 2024 with thepesticipetion of two Englishmsjored cohorts 45 and 46 The teachers’ orinterpreters’ opinions on the students’ troubles in learning legal English.Vietnamese interpreting sills or perceived difficulties from different groups ofstudents ere beyond the scope of this study

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5 Significance of the study

Many values would be brought through the study This investigation willfill the gop in the litersture while there is limited research about the same topiccarried out at HLU Besides, the researcher yeems to bring precious insights andsome suggestions for students, teachers, institutions, end other researchers Forleeners, the results of this study can provide the most students’ encounteredproblems in leeming legel English intexpreting skills Understanding theseobstacles cen help them avoid common difficulties, or if they are suffering fromthese, they cen find suitable solutions proposed by the xssearcher to alleviate them.For teachers, the research elucidetes the influential factors that impact theinterpreting stall leerning process of students Together with this knowledge,teachers can alter or work out more appropriate teaching methods to ceter to theeduction needs of most students, cresting more interests and passions in leesners.For institutions, this study gives some suggestions for upgrading the euiculum ofthe programs Knowing the fectors affecting students Leeming lege! Englishinterpreting skills, the leadership boerd at HLU can design and adapt more targetedcourses, as well as construct more qualified equipment to improve students’lesening effectiveness For researchers, this study makes a small contribution tothe literature, espeoiely in the realm of interpreting studies The findings cen beconsidered as a reference for future researchers who ere passionate about

&scovesing similar topics in different aspects or doing studiesin other educational

settings

6 Organization of the study

‘The study is composed of 3 vitel parts: Intreduction, Development andConclusion

‘The Introduction comprises the Retionale, Aims, Research questions,Scope, Significance end Orgenizetion of the study

‘The Develapment is dvidedinto 4 chapters:

Chapter 1 Literature review establishing the theoretical backgroundknowledge seleted to the interpreting skills in general, the legel English and legalEnglish Vietnamese interpreting skills in pasticuler, together with the review of

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previous studies on common difficulties in lesoning lege! English: Vietnamesestalls

(Chap ter 2 Methodology which delinestes the instruments used to gatherdete, the procedwes of collecting deta, and hơy the collected data is analyzed atHLU

Chap ter3 Results and discussion illustrsting the results of the survey end

a thorough elucidation besed on the gamered data

Chapter 4 Recommendations thet offer some suggestions based on thekey findings to help students resolve the faced problems

‘The Conclusion provides « sunmary of the mein findings, implicstions,limitations ofthe study end suggestions for further research

PART II DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

‘This chapter provides insight into the reletive theories of interpreting skillsend previous studies on the difficulties in leeming EnglishVietnemeseinterpreting sills, building « theoretical framework for this thesis,

According to Nolan (2005, as cited in Hidayet etal, 2017), interpretation

is the activity of interpreters predicting whet the speeker tends to say, hơ he orshe tends to sayit, and how to make it unambiguous to listeners Whereas, Cerezo(2015, as cited in Omotu et al, 2022) end Murtiningsih and Arđfilsh (2021) share

4 similar viewpoint, claiming thet interpretetion is rendering the meaning of thesource language tothe terget language verbelly, both in oral and signed lenguegeSuryase (2016) describes the interpreting process as œ cowse of action ofinterpreters to find out the equivalence between spoken segments of a languageend a pert of @ speech in enother lenguage in orel form

In the Interpreting and Translation Cotzsebook, Deng end Bui (1997)postulate thet interpreting is @ kind of information and concept rendition from asource language to « terget language through a spoken form Two authors explainthetinterpreters transfer ther ideas by word of mouthto either a person or acrowd

A Euopean Union advanced interpreter working et conferences gave @common explanation of interpreting as “immediate oral translation” (Jones, 200:p2) To clarify this phrase, he represents en exemple to show the interpreting’snature thet either an interpreter may work in a space with two people and tvo

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&fferent languages or in e spacious hall with thousands of people and a mumber ofvarious languages there are individuals who long for talking with each other butencounter a language bemier Thanks to the existence of this hindrance, theinterpreters have aworking environment to devote ther abilities which are capable

of contributing to smooth nd unambiguous conversetion,

In the field of lew, legal interpreting is defined by the EuropesnCommission as a subsection of intexpreting occussing when different Ienguegespeakers transfer ideas in legel or perelegel setings The seseercher adopts thisexplenstion end adjusts in this study's subject to coin the definition of legalEnglish Vietnamese interpreting sll: Legal Bnghsh- Pietamese interpreting skill1s akind of interpreting done by parties speak two languages, namely English andTiemamese, while English contributes as the souace language and Vietnamese isthe target language in legal or paralegal setings

1.12 Types of intexpreting

‘There exists « mumber of arranged methods based on different criteria orprofessions, however, the researcher would use the theory in the Interpreting andTranslation Colzsbook (Dang & Bui, 1997) as the theoretical foundsion of thispest, Following their opinions, intexpreting can be classified into two primarytypes: consecutive interpreting end simultaneous interpreting

1.1.2.1 Consecutive interpreting

Besicelly, while interpreting consecutively, e certain length of speech or &complete message from the specker i uttered from one language and absorbed by

en interpreter, ftervard the speech in enother language is recreated by a person

‘who performs as a communication bridge using note-taking skills and deliveringthe ideas successively to the initil speaker (Jones, 2002) In some cases, thespeechmaker yeams to convey « cluster of sentences and requires interpretation,thus the interpreter must depend on their dhort-term memory to sestate the entirephrases, He also claimed thet if intespreters can del with a speech lasting for fivesninutes with ess or none of mistakes, they have the ability to handle an range ofspeech In essence, interpretingis dificult and requires e high cepacity because ofthe limited time Understending thet, Jones (2002) declared thatthe interpreters

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‘ust put di ther effort nto en interpreting sesion, andthe merinum interpretingtime is three-quarters compared to the souree language speaker

() Unilateral interpreting Thee are two types of interpreting waiateraly

‘The interpreter can interpret each sentence end paragraph separately or the wholetalk after the speaker finishes (Dang & Bui, 1997),

@ Bilateral interpreting Dang end Bui (1997) discussed tha the specificname of interpreting bebreen two parties is“Iaison interpreting” Throughout &consecutive interpretation, an interpreter must decode long peregrephs efter aneside completed th: speech The interpreter plays a role in rendering an exact andprecise meaning without distorting or altering any details affecting the generalthả dan ng

1.122 Sianlimueơn interpreting

In the subsequent interpreting mode, the simultaneous interpreter paysattention to the opening sentences of the speaker and starts interpretingconcuarently đường the whole original speech, ending most in tandem withthegenuine spokesperson (Jones, 2002) This form of interpreting is divided into 3sub-types Dang & Bui, 1997)

) Sight iuterpreting Herbert (1952, as cited in Agifogtio, 2004) viewssight translation as a brench of simultensous interpreting, He emphasizes threetypes namely sight trendetion, consecutive interpreting and simultaneousinterpreting d own the same final result which is the verbal interpretation of thesource speech In spite of tha, the author mekes a distinction among them tha theprepared text is uttered by the sight handdor, while the consecutive andsimultaneous interpreter hears the original speech and then interprets based onth: notes or ther short term memory accordingly Another disparity expressedinhi researchisthat while spoken souree parts vanished right way in interpretingthe verb ideas, the orginal paragraphs re ail visible tothe tenaator

Originally, Dang and Bui (1997) make use ofthe term “sight translation”,however, the researcher prefers the term “sight interpreting” due to several

reasons Inthe Routledge Bnayelopecha of Interpreting Shucies, Cedkové (2015)

siguss that because of the immediate response requirements, “sight interpreting”

is more precise to reflect this form's nature

@) Whispered interpretation: Whispeced interpreting (also celled

“cluchotage” in French) is one of three simultaneous interpreting types in which

en intespreter sits adjacent to the listeners, usually not exceeding three or four,sendesing the interpreted content in a subdued voice (A J Tenosxosa & T MBa6mmme 2014) Usuelly, the whispered interpreters work et meetings

‘uneqhipped with equipment or in legal settings, for example in cout (Dang & Bui,1997)

@ Electronic hook-up: It usualy tekes place at conferencesin a vesiety ofprofessions where fully equipped with headsets, microphones, and cabins (Dang

& Bu, 1997)

1.13 Interpreting settings

In The Routledge Hendbook of Interpreting (2019), interpretation used for

‘various settings meets the field specielized requirements

(1) Conference interpreting: Disiker (2015) wrote in this book thetsimultencous interpreting is the most predominant type applied in specificconference settings such es international, end multilateral meetings, accompanied

‘by formal dinners, press conferences, and caucuses

© Court interpreting: As chowninits name, cout interpreting tekes placemostly in cout, but does not stick to criminal eases, equal to legel, forensic andjudiciary interpreting (Lee, 2015) Cowtinterpreters pastcipate in cases as efector

‘blusing the Language boundaries throughout communication between people incourt end those who are amateurs in legal language

@ Interpreting in asyhum proceedings: Complying with internstionalsefugee le, people who are afreid of persecution have the entitlement to ensoll insefugee status (asylum) in & host country (Pollabauer, 2015) Asylum claimantsusually do not speck and absorb informetion trensfesred through the officialenguage of the host country at a setisfactory rate, thus, they need interpreters toprovide support in asylum hearings, primarily by consecutive interpretingsometimes simultaneous or online interpreting vie phone call (Péllabauer, 2015)

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(Community interpreting: Basically, community interpreting servespeople who want to speak to search for their fundamental services but have notility to speak the populer language in society (Bencroft, 2013)

(S) Healthcare interpreting: This interpreting settings axe founded to helppeople who ere deaf or herd of heating look for healthcare services fromindividuals whose mother tongues are not identical to them (Rost & Cxezee, 2015)

‘There is a major difference compared to legal interpreting that while intespretersinlegel areas sometimes obfuscate their clients, helthcere interpreters ere required

to convey information exectly because if not, the consequences can be urgent, eventethal Rost & Crezee, 2015)

(6) Interpreting in education: According to Smith G015), e large number

of signed-lenguege interpreters are devoted to educetional realms st variousceducetional levels such as primary, secondary end high school

© Interpreting for the mass media: Cestillo (2015) mentions in TheRoutledge Handbook of Interpreting thet interpreting broadcasts rendersinformation from the speaker's language to the stenderd language, makingopportunities for others to approach brosdly

© Interpreting in conflict zones: Moser-Mescer (2015) indicates thetinterpreting in conflict zones involves providing interpretation services in ereaseffected by armed conflict or violence This may entail interpreting for variousentities such as huưnaniteian aid workers, journalists, or other individuals andorgenizations operating in these volatile environments

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‘use of his/her listening skills to ggin the necessary information Subsequently, the

‘most pivotal phase is Understanding (= U) because having a deep understanding

of the speechis the decisional factor to a successful interpretation The followingone is Deciphering (= D) which requires an interpreter to filter all words and

‘preserve the ideas as the framework of speech The interpreter, then, conveys theoverall idea into the target language in the Transferene stage (= T) During theshifting phase, the aspects of culture end context have to be elucidated to fill thecultural differences in C + C (Context and Cultus) phase In O1 and O2 steps

‘meaning Output | and 2, the interpreter looks for appropriate words to render full

‘meanings and express them to the other party

1.2 Legal English

1.2.1 Brief intreduction

Languages are divided into various professions in order to meet the needs

of each field’s specific requirements, and legal English is one of them LegalEnglish is used popularly in legal sectors in England, America and other nationswhose officiel language is English (V eretine-Chiriac, 2012) Perticulasly, itis alsoInbeled as a domain-specific language for lawyers, judges, law professors and soonto communicate in special situations such as pleading, claiming and transferring

ul

ideas between lawyers end laymen (Goge-Vigeru, 2015) Furthermore, thensjedty of regulations, constitutions internetional conventions, end intemational

‘uesties are expressed in English (Gainer, 1989, as cited in Nhac, 2021) Inaddition, in coping with the high level of Ienguage complexity, law students can.encounter obstecles in reading, writing listening and speaking in lege settings ifthey do not gain mastery of legel English vocabularies (Superdi, 2013) Also, heemphasizes thet bringing legel English to the compulsory cusicula in lew

‘universities is of paramount importance

Superdi (2013) shares the same opinion as Goge-Vigeru (2015) thet legalEnglish is œ specialized style serving lsvyers and other legal work-reletedemployees throughout their work There are many identical features among legalEnglish end other forms of English for specific purposes (ESP) because a singlekind of ESP also owns its separate set of technical jergon end unique syntexGuperdi, 2013) Despite thet, some popular words with common mesnings inGeneral English such as case, sentence, and trial are used for totally differentpurposes in legal English, making students confused in distinguishing them andchoosing the sight term in legal settings (Supardi, 2010) Therefore, it can besecorded that there still exist some differences amang these English typesin lexicalend syntactic espects (Vexetina-Chisiee, 2012),

1.22 Common difficulties in learning Legal English

Duwing the legal English module, students have the possibility to encounterproblems desived from the technical features of this language in vocabulaties andsymtex (Nhac, 2021)

Lexical features

(1) The usage of archaic words: Aschsic words (also called archaisms) axe

‘words used with less frequency then the rest of common words such es pursuant(under, in accordance with), prior to (before), prior to (before), subsequent to(afte), ete, tous they turned out to be arcene over time and just be utilized mainly

‘by lawyers or people in the sealm of lew (V eretine-Chiriec, 2012) Itis suggestedthet eliminating « mumber of archaic words or using alternative terms that ere easierfor laypersons to understand (hereinafter/ below, hereinbefore/ above, abutting/

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next to, anterior to/ beferé) (V eretine-Chisiac, 2012) Even so, vesious old terms,+& hereinafter; aforesaid: therein; thereto; thereof can still be observed inCommon lew legal documents (Whee, 2021)

Q) The usage of technical terms: In the legal erena, technical texms havetro additional phrases namely terms of ext end authentic legel vocebulasies: While

‘minority of them are well-known to ordinery people (petent, share), others arewidely used just in legel working environments, especially Isvyers (bailment,sbatemenf) (V eretine-Chisiec, 2012) Remarkably, the latter state saisedthe euentsnisapprehension of legalisms (V eretine-Chisiec, 2012) Aside from original legalphrases, legel professionals exert common words with uncommonmasings whichexe words with totelly different meanings as usual such as attachment action,consideration execute, party (Veretine-Chisiec, 2012) The ebove exemplesrepresent that professional enguage can boost the efficiency of the laborers

‘working the legal realm, creating « more effective end fast discussing erena

(8) The wtiication of foreign words/ borrowed words: An enormousemount of Latin and French terms and phưesss are witnessed in legal English(Weretina-Chisiec, 2012) Words originating from Latin consist of negligenceadjacent, inferior, frustrating ete Besides, the impact of the French language is

ot only đemonstreted in the French root's words (appeal, attorney, deftdamage, defendant) but also in the usage of adjectives positioned after the nounsthey adjust within phưases (ee simple absolute, malice aforethought, solicitorgeneral) (V eretina-Chisiee, 2012)

(4) The usage of synonymy: One of the hindered factors obfusceting legaldocuments is the emergence of e myriad of synonym words mentioning identicalegal notions (V eretina-Chiriac, 2012) Heigh (2009) referred to several examples

of that: breach — violation: Clause — provision —paragraph — article; Contract —

‘agreement, ete Moreover, the most prevelent types of symonym phrases, thespecislized term “binomiels”, ere the combinations of two or three single wordswith the connection “and”, e.g; breaking and entering goods and chattels, madeand signed will and testament, act and deed (V sieina-Chiac, 2012) Binomials

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sometimes ere used to support the exactness and elucidation, however, in mostcases, duplicetion doesnot have any cleer purpose (Gustafsson, 2009)

(2) Nowinatization: Noninal:zstionisslanguage phenom enon cresting theprofessional in formal ‘writing including legal writing It represents nounsstemming from verbs end used more frequently then usual verbs, e.g: to giveconsideration in place of to consider, to be in contravention in place of tocontravene, to be in agreement in place of to agree (V exetine-Chitiec, 2012).scholer discussed thet nominalizing makes the sentences become lengthy andseduces their dynamism, nevertheless, itis sil challenge to completely eliminate

it (Veretine-Chisiee, 2012)

(8) Impersonal style: Impersonal syle is in vogue in legal waiting style,used mostly by lawyers, intending to blur the understanding of people who do nathave a profound knowledge ofthe legal field (Veretine-Chitiec, 2012) However,the initial goal of the impartial style is to eliminete huưnan intervention in law orcourt decisions, putting the lew in a neutral position (V sreina-Chiiae, 2012) Theevidence is that not only does it make use ofthe third person (everybod), everyoneevery person, no one, nobody) but also the passive voice (Veretina-Chitiec, 2012)

13 Legal Interpreting skill from English te Vietnamese at Hanoi LawUniversity

‘The researcher would like to delineate briefly the interpreting subjects inthe curricula of K45 and K46 because these two pasticipsting cowses have distinctprograms, Due to the indispensable role of lege interpreting skills, it became @core subject in English lenguage curicula st HLU Regerding 4S and the formercourses, the interpreting subject is placed on en integrated module of translation

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end interpretation, hence, in reslit/ ít just occupies « minority proportion of class studying sctivities The curiculum consists of two compulsory combinedmodules, occupying sx credits, and an optional one, making up three credits: FourAfferent topics are taught in the two obligetory subjects, namely legel systems,sowees of Iew, constitutional law end criminal lew, accompenied by theintroduction of interpreting modes listening comprehension, remembering sill,end note-taking skill which are directly seated to interpretation In the optionalmixed module, students participating are teught sbout two topics which arecompany law end contract lew Because of the subjects’ limited lesmning endteachingtime, the time spent for students to prectice is eso short Contrasting K45,the cusicule of K46-were modified so students have a separate compulsory subjectfor interpreting sills, accounting for two credits Students leem five issuesin totalinwhich four interpreting salls ere similar to two obligetory subjects of K45, andthe distinguishing one isthe education of interpretetion and re-interpretation

in-14, Previous studies on commen difficulties in learning interpreting skills14.1 International studies

Bontempo andNapier (2011) at Macquarie University discuss the influence

cf emotional steadiness on the interpreters ebility end interpreting skills on signed.enguaged interpreters in Australie One remarkable point of the results is thestrongest negative influence of emotions on the interpreter’s proficiencyassessment In contrast with the two above scholars, Korpel (2021) conductsresearch on the stressful reality of Polish cowt-eppointed translators endinterpreters and geined the conclusion that determining the interpreters also

‘witness a positive effect of stress while undergoing specific level of work-related

stress

Asnaiz-Castro and Diez (2016) canied out research to find out the root ofencious feelings in interpreting and the connection between it and the self.assessment capacity of beginner intexpreters The result showed thet these isactuelly & link between the two factors mentioned above throughout theinterpreting procedure In pasticuler, people suffering from high level ofnervousness would assess themselves quite lower than people who are rarely

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worried The certain issue they worried sboutis the fear of interpreting in front ofpeers in class with or without preparstory work, of committing errors and ofcontesting with other excellent students Students, besides, face other stress,including find heed to sit for tests, being scared of judgment, and the fright oflegging behind This article, futhermore, exemines whether men and womenexperience the same rank of egitetion which means focusing on the differentcffects on different genders, Unfortunstely, the mumber of men who pertook inthissurvey was not enough to generelize the anzicty effects on men compared to that

of women

Zhao et al 2023) found the influence of wonriedness on making mistakes

in interpreting consecutively The result showed thet when interpreters encounterstress or antious feelings, they can do exroneous actions related to lexicon and

smtec

One ofthe letest articles on peychologjcel factors, paricularly anxiotsnee,was conducted on Irenian students who majored in interpreting studies, byFerdowsi end Rezmi (2024) Sharing similer results with Zhao end his fellowworkers, the findings of the tro scholars also indicated that a lot of talentedinterpreters meet obstacles end almost lose their ability to finish the teskssatisfactorily due to their worry

To seek out the problems faced by students whenintespreting consecutivelyfrom English to Indonesian, Pretivi (2016) applied the method of enalyzingvalidating exrors and conducting interviews This ticle points out thet students inIndonesie also cope with emotional instability, the shortege of time, practicingend focusing, together with a dearth of English competence and terminologies Theeficiency of lenguage competence hes « close connection to the shortfall of

‘vocebulries thet exert « negetive influence on the effectiveness of intexpretingMoreover, when students are capable of using fluently « small mumber ofterminologies, it equals « Leck of comprehension of their source language, leadingto-acifficult state to produce a pesfect interpreting version

Simultencous intespreting is assessed as the top among the most intsiguingIenguage processing endeavors in humen imagination scope (Frauenfelder &

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Slrisfars, 1997) In order to do the best in each simultaneous and consecutiveinterpreting session, novice interpreters end professional interpreters have to mekeuse of intespreting skills such es note-teking skills, full concentration, memorizingthings in e short time, ete which sums up as primary sills thet contribute tocomplicated tasks (Chuistoffels et al, 2003) Bairaman end Movahed (2021)exemine the influence of center working memory on efficiency while interpretingconsecutively, with participants who were students mejoring in Translation stKashmar Higher Education Insitute The findings showed thet the value or qualitycould be affected by low levels of working memory One prim sry sill contributing

to & successful interpretetion is decisiveness Pochhacker, 2004), meaning thetinterpreters with indecisive cherectesistics may encounter obstecles whileworking

To work out the impact of beckgound knowledge on interpretingcapacities, Gafiyetove and Pomortseve (2016) published an aticle in the IndienJounal of Science and Technology The findings demonstreted thet backgroundknowledge plays an essential role in the career ledder of future interpreters Theepprosch spplied to gein thet remult is observing classifying the proposedmaterials, end doing interviews: Toska (2019) points out that terching English as

4 second language seises two chellenges originating from language for studentsend teachers One of the two is the difference of culture in two discussed legalsystems, As be seen, leeming legal English entails leemers’ profound knowledge

of cultural differences between the source and target language, thus, legal Englishinterpreting also puts the same requirements on interpreters to master this skill

Sumemi (2017) epplied e questionnaire and unearthed problem sin leeringconsecutive end simultaneous interpreting in two separate groups, namelylinguistic and non-linguistic obstacles: Common linguistic difficulties explored inthis research were grammer, vocabulary, specialized terminologies and idiomsRegerdingnon linguistic issues, students hed to cope with background knowledge,the feer of specking in person, limited short-term memory, end technicel facilitiesequippedin class

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Remarkably, Ribas (2012) found problems met by tro groups of students

in tro different levels of training, elso celled novice and advanced interpreters, ininterpreting consecutively The primary difficulty of both groups in the listeningstage isa leck of understanding In detail, beginner students heve many problemswith secording’s bad quality, speaker's speec andthe strangeness ofthe discussedtopics In addition, the two latter problems are also encountered by high-levelstudents: Stuprisingly, the advanced students ere the anes who have problemsrelated to their memory In terms of emotional problems, there are more novicestudents who mect these then professional individuals

1.42 Studies in the Vietnamese context

Phem end Bui (2013) researched senior students’ trensletion andinterpretation abilities, teaching techniques, and curiculum at Ho Chi Minh CityOpen University (ICMCOU) One of the two sims satedin the research questions

is to seek common issues thet seniors usuelly encounter while translating endinterpreting Half ofthe pasticipeting students st HCMCOU stated thet they usuallyskip important information in English speeches because they cannot catch up withthe speaker's speed or the strange accents of speakers Less than a third (29.17%)

of respondents showed thet they encountered obstacles with their memory,especielly remembering mumbers 33.33% of them reveeledtheis problemsinusingeppropriate words end terms in specific contexts Besides, participants atHCMCOU mostly did not have trouble with their concentration, thinking sills,ganmer, and pronunciation mistakes In brief, the most challenging factor theyface is listening sills

Nguyen and Nguyen (2021) conducted « study to investigate obstacles ofEnglishamajored students in leaming conference interpretation at Duy TenUniversity (DTU) The most influential factors ere idioms, culture-related items,end complex noun phrases respectively Concemning the reasons why they find ithherd to understand unambiguously while interpreting there ere three mostencountered factors, namely their shortage of related knowledge, the speaker'sincorrect pronunciation, and unproductive note-taking skills, Apart from the above

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issues, the background noise of eudio cen make students at DTU distracted,hindering them from catching important details.

Nguyen and Thech (2023) investigated the role of Americen and Britichcultural competence in enhancing English es « Foreign Lenguege (EFL) students’interpreting skills The findings demonstrate that most partaking students at TraVinh University encounter obstacles with strange cultural items end with seekingequivalent idioms while interpreting from English to Vietnamese and vice versa

‘As can be seen from the aforementioned articles, there is aleck of researchconducted on difficulties while interpreting legal English e specific genre of ESP,end slso interpreting ESP difficulties The researcher illunineted the obstacles in1euning legal English, hence, interpreting this special kind of English is a morechellenging task and needs to be deeply investigated the fundamental causes andprovide some allevieting solutions Therefore, this study needs to be canied out tohop legal English-mejored students have « closer view of the most difficulties toimprove and enhance inthe futve, For teachers and institutions, they may work tofind more suitable cusicule end upgrade school facilities to meet the needs ofteaching interpreting sills

15 Summary

By end large, this chepter delinestes mainly previous studies that areutilized as theoretical frameworks to suppost as foundation for this study To bespecific, the first part illustrates the definition, types, different settings and process

of interpreting The second past shows a general overview of legel English andigsinto common obstacles students meet while learning this specialized field ofenguage The next section reports the reality of teaching and leeming interpretingsubjects ot Hanoi Lew University Lastly, e vatiety of articles are shown based onthe tile of cach past of the questionneire survey

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in different range of fields such as social sciences, psychology, economics etc,involves gothering andl enslyzing mumericel deta to addvess research inquiries andassess hypotheses (Jain, 2023) Another scholar claimed thet quenitetive researchdesigns are precise, well-orgenized, rigorously tested for validity and reliebilty,end can be cleasly defined and acknowledged (Kumar, 2011) According toKumar, the need to mesure and categorize the collected information necessitatesstudy designs to be highly structured fixed, and stringent to guerantee precision inmeasuring and classifying Besides, quantitative research is more eppropriete forseeking the extent of the variation and diversity (Kumer, 2011) Hence, in thescope of this study, the researcher conducted a survey within HLU"s campus,smeking quantitative study the most stable method to implement

2.2 Research questions restated

‘Ac discussed in Chapter 1, the principle questions posed eatlier serve asfoundational inquisies thet guide the research enalysis:

(2) What are the difficulties in learning English Vietnam ese interpreting sillsthet English-m jared students fece?

@ What are some solutions to alleviate the students’ encountered obstacles?

To guide the researcher's direction, specific questions below should beclucideted to find out the difficulties of legel English majored students in leerning1egal English Vietnamese interpreting salle

(1) What motivates students to study legal interpreting sills?

@ Which psychological factors cause students’ difficulties while interpreting?

@ Which aspects of language competence cause difficulties for students whileAeeening interpreting skill?

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(© Whichintespreting skills make students struggle while interpreting?

() Which background knowledge-related difficulties most influence thestudents’ Leeming process of interpreting skills?

© Which Linguistic cherecteristics do students find hard most whileinterpreting?

© Do any other related problems affect students ducing interpreting lessons?2.3 Participants and setting

‘The students parteking in the xvsy were chosen from two differentcohorts, nemely intake 45 (K45) end intake 46 (K46), in legel English major atHLU Both cohorts have studied intexpreting modules in old and upgradedcussicule, therefore, the charactesistics of their subjects contein severalssimilasities Specifically, 113 K4S students have studéed tro trenslation endinterpreting integrsted modules named Legel Trandeion and InterpretatingModule 1 end Legal Translation end Interpreteting Moddle 2 as mandstorysubjects of English lenguage cwsiculum et HLU Regarding K46 students, 122

‘under greduates have finished the Intespretating Module which focuses solely oninterpreting stills Though the specific course contents for K45 and K46 are

&fferent but they converge on the point thet both cover legal topics for practice

‘Table | illustrates the demographic infoma sion of students pectaking in thesurvey Regarding the gender feature, the greatest mumber of pasticipents arefemale undergraduates, accounting for 85.7% (n= 72), which is followed by 4smell nanber of male pastakers, making up 10.7% (n= 9) Especially, there is «smell percentage of individuals, a 3.6% Ớn = 3), not disclose their genders In thisstudy, the researcher decided to hand out e questionnaire to students in tvocourses, namely 45 end K46, Approximately three-fifths of KAS perticipants fillcout the survey link (n= 51, equel to 60.796) The rest of them are students in the

3) In terms oftheir English Proficiency Level,the figure for test results’ espondents or their self-assess levels as UpperK46 course, occupying 39.3% (n=

Intermediate (B2) is predominant among the fow mentioned levels, with 60.7% (n

= 51) A quarter of participantz claim thet their English levels are Advanced (C1)(n= 21, equivalent to 2596), while there is just a small mumber of them possessing

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Intermediate level B1) (= 12, comparable to 14.396) Surprisingly, none of them

is at the Proficient level (C2)

Table 1 Profiles of the respondents involved in the studyDemographic information n | Frequency | Percent

2.4 Research instrument

Acsesearch-made questionnaire, based on the study of Nhạc (2021), wascrested as amajor method to collect necessary deta, using mainly @ S-point Likertscale, The suvey questionnaire comprises tro primary pate Pert 1 —Respondents’ general informetion (gender, intake, English Proficiency Level,Past 2 — Lsgsl English-majored students’s general perceptions of the essentials ofesening legel English: Vietnamese interpreting skills, Pert 3 —HLU students’mejor difficulties in Leeming legel English- Vietnamese interpreting stills To bemore specific, part 3 gives 43 statements and is subdivided into 6 smell pasts,obtaining inform tion about possible factors influencing on the whole process ofcerning interpreting sills (psychology, languege competence, interpreting sills,

‘background knowledge, linguistics and others)

In order to demonstrate the questionnaire’s reliability, the seseercherutilized Cronbach's Alpha which evelustes the reliebiity by exemining the extent

of shared variance, or covariance, among the items within œ tool relative to thetotal vaience (Collins, 2007) After analyzing date onIBM SPSS v.25, Cronbach'sAlpha is œ = 0.922, indicating thet the instrument is highly reliable

25, Procedures of data collection

‘The seseercher progressed the survey questionneire to gather students’ datawith the agyeement and permission from the supervisor, eccompenying thestudents themselves During the pesiod giving this survey, students were on theLunar New Veer holiday in February, therefore, the questionnaire was sent through

en active Google form link via online media due to its convenience in two weeks,

commencing from February 6%

An online suvey was created on Google Forms and sent vie socialnetworking sites namely Zalo and Facebook The researcher used both ways tospproach K45 and K46 respondents: contact directly if the investigator hes theirsocial media account end send a link to the cless group chet vie monitors.Understanding its indiectly connected approach, the seseercher put more effortinto clarifying the obfusceting and strenge words, and gave explanstions besidesthe ststements This preparation can reduce students’ confusion while filling outthe questionneire, The whole process lasted about one week and the survey link

ae closed to avoid eny chences of the ultimate result After sending out thequestionnsre, the totel number of participants in the study wes 34

1= I never confront this,

Lrarely confront this,

3= I sometimes confront this,

4 usually confront this,

$= ahvays confront this

Subsequently, the IBM SPSS v.25 produced the meen score (M) followingthis formule:

‘Mean (M) = (Maximwn —Minimum)/1

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‘The meen score therefore, would be explained es follows:

1.00 — 1.80: Always or mostly not true/I never encounter this,

1.81 —2.60: Usually not true/Ï rarely encounter this,

2.61 ~3.40: Somewhet true/T sometimes encounter this,

3.41 ~ 4.20: Usually true/I usually encounter this,

4.21 — 0: Abways or almost always true/I always encounter this

27 Summary

Generally, in Chapter 2 of Past I, the reseerch elucidated the methods

‘mplementedin this thesis end gave deteils in cach pert within six primary sectionsresearch design, research questions restated, participants, research instruments,procedures of data collection and data enelysis

CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

‘This chapter centers on the delineation and analy4s ofthe data gathered vie

4 questionneire survey and a discussion of the sents

“Ithelps expand my knowledge of lew” end “It is essentiel for my future job”chosen by students for the important role of this subject are well under @ half, et46.4% and 41.7% correspondingly Remarkebly, just a quaster (259%) of theperticipants agree thất this is an interesting subject This is the lowest-votedstatement among the items in Table 2

Overall, this analysis of Teble 2 answers the fist sub-question mentionedinChapter “What motivates students to study legal interpreting sills?” Notably,

a lerge majority of respondents have to Leern these modules due to their mandatorycharacteristics, while e minarity of them find them interesting Around half of them

xe motivated to attend legal interpreting courses for their pursuit of knowledge oflegal English, lew end future carers

Table 2 The students motivation to learn legal English Vietnamese interpreting

stalls

Statement N | Frequency | Percent

Itis a compulsory subject 38 0%tis aninteresting subject 3 %

Itis essential for my future job lá 35 417%

It brings more job opportunities 536%

Tthelps improve my legal English “ 58.3%Tthelps expand my knowledge of the lew 39 46.486

3.1.2 The students’ perceptions of the difficulties in learning legal English.Vietnamese

4.12.1 Psychology-related factors

‘Table 3 presents the result of the psychology-related obstacles encounteredboy legal English students at HLU, As can be seen cleatly, the Figures obtained forthe 6 statements can be divided into two groups: the first isin the range of & meanscore of 2.61 — 3.40 (1 sometimes encounter this), and the second hes the meanscore between 3.41 — 4.20 (usually encounter this) Regarding the first group, it

is somewhat true thet the participants feel stressed whenever they stst interpreting

in front of people (M= 3.38; SD= 1 074) and feel like learning how to interpret isannightmere (M= 2 73; SD = 1.079) The stendard devietion of bothitemsis above

10, indicating e broad difference between the responses Conceming the secondgroup, all meen values fall within the rang: of 3.41 to 4.20, which shows « highfrequency of students encountering these feelings The most influential factor is “Ifeel so nervous that I cannot transfer the full and precise meaning of the specker'sspeech from English to Vietnamese” (M = 364; SD = 0.940) The otherpsychological difficulties are “I feel so ftightened that I forget almost all legalterms and collocetions” (M= 3.57, SD= 0.973) and“Whenever I have tointespret

in front of the class, I am efreid of being judged by my peers and teechers” (M=3.50; SD=0.976) As witnessed from the table, the standerd deviations ofthe threesforementioned items ere under 1.0, denoting thet most of the students sharesimilar opinions The standerd devistion of the stetement “I am not confidentenough to interpret in front of the class” in the second group suggests « morepolarized view compared to other statements (M= 1.055)

‘Table 3 gives the enswer to the second sub-question shown in Chapter 2

“Which peychological factors cause students’ difficulties while interpreting?” Thepreceding analysis reveals thet all the different psychological factors conbibutstheir lager or smeller past to students’ difficulties in leamning legal interpreting

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