CÁC lỗi THƯỜNG gặp của SINH VIÊN năm HAI NGÀNH BIÊN – PHIÊN DỊCH, đại học NGOẠI NGỮ, đại học QUỐC GIA hà nội KHI DỊCH VIỆT ANH TRONG GIÁO TRÌNH THỰC HÀNH DỊCH” của NGUYỄN VIỆT kỳ và GIẢI PHÁP

From the very first days of their professions, translators have always been entrusted with the role of a communication facilitator who bridges the gap of understanding between people coming from various cultures and speaking different languages. Coming along with this trend, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU also strives to train highqualified translators to meet the demand of the whole society. With the deep concerns about the situation, the researcher would like to conduct a study entitled “Common errors made by 2nd year students majoring in Translation and Interpreting at FELTE, ULIS, VNU in Translation Practice compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky and suggestions for improvement” The study aims at identifying common errors made by 2nd year students majoring in Translation and Interpreting in coursebook “Translation Practice” compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky. Based on reasons shared by students and experienced teacher, suggestions are offered for the improvement of not only surveyed students but also the next generations of 2nd year students. The major methods and procedures adopted throughout the study include questionnaires, class observations, document observations, diary reports and online interview. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods enables the researcher to triangulate the data in order to produce the rich and reliable findings. With this approach, the researcher ensures the validity as well as the reliability of the study. Hopefully, the study proves beneficial to fresh wouldbe translators at FELTE, ULIS, VNU.

From the very first days of their professions, translators have always been entrustedwith the role of a communication facilitator who bridges the gap of understandingbetween people coming from various cultures and speaking different languages.Coming along with this trend, University of Languages and International Studies, VNUalso strives to train high-qualified translators to meet the demand of the whole society.With the deep concerns about the situation, the researcher would like to conduct a

study entitled “Common errors made by 2 nd year students majoring in Translation and Interpreting at FELTE, ULIS, VNU in Translation Practice compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky and suggestions for improvement”

The study aims at identifying common errors made by 2nd year students majoring inTranslation and Interpreting in course-book “Translation Practice” compiled byNguyen Viet Ky Based on reasons shared by students and experienced teacher,suggestions are offered for the improvement of not only surveyed students but also thenext generations of 2nd year students

The major methods and procedures adopted throughout the study includequestionnaires, class observations, document observations, diary reports and onlineinterview A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods enables theresearcher to triangulate the data in order to produce the rich and reliable findings.With this approach, the researcher ensures the validity as well as the reliability of thestudy Hopefully, the study proves beneficial to fresh would-be translators at FELTE,ULIS, VNU

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Significance of the study 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Structure of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Translation 5

2.1.1 The concepts of translation 5

2.1.2 Translation quality assessment 6

2.2 Translation errors 10

2.2.1 Definition of translation errors 10

2.2.2 Classification of translation errors 11

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Sampling 18

3.1.1 Teacher participant selection 19

3.1.2 Student participant selection 19

3.2 Data collection instruments 20

3.2.1 Questionnaires 21

3.2.2 Class observations 21

3.2.3 Document observations 21

3.2.4 Diary reports 22

3.2.3 Online interview 22

3 3 Data collection procedure 22

3.4 Data analysis method 23

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25

4.1 Findings and discussion from questionnaires 25

4.1.1 Linguistic errors 25

4.1.2 Translation errors ……… 26

4.1.3 Possible causes ……… 28

4.1.4 Suggestions ……… 29

4.2 Findings and discussion from class observations, document observations, diary reports and online interview 29

4.2.1 Linguistic errors 30

4.2.2 Translation errors 33

4.2.3 Possible causes 37

4.2.4 Suggestions 39

4.3 Comparison between findings from five instruments 39

4.3.1 Research question 1: Common errors made by 2 nd year students 40

4.3.2 Research question 2: Possible causes 41

4.3.3 Research question 3: Suggestions 41

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 44

5.1 Major findings of the study 44

5.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 45

REFERENCES 46

APPENDIX A 49

QUESTIONNAIRE 49

APPENDIX B 54

THƯ MỜI THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU 54

APPENDIX C 56

DIARY EXTRACT FROM STUDENT CODED AS S1 56

APPENDIX D 58

DIARY EXTRACT FROM STUDENT CODED AS S2 59

APPENDIX E 61

DIARY EXTRACT FROM STUDENT CODED AS S3 61

APPENDIX F 63

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 63

APPENDIX F 65

TEACHER INTERVIEW SUMMARY 65

APPENDIX G 66

TRANSCRIPTION OF QH2011 E18 CLASS OBSERVATION 66

APPENDIX H 74

TRANSCRIPTION OF QH2011 E19 CLASS OBSERVATION 74

APPENDIX I 82

TRANSCRIPTION OF QH2011 E20 CLASS OBSERVATION 82

LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAMS

Table 1 The model of common linguistic errors synthesized

Table 4 Common linguistic errors observed from

Table 9 Common errors from class and document

observations

39

Table 10 Suggestions offered by both teacher and students 39

Diagram 3 Possible causes of common errors synthesized from

multiple instruments

41

Chart 1 Possible causes of common errors made by 2nd year 28

students observed from questionnairesChart 2 Suggestions to overcome errors observed from

TQA Translation quality assessment

FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education ULIS University of Languages and International Studies VNU Vietnam National University

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of problem and rationale for the study

The massive global integration has witnessed a proliferation of translating asMunday (2001, p5) accentuates “Throughout history written and spoken translationshave played a crucial role in interhuman communication” More notably, the 21stcentury fosters nations around the world to come together in tremendous vigor toaddress global challenges and promote socio-economic development; hence,translators have been entrusted with the role of bridging the gap between peoplecoming from various cultures and speaking disparate languages As a result, theconstant and growing essence for translators is perfectly comprehensible, and myriad

of universities all over the world offer translation courses in their academic year.According to Caminade and Pym (1995), as cited in Munday (2001) at least 250university-level bodies in over sixty countries offering four-year undergraduate andpostgraduate courses in this art of science

Harmonizing with the blossom of discipline, University of Languages andInternational Studies, a prestigious institution in Vietnam prominent for groomingtranslators also strives to diversify and impose assorted pedagogical methods tostrengthen students’ translating competence Students majoring in translation areoriented towards intensive training from their 2nd year, which facilitates them to glory

in translation skills and lay a momentous foundation from the early stage In thistraining phase, more than ten generations of trainees follow the course-book

“Translation Practice” compiled by senior lecturer Nguyen Viet Ky What is more,texts in this course-book are extracted for both mid-term and end-of-term tests;therefore, translating texts in this course-book precisely assists translator to-be insharpening their translation skills and harvesting better exam results

Nonetheless, tackling Vietnamese-English translations poses unprecedentedchallenges for sophomores as they are at the initial drilling process and not truly aware

of translating-related theories and skills Additionally, compared with Vietnamese translation, Vietnamese-English translation is considered to be moredemanding to translator newbies as it requires not only outstanding languageproficiency but also requisite translation skills and broad background knowledge.Furthermore, no empirical research papers have been conducted into the errors made in

English-2nd-year students’ translations Therefore, in order to enrich the trainees’ translationcapacity, the researcher would like to cast a systematic and close observation at thecommon errors made by 2nd-year students in translating texts and elicitrecommendations for them

All these above-mentioned reasons have motivated the researcher to carry out astudy entitled “Common errors in Vietnamese-English translations made by 2nd-yearstudents majoring in Translation and Interpreting at FELTE, ULIS in TranslationPractice compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky and suggestions for improvement.”

1.2 Aims of the study

The research aims at identifying the common errors that 2nd year students majoring

in Translation and Interpreting from FELTE, ULIS, VNU might confront whentranslating Vietnamese-English texts in “Translation Practice” compiled by NguyenViet Ky Once having brought these errors to light, the research investigates thepossible causes and puts forward some recommendations suggested by both studentsand teachers The research is expected to assist 2nd year QH2011 students in particularand the next generations of 2nd year students at ULIS in general in addressing theirerrors and improving the quality of their translation as well as their translation skills

In order to achieve this goal, the current research is aimed at addressing thefollowing questions:

1 What are the common errors in the Vietnamese - English translations in “TranslationPractice” made by 2nd year students?

2 What are the possible causes of these common errors?

3 What are the suggestions in order to overcome these errors?

1.3 Significance of the study

Translation is a vast discipline of study and practice, which so far has seen a greatdeal of research works The study would be of great usefulness for the improvement ofVietnamese – English translation of 2nd students and assists students in strengtheningtheir translation competence Besides, the research helps teachers become more aware

of common errors students may confront while translating and serves as a reference forthem in the process of teaching translation The findings of this research also can beregarded as a valuable experience for the researchers who share the same interest inthis topic as well

1.4 Scope of the study

The study population comprises both students and teachers as the errors made by

2nd year students are detected and offered suggestions by from the perspectives ofstudents and teachers Regarding students, the participants include 81 students of threeclasses, QH2011.E18; E19 and E20 They all gain experiences in translatingVietnamese-English texts in “Translation Practice” compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky.Additionally, the population involves senior lecturer Mr Nguyen Viet Ky inTranslation and Interpreting Division who is the compiler of the course-book

“Translation Practice” and possesses considerable experience in teaching TranslationPractice for 2nd year students Due to time and capacity constraint, the researchermerely concentrates on detecting errors in Vietnamese – English translations in Unit 4

“Vietnam” The Unit is selected among the three themes “Vietnam”, “Economy”,

“Health” in the second semester for two main reasons Firstly, Unit 4 is advantageousfor researcher to arrange time and conduct observations Besides, “Vietnam” is amongthe popular themes which students confront during 3rd and 4th year at university

1.5 Structure of the study

The rest of the study consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 2 - Literature review – introduces the most relevant published information ontranslation, translation quality assessment and translation errors

Chapter 3 - Methodology – provides a detailed description of the method adopted indata collection and analysis

Chapter 4 - Findings and discussion – presents the analysis and synthesis of the mostcommon errors made by 2nd year students, their possible causes and suggestions forimprovement

Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summarizes major findings, limitations of the study andsuggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter sheds light on fundamental concepts of translation, the role as well

as the criteria for translation quality assessment, translation errors and the classification of translation errors by analyzing, synthesizing related-topic previous works and indicating their strengths as well as weaknesses Besides, the gaps of previous works and the theoretical model which the researcher utilizes to investigate the common errors 2 nd year students frequently confront is also fully illustrated in this chapter

2.1 Translation

2.1.1 The concepts of translation

The concepts of “translation” have been thoroughly discussed by a number ofresearchers in various publications According to Hartman and Stork (1972, p.713),

“translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by asequivalent text in a second language” Hartman and Stork also assert that the goal oftranslating is to as correctly as possible all grammatical and lexical features of the ST

by finding equivalents in the TT It means that the translated version must ensure theaccuracy of the messages, the meaning of words from the ST to the TT

The above-mentioned viewpoint was also supported by the renowned founder oftranslation theories Newmark Newmark (1995) defines that translation is a procedure

of transferring a written text into another language in the way that the author aimed inthe text In other words, translation means rendering the meaning of a text into anotherlanguage in the same way that the author intended the text From his point of view,Newmark particularly expounds on two key points which are the transfer of writtentext and the purpose of author; thus, translation means transferring not only languagebut also ideas and purpose of the author in source text

Another concept about translation can be found in Bell (1991) who defines this art

of science as the substitution of a representation of a text in one language by a

representation of an equivalent text in a second language This concept also put strongemphasis on accurately conveying the messages from ST to TT

Seeing eye-to-eye with Newmark and Bell, Larson (1994) reaffirms thattranslation as a process of replacing the form of the source language by the form oftarget language More importantly, Larson emphasizes two critical factors intranslation process Firstly, translation needs studying the ST including lexicon,grammatical structure, communication situation or cultural context Secondly, afterstudying the ST, it is “a must” to reconstruct this same meaning using the lexical andgrammatical which are proper in TT and its cultural context From Larson’s indication,

it can be concluded that reading and writing skills are crucial skills for the success of atranslators In other words, the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary plays pivotalrole during translation process The definition of translation is reinforced by Landa(2006) who defines translation as a reproduction of the meaning from one language toanother language in written form

All in all, it can be witnessed that the above-cited definitions, though differed inwording, all agreed on the nature of translation, denoting it as the accuracy of thewritten transference of messages from one language into another

2.1.2 Translation quality assessment

2.1.2.1 The role of translation quality assessment

Although various researchers have dissimilar ways of defining translation, all ofthem share the same point of view that TQA is of great importance and benefit all thetime Newmark (1995) emphasizes the great significance of TQA between the theoryand practice of translation Furthermore, he states that TQA plays a vital role intranslational discipline as it enhances competence, entails the huge improvement inlanguage proficiency, background knowledge, comprehensive understanding about

topics or themes relating to the translations and supports translators to sort out the ideasabout translation.

Besides, Schiaffino (2005) shares the same opinion that without means oftranslation assessment it is impossible to enhance the translation quality, nor is itpossible to know if the translation quality is good; and, if it is good, how to keep it thatway Translation evaluation provides a method to objectively quantify a process,reduce poor quality, increase customer satisfaction and create benchmarking as well ascompetitive advantages

The significance of translation criticism is continuously stressed by variousscholars Tien and Bac (2008) also agree that the translation evaluation from teachers,professional translators, translating companies and clients could figure out drawbacks

in your translation which enhances your translation and your translating competence;therefore, it becomes an essential part in translating process

From above mentioned studies, it can be summarized that TQA plays a pivotal rolefor not only professional translators, their clients, translational researchers but alsotrainee translators TQA further enhances translating competence, language proficiencyand clients’ satisfaction

2.1.2.2 Criteria for translation quality assessment

The very fundamental model of TQA is proposed by House (1986) which consists

of four main criteria including pre-linguistic studies, response-based psycholinguisticstudies, source text-based studies and studies based on pragmatic theories of languageuse Pre-linguistic studies cover the faithfulness to the ST In other words, an adequatetranslation should successfully convey the ideas of the original text Response-basedstudies can be approached from behavioristic views and functionalistic views Nida(1964) as cited in House (1986) proposes a criterion in which “equivalence ofresponse” is the key point of a good translation The “equivalence of response” is

clearly reflected in the principle of dynamic equivalence The dynamic equivalenceconcentrates on naturalness, the message and readability According to Nida, themanner in which the receptors of a translation respond to the transition should beequivalent to the manner in which the ST’s receptors to the original Besides, it is thepurpose of a translation that is of great importance in assessing the quality oftranslation Thirdly, source text-based studies are oriented towards the translation text.The translation is assessed mainly based on its forms and functions inside the system ofthe receiving culture and literature Last but not least, a functional-pragmatic model oftranslation evaluation involves the analysis and comparison between the original andits translation at three levels, namely the level of text, register and genre These threelevels also refer to the same conclusion that is “equivalence” is fundamental criterion

of translation quality

The above model asserted by House (1986) represents an early and generaldescription of TQA Nearly ten years later, the criteria are discussed further byNewmark (1995) Compared with earlier criteria of TQA, the model by Newmark isparticularly thorough since it suggests five essential steps from the beginning to the end

in translation evaluation process, including pre-evaluation and post-evaluation Thesefive steps involve analyzing the original text to examine the purpose of the author,interpreting the method of the translator in accordance with the purpose of the authorand the readership, comparing the translated version with the source text, evaluatingthe quality and finally evaluating how the translation exerts impact on readership Itcan be seen that while House (1986) merely mentions criteria during the process ofevaluating, Newmark (1995) suggests vital steps to figure out the importance ofreadership in TQA, a critical post-evaluation activity

Building on previous studies from House (1986) and Newmark (1995), Tien andBac (2008) synthesizes and illustrates a comprehensive and specific method of sevenphases to evaluate the quality of a translation Tien and Bac shares the same view with

House (1986) that equivalence plays an important role in the accuracy as well as thequality of other translations Besides, they support Newmark’s ideas and also proposepre-evaluation and post-evaluation step The comparison between source text andtranslational product is the initial step in TQA so as to measure meaning equivalenceand examine the accuracy of the translation Secondly, back translation can be applied

to identify the changes in meaning between the source text and the translation Thirdly,measuring comprehension from readership, clients or professional translations isimplemented The first three steps are carried out in order to check the accuracy andmeasure meaning equivalence to make sure that there are no omissions, no additionsand no changes of meaning, no over translation as well as no under translation Last butnot least, it is vital to measure naturalness, readability and consistency The purpose ofmeasuring naturalness is to examine whether the product achieves a natural form intargeted language The measurement of readability also supports the step of checkingnaturalness A good translation should be advantageous to read because it is natural,accurate and appropriate in style and format Finally, the translator should check theconsistency concerning terminologies, names, places, capitalism, abbreviation and soforth These seven basic steps of translation evaluation can be applied for thetranslation of trainees

Nevertheless, from a new approach, more recently, Williams (2009) claims that it

is better to see TQA from a broader sense in which TQA can be the combination ofboth quantitative and qualitative method TQA can be based on statisticalmeasurement, reader response, interviews and questionnaires No matter theassessment is on products, performance or competence, TQA should be drawn from thecriteria of “goodness”, the achievement of quality Specifically, a high-qualitytranslation should ensure validity and reliability Validity refers to an assessmentmeasuring what it is designed to measure such as necessary translation skills forperformance Validity also includes predictive validity involving the consequence ofthe assessment reflecting future performance Reliability is an assessment which

creates the same results when repeatedly examined to the same population under thesame conditions Williams proposes a score of questions in order to identify thereliability such as “Are there any biases or undue variations in results over time? Isthere a mechanism for ensuring that evaluators do not fluctuate between excessiverigour and extreme flexibility? Is the evaluator always objective?”

Overall, researchers adopting different approaches have proposed differentdefinitions of a good translation No matter what approach has been adopted, mostresearchers agree with Tien and Bac (2008) that a good interpretation must ensure

accuracy, naturalness, readability and consistency Accuracy means that the translator

exactly conveys the ideas and the meaning of original text to translated one with no

omissions and no additions Naturalness can only be achieved provided that the

translator pays enough attention to the style of both source and targeted text Theproduct should be smooth and natural for the sake of the targeted readership

Readability is satisfactory when the translator makes no mistakes in grammar,

punctuation, spelling and so on; therefore, it is convenient for the readers to follow the

whole translation Consistency refers to the systematic use of terminologies, names of

places, proper names and abbreviation

2.2 Translation errors

2.2.1 Definition of translation errors

Prior to conducting empirical evaluation on the quality of translation, it isindispensable to identify the translation errors and their classifications as Schiaffino(2005) assumes that it is easier to agree on what constitutes an error rather than onwhat constitutes quality in the abstract, and that an important factor in quality is theabsence of errors

Mossop (1989) describes translation errors as “a given rendering will be deemed

to be non-translation if it fails to conform to the concept of translation predominant in

the target culture” He identifies translation errors in terms of cultural norm and formalequivalence It means that the definition of translation error by Mossop (1989) includesthe achievement of formal equivalence but excludes other critical factors such assmoothness, readability and consistency in translational product Besides, formalequivalence as Nida and Taber (1982) defines as a method of translating literally andprotecting rhythm, special stylistic forms, expression in syntax and lexis, metaphor,word play and so on; therefore, formal equivalence is mainly used in translating poemsand songs, not all kinds of texts

A more thorough notion of error is proposed by Pym in 1992 Compared withthe definition by Mossop (1989), Pym suggests a large number of translation errors.However, these errors are not systematically classified

Ten years later, Aveling (2002) illustrates a more comprehensive and systematicnotion of translation errors In his opinion, translation errors occur when translator fails

to gain equivalence, adequacy and accuracy This definition is more comprehensive as

it stresses that equivalence covers many different types Besides, it is more systematicbecause Aveling emphasizes that translation errors can be divided into twocategorization including “dumb mistakes” and “deliberate mistakes” The former is due

to the lack of translator’s competence, and the latter occurs when translator poses apurpose to recreate the text

2.2.2 Classification of translation errors

Not only the definition but also the classification of interpreting errors hasattracted a myriad of efforts from scholars and researchers Nevertheless, due to thecomplexity of this practice, it remains intricate to establish a single comprehensive list

of all the translation errors observed This part, therefore, just attempts to review some

of the most noticeable study intro translation errors, and building on those studies, the

researcher proposes a list of translation errors which can be regarded as the foundationfor the error analysis of this study

Hejwowski Krzysztof (1992) divides translation errors into four main types:errors of syntagmatic surface translation, errors of mistaken interpretation, realizationerrors and meta-translation errors The first type includes equivalents, false friends,calques and unjustified borrowings The second type covers misreading syntagms andwrong interpretation of verb frame, misinterpret scenes and scripts and misreading thetext modality The third type covers TL errors, wrong evaluation of recipients’knowledge and insufficient of knowledge of subject-matter The final type comprisestranslation technique, additions, omissions, two versions, too many or two fewfootnotes, a wrong translation strategy, corrections and changing the text’sintertextuality Nevertheless, this approach is complicated and troublesome forresearcher to figure out translations errors of professional translators in general andundergraduates in particular

Three years later, translation errors were categorized more logically by thefounder of translation Newmark (1995, p189) in which translation errors consists oftwo main types that are referential errors and linguistic errors “Referential errors areabout facts, the real world, propositions not words” Linguistic errors involve mistakesdue to the lack of translator’s competence such as the use of articles, prepositions,punctuations, tense, voice, subject-verb agreement, word choice, spelling collocations,idioms and so forth The second categorization of Newmark is logical and appropriate

to evaluate the quality of translations in general, especially the translations ofundergraduates as they are at the early stage of training Thus, the lack of competence

is completely understandable

While agreeing somewhat with Newmark’s discussion, Nord (1997),nevertheless, suggests further that translation errors should be classified into four maintypes Firstly, pragmatic translation errors are due to the lack of recipient orientation It

means that the translator has no specific targeted readers in his mind; therefore, he has

no orientation when translating Secondly, cultural translation errors occur with regard

to cultural-specific conventions or equivalence A more detailed explanation can be

seen in part 2.1.2 of this chapter In Venuti (2000, p126), Nida stresses that “Since no

two languages are identical, either in the meaning given to corresponding symbols or

in the ways in which such symbols are arranged in phrases and sentences, it stands to reason that there can be no correspondence between languages” Therefore, the failure

in translating cultural equivalences is unavoidable The next type is linguistictranslation errors which Newmark (1995) also mentions The final type is entitled text-specific translation errors and it refers to the text-specific translation problem Thetranslator has to deal with various problems in different texts

On the other hand, Schiaffino (2005) classifies translation errors into threeprinciple categories Firstly, errors of meaning occurs if the meaning of translationbecomes different from the meaning of SL Secondly, errors of forms involves an error

of grammar, spelling, and other formal error that does not change the meaning of thetranslation with respect to the SL In this aspect, Schiaffino (2005) shared the sameviewpoint with Newmark (1995) and Nord (1997) The third categorization includeserrors of compliance Although meaning and form are accurate, the translator fails toconvey the style guide, preferred terminology, and other customer requirement whichcan cause unnaturalness, lack of readability and inconsistency in a translation

The classification of translation error remains diverse; however, most scholarsagree with Wang Baorong (2009) Baorong arrives at a mutual conclusion thattranslation errors should be classified into three main types including pragmatictranslation errors, cultural translation errors and linguistic translation errors Pragmatictranslation errors are caused by practical issues such as a lack of receiver orientationand background knowledge Cultural translation errors are related to equivalentproblems and methods to deal with cultural words Linguistic errors occur due to the

lack in the proficiency of the translator As Newmark (1995) points out linguistic errors

involves grammatical mistakes, punctuations, collocations, idioms and so forth.

Based on the above reviewed studies, the researcher has come up with acomprehensive list of common errors which is considered as the foundation for erroranalysis in this study The error list is mainly based on the theories of Newmark(1995), Nord (1997), Nord (1997), Schiaffino (2005), and Wang Baorong (2009) Onthe basis of these theories, the list of errors to assess the quality of 2nd students’translations can be divided into two categorizations including linguistic errors andtranslation errors Both these two types of errors are unavoidable as 2nd year traineesstill undoubtedly lacks English proficiency as well as the background knowledge abouttranslation theories The list of errors is as followed:

LINGUISTIC ERRORS

Article Aeroplane is the fastest means

of travel that is in common use

The Aeroplane is the fastest means

of travel that is in common use.Capitalization The students are mostly from

south east Asia

The students are mostly from SouthEast Asia

I congratulated her on her success

Punctuation We all watched Titanic , it was

a great movie!

We all watched Titanic It was agreat movie!

Spelling If you like your mother's new

wallpaper, you'll complement her on her decorating skills

If you like your mother's newwallpaper, you'll compliment her

on her decorating skills

agreement right

Tense She had written to him last

week

She wrote to him last week

Lexical choice I ran into my formal teacher I ran into my former teacher

Table 1: The model of common linguistic errors synthesized by researcher

Họ cần những kỹ năngkhác như đàm phán,lập kế hoạch hành động

và xây dựng quan hệ

Although skills whichhave subject-specificcharacteristics are veryimportant, studentstoday need more thanthat They need otherskills For example, theyneed negotiation skill

They also need actionplanning skill Buildingrelationship is also animportant skill whichstudents need

Although specific skills are ofimportance, studentstoday need more thanthat They need otherskills includingnegotiation, action

networking

Accuracy Muốn thúc đẩy ngành

du lịch và dịch vụ địaphương, cần đẩy mạnhcông tác đào tạo nghề,truyền nghề và phát

In order to promotetourism, it is necessary

to stimulate job-relatedmatters

In order to promotelocal services andtourism, it isnecessary to stimulatevocational training,

triển nghề ideas professional

transmission anddevelopment

Naturalness Giờ thì ai cũng biết chi

tiết của vụ xì căng đan

 It is morenatural to use

English

Consistency Biến đổi khí hậu gây ra

những thách thức tolớn Hiên tượng nàyđang gây ra những tácđộng to lớn ở cực Tácđộng của biến đổi khíhậu liên quan đếnlượng mưa tăng vàmực nước biển dângcao

Climate change poseshuge challenges CC is

is having dramaticeffects in the Arctic Theeffects of climate changeincludes precipitationand higher sea levels

 Inconsistency inthe use ofabbreviation

CC poses hugechallenges CC isabstract to us, but inthe Arctic it is havingdramatic effects Theeffects of CCincludes precipitationand higher sea levels

Term Có 5 tiêu chí để 1 biên

tập viên quyết định mộtcâu chuyện nào đó cóđáng được đưa tin haykhông Đó là: Thờigian của sự kiện, tầmquan trọng của nó và

There are 5 criteria for

an editor to decidewhether an incident isnewsworthy or not: thetime, the importance, thevenue, the incident-related celebrities, and

There are 5 criteriafor an editor to decidewhether an incident isnewsworthy or not:timing, significance,proximity,

prominence and

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides a detailed description of the method adopted in data collection and analysis It comprises methods, the size and the properties of samples and a thorough justification of five data collection instruments Moreover, the data collection procedures are also clearly indicated

The researcher attempts to address the research questions from both qualitative

and quantitative approach According to Lichtman (2006), the fundamental distinctionbetween these two research methods is that quantitative method explains aphenomenon by collecting numeral data and using mathematically-based method By

contrast, qualitative data must be analyzed by words, images and objects Johnson and

Christensen (2008) also share the same viewpoint and further indicate that by usingstatistical analysis, quantitative approach can test the theory and it is measurable,objective, unbiased and precise While quantitative research seeks for logicalexplanation, qualitative approach strives for in-depth description, the depth of the

phenomenon, discovery and shared interpretation Therefore, from a combination of

quantitative and qualitative approach, the researcher can compare, contrast, supplement and especially produce the most adequate outcomes Five main data

collection instruments including questionnaires, classroom observations, documentobservations, diary and only interview are fully employed in this research

3.1 Sampling

Throughout the study, all the selected participants were mentioned neither inreal names or pseudonyms They will be coded with letters and numbers to preservetheir rights of privacy Furthermore, the participants were selected via strict samplingprocedures to ensure their representativeness of the whole population

3.1.1 Teacher participant selection

Based on purposive sampling, an experienced senior lecturer coded as T in

charge of QH.2011.E18, QH.2011.E19, and QH.2011.E20 was selected to participate

in the study Having worked in training field for fifteen years in Translation andInterpreting Division, ULIS, VNU, T possessed considerable experiences and deepinsights of students’ competence Hence, the recommendations from T were especiallypriceless to not only students but also other lecturers

3.1.2 Student participant selection

The participants were selected based on stratified purposive sampling which

involves 81 2nd year students of three classes QH2011.E18, E19, E20 majoring inTranslation and Interpreting Unlike freshman, these students are at the initial trainingprocess of translating; therefore, translational skills and other translating-related issuesare totally unfamiliar to them Moreover, 2nd year students do not possess manyopportunities like 3rd year and 4th year students to intensively and extensively practicetranslating, particularly Vietnamese – English texts Thus, the selection of sophomoreswas the most feasible means to detect common errors in translating Vietnamese-English texts

Besides, errors were detected from Vietnamese – English translations of 2nd yearstudents in Unit 4 “Vietnam” in “Translation Practice” compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky.Vietnamese – English translations of the 81 students in QH2011 E18, E19, E20 werealso selected for the study The samples were selected for two principal reasons.Firstly, the second translation semester of 2nd year students merely contains three units,namely Unit 4 “Vietnam”, Unit 5 “Economy” and Unit 6 “Medicine and Health”; thus,

it is advantageous for the researcher to arrange time to collect the samples, conductinterview and administer questionnaires Secondly, “Vietnam” is also among popularthemes which students have to confront during 3rd and 4th year at university

Among the 81 students, three participants were selected for closer observationvia diary reports They were from QH.2011 E18, E19 and E20 and selected based onthe criteria of the highest average score in Translation Practice in previous semester.With the highest average score, the number of errors could be minimized Moreover,three selected students propose the in-depth and sharp recommendations which helpthem earn high marks

Translation Practice

S2 QH.2011.E19 8.7

Table 3: Participants’ demographic information

3.2 Data collection instruments

Diagram 1: Data collection instruments

With a flexible combination of multiple instruments, the researcher can triangulate the different sources of data and deliver a rich, reliable and comprehensible picture of the situation and fully address three research questions.

3.2.1 Questionnaires

Gillham (2000) stresses that questionnaires administration can gather data on alarge scale basis, and the data are straightforward as the items in questionnaires arespecific questions Besides, Dornyei (2003) particularly asserts that developingquestionnaires collects a huge amount of information in a short period of time Thus,

by employing large-scale questionnaires, the researcher is able to effectively examine

the issue of the whole 81 students QH.2011 All the three research questions can be

disclosed via the questionnaires designed in the form of Numerical rating scales and

Multiple-choice items including both close-ended and open-ended questions

3.2.2 Classroom observations

According to Mason (1996), observation requires the researcher to immerse him

or herself in a research setting, and systematically observes dimensions of that setting,interactions, relationships, actions, events and so on; thus, observation can enhance thevalidity and reliability of the information if combined with other methods such asquestionnaire Being well aware of these huge advantages, the researcher conducted 3

classroom observations to answer Research question 1 from the most reliable and

Bolger (cited in Dornyei 2007, p 134) claims that “asking research participants

to keep their records of certain aspects of their daily lives allows the researcher tocapture the particulars of experience in a way that is not possible using other methods”.Being well aware of that, the researcher invited three students to participate in writing

diary ton answer all the three research questions

3.2.3 Online interview

Interview can allow the researcher to examine the issues which are not directlyobservable Cohen (2007) stated that comparing with questionnaires, the opportunitiesfor asking, probing and the rate of return are extensive Furthermore, Patton (1990)asserted that interview offers the researcher the strength to investigate participants’feelings and thoughts In his view, feelings, thoughts and intention could not beobserved but had to be directly asked Therefore, the researcher conducts an onlineinterview with teacher T in Translation and Interpreting Division who possesses vastknowledge and considerable experiences in teaching Translation Practice to address all

the three research questions from in-depth aspect

3 3 Data collection procedure

When fulfilling participants and documents selection procedure, the researcherinvited three participants to join diary report after each Vietnamese-English translationchecking session Secondly, based on theoretical background presented in Chapter 2, aquestionnaire was designed and administered to three selected classes Theadministration of questionnaires took about 15 minutes Out of the 81 survey sheetsissued, 71 responses were retrieved, making a relatively high response rate of89%.Thirdly, calls and emails requesting the permission of teacher T who was incharge of three selected classes were firstly conducted, and then the observations wereimplemented A brief introduction about the researcher, the thesis and the purpose ofthe observation was clearly shown to the teacher and students in each class All thesuggestions on the board were taken photograph and then transcribed to be saved inword document for more precise and comprehensive analysis Fourthly, based on themodel presented in checking session of teacher T, the researcher gathered 81Vietnamese-English translations for in-depth analysis Finally, a notice was announced

in advance to the interviewed teacher via telephone and emails to invite the

participation Afterwards, the interview was conducted via Internet The aims of theinterview were also to fully and reliably address three research questions

In summary, the data collection procedure consists of six main steps which are

illustrated as follows:

Diagram 2: Data collection procedure

3.4 Data analysis methods

The data analysis from questionnaires was based mainly on the calculation of

the frequency, the mean, the median and the mode The questionnaire analyzing

procedure could be divided into three main steps: stage 1 – analyzing the frequency of the errors; stage 2 – listing and investigating into the possible causes of such errors;

stage 3 – examining the helpfulness of some techniques in Vietnamese-English

translations

As regards class and document observations, the word documents transcribed

from photographs and saved in word documents were supplemented with the notes of

the researcher for further analysis The errors teacher pointed out were classified intocategorization and analyzed with specific examples Based on the model presented inchecking session by teacher T, the researcher examines 81 Vietnamese-English

translations for in-depth comparative analysis to detect errors in order to be compared

with findings from other instruments

Regarding diary, the participants’ diaries were coded into three main

categorizations, including common errors, possible causes of such errors andrecommendations for improvement

For online interview, the researcher examines the transcription of online

interview and codes the data into categorization to answer each different research

question Hence, there were three main groups including common errors, possiblecauses and recommendations Afterwards, the data were interpreted and the exactquotations from interview were fully exploited to serve the research objectives

Summary

The chapter demonstrates a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research methods with five main instruments, namely questionnaires, class observations, document observations, diary and online interview More significantly, the detailed justification for the use of each instrument is also revealed prior to the procedures to gather as well as the methods to analyze the data

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of collected data from five instruments, namely questionnaires, class and document observations and interview respectively The data presentation is followed with thorough discussion and specific examples as well The last but most important part illustrates further comparison

between the data gathered from each instrument in order to compare, contrast and supplement for the most adequate outcomes

4.1 Findings and discussion from questionnaires

On the basis of the literature reviewed in Chapter 2, the ten types of linguisticerrors and eight types of translation errors were listed in part II and part III of

questionnaire in order to answer the first research question “What are the common

errors in the Vietnamese - English translations in “Translation Practice” made by 2nd year students?”

4.1.1 Linguistic errors

Participants were asked to rate the level of frequency for such errors according to their own translating experiences The following table summarizes the related descriptive statistics:

Error in … Mean Median Mode

Table 4: Students’ common linguistic errors observed from questionnaires

Among ten items, up to eight items from questionnaires had mean below threewhich were rather low As item ten and five, namely lexical choice and punctuationreceived the highest mean, 3.08 and 3.05 respectively; thus, the most common errors

made by 2nd year students were lexical choice and punctuation By contrast, the mean

of item eight, three and two about subject-verb agreement, parts of speech andcapitalization was the lowest; therefore, students seemingly virtually master theseaspects Articles, prepositions, spelling, singular and plural forms, and tense wereamong the errors students encountered but not frequently

The findings were totally comprehensible as students specializing in English,especially 2nd year students could virtually master fundamental aspects of grammar,including parts of speech, subject verb agreement and so forth However, lexical choicebelonged to a broader field of vocabulary, which seems more challenging

In short, the most common errors students frequently confront were lexicalchoice and punctuation, and they rarely had problems in subject-verb agreement, part

of speech and capitalization

4.1.2 Translation error

Likewise, the eight types of translation errors were gathered from theoreticalbackground research in Chapter 2 The detailed statistics are as follows:

1 Lengthy and awkward expression 3.26 3.5 3

Table 5: Common s observed from questionnaires

Surprisingly, while linguistic errors had mean below three, 100% items belong

to translation error categorization received mean above three This comparisonindicated that translational challenges posed more challenges to 2nd students thanlinguistic ones More notably, it can be witnessed that lengthy and awkwardexpressions were by far the most common errors encountered students, with the highestmean of 3.26 and high median and mode of 3.5 and 3 respectively It wasunderstandable as these above-mentioned s in general were totally unfamiliar concepts

to 2nd year level As reviewed in Chapter 2, accuracy, naturalness, consistency,readability are among the fundamental and indispensible concepts of translationtheories; nonetheless, students approach this concept at 3rd year according tocurriculum

4.1.3 Possible causes

Chart 1: Possible causes of common errors made by 2 nd year students

As could be seen from the chart, the largest number of students, 87.5%encountered errors in translating process due to the lack of translation theories It wascomprehensible as students majoring in Translation at ULIS were accessible toTranslation Theories at 3rd and 4th academic year Besides, above 50% of surveyedstudents chose poor vocabulary and lack of translation skills as main possible causes,proving these two items were also among aching problems facing by 2 year trainees

By contrast, carelessness and misunderstanding the ideas occupied the lowest rate, 24%and 18% respectively It was surprising as students seemingly relatively mastered ingrammar from their own perspective

4.1.4 Suggestions

Chart 2: Suggestions to overcome errors

The descriptive statistics evoke many discussions that need to be taken intoconsideration Firstly, it came as a surprise that 100% participants valued teacher’s in-class checking session as the most helpful method to further develop their translations,showing that there still remains passive in translation improvement Nonetheless, morethan two-thirds of surveyed students regarded online dictionary and Internet searching

as useful tools, so it is inferable that students are gradually better aware of shiftingfrom teacher-centered based learning method to learning autonomy On the other hand,other suggestions such as paper dictionary aid, peers’ comments, revision of peers’comments, and revision of teacher’s suggestions are not appreciated by students intranslation class It should be concluded that in order to sharpen students’ translationskills, it is essential for students to take advantages of various means

4.2 Findings and discussion from class observations, document observations, diary reports and online interview

Besides specific descriptive statistics on a large-scale basis of 81 students, the

in-depth examples with specific errors are also clearly reflected via class and document

observations, interview and diary to address three research questions It should be

made clear that data from these instruments are simultaneously analyzed to support

each other, and the model presented in checking session of teacher T was thefoundation for the students’ translations analysis of the researcher

4.2.1 Linguistic errors

As a senior lecturer, teacher T stated that “Grammatical errors and lexical errors”

are among common errors made by 2nd year students It should be noticed that someerrors, namely capitalization, subject – verb agreement, spelling and tense as reviewed

in Chapter 2 did not appear among the participants of the study

4.2.1.1 Lexical choice

The outcomes were totally unexpected as it was commonly seen in checkingsessions and students’ translations that lexical choice poses the hugest challenges to

students The total number of errors dramatically reached 171 cases among 81

translations Teacher T also agreed that “Lexical errors” were the most common

errors among students It is comprehensible as they are at the first stage of training andstill lacks vocabulary

The most noticeable pairs of misused words are as follows: extend – stretch,plains – lowlands, create enormous pressure – put/ exert enormous pressure, kinds –species, marine time – marine, create the country – found the country, feudalist –feudalism, colonist – colonialist, domain/ region/ zone – part

Interestingly, S1, S2, S3 all highlight in their diary about strains in determining

proper words S2 sincerely shared, “Word choice!!! I made the most frequently For

example, I wrote “a comprehensive war” instead of “a full-scale war”, and “littoral are” instead of “coastal area”, or “marine resource” instead of “sea resource” Like S2, S1 and S3 reported, “I used “vast ocean” instead of “vast sea area”, “mountains” – “highlands”, “total war” – “full-scale war” and so many, many others”

4.2.1.2 Punctuation

Punctuation errors detected among students refers to comma and colon As

regards comma, there were a total number of 18 cases detected The first group refers

to the use of comma to separate two strong clauses joined by a coordinating

conjunctions For example, hills and mountains cover three-fourth of the land, but the

plains are more crowded The second group relates to the use of comma to separate

the day of the month from the year and after the year such as “Vietnam declared to be

independent on September, 2, 1945” The last group concerns reduced relative clause.

Relative clauses can be reduced by omitting the pronoun and the “be” form or omittingthe subject pronoun and change the verb to “ing” form In both cases, there is no need

to use comma; however, many students add comma into reduced relative clauses For

example, Vietnam has diverse natural resources, including forests, sea and minerals.

The comma should be omitted in this case

Regarding colon, 27 cases among 81 translations about the use of colon were

detected An example is “In the North, there are four distinct seasons: spring, summer,

autumn and winter.” Thirty four students use comma instead of colon Likewise,

students also misuse colon in some specific cases such as “Vietnam is rich in other

minerals which include: iron ore, copper, gold, gem, bauxite, tin, zinc and other construction minerals”.

4.2.1.1 Misuse of articles

A total number of 56 articles errors were figured out among 81 translations.

Teacher T pointed out that “the” was used to refer to specific identified objects that

both writer and reader know such as “the territory of Vietnam”, “the forests of

Vietnam” Secondly, “the” was used to refer to specific identified things which were

already mentioned such as “In the South, there are only two seasons: the rainy season

and the dry season” Thirdly, “the” was applied before proper names like the Central (Highlands), the Kinh, the Red River Delta, the EU Finally, “the” stands before ordinal

number like “the first”, “the second” and so on

From students’ perspective, S2 was the most confused when talking about

confronting with the use of articles She viewed that “Sometimes, it is also difficult for

me to decide whether to use articles or not For instance, it should have been “the midlands and mountainous areas are sparsely populated”, but I did not get article in that clause” The same case was true for S1 and S3, they also repeatedly claimed that:

“Articles, though it is basic grammar, I still need to work on more” Throughout their

opinions, the use of articles still remains an aching problem

4.2.1.2 Preposition

Surprisingly, 81 cases relates to the use of preposition pertaining to direction in

the sentence, “Việt Nam có đường biên giới đất liền là 3.730km, phía Bắc giáp với

Trung Quốc (1.150km), phía tây giáp với Lào (1.650km) và Campuchia (930km).”

Teacher’s in-class suggestion was “Vietnam has a 3,730km land border, borders on

China (1150km) in the north, on Laos (1650km) and Cambodia (930km) in the west.”

He explained that “border” was not only a noun but also a verb with the preposition

“on” Besides, “in” is used to go with four directions east, west, south, and north.Teacher T stressed that there was still one exception for the use of preposition of

direction For instance, “Quang Ninh is to the north of Hanoi” The structure reflects

that we can use “to the north/south/ east/ west of something”

As perceived by students, S1, S2 and S3 all agree that they translated redundantly,

awkwardly and inaccurately such as “Vietnam has a 3,730km land border It has

border with China (1150km) to the north, Laos (1650km) and Cambodia (930km) to the west.” (S2’s translation) S3 also made the quite same errors, “Vietnam has a land border line of 3,730 km, China to the north (1,150 km), Laos (1,650 km) and Cambodia (930 km) to the west.”

4.2.1.5 Singular and plural forms

In checking session, teacher T indicated that the plural form was used whenindicating more than one items such as “forests”, “minerals” Non-countable nounsobviously do not have plural forms such as “the sea” Some other cases such as the use

of fractions “three-fourths”, the use of special structures “in terms of”, “as regards”,and the use of noun phrase “a 3451 kilometer coastline” also need to be taken into

consideration Nonetheless, only 21 cases were detected among 81 translations

4.2.2 Translation errors

It should be noticed that translation errors are inter-related as reviewed inChapter 2 In other words, the cause of one error can lead to others and vice versa.Nonetheless, some criteria including accuracy, readability, naturalness was not

mentioned by teacher T, surveyed students S1, S2 and S3 However, “lengthy and awkward expressions” appeared to be a very common error

4.2.2.1 Lengthy and awkward expressions

It came as a surprise that the total number of 197 errors about lengthy and

expressions was detected Some examples are presented as follows:

Original text Translated text Suggestions by teacher T

Việt Nam tuyên bố độc

lập ngày 2/9/1945,

nhưng sau đó lại lao vào

cuộc chiến tranh chống

âm mưu của Pháp nhằm

biến Việt Nam một lần

nữa thành thuộc địa của

chúng

Vietnam declared to beindependent on 2ndSeptember 1945, but rightafter that it was involved inanother war to prevent theplan of French army frommaking Vietnam to be theircolony once again

independence on 2ndSeptember 1945 but rightafter plunged into the waragainst French’s scheme torecolonize Vietnam