influences of vietnamese and british culture on english-vietnamese translation by the third year students of english at hanoi open university

The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University Table of contents Part A: Introduction I. Rationale Nowadays, English is the most popular language all over the world. Being considered as a bridge to make every countries closer, English is used in many fields such as economic, diplomatic, politic, science, technology etc. English provides us with an effective tool to have a deep understanding about the culture, people, traditional, lifestyle and custom of other countries. However, there are usually much sophistication in learning and using a foreign language in general and English in particular. When learning a foreign language, learners should concentrate on not only its grammar, structure, vocabulary, pronunciation but also its own cultural factors. Obviously, learners often have subjective thinking because of their unawareness of cultural differences. Therefore, they often impose their cultural characteristics or their mother tongue on the foreign language. As the matter of fact, there are many Vietnamese learners of English especially the third-year students of English at Hanoi Open University still have difficulties when dealing with English-Vietnamese translation. It is no fully right to think that they can be good at translation if they have broad sense of grammar. Moreover, large amount of cultural vocabulary is also the major factors which help translators to translate appropriately and effectively. With the hope of helping the third-year students of English at Hanoi Open University translate texts from English into Vietnamese better, the author has decided to choose the theme"Influences of Vietnamese and British culture on English-Vietnamese translation by the third year students of English at Hanoi Open University” for her graduation paper study. §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 1 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University II. Aims of the study With this graduation paper, the author hopes to help Vietnamese learners of English overcome cultural barriers in order to translate from English into Vietnamese more effectively. Therefore, the aims of the study are: - To find out the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English culture. - To point out the relation between language and culture, which influences English-Vietnamese translation. - To search for background of British and Vietnamese culture which influence on the use of language. - To indicate some common mistakes in translating from English into Vietnamese caused by the third-year students of English at Hanoi Open University and suggest some solutions to overcome them. III. Methods of the study In the graduation paper, the author tries to search for the differences of Vietnamese and British culture as well as its influences on English- Vietnamese translation. In order to make clear about the theme, the author has done the paper basing on: - Collecting many documents and reference books referring to the topic from many sources such as library, Internet. - Consulting the supervisor for her guidance. - Discussing with friends. - Analyzing and interpreting all the information following the data and instructions of supervisor. IV. Scope of the study Both culture and language are sophisticated areas for research. Because of the shortage of time and limitation of knowledge, the whole field of the cultural influences study can not covered in the graduation paper. I would like §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 2 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University to pay attention to the differences of Vietnamese-British cultural factors which affect English-Vietnamese translation. I also attempt to do research some mistakes which are connected with cultural characteristics and some suggestions to avoid the mistakes of the third year students of English at Hanoi Open University in translating from English into Vietnamese. The author hopes that will help them improve their skills in translating from English into Vietnamese. V. Design of study The paper is divided into three main parts: Part A: INTRODUCTION This part includes rationale, aims of study, scope of study methods of study and design of study. Part B: DEVELOPMENT The main part of the study contains 2 chapters: Chapter 1: is the literature review on: definition of culture, language, and translation, relation between language and cultures andVietnamese culture the British one is also referred in this chapter. Chapter 2: is the findings in the survey and some cultural influences on English - Vietnamese translation Chapter 3: gives some suggested solutions to overcome negative influences of culture on English - Vietnamese translation. Part C: CONCLUSION Summarizes all the main points in the whole graduation paper. §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 3 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University Part B: Develop ment Chapter I: literature review 1.1. Overview of translation Nowadays, translation plays an importance role in our modern society so it has become a profession. Its topic range from literature to every type of information with great emphasis to science and technology. Translation includes contact translation, freelancers, staff translation and pre and post editors in machine translation. The command of understanding and communicating foreign languages in every field of life as well as in global integration makes translation important. Furthermore, the developments of the number of international organizations, the recognition of minority language groups on almost countries in the world and international trade have given translation bigger prominence. It is easy to find translation everywhere. It has moved away from books to contracts, reports, instructors, magazines and newspapers, advertisements and brochures. This proves that translation has been the favorites subject of not only linguists, amateur and professional translation and language teachers but also engineers, producers and sciencetists. Many books, articles have been published to introduce this area of human knowledge. However, we should consider the definition of translation. Here are some definitions of translation studies. "Translation is the replacement of a representative of text in one language by a representative of another equivalent text in a second language". (Hartman and Stock 1972: 713) "Translation is a procedure that leads from a written source language text to on optimally equivalent target language text and which requires the syntactic, semantic, stylistic and text pragmatic comprehension by the §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 4 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University translation of the original text". (Van, Hoang Van cited in Wills 1982 a: 112) ''Translation, as the process of conveying message across linguistic and cultural barriers, is an eminently communicative activity…'' (Tudor, cited in Duff 1989: 5) "Translation is the expression in another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another language (source language). (Dubois 1973, cited in Bell 1991: 5) As can be seen definition on translation are different and contradictory. In order to discuss more current views on translation, I would like to introduce the theories of cat ford, Hakim and Mason, and Bell. a. Catford. In "A linguistic theory of translation (1965) Catford defined translation as: "The replacement of textual material of one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in another language (target language) (page20) Two important points need to be discussed are textual material and equivalence. Textual material is used more popular than text to cater for the fact that normally it is not the linguistic entirely of a source language text which is translated, that is, replaced by target language equivalence. Simple replacement by target language material may be taken place at one or more levels of language. About "equivalence", Catford distinguishes between it as empirical factors and a theoretical consideration. He said that, equivalence is discovered by comparing source language and target language by way of not only informants but also con mutation and observation, and theoretically we are keen on identifying the conditions or justification of translation equivalence. b. Hatim and Mason According to "Discourse and the translation "(1990) by Hatim and §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 5 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University Mason, translation is not a simple problem. A text can have more than one translation, the translator's work is a difficult course of decision to be taken. Hatim and Mason believed that translation is a process. They defined translation as a "communicative process which takes place within a social context" (p3). In their opinion, the translation's role is a "mediator between a source language text and its author and the target language reader ''(p 223) They also indicated that translators do not translate words, phrases or even sentences, but they translate texts. Therefore, the translation must understand not only the literary but also implicit meaning of the text. c. Bell In "translation and Translating: Theory and Practice" (1991) Bell wrote a number of theoretical and practical problems about translation such as translation theory, translation's knowledge and skills, word meaning, etc. Also, he emphasized three main points: a focus an model, a focus on meaning and a focus on memory. Focusing on model, Bell distinguished translation as process with translation as product. Then he suggested the building of the model of translating process taking into account several issues such as the knowledge and skills of translation, the necessary task that translators should have when translating atext. In terms of meaning, he places sentence meaning, and traditional word, semantic sense and communicative value within a systematic functional model of language and linked them with text. Last but not least, an emphasis to memory expresses two basically factors of information: theory and knowledge which are great importances to any understanding of the translation process. 1.1.1. Type of translation In the opinion of Catford in "A linguistic theory translation"(1965) ,there §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 6 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University are 3 types of translation: a. Full and partial translation Full translation relates to the translation of a whole passage. On the other hands, partial translation refers to translation of each part of the passage. b. Total and restricted translation While total translation means the translation at all levels of language, restricted translation refers to the translation at limited level of language. c. Unbounded and rank bounded Unbounded translation relates to the translation which consists of translation removing of the source language and target language with the same meanings hunt up and down ranks scale. Meanwhile rank bounded translation includes a careful selection of translation equivalents at corresponding levels on translating one work, the translator questions about the kind of the text, the writer's aims, etc to decide the kind of translation which she/ he believes the best. 1.1.2.Translation vs interpreting There are some differences between translation and interpreting. While translation means shifting an idea from one language to another expressed in writing, interpreting means shifting ideas expressed in speaking or using body language. Even though interpreting is thought to be a small part of translation,in regard to the analysis of the processes involved (translation studies).In practice,both translation and interpreting activities are not separated. 1.1.3.Translation process The translation process includes: - Decoding the meaning of the source text. - Re-encoding the meaning in the target language. First, in order to decode the meaning of the source text the translators §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 7 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University have to find out its part "translation units" that means the paragraphs of the text should be considered as a cognitive unit. Translation unit can be a word, a phrase or some sentences. Although this procedure is easy to understand, the cognitive operation is sophisticated and difficult. Translators have to interpret and analyze all the source text. This operation requests translators to understand deeply and correctly the syntax, semantic, idioms, phrasal verbs of the source language, also the culture of its language. Translators also should have deep knowledge of culture in order to re-encode the meaning of the target language. As the matter of fact, translator’s understanding of the source language is less important than their understanding of the target language. Therefore, almost translators translate a sourse language into a target language which is their mother-tongue. As Nida - one of the famous theorist as well as practitioner, wrote in "Language structure and translation" (1975 : 80) about a three-stage process of translating. He further stated that a deliberate analysis of what exactly happens in translation process has expressed that instead of analyzing immediately from one set of surface grammar to other, a translation naturally has a process with three stages: Analysis, Transfer and Restructuring. According to him, at first, the translator has to analyze the content of the source language into its easiest understanding and clearest form, shift these information in his mind from the source language into the target language that is the most appropriate for the reader who he/ she is going to reach. Here is the diagram of Nida 's model: §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 8 SL text analysis TL text Restructuring Transfer The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University (Fig 1) Nida 's process of translating (1965,p.80) 1.1.4.The success of translation As the matter of fact, translation is a complicated and careful activity. The translator needs to be not only an expert reader in one language but also active writer in another one. There are only two kinds of translation, one being to direct to the original text while the other paying attention to translate a wonderful translation that precisely indirect on the original. In fact, there is neither translation that precisely independ on the original text nor any that tries to imitate the original in another language completely. If direct translation means to reproduce exactly by copying original text, it can not have a beautiful product. It is worth mentioning that culture in the source language and the target language should be well-observed so that translation is carried out successfully. In fact, differences in culture cause many more severe complications than they do in language and structures. The translator needs to have an in- depth knowledge of the various aspects of his or her culture because most texts are nomally colured with cultural elements such as: idioms, proverbs, metaphors and other cultural features. As a matter of fact, all languages and culture have their cultural sensitives, but share with each other only few of them.Besides, it is not very common to find equivelentt proverbs. An invented example may illustrate this point is the following English proverb: "diamond cut diamond". Another cultural specific element such as: "bread and butter", "John Bull" "Shove Tuesday", etc. It seems to be difficult to transfer their complete meaning in a simple word. §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 9 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third-year of English at Hanoi Open University Further more, cultural differences are always major causes of mistakes in translating. The translator has to resolve the barrier between different cultures in order to translate successfully. 1.1.5 Principles of translation According to Savory (1968: 50) there are some contradictory principles. 1. A Translation must give the words of the original. 2. A Translation must give the ideas of the original. 3. A Translation should read like on original work. 4. A Translation should read like a travel lotion. 5. A Translation should reflect the style of the original. 6. A Translation should possess the style of the translation. 7. A Translation should read as a contemporary of the original 8. A Translation should read as a con tem portray of the translation. 9. A Translation may add to or omit from the original. 10. A Translation of verse should be in prose. 11. A Translation of prose should be in verse. 1.2.Overview of culture Culture is seemed to be a sophisticated, popular term in our life. In fact, culture relates to the value about material and spiritual of human activities.The definition of culture is defined by many authors. The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and Clybe Kluckholn said,"Culture consists of pattern, explicit of behavior aqquired and transmitted by symbol constituting the distinctive achievement of human group. The essential care of culture consists of traditional ideas especially their attached values, culture system may on the other hands, be considered as production of action and on the other as conditioning element of further action" (1952: 181). Culture is defined by Scollon as "Culture is any of the customs, world view, language, kinship system, social organization, and other regular §µo ThÞ Thu Trang - K11E 10 [...]... cognition and value conception in using language on English -Vietnamese translation made by the third year students of English at Hanoi Open University The reason for the first difficulty is that the third- year students of English at Hanoi Open University are unconscious of the differences of the cultural cognition and value definition on translation of each nation Naturally, English culture takes the. .. 2.3.2 .Influences of cultural background and habit on English -Vietnamese translation Culture influences on every fields of life, the meal is one typical example The British people often eat wheat's product such as bread, cake and 30 Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University dairy cattle's... sentence My mother is cooking in the kitchen.66.6% the third year sthudents of English at Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E 28 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University Hanoi Open University choose the preposition beneathor at instead of in To sum up, the third years student of English faculty at our university have... and "dới bếp" while the British people convey them as "in bed", "on farm" and "in the kitchen" As the matter of fact, Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E 35 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University the British often see the space which are surroundings, follow three dimension However, the third- year students of English. .. separated Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E 22 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University Chapter 2: Findings and discussion 2.1 Survey text 2.1.1 Aim of the survey text The survey aims at finding some common mistakes made by the third year students of English at Hanoi Open University when translating from English. .. Madona 56.3% the third- year students of English at Hanoi Open University choose the prepositions wrongly.They use on or at instead of in Another example is: Eg: My mother is cooking in the kitchen 66,6% the third- year students of English at Hanoi Open University can not distinguish from inwith at and beneath The thid -year students of English at Hanoi Open University usually express: "trên giờng", "trong... creation of new information, objects or definitions that everyone in this culture agree with For example, in North America, both the civil rights movement and the invention of television are good mirrors of Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E 13 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University the inventions construct the culture. .. spirit is another important cultural, Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E 17 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University characteristic of Vietnamese This is the result of the wet rice cultivation of Vietnamese people, forcing its members live in coordination with other, which set up family, generations and closed village... for the relation between them Vietnamese live in Đào Thị Thu Trang - K11E 18 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University harmony with another, respect the emotional ties which leads up to look up good characteristics ,knowledge and woman The British think of equality and justice due to the commercial life The. .. civilization of south East Asia which consisted of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism Therefore, English and Vietnamese have many differences in the way of cultural thinking Naturally, the Vietnamese learners in general and the third- year students of English at Hanoi Open University often use English prepositions that they think having the same meaning in Vietnamese Therefore, the prepositions "on" "in" . influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University are 3 types of translation: a. Full and partial translation Full. The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University Table of contents Part A: Introduction I. Rationale Nowadays,. 11 The influences of Vietnamese and English culture On English - Vietnamese translation by the third- year of English at Hanoi Open University patterns of behaviors and ways of thinking until they