42.2 J2~ HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HO CHI MINH CITY
1240 VIETNAM
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE OF ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION WORKING IN THE NEWSROOM OF
SAI GON TIEP THI MAGAZINE
A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in English
Submitted by TRAN THI TRUC MAI
Supervised by NGUYEN VU PHUONG THAO
Trang 2TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .scssssssssssoosscsseseseesscnsassnsnencccetoneaceasnecncecsssenensersersenseasessenoes ii ABSTRACT co chen họ nh TA 00480000 0500804103100040000600004.1800689101050090400001 00156 iti TABLE OF CONTENTS .ccccssscssscssovcossssntsenccocsersnsccssasecenensencacensncenenenaceestsossnenessoesooses iv LIST OF DIAGRAM .ssssscsssenesesssesrerseseesennnneees sasssensecossvorsacecaeaneneesereseees INTRODUCTION .cceseeesese = ¬ I.LITERATURE REVIEW 5% 1.1 Theory of translation L.Ld Definition of translation 1.1.2 Rule€s 0ƒ HfHSỈQ{ÍGH «ecceeeeeeexeesretrrrisreeesrrirseieieeersneeirrererniirel011101004 3
1.1.3 Roles oƒ translation
1.2 Introduetion of Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper offÏÏc€ He iaeeesee 5 1.2.1 Background infOr mation wiccsecsserreccscssrsereaceserecnceenssessesessanisssscesnenassesassnsesensenes 5 1.2.2 Specific work of a person working in the HCWSFOOHH, co Hee 7 1.2.3 Required skills of a person Working in the NEWSTOOHA srssssereceervoroersreresaseriornneeee 7 TIL METHODOLOGY .ccsssccsosessesssscnesenserssssrecorensesscneneneneaserevenegeacarsnsasecssssosseanseseneces 8 2.1 Research design Án 0 L4 0n HE 000808910103000011410000000318000941010190012012400400004000000008404 § 2.2 Population and sampÏe .- s-essssseEseessssetssessstsneesersA081001011Y 0n e0e 71 § 2.3 Insfrument .oo sac 9196083610160064800818041012004060040000090100 9 2.3.1 Comparison method .csserrssssscsssssenesccssstssecsssesscsceeeeeeneesenensnenensesessssasansnseseneneesay 9 2.3.2 Interview .rscccscsssersrereseeseeserseee saseveesssocenenesesoroveasassstersscsteneneceenessenenesasscenceseseaceseaesses 9
2.4 Data collection procedures .sccssssssssosecssesssecscssssensnesssenssenossetsscenenesseeceacerennseseenenes 9
III SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION STUDIED IN CLASS AND ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE NEWS
Trang 3EU S82 nh II L2 ra ch ốc ố 12 3.1.2.4 Equivdlence Qƒ fEHS€ ìàcocvnennehhhhrrrehrrHdrrrrrderterdrrirrdrrddmrre 12 3.1.2.5 Equivalence of Proper NOME .à cà ch nh hhrhhhrrrgehrrrrdrrrerrrrrriida 13 3.1.3 Accurate preservation of information implied in source language text 13 3.2 Differences .ccccscssssssssescsssssessrsesevcsentererveccvsossecesonscessasenseensenonsansserarscessscesssonenesnensenes 14 3.2.1 Rules of “Six Wh” and “Inverted Triangular Order” socom 14 3.2.2 Readers of translation (0F fdrgel CHSÍOHGTS) .c«eeieesensrierrerrrrrmsreeiireree 19 3.2.2.1 Reader affecting choices Of HWS ececcceseriereie irene tees iene ee en anan teenies 19 3.2.2.2 Reader affecting the editor's WFHing SDÌ€ ào eeinerrerrerrerrrre 20
IV PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES .«« ««<e< "1 —¬ 21
4.1 Interview with an editor of the Sai Gon Tiep Thi magazine —-.` 21 4.2 Interview with some people working as translators for the Sai Gon Tiep Thi
MAB AZINE ssessccesversosoreresserersnngnecersssensonsacerensussensosentnsenenesesesnes 26
CONCLUSION .sssssescsscsssssesescseeseseenersanacesasassaseseneatentosensenen 28 REFERENCCE .-cescseesseeeseeesssersrsesenrierrtraraekre .29
Trang 4
LIST OF DIAGRAM
Diagram 1: Overview of the translation task 0.0.0 ::cecssseeeeeeeresseeeeenneerenee reset ener ns 2 Diagram 2: Structure of Sai Gon Tiep Thi Newspaper Office - :::esc creer 6 Diagram 3: Inverted triangle order in News Writing eeeeernnnnnnnrnrntrnrrrrstte 16
Trang 5INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, it is surprising that companies in Vietnam often take from one to three months to train students who have just graduated from university, even when the students do work which is suitable with their major in university Specifically, the students specializing in English Translation and Interpretation were trained in their work, which relates to English Translation and Interpretation For example, some other students and I working as translators in newsroom of SGTT magazine had to be trained in nearly two months before we are officially employees here I wondered why we should be trained in the few months when we learned at least four years
Trang 6I.LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Theory of translation 111 Definition of translation
“What is the translation?” is a question, which is concerned by many translators and researchers They have studied and given many different definitions According to Lotfollah Karimi, a professor of English Department in Islamic Azad University, translation is converting one language, source language (SL) to another, target language (TL) so that the TL could convey the intended message in SL In other words, it is a process through which the translator decodes SL and encodes his understanding of the TL form Meanwhile, Roger T.Bell (Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice)
says:
Translation is the expression in another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another, source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalence
In general, translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of a equivalent text in a second language
“Translation, then, consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation, and cultural context of the source language text, analyzing it in order to determine its meaning, and then reconstructing this same meaning using the lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the receptor language and its cultural context” (Larson 1998, p.3)
Here is diagram of overview of translation task (Larson 1998, p.4)
Trang 7In this thesis, the source language is English and the target language is Vietnamese Therefore, the simplest definition is that translation is the expression in Vietnamese of
what has been expressed in English, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences For example, in an English essay “ Wonders in Creation” in the book - 120 Model English Essays by H.Martin has a paragraph:
“ Every thing in nature is wonderful Even the commonest object is a mystery The fact that it is familiar to us, does not explain it For example, take a common plant, a weed in the garden, which we dig up and throw away as worthless If you consider the delicacy of its tissues, the perfection of its forms and colour, the marvellous way in which it has grown from a tiny seed, you will wonder how it came to be Not even the greatest scientist in the world can explain the principle of life that has formed it Common and familiar as it is, it is a mystery.”
Nguyén Van Khi, a translator translated the paragraph as following:
“ Moi thir trong thiên nhiên đều tuyệt diệu Ngay cá những thứ tầm thường nhất cũng là
một điều bí mật Sự kiện nó gần gũi với chúng ta không đủ là lí do để lý giải được cho
nó Lay ví dụ một giống thực vật nhỏ, cây cỏ dại trong vườn chúng ta đào và vứt đi như
một vật dụng vô ích Nếu chúng ta xét đến sự tỉnh tế của những tế bào, sự tuyệt hảo về
hình thức và màu sắc, cách thức kỳ diệu qua đó nó phát triển từ một hạt giống bé nhỏ,
người ta sẽ ngạc nhiên làm sao sự việc lại có thé được như vậy Ngay ca nhà khoa học vĩ đại nhất trên thế giới cũng không thể cắt nghĩa được nguyên lý vẻ sự sống đã hình
thành nên nó Mặc dù phỏ biến và gần gũi, nó là một điều khó hiểu.”
1.1.2 Rules oƒ ramslation
Each translation, however, cannot avoid some kinds of loss, due to a number of factors
Trang 8using his own idiolect or his conception of the source language (SL), which is written naturally in the target language (TL)
In the case when the learner’s mother tongue seems to enhance the target language learning process due to its similarities in structure and form with the target language, the appropriate and applicable term is positive transfer: “the effects of positive transfer are only determinable through comparisons of the success of groups with different native languages Such comparisons often show that cross-linguistic similarities can produce positive transfer in several ways Similarities between native language and target vocabulary can reduce the time needed to develop good reading comprehension and similarities in syntactic structures can facilitate the acquisition of grammar” (Odlin,
1989:36)
1.1.3 Roles of translation
Trang 91,2 Introduction of Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper office 1.2.1 Background information
This newspaper office was founded in 1995 The newspaper office has 4 representative offices throughout the country They are based in Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng, Hồ Chí Minh City, and Cần Thơ
It includes many departments - Advertising, Circulation, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, News, Online, Production, etc A diagram can simplify its
Trang 10EDITORIAL STAFF GENERAL EDITION (LEADER) Š NEWSPAPER EDITION OFFICE GENERAL SECRETARY (LEADER) YOUT IT
ART (INFORMATION READERS DOCUMENTA PROMOTION ACCOUNTS ADMINISTRATION
Trang 11The newspaper office publishes four publications, Saigon Tiếp Thị (Saigon Marketing), Khám Phá (Discoveries), Kiến Trúc và Đời Sống (Architecture and Life), and Cẩm Nang Tiêu Dùng (Tips of Shopping) Besides, it has a website called Saigon Tiép Thi Online News: http://www.sgtt.com.vn, which provides daily news Its rivals are the Tudi Tré (The Youth) and Tié p Thi va Gia Dinh newspaper (Marketing and Families) The newspaper office reported VND 110 billion in revenue in its latest fiscal year The trainee is allowed to practise in newsroom providing newspaper edition office with news from foreign countries This room has eight employees who daily collect and then edit news from foreign news channels on Internet The head of the staff is Mr Lé Hién Thao, whose job is checking edited news to guarantee that they are correct and written in journalistic style He then sends these pieces of news to IT room and editorial secretaries who recheck them, After considering and evaluating them, these persons decide which news is good and hot, and ask the newsrooms to develop the news chosen into articles which later appear in the newspapers on the newspaper office’s online
news website
1.2.2 Specific work of a person working in the newsroom
The newsroom specializes in foreign news of economy, political situation, culture,
society, technology, health, environment, etc People working in the newsroom are both a translator and an editor They find English news on websites of foreign newspapers, such as The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cable News Network (CNN), International Herald Tribune (THT), New York Times, etc Then they translate English
news and edit into Vietnamese news
1.2.3 Required skills of a person working in the newsroom
Because of both a translator and an editor, people working in the newsroom are required skills of a translator and skills of an editor "
Trang 12careful person because news is always updated and required the accuracy of information
Moreover, he / she should be good at reading and writing skills Reading skills will help him / her get information more quickly With the good ability to write, he / she will write what he / she knows smoothly and correctly
The most important thing is a “rich brain” This means that it is easy for him / her to work well if he / she has background information of all the specific fields They include
the fields, such as economy, culture, society, education, etc
Therefore, a person who wants to work in the newsroom needs to equip himself /
herself with many skills- editing news, writing, reading, etc
Il METHODOLOGY
In this part, the researcher described the methodology which came as a theoretical foundation for the research survey
2.1 Research design
The researcher used survey for her study because of the two reasons First, the main target of her study is collected descriptive information about final-year English- Vietnamese tranlation majored students’ translation and translation of some people working as translators in the newsroom of SGTT magazine Second, it is fast and time- saving to collect data through survey
The administration of the comparison and interview methods was carried out in different classes and in the newsroom The participation of the subjects in the study was voluntary, which was made possible through the help of the teachers in charge The students and the translators had been explained the purpose, relevance and importance of the study
2.1 Population and sample /
Trang 13
The total number of participants was 50 persons This number was appropriate and adequate to guarantee the quality and accuracy of the research
2.2 Instrument
Comparison and interview schedule were used as the popular and tradition methods for conducting a survey
2.3.1 Comparison method
The comparison method was constructed for collecting ideas of the final-year students and the translators about English- Vietnamese translation
At the beginning, the subjects were required to translate some English news collected from the newsroom of SGTT magazine Then the researcher compared between the students’ translation and the translators’ translation to find out the similarities and
differences °
2.3.2 Interview
Beside the comparison between the students’ translation and the translators’ translation,
the interview method was carried out with an editor and three translators who are working for SGTT magazine The interview’s purpose was to find out their ideas and their own experience of English-Vietnamese translation The interview’s questions had prepared beforehand in consideration:
- Similarities between translation studied in class and news translation - Differences between translation studied in class and news translation - Their own experience when working as translators in the newsroom
- Their recommendation for translation teaching and learning methods at university Besides that, some unprepared questions in case the interviewees’ responses needed more explaination or clarification
2.3 Data collection procedures
Trang 14translators to translate into Vietnamese.The students were requested to translate English news in the way that is similar with translation studied in class The translators were requested to translate English news in the way that is similar with translation to write
Vietnamese news After two weeks, the researcher collected the students’ translation
and the translator’s Vietnames news to compare similarities and differences between translation studied in class and translation to write Vietnamese news
The interview consisted of three main ideas implied in 4 questions prepared in advance It was implemented to learn about practical experience of English-Vietnamese translation By appointment, each of the target editor and translator was interviewed separately and personally in a warm and friendly atmosphere With permission of the interviewees, all the talks were videotaped Those measures would increase the probability of abtaining significant practical data that were extremely valuable to study
HI SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENGLIGH-
VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION STUDIED IN CLASS AND ENGLISH-
VIETNAMESE NEWS TRANSLATION IN NEWSROOM OF SGTT
MAGAZINE
3.1 Similarities
Both English ~ Vietnamese translation studied in class and English — Vietnamese news translation comply with basic rules of translation which the translators are required of These are using writing language, equivalence in translation and accuracy of information implied in SL text
3.1.1 Using writing language
A student receives English text to be translated, decodes its meaning and re-express the meaning into Vietnamese translation When expressing the meaning of SL text in the target language, the student translates in his / her individual way that comes naturally to him / her He / She forms his / her translation by using his / her own idiolect or his conception of the source language, which is written naturally in the target language Likewise, the employees working as translators (also called the editors) in newsroom of SGTT magazine collect English news from foreign news channels on Internet, decode
Trang 15their meaning, edit the news into Vietnamese news and write the news in journalistic style
3.1.2 Equivalence in translation
If a specific linguistic unit in one language carries the same intended meaning/ message encoded in a specific linguistic medium in another, then these two units are considered to be equivalent The domain of equivalents covers linguistic units such as morpheme, word, phrases, clauses, idioms and proverbs So, finding equivalents is the most important stage of translation, even translation in class and news translation in SGTT magazine The translator, after finding out the meaning of an SL linguistic form, should ask himself / herself what the linguistic form is in another language — TL — for the same meaning to be encoded by
Some examples of equivalences in translation are following:
3.1.2.1 Equivalence of sentence
- “More than 70 billion Yuan (9.1 billion U.S dollars) was transferred from savings accounts in Shanghai to stock trading accounts in the first four months of this year ” A student and the editor translated the above sentence: “ Hon 70 ty yén tuong duong 9,1 ty USD đã được chuyển từ các tài khoản tiết kiệm ở Thượng Hải sang các tài khoản giao dịch chứng khoán trong 4 tháng đầu tiên của năm nay ”
The example shows that both English sentence and Vietnamese sentence are equivalent in passive voice structure
3.1.2.2 Equivalence of phrase
- The phrase “The Asia — Pacific Economic Cooperation forum” in English may be equal to “Dién đàn hợp tác kinh tế khu vực Châu Á — Thái Bình Dương” in Vietnamese - The phrase “APEC Concluding Senior Officials Meeting” in English may be equal to “Hội nghị quan chức cấp cao APEC” in Vietnamese
- The phrase “Doha round negotiations” in English may be equal to “Vong dam phan
Doha” in Vietnamese
Trang 16- On the sidelines of = Bên lề : On the sidelines of the APEC meetings = Bên lễ
các hội nghị APEC ; on the sidelines of the European Society of Cardiology°s annual
meeting = bên lề cuộc hội thảo hàng năm của Hội tìm mạch châu Âu; etc
- At the same time = Vao thdi điểm đó
- On the eve of = Vao dém trước: On the eve of the APEC meetings = Vào đêm
trước ngày diễn ra hội nghị APEC
~ In the next few = Trong vai téi: In the next few days = trong vai ngay tdi; in the next few months = trong vai thang téi, in the next few years = trong vai nam tdi; ect
- In first-half 2007 = 6 tháng đầu năm 2007
- The focus on = Tap trung vao / quan tâm đến: The focus on quality, indulgence brands has been integral to our growth = quan tam đến chất lượng sản phẩm, và đây
mạnh sự phát triển của nhãn hiệu được ưa chuộng là điều tối cần thiết để thương hiệu
của chúng tôi thành công
3.1.2.3 Equivalence of word
- Alone in English may be equal to riéng in Vietnamese: in China alone = riêng ở Trung Quéc; in April alone = chỉ riéng thang tu; etc
3.1.2.4 Equivalence of tense
- Present perfect: A company called Shop Text has introduced a system that lets people buy products instantly using text messages = Cong ty Shop Text vira gidi thiéu một hệ thống cho phép khách hang có thể mua hang bằng cách soạn tin nhắn trên điện thoại di động
- Simple past: Current loans outstanding of the CBD in Africa amounted to one billion U.S dollars by the end of March = Sé tian cho vay của ngân hàng ở Châu Phi tinh đến
cuối tháng 3 năm nay đã lên đến 1 ty USD -
- Simple future: According to the draft plan, the fund will start from one billion U.S dollars, and then add up to three billion U.S dollars in the second phase, until eventually amount to five billion dollars = Theo ké hoach, nguồn quỹ sẽ bắt đầu từ một tỷ USD và thêm 3 tỷ USD trong giai đoạn hai, trong giai đoạn cuối là 5 tỷ USD
Trang 173.1.2.5 Equivalence of proper name
Both proper name in English and proper name in Vietnamese are capitalized
- Name of people: The focus on quality, indulgence brands has been integral to our growth,” say Jean — Marie Gurne, head of Neatle’s ice cream strategic business unit = Theo trưởng bộ phận quản lý chiến dịch kinh doanh kem ăn của tập đoàn Nestle, Jean — Marie Gurne khang dinh thi “quan tam dén chat luong san .”; Australian prime minister John Howard said that he hoped APEC leaders would also go “beyond agreement on principles” to set a “long — term aspirational goal” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions = Thu tuéng Uc John Howard cho biét 6ng hy vọng các nhà
lãnh đạo APEC cũng sẽ “tiến xa hơn thỏa thuận về nguyên tắc” tạo một “mục tiêu khát
vọng lâu đài” giảm thiểu sự phát ra của lượng khí nhà kính
- Name of place: Fairbank Farms, a U.S ground beef producer, said it is voluntarily recalling beef patties sold to Shaw’s Supermarkets in New England = Nha san xuat thi bò chính gốc Fairbank Farms lên tiếng yêu cầu thu hồi các mặt hàng đã được bày bán
tại siêu thị Shaw tại New England; On the sidelines of the European Society of
Cardiology’s annual meeting in Vienna = Bên lề cuộc hội thảo hàng năm của Hội tim
mạch châu Âu diễn ra tại Vienna
3.1.3 Accurate preservation of information implied in source language text
“Translation is converting one language, source language (SL) to another, target
language (TL) so that the TL could convey the intended message in SL” (Lotfollah
Karimi), so it is very important for translator or editor to preserve the meaning implied in SL text, especially in news translation In class, if a student translates meaning of a text incorrectly, he / she can be got a low mark by his / her teacher
What will happen if the editor wrongly conveys what he / she decodes in English
news? Of course, he / she can be scold or dismissed by his/ her boss, but it is not
serious The serious thing is that there are many people throughout the country catching wrong information In the age of communication technology, this can affect their business, etc For example, | mistook the meaning of the word “to fuel” when translating news The mistake made my information unreal:
Trang 18- “Australia is primed to become the major source of uranium used to fuel Asia’s growing nuclear power ambitions” (“Australian Uranium to Fuel Asia” updated on www.asiatimes.com)
> False: “Ue trở thành nguồn cung cấp uranium chính dùng cung cấp xăng dầu cho những tham vọng năng lượng hạt nhân của các nước châu Á.”
> True: “Uc trở thành nguồn cung cấp uranium chính dùng cung cấp nhiên liệu cho những tham vọng năng lượng hạt nhân của các nước châu Á”
In reality, uranium is radioactive substance Uranium-235 is nuclear fuel (www.en.wikipedia.org) Therefore, accurate preservation of information implied in SL text is the most important for a translator and an editor
In general, a translator or an editor uses equivalence in two languages and excellent writing and editing skills to make a translation or news preserving the meaning of SL text However, making a translation and editing news are different in some ways
3.2 Differences
In class, students study and translate many different types of text, which are of mainly topics of trade and tourism The teacher wants to teach his / her students the basic skills through translation I realize that there are some basic differences between translation studied in class and news translation when working and discussing with some editors in SGTT magazine
3.2.1 Rules of “Six Wh” and “Inverted Triangular Order”
In class, the teacher gives students some English texts and requests them to translate
into Vietnamese In common, the students will translate the texts into Vietnamese from
top to bottom For example, in business translation subject, the teacher requests his / her students to translate the text “Microsoft hit by a huge fine”
- “The European Union Commission has announced it is fining the computer software giant Microsoft and imposing restriction on its commercial behavior The fine is around
600 million dollar
There were few surprises for Microsoft in today’s European Commission decision, but the running will make grim reading nonetheless The record fine Microsoft can
Trang 19probably pay from its petty cash, but the changes demanded in how the company conducts its business will be much of more concern And at first glance, one of those penalties will hardly delight consumers: the fact that Microsoft will have to strip out its audio — visual software, Media Player, from the Windows operating system In fact, its rivals argue, that means that the buying public will now be offered a choice of players and not have one imposed upon them instead Microsoft will appeal against this
decision, not least because it establishes precedents that could restrain its ambitions in
the future But critics say there’s a clear pattern of behavior here now that Microsoft has broken competition law on both sides of the Atlantic — a rare, if consistent feat” Hereafter is the translation of a student:
> “Hội đồng châu Âu vừa ra thông báo phạt tiền đối với tập đoàn phần mềm máy tính Microsoft và áp đặt những giới hạn đối với hành vi thương mại của tập
đoàn Số tiền phạt khoản 600 triệu đô la
Quyết định của Hội đồng châu Âu hôm nay khiến cho Microsoft hơi ngạc nhiên,
nhưng quyết định này thật khó chấp nhận Với số tiền phạt kỷ lục này, Microsoft có thể chỉ từ khoản tiền chỉ vặt nhưng những thay đổi này đòi hỏi công ty phải quản ly việc kinh doanh của nó như thế nào mới là điều đáng lo ngại Thoạt nhìn, một trong những sự trừng phạt khiến khách hàng không hài
lòng đó là Microsoft phải tháo bỏ phần mềm nghe nhìn Media Player khỏi hệ
điều hành Windows Thật vậy, các đối thủ cạnh tranh cho rằng điều này có
nghĩa là khách hảng sẽ có nhiều sự lựa chọn thay vì trước đây họ chỉ có một sự
lựa chọn Microsoft sẽ kháng án quyết định này, ít nhất không phải vì quyết định tạo ra những tiền lệ có thể ngăn cản tham vọng của công ty trong tương lai Nhưng các nhà phê bình cho biết có một khuôn mẫu hành vi rõ ràng mà Microsoft đã phá vỡ luật cạch tranh trên cả 2 bên bờ Đại tây đương ~ điều đó có
nghĩa là nếu chiến công đó liên tục thì chỉ là sự hiếm hoi.”
It’s the fact that the student translated the above text from top to bottom Translating to edit news is different Firstly, an editor finds English news from foreign channels on Internet, but he/ she does not translate all of a text to edit Vietnamese news He / She reads the English news quickly While reading, he / she appreciates what information is important and needs to be focused on, what are secondary and what are unnecessary
Trang 20Then, he / she writes it into news basing on the rule of “Six Wh” It is a basic rule of editing news, including six question words beginning with “Wh” - who, what, where, when, why and how While reading the English news, the editor must think of the six question words in his / her mind to find the answers of them in English news These answers will help the editor write the Vietnamese news There are different types of news, such as short news, developed news, or reportage, news posted on Internet or
magazine, etc In length, there are short news and developed news, of which short news
is about 100 — 200 words and 500 — 1000 words in developed news Every type of news requires different ways the editor answers six-question words Commonly, the editor only finds answers of four question words (who, what, where, when) in English news to write Vietnamese short news and he / she often answers six question words in developed news After the editor has already answered six question words, he / she will write Vietnamese news which is arranged in inverted triangular order The most important thing will be put at the top of Vietnamese news
Most important
Inverted Triangle Order In News Writing
Here is some Vietnamese short news in SGTT magazine
- Công ty Shop Text vừa giới thiện một hệ thống cho phép khách hàng có thể mua hàng bằng cách soạn tin nhắn trên điện thoại di động Sau khi đọc những mẫu quảng cáo sản phẩm được đăng tải cùng với một mã số trên tạp chí, khách hàng có thể
Trang 21sọan tin nhắn đặt mua ngay sản phẩm Với hệ thông này, khách hàng không can phải đến các cửa hiệu hay lên các trang web
Thu Nguyệt (International Herbald Tribune) - Ngày 5.9, nhà sản xuất thịt bò chính gốc Fairbank Farms (Mỹ) lên tiếng yêu cầu thu hồi các mặt hàng đã được trình bán tại siêu thi Shaw tai New England (Mf), do phát hiện trong sản phẩm có chứa vỉ khuẩn E.eoli có thê tác động đến sức khỏe người tiêu dùng
Doan Trang (Reuters) - Hon 70 ty yén tương đương 9.1 tỷ USD đã được chuyển từ các tài khoản tiết kiệm ở Thượng Hải sang các tài khoản giao dịch chứng khoán trong 4 tháng đầu năm nay, theo một chỉ nhánh của ngân hàng Nhân dân ở Thượng hải ước tính Đồng thời,chí riêng thang 4 vốn của thị trường giao dịch chứng khoán đã tăng thêm mức kỷ lục 250 tỷ yên tương đương 32.5 tỷ USD
Trúc Mai (People Daily) Editing Vietnamese news basing on rule of “Six Wh” and “Inverted Triangular Order” makes translation of English news different from translation in class Sometimes, the answers of six question words may be put in the top, the central or the bottom of the English news or in anywhere of it Sometimes, some information is added to the Vietnamese news, but the English news does not imply the information In addition, the editor will not translate all words or paragraphs of English news if he / she finds full of information in some paragraphs of English text This also depends on the short news or developed news
- Vietnamese news rearranged on time order different from English news > English news: Appendix 1
> Vietnamese news: Hơn 70 tỷ yên tương đương 9.1 tỷ USD đã được chuyển từ các tài khoản tiết kiệm ở Thượng Hải sang các tài khoản giao dịch chứng khoán trong 4 tháng đầu năm nay, theo một chỉ nhánh Thượng Hải của ngân hàng nhân dân Trung Quốc ước tính Đồng thời, chỉ riêng tháng tư vốn của thị trường giao dịch chứng khoán đã tăng thêm mức kỷ lục 250 tỷ yên tương đương 32,5 tỷ USD Trong tuần giao dịch đầu tiên sau lễ Quốc tế lao động, tổng giá trị thị trường của hai thị trường chứng khoán ở Trung Quốc đã tăng từ 4,97% vào ngày 30.4 lên 16,89 nghìn tỷ yên
Trang 22(2,2 ngàn tỷ USD) Cụ thể trong phiên giao dịch ngày 8.5, hai thị trường chứng khoản này đã mở 421.831 tài khoản giao dịch chứng khoản mới, trong đó có 368.400 tài khoản cho
thị trường cỗ phiếu loại A, đây tông số tài khoản giao dịch chứng khoán ở hai sàn giao dịch chứng khoán này lên đến 94,34 triệu tài khoản Xu hướng gia tăng đầu tư này đã tạo sự lo lắng cho quan chức giám sát ngành này Ủy ban chứng khoán Trung Quốc đã hối thúc các sàn giao dịch chứng khốn, các cơng ty phát hành chứng khoán và các cơ quan hữu quan phải hướng dẫn cho các nhà đầu tư, đặc biệt là những nhà đầu tư dùng hết tiền tiết kiệm, tài sản của mình hay thậm chí đi vay để đầu tư, biết về những rủi ro của việc đầu tư vào thị trường chứng khoán
Trúc Mai (People Daily) - Short Vietnamese news, which the editor only took some necessary information from English text
> English news: Appendix 2
> Vietnamese news: Đồng Pound đã đạt mức cao nhất trong 14 năm qua với giá 1,9938 đô la so với đồng đô la, và có thể tăng lên 2 đô la trong vài ngày tới, theo
nhiều chuyên gia Nguyên nhân là Anh Quốc hiện đang có nhiều thành quả trong phát
triển kinh tế, trong khi nền kinh tế Mỹ lại đang suy yếu Đồng Anh tăng giá so với đồng đô la đã đem lại nhiều lợi ích mua sắm cho những người Anh đang du lịch ở
Mỹ, nhưng là mỗi lo cho các nhà xuất khẩu Anh
Thu Nguyệt (BBC)
- To make the Vietnamese news clearer, the editor added some information, which the
English news did not have > English news: Appendix 3
> Vietnamese news: Ngay 5.9, nhà sân xuất thịt bò chính géc Fairbank Farms (M¥)
lên tiếng yêu cầu thu hồi các mặt hàng đã được bán tại siêu thị Shaw tai New England
(Mỹ); do phát hiện trong sản phẩm có chứa vi khuẩn E.coli có thể tác động đến sức khỏe người tiêu dùng
Doan Trang (Reuters)
> English news: Appendix 4
Trang 23> Vietnamese news: Các bác sĩ đang lo ngại trước nguy cơ số người mắc bệnh tim sẽ ngày càng nhiều, khi nhiệt độ trái đất đang ngày cảng tăng cao; thông tin từ cuộc hội thảo diễn ra hàng năm của hội tim mạch châu Âu diễn ra tại Vienna (Áo) trong tuần từ ngày 3 đến 7.9
Đoan Trang (AP)
3.2.2, Reader of Translation (or target customers)
In class, students do not pay attention to or think of who will read their translation when translating a text and if paying attention They only think that readers are their teacher or their friends Also, they do not know that the readers can influence their translation In fact, the translation is depended by readers because every reader has different knowledge, different ability of awareness with the same translation Therefore, a translator must know who his / her readers are
In newsroom of SGTT magazine, every editor always thinks of who are his / her
readers in his / her mind to choose news, translate and edit it in the way which is
suitable to his / her readers Therefore, it is easy for readers to understand their news
3.2.2.1 Readers affecting choice of news
Readers of SGTT magazine are people who are in the middle class They may be
businessmen, officers, etc So, information of business, technology, and health are
chosen Moreover, when the editor has already had suitable English news, he / she must choose information which readers really want to know about, without choosing all information This is also a reason why the editor does not translate all information of English news, besides rule of “Six Wh”
For example, the English news supplies much information, such as “American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, said today it will begin testing in — flight broadband Internet
in early 2008”; “The Fort Worth, Texas — based airline will conduct the ‘test on its 15
Boeing 767 — 200 aircraft that fly transcontinental routes, making it one of the first domestic carrier to offer passengers broadband service”, etc (Appendix 7) However, Vietnamese news only supplies the most important information, which the readers
concern:
Trang 24- Ngày I.8, Hãng hàng không dân dụng American Airlines (Mỹ) tuyên bố sẽ sớm cho phép hành khách trên máy bay truy cập hệ thống internet không đây vào laptop, và sử dụng điện thoại di động cũng như những thiết bị điện tử khác trong năm 2008
Đoan Trang (Freep) 3.2.2.2 Readers affecting the editor 's writing style
Most students do not realize that English texts are written in foreign writing style, which is different from Vietnamese writing style Therefore, it is difficult for readers to understand their translation By contrast, when translating and editing news, the editor must use Vietnamese journalistic writing style; so Vietnamese news, which is translated and edited, differs from the original English news in some ways, such as word order,
time order, sentence order, or adding some information, etc Here are some examples:
- Those market prices have recently skyrocketed to 50 a pound, fueled by both real demand and speculative investment by hedge funds and private — equity outfits (‘Australian Uranium to Fuel Asia” updated on www.asiatimes.com)
> A student translated: Gia thj truéng hién nay & mc 50dé la / pound do nhu cầu thực tế và lượng đầu cơ tích trữ tăng
> An editor translated: Gia Uranium — oxit cia Uc trén thi trường hiện nay là 5Ú đô
la / pound (0,454 kg) do nhu cầu thực tế và lượng đầu cơ tích trữ tăng
It’s fact that the student’s translation is more difficult to understand than the editor’s because the student forgets that the writer of English text is foreigner, unit of weight, which he often uses is “pound”, but Vietnamese readers use “kilogram” in weight
Therefore, if the translator uses “pound” in his translation, it will make readers
misunderstand Another example,
- The establishment of China — Africa Development Fund have been approved by the State Council, Gao Jain, vice governor of China Development Bank (CDB), said in Shanghai Sunday (“China Approves China — Africa Development Fun ” updated on www.english.people.com on May 14,2007)
> Translation 1: Viéc thanh lập quỹ phát triển Trung Quốc - Châu Phi đã được
Hội đồng nhà nước Trung Quốc chấp thuận, theo phó thống đốc Ngân hàng phát
Trang 25os
> Translation 2: Chủ nhật ngày 15⁄4, phó thống đốc Ngân hàng phát triển Trung Quốc cho biết việc thành lập quỹ phát triển Trung Quốc — Châu Phi đã được Hội đồng nhà nước Trung Quốc chấp thuận
This example is my own practical experience The first translation is my translation, which is not yet corrected by the editor The second translation is his correction After reading my translation, the editor corrected it and told a joke, “You writes Vietnamese text as if an Americans writes it” His saying made me realize that I translated English text into Vietnamese mechanically before Due to the editor’s correction, [ see that translator should pay attention to readers of his / her translation to use a writing style which is familiar with the readers
To make differences between student’s translation in class and editor’s news translation clearer, some English news are translated and edited by some final — year students majoring in Translation and Interpretation of course 2003 — 2007 in Ho Chi Minh City Open University and some editor working in newsroom in SGTT magazine (Appendix 5, 6)
The differences between the students’ translation and the editors’ translation show that the students only convey the meaning of English text into Vietnamese when translating an English text How much information the English text implies; how much
information the student translates into Vietnamese On the other hand, the editor does
not translate all information, which the English text applies He / She does not also write them following order of English text He / She translates and writes them in his / her own way, which bases on rule of “Six wh”, “Inverted Triangle Order” and readers
of translation
IV PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
4.1 Interview with an editor of the SGTT magazine
According to Mr Ngoc Danh, news editor for the international news pages of SGTT magazine, most students and even some people working for SGTT magazine, who studied translation at university mistake between “to translate an English text into Vietnamese” and “to transfer an English text to Vietnamese ” It is the fact that they
Trang 26only “to transfer” That is the reason why they are Vietnamese, but Vietnamese readers cannot understand their translation from English into Vietnamese
Hereafter is two translations of the same news of SGTT magazine, which are translated
from English into Vietnamese An editor makes one translation and a student practicing in newsroom of SGTT magazine makes the other
- English sentence: The business scope of the fund mainly includes equity and quasi — equity investment, fund investments, fund management, investment management and consulting services (“China Approves China — Africa Development Fund” updated on www.english.people.com on May 14, 2007)
> An editor’s translation: Pham vi kinh doanh cua quỹ chủ yếu gồm việc quản lý
đầu tư và quỹ đầu tư, cùng với các dịch vụ tư vấn
>A student's translation: Phạm vỉ kinh doanh của quỹ chủ yếu gồm việc đầu tư cỗ phần và gần như cỗ phần hóa, đầu tư quỹ, quản lý quỹ, quản lý đầu tư và các dịch vụ tư vấn
With the two above translations, the second translation is clearly transfering the meaning from English into Vietnamese, so some phrases make Vietnamese readers
33 6
difficult to understand, such as “đầu tư cổ phần”, “gần như cổ phần hóa” In fact, the student finds the meaning of words “equity”, “quasi”, “investment” in dictionary Then she combines them together She herself cannot understand what “equity and quasi — equity investment” is Therefore, readers cannot understand what she writes I am the student who translates the second one After the editor corrects my translation, | see that translation is not “to transfer one language into another language” To translate a text, a translator should master the content of the text clearly and then use his / her own language and style of the language to convey what he / she knows about the text He / She also ensures that readers can understand what he / she writes
Here is one more example of difference between “‘to translate” and “to transfer” The below example is quoted from online news of SGTT magazine
- English text: For Australia, more uranium exports all point toward more complex commercial relations with Asia Expanded uranium exports will almost certainly be complemented by wider responsibilities and obligations required by the international
Trang 27and regional communities to avoid the risks of nuclear accidents and we apons proliferation (‘Australian Uranium to Fuel Asia” updated on www.asiatimes.com)
> A student’s translation: Déi véi Uc, viéc xuất khẩu nhiều uranium lam tăng
thêm mỗi quan hệ thương mại phức tạp với châu Á Việc xuất khẩu nhiều uranium này cũng sẽ tuân theo những trách nhiệm và nghĩa vụ do các cộng đồng khu vực và quốc tế yêu cầu đề tránh những rủi ro về tai nạn hạt nhân và việc gia
tăng vũ khí
> A editor’s translation: Đối với Úc, việc xuất uranium nhiều hơn có nghĩa là
nước này phải có mối quan hệ phức tạp hơn với các nước châu Á, và đồng thời chịu trách nhiệm cao hơn cũng như phải tuân theo những nguyên tắc do các cộng đồng khu vực và quốc tế qui định nhằm tránh những rủi ro về các tai nạn hạt nhân và việc gia tăng vũ khí
Mr Ngọc Danh also said that because student”s translation in class still “to transfer”, they often make mistakes ~ mistakes of time, quotation, or difference between foreign journalistic style and Vietnamese journalistic style when they work as translators for
SGTT magazine
“» News requires accuracy of time English news is edited in date, when the event happens, so the writer of news uses word “today” However, a student working for SGTT magazine sees news on next day, but she still translates the word “today” into “hôm nay” in her Vietnamese news This causes mistake of time when the event happens
For example,
- American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, said today it will begin testing in — flight broadband Internet in early 2008 The fee — based service will provide passengers with wireless Internet connections for laptops, smart phones and other personal digital assistants equipped with Wi — Fi antennae (Appendix 7)
>» False: Hang hang khéng dân dụng American Airlines (Mỹ) hom nay cho biét sẽ sớm cho phép hành khách trên máy bay truy cập hệ thống internet không dây
vào laptop, và sử dụng điện thoại di động cũng như những thiết bị điện tử khác trong năm 2008
Trang 28> True: Ngay 1.8, Hãng hàng không dân dụng American Airlines (Mỹ) tuyên bố sẽ sớm cho phép hành khách trên máy bay truy cập hệ thống internet không đây vào laptop, và sử dụng điện thoại di động cũng như những thiết bị điện tử khác trong năm 2008
“ Difference of quoting a speech between English writing style and Vietnamese writing style:
- George Nicholson, Whitecross Street Food Festival, said, “Our speciality is food We
have good links with a lot of the small producers all over all over the country, and often they have quite a lot of difficulty selling their products into supermarkets or finding a big enough customer base to, you know, to support their farms locally, so they need to sell on a wider base than they’ve got and markets are a good way of doing that, they can sell direct to the customer ” (Appendix 6)
> False: Ong George Nicholson cho biết, “chúng tôi có mối liên kết rất chặt chế với các nhà sản xuất nhỏ trên toàn quốc Họ thường gặp khó khăn trong việc bản sản phẩm của mình vào các siêu thị hoặc tìm đủ khách hàng lớn để đảm bảo đầu ra cho sản phẩm nông trại Vì vậy, cách tốt nhất là giúp họ bán trực tiếp cho khách hàng ”
> True: Ong George Nicholson giai thích: “chúng tôi có mối liên kết rất chặt chẽ với các nhà sản xuất nhỏ trên toàn quốc Họ thường gặp khó khăn trong việc bán sản phẩm của mình vào các siêu thị hoặc tìm đủ khách hàng lớn để đảm bảo đầu ra cho sản phẩm nông trại Vì vậy, cách tốt nhất là giúp họ bán trực tiếp cho khách hàng”
“> Difference between English writing style and Vietnamese writing style
- English text: The establishment of China — Africa Development Fund has been approved by the State Council, Gao Jain, vice governor of China Development Bank (CDB), said in Shanghai Sunday (“China Approves China — Africa Development Fund” updated on www.english.people.org on May 14, 2007) ;
> False: Viée thành lập quỹ phát triển Trung Quốc — Châu Phi đã được Hội đồng nhà nước Trung Quốc chấp thuận, theo phó thống đốc Ngân hàng phát triển Trung Quốc
Trang 29> True: Phó thống đốc Ngân hàng phát triển Trung Quốc cho biết việc thành lập quỹ phát triển Trung Quốc — Châu Phi đã được Hội đồng nhà nước Trung Quốc chấp thuận
Moreover, “the accuracy in news translation is different from the accuracy in
translation in class”, said Ngoc Danh Basically, translation in class requires the accuracy in the meaning of words, phrases, sentences, order of sentence or paragraph,
and grammar between English text and Vietnamese text When a student is requested to translate an English text, if he / she omits at least a sentence or a paragraph of the English text or change order of sentence or paragraph or it’s supposed that he / she translates the word “today” into “ngay 15.9”, etc then his / her translation may be wrong On the other hand, news translation requires the accuracy of information, time and also require conciseness
To make it clearer, a student and an editor translate English news:
- English news: “Fairbank Farms, a U.S ground beef producer, said on Wednesday it is voluntarily recalling beef patties sold to Shaw’s Supermarkets in New England because of concerns about bacterial contamination The meat producer said the patties may have been contaminated with a form of E.coli, a bacteria commonly found in human intestines Customers with health concerns should contact their physician, the company said.” (Appendix 3)
> A student’s translation: Fairbank Farms, m6t nha san xuat thit bo cla MY, hôm
thứ tư đã cho biết rằng họ đang tình nguyện thu hồi lại các thịt bò viên đã được bán cho các siêu thị của Shaw ở New England Lý do của việc thu hồi này là do các lo
ngại về việc nhiễm khuẩn Nhà sản xuất thịt bò Fairbank Farms cho biết các loại thịt
bò viên này đã bị nhiễm E.coli, một loại vỉ khuẩn thường được tìm thấy trong ruột người Hãng nảy cũng khuyên những khách hàng nào có vẫn để liên quan đến sức
khỏe thì nên liên hệ với bác sĩ của mình
- Vĩnh Tân
> A editor’s short news: Ngày 5.9, nhà sản xuất thịt bò chính gốc Fairbank Farms
(Mỹ) lên tiếng yêu cầu thu hồi các mặt hàng đã được bày bán tại siêu thị Shaw
tại New England (Mỹ); do phát hiện trong sản phẩm có chứa vi khuẩn E.coli có thể tác động đến sức khỏe người tiêu dùng Đoan Trang (SGTT magazine)
Trang 304.2 Interview with some people working as translators for SGTT magazine
When working for SGTT magazine, I contacted not only the editors but also some people working as translators These people are students who are majoring in English Translation and Interpretation at university
They told me that knowledge in class is a foundation, if students have a good foundation, they will work more conveniently than the others However, the good foundation is not enough to work well They should have background information of all fields, such as economy, culture, society, technology, etc If they want to become news translators, the good background information of all the fields is very important
In sentence quoted from English news “The BBC said that during the repairs it would be replaced by the pips of the Greenwich Time Signal” (Appendix 5)
“Greenwich Time Signal” is a time code heard on BBC Local Radio stations (www.en.wikipedia.org), but a student translates “Greenwich Mean Time (gid GMT)” Here is his translation
> “Đài BBC cho biết buổi phát sóng trực tiếp này sẽ thay thế bằng những tiếng bíp theo giờ GMT trong suốt quá trình bảo dưỡng”
Vĩnh Tân The student made mistake in translating the meaning of English sentence On the contrary, a translator working for SGTT magazine knows what “Greenwich Time Signal” is, so she translates the right meaning of the sentence Hereafter is her translation
> “Hãng tin BBC cho biết trong thời gian Big Ben ngưng để sửa chữa, họ sẽ dùng tín hiệu “píp — píp” của đài thiên văn Greenwich (Greenwich Time Signal) để báo giờ trong các bản tin truyền thanh”
Kim Dung Đoan Trang, a translator of SGTT magazine and a student of English department in Social Sciences and Humanities said, “ My boss has reproached me many times because | made mistake in translating the name of an organization in the U.S just because I did not know it * Thu Nguyệt, another translator, who has just graduated English Translation and Interpretation from Teacher Training University also said, “It
is difficult to translate and edit news if we do not have knowledge of it ” I have the
Trang 31same difficulties as them when working as a translator for SGTT magazine In reality, university is a place where students study basic knowledge and skills To work well, they themselves should read different genres in both source and target languages including modern literature, contemporary prose, newspaper, magazines, advertisements, announcements, instructions, etc to improve their knowledge
“Besides having good foundation and background information, a translator should have
knowledge of Vietnamese, such as vocabulary, grammar, terms, etc.”, said the two
translators working for SGTT magazine It seems to be paradox because Vietnamese is their native language However, they often have trouble when they master in the meaning of English text, but they do not know Vietnamese vocabulary to express what they understand The students studying Translation and Interpretation have the same trouble as them and so do I, That is also a reason why the Vietnamese readers cannot
understand our translation
Trang 32CONCLUSION
This thesis is practical experience of English — Vietnamese translation They are not only my own experience but also experience of the editors who have worked in SGTT magazine for many years and experience of translators who are students graduating from English department from universities in Ho Chi Minh City The practical experience shows that English — Vietnamese translation studied in class and English — Vietnamese news translation are both similarities and differences
Basically, when translating English news into Vietnamese, the translator still uses writing language and preserves the equivalence in translation as well as the accuracy of information implied in SL text However, the editor must comply with rules of “Six Wh” and “Inverted Triangular Order” and readers of translation Therefore, differences between translation studied in class and news translation is inevitable
This thesis has proved that almost students studying English — Vietnamese translation mistake between “to translate an English text into Vietnamese” and “to transfer an English text into Vietnamese” Also, student’s translation in class do not have a specific demand except for getting high mark, so they often translate English text into Vietnamese mechanically If they translate an English text into Vietnamese with specific demands, such as translating English news to Vietnamese news, they will know how to translate to meet the demands
Moreover, this thesis awakes students that knowledge which they learn in class, is not
enough To work well, they themselves should improve more knowledge from reading books, newspaper, working to get experience as well as to practice theories, which they
learn in class, etc
For the students of English department who want to be challenged in English news translation and to become an editor, this thesis will be their handbook
Therefore, the researcher hopes that the findings of this thesis are references for students majoring in translation
Trang 33REFFERENCES
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Equivalence Lanham, MD: University Press of America and Summer Institute of Linguistics
H.Martin (2001): 120 Bai Luan Anh Van Mau (translated by Nguyen van Khi) Hanoi:
Nhà Xuất Bản Thanh Niên
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INTERNET ADDRESS
“American Airline to Test In-Flight Broadband Internet ”,
Trang 34“Global Warning May Pose Threat to Heart”,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070905/ap_on_he_me/global_warming hearts: ylt=AtL
cBgWZLX YDaqKqbCBUgL_VJRIF