Nghiên cứu phương pháp dịch Việt – Anh trong bộ sách song ngữ “Những câu hỏi thường gặp về văn hóa Việt Nam” do Nhà xuất bản Thế Giới ấn hành

There have been a large number of studies on translation methods and strategies but many of which just focus on general techniques supposed to be applied to all pairs of languages in the

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

PHẠM THU GIANG

A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN THE SERIES OF BILINGUAL HANDBOOKS

"VIETNAMESE CULTURE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS"

PUBLISHED BY THE THẾ GIỚI PUBLISHER

Nghiên cứu phương pháp dịch Việt – Anh trong bộ sách song ngữ “Những câu hỏi thường gặp về văn hóa Việt Nam” do Nhà xuất bản Thế Giới ấn hành

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

PHẠM THU GIANG

A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN THE SERIES OF BILINGUAL HANDBOOKS

"VIETNAMESE CULTURE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS"

PUBLISHED BY THE THẾ GIỚI PUBLISHER

Nghiên cứu phương pháp dịch Việt – Anh trong bộ sách song ngữ “Những câu hỏi thường gặp về văn hóa Việt Nam” do Nhà xuất bản Thế Giới ấn hành

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

TABLES OF CONTENTS Page

Chapter 2: VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION STRATEGIES

USED IN THE BILINGUAL HANDBOOKS

13

2.4 Translating culture-bound terms, names and titles, and poems 28

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

PART I - INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In a globalized world, translation has played an indispensable role in facilitating international exchanges and cooperation in various fields, one of the most important of which is culture because culture is the background of every human communication There have been a large number of studies on translation methods and strategies but many of which just focus on general techniques supposed to be applied to all pairs of languages in the world and few works are concerned with specific problems in certain pairs of language, especially those related to culture Even within one pair of languages, first language translators and foreign language translators encounter different challenges While the first language translator can depend much on their long-built habitual use of the target languages, the second language translators often work with more awareness than feeling, more analysis and reasoning than intuition Therefore, to some extent, foreign language translators are more interested in translations strategies which help them do their work rationally

For those reasons, the study on the translation strategies in the series of English handbooks “Vietnamese culture frequently asked questions” published by the Thế Giới Publisher has been carried out from the perspective of a Vietnamese student The books cover different cultural aspects of Vietnam, therefore demonstrating many interesting translation strategies in use, especially those to deal with culture-specific terms The study is expected to offer practical advice for Vietnamese-English translators with detailed and thorough analysis of the strategies used in the set of the books

Vietnamese-2 Aims of the study

The study is carried out with the following aims:

- Finding out common strategies used in some books of the series "Vietnamese culture frequently asked questions."

- Taking a close look at expressive power and writing styles of the translations to understand the reasons hidden in the translators' use of certain strategies

- Drawing out some possible implications of the study results for Vietnamese-English translators

3 Scope of the study

More than twenty handbooks on “Vietnamese culture frequently asked questions” have been released so far The set of the books prominently features Vietnamese culture with different aspects such as arts, festivals, customs, and architecture and so on Yet, within the limit of the research, the paper is not supposed to cover the whole series of the books The three small books chosen are “Popular Theatre” (Chèo), “Spring Festivals in Northern Việt Nam” and “Wedding Customs” which are all edited by Hữu Ngọc and Lady Borton and published by Thế Giới Publisher in 2008

Strategy is a broad term which may refer to global strategies (those dealing with whole texts) and local strategies (those dealing with text segments) (Bell, 1998) However, within the limit of the minor thesis, the author would like to focus on local strategies which are specific activities affecting micro-units of the text Translation procedures studied by Vinay, Darbelnet, New Mark, Nida are the main source of reference for the author to carry out her research scientifically Studies by other experts would also be considered when necessary

It is certainly hard for the author to mention a great number of differences between Vietnamese and English in her analysis The author would not study the alteration in the transfer process related to basic grammatical differences such as the order of nouns and adjectives, the possessions, the verb tenses and so on Her main concern is the strategies which translators, especially learners or novice translators may not be aware of in their work, such as omission, addition, alteration and so on

4 Methodology of the study

4.1 Research question

The main research question raised in the paper is:

What translation strategies were used in the three selected book of the series "Vietnamese culture frequently asked questions" published by the Gioi Publisher?

The answer to the question will help readers to realize some common Vietnamese-English translation strategies used in the bilingual handbooks “Vietnamese culture frequently asked questions” The study may also help sharpen the translators’ awareness of some outstanding differences between the nature of English and Vietnamese languages in use so that they can learn to produce natural-looking texts in their translation

4.2 Methods

Data corpus:

Cultural scholar Huu Ngoc and American writer Lady Borton work together to bring us the series of bilingual handbooks on Vietnamese culture The set of books provide the readers with basic knowledge of the Vietnamese culture such as the Tet holiday, water puppetry, Hue cuisine and so on The pocket-sized books are designed for readers of different backgrounds Firstly, the books are a valuable reference for foreigners who are interested

in the Vietnamese culture The books also offer useful practice for English native speakers who want to study Vietnamese Thirdly, tourist guides and officials of foreign affairs benefit a great deal from the books in their business Besides, the books are useful for English teachers and students with interesting contents and comparatively simple language The three books, “Popular Theatre”, “Spring Festivals in Northern Việt Nam” and

“Wedding customs”, were chosen with careful thoughts Chèo, an authentically Vietnamese theatre form, festival and wedding customs are the themes which may involve

many culture-specific terms, conceptions, idioms or allusions which pose considerable challenges for the translators Therefore, the researcher would discover more helpful strategies to deal with culture-related problems which remain very controversial in the area

Data analysis:

A mechanical listing of noteworthy and typical examples of translations in the books which, together, cover a wide range of strategies is done first The author does not solely depend on the methods and strategies already studied by many researchers presented in the literature She tries to seek more specific techniques employed by the translators and

discover their particular challenges, especially those related to culture-bound terms, and how they overcome their challenges The author attempts to reason the use of the strategies and, in a few cases, adds some evaluation on the results or the effectiveness of the translations Finally, the author draws a conclusion on the strategies in Vietnamese-English translation of the books and then gives some suggestions for translators and further studies This study is carried out by the combination of the following methods:

- Deductive and inductive methods Deductive method is the important method used in this research The author makes the description and interpretation of the strategies used in the translations based on the studies by some famous linguists, translators and other researchers contributing to the field However, the author also needs inductive method to arrive at necessary conclusions about common strategies used and the reasons beneath

- Qualitative and quantitative methods This study is much more qualitative than quantitative in nature because it heavily depends on the author's own interpretation of translation examples Qualitative method offers the opportunity to gain insight into the translators' decision-making during their transfer process, thus seeking out the "why" Quantitative method is sometimes used to add necessary details and figures to the findings

- Descriptive and contrastive methods: Descriptive is the main method of this study A detailed description of the translation versions would help the readers acquire profound understanding of the translation strategies For many cases, the author needs to explain the differences between English and Vietnamese to clarify the translators' intention hidden in their decision-making process In other words, the contrastive method helps to explain the effectiveness of the strategies utilized

5 Organization of the study

Part I is the Introduction which allows the readers to get the general idea of what the thesis

is about It provides the rationale for the study, aims of the study, the scope, the method and the organization of the study

Part II is the Development, which consist of three chapters

Chapter I briefly introduces some necessary theoretical points from different backgrounds

The author begins by reviewing different views of translation theories with the focus on translation strategies Following that a review of foreign language translation and translation of cultural texts is undertaken

Chapter II is the main part of the study This chapter provides discussion on the use of

translation strategies in the three selected books in terms of modified literal translation, changes in grammar, choice of vocabulary The author is particularly interested in translations of culture-bound terms, names and titles This part is ended with some evaluations on the meaning transfer including expressive richness and writing style in the target language

Part III is Conclusion which recapitulates the main ideas and findings of the study; draws

out some important implications for Vietnamese-English translators, presents limitations of the study and lastly, suggests some ideas for further research

PART II - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Definitions of translation

Translation is an incredibly broad notion which has been defined from various perspectives Some definitions are quite simple such as the definition by Hatim and Mason (1990) “translating is a communicative process which takes place within a social context”, some definitions give more details, “translating is the transformation of a text originally in one language into an equivalent text in a different language retaining, as far as possible, the content of the message, and the formal features and the roles of the original text” (Bell 1991: XIII cited by Hoang Van Van, 2005) Nida and Taber (1982) claim, “Translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” Along the line, Wills (1982) extends the above definition with more terms, “Translation is the procedure which leads from a written SL text to an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, semantic, stylistic and text pragmatic comprehension by the translator of the original text.” In general, it can be drawn from the above definitions that translation is regarded as an action of communication, a problem-solving activity, an intercultural action and a text-processing action No matter how different the definitions can be, faithfulness to the source text is widely considered to be the most important concern of translators However, translators have different views on the essence of faithfulness or the application of the idea on their work, which will be discussed in the next parts of the thesis

1.2 Translation methods and strategies

1.2.1 Translation methods

Translation method refers to the way that particular process is carried out in terms of

translator’s objective that affects the whole text

Different views on the translation process result in different translation approaches which are mainly related to two main directions: literal and free The literal approach involves adherence to the form of the original text while the free translation aims at capturing the sense of a longer stretch of language (Basil Hatim & Jeremy Munday, 2004)

There are few translations which absolutely apply either literal or free method Therefore,

Larson (1984) suggests that the methods spread in the continuum from very literal, to

literal, to modified literal, to near idiomatic, idiomatic, and unduly free Similarly,

Newmark (1988a) uses eight terms in his classification and puts these methods in the

form of a flatterned V diagram

SL emphasis TL emphasis

Word-for-word translation Adaptation Literal translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

Newmark (1981) adds that there are two best methods of translation They are (1)

communicative translation to produce the same effect on the TL readers and (2) semantic

translation to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the author Both Newmark and

Larson emphasize that the selection of the appropriate methods plays an important role in

making a good translation

1.2.2 Translation strategies

Translation strategies open the way to finding a suitable solution for a translation unit

Jaaskelainen (1999) considers strategy "a series of competencies, a set of steps or

processes that favor the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization of information." Some

experts emphasize the consciousness in their discussion of strategies Loescher (1991)

defines translation strategy as "a potentially conscious procedure for solving a problem

faced in translating a text, or any segment of it." As it is stated in this definition,

consciousness is a significant element in translators' decision-making process In this

regard, Cohen (1998) asserts that "the element of consciousness is what distinguishes

strategies from these processes that are not strategic."

Furthermore, Bell (1998) differentiates between global (those dealing with whole texts)

and local (those dealing with text segments) strategies "Local strategy" relates specifically

to the translation of certain grammatical structures and lexical items while global strategy

operate at a more general level

As mentioned in the Scope of the Study, the main concern of the author is local strategies in

transfer process, those which affect the micro-units of the text

Looking closely at techniques to deal with "local problems", Chesterman (1997) divides strategies into three categories of grammatical strategies (involving purely syntactic changes of one kind or another, e.g loans/calques, phrase and sentence structure changes, etc.), semantic strategies (changes mainly relating to lexical semantics and clause meaning, e.g synonym, antonym, paraphrase and trope changes) and pragmatics strategies (involving selection of information, e.g cultural filtering, information changes, illocutionary changes, partial translation, transcending, etc.)

We can find more detailed description of each "local strategy" through the work by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) though they use the term "procedure" instead of "strategy"

Vinay and Darbelnet propose seven procedures operating on three level of style: lexis, distribution, and message The procedures are classified as direct and indirect translation Oblique translation occurs when word for word translation is impossible

Direct Indirect (Oblique)

1.Borrowing 4 Transposition

3 Literal translation 6 Equivalence

7 Adaptation (1) Borrowing refers to words taken directly from another language Generally, borrowings enter a language through translation, and just as with false friends (false cognates) the translator should strive to look for the equivalents in the SL that convey the meaning of the

SL more advantageously

(2) Calque is used when a foreign word or phrase is translated and incorporated into

another language It is a special type of borrowing, consisting of borrowing an expression

from the source language and translating literally each element

(3) Literal translation means the direct transfer of the source text into the target language in

a grammatically and idiomatically proper way This technique is used when it is possible to transpose the source language message element by element into the target language and obtain a text that is idiomatic

(4) Transposition replaces words from one grammatical word class with another without changing the meaning of the message For example, a verb is translated with a noun, a noun with an adjective, an adjective with an adverb and so on

(5) Modulation is a shift in point of view, changing the point of view without changing the meaning of the message Vinay and Darbelnet identify different types of modulation, some

of which are abstract for concrete, cause for effect, means for result, a part for the whole,

geographical change

(6) Equivalence accounts for the same situation using a completely different phrase It generally refers to the commonly accepted and used equivalents of idioms, proverbs, idiomatic expression and lexicalized terms

(7) Adaptation refers to a shift in cultural environment, for instance, to express the message using a different situation Translators have to adapt a source language situation when it does not exist in the target language or would be considered inappropriate in the target culture

Nida (1964) proposes three types of translation strategies: additions, subtractions and alterations They are used (1) to adjust the form of the message to the characteristics of the structure of the target language, (2) to produce semantically equivalent structures, (3) to generate appropriate stylistic equivalences and (4) to produce an equivalent communicative effect

A translator makes an addition when he needs to clarify an elliptic expression, to avoid ambiguity in the target language, to change a grammatical category, to amplify implicit elements or to add connectors

Subtraction refers to the omission of words or phrases if they are not essential to the meaning or impact of the text

Alterations are changes made because of incompatibilities between the two languages due

to structural differences between the two languages such as changes in word order, grammatical categories and semantic misfits, especially with idiomatic expressions

New Mark (1988b) contributes a large number of strategies affecting the micro-units of the text

- Transference: it is the process of transferring a SL word to a TL text It includes

transliteration and it is somewhere called "transcription."

- Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal

morphology of the TL

- Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one however,

"they are not accurate"

- Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a culture-neutral word

Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure the meaning of the SLT is explained in several

words

Componential analysis: it means "comparing an SL word with a TL word which has a

similar meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first their

common and then their differing sense components."

Synonymy: it is a "near TL equivalent." Here economy trumps accuracy

Through-translation: it is the literal translation of common collocations, names of

organizations and components of compounds It can also be called: calque or loan

translation

Shifts or transpositions: it involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance,

(i) change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does not exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SL noun

group to a TL noun and so forth

Modulation: it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in the

TL text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, since the SL and the TL may

appear dissimilar in terms of perspective

Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator "normally uses the official or the

generally accepted translation of any institutional term."

Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is compensated in

another part

Paraphrase: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained Here the explanation

is much more detailed than that of descriptive equivalent

Couplets: it occurs when the translator combines two different procedures

Notes: notes are additional information in a translation

All the translation strategies mentioned above will form a steady background from which the author will investigate thoroughly translation techniques in the set of handbooks However, all the above theories just mention the most common strategies supposed to be

applied to all pairs of languages in the world Vietnamese authors have done many research on translations concerning the pairs of English and Vietnamese languages but most of them focus on English-Vietnamese translations in a certain book or in a certain academic or technological field The author has found few materials which emphasizes strategies used in Vietnamese-English translations Thus, the author expects to dig deep into the case of Vietnamese-English translation with a view to providing more valuable information for readers

1.3 Foreign language translation

Translation into a foreign language is usually a big challenge for any translators because they have to learn to write in the foreign language with an authentic style Stuart Campbell

(1998) says, “In translating into a second language, comprehension of the source text is

the easier aspect; the real difficulty is in producing a target text in a language in which composition does not come naturally” It is easy to look up equivalent meanings of certain

words in a dictionary but it is much more difficult to produce a target text that sounds natural to English native readers in terms of word choice, collocation, and sentence

structure and so on The reason is probably that “The second language translators have to

work within the limitations of their second language repertoire, and the stages of individuals’ language development must be reflected in the quality of their translation.”

(Stuart Campbell, 1998) Translation competence in the foreign language is somehow associated with foreign language proficiency Though a good translator certainly has language proficiency, a good foreign language learner does not necessarily become a good translator A good translation into a foreign language must demonstrate the translator’s sensitivity to both his native language and his foreign language Besides, translators need

to have good background knowledge of the subject they tackle and understand the role of the translation as well as the target audience

1.4 Translation of cultural texts

Different cultures have their own culture-specifics; therefore, the issue of cultural loss is of central concern in translation Newmark defines culture as "the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means

of expression" (1988a) With regard to correspondence in translation, Nida attaches equal importance to both linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the TL and concludes that "differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the

translator than do differences in language structure" (1964) Mona Baker (1992) states that S.L word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture It can be abstract or concrete It may be a religious belief, a social custom or even a type of food However, culture is not something separated from language; the two notions are closely related to each other Culture is expressed through the means of language and language is part of the culture as the articulation of a language reflect the its community's way of thinking Lotman's theory states that "no language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its centre, the structure

of natural language" (1978) Along the line, Bassnett (1980) states that language is "the heart within the body of culture," thus acknowledging the survival of both aspects being interdependent

In the era of globalization, multiculturalism is a present-day phenomenon which is dramatically influenced by the development of technology and the expansion of mass media In this broad context of the modern time, translators certainly gain more opportunities to experience more cultures which add valuable benefits to their practical work as a cross-cultural translator According to Nico Wiersema (2004), cultures are getting closer and closer and this is something that he believed translators need to take into account In the end, it all depends on what the translator, or more often, the publisher wants

to achieve with a certain translation

CHAPTER II: VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION STRATEGIES USED

IN THE BILINGUAL HANDBOOKS 2.1 Modified literal translation

Literal translation follows closely the form of the source language; therefore, it is also known as form-based translation According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), literal translation occurs when there is an exact structural, lexical, even morphological equivalence between two languages Vietnamese and English are two languages of numerous grammatical and lexical differences; hence, the author could hardly find any true literal translation in three selected books However, the meaning of the terminology “literal translation” is not always restricted within the strict rule given by Vinay and Darbelnet above Many linguists classify the level of the “literal” depending on how much close the TLT and the SLT are Newmark (1988) differentiates between word-for-word translation, literal translation, faithful translation and semantic translation which are all categorized as the methods closest to the SL Larson (1984) divides translation method into two categories: literal translation and idiomatic translation He uses three terms for the scope of

“literal translation” They are very literal, literal and modified literal He states that very

literal and literal translation normally have little communicative value because the SLT

sounds strange and odd to the readership The author finds the term modified literal most

suitable to identify the most common strategy in the books According to Larson, modified literal strategy is a way to modify order and grammar of the source language in an acceptable sentence structure in the receptor language but the lexical items are translated literally

One of the most significant differences between Vietnamese and English is word order in noun phrases Many of the pre-modifiers characterizing the head noun in English, are post-modifiers in Vietnamese, especially adjective, nouns and possessive For most of the cases, the order of the words in Vietnamese noun phrases has to be changed to acceptable grammatical rules in English The underlined words in the following examples are head nouns

Example 1: “Tuồng và chèo là hai loại hình nghệ thuật sân khấu truyền thống của Việt

Nam.” (PT p12)

Tuồng and chèo are both Vietnamese traditional theatrical art forms (PT p13) Example 2: “Các đôi uyên ương vận những trang phục giản dị.” (WC p16)

“Couples wore simple clothes” (WC p17)

Example 3: “Chèo và múa rối nước là hai sản phẩm độc đáo của nền văn minh châu thổ

sông Hồng, nhưng chèo là loại hình nghệ thuật tinh tế hơn.” (PT p16)

Chèo and water puppetry are unique products of the Red River Delta civilization, but chèo is the more refined art form (PT p17)

Example 4: "Mẹ kế phải yêu con riêng của chồng" (PT p18)

Step-mothers must love their husbands' children (PT p19)

Besides order changes in noun phrases, we can see some changes related to adjective phrases

Example 5: "Cuộc đi bộ trở nên mệt mỏi hơn" (WC p76)

"Walking becomes more tiring" (WC p77)

Example 6 : "Ít gia đình đủ dũng cảm để chống lại lề thói hiện nay." (WC p24)

Few families are bold enough to counter curren practice (WC p25)

Orders of words in Vietnamese and English questions are often different While the question word in English usually appears at the beginning of the sentence, some of the question words in Vietnamese often appear at the end

Example 7: "Thời trang của cô dâu Hà Nội đã thay đổi như thế nào?" (WC p52)

How has the fashion of Hanoian brides changed? (WC p53)

Example 8: "Các đặc trưng nổi bật của chèo là gì?" (PT p16)

What are the dramatic characteristics of chèo? (PT p17)

However, some simple questions beginning with "ai", "cái nào" "tại sao" can be surprisingly translated literally with few changes

Example 9: "Lễ hội nào dùng pháo đất?" (SF p64)

What festivals use clay firecrackers? (SF p65)

Example 10: "Tại sao những người bạn tốt lại hay được ví như Lưu Bình và Dương Lễ

(PT p34)

Why are good friends compared with Lưu Bình and Dương Lễ (PT p36)

The translators usually have to add function words, such as prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs and articles and so on, to express acceptable grammatical relationship within a sentence of the receptor language However, as long as the content words are translated literally, the strategy remains modified literal translation

Example 11: "Chèo tiếp tục phát triển và đạt đến đỉnh cao vào cuối thế kỷ 19" (PT p16)

Chèo continued to develop and reached its peak by the end of the nineteenth

century (PT 17)

Example 12: "Những nghi lễ cưới xin đã phát triển qua thời gian như thế nào?" (PT.p12)

How have wedding rites evolved over time? (PT p13)

Most of the sentences applying modified literal translation strategy in the transfer process definitely have simple grammatical structure and lexical terms with literal meaning Unlike other strategies which will be discussed later, this strategy is detected in almost all pages of the three selected books It is quiet understandable why this strategy is the most common one used by the translators The books aim at ordinary people interested in basic information on Vietnamese culture; therefore, the content is quite readable with clear wording Another important reason is that the intended audience, either Vietnamese people

or English speakers interested in language study, would learn little if the expressions of the TLT are too far different from those of the SLT

However, the simplification of the content and language of the source texts could not help erase all difficulties for translators because they had to convey cultural elements of a country assumed strange and unfamiliar to the target readers, and language is obviously part of that culture When serious linguistic gaps or cultural gaps occur, modified literal translation is of little help Many other strategies are used to express shades of meaning, explain culture-bound terms and achieve effective communication with the target readers These strategies, which reveal the translators' language proficiency and creativity, will be discussed thoroughly in the latter sections of the thesis

2.2 Changes in grammar

2.2.1 Changes in the order of word groups

The order of sentence elements are changed mainly because English does not have the equal grammatical structure of Vietnamese or the translator attempts to create effective communication in his or her translation

In many cases, adverb clauses, particularly those expressing time, placed before the main clause of the SL sentence are often changed to be put after the equivalent clause in TL

Example 1: “So với 10 năm trước, Phủ Giầy đã thay đổi rất nhiều.” (SF p82)

Phủ Giầy had changed dramatically from ten years (SF p83)

Example 2: “Trải qua nhiều giai đoạn lịch sử của dân tộc Việt Nam, chèo cổ với vốn âm

nhạc đặc sắc đã có nhiều thay đổi.” (PT p72)

The classical chèo theatrical performance of today, including its specialized music,

has undergone many changes over the long course of Vietnamese history (PT p73)

Example 3: “Chị Nguyễn Thị Xuất, làm nghề tráng bánh cuốn, sau mỗi buổi tập đêm nào

cũng phải thức khuya làm hàng cho buổi chợ sớm mai.” (PT p78)

Nguyễn Thị Xuất, who sells rice pancakes (bánh cuốn), prepares the cakes for the

next day's market late at night, after she has practiced chèo with the troupe (PT p79)

Changes in the order of the main clauses and the adverb clauses showing cause and effect (marked by "because", "because of", etc.) and opposition (marked by "though", "although", etc) sometimes occur

Example 4: “Ảnh hưởng của văn hóa Pháp đối với văn hóa Việt Nam cũng khá rõ nét dù

không sâu đậm như văn hóa Trung Hoa.” (WC p14)

French influence on Vietnamese culture although not as profound as Chinese, was

nevertheless deep (WC p15)

Example 5: “Do lịch sử rất lâu đời của chầu văn, một số người ở các vùng miền Bắc Việt

Nam như …cũng biết chơi đàn nguyệt và hát chầu văn.” (SF p78)

Several inhabitants of northern regions of Việt Nam - such as… can play đàn

nguyệt and chầu văn because of the form's long history (SF p79)

The translators usually have to modify sentence structures in TL when those in SL are different from the standard subject-predicate sentence style of English The most

noticeable ones are those containing words such as thì, là, mà which divide the sentence

into two main parts These types of sentences are exhaustively discussed when the new concept duos "Theme-Rheme" analysed by Lưu Vân Lăng (1970) and Trần Ngọc Thêm (1985), and later "Topic-Comment" structure introduced by Cao Xuân Hạo (1991) emerged to replace the old subject-predicative duos to describe basic grammatical

structures of Vietnamese sentences Words such as thì, là, mà mark the linear between

topic and comment Compared with the basic sentence type of English with subject-verb structure, topic-comment sentences may lack subjects and the topic of the sentence can be occupied by an adverb, an object or simply a word semantically relating to the comment discussed in the topic In these cases, the translators must change the order of the clauses or the word groups to conform to the acceptable grammatical structure in English

Example 6: “Dưới chân núi là các thung lũng, đồng lúa, và những dòng suối êm đềm.” (SF

p46)

Valleys, paddy fields, and calm streams rest at the base of the mountains (SF p47)

In the above example, dưới chân núi is “topic” and the rest after “là” is comment However

“dưới chân núi” cannot be the subject in an English sentence because an English subject is

person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something Therefore, the translator

must remove it to the end of the sentence as an adverb clause The following examples illustrate similar reasons for shifts in the order of sentence elements

Example 7: “Việc chi bao nhiêu là do bố mẹ chú rể và cô dâu quyết định.” (WC p20)

The couple’s parents decide how much to spend (WC p21)

Example 8: "Tham gia liên hoan có trên 700 nghệ sĩ đến từ 14 đoàn chèo với 15 vở (PT

Example 9: “Chỉ là diễn viên dự bị, nhưng chị đã diễn thật ấn tượng thay cho diễn viên

chính ốm đột xuất.” (PT p64)

The lead actress suddenly fell ill; Thanh Hoai performed impressively as an

understudy (PT p65)

Example 10: “Việc người Việt Nam bắt giữ một binh sĩ quân đội Mông Cổ thế kỷ 14 đóng

vai trò quan trọng nhất trong sự phát triển của chèo.” (PT p16)

Most significant in this development was the Vietnamese capture of a soldier from

the Mongolian army in the fourteenth century (PT p17)

2.2.2 Changes of grammatical word class

When literal translation of certain words may not accord with natural usage in the TL or the translator just wants to produce a smoother flow of words, he or she needs to make changes in word class A grammatical item is replaced with another grammatical item, for example, a noun may be translated with an adjective, a verb with a noun, an adverb with an adjective, and a noun with an adverb and so on Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) consider this

strategy, namely "transposition”, one of the four procedures of oblique translation Catford (1965) names this strategy class-shifts when he discusses the theory of equivalence The usage of this technique can be found in many examples in the three books The following examples illustrate the transposition of an adverb with an adjective, a noun with an adverb,

a verb with a noun and a noun with an adjective respectively

Example 1: "Không ai biết chính xác cội nguồn của chèo làng Khuốc." (PT p82)

"No one knows the exact origins of Khuốc chèo" (PT p83)

Example 2: "Ở một số địa phương có thông lệ là mẹ cô dâu không được đưa con gái về nhà

chồng." (WC p38)

In some localities, the mother the bride was not customarily allowed to escort her

daughter to the groom's house (WC p39)

Example 3: "Điển trai và thông minh, Lê Duy Kỳ hiểu biết rộng, đặc biệt là về văn học."

Gióng is a legendary hero who defeated northern invaders (SF p105)

This strategy is considered a common one which helps translators avoid awkward production in the TL

Example 1: “Thị đề nghị nối lại tình nghĩa vợ chồng, nhưng Chu Mãi Thần từ chối” (PT

p38)

She asks for renewal of their conjugal ties but Chu Mãi Thần does not accept her

back (PT p39)

Example 2 : “Hiện giờ, chị không còn quá vất vả như những năm 1980…” (PT p64)

Her personal life is much easier now than in the 1980s (PT p65)

Example 3: “…chúng tôi thường xuyên bị bệnh sốt rét hành hạ.” (WC p72)

…malaria tormented us (WC p73)

Example 4: “Ở nhà, Xúy Vân đi làm thuê cho một người đàn bà lừa lọc” (PT p38)

Left at home, Xúy Vân is hired by a perfidious woman (PT p39)

Modulation is an effective tool for the translator to alter their perspective without changing the meaning or creating a sense of awkwardness in the readers of the TL

2.2.4 Sentences split or merged

During the process of translation, the translator may combine sentences, usually two, to make a complete sentence or divide the sentence into two other ones without changing the meanings

Firstly, sentences are merged for many reasons With reference to grammatical perspective, the translator may combine two sentences making use of relative pronouns which are quite favourable in the TL communication

Example 1: “Xúy Vân cặp kè với Trần Phương, một tay lái buôn mù chữ nhưng giàu có Tay lái buôn nhanh chóng chán, đuổi Xúy Vân đi.” (PT p40)

She takes up with Trần Phương, an illiterate but rich merchant, who soon tires of

her and sends her off (PT p41)

In Vietnamese language, it is not natural to combine the two sentences with pronoun

“người mà” or “mà” like the equivalent “who” in English because the combination would

make the new sentence sound awkward and wordy Why relative pronoun are widely used

in written English, the words “người mà” “cái mà” or “mà” could generate a sense of

“lengthy” and they are only commonly used in Vietnamese spoken language

Sometimes, sentence merge is a good choice to avoid producing choppy sentences which are not recommended in English written language

Example 2: “Thơ thường có hai vế, bốn cấu Các tính cách có cách ngâm riêng.” (PT p24)

Poems often have two parts and four sentences, with characters displaying their own way of reciting lines (PT p25)

Besides, the translator combines sentences in his or her effort to achieve conciseness strongly recommended in the TL

Example 3: “Trào lộng trong chèo luôn gắn với trữ tình Trữ tình cũng là một đặc trưng quan trọng khác của chèo…” (PT p22)

Satire in chèo is always linked to romance, another significant feature (PT p23) The combination helps the translator avoid repetition of the word "romance"

Example 4: "Những chiếc thuyền khác trước mặt, đằng sau, hai bên lướt nhẹ theo dòng suối uốn lượn Khi sương mù đang tan dần, núi non lởm chởm hiện ra ." (SF p50)

Other boats in front, behind, and on both sides of us glided along the winding stream as the gradually melting fog revealed the rugged face of the mountain (PT p51) The second sentence becomes the adverb phrase of the fist one and the insertion of "reveal" tactically refines the translated version

Secondly, division of one sentence into two is necessary mostly when the equivalent sentence may be too long Noticeably, when the translator needs to explain some cultural terms unfamiliar to the target audience, which obviously lengthens the original sentence,

he or she has to split the SL sentence into two

Example 5: "Do không được triều đình ủng hộ, chèo trở về với những người hâm mộ ban đầu là nông dân, kịch bản lấy từ truyện viết bằng chữ nôm." (PT p16)

Without royal patronage, chèo returned to its original supporters, the farmers It

drew on nôm stories, which were Vietnamese verse narratives written in modified Chinese

characters (PT p17)

Example 6: "Trong chèo hiện đại, có sử dụng thêm các nhạc cụ khác để làm phong phú thêm phần đệm như thập lục, tam thập lục, nguyệt, tiêu." (PT p76)

In modern chèo, other musical instruments enrich the background music The

sixteen-stringed zither (thập lục), hammer dulcimer (tam thập lục), double-stringed lute (nguyệt), and the flute (tiêu) add their harmonious influences (PT p77)

The division actually offers the translator opportunities to clarify and improve the expressive power of the message in the TL

Example 7: "Chú rể mặc áo khoác ngoài màu đen hoặc xanh thẫm và đội một khăn quấn màu đen còn quần và giày thì theo kiểu châu Âu thông thường." (WC p62)

As for the groom, he wore a black or dark blue tunic and a black turban His slacks

and shoes were the usual Western style that most men had already adopted (WC p63)

Example 8: "Dân làng đứng thành hàng và thành vòng tròn tái hiện "ngọn lửa hồng" bằng cách đốt những búi rơm đã tẩm dầu, như thế là để gợi lại hình ảnh một con rồng đang khạc lửa khi nó bổ nhào vào quân thủ." (SF p44)

Villages in lines and circles re-enact the "dragon lights" by igniting oil-soaked

straw cords The overall effect is reminiscent of a dragon belching fire as it pounces on its

enemy (SF p45)

Statistically, cases of sentences combination (twelve examples detected) considerably outnumber those of split sentences (four examples detected) The translators' preference for combination demonstrates their faith in TL concise writing which uses the most effective words and avoids weak or unnecessary ones The information which does not require a full sentence is inserted into another sentence without losing any of its value Conciseness in English writing style will be discussed more thoroughly in the latter part

2.3 Choice of vocabulary

2.3.1 Using words of more general meaning

This is a common strategy which requires the use of more general words or less expressive words on translating when the TL has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the SLT

Example 1: " các nghệ sĩ chèo được phép tự do bẻ làn, nắn điệu để thể hiện cảm xúc của

nhân vật." (PT p26)

…chèo artists are free to modify their songs to convey their characters’

emotions (PT p27)

Example 2: "Nam nữ thanh niên trong những bộ trang phục đẹp nhất quây quần hát múa

quanh cây hoa để tìm người tâm đầu ý hợp (SF p118)

Young men and women dressed in their most beautiful costumes sing and dance

around the tree as they look for partners (SF p119)

Example 3: "Người thắng cuộc được công kênh quanh sân đình ba lần trước khi vào đền tạ

ơn thần linh."

"The winner is carried solemnly around the temple yard three times before he

enters the temple to thank the deities."

In the two first examples, the translator chooses to use general words probably because the strict adherence to the original meaning in the SLT may make the TL sentences

unnecessarily wordy with explanations In the third example, the word "tạ ơn" is a formal word showing the speaker's deep gratitude to the benefactor who is usually older or of superior social/religious position than him However, because of lexical gap, the translator must use a more general word "thank" in translation For most of the cases, though the words of broader meaning do not change the message, it may fail to convey the feeling hidden in the surface of the SL words

Example 1: "Gà màu tía thường khỏe, can đảm, đá hay, nhưng dễ pha lẫn mẹ nòi, cha thịt."

(SF p122)

Purple-feathered cocks are usually strong and brave with good fighting abilities but

may have been crossbred between a pure-bred fighting-cock hen and a normal rooster

raised for meat (SF p123)

Example 2: "Người thắng cuộc được công kênh quanh sân đình ba lần trước khi vào đền tạ

ơn thần linh." (SF p94)

"The winner is carried solemnly around the temple yard three times before he

enters the temple to thank the deities." (SF p95)

Many Sino-Vietnamese words, Vietnamese words of Chinese origin, need to be translated with description

Example 3:"Hai người là bạn đồng môn." (PT p34)

They study with the same teacher (PT p35)

Example 4: "Dân làng Khuốc tự biên tự diễn rất nhiều vở." (PT p84)

Khuốc villagers have staged many chèo plays they themselves wrote (PT p85) Example 5: "Nếu người chồng ngất đi trong đêm tân hôn…" (WC p38)

If the husband swooned on the first night of conjugal life… (WC p39)

However, expressive equivalent does not always mean the TL expressions must include more words than the SL ones When the SL sentence uses figurative language, the translator may replace it with literal meaning

Example 6: "Nhiều gia đình có tới ba, bốn thế hệ trên cùng chiếu chèo" (PT p84)

In many families, three or even four generations perform together (PT p85)

The metonymy phrase "trên cùng chiếu chèo" (on the same chèo sedge mat) is translated with direct expression "perform together" because literal translation may make the message sound vague and obscure

When the meaning of the SL word groups is created with a specific structure unique to the

SL culture, the translator could hardly adhere to that structure and has to convey the meaning with a normal structure in the TL

Example 7 "Đạo diễn kịch hát dân tộc, những người chịu trách nhiệm về việc tuồng phải

ra tuồng, chèo ra chèo, cải lương ra cải lương, càng ngày càng thiếu trầm trọng." (PT

p88)

Traditional opera directors responsible for keeping tuồng, chèo, or cải lương operas

true to their origins are also growing scarcer (PT p89)

Example 8 "…một bà to béo cầu xin buôn to bán lớn." (SF p58)

…a fat woman wanted great profits in business (SF p59)

Expressive equivalent is a common translation technique to bridge lexical gaps between the SL and the TL The most important role of this technique is to convey the full meaning

Despite her busy schedule, Diễm Lộc tries to attend all sessions of the Club (PT

Example 2: "Các nghệ sĩ chèo thường ứng diễn" (PT p24)

Rather, chèo artist frequently improvised during their performance (PT p25)

Because literal translation may result in a choppy sentence, the translator adds more words not only to clarify the meaning but more importantly to make the sentence sound smooth and natural Besides, the word "rather" is a cohesive devise to create a fine connection with the previous sentence

The above explanations are somehow subjective to the author of the research Actually, translators often use a strategy intuitively depending on their long-built language ability without their awareness of how a strategy is The following examples also illustrate that the added words do not add important meaning but refine the flow of words in the sentences to the acceptable receptor language

Example 3: "Chúng tôi chặt con gà luộc ban nãy vừa cúng Thần linh…" (SF p58)

We chopped the boiled chicken we had offered to deities into pieces…(SF p59)

Example 4: "Họ cung cấp son phấn, kiểu tóc, váy cưới cho thuê và hoa cưới " (WC p66)

They provide make-up and hair styling, gowns for rent, and bouquets to order

Example 7: "Rồi ông nhắc tới người thầy cũ của ông là Lộng Chương…" (PT p70)

He also fondly recalls his former teacher, Lộng Chương… (PT p71)

Addition is a valuable strategy that many foreign language translators, especially beginners, fail to realize its importance because they are probably too obsessed by meaning faithfulness As what the above examples illustrate, addition not only helps the translators produce natural and smooth TLT but also clarify or even enrich the original meaning

2.3.4 Subtraction

Subtraction means dropping a word or words from the SLT while translating Subtraction has a similar role as addition because it is also used to create a natural and smooth writing style in the TL Words omitted are often those which have weak meaning and may cause the sense of "wordiness" in the TL receptors

Example 1: "Mỗi bông có bảy hoặc tám cánh, tỏa ra mùi hương quyến rũ." (SF p60)

Each flower has seven or eight petals and a charming fragrance (SF p61)

Example 2: "Lời bài hát xoan rất đẹp, văn phong trau chuốt." (SF p108)

Xoan lyrics are beautiful and polished (SF p109)

Words are sometimes omitted because no equivalents are found in the TL and the subtraction does not cause important meaning loss

Example 3: "…một nàng công chúa tên là Bà Chúa Ba đã tu hành 9 năm ở đây và đắc đạo

thành Đức Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát." (SF p54)

…a princess named Bà, who led a monastic life for nine years there and became the Bodhisattva, Quan Âm (Kouan Yin) (SF p55)

Example 4: "Các diễn giả đọc tham luận kể lại việc Lý Công Uẩn đã bảo vệ đất nước, khôi

phục nền kinh tế, làm phong phú nền văn hóa và chăm lo đời sống người dân như thế nào." (SF p98)

Speakers recall how King Lý Công Uẩn defended the country, revived its economy, enriched its culture, and cared for the people's well-being (SF p99)

Loss of meaning is the risk that this strategy may take In the following examples, though the main message is preserved, the expressive value is affected with omission of some descriptive words

Example 5: "…chèo thể hiện một cách thắm thiết những xúc cảm và tình cảm cá nhân của

con người, phản ánh mối quan tâm chung của nhân loại…" (PT p22)

…it expresses people's individual emotions and feelings and reflects the common concerns of all people… (PT p23)

Example 6: "Chị vẫn miệt mài đi hát, thu băng và giảng dạy chèo ở các trường nghệ thuật."

(PT p64)

Her other activities are singing, recording and teaching chèo at art schools (PT p65)

Subtraction is a common technique in translation when linguistic clashes between the two languages occur The disadvantage of subtraction is the risk of meaning loss or reduced expressive value Therefore, translators should consider seriously what words could be omitted without changing important meanings However, omission is an effective strategy

to achieve conciseness highly recommended in English written language

2.3.5 Using different words or phrases

Because of grammatical, lexical or stylistic gaps, the translator may use different vocabulary, which may lead to a different structure as well, in order to reproduce the meaning of the SL in the natural form of the receptor language This strategy is associated with several theoretical terms such as "equivalence procedure" defined by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), "idiomatic method" put forward by Larson (1984) and "communicative translation" in Newmark's V diagram classification (1988a)

Theorists often emphasize the importance of this technique in translating idioms and proverbs but this technique is detected in many translations of normal sentences in the books Just like many other techniques, the translator uses different expressions to enhance the readability of the TLT

Example 1: "Các buổi biểu diễn chèo thường không có khán giả." (PT p12)

Chèo performances in the cities have often played to empty houses (PT p13) Example 2: "…con trai và con gái còn bị cấm gặp gỡ công khai…" (WC p36)

… men and women were forbidden to mix socially (WC p37)

Example 3: "Họ sẽ chẳng bao giờ từ chối cho bạn ở nhờ qua đêm." (SF p82)

They will never refuse you a bed for the night (SF p83)

The translator sometimes bravely and intelligently integrates a different idea to convey the original meaning

Example 4: "Một đám cưới Việt Nam hiện đại mang những điểm chung giống đám cưới trước đây nhưng cũng pha một số nét mới phức tạp như là áo cưới phương Tây." (WC p14)

Nevertheless, a visitor from the past would recognize a modern Vietnamese

ceremony as a wedding yet find some attributes, such as a Western wedding gown, perplexing

While the original sentence expresses the writer's idea of his own, the translated version

unfolds the message through a third person's angle, a visitor from the past Accordingly,

the whole expression is considerably altered in terms of sentence structure and vocabulary Another common reason for the use of different expressions is that the TL lack certain equivalents, so the translator has to seek another way to convey the message

Example 5: "…Bẩm thượng quan, tiểu ni đây bị ép duyên nên đến bản tự xin cắt tóc đi tu."

(PT p44)

Your Highness, the young Buddhist nun decided to follow a religious life at my

pagoda to escape her destructive marriage (PT p45)

The two words "ép duyên" and "đi tu" cannot be replaced with any equally semantic words

in English In order to surpass the lexical barrier, the translator use expressive equivalent

"follow a religious life" to explains "đi tu" and uses "destructive marriage" to convey the idea of "ép duyên" Though "destructive marriage" is semantically different from "ép duyên" (be forced to an arranged marriage), the two words both implicate unhappy marital life As the above example illustrates, loss of meaning to some extent is what translators must consider thoroughly before deciding to use the strategy

Besides, the translator takes TL writing style into account when decides to use another way

of expression For example, "there is", "there are", "this is" or "these are" and similar constructions are discouraged in written English for the sake of conciseness When literal translation may lead to the appearance of one of those structures, the translator seeks a different wording

Example 6: "Đây là những động tác cơ bản trong chèo." (PT p30)

All these constitute the basic chèo movements (PT p31)

While many other strategies may be used intuitively, depending on the translator's long habitual use of the TL, this strategy requires highly individual creativity and flexibility The translator should have a good command of the target language and the target culture if

he or she intends to apply this strategy

2.4 Translating culture-bound terms, names and titles, and poems

2.4.1 Translating culture-bound terms

Admittedly, most of the lexical, grammatical or stylistic gaps between two languages appearing during translation are the result of cultural differences because language is recognized as part of culture However, culture-bound terms, within the limit of this part, are restricted to those related to customs, manners, belief, games and arts of the Vietnamese culture which are unfamiliar to English people

For most of the cases, the translator repeats the terms in the SL followed by some explanations, which are marked by dashes, commas or brackets

Example 1: "Chèo bắt nguồn từ âm nhạc và múa dân gian, nhất là trò nhại, từ thế kỷ thứ

10." (PT p14)

Chèo originated in the tenth century from folk music and dance, specially trò nhại

– simple mimetic skits (PT p15)

Example 2: " kịch bản lấy từ truyện viết bằng chữ Nôm." (PT p16)

It drew on nôm stories, which were Vietnamese verse narratives written in modified

Chinese characters (PT p17)

Example 3: "Từ nhỏ, cô bé đã hát được nhiều làn điệu chèo, tuồng, cải lương." (PT p48)

From the time she was little, she could sing many styles of music such as chèo

(popular opera), tuồng (classical opera), and cải lương (amateur musicals) (PT p49)

The extent of sufficiency in explanations not only depends on the translator's knowledge but probably the importance of the information in context and the possibility of a brief paraphrase While the term "nôm" can be satisfactorily explained with a brief parenthesis, the three terms "chèo", "tuồng" and "cải lương" could hardly be fully understood with the three equivalent terms "popular opera", "classical opera" and "amateur musicals", but thorough explanations here are obviously unnecessary

The translator even ignores explanations for the cultural terms appearing in the following exampled

Example 4: "Ngoài chèo ra, chị còn hát ca trù, chầu văn, xẩm, quan họ." (PT p64)

She also sings other forms of traditional music such as ca trù, chầu văn, xẩm, and

quan họ (PT p65)

Interestingly, the translators sometimes attempts to seek equivalents or at least expressive equivalents to replace the original terms but the original terms still follow the equivalents, mostly in brackets

Example 5 "Bộ gõ luôn đóng vai trò chính gồm trống con, trống cái, trống cơm, thanh la,

mõ." (PT p74)

The percussion also plays a major role and includes a small drum (trống con), large

drum (trống cái), the horizontal cylinder-like drum (trống cơm), gong (thanh la), and the wooden tocsin (mõ)

The insertion of the cultural terms in its native language on translating is particularly useful for the readers who want to search for more information about the terms beyond the brief explanation provided However, the translator may choose not to insert the original probably because the explanation is sufficient enough or the expressive equivalent is satisfactorily adequate

Example 6: "Họ bán đồ ăn, đồ uống, quà lưu niệm hoặc viết sớ." (SF p84)

They sell food, drinks, sourvenirs, or sacred pleas in Chinese characters (SF p85) Example 7: "Ông Vương …đang mời khách qua lại viết câu đối đối lại." (WC p24)

Wang … was inviting passers-by to create a pair of perfect parallel sentences by

writng a second sentence to match (WC p25)

Example 8: "Các trò vui khác gồm có bịt mắt bắt dê, " (SF p102)

Other entertainments include blind man's buff… (SF p103)

Example 8 reminds us of the procedure "equivalence" suggested by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), in which the TLT uses different words or phrases as an equivalent widely acceptable in the target culture while preserving the meaning Fortunately, Vietnamese and English culture, in this case, share the same game though they call it different names According to what the translations in the three books illustrate, explanation with the insertion of the original is the most common strategy that the translator uses when translating culture-bound terms Culture-bound terms are usually associated with a large amount of knowledge shaping them and a few words could hardly bridge the cultural gap; therefore, the insertion of the terms in SL provides extremely valuable information for those particularly interested in the terms

2.4.2 Translating names and titles

The translators usually keep the same names as used in the SLT without any alteration Fortunately, as Vietnamese language and English language both have Latin origin in their writing system, Vietnamese-English translators can keep the SL names in the TLT while other Asian languages such as Chinese may require the translator transcribe the pronunciation in the TL Many translators omit tone diacritics on translating Vietnamese names but the translators of the selected books always preserve the tone diacritics

Example 1: "Xúy Vân trong vở Kim Nham có chồng xa nhà." (PT p18)

Xúy Vân in the play Kim Nham has a husband who is a long way from home (PT

p19)

However, the challenge emerges when the translator has to translate a name of Chinese origin The translator may need help from another translator understanding Chinese to seek

a version directly transferred from Chinese to English

Example 2: "Các học giả đã ghi nhận người có công giới thiệu nghi lễ hôn nhân cho Việt

Nam là Nhâm Diên, một thái thú Trung Hoa, người cai trị Cửu Chân từ năm 29 đến năm

33 sau công nguyên." (WC p12)

Scholars credit Ren Yan, a Chinese governor who ruled jiuzhen from 29 to 33 A.D.,

with introducing Chinese nuptial rituals to Việt Nam (WC p13)

Noticeably, the famous religious figure "Đức Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát" is translated with even two names, one of Sanskrit transliteration and the other of Chinese transliteration why the name in Vietnamese is still inserted

Example 3: "…một nàng công chúa tên là Bà Chúa Ba đã tu hành 9 năm ở đây và đắc đạo

thành Đức Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát." (SF p54)

…a princess named Bà, who led a monastic life for nine years there and became the

Bodhisattva, Quan Âm (Kouan Yin) (SF p55)

With regard to translating titles, the original title is repeated if the title is the name of a character in the story or replaced by a translated version if possible For most of the cases, the translator inserts the original into the translation, whether he or she translates it or not Example 4: "Ở đó, bà đóng nhiều vai chính trong những vở chèo cổ, chèo hiện đại như Thị

Mầu trong "Quan Âm Thị Kính," Châu Long trong "Lưu Bình - Dương Lễ," chị Ba Đẹp trong "Lọ nước thần," Dương Vân Nga trong "Thái Hậu Dương Vân Nga," Tấm trong

"Tấm Cám," …" (PT p54)

…she played the principal characters in numerous chèo plays, both classical and

modern: Thị Mầu in "Thị Kính, the Goddess of Mercy," (Quan Âm Thị Kính), Châu Long

in "Lưu Bình and Dương Lễ," Miss Ba Đẹp (Beautiful Ba) in "The Queen Mother Dương

Vân Nga" (Thái Hậu Dương Vân Nga), Tấm in "Tấm and Cám"… (PT p55)

When the title of the story is the name of a famous figure, the translator adds brief information about the figure

Example 5: "…hai kịch bản "Quán ba cô" và "Lê Quý Đôn" của ông đã đoạt Giải Nhất và

Giải Nhì… (PT p70)

His scripts, The Three Sisters' Restaurant (Quán Ba Cô) and Lê Quý Đôn (the name

of a celebrated Vietnamese scholar), won the first and second prizes respectively…(PT

…and Histoire du royaume de Tonkin (History of the Royalty of Tonkin) by the

missionary and linguist Alexandre de Rhodes… (WC p49)

The translator inserts the original name in French and the translated version in English is only put in bracket The above examples prove that fidelity to the original is the top priority in translating names and titles

2.4.3 Translating poems

Literary translation in general and poetry translation in particular may be the most challenging task for translators because the original meaning is not only expressed through single words but also the arrangement of words forming the poetic rhythm However, as poetry is not the main part of the books and the translators are not professional poets, all poems are translated with the faithful approach in which the translators try to preserve closely the meaning of the SLT

Example 1:

Trai du gối hạc khom khom cật

Gái uốn lưng ong ngửa ngửa lòng

Bốn mảnh quần hồng bay phấp phới

Hai hàng chân ngọc duỗi song song

(SF p126)

The boy bends his knees The girl bends her back The four red panels of her skirt fly in the air Two parallel lines of stretched legs

(SF p127)

Though the translated version is faithful to the original meaning, the rendering is unable to create aesthetic effect as what the original poem could do with reduplicative words, a special literal device in Vietnamese language

The length of the TL versions mostly depends on the richness of the content interpreted by the translator The translator has to accept stylistic loss and he or she may use reduction or expansion techniques in translating

Dù ai đi ngược về xuôi

Nhớ ngày giỗ Tổ mồng mười tháng ba

Example 1: “Nhưng họ đã phải kinh ngạc” (PT p14)

They were in for a big surprise (PT p15)

Example 2: “Rõ ràng, chế độ phong kiến đã hạ thấp giá trị người phụ nữ và buộc họ phải phụ thuộc vào chồng và gia đình nhà chồng.” (WC p42)

Needless to say, the feudal regime debased Vietnamese women and made them dependent on their husbands and their husbands’ families (WC p43)

Example 3: “Chọi gà là cuộc thi phổ biến trong các lễ hội ở nông thôn Việt Nam.” (SF p120)

“The cockfight is a common competition at rural festivals in Việt Nam (SF p121)

2.5.2 Poorer equivalents

The occurrence of proverbs, idioms or allusions, which are culture-specific portion of the SLT, always poses a great challenge for translators The translators sometime have to accept TL equivalents of poorer meaning when no relevant ones are found in the TL and lengthy explanations may be inappropriate They choose to use much less expressive words to convey the main meaning and omit the connotation or implication of the SLT Example 1: “Xem họ biểu diễn, ít ai nghĩ rằng các diễn viên trên sân khấu ban đêm lại là

nông dân, ban ngày chân lấm tay bùn ngoài đồng.” (PT p78)

Watching their skilful performance, one can hardly believe the artists on the stage

at night are farmers who work in the rice paddies by day (PT p79)

Example 2: “…nhịp điệu êm dịu và thủng thẳng của tiếng hát chầu văn hòa trộn với tiếng đàn nguyệt khi lắng khi trầm ở cung bậc thấp, lúc lanh lảnh ở cung bậc cao…” (SF p72)

…the tender and slow rhythms of the chầu văn verses mingled with the rising and

falling tones of the đàn nguyệt… (SF p73)

The phrase “chân lấm tay bùn” is an idiom referred to farmers’ hard work while the equivalent verb “work” carries no implication of the nature of the work The word “thủng thẳng” means much more than “slow” because it implies an unoccupied and calm mind Similarly, “falling” and “rising” are unable to fully transpose “lắng”, “trầm” and “lanh lảnh”

2.5.3 Richer equivalents

With the translators’ creativity and flexibility in their treatment of language, they can reproduce the original meaning with more expressive words In other words, their individual interpretation of the message and their proficient use of the TL enable them to repaint the original picture with a more beautiful colour

Example 1: “Dương Lễ thi đỗ và ra làm quan.” (PT p34)

“Dương Lễ passes the examination and prospers as a mandarin.” (PT p35)

Example 2: “Diễn viên chèo sử dụng làn điệu để thể hiện các sắc thái tình cảm khác nhau

từ tức giận, buồn đau đến vui sướng nhằm cuốn hút người xem.” (PT p74)

“Chèo actors use melody and words to portray a range of emotions from anger to

sorrow to joy in order to evoke feeling from the audience.” (PT p75)

While the word “ra làm” in Example 1 can be simply rendered with “become” or “work”, the translator uses “prospers” to emphasize the bright future waiting for Dương Lễ A novice translator may quickly choose “attract” as the equivalent for “cuốn hút” but “evoke feeling” clearly has greater expressive power

2.6 Some opinions on language style of the translations

2.6.1 Formality

Though the books are aimed at ordinary audience, they do have some level of formality It will be discussed how the translators achieve TL formality necessary in written English Firstly, one of the most important reasons for alteration to achieve formality is the more common use of noun-based phrases than verb-based phrases in written English A large number of examples are found in the books The fact indicates a significant difference between Vietnamese and English writing styles that overuse of noun-phrases may make sentences wordy and awkwardly complex in Vietnamese while noun-phrases are considered more formal than verb-phrases in English

Example 1: “Hoa Tâm trông còn trẻ quá…” (PT p48)

“Her appearance was so youthful that…” (PT p49)

Example 2: “Thuyền là để chở bốn người; nhưng lúc này đã chở tới tận sáu người.” (PT

p50)

The boat’s capacity was four; by now, it was overloaded with six.(PT p51)

Example 3: “Bất cứ khi nào nhà vua mắc lỗi, nhà vua đều xin lỗi trước dân rồi sửa lỗi.”