Các danh ngữ và cấu trúc sử dụng phổ biến trong sách và tạp chí kinh tế bằng tiếng Anh – Một số giải pháp dịch tối ưu

TRƯờNG ĐạI HọC KINH Tế QUốC DÂNKHOA NGOạI NGữ KINH Tế Đề TàI NGHIÊN CứU KHOA HọC CấP CƠ Sở Mã số: KTQD/E2013.63 Main noun phrases and structures used in English books and journals for Ec

TR¦êNG §¹I HäC KINH TÕ QUèC D¢N

KHOA NGO¹I NG÷ KINH TÕ

§Ò TµI NGHI£N CøU KHOA HäC CÊP C¥ Së

TRƯờNG ĐạI HọC KINH Tế QUốC DÂN

KHOA NGOạI NGữ KINH Tế

Đề TàI NGHIÊN CứU KHOA HọC CấP CƠ Sở

Mã số: KTQD/E2013.63

Main noun phrases and structures used in English books and journals for Economics and business –

The best solutions to translate them

(Cỏc danh ngữ và cấu trỳc sử dụng phổ biến trong sỏch và tạp chớ kinh tế

bằng tiếng Anh – Một số giải phỏp dịch tối ưu)

Chủ nhiệm đề tài : ts Phạm thị tuyết hơng

Các thành viên đề tài: Ths Nguyễn thị thúy

Ths PHẠM THỊ QUỲNH HOA THS NGUY ỄN THỊ HỒNG HẠNH THS NGễ THÚY LAN

THS PHẠM THỊ THU TRANG

THS NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG HOÀI

THS PHAN THỊ THANH HƯƠNG

Hà Nội, 6/2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 3

4 Object and scope of the study 3

4.1 Object of the study 3

4.2 Scope of the study 3

5 Methods of the study 4

6 Design of the study: The study consists of three parts: 4

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

1.1 Definitions of the phrase 5

1.2 Definitions of the noun phrase 6

1.3 The structure of the noun phrase 6

1.4 Functions of the noun phrase 8

1.5 Some concepts of sentence structure 9

1.6 Some concepts of translation 11

1.6.1 What is translation? 11

1.6.2 Equivalence in translation 12

1.6.3 Some common problems of non-equivalence in translation 13

1.6.4 Some strategies for dealing with these problems 16

1.7 English for special purposes (ESP) 18

1.8 Sub - conclusion 19

CHAPTER 2: THE MAIN NOUN PHRASES IN ENGLISH BOOKS AND JOURNALS ON ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS 20

2.1 Noun phrase modifiers 20

2.1.1 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with attributive adjectives as modifiers 20

2.1.2 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with participial phrases as

modifiers 21

2.1.3 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with noun adjuncts as modifiers .24

2.1.4 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with prepositional phrases as modifiers 25

2.1.5 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with relative clauses as modifiers .27

2.1.6 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with infinitive phrases as modifiers 29

2.2 Functions of noun phrases 30

2.3 Sub-conclusion 33

CHAPTER 3: THE MAIN SENTENCE STRUCTURES IN ENGLISH BOOKS AND JOURNALS ON ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS 35

3.1 Passive sentences 35

3.1.1 Basic (BE + Ven) 36

3.1.2 Modal (MODAL + be + Ven) 37

3.1.3 Perfective (HAVE + been + Ven) 39

3.1.4 Modal perfective (MODAL + have + been + Ven) 40

3.1.5 Progressive (BE + being + Ven) 41

3.2 Sentences with pronoun “IT” 43

3.2.1 Sentences with pronoun “it” used to refer to the thing, situation or idea that has already been talked about 45

3.2.2 Sentences with pronoun “it” used before certain adjectives, nouns or verbs to introduce an opinion or description of a situation 46

3.2.3 Sentences with pronoun “It” in some other cases 48

3.3 Sub-conclusion 50

CHAPTER 4: SOME SOLUTIONS FOR TRANSLATING THE MAIN NOUN PHRASES AND SENTENCE STRUCTURES IN ENGLISH BOOKS AND JOURNALS ON ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS 51

4.1 Solutions for translating the main noun phrases in English books and

journals on economics and business 51

4.2 Solutions for translating some main sentence structures in English

books and journals on economics and business 54

4.2.1 Solutions for translating passive sentences in English books and journals on economics and business 54

4.2.2 Solutions for translating sentences with pronoun “IT” in English books and journals on economics and business 56

4.3 Sub-conclusion 58

CONCLUSION 60

REFERENCE BOOKS 62

SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Oprep : Object of preposition

P : Verb or Verb phrase (Predicate)

S : Subject

S1 : Subject of English passive sentence

S2 : Agent of action in passive sentence

V : Verb

Ven : Verb in past participle form

VP : Verb phrase

(1) : The number of an extracted example

(1:2) : 1 is the number of a reference book in the list of reference books and 2 is the number of the page in a material for an extracted example

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Anybody who researches or teaches English knows well that the syntax in English, inmore detail, phrases and sentence structures, is studied by many English as well asVietnamese linguists and they have had many achievements in this field Here are themost famous authors in English: R Quirk and S Greenbaum (1976), R Huddleston(1984), T Givon (1993), R.A Jacobs (1995)… These authors gave their conceptsabout the elements in a phrase, the classifications of phrases, simple sentence… Forexample, most of them agree that there are 5 types of phrases in English, such as nounphrases, verb phrases, adiective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases.When studying sentence structure, R Quirk and S Greenbaum (1976) stated that asimple sentence is a sentence that consists of only one clause and there are 7 basictypes of clause in English: SVA, SVC, SVO, SVOA, SVOC, SVOO and SV (in theseclauses S is subject, V is verb, A is adverbial, C is complement and O is object) Inthese clauses A, C and O are compulsory elements According to R Huddleston(1984), a simple sentence is an unmarked clause That is, syntactically, it is a basicclause According to him, all the kernel clauses are narrative sentences They have thefollowing order: S + P + C In this order S is subject, P is verb or verb phrase playingthe role of predicate, C is complement

According to T Givon (1993), simple sentences are simple verbal clauses Thesesimple clauses are used to describe all types of other clauses in syntax Anotherreliable concept of sentence structure is R.A Jacobs’ one (1995) He considered,structurally, English simple sentences are made by two main elements They arenoun phrase and verb phrase Noun phrases always play the role of the subject of asentence and verb phrases always play the role of the predicate of a sentence Whenstudying noun phrases these authors also gave concepts and structures of a nounphrase Almost all the authors agreed that a typical English noun phrase consists ofthree parts: predeterminer, noun head and postdeterminer

In Vietnam many linguists gave the concepts of a noun phrase and sentencestructure as well For example, Hoang Trong Phien (1980), Scientific and SocialCommittee (1983), Nguyen Tai Can (1999), Mai Ngoc Chu (the chief) (2003), DiepQuang Ban (2004), Nguyen Minh Thuyet and Nguyen Van Hiep (2004)…And thereare some works that contrasted English and Vietnamese noun phrases, such as VuNgoc Tu (1996), Dang Ngoc Huong (2009) etc.

However so far in English as well as in Vietnamese there have not been any worksthat study English main noun phrases and sentence structures used in economicsand business and how to translate them into Vietnamese So studying this topic wehope that the results of the study will contribute a part in reducing difficulties notonly in teaching and learning English, but also in translating English books,materials, documents on economics and business… into Vietnamese

In addition, in the process of teaching and studying English in economics andbusiness at Hanoi National Economics University we realized that students alwaysconfuse to differ which noun is the main noun in an English noun phrase or how totranslate some English passive sentences and sentences with pronoun “It” intoVietnamese So when students translate these structures into Vietnamese they havemany difficulties

The result of this topic is also an important and necessary document to help teachersand students with some knowledge of English and Vietnamese grammar as well assome knowledge of translation They will understand and translate English books

on Economics and Business into Vietnamese more easily and more correctly

2 Aims of the study

To translate a scientific document in general, a document on economics andbusiness in particular, from English into Vietnamese correctly, the knowledge ofbasic and common sentence structures in this style is very important and useful Itplays a big role in the success of the translation In addition to sentence structures,noun phrases are important as well In economics and business noun phrases are themost active words used to make the main content of the text So the aim of the study

is to find these structures and noun phrases Except for that, the authors of the topicwould like to give the best and the most common solutions to English-Vietnamesetranslation of these structures The result of this study will help teachers, especiallyinexperienced teachers, at National Economics University who are translating at themoment English books, materials and documents on economics and business intoVietnamese

non-4 Object and scope of the study

4.1 Object of the study

In the study we focus on common noun phrases and sentence structures used

in English-Vietnamese books on economics and business They are Insurance

principles and practice, compiled by Dr David Bland, 1993 (English –

Vietnamese); Principles of accounting (Vietnamese – English), 2010 Belverd E Neddles Jr, HenryR, Anderson, James C, Caldewel; Thư tín thương mại tiếng Anh,

2009 (English – Vietnamese), translated by Nguyen thanh Yen; and some journals

of Economics and Development – the main journal of Hanoi National EconomicsUniversity, and its translations

4.2 Scope of the study

We study these structures only in the field of syntax We will take examplesfrom these English and Vietnamese books and journals on economics and business:they are bilingual English-Vietnamese books on insurance and accounting; and the

journals on economics and development We will study only written Vietnamese translation

English-5 Methods of the study

The main methods used in this study are description, statistics, andcontrastive analysis The study will take English as the basic language andVietnamese is the language to be compared

All the data from the mentioned books and journals are classified andorganized in different groups of their syntactic structures.

In addition, with the knowledge of English and Vietnamese grammar,especially the knowledge of noun phrases and sentence structures that we haveobtained from the study, and through the Vietnamese translations of experiencedteachers of economics and business we find out the best solutions to translate thenoun phrases and main structures from English into Vietnamese

6 Design of the study: The study consists of three parts:

Part I: Introduction: This part provides an overview of the research

including (1) rationale of the study, (2) aims of the study, (3) research questions,(4) scope of the study, (5) methods of the study and (6) the design of the study

Part II: Content: This part consists of four chapters:

Chapter 1, Theoretical background, provides a theoretical framework of phrase,

noun phrase, sentence structure and translation

Chapter 2: The main noun phrases in English books and journals on economics andbusiness

Chapter 3: The main sentence structures in English books and journals oneconomics and business

Chapter 4: Some solutions for translating the main noun phrases and sentencestructures in English books and journals on economics and business

Part III: Conclusion

Reference books

Part II: Content

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Definitions of the phrase

According to Sidney Greenbaum (1996), the phrase comes between the word andthe clause in the hierarchy of grammatical units

There are five phrases in English They are distinguished: noun phrase, verb phrase,adjective phrase, adverb phrase and prepositional phrase These five types ofphrases are named after the class of the words that is the head of the phrase Forexample (the examples are S.Greenbaum’s):

1 noun phrase: recent deluges of reports (head: deluges)

2 verb phrase: might have been accepted (head: accepted)

3 adjective phrase: surprisingly normal (head: normal)

4 adverb phrase: more closely (head: closely)

5 prepositional phrase: for a moment (head: for)

According to Cambridge learner’s dictionary (2001), a phrase is a group of words

which are often used together and have a particular meaning

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/noun_phrase, traditionally, a phrase is

understood to contain two or more words The traditional progression in the size ofsyntactic units is word < phrase < clause and in this approach a single word (such as

a noun or pronoun) would not be referred to as a phrase However, many modernschools of syntax, especially those that have been influenced by X-bar theory make

no such restriction Here many single words are judged to be phrases based on adesire for theory – internal consistency A phrase is deemed to be a word or acombination of words that appears in a set syntactic position, for instance in subjectposition or object position

1.2 Definitions of the noun phrase

Roderick A.Jacobs (1995) considered noun phrases are used to refer things people

want to talk about, things as varied as boiled eggs, petroleum, hopes for a lasting

peace, and the prime minister of Sweden The entities that noun phrases refer to are

known as their referents Sometimes a noun phrase has no referent The noun phrase

the president of the United States in 1941 has the man Franklin Delano Roosevelt as

its referent However, the noun phrase the president of the United States in1066 has

no referent, although someone writing a fantasy might imagine one

In his book (1996), Sidney Greenbaum said a noun phrase is a phrase whose head

(possibly its only word) is a noun (coffee in “I prefer black coffee”), a pronoun (that

in “I prefer that”), or a nominal adjective (elderly in “I prefer catering for the

elderly”)

In en.wikipedia.org/wiki/noun_phrase, a noun phrase or nominal phrase (NP) is a

phrase which has a noun (or indefinite pronoun) as its head word, or whichperforms the same grammatical function as such a phrase

On this understanding of the noun phrase, the nouns or pronouns in the followingsentences are noun phrases (rather than just nouns and pronouns):

1 He saw someone.

2 Milk is good.

3 They spoke about corruption.

1.3 The structure of the noun phrase

According to Sidney Greenbaum (1996), a noun phrase has as its head a noun, apronoun, a nominal adjective, or a numeral

Some of noun phrases consist of a single word However, most of them have morethan one word

Noun phrases may have modifiers These may add information that characterizesmore specifically what the head refers to Modifiers are dependent on the head andcan be omitted without disturbing the structure of the sentence, but like adverbials

they are usually important informationally and in that sense they cannot be omittedwithout damaging the communication.

We can now represent the structure of the typical noun phrase (NP) that has a noun

as its head (we take the structure and examples from S.Greenbaum’s book (1996)).The parentheses indicate the elements of the structure that may be absent

NP

(determiners) (premodifier (s)) noun head (postmodifier (s))

For example:

(1) A second – class citizen of his own clan.

More than one determiner can introduce a noun phrase, for example, all and our in (2): (2) In the initial sorties all our aircraft have returned safely.

According to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/noun_phrase, a typical noun phrase consists of

a noun (the head of the phrase) together with zero or more modifiers of varioustypes The chief types of these modifiers are:

1 Determiners, such as the, this, my, some etc.

2 Attributive adjectives, such as large, beautiful, sweeter etc.

3 Adjective phrases and participial phrases, such as extremely large, hard as nails,

made of wood, sitting on the step etc.

4 Noun adjuncts, such as college in the noun phrase a college student

5 Prepositional phrases, such as in the drawing room, of his aunt

6 Relative clauses, such as which we noticed

7 Other clauses serving as complements to the noun, such as that God exists in the noun phrase the belief that God exists

8 Infinitive phrases, such as to sing well and to beat in the noun phrases a desire to

sing well and a man to beat

1.4 Functions of the noun phrase

According to Sidney Greenbaum (1996), a noun phrase can be:

(8) Uhm but isn’t it in French?

7 Premodifier of a noun or noun phrase

(9) Simon’s on this revision course.

(11) But you have to wait a long time.

(12) The flag goes up far side.

(13) Some of it is coming out this way.

(14) The loss in nineteen seventy hit him a great deal.

10 Premodifier of adjective

(15) The plane was 4 hours late.

11 Premodifier of preposition

(16) He revealed that Washington had informed the Kremlin an hour before the

start of the assault.

12 Premodifier of adverb

(17) Now Mercedes have always been good at insulating their car but they’ve gone

a stage further with this.

13 Postmodifier of noun

(18) Women may suffer from lack of “acceptable partners” because too many of the

men their age are dead

14 Postmodifier of adjective

(19) We’re short fifteen dollars

Pronouns and nominal adjectives can perform the first six of the functions listedabove for noun phrases Clauses that serve the functions performed by noun phrasesare termed nominal clauses (or noun clauses) The concept of clause we can see inthe next part of the study

1.5 Some concepts of sentence structure

Before giving some concepts of English linguists about sentence structure we wouldlike to show their concepts of clauses

According to Roderick A Jacobs (1995), clauses are constructions with one phraseconstituent typically a noun phrase that bears the subject relation and anotherconstituent, the verb phrase, bearing the predicate relation For example, the

construction A woman in a 1993 Jaguar sedan cannot be a clause because it lacks a verb phrase Here is one example of a clause: Clara delayed her graduation The subject of a clause is Clara and the verb phrase is delayed her graduation This

clause can stand on its own as a sentence

According to Sidney Greenbaum (1996), a clause is a construction that typically

consists minimally of a subject and a verb (I laughed), though in an imperative

clause the subject is generally absent but implied, so that minimally only the verb

needs to be present (sit!) A clause may be within a larger construction: coordinated with another clause (the two clauses coordinated by and in I paid this time and you

pay next time), or subordinated within another clause (the subordinate whether –

clause in They asked whether I would pay), or within a phrase (the that clause in the noun phrase The company that employed me) In all the examples given so far, the

clauses are finite in that their verb phrase is finite But clauses may be non-finite

(the infinitive clause in I wanted to pay, the –ing participle clause in I enjoy playing, and the –ed participle clause in They wanted the house sold before the end of the

year) or verbless (the when clause in When in Rome, do as the Romans do) A set of

clauses interrelated by coordination or subordination (or minimally one clause that

is independent of any such links) constitutes a sentence (or a less misleading termfor the spoken language– a clause cluster)

According to Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum (1976), in order to stategeneral rules about the construction of sentences, it is constantly necessary to refer

to smaller units than the sentence itself Traditionally, there is a primary distinctionbetween subject and predicate For example:

(20) John carefully searched the room.

(21) The girl is now a student at a large university.

(22) His brother grew happier gradually.

According to these authors a simple sentence is a sentence that consists of only oneclause and it may alternatively be seen as comprising five units called elements ofsentences and also of clauses within sentences They are subject, verb, complement,object and adverbial They are abbreviated as S, V, C, O and A For example:

(23) It rained steadily all day.

S V A A

(24) He had given the girl an apple.

S V O O

(25) They make him the chairman every year.

1 Linearity: Sentences are produced and received in a linear sequence

2 Hierarchy: Sentences are hierarchically structured, that is, they are notsimply sequences of individual words but are made up of word groupings,which themselves may consist of lesser groupings

3 Categoriality: Sentences are made up of parts which belong to a set ofdistinct categories, each with its special characteristics

Through the materials and examples that we have collected we realize that in mostEnglish books and journals on economics and business authors use a lot of noun

phrases consisting of a head noun with attributive adjectives, adjective phrases,

participial phrases, noun adjunct, prepositional phrases… as modifiers andstructures such as passive voice, relative clauses, sentences with pronoun subject

“IT” etc In this study we would like to focus on these common noun phrases andstructures

1.6 Some concepts of translation

1.6.1 What is translation?

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “translation is the communication of the

meaning of a source language text by means of an equivalent target language text.”

According to Peter Newmark (1988), translation is “rendering the meaning of a text

into another language in the way that the author intended the text Common sense

tells us that this ought to be simple, as one ought to be able to say something as well in one language as in another.”

Through these definitions of translation we can see that equivalence in translation isvery necessary and important So what is equivalence in translation?

1.6.2 Equivalence in translation

There are many researches about translation theories in western translation history.Among them are researches about equivalence in translation and methods oftranslation In this study we would like to look at equivalence in more detail In ouropinion equivalence in translation has always been the central issue of discussion

We can see these equivalences at word level, above word level (that meanscollocations, idioms and expressions) In addition, equivalence can be grammatical(for example, word order equivalence); textual (thematic and information structures,cohesion: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical); pragmatic(coherence) In this study we would like to give readers knowledge of equivalence

at word level more deeply

According to Mona Baker (1992), translation problems can arise from lack ofequivalence at word level He gave a question: “What does a translator do whenthere is no word in the target language which expresses the same meaning as thesource language word?

Through Mona Baker’s analysis we understand more that there is no one-to-onecorrespondence between orthographic words and elements of meaning within oracross languages Besides, according to Zgusta (1971: 67) (extracted from MonaBaker (1992), every word (lexical unit) has something that is individual, that makes

it different from any other word, and it is just the lexical meaning which is the mostoutstanding individual property of the word

According to Cruse (1986) (in Mona Baker (1992), we can distinguish four maintypes of meaning in words and utterances (utterances being stretches of written orspoken text): propositional meaning, expressive meaning, presupposed meaning andevoked meaning The propositional meaning of a word or an utterance arises from

the relation between it and what it refers to or describes in a real or imaginaryworld, as conceived by the speakers of the particular language to which the word orutterance belongs This type of meaning provides the basis on which we can judge

an utterance as true or false The expressive meaning relates to the speaker’s feeling

or attitude rather than to what words and utterances refer to According to MonaBaker (1992), two or more words or utterances can therefore have the samepropositional meaning but differ in their expressive meanings The presupposedmeaning arises from co-occurrence restrictions, i.e restrictions on what other words

or expressions we expect to see before or after a particular lexical unit The evokedmeaning arises from dialect and register variation A dialect is a variety of languagewhich has currency within a specific community or group of speakers Register is avariety of language that a language user considers appropriate to a specific situation.Register variation arises from variations in the field, tenor and mode of discourse

Of all the types of lexical meaning explained above, the only one which relates tothe truth or falsehood of an utterance and which can consequently be challenged by

a reader or hearer is propositional meaning All other types of lexical meaningcontribute to the overall meaning of an utterance or a text in subtle and complexways and are often much more difficult to analyze To reiterate, it is rarely possible inpractice to separate the various types of meaning in a word or utterance Likewise, it israrely possible to define even the basic propositional meaning of a word or utterancewith absolute certainty This is because the nature of language is such that, in themajority of cases, words have “blurred edges”; their meanings are, to a large extent,negotiable and are only realized in specific contexts The task of a translator here is toperceive the meanings of words and utterances precisely in order to render them intoanother language This forces translators to go far beyond what the average reader has

to do in order to reach an adequate understanding of a text

1.6.3 Some common problems of non-equivalence in translation

According to Mona Baker (1992), at word level there are some common types ofnon-equivalence which often pose difficulties for the translator and she gives some

attested strategies for dealing with them According to her, non-equivalence at wordlevel means that the target language has no direct equivalent for a word whichoccurs in the source text The following are some common types of non-equivalence

b The source-language concept is not lexicalized in the target language

The source language word may express a concept which is known in the targetculture but simply not lexicalized, that is not “allocated” a target language word toexpress it

c The source-language word is semantically complex

This is fairly common problem in translation A single word which consists of asingle morpheme can sometimes express a more complex set of meanings than awhole sentence We do not usually realize how semantically complex a word isuntil we have to translate it into a language which does not have an equivalent for it

d The source and target languages make different distinctions in meaning

The target language may make more or fewer distinctions in meaning than thesource language What one language regards as an important distinction in meaninganother language may not perceive as relevant

e The target language lacks a super-ordinate

The target language may have specific words (hyponyms) but no general word(super-ordinate) to head the semantic field

f The target language lacks a specific term (hyponym)

More commonly, languages tend to have general words (super-ordinates) but lackspecific ones (hyponyms), since each language makes only those distinctions inmeaning which seem relevant to its particular environment

g Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

Physical perspective may be of importance in one language than it is in another.Physical perspective has to do with where things or people are in relation to one

another or to a place, as expressed in pairs of words such as come/ go, take/ bring,

arrive/ depart and so on Perspective may also include the relationship between

participants in the discourse

h Differences in expressive meaning

There may be a target language word which has the same propositional meaning asthe source language word, but it may have a different expressive meaning Thedifference may be considerable or it may be subtle but important enough to pose atranslation problem in a given context It is usually easier to add expressivemeaning than to subtract it

i Differences in form

There is often no equivalent in the target language for a particular form in thesource text Certain suffixes and prefixes which convey propositional and othertypes of meaning in English often have no direct equivalents in other languages It

is relatively easy to paraphrase propositional meaning, but other types of meaningcannot always be spelt out in a translation Their subtle contribution to the overallmeaning of the text is either lost altogether or recovered elsewhere by means ofcompensatory techniques It is the most important for translators to understand thecontribution that affixes make to the meaning of words and expressions, especiallysince such affixes are often used creatively in English to coin new words for variousreasons, such as filling temporary semantic gaps in the language and creatinghumor Their contribution is also important in the area of terminology andstandardization

j Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms

Even when a particular form does have a ready equivalent in the target language,there may be a difference in the frequency with which it is used or the purpose forwhich it is used

k The use of loan words in the source text

The use of loan words in the source text poses a special problem in translation.Quite apart from their respective prepositional meaning, loan words such as

au fait, chic, and alfresco in English are often used for their prestige value, because

they can add an air of sophistication to the text or its subject matter

This is often lost in translation because it is not always possible to find a loan wordwith the same meaning in the target language

1.6.4 Some strategies for dealing with these problems

Mona Baker (19992) also gives some strategies for dealing with various types ofnon-equivalence at word level We can now look at her examples (in English) ofstrategies used by professional translators for dealing with various types ofnonequivalence In each example, the source-language word which represents atranslation problem is underlined The strategy used by the translator is highlighted

in bold in both the original translation and the back-translated version

- Translation by a more general word (super-ordinate)

This is one of the commonest strategies for dealing with many types of equivalence, particularly in the area of propositional meaning It works equally well

non-in most, if not all, languages, snon-ince the hierarchical structure of semantic fields isnot language-specific For example:

(27) Shampoo the hair with a mild WELLA-SHAMPOO and lightly towel dry.

-> Wash hair with a mild WELLA shampoo and rub lightly with a towel.

The above example illustrates the use of a general word (super-ordinate) to

overcome a relative lack of specificity in a target language compared to

a source language ‘Shampooing’ can be seen as a type of ‘washing’ since

it is more restricted in its use: you can wash lots of things but you can only

shampoo hair

- Translation by a more neutral/ less expressive word

For example: (Source text China’s Panda Reserves)

(28) Many of the species growing wild here are familiar to us as plants cultivated in

European gardens – species like this exotic lily.

->We are very familiar with many varieties of the wild life here, they are

the kind grown in European gardens – varieties like this strange unique

lily flower (Target text (back-translated from Chinese)

Exotic has no equivalent in Chinese and other oriental languages It is a word used

by westerners to refer to unusual, interesting things which come from a distant

country such as China The orient does not have a concept of what is exotic in this

sense and the expressive meaning of the word is therefore lost in translation

- Translation by cultural substitution

This strategy involves replacing a culture-specific item or expression with a language item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is likely tohave a similar impact on the target reader The main advantage of using this strategy

target-is that it gives the reader a concept with which s/he can identify something familiarand appealing For example:

(29) The Patrick Collection has restaurant facilities to suit every taste –from the discerning gourmet, to the Cream Tea expert.

> to satisfy all tastes: from those of the demanding gastronomist to those of

the expert in pastry (Target text (back-translated from Italian)

In Britain, cream tea is ‘an afternoon meal consisting of tea to drink and scones

with jam and clotted cream to eat It can also include sandwiches and cakes.’

Cream tea has no equivalent in other cultures The Italian translator replaced it with

‘pastry’, which does not have the same meaning (for one thing, cream tea is a meal

in Britain, whereas ‘pastry’ is only a type of food) However, ‘pastry’ is familiar tothe Italian reader and therefore provides a good cultural substitute

- Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation

This strategy is particularly common in dealing with culture-specific items, modernconcepts, and buzz words Following the loan word with an explanation is very

useful when the word in question is repeated several times in the text Onceexplained, the loan word can then be used on its own; the reader can understand itand is not distracted by further lengthy explanations.

- Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words

If the concept expressed by the source item is not lexicalized at all in the targetlanguage, the paraphrase strategy can still be used in some contexts Instead of arelated word, the paraphrase may be based on modifying a super-ordinate or simply

on unpacking the meaning of the source item, particularly if the item in question issemantically complex

- Translation by omission

This strategy may sound rather drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omittranslating a word or expression in some contexts If the meaning conveyed by aparticular item or expression is not vital enough to the development of the text tojustify distracting the reader with lengthy explanations, translators can and often dosimply omit translating the word or expression in question

- Translation by illustration

This is a useful option if the word which lacks an equivalent in the target languagerefers to a physical entity which can be illustrated, particularly if there arerestrictions on space and if the text has to remain short, concise, and to the point

1.7 English for special purposes (ESP)

According to Dudley Evans (1997), in terms of absolute characteristics, ESP isdefined to meet specific needs of the learners It makes use of underlyingmethodology and activities of the discipline it served ESP is centered on thelanguage appropriate to these activities in terms of grammar, lexis, register, studyskills, discourse and genre In term of variable characteristics, ESP may be related

to or designed for specific disciplines It may use, in specific teaching situations, adifferent methodology from that of General English ESP is likely to be designedfor adult learners, either at tertiary level institution or in a professional worksituation In general it is designed for intermediate or advanced students According

to Hutchinson et al (1987), the difference between the ESP and General Englishapproach is nothing in theory, but in practice - a great deal.

According to “Lexical equivalence in business English translation” (2009),

Business English is English used in business context It is a combination ofknowledge in both business and language Being faithful is of primary important inbusiness English translation, but a translation only faithful to the original is far fromadequate if it is not appropriate to the original in style Therefore, in doing businesstranslation, the translators should always keep in mind the specific purposes andfunctions of the original texts and make attempts to render the closest naturalequivalent in the target language (that is Vietnamese)

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ESP is a sphere of teaching English

language including Business English, Technical English, Scientific English, Englishfor medical professionals, English for waiters, English for tourism, English for Artpurposes etc

1.8 Sub - conclusion

Through chapter 1 we can understand more about English phrases in generaland noun phrases in particular, such as definitions of phrase, noun phrase, structureand functions of noun phrase When studying sentence structure we shouldunderstand that there are three main properties of sentence structure: linearity,hierarchy and categoriality In chapter 1 we can also have knowledge aboutequivalence, non-equivalence in translation, especially at word level and somestrategies for dealing with non-equivalence problems in translation

CHAPTER 2 THE MAIN NOUN PHRASES IN ENGLISH BOOKS AND JOURNALS

ON ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

As we have mentioned in chapter 1, there are many types of noun phrase modifiersand a noun phrase can have many functions In this chapter we will study some ofthese modifiers and functions in more details

2.1 Noun phrase modifiers

2.1.1 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with attributive adjectives as modifiers

When learning English grammar we know that a noun, especially a singularcountable noun, always has to have a word functioning as its modifier That is whynearly every noun has its modifier In our total examples (about one thousand nounphrases), among noun phrase modifiers, noun phrases consisting of a head nounwith attributive adjectives as modifiers account for about 22% and most of thesemodifiers are pre-modifiers We can look at these examples (at the end of theexamples we use the numbers to show the source of examples, for example, (3:16)means the order of the material in the list of reference books is 3, the sentence is onpage 16 in the material):

(1) We are already importing a number of foods from Europe and the USA and consider, therefore, that we have considerable experience in this field (3:16)

(Chúng tôi đã nhập khẩu rất nhiều loại thực phẩm từ châu Âu và Mỹ, vì vậy chúng

tôi cho rằng chúng tôi rất có kinh nghiệm trong lĩnh vực này.) (3:17)

(2) On our part, we can offer Bright machines with an international reputation, which are already being sold in many countries in Europe (3:18)

(Về phần chúng tôi, chúng tôi có thể cung ứng các máy móc hiệu Bright có danh

tiếng trên trường quốc tế, đã được bán tại nhiều quốc gia ở châu Âu.) (3:19)

(3) We are convinced that there is an enormous potential market waiting to be

opened and a really active agent can develop an excellent business in this line (3:23)

(Chúng tôi tin chắc rằng có một thị trường tiềm năng to lớn đang chờ được khai

thác, và một đại lý thật năng động có thể kinh doanh tốt mặt hàng này.) (3:24)

(4) You will receive a special introductory discount of 10%, which we can maintain until October 10 (3:44)

(Quí công ty sẽ nhận được mức giảm giá đặc biệt ban đầu là 10%, chúng tôi có thể

giữ mức giảm giá này đến ngày 10 tháng 10.) (3:44)

(5) Service quality is regularly considered as a crucial determinant of success and

an effective and competitive tool for all service companies (6:78)

(Chất lượng dịch vụ từ lâu đã được xem là yếu tố then chốt dẫn đến thành công và

là một công cụ cạnh tranh hiệu quả của tất cả các doanh nghiệp dịch vụ.) (9:118)

When being translated into Vietnamese most of these modifiers are kept inVietnamese sentences However in many cases translators use other parts of speech

or different structures For example, in (1) the word “considerable” is translated by the word “rất” (very), in (3) the noun phrase “an excellent business” is translated in

other structure and it is not a noun phrase in Vietnamese

2.1.2 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with participial phrases as modifiers

Through the materials we have collected we find that the participial phrases asmodifiers can function as pre-modifiers and post-modifiers They account for about10% of the total examples Below are some examples:

(6) In the case of developing countries that have rapid change in demographics and income, demographics are also considered as an important factor influencing saving ratio (5:7)

(Với các nước đang phát triển trong đó nhân khẩu học và mức thu nhập thay đổi khánhanh, nhân khẩu học cũng được xác định là một trong các yếu tố quan trọng xác

định tỷ lệ tiết kiệm.) (8:57)

(7) Indemnity is the cost at the time of loss of replacing the stock, including transport and handling costs to the insured’s premises (1:107)

(Tiền bồi thường sẽ là chi phí thay thế hàng hóa vào thời điểm xảy ra tổn thất kể cả

chi phí xếp dỡ và vận chuyển tới cơ sở của người được bảo hiểm.) (1:108)

(8) If you need more objective information concerning our credit, please direct all inquiries to the bank of Taiwan, the Seasons Trading Co., Taipei (3:15)

(Nếu quý công ty cần biết thêm thông tin khách quan hơn về tín dụng của chúng tôi,xin vui lòng gửi tất cả câu hỏi đến Ngân hàng Đài Loan, Công ty thương mại Bốn

(Trong sáu năm qua chúng tôi đã bán đủ loại mặt hàng dùng rất bền cho các thươngnhân bán sỉ và bán lẻ lớn trên khắp Đài Loan, và chúng tôi đã xây dựng được rất

nhiều chỗ giao dịch từ lâu đã có thành tích kinh doanh xuất sắc.) (3:22)

(11) A car used by a retired person for local use is on the road less than one used

by a salesman traveling over large areas (1:143)

(Xe do một người về hưu sử dụng cho mục đích lưu hành ở địa phương trên đường

ít hơn so với xe do một thương gia sử dụng để đi lại trong những khu vực rộng lớn.)

(1:144)

(12) Damage caused by “violent disorder” is not covered by a basic fire policy (1:103)

(Thiệt hại do lộn xộn bạo lực gây nên không được bảo hiểm theo đơn bảo hiểmcháy tiêu chuẩn.) (1:104)

(13) We must also say that there would be little hope of getting your products sold

as they are quite unknown in this market and your fixed prices are rather higher (3:27)

(Chúng tôi cũng cần nói rằng do các sản phẩm của quý công ty chưa được nhiềungười biết đến tại thị trường này và các mức giá cố định của quý công ty cổ phần

cao hơn nên khó hy vọng bán được hàng.) (3:28)

(14) Our new price list is enclosed, and all orders posted after April 30 must be invoiced at the new rates (3:50)

(Chúng tôi xin gửi kèm bảng giá mới, và tất cả các đơn đặt hàng được gửi sau ngày

30 tháng 4 phải được ghi hóa đơn theo mức giá mới.) (3:51)

(15) Reasoning and models used in the research are built upon the basis of two main theories: the efficient market hypothesis assumptions, and the behavioral finance theory (6:.61)

(Cơ sở lý luận và mô hình được sử dụng trong bài nghiên cứu được xây dựng dựatrên cơ sở của hai lý thuyết chính: lý thuyết thị trường hiệu quả và lý thuyết tàichính hành vi.) (9:36)

(16) The contents cover granted under a householders’ policy includes all the cover described under the buildings section together with a number of specific extensions that apply only to contents (1:127)

(Bảo hiểm đồ đạc được xếp theo đơn bảo hiểm hộ gia đình bao gồm tất cả phạm vibảo hiểm nêu ở phần bảo hiểm nhà cùng với một số mở rộng cụ thể chỉ áp dụng cho

đồ đạc.) (1:128)

(17) These are of leather with new designs developed by our designers (3:125)

(Chúng đều được làm bằng da với những kiểu thiết kế mới lạ được các nhà thiết kế

của chúng tôi phát triển.) (3:125)

(18) In the event of the car being stolen and not recovered insurers will pay the market value (or the insured’s declared value if less) (1:147)

(Đối với xe bị mất cắp và không tìm lại được, công ty bảo hiểm sẽ đền bù theo giáthị trường (hoặc theo giá trị mà người bảo hiểm đã khai báo, nếu như giá trị nàythấp hơn.) (3:148)

Looking at the Vietnamese sentences we can see that for most of the pre-modifierstranslators don’t use the same noun phrases as English noun phrases, they use nounplus verb, in active voice for present participle, and in passive voice for pastparticiple For example, in (6), noun phrase “developing countries” is translated into

“các nước đang phát triển”, that is noun phrase “các nước” plus verb phrase “đang

phát triển” We can see this method of translation in (7), (8) and (9) For most of

the post-modifiers, especially post- modifiers that are past participles, translatorsdon’t use the same noun phrases as English noun phrases, they use a noun plus asentence – a subject (agent) and a verb We can see this method of translation in(11) and (12)

In English grammar, participial phrases in fact are reduced relative clauses inwhich the relative pronouns and auxiliary verb “be” are removed We canunderstand more about this later, in (2.1.5) of this chapter

2.1.3 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with noun adjuncts as modifiers

In the process of learning and teaching English, especially business English, werealize that it is very common when a noun functions as a modifier, in more detail, apre-modifier We can see these pre-modifiers in many English course books, booksfor economics and business in general and in journals of economics anddevelopment etc These pre-modifiers can consist of one noun or more than onenoun In our total examples they account for about 25% We can look at thefollowing examples:

(19) A number of individuals or companies received a cash premium in exchange for a promise to pay indemnity to the owner of the vessel if it was lost (1:3)

(Một số cá nhân hay công ty thu phí bảo hiểm bằng tiền mặt để đổi lấy một cam kết

sẽ bồi thường cho chủ tàu trong trường hợp tàu bị mất tích.) (1:4)

(20) With the widespread use of the computer today, many of these varied information needs are being organized into what might be called a management information system (2:4)

(Ngày nay, với việc sử dụng máy tính rộng rãi, các nhu cầu thông tin khác nhau này

được tổ chức lại thành một hệ thống, gọi là hệ thống thông tin quản trị.) (2:.4)

(21) This paper applies micro-simulation techniques with a household survey, i.e, Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) in 2010, to examine how a cash transfer program would have been able to help reduce property of the elderly (6:22)

(Bài viết này áp dụng phương pháp mô phỏng vi mô với số liệu hộ gia đình (điều tramức sống hộ gia đình Việt Nam năm 2010 – VHLSS 2010) để đánh giá xem việctrợ cấp tiền mặt có tác động thế nào đến việc giảm nghèo cho người cao tuổi.)

(9:22)

(22) We are one of the leading exporters of Taiwan chemicals and have enjoyed an excellent reputation through fifty years’ business experience (3:15)

(Chúng tôi là một trong những nhà xuất khẩu hàng đầu về hóa chất ở Đài Loan và

đã có danh tiếng rất tốt qua 50 năm kinh nghiệm trong lĩnh vực thương mại.) (3:15)

(23) Last year we achieved a 30% increase in the sales of our businessmen’s suits (3:42)

(Năm qua, doanh thu mặt hàng com-lê của chúng tôi đã tăng 30%.) (3:43)

We understand that the use of a noun in function of a modifier makes learners ofEnglish easier when learning and using English, but it is more difficut for them todetermine which noun is the head noun in a noun phrase And when they translatethem into Vietnamese, sometimes they have to change the head noun We can seethis in examples (16) and (17)

modifiers

This type of noun phrases accounts for the largest of the total examples, about 28%.First we would like to show the examples of this type of the noun phrase:

(24) The other normal exclusion is bodily injury arising out of and in the course of the employment of the person by the insured (1:139)

(Một loại trừ thông thường khác là thương tích xảy ra từ và trong quá trình người

được bảo hiểm thuê mướn nhân công.) (1:140)

(25) The insured would not wish to put himself in the position of paying a large sum

of money and finding his insurer questioning whether too much had been paid relative to the damage done This may carry with it a suggestion of only a partial payment by the insurer (1:19)

(Người được bảo hiểm sẽ không muốn tự mình phải trả một số tiền lớn để sau đó bịcông ty bảo hiểm chất vấn vì số tiền thanh toán thiệt hại là quá lớn Điều này có thể

dẫn tới việc công ty bảo hiểm đề nghị chi trả một phần bồi thường.) (1: 150)

(26) An example of this would be in a factory and involving a boiler which is only used to heat water for use in the canteen (1:101)

(Một ví dụ thuộc loại sự cố này có thể xảy ra trong một nhà máy lien quan tới nồi

hơi chỉ sử dụng để đun nước dùng trong căng tin.) (1:102)

(27) Before we grant credit of this amount, we should be obliged if you could let us have your opinion on their reputation and their financial standing (3:35)

(Trước khi chúng tôi bán chịu lượng hàng này, chúng tôi rất biết ơn nếu quí ngânhàng có thể cho chúng tôi biết ý kiến của quí ngân hàng về danh tiếng và tình hình

tài chính của họ.) (3:35)

(28) We are very please to receive your order for our goods to the value of $20,000 (3:32)

(Chúng tôi rất vui khi nhận được đơn của quý công ty đặt mua hàng của chúng tôi

trị giá hơn 20.000 đô la Mỹ.) (3:33)

(29) We sincerely hope that this is the beginning of a long and pleasant business relationship (3:32)

(Chúng tôi thật lòng hy vọng rằng đây sẽ là sự khởi đầu trong quan hệ thương mại

lâu dài và tốt đẹp.) (3:33)

Through the above examples and the examples that we have collected we can seethat noun phrases consisting of a head noun with prepositional phrases as modifiersare always “long” noun phrases All of these modifiers are post-modifiers andamong the prepositional phrases functioning as noun phrase modifiers, “of” phrasesaccount for the most amount Looking at Vietnamese sentences we can see thattranslators use some different methods of translation For example, they use verbinstead of noun, as in examples (18) and (19), or sometimes they don’t translate theprepositions or they use other Vietnamese prepositions, as in examples, (27), (28) and(29) In many cases translators change structure, as in examples (24), (25) and (26).

2.1.5 Noun phrases consisting of a head noun with relative clauses as modifiers

Like the noun phrases consisting of a head noun with participial phrases asmodifiers, the noun phrases consisting of a head noun with relative clauses asmodifiers are used a lot in books for economics and business For example,according to our statistics, two these noun phrases account for nearly 20% of the

sentences in the book “Insurance principles and practice -Bảo hiểm nguyên tắc và

thực hành” (1993) The following are examples of this type of noun phrases:

(30) In structuring this text we have combined in chapters the types of insurance that have similar characteristics or that have similar underwriting considerations (1:99)

(Trong khi biên soạn cuốn sách này, chúng tôi đã kết hợp những loại bảo hiểm cónhững đặc trưng tương đồng, hay có quá trình xét nhận bảo hiểm giống nhau và

chia thành từng chương.) (1:100)

(31) We will begin by examining the main classes of business that fall under the heading of general insurances and then see how they are groups together to provide trader’s combined insurances for the small shopkeeper/businessperson Personal general insurances and insurances of the person will be looked at in a separate chapter (1:99, 101)

(Chúng ta sẽ bắt đầu bằng cách xem xét các nghiệp vụ bảo hiểm chính thuộc bảohiểm phi nhân thọ sau đó sẽ xem xét cách thức chúng được tập hợp với nhau đểtạo ra loại bảo hiểm hỗn hợp của thương gia cho các chủ cửa hàng nhỏ hay cácdoanh nhân Bao hiểm phi nhân thọ cá nhân và bảo hiểm con người sẽ được xem

xét ở một chương riêng.) (1: 100, 102)

(32) An example of this would be in a factory and involving a boiler which is only used to heat water for use in the canteen (1:101)

(Một ví dụ thuộc loại sự cố này có thể xảy ra trong một nhà máy liên quan tới nồi

hơi chỉ sử dụng để đun nước dùng trong căng tin.) (1:102)

(33) They commenced the operation and a policeman who tried to stop them retreated to obtain reinforcements (1:101)

(Khi họ bắt đầu hành động, một viên cảnh sát đã cố gắng ngăn cản họ, song phải

rút lui để xin viện trợ.) (1:102)

(34) It is possible to add to a fire policy cover against a variety of other perils that are not fire (1:103)

(Người ta có thể bổ sung vào đơn bảo hiểm cháy để bảo hiểm cho một loạt các

hiểm họa khác không phải hỏa hoạn.) (1:104)

(35) One British company did at one stage offer a policy which provided a chauffeur in the event of the insured being convicted of a “drink driving” offence and banned from driving This policy has been withdrawn for the reasons discussed above (1:31)

(Trước kia đã có thời, một công ty của Anh quốc cấp một đơn bảo hiểm cho mộtngười lái xe trong trường hợp người được bảo hiểm bị buộc tội là lái xe khi sayrượu hoặc bị cấm lái xe Tuy nhiên đơn bảo hiểm này đã bị thu hồi vì các lý do

nêu trên.) (1:32)

(36) We wish to sell our automatic copying machines in your country, and should like to be put in touch with a company or individual who would be willing to represent us (3:18)

(Chúng tôi mong muốn được bán các máy photocopy tự động của chúng tôi tại đấtnước của quý ông, nên muốn được liên hệ với một công ty hoặc cá nhân sẵn lòng

đại diện cho chúng tôi.) (3:18)

Looking at Vietnamese sentences we can see that all of the relative pronouns andauxiliary “be” in the sentences are not translated from English sentences And this is