Applying house's translation quality assessment model to assess the Vietnamese translation of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -chapter XX and it105920

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ DIỄM HẰNG APPLYING HOUSE’S TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT MODEL TO ASSESS THE VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF MARK TWAIN’S “THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN”-CHAPTER XX BY XN OANH ÁP DỤNG MƠ HÌNH ĐÁNH GIÁ CHẤT LƯỢNG BẢN DỊCH CỦA HOUSE VÀO VIỆC ĐÁNH GIÁ BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG VIỆT “NHỮNG CUỘC PHIÊU LƯU CỦA HUCKLEBERRY FINN”-CHƯƠNG XXDỊCH GIẢ XUÂN OANH M.A Thesis Combined Programme Thesis English Linguistics 60 22 15 HA NOI-2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ DIỄM HẰNG APPLYING HOUSE’S TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT MODEL TO ASSESS THE VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF MARK TWAIN’S “THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN”-CHAPTER XX BY XUÂN OANH ÁP DỤNG MÔ HÌNH ĐÁNH GIÁ CHẤT LƯỢNG BẢN DỊCH CỦA HOUSE VÀO VIỆC ĐÁNH GIÁ BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG VIỆT “NHỮNG CUỘC PHIÊU LƯU CỦA HUCKLEBERRY FINN”-CHƯƠNG XXDỊCH GIẢ XUÂN OANH M.A Thesis Combined Programme Thesis Major: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Asso Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến HA NOI-2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Tables of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of diagrams .viii INTRODUCTION Rationale Purpose of the study Research questions Research method Significance of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Translation theory 1.1.1 Definition of translation .4 1.1.2 Translation methods .4 1.1.3 Translation equivalence .5 1.1.3.1 Three main views on translation equivalence 1.1.3.2 Interlingual and intertextual equivalence 1.1.3.3 Typologies of equivalence 1.2 Literary translation 1.2.1 Definition .8 1.2.2 Difficulties in literary translation 1.2.2.1 Cultural translation problems 1.2.2.2 Stylistic translation problems 11 1.2.2.3 Linguistic translation problems 12 v 1.2.2.4 Text specific translation problems 12 1.3 Translation quality assessment 12 1.3.1 Definition .12 1.3.2 Role of translation quality assessment 12 1.3.3 Approaches to assess the quality of a translation 13 1.3.3.1 Models with a quantitative dimension 13 1.3.3.2 Non- quantitative models 14 1.3.3.2.1 Critique productive 14 1.3.3.2.2 Functionalist model 15 1.3.3.2.3 Skopostheorie .15 1.3.3.2.4 Descriptive-explanatory model 16 1.4 House’s model of translation quality assessment 17 1.4.1 House‘s original model 17 1.4.2 House‘s revised model 20 CHAPTER 2: RESUTLS AND DISCUSSION Source Text Profile 23 Field .23 Tenor 26 Mode 30 Genre 31 Statement of Function 32 Comparison of original and translation text and statement of quality Comparison of original and translation 32 Statement of quality .40 CONCLUSION 42 REFERENCES Appendix A Vietnamese version of the selected text Appendix B English version of the selected text Appendix C Huck‘s repetition of phrase ―by and by‖ vi Appendix D Huck‘s repetition of word ―considerable‖ Appendix E Huck‘s repetition of word ―considerable‖ Appendix F Omissions of clausal linkages Appendix G Back Translation and Categorization of Overtly Erroneous Errors vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TQA: Translation Quality Assessment ST: Source Text TT: Target Text SL: Source Language TL: Target Language viii LIST OF DIAGRAMS House‘s Revised Schema for the Analysis of ST and TT Page 21 Chart of Overtly Erroneous Errors Page 37 INTRODUCTION Rationale People all over the world are now getting closer and closer thanks to many factors, among which literature is an important one Not only can readers entertain but they can also approach the cultures of a far away country while staying at their home However, it is a matter of fact that not everyone is competent enough to read the original text Therefore, the readers normally choose to read translation texts The increasing number of translations available calls for the need of assessing the quality of such works so that the readers can enjoy reliable ones Given the situation, the evaluation of a translation has become the concern of Translation Quality Assessment approaches and quite many attempts have been made to find the answer to the question of how to effectively assess the quality of a translated work Along with those attempts are a numbers of related frameworks advocated by some translation researchers; among which The Translation Quality Assessment Model by the German scholar Juliane House is one of few approaches considered promising This assessment model by House is based on Hallidayan Systemic-Functional Theory, but it also draws eclectically on Prague School ideas, speech act theory, pragmatics, discourse analysis and corpus-based distinctions between the spoken and written language House‘s Model enables us to analyze and compare an original text and its translation on three different levels: Language/ Text, Register (Field, Mode and Tenor) and Genre This study aims to apply House‘s Model on Mark Twain‘s ―The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn‖-chapter XX and its Vietnamese translation by Xuân Oanh (2009) It can be said that this research is a new exciting experience for the researcher in that she is not a graduate majoring in translation Therefore, this research first and foremost is to fullfill the researcher‘s interest in translation and in House‘s Model in particular In addition, being able to assess a translation will provide the researcher confidence and knowledge to practice translation, particularly literature translation Besides the above reasons, through library reasearch, it is realized that House‘s Model has been widely applied to assess legal document translation Therefore, this study seeks to explore new aspects on utilizing House‘s framework to evaluate a literal translation work Purpose of the study In this research, an attempt will be made to apply the Housian TQA Model to identify two kinds of errors in the translated work: overtly erroenous errors and covertly errornous errors The frequency of their occurences will be the foundation to assess the quality of the target text and to challenge House‘s idea that to literary work, it has to be an overt kind of translation Reserch questions  How good is the translation according to House‘s model?  What are the remaining problems of the translation?  Whether the translation is an overt or covert kind of translation?  What might be some implications for the translation of English literature into Vietnamese? Research method This study utilizes qualitative design First, the original text will be read thoroughly and comprehensively then the source text will be compared to its translation under the framework of House‘s TQA model Although, there are quite many models available for translation quality assessment, House‘s model is applied in that this model provides a comprehensive set of parameters enable the researcher to assess the translation text on dimension of both functional and pragmatic equivalence In addition, as stated by House, the model can be applied for a wide range of text The procedure is briefly introduced by Munday (2001, p.92) as below:  A profile is introduced of the ST register  To this is added a description of the ST genre realized by the register  Together, this allows a ―statement of function‖ to be made for the ST, including the ideational and interpersonal component of that function (in other words, what information is being conveyed and what the relationship is between sender and receiver)  The same descriptive process is then carried out for the TT  The TT profile is compared to the ST profile and a statement of ―mismatches‖ or errors is produced, categorized according to genre and to the situational dimensions of register and genre  A ―statement of quality‖ is then made of the translation  Finally, the translation can be categorized into one of two types: overt translation or covert translation As it is impossible for the researcher to analyze the whole text due to limit of time and knowledge and also to be suitable with the applied framework, only one chapter will be selected randomly to guarantee the objectiveness of the procedure (chapter XX) However, examples from other chapters will be taken to prove the generality of the obtained findings in possible cases Significance of the study It is very important to be able to evaluate a translation in that translation has become an indispensable part in human civilization In Vietnam, English is a popular foreign language and is a tool of communication as well as a key to human knowledge The demand for knowledge has fostered the development of translation and it seems that many nonprofessionals and semi-professional translators undertake the task of translating Hopefully, this study will be a source of reference for other researcher concerning the same issue and important features of the framework will be ackowledged to have successful translation works ... UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG THỊ DIỄM HẰNG APPLYING HOUSE’S TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT MODEL TO ASSESS THE VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF MARK. .. errors The frequency of their occurences will be the foundation to assess the quality of the target text and to challenge House‘s idea that to literary work, it has to be an overt kind of translation. .. according to genre and to the situational dimensions of register and genre  A ―statement of quality? ?? is then made of the translation  Finally, the translation can be categorized into one of two