The influences of culture on translation

2.Aims and Objective of the study Understanding about the influence of culture on translation on word and phrase level is the prime aim of my study from that we can know how to apply t

THE INFLUENCES OF CULTURE ON TRANSLATION

Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, M.A

Student : Bien Thi Van Anh Date of birth : 20/02/1993

Course : K18A2 (2011-2015)

Hanoi – 2015

Graduation Paper

DECLARATION

Title: The Influences of Culture on Translation

I certify that no part of report has been copied or reproduced by me from

any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Graduation Paper

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Mrs.Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, lecturer of Hanoi Open University This study could have probably not completed without her patient, enthusiastic and instructive supervision and encouragement

I also would like to show my profound gratitude to all the lecturers in the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University for tirelessly devoting time and efforts to enrich, broaden and deepen my knowledge over the past 4 years

My special thanks go as well as to the English Department of Hanoi Open University for giving me the opportunity and permission to implement this study

Besides, I am deeply indebted to my beloved family for their wholehearted support and encouragement I also would like to dedicate my special thanks to my classmates in K18-A2, who have supported, cooperated and provided me with valuable suggestions

Finally, I cannot fully express my gratitude to all the people whose direct and indirect support assisted me to accomplish my thesis in time

Graduation Paper

Table of Contents

Part A: Introduction 1

1 Rationale 1

2.Aims and Objective of the study 1

3.Scope of the study 2

4.Research questions 2

5.Methods of the study 2

6.Design of the study 3

Part B: Contents 4

Chapter 1: Some basis theories of translation 4

1.1 Definition of translation 4

1.2 Development direction of translation 5

1.3 The nature of translation 6

1.4 Some main methods of translation 7

1.4.1 Word_ for_word translation 8

1.4.2 Literal translation 8

1.4.3 Faithful translation 9

1.4.4 Semantic translation 9

1.4.5 Communicative translation 10

1.4.6 Idiomatic translation 10

1.4.7 Free translation 10

1.4.8 Adaptation translation 11

Chapter 2: Some concepts of culture 12

2.1 Origin of the term "culture" 12

2.2 Inadequate Conceptions of Culture 13

2.2.1 Culture is homogenous 13

2.2.2 Culture is a thing 14

2.2.3 Culture is uniformly distributed among members of a group 14

2.2.4 An individual possesses but a single culture 14

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2.2.5 Culture is custom 15

2.2.6 Culture is timeless 15

2.3 Conclusion About the Conceptualization of Culture 15

Chapter 3: Influences of culture on translation 17

3.1 The relation between language and culture 17

3.2 The influence of culture on translation at word level 19

3.2.1 Word relating to festival 19

3.2.2 Word relating to custom 20

3.2.3 Vocative and personal pronouns 22

3.2.4 Verb 23

3.2.5 Adjective 25

3.2.6 Preposition 26

3.2.7 Noun of symbolic images 27

3.3 The influences of culture on translation at phrase level 30

3.3.1 Comparative idiom 30

3.3.1.1 Comparative idiom of shape and appearance 30

3.3.1.2 Comparative idiom of personality 32

3.3.1.3 Comparative idiom of colour 33

3.3.2 Metaphoric idiom 35

3.3.2.1 Idiom relating to food 35

3.3.2.2 Metaphoric idiom relating to animal 37

3.3.2.2 Metaphoric idiom relating to body part 39

Chapter 4: Recommendations 42

4.1 Some basic principles of translation 42

4.1.1 The first general principle 42

4.1.2 The second general principle 43

4.1.3 The third general principle 43

4.2 Strategies to tackle non-equivalent at word level 43

4.2.1 Translating by a more specific word 44

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4.2.3 Translating by a more neutral / less expressive word 45

4.2.4 Translating by substitution 46

4.2.5 Translating by using a loan word plus explanation 47

4.2.6 Translating by using a paraphrase 47

4.2.7 Translating by omission 48

4.2.8 Translating by illustratation 49

4.3 Strategies to tackle non-equivalence at phrasal level 49

4.3.1 Using an idiom of similar mean and form 49

4.3.2 Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form 50

4.3.3 Translating by paraphrase 51

Part C: Conclusion 53

References 55

Part A: Introduction

1 Rationale

Language is a phenomenon and a factor that links different cultures and a way to express feeling and ideas that people try to convey Study on language, culture and translation and the relationship between them are valuable issues because of their importance to human communication in the world The variety of languages and the cultural difference and necessity of communication in human life caused translation to be a very effective factor

in communicating, exchanging cultures and knowledge Hence, the role of translators is more and more highly appreciated Although there might be no specific frame and force on how translation must be done, all translators who desire perfect translations often base on many factors, especially culture There have been many studies so far on the influences of culture on translation However, they have not focused much on lexical level but on pragmatic or syntactic one Thus, in this study, I choose cultural barrier in translation of words and phrases in English and Vietnamese as the main subject in my study

2.Aims and Objective of the study

Understanding about the influence of culture on translation on word and phrase level is the prime aim of my study from that we can know how to apply translation techniques and skills Moreover, we can understand more about cultural concerns in translation, know the way to solve problems, how

to use specialized terminology in some fields, such as, political-social, literary-art, scientific-technical terms In addition, the paper concentrates on analyzing in details the cultural influence on Vietnamese-English translation and English-Vietnamese one The primary aim of the study is to share with students of English, who would be translators, an overview of the frequently

seen influence of culture on Vietnamese-English and English-Vietnamese translation So that they are fully aware and able to produce a correct translation

The paper also aims at finding some possible strategies to improve the difficulties to Vietnamese-English translation Nevertheless, all people who are interested in translation work can consider it a useful reference to improve their translating skills

3.Scope of the study

The study mainly focuses on the impacts of culture on English and English-Vietnamese translation on word and phrase level

Vietnamese-4.Research questions

- What is the concept of culture?

- What is translation?

- How does culture affect translation?

- What are some types of cultural problems of translation of words and phrases from English into Vietnamese and vice versa?

- How can we do to translate effectively?

5.Methods of the study

Collecting sample and data analysis are the two main methods used in the study I collect examples and samples on word and phrase level to analyze the influence of culture on Vietnamese-English and English-Vietnamese translation, from that I recommend solutions for translator to transfer text containing cultural factor effectively

6.Design of the study

As can be seen from the content page, I divided my study into 3 parts: The first part is an introduction, this part focuses on rationale, aims and objective, scope, methods, research questions and design of the study

The second part is the main contents of the report including:

Chapter 1: Some basis theories of translation (this part focuses on definition of translation, development direction of translation, nature of translation, some main methods of translation)

Chapter 2: Some concepts of culture (in this chapter, I will show origin

of the term "culture", inadequate conceptions of culture and conclusion about the conceptualization of culture)

Chapter 3: Influences of culture on translation (focus on the relation between language and culture, the influence of culture on translation in term

of word, the influences of culture on translation in term of phrase)

Chapter 4: My recommendation (focus on principles of translation, strategies to deal with non-equivalence at word and phrase level)

The third part is conclusion (brief overview and summary of the study, final comments)

Culture is defined as the way of life and its manifestations which are unique to a society that uses a particular language as it means of expression (Newmark, 1988: 94)

Nida and Taber (1974:12) mention that translation is concerned with reproducing in the target language the closet natural equivalence of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style, but in contrast to others, translation is approached as a search for equivalent not sameness of meaning

Suleiman (1999:145) states that translation, is an art and skill, is an intergrated process which involves the comprehension, analysis, reformulation of text by incorporating the contextual, semantic and socio-cultural aspects of source language and target language text

In short, translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language text by means of an equivalent target language text Translation is a

linguistic action in which translators play an important role in making wonderful products Translators are required to have not only a very good knowledge of the language, written and spoken, from which they are translating (the source language) but also an excellent command of the language into which they are translating (the target language) Translators need to be familiar with the subject matter of the text being translated and have a finely tuned sense of when to translate literally and when to paraphrase, so as to assure true rather than spurious equivalents between the source and target language texts

1.2 Development direction of translation

Due to the demand of business documentation consequent to the industrial Revolution that began in the mid – 18th century, some translation specialties have become formalized, with dedicated schools and professional associations

Because of the laboriousness of translation, since the 1940s engineers have sought to automate translation (machine translation) The rise of the Internet has fostered a worldwide market for translation services and has facilitated language localization

Translation studies deal with the systematic study of the theory, the description and the application of translation Nowadays, because of the integration process, translation study is increasingly developed Translation studies still focus on describing the process of translation between languages and proposing principles as well as models for translation Reseachers are required to administer different methods with different point of views of related sciences to carry out the mission of translation studies It can be seen that translation study has developed along with the development of linguistics

translation study clarifies the nature of linguistic research tendencies Also, it seems to be “ a effective reagent” to different linguistic theories

1.3 The nature of translation

The process of translation bases on the nature of communicative competence which consists of 4 factors

1.Linguistic competence is knowing how to use the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of a language

2.Sociolinguistic competence is knowing how to use and respond to language appropriately, given the setting, the topic and the relationship among the people communicating

3.Discource competence is knowing how to interpret the larger context and how to construct longer stretches of language so that the parts make up a coherent whole

4.Strategic competence is knowing how to recognize and repair communication breakdowns, how to work around gaps in one’s knowledge of the language, and how to learn more about the language in the context

The translation process is very complicated, however, it can be assumed that translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language text

by means of an equivalent target language text

The translation process can be described simply into 2 steps

1.Decoding the meaning of the source text

2.Re_ecoding this meaning in the target language

To decode the meaning of a text, the translator must first identify its component “translation units” , that is to say the segments of the text to be

treated as a cognitive unit A translation unit may be a word, a phrase or even one or more sentences

To decode the complete meaning of the source text, the translation must consciously and methodically interpret and analysis all its features This process requires thorough knowledge of the grammar, semantics, syntax, idioms and the like of source language, as well as the culture of its speakers The translator needs to have the same in _depth knowledge to re-encode the meaning in the target language In fact, often translators’knowledge of the target language is more important, and needs to be deeper, than their knowledge of the source language For this reason, most translators translate into a language of which they are native speakers

1.4 Some main methods of translation

Translation has been viewed differently by different scholars There is no unanimous agreement about its definition, models and types However, some scholars attempt to define it and specify its types and models

Practically, there are some kinds of translation that have their own characteristics and forms Some kind of translation are found because of the differences and similarities of the source structures, different kinds of text that are going to be translated and diferrent purpose of translation With regard to its type and model, Catford (1965) classifies the types of translation according

to rank, extent and level Newmark (1982) states that translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language

Roman Jakobson in Hatim and Munday makes a very important distinction between three types of written translation

1.Intralingual translation,translation within the same language, which can involve rewording or paraphrase

2 Interlingual translation, translation from one language to another

3.Intersemiotic translation, translation of the verbal sign by non-verbal sign for example music or image

The update methods of translation are those suggested by Newmark (1982) In what follows, each one of them will be talked about briefly

1.4.1 Word_ for_word translation

Word for word translation (or sometimes direct/interlinear translation) focuses mainly on translating words from the source text into the target language while the word order of the original is preserved This method of translation can be seen in those cases where some value of humour is needed

It is also very useful for the translator to understand and analyze the originall text before translating it into the target language For instance, word for word

translation “Bạn đi đâu đấy?” into English can be “You are going where?” whereas the correct version must be “Where are you going?”, or in the situation where an Englishman is giving a consolence, saying “No worries or

no problem” (không sao đâu), a Vietnamese word for word translation may

be “No star where”

1.4.2 Literal translation

Literal translation is featured by the fact that grammatical structures and the meaning of words are translated almost as closely as those in the target language without paying attention to the situation or context (In this sense, many theorists coincide literal translation with word for word translation) For

example, the question “Can you sit down ?” can be literally translated into

Vietnamese “Anh có thể ngồi xuống được không?”, but in fact it is really a

request which can be communicately translated as “Anh hãy ngồi xuống”,

“Anh ngồi xuống đi”, etc

1.4.3 Faithful translation

Faithful translation can be described as one kind of translation which tries to convey the meaning of words and context situation according to the

grammar rules of the target language; however, if the sentence “Tôi e rằng cô

ta không làm được việc đó” (I think she cannot do it) was translated this way,

then the structure of the target language (English) does not sound natural In English, the negation of the verb in the first clause stands for the negation of

the verb in the following clause For this reason, the translation should be “I

do not think she can do it” Another example may go with the infinitive verb used as subject of the sentence, a faithful translation of “Học khóa này phải mất hai năm” (To do this course takes 2 years) may sound unnatural to English people (It takes two years to do this course)

1.4.4 Semantic translation

Semantic translation focuses to a great degree on meaning (senmantic content) and form (syntac) of the original texts of high status such as religious texts, legal texts, literature, or speech es Using this strategy, the translator tries to come as close as possible to the meaning conveyed by the words by means of word order change or word choice (synonyms/antonyms) so that the

true meaning is conveyed For example, in the case of idioms, “It is water under the bridge” or “Past water do not power mills” if translated literally these idioms make little or no sense; however, their meaning (Hãy để cho quá khứ ngủ yên) could possible be clear if semanic translation is exploited

1.4.5 Communicative translation

Communicative translation is freer than the above-mentioned types This strategy gives high priority to the message communicated in the text where the actual form of the original is not closely bound to its intented meaning

For example, if the sentence “Do you mind closing the door please? No, I don’t” (Anh có phản đối việc ra vào đóng cửa không? Không, tôi không phản đối” was translated this way, then the message of the sentence has not yet

been interpreted correctly since this sentence implies a request rather a

question, so the following translation could be accepted (Nhờ anh đóng hộ cửa ra vào Vâng / Được thôi)

1.4.6 Idiomatic translation

Idiomatic translation is based on the meaning of the text which aims to produce the message of the original but tend to distort nuances of meaning by using idioms and colloquialism where there do not exist in the original For example, in Vietnamese to describe a peasant’s hard life, there are such

idioms as : cuộc đời chân lấm tay bùn / một nắng hai sương / bán mặt cho đất bán lưng cho trời, etc; these idioms can be used to translate the meaning of

“hard life” – the extreme of hardships a peasant has to suffer (a peasant’s hard life : cuộc đời hai sương một nắng) Another example that describes the degree of the sameness of the two girl’s appearance “They look exactly the same” (Chúng giống nhau như hai giọt nước)

1.4.7 Free translation

As indicated by the word “free”, free translation focuses more on content

than form in the target language; as a result, sometimes the grammar structure

of the form of the words in the target language may change; the number of words and the sentence length may vary, depending on the subjectivity of the

translator when he/she adds explanation or comment to make clear the

meaning of the original For example, “business is business” could be translated freely as “công việc là công việc, không chen tình cảm vào đây được”

1.4.8 Adaptation translation

Adaptation is highly free type of translation Here the focus is on cultural phenomena or practices that are absent in the target culture, rather than operations on linguistic units, although these are of course inevitably concerned In other words, adaptation translation aims to create an equivalence of the same value applicable to a different situation than that of the source language Here are some examples We can imagine a situation in

socio-which speaker will tend to express a wish: Chúc thượng lộ bình an (Have a safe trip) However, in the same situation English speakers often say something different, so the Vietnamese wish could be translated as : See you, Good bye, Have a nice time, etc Another example is that when meeting for

the first time, especially when introduced to a guest, English people often say

:How do you do”as a greeting while Vietnamese people say differently; therefore, this so-called question in English could be equivalent to “Chào ông/bà/bác, etc.” depending on the age or social status of the person who you

are speaking to Literal force is of course inevitably lost in these cases and the best that can be achieved is by means of faithfulness to pragmatic function of the target language cultural reference or practice

Chapter 2: Some concepts of culture

2.1 Origin of the term "culture"

Culture (/ɑkȜltʃər/, from Latin: cultura, lit "cultivation") is a modern

concept based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator, Cicero: "cultura animi " The term "culture" appeared first in its current sense

in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, to connote a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture In the 19th century, the term developed to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals In the mid-19th century, some scientists used the term

"culture" to refer to a universal human capacity

In the 20th century, “culture” emerged as a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance Specifically, the term “culture” in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world acted creatively and classified or represented their experiences Distinctions are currently made between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called material culture and everything else, including the intangibles such as language, customs, etc that are the main referent of the term “culture”

When used as a count noun “a culture”, is the set of customs, traditions and values of a society or community, such as an ethnic group or nation In this sense the concept of multiculturalism is a political ideology that values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the same territory Sometimes “culture” is also used to describe

specific practices within a subgroup of a society, a subculture (e.g “bro culture”), or a counter culture Within cultural anthropology, the ideology and analytical stance of cultural relativism holds that cultures cannot easily be objectively ranked or evaluated because any evaluation is necessarily situated within the value system of a given culture

However, languages, now understood as the particular set of speech norms of a particular community, are also a part of the larger culture of the community that speak them Humans use language as a way of signalling identity with one cultural group and difference from others Even among speakers of one language, several different ways of using the language exist, and each is used to signal affiliation with particular subgroups within a larger culture

2.2 Inadequate Conceptions of Culture

There are at least six mutually related ideas about culture that we call inadequate These ideas are often found in the writings and practice of individuals, including those in conflict resolution who, borrowing an outmoded anthropological view of culture, seek to use a cultural approach in their work

2.2.1 Culture is homogenous

This presumes that a (local) culture is free of internal paradoxes and contradictions such that (a) it provides clear and unambiguous behavioural

“instructions” to individuals – a program for how to act – or (b) once grasped

or learned by an outsider, it can be characterized in relatively straightforward ways (“the Dobuans are paranoid”) A homogenous view of culture makes the second inadequate idea easier to sustain

2.2.2 Culture is a thing

The reification of culture – regarding culture as a thing – leads to a notion that “it” is a thing that can act, almost independently of human actors The term is used as a shorthand way of referring, as we shall see, to bundles

of complicated cognitive and perceptual processes, and it is a series of short (cognitive) steps from shorthand to metonymy to reification But we should

be on guard, particularly since by reifying culture it is easy to overlook intracultural diversity, underwriting the third inadequate idea

2.2.3 Culture is uniformly distributed among members of a group

This idea imputes cognitive, affective, and behavioural uniformity to all members of the group Intracultural variation, whether at the individual or group level, is ignored or dismissed as “deviance”

2.2.4 An individual possesses but a single culture

He or she is simply a Somali, a Mexican, or an American Culture is thus synonymous with group identity The root of this misconception stems from the privileging of what we can call tribal culture, ethnic culture, or national culture, over cultures that are connected, as we shall see, to very different sorts of groups, structures, or institutions In part this came from the social settings in which anthropologists first developed the culture idea: small-scale and relatively socially undifferentiated tribal or ethnic groups It was then compounded by political scientists who took up the notion of culture (as

“political culture”) and privileged the nation-state as their unit of analysis – hence the “national character” idea In fact, as we will argue, for any individual, culture always comes in the plural A person possess and controls several cultures in the same way, as sociolinguists tell us, that even a so-

called monolingual speaker controls different “registers” of the same language or dialect

2.2.5 Culture is custom

This idea holds that culture is structurally undifferentiated, that what you see is what you get And mostly what you see (especially in a culture different from your own), naively of course, is custom Culture here is virtually synonymous with “tradition”, or customary ways of behaving The important things to know, if you come from outside, are the customary rules for correct behavior Culture here reduces to a sort of surface-level etiquette Cultural variation is merely a matter of “differential etiquette” Once again individual agency is downplayed In this view there is no sense of struggle, except perhaps for the struggle of deviants who cannot or will not abide by tradition and custom: after all, the smoothing out of difference and the mitigation of struggle are precisely what rules and etiquette are for

2.2.6 Culture is timeless

Closely related to the culture-is-custom view (indeed, to all of the above views), the idea that culture is timeless imputes a changeless quality to culture, especially to so-called traditional ones These six inadequate ideas about culture are related and mutually reinforcing Using them, we argue, greatly diminish the utility of the culture concept as an analytical tool for understanding social action, in this case, conflict and conflict resolution

2.3 Conclusion About the Conceptualization of Culture

It is possible to integrate and reconcile some, though not all, of the above-mentioned positions on the nature of culture and its definitions The scientific study of culture should have a practical orientation but this cannot

culture are not quite useless The goal of such discussions should not be to arrive at one right and commonly accepted definition that will once and for all lay the issue to rest Rather, we should stay open to diverse conceptualizations

of culture, provided they are clearly explained by their proponents and make sense to others Consequently, the question of whether culture is a system of behaviors, meanings, mental characteristics, or artifacts, or of all of these, cannot and need not be answered categorically It can be conceptualized one way or another

Chapter 3: Influences of culture on translation

3.1 The relation between language and culture

Language and culture are two special objects Language is a factor of culture, has close ties with culture similar to heart in the body The heart always beats to keep somebody alive as well as language always develops to create and maintain culture Language and culture are colloid which connect all members together and create special features of that nation

developing in which language is one of the most important means of the process It can be seen that the exchange requires a common knowledge of speaker and listener Thus, learner must be good at historical process as well

as culture of people that use certain language in order to utilize language exactly and effectively

Vietnamese people live stably in community with a close regional unity

Especially, Vietnamese attach much importance to kinship “blood is thicker than water” However, they also want to create a friendly relationship with other people “better a neighbor near than a brother far off” In

communicative relation, Vietnamese is inclined to prioritize emotional aspect They are likely to find out about communicative object; however, they highly appreciate honour They are aqquainted with communication in delicate and periphrastic way Vietnamese’s system of speech etiquette is very abundant that can satisfy communicative demand to strengthen ties with everyone

In salutation form, it is Vietnamese custom to greet somebody by giving

questions like “Bác đi đâu đấy?”, “Ông làm gì thế?” or “Anh ăn cơm chưa?,

etc The purpose of using question here is not to seek for information but to greet only

In contrast, Western people are not familiar with the communicative way showing great warmth They dislike someone mentioning to their private problems Western people are likely to speak in a straight and obvious way Western culture takes the priority of the move and Western people respect the time so that their linguistic system is various

The greeting form of Western people is concretely classified into such many kinds based on time namely morning, afternoon, night If you exchange compliments with Western people in Vietnamese salutation forms which are mentioned above, it is very easy for Western people to misunderstand your attitude, because they assume that you are really asking them, even make them uncomfortable due to personal questions Englishman and American

often greet each other by sentences like “How are you?” or “Good morning!” or “Good afternoon!”

The contextual use of a linguistic unit is not only linguistic context but also context relating to native’s factor of history, society, material and spiritual culture The culture exchange process between nations can take place

in different way It can be the direct exchange between people in different communities through mass media or translating literature and art works from

a source language to target language

Cultural factor affects all linguistic aspects at different level in which lexical aspect is dominated much more than phonetic and grammatical ones The study only focuses on the influences of cultural element on translation, from single words to fixed phrases – idioms because cultural factor is concretely shown through them

3.2 The influence of culture on translation at word level

It is noteworthy that "cultural untranslatability" is likely to happen due to

so many differences between Western and Oriental culture, in general, and between Vietnamese and English culture, in particular In addition, geographical features, history, and development level of two nations contain many distinctive points generating certain concepts that cannot be translated

in a way that Vietnamese people can easily comprehend Culture is something which cannot be conveyed through words All these lead to the loss of meaning in translation process

Each word contains cultural elements, i.e it carries the specific information about geography, nature, economic situation history, art, lives of native people, social structure, national psychology, experience and the characteristics of its people Firstly, there is no equivalent words for those bringing cultural factors, or in other words, there is no corresponding units in other languages So, we cannot transfer the meaning of the word by translating directly but explaining it based on practical knowledge and culture

of the native country For example,the denotative meaning of the word “bed”

in English is different from the word “giường” in Vietnamese When it comes

to the “bed” in Enghlish, people think about a bed with mattress, spring and

bed sheet In contrast, the Vietnamese assume that bed is a thing made of bamboo or wood with a mat up on

Some examples of the influences of culture on translation at word level will be mentioned below

3.2.1 Word relating to festival

Words indicating festival bring specific cultural characteristics of each nation and it is often difficult to find the exact equivalent, so they should be

explained from the translator For example, Christmas is the most important festival in the United Kingdom while in Vietnam, Lunar New Year plays the most important role as well as Christmas of the British Therefore, when the British ask each other:

How is your Christmas?

It is similar to the Vietnamese question

Tết nhất thế nào?

Similarly, when translating the name of typical festivals in England

namely Boxing Day, Cheese-rolling Festival, etc into Vietnamese or when translating traditional festivals in Vietnam such as Đoan Ngọ, lễ Tịch Điền, lễ

Vu Lan, etc into English, we should keep the original word and have

explanation enclosed to avoid misunderstanding

3.2.2 Word relating to custom

When comparing Vietnamese and English, it is quite easy to figure out many cultural terms that are absent in the other The cultural difference between Western and Oriental society and among nations is the root of linguistic untranslatability Tropical monsoon climate, complex geographical position, and long traditional water rice agriculture are the elements creating

in Vietnamese culture Therefore, there is a variety of words related to rice

gạo tẻ, nếp cẩm, tám xoan, tấm, cám, trấu; bánh đa, bánh đúc, bánh chưng, bánh dầy, bánh giò, bánh khúc, bánh cốm,etc.) and rice production (gieo mạ, làm cỏ, , bón thúc, bón lót đòng, xay, giã, giần, sàng) as well as rice containers, (thúng, mủng, nong, nia, sọt)

We also find many words related to marriage rituals (dạm ngõ, ăn hỏi, thách cưới, nộp cheo,etc.), beliefs and religions (đình, chùa, miếu, am, phủ,

điện thờ, bàn thờ, ngai, bài vị, mẫu thoải, chúa thượng ngàn,etc.) which are

very popular to Vietnamese but quite exotic to foreigners

Vocabulary relating to custom is obviously a challenge for translator who lacks knowledge about culture Please have a look at this situation, Mrs.Magrete has just got married, her friend asks:

Friend: Do you get anything from your parents?

Magrete: Just something new, something old, something borrowed, something blue

When translating into Vietnamese, we cannot translate as :

Friend: Bố mẹ cho cậu gì không?

Magrete: Chỉ là ít đồ mới, ít đồ cũ, ít đồ đi mượn và tí xanh xanh

We should translate as below:

Friend: Bố mẹ cho cậu gì không?

According to the British’s convention, when a girl gets married, her

parents must have 4 things as dowry namely something new, something old, something borrowed, something blue

Or in other circumstance, when Lady Blecknel chooses a son-in-law, she asked Worthing, the prospective groom:

Lady Blecknel : Do you drink?

Jack Worthing: No, I don’t

If we translate it like :

Bà Blecknel: Anh u ống không?

Jack Worthing: Dạ, con không ạ

The translation is not accurate, in the above context, “drink” means

“drink wine” Therefore, we should translate the question “Do you drink?”

as “Anh có rượu chè gì không?”

Customs and habits of Vietnamese such as wedding or funeral are different from those of the English For example, relating to a wedding, the

Vietnamese often choose a good day or a good year to marry, before wedding ceremony, they often go to the fortune teller to ask for the best day and on the wedding day’s morrow, the newly married couple must take a first visit to the bride’s family Or when praising a lovely baby, the Vietnamese often say

“đáng ghét quá” or “trộm vía, kháu quá!” Thus, if translator does not

understand clearly about culture and only translates based on linguistic aspect,

translator are easy to make mistakes such as translating “trộm vía” into “steal spirit” while it should have been translated as “take all evils away”

Words indicating traditional foods also bring cultural characteristics such

as phở, bánh chưng, nước mắm, etc of the Vietnamese or pudding cake, bubble and squeak, trifle,etc of the English There is no exact equivalence

when translating a language into another one, so, translator should keep the original words with enclosed explanation

3.2.3 Vocative and personal pronouns

Vocative issue and the usage of personal pronoun in English and

Vietnamese also have different features The word “you”, “I” in English

cannot express all connotation when transferring some Vietnamese sentences

into English Many words of the second person are used in the novel “Tắt

đèn” by Ngô Tất Tố; however, if we only use the word “you” in English, we

cannot fully describe connotation

“Còn 14 miếng tất cả, thiếu miếng nào thì mày chết với bà.”

“Bà nói hay làm sao! Đồng hồ Tây có bao giờ sai.”

Or “Con cắn rơm cắn cỏ lạy ông.”

“C ụ tha cho con.”

On the contrary, when translating English sentences that contain personal

pronoun “you” and “I” in to Vietnamese, translator has to base on the context

in order to find the most suitable equivalence in Vietnamese The sentence

“How old are you?” can be “Cháu bao nhiêu tuổi rồi?, “Em bao nhiêu

tuổi?”, etc in Vietnamese; however, with an elderly person, it should be “Dạ,

bác/ông/bà/cụ năm nay bao nhiêu rồi ạ?” We need to note that while in

English and other languages personal pronouns are often used in communication, in Vietnamese it is easy to find many nouns indicating kinship (cô, dì, chú, bác,etc), or profession (cô, thày, bác sĩ, luật sư, etc) are used as personal pronouns

3.2.4 Verb

Some verbs in Vietnamese also bring cultural features that will be challenges for translator when transferring into English

We can see that one English word has more than one equivalents in

Vietnamese Take the verb “carry” as an example The verb “carry” with

different connotation in Vietnamese will be shown in the following table

English Vietnamese

To carry a bag Mang

To carry the sack on

shoulder

Vác

To carry furniture Khuân

To carry a table together Khiêng

To carry the baby on the

back

Cõng

With the verb “carry”, translators have to pay attention to the context to

translate an English text into Vietnamese one correctly For example, the

sentence “he carries the luggage on shoulder” should be translated as “anh

ta vác hành lý trên vai” or the sentence “she carries the baby in her arms” can be translated as “cô ấy bế/ẵm đứa bé trên tay”

Moreover, one Vietnamese word can has more than equivalents in

English Taking the word “thực hiện” as an example The word “thực hiện” has many equivalents in English such as do, make, realize, carry out, perform, implement, execute, etc For example, “thực hiện hợp đồng” can be translated

as “perform a contract”, “thực hiện nhiệm vụ” can be translated as “carry out one’s duty”

Vietnamese Take the verb “ăn” as an typical example, it is so popular “có thực mới vực được đạo”, “trời đánh còn tránh bữa ăn” In Vietnamese

culture, cuisine is very important as a kind of art The word “ăn” (eat) can be found in the combination with other verb to make a compound verb Many

compound words contain morpheme “ăn” namely ăn chơi, ăn mặc, ăn mừng,

ăn nói, ăn tiêu, ăn uống, etc Obviously, we cannot translate all above words