Từ văn hóa trong tiếng anh và cách dịch sang tiếng việt submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of bachelor of art of english (2017)

35 TRANSLATION METHODS AND TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING ENGLISH CULTURAL WORDS INTO VIETNAMESE .... ABSTRACT This thesis focused on translation methods and techniques suggested by Newmark

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY

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SÁI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

CULTURAL WORDS IN ENGLISH AND WAYS TO TRANSLATE THEM INTO VIETNAMESE (TỪ VĂN HÓA TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ CÁCH DỊCH

SANG TIẾNG VIỆT)

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ART OF ENGLISH)

BA THESIS IN ENGLISH

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N 0 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY

-

SÁI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

CULTURAL WORDS IN ENGLISH AND WAYS TO TRANSLATE THEM INTO VIETNAMESE (TỪ VĂN HÓA TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ CÁCH DỊCH

SANG TIẾNG VIỆT)

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ART OF ENGLISH)

BA THESIS IN ENGLISH

SUPERVISOR: ĐỖ TIẾN ĐỨC, MA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On the completion of this study, I am greatly indebted to many people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Mr Do Tien Duc for his valuable and prompt advice and help, without which this paper could be completed

My thanks also go to all the lecturers of English from Foreign Languages Faculty, Ha Noi Pedagogical University N02 who has facilitated

me with the best possible conditions during the time I did the study

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family and friends whose encouragement and assistance are of extreme importance during my course at the university

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iv

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 3

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Methods of the study 3

5 Design of the study 3

PART II 5

DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1 5

CULTURE AND TRANSLATION 5

1.1 Definition of culture 5

1.2 Culture and language 7

1.3 Definition of cultural words 10

1.4 Classification of cultural words in English 12

1.4.1 Geographically cultural words 12

1.4.2 Materially cultural words 13

1.4.3 Socially cultural words 15

1.5 Definition of translation 17

1.6 What translation theory is about 18

1.7 Translation as a process 22

1.8 Translation as a product 26

1.9 Culture and translation-Some considerations of Anglicist and Vietnamese cultural differences 28

1.9.1 Linguistic factors 34

1.9.2 Geographical factors 35

TRANSLATION METHODS AND TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSLATING ENGLISH CULTURAL WORDS INTO VIETNAMESE 37

2.1 Translation methods 37

2.1.2 Literal translation 38

2.1.3 Faithful translation 38

2.1.4 Semantic translation 38

2.1.5 Adaptation 38

2.1.6 Free translation 38

2.1.7 Idiomatic translation 39

2.1.8 Communicative translation 39

2.2 Techniques for translating ECWs into Vietnamese 39

2.2.1 Transference and Naturalisation 40

2.2.2 Cultural equivalent 47

2.2.3 Componential analysis 50

2.2.4 Recognized translation 52

2.2.5 Couplets 53

2.2.6 Notes, additions and glosses 55

2.3 Limits of translatability 59

CONCLUSION 64

1 Review of the study 64

2 Suggestions for further studies 65

REFERENCES 66

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that no part of the thesis entitled:

CULTURAL WORDS IN ENGLISH AND SOME WAYS TO TRANSLATE THEM INTO VIETNAMESE

has been copied and reproduced from any person‟s work without acknowledgement and that the study is originally done by me under the serious guidance from my supervisor

Date submitted: April, 2017

Student Supervisor

Sai Thi Huyen Trang Do Tien Duc, MA

ABSTRACT

This thesis focused on translation methods and techniques suggested by Newmark for translating English cultural words into Vietnamese

The classification of cultural words in English mentioned in the thesis

is based on what has been theoretically and critically discussed by the supervisor and the thesis author

The thesis also presents the limits of translatability in translating linguistic difficulty and cultural untranslatability As far as the study is concerned, the later will be focused on

Last but not least, the thesis makes some suggestions for further studies

on cross-cultural translation It is taken for granted that there should be more and more practical and specific studies concerning English-Vietnamese and Vietnamese-English translations of cultural issues to facilitate the friendship and cooperation between the two nations in the process of globalization

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BC: Before Christ

CA: Componential Analysis

ECWs: English Cultural Words

FN: Footnote

SL: Source Language

ST: Source Language Text

TL: Target Language

TT: Target Language Text

OSCE: Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe

PART I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, the world is confronted with challenges of development, with organic, intertwined relations of social, technological, and scientific

revolutions Consequently, everywhere people are talking about open-door,

integration and cooperation to develop and deal with global issues Even the

most powerful and wealthy nations cannot stand in isolation In such a context, the vital role of culture is better seen than ever before The whole world is showing their concern about culture and cultural cooperation for peaceful and harmonious co-existence Presumably, almost all countries, in their development strategies, see the must to include cultural factors and characteristics to ensure that their social progress is the best connected to the past and best prepared for the future In the light of this spirit, the World Summit on Culture, held in Copenhagen (Denmark) in March, 1995, with the

attendance of 100 heads of the states, came to the declaration that “Cultural

factors are vital to sustainable development serving as an unseparable part of progress strategies All economic, political and social policies must be made from a humane background which upholds man as the centre of development”

Vietnam is not an exception from this global trend Since the implementation of renovation process and the open-door policies, while inheriting and promoting traditional cultural values, the country has also been quite active in absorbing new elements from foreign cultures to enrich its own Cultural exchange activities are taking place on an unprecedented scale And among the nations with whom Vietnam has cultural contacts, we cannot

help mentioning Britain For the past several decades, given the role of English as an international language, along with the trend of English language study everywhere, Vietnamese people have been quite familiar to, and interested in, discovering aspects of Anglicist culture This enthusiasm was first brought about through the literacy works of famous English authors like

C Dickens, G Byron, Sir C Doyle, Sir W Scott, W.M Thackeray…being translated and introduced to Vietnamese readers And today, in the era of global information booming, Vietnamese people are listening to English music, watching Premier League, reading English newspapers and other cultural publications The appearance of British Council in Vietnam also signals a significant step in the two countries‟ cultural exchanges This situation has given rise to an increasing demand for English- Vietnamese translation, given the role of translation in transmitting cultures The activities

of English- Vietnamese translation may take place in various settings of cultural contacts such as books, newspapers, songs, films, mass media…etc

Among translation problems reported by both amateur and professional translators, the matter of dealing with English cultural words emerges as a huge source of obstacles to comprehension; and a careless handling of those words may result in misunderstanding, embarrassment, discontent or even conflict among the involved parties, between the reader and the author because of the stark differences between Vietnamese and Anglicist cultures

This context has inspired me to write this paper as an attempt to help students of English at Ha Noi Pedagogical University No.2 with some useful techniques when tackling English Cultural Words (ECWs) I ultimately wish the readers to find something of relevant and practical use to their study and work with English

2 Aims of the study

The study has the following aims:

• Reviewing translation theories and theoretical translation methods and techniques established by famous authors

• Providing a rudimentary overview of culture and translation as well

as Anglicist- Vietnamese cultural differences

• Classifying ECWs and suggesting some practical techniques in translating them into Vietnamese

3 Scope of the study

This study takes a focus on suggesting some techniques of translating English cultural words into Vietnamese under the framework of translation theory It is not intended to cover details of methods for larger linguistic units, such as expressions, sentences, paragraphs or texts

4 Methods of the study

The following working methods are used in this study:

• Synthesizing theoretical documents on translation

• Analyzing available translation materials in published books and newspapers

• Consulting experienced people on the matter concerned

5 Design of the study

The study is divided into two chapters

Chapter 1 attempts to look into the nature of culture, culture in relation with language, the focused on the classification of cultural words in English Later the chapter presents an overview of translation theories developed by well-known authors with certain basic theoretical items such as definition of translation; translation as a process; translation as a product The chapter ends

by taking the relation between culture and translation into consideration as

well as presenting some presumable linguistic and geographical factors which determine the unsimilarities between Anglicist and Vietnamese culture

Chapter 2 mentions some of the translation methods and discusses the practical application of some the most frequently-used translation techniques for translating ECWs into Vietnamese The priories, criteria, and advantages

as well as disadvantages of each translation technique are also discreetly included The chapter ends by presenting the limits of translatability in translating cultural words in one language into a foreign language

PART II DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 CULTURE AND TRANSLATION 1.1 Definition of culture

Culture is a familiar topic, so familiar that we almost take it for granted; as if there were nothing more to discuss or argue over It is as certain

as the air we breathe everyday Since, almost everyday the prevalence of

“culture” can be seen in many utterances such as: cultural level, cultural life, education culture, social culture, traditional culture, socialist culture, capitalist culture, and recently post-industrial culture, politics culture….In short, what

is culture? It may come as a surprise to us all that the answer to this question

is very complicated The evidence of culture‟s complication is presented by hundreds of known definitions worldwide

In Webster‟s New World College Dictionary (1996), “culture” is

defined as follows:

1 Cultivation of soil 2 Production, development, or improvement of a

particular plant, animal, commodity, etc…3 a, The growth of bacteria

microorganisms, or other plant and animal cells in a specially prepared

nourishing fluid or solid b, a colony of microorganisms or cells thus

grown 4 a, development, improvement, or refinement of the intellect,

emotions, interest, manners, and taste b, the result of this: refined ways of

thinking, talking and acting 5 Development, or improvement of physical

qualities by special training or care (body culture, voice culture) 6 a, the

ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc…of a people or a group, that are

transferred, communicated, or passed as long as in or to succeeding

generations b, such ideas, customs, etc…of a particular people or group in

a particular period; civilization c, the particular people or group of such

ideas, customs, etc…

One may find these definitions so bewildering, as they cover so many aspects of the world‟s lexical meaning However, on the other hand, these definitions are sufficient and unsatisfactory because they fail to present an overall imagine of what culture is

Taylor (1973: 53) claimed:

“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts,

morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man

as a member of a society”

The British anthropologist made this definition in 19th century In the 20th century, we witnessed another definition of anthropological culture by

Fernando (1997), which specified Taylor‟s idea: “Culture is everything that

people have, think and do as a member of a society”

The above definition can be instructive because the three verbs correspond to the three major components of culture That is, everything that people have refer to material possessions; everything that people think refers

to the things they carry around their head, such as ideas, values and attitudes; and everything that people do refers to behavior patterns Thus, all cultures comprise material objects, ideas, values, and attitudes and patterned ways of behaving

From different directions, methods, purposes, and points of view, culture can be comprehended and defined variously For the purpose of the research, I would base my study on the definitions by Newmark (1988: 94) because it best serves in defining and categorizing cultural words The

definition is as follows: “I define culture as the way of life its manifestations

that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means

of expression”

1.2 Culture and language

From the definitions of culture discussed in the first section of the chapter it would be easily seen that language is a key part of culture It is one

of the “capabilities acquired by man as a member of society” (Taylor, 1973)

The interrelation of language and culture is so close that no part of the culture

of a particular group can properly be studied without reference to the linguistic symbol in use No proper translation of one language can be made without looking into its culture So it is difficult to separate one from another

If it were desirable to separate the two, the significance of either language or culture would be lost Sapir (1963: 207) stated:

“Language has a setting The people that speak it belong to a race (or a

number of the races), that is, to a group which is set off by physical characteristics from another groups Again, language does not exist apart from culture, that is, from the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determines the texture of our lives” (We can see a vivid example

in the case of Esperanto Though it was created with the aim of serving as a tool for international communication, its use nowadays is confined to only a small group of users (about 1 million) The reason is that Esperanto is a language without culture)

Language is the key component, the heritage and reflection of culture: while culture is the product and heritage of a society No culture can come into being and develop in an empty space It is created by members of a society It is stored and transferred from generation to generation It has been developing ceaselessly In their shared community, people have to

communicate, all the time, with each other They use language as the main and most helpful way of communication

With spoken language, the speaker and the hearer can have a successful social interaction The writer can convey information to the reader by written language By reading written works or being told by others, human beings today, can imagine what our forefathers‟ lives were like, how they behaved, how they enjoyed themselves, what their beliefs and customs were Through language we can leave our cultural heritage to future generations What is more, people are not bound to knowledge of their own cultures Modern means of communication, especially the Internet and Satellite television, as well as transport, have developed rapidly, enabling us to co-operate, and exchange ideas While travelling, co-operating and exchanging ideas, people also exchange their cultures The deeper their inter-cultural understanding is, the more successful their discussion will be And to know the language of a particular society means to have the definitive key to discover that culture

Languages may spread far beyond their original home, invading the territory of new races and of new culture spheres A language may even die out in its primary area (Sapir, 1963) The cultural heritage is equal for all members of a society However, it is obvious that not all the members can enjoy their culture at the same level Cultural understanding depends on age, expensive, knowledge of the language It is a certainly that parents are likely

to understand their culture better than their children, when the latter are still home-bound and have little social interaction Yet, when the children grow

up, they develop physically, psychologically, and biophysically, and if they develop their linguistic knowledge well, they also absorb their culture well Gradually, by reading, travelling, joining social interactions, the children may

even have a better understanding of cultures and sub-cultures than their elders

In fact, the knowledge of language can help one communicate with others But, without cultural background, communication is unlikely to be successful, as cross-cultural misunderstanding may occur This is particularly the case when words are used with different meanings For instance, what is

called an omelette, in fact, in British-English is called a fried egg Therefore,

it is humorous to hear that a Vietnamese visitor went to an English restaurant

and ordered an omelette, he was surprised somewhat annoyed when the waiter

brought him a fried egg Similarly a Turkish visitor to the United States

refused to eat a hot dog because it was against his religious beliefs to eat dog

meat

Surely, differences in cultural meanings across languages cause communication problems for people of different cultures That is why speakers of the same language may misunderstand one another, because they belong to different cultures For example, British humor is not always appreciated by Americans, even though the language is quite similar (Conversely, two nations with a lot of cultural similarities may have different languages This point is, two some extent, illustrated in the case of Vietnam and China)

The English language provides a prominent example of the differences between cultures that share the same language While both speaking English

as their mother tongue, the British and American people have different ways

of behaving, talking, feeling, and judging They also have different customs However, we cannot deny that possession of a common language facilitates mutual cultural understanding But there are many other factors leading to cultural differences As Sapir (1963:215) pointed out:

“A common language cannot definitely set the seal on a common culture

when the geographical, political, and economic determinants of the culture are no longer the same throughout its areas”

Sapir (1963) also wondered whether language and culture are, in any

true sense, casually related He believed that culture is “what a society does

and thinks” and language is the means of expressing thought He also said that

language and culture are not necessarily correlated, but the content of language is intimately related to culture When a new thing is introduced to a culture which does not have any name for it, a word for the newly introduced thing must be invented or borrowed In the sense that the vocabulary of a language more or less reflects the culture whose purposes it serves, it is true that the history of language and that of culture move along parallel lines

In conclusion, language and culture cannot develop in separation from each other Language is the reflection of culture, it is the chief way by which the members of a group communicate and create their culture Furthermore, the close relationship between culture and language justifies the statement that when you know the language, you get hold of the key to explore the culture

1.3 Definition of cultural words

In defining cultural words, it is necessary to come back to the accepted definition of culture by Newmark In his book “A textbook of translation”

(1988:94) Newmark says: “I defined culture as the way of life and its

manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression” From his definition, it can be initially

deduced that cultural words are those that belong to a “particular language” and express “peculiar manifestations” of a culture

More specifically, we need to distinguish “cultural” from “universal” and “personal” language This, „die‟, „live‟, „star‟, „sky‟, „swim‟ and even

almost virtually ubiquitous artifacts like „bed‟, „chair‟, „mirror‟ are universals and usually there is no translation problem here Meanwhile, „bungalow‟,

„cottage‟, „pudding‟, „áo dài‟, „phở‟ are cultural words and there will be a translation problem unless there is cultural overlap between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) (and its readership)

Certainly, the “universal”, “personal” and “cultural” are merely broad and fuzzy distinctions We can have several cultures (and sub-cultures) within one language: kilt (Scottish skirt for men), Mother‟s day (an American festival), dingo (wild dogs in Australia) are all cultural words which may need

translation within English When a speech community focuses its attention on

a particular topic (this is usually named “cultural focus”), it spawns a large bulk of words to designate its special language or terminology, for example the English on sports, notably the crazy cricket words (“a maiden over”, “silly mid-on”, “howzat”), the French in wines and cheese, the Germans on sausages, Spaniards on bull-fighting, Arabs on camels, Vietnamese on wet rice, English and French on sex in mutual recrimination Many cultures have their words for cheap liquor for the poor and desperate “vodka”, “grappa”,

“slivovitz”, “sake”, “schnapps”, “gin” Frequently, where there is cultural

focus, there is translation problem due to the cultural gap and distance

between the SL and TL

Furthermore, the more specific a language becomes for natural phenomena (e.g flora and fauna), the more embedded it becomes in cultural features and therefore crates translation problem

Most cultural words are easy to detect, since they are associated with a

particular language (English in this study) and cannot be literally translated,

(for example the historical term father of the chapel would be meaningless and misleading if it is translated literally as cha xứ in Vietnamese) But many

cultural customs are described in ordinary language (“topping out a building”,

“time, gentlemen, please”, “mud in your eyes”, “xông nhà”, “mừng tuổi”) where literal translation would distort the meaning and a translation may include an appropriate descriptive-functional equivalent Cultural objects may

be referred to by a relatively cultural-free generic term and classifier (e.g

“tea”) plus the various additions on different cultures, and we have to account for these additions (“rum”, “lemon”, “milk”, “biscuits”, “cake” and other courses, at various times of day) which may appear in the course of the SL text

1.4 Classification of cultural words in English

In this study, in order to meet the need of research and translating English Cultural Words (ECWs) into Vietnamese, this thesis author personally classifies ECWs into three categories as follows:

1.4.1 Geographically cultural words

This category consists of words that designate the British ecological features particularly in terms of flora, fauna, winds, plains, hills…The typical

words for this group are: downs, loch, dune, snowdrop, honeysuckle, daisy,

pansy, grassland, cliff, moor, highland, bluebell, drizzle, Scots pine, yew, primrose

Geographical features can be normally distinguished from other cultural terms in that they are usually value-free, politically and commercially Nevertheless, their diffusions depend on the importance of the degree of specificity All of English geographical terms can normally be translated into Vietnamese by using functional equivalent, with the addition

of a brief cultural-free third term where necessary in the text

The same criteria apply to other ecological features, unless they are important academically and scientifically, particularly in case of flora and fauna Just consider “daisy”, for instance This English flower is translated

into Vietnamese by “hoa diên vỹ”, which sounds somewhat strange and

exotic; therefore sometimes the neutral term is added here as „chrysanthemum

leucanthemum‟ This neutral term is a cultural-free, Latin scientific term,

which is rarely used except for learnt readership

Nida (1964) pointed out that certain ecological features, particularly the

seasons, rain, hills of various sizes (cultural words: downs, moor, dune), when

they are irregular or unknown, may not be understood denotatively or figuratively in translation However, here television will soon be a worldwide clarifying force

1.4.2 Materially cultural words

Material concerns with the physical aspects of the culture including food and drinks, clothes, towns, transport and communication Among that food is for many the most sensitive and important expression of national culture Food terms are subject to the wildest variety of translation procedures

in various settings: menu-straight, multilingual, glosses, cookbooks, food

guides, tourist brochures

Journalism increasingly contains foreign food terms It is often said that Britain and good food are two things, which are not commonly associated Visitors to Britain have widely varying opinions about all sorts of aspects of the country but most of them seem to agree that the food is terrible

This helps to explain the fact that while commercial and prestige interests remain strong, the necessary use of French words for British cuisine

is still prevalent for prestige reason However, there are some English

ubiquitous expressions: salad mixture, starters, first course, light course

between two heavy courses, desserts, toast, bun, pudding, sandwich, pizza, chip, French fries, porridge, mustard, pancake, toffee, haggis, custard

In principle, it is recommended to translate food words with recognized terms, one-to-one equivalents and transference, plus a neutral term or

functional-equivalent (as “the pasta dish”-cannelloni) for general readership

Traditionally, clothes of upper-class men are English (smoking jacket,

topper, oxford, waistcoat, boaters, bowler hat, blazer, jacket, tights, Wellington, deerstalker hat, preppy, pill-box) and that of women are French

(note slip, bra, blouse) but national costumes when distinctive (like áo dài in Vietnam, sari in India, kimono, yukata in Japan) are not translated Thus in Vietnam we often hear of words like vest, pyjamas, complets, jeans, bikini,

jacket as they are in English

Clothes as cultural terms may be sufficiently explained for TL (Vietnamese) general readership if the generic noun and classifier is added,

e.g wellington becomes ủng wellington, cardigan as áo cardigan, oxford as

giày oxford, pill-box as mũ pill-box

Like many other language communities, in English, we can find a typical house, which for general purpose, can only be explained rather than

translated, for example cottage as nhà nghỉ ở nông thôn, bungalow as nhà một

tầng có gác xép, or boongalô, tower as công trình xây cao để phòng thủ hoặc làm nhà giam or tháp British also show cultural focus on towns by having borough, shire, country, township

In addition, in English we can find a lot of words related to transport

with strong cultural elements such as lay-by, round-about, barge, surrey,

underground (subway), double-deck, cab, cart, steam engine, diesel engine, rocket engine, jumbo jet In fiction the names of the various carriages are

often used to provide local color and to connote prestige In textbook on transportation an accurate description has to be appended to the transferred word Now the names of British planes and cars are often near

internationalisms for educated readership: Concord, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce,

Limousine, Cadillac, Lincol Continental, Ferrari, Mini

In communication, there are some English words that are usually purely

transferred into Vietnamese, for example: telephone, mobile phone, fax,

Internet, website, ADSL, online, admin, server, hacker, nickname, e-mail

These words have become very popular in many Vietnamese newspapers, magazines, periodicals, books

1.4.3 Socially cultural words

In this category, there are ECWs in relation to work and leisure activities, political and social life In regarding to work, we have difficulties

with words like: the people, the common people, the mass, the working class,

the proletariat Proletariat was always used mainly for its emotive effect and

now can hardly be used seriously, since the majorities in developed countries,

including Britain, are property-owning The mass and the people can be used positively and negatively but again the more rarely used the mass have become swallowed up in collocations such as mass media, mass market

Ironically, the referent of these terms is no longer the poor, a toilet or a

factory worker The poor remain the out-of-work community The political

terms have been replaced by the rank and file, the grass roots, the bottom of

the bureaucracies

The obvious cultural words that denote leisure activities in Britain are

the national sports with their lexical sets: football (soccer), tennis, squash,

badminton, rugby, snooker, boxing, cricket, hockey, ice-hockey, horse-race, golf, rounder, foxhunting, poker, bridge and personal hobbies: chat, GO (games online), shopping, picnic, dancing, disco, karaoke

The political and social life of Britain is reflected in its institutional

terms Prominent examples are the titles of heads of state (Queen, King,

Prime Minister) or the names of its parliament branches (House of Lords, House of Commons) Its government inner circle is called cabinet and may

informally be referred to by the name of the capital city- London Some ministries and other political institutions may be referred to by their familiar

alternative terms, the names of the buildings: Westminster, (10) Downing

Street, Buckingham, Whitehall

Following are some ministries‟ names and public bodies or organizations, which needs careful handling when translated into Vietnamese: British Court of Exchequer, Treasury, High Court of Justice, Queen Bench Division, Home Office, Social Affairs, British Council, National Trust, Privy Council, Arts Council, Scotland Yard

Apart from above-mentioned modern institutional terms, it is necessary

to pay attention to historical institutional terms such as: Producer-general,

duke, earl, viscount, duchess, viscountess, baron, peer, Black Rod, Lord temporal, Lord spiritual, Lord High chancellor, Lord Protector, Lord Chamberlain, Lord Lieutenant, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Spring Seal, public school, father of chapel, Whig, Tory, Doomsday Book, Magna Carta, Apartheid

In academic texts and educated writing, they are usually transferred, with, where appropriate a functional or descriptive term with as details as it is required In popular texts, the transferred word can be replaced by the functional or descriptive term

Artistic terms: The translation of artistic terms referring to

movements, processes and organizations generally depend on the putative

knowledge of the readership The transparent names: State orchestra, the

London, the Manchester philharmonic orchestras…are usually translated

Names of buildings, museums, theatres, opera houses are likely to be

translated as well as translated since they come from part of street plans and addresses English artistic terms tend to transference when they are regarded

as cultural features and to naturalization if their universality is accepted

Religious terms: In religious language in English, the proselytizing

activities of Christianity, particularly the Catholic Church and the Baptists, the Protestant, the Methodist, the Presbyterian, the kirk of Scotland are reflected in manifold translation The language of the other world religions in Britain tends to be transferred or paraphrased when it becomes of TL interest English Bible Scholars and linguists have been particularly exercised by cultural connotation due to the translation of similes of fruit and husbandry into languages where they are in appropriate It is advisable to explain the religious term in translation For example, religious terms of Christianity in

English language: Sacramental Agent, Baptism, Easter, Holy Communion, the

Holy City, the Holy Father, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Land, holy orders, the Holy See, Holy Week, Holy Writ, Eucharist, Lord‟s supper, Lord‟s Prayer, Lord‟s Day, confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, penance What is more, it is

necessary to include a lot of religious festivals in Britain such as: Christmas,

Halloween, Easter, Orangemen Day, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Spring Bank Holiday

1.5 Definition of translation

Though the role and history of translation can be easily agreed upon, it

is almost impossible to find an undisputed definition of translation From different directions, there can be various definitions Particularly, translation can be defined as the activity of changing something spoken or especially written in one language into another language Newmark (1988:7) by defining

translation as a “craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message

and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in

another language”, views translation as a practical technique or a skill

Meanwhile, Nida (1964) claims that translation is an art, a skill and a science focusing more on the aesthetic value of the translation product Despite the great variety of definitions, we can still have an overall view of what translation is by combining the most essential aspects of those definitions

The below quoted definition from “Training Translators and conference

Interpreters” by Weber (1968:9) is not quite satisfactory but appears as one of

the most widely-agreed:

Translation is the transposition of a text written in a source language (SL) into a target language (TL) The translated version must be absolutely accurate in meaning, contain all nuances of the original, and must be written

in clear, elegant language that can be easily understood by the reader Nevertheless to say, punctuation spelling and grammar must be flawless

Weber (1968:9)

However, it must be noted that this definition is mainly for the sake of translation theory, since in practice, there are few translation versions that can

be “absolutely accurate in meaning” and “contain all the nuances of the

original” People are different in all aspects so the message perceived by the

reader is frequently not identical to the message meant by the writer There are numerous elements that cause this distortion of the message and cross-culture is one of the major ones And minimizing this distortion in meaning is the aim of all translation theories and of this study Whether referred to as a profession and/or as a sheer academic activity, translation can be defined as a process which is rendering a written text into another language and a product which is an artistic and scientific result of the translating activity

1.6 What translation theory is about

As a matter of fact, like any other scientific disciplines, translation must have its theoretical background which serves as a framework covering extensively from methodology to practical procedures This fact gives rise to

a new subject called translation theory Newmark (1988) claims that translation theory is neither a theory nor a science, but the body of knowledge that translators have about the process of translating, extending from general principles to guidelines, suggestions, and hints as its main concern is to determine appropriate translation methods for the widest possible range of texts or text categories

Thus, an institutional term („MP‟) or a metaphor („the stone died‟) or

synonyms in collocation or metalingual terms may each be translated in

many ways, if it is out of context; in these areas, the theory demonstrates the

possible translation procedures and the various arguments for/against the use

of one translation rather than another in a particular context

(Newmark, 1988:19)

It is noteworthy that translation theory is concerned with choices and decisions, not with the mechanics of either the SL or the TL

Furthermore, “translation theory attempts to give some insights into the

relation between thought, meaning and language, the universal, cultural and individual aspects of language and behavior, the understanding of cultures, the interpretation of texts that may be clarified and supplemented by way of translation” (Newmark, 1988:19) In this sense, translation theory is a

framework of reference for translation and translation criticism, particularly when reviewing all the options and making the decisions, relating first to complete texts, then in descending level to paragraphs, sentences, clauses, word groups, (in particular collocations), words, familiar alternative words,

cultural and institutional terms, proper names, “non-equivalent words”, neologisms and key conceptual terms-morphemes and even punctuation marks Note that metaphor, perhaps the most significant translation problem, may occur at all levels-from words to texts, at which level it becomes an allegory or a fantasy

Consequently, what translation theory does it, firstly, to identify and define a translation problem (the heart of translation theory is translation problems, admitting that what is a problem to one translator may not be to another); secondly, to indicate all the factors that the translator must consider when solving the problem; thirdly, to list all the possible translations techniques; finally, to recommend the optimal translation techniques, added the appropriate translation

Translation theory is pointless and sterile if it does not arise from the

problems of translation practice, from the need to stand back and reflect, to

consider all the factors within the text and outside it, before coming to a

decision

Newmark (1988:9)

Thus translation theory covers a wide range of pursuits, attempts to assist

the individual translator both by stimulating him to write better and to

suggest points of agreement on common translation problems Assumptions

and propositions about translation usually arise only from practice, and

should never be offered without examples of originals and their translations

Further, translation theory alternates between the smallest details, the

significance translation of dashes and hyphens, and the most abstract

themes, the symbolic power of a metaphor or the interpretation of a

multivalent myth

Newmark (1988:19)

To be sure, when translating, “the translator‟s first task is to

understand the text, often to analyze, or at least make some generalization about his text before he selects an appropriate translation method, so it is the business of translation theory to suggest some criteria and priorities for this analysis” (Newmark, 1988:20)

Firstly, the intention of a text: in reading, the translator search for the

intention of the text Two texts may depict a battle or a riot or a debate stating the same facts and figures but the type of language used and even the grammatical structures (passive voice, impersonal verbs often used to disclaim responsibility) in each case may be evidence of different points of view The intention of the text represents the SL writer‟s view to the matter concerned

Secondly, the intention of the translator: Is he trying to ensure that

the translation has the same emotional and persuasive charge as the original, and affects the reader in the same ways as the original? Or is he trying to convey the cultural flavor of the SL text? Or is he addressing a different uniformed reader who has to have the SL text made more explicit and any cultural word explained?

Thirdly, the readership and the setting of the text: There are also

several questions to the translator: who is the reader, what is his or her education, class, age, gender? Informed or ignored? A lay person or an expert? Where would the text be found, what is the TL equivalent of the SL periodical, newspaper, textbook, etc? All this would help the translator to decide on the degree of formality, emotiveness and simplicity

Fourthly, the quality of the writing and the authority of the text: If

the text is well written, i.e the manner is as important as the matter, the right

words are in the right places, and/or if the SL writer is an acknowledge authority on the subject, the translator has to regard every nuance of the author‟s meaning (particularly, if it is subtle and difficult) as having precedence over the response of the readers-assuming that they are not required to act or react promptly And again if the SL text is entirely bound up with the culture of the SL community-a novel or historical piece or a description attempting to characterize a place or custom or local character-the translator must decide whether or not the reader is entitled to, supplementary information and explanation

In conclusion, with the help of principles, rules, methods, hints, procedures…of translation theory, a satisfactory translation is always possible, but a good translator is never satisfied It can usually be improved

No translator, whether an amateur or an experienced professional, can say that

he produces perfect, ideal or correct translation A sensible translator is always trying to extend his knowledge and improve his ways if expression by consistently pursuing facts and words He works on 4 levels: translation is first a science, which entails the knowledge and verification of the facts and the language that describes them-here, what is wrong, mistakes of truth, can

be identified; secondly, an art, which distinguishes good from undistinguished writing and is the creative, the intuitive, sometimes the inspired level of the translation; lastly, a matter of taste, where argument ceases, preferences are expressed, and the variety of meritorious translation is the reflection of individual differences

1.7 Translation as a process

The claim that translation is an art, a science or skill implies the complication of the translation process, which, to some extent, sounds much simpler

There have been two clashing groups of ideas about translation process: whether the problems of translation can be solved solely on the basic of lexical meanings of words without the context being considered; or whether translation can never be done out of context

Translation, in fact, is, by no means, the mere process of linguistic substitution It is never the work of replacing one word in one language with one word in another language Thus, translation process involves various, elaborate and sophisticated stages, and can only be conducted on the basic of contextual correspondence in meaning

Currently, there is a widely accepted approach to translation process by Hervey and Higgins (1992) that translation process can be broken down into two interlocked stages: understanding the message of a SL text and formulating the message in the TL By this, the thought process of professional and experienced translator in action is analyzed Thus, it is advisable to follow their way, with supposition that the age of formulating the

TL text involves re-expressing and correcting the message in TL text

Let us assume that translation process can be divided into two types of activity: understanding a source text (ST) and formulating a target text (TT) These two types of process do not occur successively, but simultaneously; in fact, a translator may not even realize that he has imperfectly understood the

ST until he comes up against a problem in formulating or evaluating a TT In such a case, he should reinterpret and reconstruct the ST in the light of his new understanding That is why, it can be said that ST interpretation and TT formulation go hand in hand However, for the purposes of discussions, it is useful to think of them as different, mutually separable processes

The component processes of translation are not essentially different from certain familiar and usual ones that all speakers of other language

perform everyday For the start, understanding and interpreting are common place processes that are naturally performed whenever we listen to or read a piece of information The act of understanding the message involves all the beliefs, suppositions, inferences and expectations, which form the stuff of personal, social and cultural life Understanding everyday messages is consequently not at all different from what a translator must do when first facing a ST-and it is certainly not less complex

In everyday communication, the fact that a message has been understood may be proved by appropriate practical response Another indication of how precisely a message has been understood is appropriate linguistic response, which includes such simple things as returning a correct greeting, giving a satisfactory answer to a question, or filling a form While none of these are translation-like processes, they actually do show that the comprehension and interpretation stage of the translation process involves what can be a perfectly ordinary, everyday activity which requires no special skill or power of intellect, but only an average native command of the language used

There is, however, another kind of ordinary, everyday linguistic response that is somewhat similar to translation process Following is a

typical example extracted from “Thinking Translation” by Hervey and

Higgins (1992:8)

Jones: Ask your Mum if I can take you to the concert tonight

Mary: O.K (exit to find her mother)

Mary (to mother): Mum, there‟s pop concert at the Wembley tonight Can I

go?

Mum: Just a minute Who‟s taking you?

Mary: Oh, Mum Can you guess?

Mum: Oh, I see And what time does it start?

Mary: 8 o‟clock and it finishes at midnight

Mum: Right If you make sure you get your homework done by seven and

get what‟s-his-name to walk you home the moment the thing finishes, you

can go But I want you back here by 12:15 at the latest, and no messing

around going to friends on the way, or whatever it is to get up to the middle

of the night And you come right in and go to bed when you get home, is

that clear No hanging around at the door saying goodnight for hours on end

Mary: O.K, Mum Thanks (goes back to find Jones)

Jones: Well, what did your Mum say?

Mary: She says we can go as long as we‟re back by quarter past midnight

and you behave yourself.

In this verbal exchange, Mary gives clear evidence of having comprehension properly what her mother has said She does so, not by appropriate practical response or by making the appropriate reply, but by first interpreting her mother‟s words (including to read skillfully between lines) and then reporting the gist of her mother‟s intend message in her own words This twofold process is strongly reminiscent of translation process Extracting

a message (by comprehension and interpretation) from a given form of words and then re-expressing (by formulation and re-creation) the contents of the message in a different form is what translators do We can even distinguish in the example between a SL (the word used by Mum) and a TL (the girl‟s reply

to “what did your Mum say?”) The only difference between this example and translation process is that both SL and TL are English

Another common process of interpretation similar to translation process

is an intra-linguistic process whereby one expands on a particular text and its

contents This type of expository interpretation can easily develop into a full

scale textual exegesis that tries to analyze and explain the implication of a text

(maybe with the addition of cross-reference, allusions, footnotes, and so on) This process may not stand in a line with people‟s view of translation but it does share common features with translation process: there is a ST which is subjected to comprehension and interpretation and a TT which is the result of

a creative reformulation of the SL Thus here, we can see the two extremes of translation-like processes At the one end, the TL expresses only the gist of

the SL message; Higgins (1992) calls this gist translation At the other end,

the TL is wordier than the SL, explaining it and elaborating on it; this is called

exegetic translation

So far, the thesis author has suggested that there are basic types of translation-like processes, defined according to the degree in which the TT abstracts from, adds to, or tries to reproduce faithfully, the details contained in the ST message

Also, it should be added that there are two important respects in which these three types of processes are on an equal footing with one another, as well as with translation process First, they all require intelligence, mental effort and linguistic skill; there can be no substitute for a close knowledge of the subject matter of the ST, and a painstaking examination and analysis of its contents Second, in all three cases, mastery of TL is a prerequisite In conclusion, as stated by Higgins (1992), it is necessary to pay attention to TL competence as closely as to SL competence in a translation course

1.8 Translation as a product

In the previous section, translation can be seen as a process In this section, it shall be view as a product It is advisable to examine two diametrical opposites, in this case two opposed degrees of translation, showing extreme SL bias on the one hand and extreme TL bias on the other

What lies at the extreme of SL bias as defined by Hervey and Higgins (1992)

as interlinear translation, where the TT does not always respect TL grammar, but has grammatical units corresponding to every unit of the ST Interlinear

translation is rare, and is normally only used in language teaching or in descriptive linguistics Because it is of little practical use, I shall not consider

it, other than to note its position as the furthest degree of SL bias In fact, interlinear translation is an extreme form of the much more common literal meaning of words taken as if from the dictionary (that is, out of content); but

TL grammar is relatively respected

The extreme of TL bias is completely free translation, where there is only a global correspondence between textual unit of the ST and those of the

TT This type of extreme freedom is known as communicative translation, which is defined as follows:

Where, in a given situation (like introducing oneself to a stranger), the

ST uses a SL expression standard for that situation, the TT uses a TL expression for an equivalent target culture situation This degree of freedom is

no more to be recommended as general practical than interlinear translation Communicative translation is, however, mandatory for many culturally conventional formulae that will not accept literal translation Public notices, proverbs and conventional clichés illustrate this particularly, as in:

• For staff only: Không phận sự miễn vào

• As poor as a church mouse: Nghèo rớt mùng tơi

• Don‟t mention it!: Không có gì!

Between the two extremes of literal translation and free rendering, one may imagine an infinite member of degree, including some ideal half-way approaches between the two

It is suggested that translation usefully be judged between the two polarities of extreme SL bias and extreme TL bias The approaches to translation are arranged on the following diagram taken from Newmark (1988:39)

SOURCE LANGUAGE BIAS TARGET LAGUAGE BIAS

LITERAL FREE FAITHFUL IDIOMATIC

The first traces of translation date from 3000 B.C, during the Egyptian Old

Kingdom, in the area of the First Cataract, Elephantine, where inscriptions

in two languages have been found…Luther‟s Bible translation in 1552 laid

the foundations of modern German and King James‟s Bible (1611) had a

seminal influence on English language and literature Significant periods of

translation preceded Shakespeare and his contemporaries, French classicism

and Romantic Movements

Translation has always been instrumental in transmitting cultures Translation can be viewed as one of the mass media in inter-cultural communication, as well as one of the most effective means to ensure cultural co-operation on a global scale Exploring the secrets of a language, accessing

to literary masterpieces also mean the process of absorbing and understanding the cultural identify of a nation To read the works of a poet, a writer, a philosopher is not merely to talk to them; however, through them, we can study the spirit of a cultural community they represent

Translation, by making people of different cultural understand each other, can pacify conflicts, destroy the hurdles, teach people to altruism and co-existence

Translation is a kind of “passport” that allows cultural ideas to travel around the world and carry their duties Translation is also the key to enter the great dialogues between nations Many historical, religious, cultural misunderstandings and conflicts were defused when a work was translated and published Readers welcomed it, ignoring the barrier of language and cultural differences In the light of this spirit, translation plays a very crucial role in promoting cultural achievements of each nation Translators have always been the mediators in the relationship between representatives from different nations and cultures The translator- in any setting like literary works, scientific documents or conference speeches-is the individual who has

a noble duty of bringing peoples and cultures closer to each other OSCE Conference in 1975 made it clear that translation is to help the people understand each other better, help states to reach consensus Thus, translation

is apparently the most effective spiritual bridge to link different cultures for the goal of long-lasting friendship In today‟s world context, every nation is encouraged to promote their own culture and language, as all cultures and