A STUDY ON COMMON ERRORS COMMITTED BY THE FOURTH YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY IN TRANSLATING BUSINESS LETTERS = Nghiên cứu một số lỗi thường gặp khi dịch thư thương mại của sinh viên năm tư Trường Đại Học Hùng Vương

Nowadays, English is used in a majority of countries in the world, as it is one of the most important languages for international communication. It has become a compulsory subject in many schools, colleges and universities. In the context of globalization, demands on learning about and accessing to business letters by organizations in different countries have been rapidly increasing. In addition, the modern evolution of business becomes more and more necessary and in order to satisfy this trend, the business letter has become increasingly important. Whether a mail order business is carried on or not, the letter is no less important. Goods are bought, collections made, complaints adjusted, instructions given, business policies and selling campaigns outlined in the business letters. Realizing the important role of business letters, Vietnamese students have been studying hard to deal with English business letter effectively. Moreover, due to the internationalization trend of the world economy, companies not only trade in their countries but also expand their commerce to other countries. In order to keep in touch with their partners, the best way is to write business letters. English is their first choice because it has become more and more popular in global business. In the process of studying translation at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Vuong University, the author found that business translation based the existing rules among languages is very essential. Here, the role of linguistics is very important in explaining cases without any equivalents. And also, it is impossible to explain all issues of translation in linguistic aspects but to base on professional foundations in the field of business. Thus, it is necessary to take into account linguistic viewpoints as well as those of business categories in the translations of business letters and business related materials. Translation in general and translation business letters in particular are common job of student’s majority in English linguistics after their graduation. They work in companies which professionally run by the operations related to translating business letters. However, they encounter many difficulties when translating them. In class, they usually get stuck in troubles with translating letter, expressing as well as finding materials, so they cannot get good mark. Translating business letters requires not only thorough understanding of linguistic aspects and corresponding subjects but also logic thinking to ensure deep understanding of characteristics and nature of business language. They have not got them yet .Thus, it is necessary to make the difficulties clear and suggest some strategies for translating such kind of letters

This graduation paper is my final important task on the way of obtaining

my bachelor degree It would not have been completed without the guidance and the support of many people At this moment of accomplishment, it is my pleasant task to express my sincere thanks to all of them.

First and foremost, I would like to express my endless thanks and gratefulness to my supervisor Ngo Thi Thanh Huyen M.A for her precious advice, detailed comments, valuable suggestions and enthusiastic guidance corrections from the planning stage to the completion of my thesis Without her continual encouragement and useful documents, her careful reading and critical comments, my paper would be far from finished.

I am obliging to all my teachers in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Vuong University, who inspired me and gave me good knowledge of English for writing this graduation paper.

It would be a shortcoming if I do not mention here all my friends, especially all members of K12 English Pedagogy for their unceasing encouragement, care and help during this hard time.

Last but not least, I would like to dedicate my concluding words to my dear family for supporting me devotedly both material and spiritual throughout

my thesis-writing period.

The study aims to find out some common errors in terms of linguisticscommitted by the fourth-year English students at Hung Vuong University whentranslating business letters from Vietnamese into English It is also used todiscover the possible causes of these errors as well as some suggested solutions

to this situation

With the study, the author hopes to make a small contribution to teaching/learning business letters effectively, which may help students improve theirtranslation skill, avoid the linguistic errors, and help the teachers find the mostappropriate way in teaching business letters translation

The study consists of three parts Part I, the introduction, states therationale, aims, setting, scope, significance, design, questions and methods ofthe research Part II, the development, is divided into three chapters Chapter 1reviews theoretical background relating to translation, translation studies,translation methods, translation errors, business letters, significance and types ofbusiness letters Chapter 2 presents the instrumentation, data collection and dataanalysis Chapter 3 summarizes major findings and discussions Part III, theconclusion, summarize major findings points out some limitations and gives

some suggestions for further study

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS

3 Table 3.2 Some cases of terminology error committed by the

students in translation test

47

4 Table 3.3 The students’ opinion towards learning style as a

cause of the errors in business letters translation

56

5 Table 3.4 The students’ opinion towards teaching and learning

conditions as the causes of the errors in business letters

Chart 3.2 The students’ attitude towards the importance of

business letters translation (%)

49

3 Chart 3.3 The students’ attitude towards learning business

letters translation (%)

50

4 Chart 3.4 The students’ attitude towards learning business

letters translation as a part of translation course (%)

51

5 Chart 3.5 The students’ attitude towards being a business letters

translator in future (%)

52

6 Chart 3.6 The students’ attitude towards kinds of translation in

business letters translation (%)

53

7

Chart 3.7 The students’ attitude towards some common errors in

terms of linguistics in Vietnamese – English business letters

translation (%)

54

8

Chart 3.8 The students’ attitude towards the possible causes for

the errors in terms of linguistics in Vietnamese – English

business letters translation (%)

55

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

e1: error of the use of articlese2: error of capitalization

e3: error of preposition

e4: error of punctuation

e5: error of spelling

e6: error of using correct grammare7: error of tense

e8: error of terminology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.2.1 In the world 2

1.2.2 In Vietnam 4

1.3 Research gap 6

1.4 Purpose of the study 6

1.5 Research questions 6

1.6 Setting 6

1.7 The significance of the research 6

1.8 The scope of the research 6

1.9 Design of the research: 7

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 8

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

1.1 An overview on translation 8

1.1.1 The concept of translation 9

1.1.2 Translation methods 12

1.1.3 Translation errors 18

1.2 An overview on business letters 22

1.2.1 The definition of business letters 22

1.2.2 Kinds of business letters 23

1.2.3 Features of a good business letters 28

1.3 Summary 35

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 36

2.1 Participants 36

2.2 Methodology 36

2.3 Data collection instruments 36

2.3.1 Test 37

2.3.2 Questionnaires 37

2.3 The research procedure 38

CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 39

3.1 The result from translation test 39

3.2 The result from questionnaires 49

3.2.1 The students’ attitude and interest toward Vietnamese – English business letters translation 49

3.2.2 Some common errors in terms of linguistics that the students committed when translating business letters from Vietnamese into English 53

3.2.3 The causes of student’s errors in terms of linguistics in Vietnamese – English business letters translation 55

3.4 Conclusion 58

PART III: CONCLUSION 59

1 Summary 59

2 Limitations 59

3 Implications 60

4 Suggestions for the further study 60

REFERENCES 61

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is used in a majority of countries in the world, as it isone of the most important languages for international communication It hasbecome a compulsory subject in many schools, colleges and universities In thecontext of globalization, demands on learning about and accessing to businessletters by organizations in different countries have been rapidly increasing Inaddition, the modern evolution of business becomes more and more necessaryand in order to satisfy this trend, the business letter has become increasinglyimportant

Whether a mail order business is carried on or not, the letter is no lessimportant Goods are bought, collections made, complaints adjusted,instructions given, business policies and selling campaigns outlined in thebusiness letters Realizing the important role of business letters, Vietnamesestudents have been studying hard to deal with English business lettereffectively

Moreover, due to the internationalization trend of the world economy,companies not only trade in their countries but also expand their commerce toother countries In order to keep in touch with their partners, the best way is towrite business letters English is their first choice because it has become moreand more popular in global business

In the process of studying translation at Faculty of Foreign Languages,Hung Vuong University, the author found that business translation based theexisting rules among languages is very essential Here, the role of linguistics isvery important in explaining cases without any equivalents And also, it isimpossible to explain all issues of translation in linguistic aspects but to base

on professional foundations in the field of business Thus, it is necessary totake into account linguistic viewpoints as well as those of business categories

in the translations of business letters and business related materials

Translation in general and translation business letters in particular arecommon job of student’s majority in English linguistics after their graduation.They work in companies which professionally run by the operations related totranslating business letters However, they encounter many difficulties whentranslating them In class, they usually get stuck in troubles with translatingletter, expressing as well as finding materials, so they cannot get good mark.Translating business letters requires not only thorough understanding oflinguistic aspects and corresponding subjects but also logic thinking to ensuredeep understanding of characteristics and nature of business language Theyhave not got them yet Thus, it is necessary to make the difficulties clear andsuggest some strategies for translating such kind of letters.

During the previous four years, my friends and I have had chances tostudy English thoroughly in terms of language practice (i.e listening, speaking,etc.) as well as language theory (i.e grammar, lexicology, discourse analysis and

so on) I would say that English for Business is the subject we are interested in

most since it teaches us some essential jobs such as writing memos, lists,reports, especially letters that are very helpful if we work for an import - exportcompany in the future From those reasons above mentioned, I decided to

conduct the study called: “A study on common errors committed by the fourth year English students at Hung Vuong University in translating business letters” as my graduation paper It is hoped that this paper will be a good

reference for those studying and working in business translation and those withcertain knowledge of English language, who are interested in businesstranslation to serve their own business, especially the fourth-year Englishlinguistic students

equivalence principle, readers’ reaction should be put in the first place and thesource language should be expressed in appropriate receptors’ language Thispaper talked about the conjunctions in business letters It was suggested thattranslator should pay great attention to the expectation of the reader, theintentionality of the source text and overall effect of the text Functionalequivalence theory emphasizes that translation was a kind of culture transfer, acommunicative interaction, a cross culture event Therefore, translation ofconjunctions in business letters requires the translator combine thecommunicative function of the text with the response of the target text readers todetermine the translation strategies.

XieYongqiu (2013) carried out the study: “A Brief Analysis on the Translation Skills of Business Correspondence “.This paper made a brief

analysis of translation skills of business correspondence At first, thecharacteristics of business correspondence translation discussed above requiretranslators to translate practically, correctly and concisely And then skills intranslating the words, sentences and text of business letters were brieflyintroduced What we can learn from this paper was that translators should notonly pay attention to the translation skills and strategies but also becomesensitive to the cultural differences between China and English-speakingcountries The curacy of translation cannot be emphasized more Therefore, tounderstand and study the original letters correctly was the first and mostimportant strategies, at the same time; it was indispensable to think of itscultural backgrounds and connotations in the intercultural view

Another research was conducted by FU Qing-lian (2009): “Application of Nida’s Theory of Equivalence to Business Translation” through the introduction

of Nida' s Theory of Equivalence and the characteristics of Business English,this essay mainly discusses that Nida's theory of functional equivalence can bebest applied in business English translation and functional equivalence can beachieved in both meaning and style at the word level, the sentence level and thediscourse level It also provided some useful methods and techniques which can

be applied to maximizing equivalence in Business English translation.

Huan Wang, Yuhang Bai and Jianhua Jiang (2013) carried out a study called:

“ On Business English E-C Translation Model Based on Equivalence Theory

Based on Equivalence Theory” This paper aimed to propose a model which

can put Equivalence Theory into BE (Business English) translation practice Itapplied the model to BE E-C (Business English English- Chinese) translation

at the lexical, the syntactical, the pragmatic and the stylistic level to achieveequivalence

Do Minh Hoang (2012) carried out the study: “The study of the characteristics of business English and functional theories on its translation”.

This paper was mainly about the study of the characteristics of business Englishand its translation skills, especially the functional theories and it firstsummarizes the status and importance of Business English, then concisely

explains the methods of translation, with the emphasis on the matters whichshould be noticed during the translation process Meanwhile, this paperintroduced a number of scenarios in a cross-cultural translation, offering areference value The paper will offer some functional theories applied intranslating business English It was quite reasonable to employ functional theoryfor business translation and the application of the main functional theories inbusiness English translation was bound to be useful and valuable The paperopened a new view for the principles of business English translation It explored

a systematic analysis from the functional view and proposes two specificprinciples and several strategies in the business translation practice, which canset up a set of practical and comprehensive principles for business Englishtranslation as well as to provide some help to those whose profession wasbusiness English teaching or who were intending to work in this field

Duong Thuy Trang and Tran Van Tuan (2011) conducted the research: “A Review of Business English Translation” This paper summarized a part of

studies on the Business English translation, arranging the contents,characteristics and translation strategies of Business English The only purposewas to provide some help for the people who were working for Business Englishtranslation or interested in Business English translation This paper can reallycontribute to improve their translation abilities and make them do a good job inBusiness English translation

Ha Anh Tu (2017) studied: “Common errors committed by the fourth-year English linguistics students in translating legal documents into English” The

study aimed to find out the common errors in terms of linguistics committed bythe fourth-year English linguistic students at Hung Vuong University whentranslating legal documents from Vietnamese into English It was also used todiscover the possible causes of these errors as well as suggest some solutions tothis situation

1.3 Research gap

All those studies have not mentioned and researched on errors in translatingbusiness letters yet Thus, my study conducts that to find out what the errors are

as well as help students to know their mistakes and the causes better

1.4 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this research is to:

1) Find out common errors committed by the fourth-year Englishstudents in translating business letters into English

2) Suggest some ways to reduce the errors

1.7 The significance of the research

The study may help the researcher; teachers and students who teach andstudy business letters translation improve the knowledge about business letterstranslation With the study, I hope to make a small contribution toteaching/learning business letters translation effectively, which may helpstudents improve their translation skill, avoid the linguistic errors, and help theteachers find the most appropriate way in teaching business letters translation Inaddition, common errors committed by students when translating business letterswill be discovered Also, the study will introduce the methods to enhancestudent’s business letters translation skill

1.8 The scope of the research

This study focuses on common errors in terms of linguistics committed

by 30 students in K12 English Pedagogy at Hung Vuong University intranslating business letters from Vietnamese into English

1.9 Design of the research

The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

PART I: INTRODUCTON

In this part, the researcher gives an overall introduction about researchrationale, research purpose, previous research, research question, the scope ofresearch, research method and the significance of the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

This part consists of three main chapters

Chapter 1: Literature review

This part presents theoretical background of translation, translationstudies, translation methods, translation errors, business letters translation and itssignificance, types and characteristics

Chapter 2: Methodology

Research questions, participants, methods of the study, instruments,data collection and data analysis are discussed in this chapter

Chapter 3: Research findings and discussion

This chapter presents major research findings and discussion indetails

PART III: CONCLUSION

This part summarizes the major findings of the study, lists limitations,its implications as well as mentions some suggestions for future study andpresents conclusion

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter sets out to examine what is understood by translation,translation studies and theories, and briefly describes the history of thedevelopment and aims of translation studies as a discipline

1.1 An overview on translation

Kelly (2005: 26-27) defines translation as the skill of understanding thesource text and rendering it in the target language by using the register, thebackground knowledge, and other language resources according to the intendedpurpose Therefore, a translator was a mediator of the two languages andcultures who can transfer the SL to the TL Moreover, translation was one of theoldest concerns in the history and theories of learning a language From thebeginning, the activity of translation had an oral aspect, the so- called

“interpretation” Then translation extended to written texts

As a matter of fact, in the past the problem of translation was not a topic ofdiscussions, as it was considered that language, especially its lexicon, is a simpleinventory of words that has proper correspondents in other languages (DavidMarsh, 2013)

The translation itself began with the determination of the work's genre, asthe translator has to choose the vocabulary, has to reproduce different meanings

of the words and for example when dealing with a literary translation, the ruleswere to know the language, the culture and the history of people, as well as theirhabits, described in the original work So, one of the greatest accomplishments

of a good translation was an excellent knowledge of the two languages andcultures

Regarding the possibility of translation, there were two opinions that havealways contrasted and that were still present nowadays:

On the other hand, the development of the activity of translation inRenaissance period, together with its interest in antiquity, renders evident thepractical difficulties of translation The tendency of preserving the local color

and the necessity of transposing the reader in another country and in another era,bring the translator face to face with new problems that were difficult to solveout From a theoretical point of view, these hardships generated the idea that acomplete translation shall never be possible.

1.1.1 The concept of translation

Catford (1965) considered translation the replacement of textual material

in one language by an equivalent textual material in the other language Thispoint of view was shared by Hartman and Stork (1972) “translation is thereplacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of

an equivalent text in a second language” These definitions emphasize onimportance of equivalence when textual material was replaced from sourcelanguage (SL) to target language (TL)

Bell, RT (1991) says “Translation is the expression in another language(or TL) of what has been expressed in another, source language, preservingsemantic and stylistic equivalences” Hatim and Mason (1990) see translation as

a communicative process which takes place within a social context Thesedefinitions attach importance to equivalence between SL and TL Indeed,translator should be the one of superior language ability in at least twolanguages

According to Andreea-Rosalia Olteanu (2012), translation was oftenassociated with the transliteration of literary works from one language toanother The question that has become sacramental was: what was translation, a

science or an art Regarding the artistic texts it can be said that translation was

an art based on science, and the interpretations made by linguists have oftenbeen the basis of the translators' actual experiences

It was not easy to give a complete definition of translation It can refer tothe general subject field, the products (the text that has been translated) or theprocess (the act of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating).The process of translation between two different languages involves thetranslator changing an original text (the source text or ST) in the original verbal

language (the source language or SL) in a different verbal language (the targetlanguage or TL) In a more general way, translation was considered the process

of transformation of a message expressed in one language, in the same message,but formulated in another language, provided that there were preserved all (orapproximately all) qualities of the original message

According to nowadays researches each language has its own individualway of reflecting the surrounding reality, in a way it organizes the data ofexperience Languages split differently the exterior reality and characterize itand as a result two pictures of the objective world, presented by any twolanguages, were not identical

It is considered that lexemes are a kind of “labels” of objects, phenomena,qualities, actions; it can easily lead to the idea that translation is a simple change

of “labels” Ferdinand de Saussure sees that “for some people language, reduced

to its essential principle, it's a nomenclature, meaning a list of terms thatcorrespond with many things.” (Martinet, 1969)

Martinet says that: “learning a language doesn't mean to assign new

“labels” on some known objects, but to analyze the object of linguisticcommunication” (Saussure, 1998)

The idea that every language has it was own way of analyzing the factsfrom the surrounding world presents a serious theoretical objection against thepossibility of performing a translation

If it is admitted the fact that languages differ not only in their exterioraspect- through an individual vocabulary and through a specific grammaticalstructure- but also through the way of organizing the semantic content of thelexicon, people who spoke different languages do not present things in the sameway

Comparing the lexical elements of two languages, one can observe only apartial coincidence between them: the semantic entities of words coincide onlypartially These factors make translation even difficult

Saussure said “In our country, translation has had a rapid growth, but the

translation theory is at its beginnings We have to differentiate translation fromtranslation theory that is a special scientific discipline The aim of the translationtheory is to follow rules that are the basis of the translation from one languageinto another, to establish the correlation between the original and the translation,

to generalize reliance on particular cases that afterwards could be used inperforming a translation Translation theory helps practice in that it emphasizesdifferent possibilities of language, it helps choosing from the wide variety ofmeans the most suitable one for the given context”

If language were just a classification for a set of general or universalconcepts, it would be easy to translate from an SL to a TL; furthermore, underthe circumstances the process of L2 learning would be much easier than itactually was In this regard, Culler (1976) believes that languages were notnomenclatures and the concepts of one language may differ radically from those

of another, since each language articulates or organizes the world differently,and languages did not simply name categories; they articulate their own Theconclusion likely to be drawn from what Culler (1976) writes was that one of thetroublesome problems of translation was the disparity among languages Thebigger the gap between the SL and the TL, the more difficult the transfer ofmessage from the former to the latter will be

Regarding the relation between translation and cultural communication itcan be said that translation was a form of cross-cultural communication.Communication takes place through a medium and in situations that werelimited in time and place Each specific situation determines what and howpeople communicate, and it was changed by people in communication.Situations were not universal but were embedded in a cultural habitat, which inturn conditions the situation Language was thus to be regarded as part ofculture

The complexity of translation lies in the multitude of and the delicaterelationship among its relevant factors Translation was never innocent Therewas always a context in which translation takes place, always a history from

which a text emerges and into which a text was transposed

Culture in this discussion should be seen in a broad sense, as inanthropological studies “Culture is not only understood as the advancedintellectual development of mankind as reflected in the arts, but it refers to allsocially conditioned aspects of human life” (Snell Hornby, 1988)

In conclusion, the purpose of translation is to pass on an understanding topeople in their own language and create the same impact as the original text

"Translation, seen as a mode of being in the world, should be contextualized as asocial system Infidelity was built in translation because it inevitably describesdomestic scenes that were loaded not only linguistically and culturally, but alsosocially and politically Translation was simultaneous decontextualization andrecontextualization, hence was productive rather than reproductive Translationshould be seen as an attempt to guess the mind of an author correctly (Nord,1997)”

1.1.2 Translation methods

1.1.2.1 The methods of Newmark

Newmark (1988) categorizes translation methods according to theiremphasis on SL or TL

In terms of SL emphasis, translation methods include word-for-wordtranslation; literal translation; faithful translation and semantic translation

Word-for-word translation

Newmark (1988) demonstrates this method as interlinear translation withthe TL immediately below the SL words Interlinear translation means theprimary senses of all words in the original are translated as though out of contextand the word order of the original was retained Take as an example the sentence

“The most common network arrangement is known as a client/serve system.” in

a T.T material of Information Technology for third year students, ED, HaUI.Students would prefer to translate “Cách bố trí mạng phổ biến nhất được biếtđến là hệ thống máy khách/chủ” Passive voice in the English original sentence

is remained unchanged in Vietnamese translation version Word for word

translation seems to be easy and familiar with students.

Literal Translation

Newmark (1988) states “the SL grammatical constructions are converted

to their nearest TL equivalents but the lexical words are again translated singly,out of context.” An example on Automobile Technology “About 15,000 separateparts are put together to make an automobile.” can be literally translated as “Mộtchiếc ô tô gồm khoảng 15,000 bộ phận riêng biệt đặt cạnh nhau” The primarysenses of the lexical words of the original were translated as though out ofcontext, but the syntactic structures of the TL were respected

Faithful Translation

The method attempted to produce the precise contextual meaning of theoriginal within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures (Newmark,1988) For example, “A power-steering system contains a hydraulic booster,which operates when the engine was running and supplies most the necessaryforce when the driver turns the wheel” can faithfully translated as “Một hệ thốngtrợ lực lái gồm một bộ tăng thủy lực, mà hoạt động khi động cơ đang chạy vàcung cấp hầu hết lực cần thiết khi lái xe quay bánh xe.” This method preservesdegree of grammatical and lexical “abnormality” in translation

Semantic Translation

Semantic translation refered to that type of translation that takes intoaccount the aesthetic value of the SL text Peter Newmark (1988) says, “Thebasic difference between semantic and literal translation was that the formerrespects context, the latter does not In semantic translation, the translator’s firstloyalty was to his author; in literal translation, his loyalty was, on the whole, tothe norms of the SL” An example in Electricity “A generator was simply adevice that moves a magnet near a wire to create a steady flow of electrons” can

be semantically translated as “Máy phát điện đơn giản chỉ là một thiết bị dichuyển một nam châm tới gần một dây dẫn để tạo ra dòng electron ổn định.”

When it came to TL emphasis, translation methods consist of adaptation;free translation; idiomatic translation and communicative translation

Newmark (1988) mentioned “Adaptation is the freest form of translation;

it was used mainly for plays and poems” The text was rewritten considering the

SL cultures which were converted to the TL culture where the characters,themes, plot were usually preserved Adaptation was rarely used in T.T

Free Translation

Newmark (1988) defined free translation as the way to reproduce thematter without the manner, the content without the form of the original It wasusually a paraphrase, a so-called “intra-lingual translation” Free translation wasagain rarely used in T.T

Idiomatic Translation

The method reproduces the “message” of the original but tends to distortnuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these did notexist in the original (Newmark, 1988) For example, “There was no accountingfor taste” was idiomatically translated into Vietnamese “Được voi đòi tiên”.Idiomatic translation was not used in T.T

Communicative Translation

This method attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of theoriginal in such a way that both content and language were readily acceptableand comprehensible to the readership (Newmark, 1988) The example in freetranslation “To allow smooth shifting from one gear to another, a clutch wasprovided to disengage the engine from the transmission” can be shortlytranslated in communicative way as “Để xe ko bị giật khi sang số, người lái xephải cắt côn” This translation version was for a group of people that sharecommon background and knowledge of Automobile Technology

1.1.2.2 The methods of Larson

According to Larson (1984), translation method was divided into twocategories First category was from-based or literal translation Secondly, it wasmeaning based or idiomatic translation By literal translations, he meant, thetranslation faithfully follows the form of the SL On the other hand, the

idiomatic translation tries to convey the meaning intended by the SL writer in anatural form of the receptor language.

Larson (1984) then adds that in applying the literal translation, there wasrarely a true literal translation The methods spread in the continuum from veryliteral, to literal, to modified literal, to near idiomatic, idiomatic, and undulyfree The continuum was drawn as follow:

Larson (1984) further explains:

- Very literal was an interlinear translation For some purposes, it wasdesirable to reproduce the linguistic features of the source text, as for example,

in a linguistic study of that language;

- Literal translation was a translation which its sounds like nonsense andhas little communicative value It may be very useful for the purposes related tothe study of the source language, they were of little help to speakers of thereceptor language who were interested in the meaning of the source language text;

- Modified literal methods were a way to modify order and grammar ofthe source language in an acceptable sentence structure in the receptor language.However, the lexical items were translated literally

- Inconsistent mixture mixes literal and idiomatic translation in the finaldraft of translation

- Near idiomatic reproduces the meaning of the source language (thatwas the meaning intended by the original communicator) in receptor languagewithout losing the natural form of the source language

- Idiomatic translation reproduces the meaning of the source language(that was the meaning intended by the original communicator) in the naturalform of receptor language

- The unduly free translation adds extraneous information, which was notstated in the source text It changed the meaning of SL; it distorted the fact ofthe historical and cultural setting of the source text

1.1.2.3 The methods of Robet Holmes

Prior to Newmark and Larson, Robet Holmes (1970) cited in Gentzler(1993) mentions that there were four methods of translation:

- First method retains the form of the original

- The second attempts to discern the function of the text in the receivingculture and seeks parallel function within the target language tradition

- The third is content-derivative, taking the original meaning of theprimary text and allowing it to develop into its own unique shape in the targetlanguage

- The fourth deliberately retains minimal similarity for other purposes,for which Holmes gives no example

1.1.2.4 The methods of André Lefevere

André Lefevere (1975) quoted in Gentzler (1993) further enrich Holmes’description He stated that there were seven methodologies which tend to governthe translation process –especially in the translation of poetry They were:

- Phonemic translation, which attempts to reproduce the SL precisely in TL

- Literal translation, which distorts the sense and the syntax of theoriginal through word-for-word emphasis

- Metrical translation, which reproduce the SL metre

- Poetry into prose, which changes both of sense and syntax of the SL

- Rhymed translation, where the translator enters into a double bondage

of metre and rhyme.Blank verse translation Again the restrictions imposed onthe translator by the choice of structure are emphasized, although the greateraccuracy and higher degree of literalness obtained are also noted

- Interpretation Interpret the theme and re-writes it to make the text easier for reception.

1.1.2.5 The theory of Nida

Nida’s translation theory of dynamic equivalence was formed anddeveloped based on his practical work as a linguist with the American BibleSociety from 1943 onwards when he co-ordinated the translation of the Biblefrom English to a variety of other languages

Nida’s theory of dynamic translation was fully presented in his twomajor works: Toward a Science of Translating and The Theory and Practice ofTranslation which treat the problems of translating with a scientific approach byincorporating recent work in linguistics According to Nida, ‘translating consists

in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of thesource-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms ofstyle’ (Nida and Taber:1969:12)

Clearly this definition itself focuses on the translation both as a process

of translating and a product of it In the first place, Nida asserts that the process

of translating was to reproduce the message rather than to conserve the form ofthe utterance, because the content of message was considered to be of primeimportance, especially for Bible translating To preserve the content of themessage, grammatical and lexical adjustments were inevitable and the form ofthe utterance must be altered (Nida and Taber, 1969:5) Secondly ‘the closestnatural equivalent’ was the ideal product of translating, which required thetranslator to avoid awkwardness or translation see in order to produce atranslation which did not sound like a translation in the target language culture.Based on the discussion of definition of translating, Nida established four sets ofpriorities to guide real translating practice: (1969:14-32)

- The priority of contextual consistency over verbal consistency: Nida believedthat ‘strict verbal consistency may result in serious distortion of the meaning(1969:21)’ and a translator should depend on context rather than word-for-wordconcordance to (1) determine the word meaning and (2) find the right word inthe receptor language to produce the same response (1969:16-17)

- The priority of dynamic equivalence over formal correspondence: Nida definedtwo types of equivalence: ‘formal equivalence’ and ‘dynamic equivalence’(Nida, 1964:159) Formal equivalence focuses on transferring the message.Dynamic equivalence focuses on producing the equivalent effect of the message

In dynamic translation, ‘one is not so concerned with matching the language message with the source-language message, but with the dynamic

receptor-relationship, that the relationship between the receptor and the message should

be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptorsand the message (Nida, 1964: 159).’ ‘Dynamic equivalence was therefore to bedefined in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in thereceptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors

in the source language (Nida and Taber, 1969:24).‘ Nida was aware that thisresponse can never be the same due to different culture, but a high degree ofequivalence of response should be achieved to reproduce the closest naturalequivalent in the receptor language The response of the receptors in receptorlanguage was not only informative, but also expressive and imperative forcommunication (Nida and Taber, 1969:24) That was to say, dynamicequivalence in translation should not only be intelligible or understandable tocommunicate information, but also enable receptors to feel what wascommunicated and to response in action

- The priority of the heard language over the written language: This priority wasparticularly important for and applicable to the Bible translation, because morepeople did not read the Scriptures themselves but hear the Scriptures read

- The priority of the needs of the audience over the forms of language: Thispriority means that the forms understood and accepted by the audience to whom

a translation was directed are more significant than the forms which mayrepresent a long literary tradition

1.1.3 Translation errors

1.1.3.1 Theory of translation errors

Prior to conducting empirical evaluation on the quality of translation, itwas indispensable to identify the translation errors and their classifications asSchiaffino (2005) assumes that it was easier to agree on what constitutes anerror rather than on what constitutes quality in the abstract, and that an importantfactor in quality was the absence of errors Mossop (1989) described translationerrors as “a given rendering will be deemed to be nontranslation if it failed toconform to the concept of translation predominant in the target culture” He

identified translation errors in terms of cultural norm and formal equivalence Itmeant that the definition of translation error by Mossop includes theachievement of formal equivalence but excludes other critical factors such assmoothness, readability and consistency in translational product Besides, formalequivalence, as defined by Nida and Taber (1982), was a method of translatingliterally and protecting rhythm, special stylistic forms, expression in syntax andlexis, metaphor, wordplay and so on; therefore, formal equivalence is mainlyused in translating poems and songs, not all kinds of texts A more thoroughnotion of error is proposed by Pym (1992) This scholar supposes thattranslation errors may be attributed to lack of comprehension, misuse of time,inappropriateness to readership, language, pragmatics, culture, over-translation,under-translation, discursive or semantic inadequacy Compared to the definition

by Mossop, Pym (1992) suggests a large number of translation errors However,these errors were not systematically classified

Ten years later, Aveling (2002) illustrates a more comprehensive andsystematic notion of translation errors According to Aveling, translation errorsoccur when translator fails to gain equivalence, adequacy and accuracy Thisdefinition was more comprehensive as it stressed that equivalence covers manydifferent types Besides, it was more systematic because Aveling emphasizedthat translation errors can be divided into two categorization including “dumbmistakes” and “deliberate mistakes” The former was due to the lack oftranslator’s competence, and the latter occurs when translator poses a purpose torecreate the text

1.1.3.2 Classification of translation errors

Not only the definition but also the classification of translation errors hasattracted a myriad of efforts from scholars and researchers Nevertheless, due tothe complexity of this practice, it remained intricate to establish a singlecomprehensive list of all the translation errors observed Krzysztof (1992)divides translation errors into four main types: errors of syntagmatic surfacetranslation, errors of mistaken interpretation, realization errors and meta-

translation errors.

- The first type includes equivalents, false friends, calques and unjustified borrowings.

- The second type covers misreading syntagms and wrong interpretation

of verb frame, misinterpret scenes and scripts and misreading the text modality

- The third type covers TL errors, wrong evaluation of recipients’ knowledge and insufficient of knowledge of subject-matter

- The final type comprises translation technique, additions, omissions, two versions, too many or two few footnotes, a wrong translation strategy, corrections and changing the text’s intertextuality.

Nevertheless, this approach is complicated and troublesome for researcher

to figure out translations errors of professional translators in general andundergraduates in particular

Three years later, translation errors are categorized more logically by theNewmark in which translation errors consists of two main types that arereferential errors and linguistic errors “Referential errors were about facts, thereal world, propositions not words”

According to Newmark (1988), linguistic errors involve mistakes due to the lack of translator’s competence such as the use of articles, prepositions,

punctuations, tense, voice, subject-verb agreement, word choice, spellingcollocations, idioms and so forth

The second categorization of Newmark was logical and appropriate toevaluate the quality of translations in general, especially the translations of

undergraduates as they were at the early stage of training Thus, the lack of competence was completely understandable.

While somewhat agreeing with Newmark’s discussion, Nord (1997),nevertheless, suggests further that translation errors should be classified intofour main types

Firstly, pragmatic translation errors were due to the lack of recipient

orientation It has meant that the translator has no specific targeted readers in his

mind; therefore, he has no orientation when translating

Secondly, cultural translation errors occur with regard to

cultural-specific conventions or equivalence Nida (1982) stresses: “Since no twolanguages are identical, either in the meaning given to corresponding symbols or

in the ways in which such symbols were arranged in phrases and sentences, itstood to reason that there could be no correspondence between languages”.Therefore, the failure in translating cultural equivalences was unavoidable

The next type was linguistic translation errors which Newmark also

mentions The final type is entitled text-specific translation errors and it refered

to the text-specific translation problem The translator had to deal with variousproblems in different texts

On the other hand, Schiaffino (2005) classifies translation errors into three

principle categories Firstly, errors of meaning occur if the meaning of

translation becomes different from the meaning of source language (SL)

Secondly, errors of forms involve an error of grammar, spelling, and other

formal error that does not change the meaning of the translation with respect tothe SL In this aspect, Schiaffino shared the same viewpoint with Newmark The

third categorization includes errors of compliance Although meaning and form

are accurate, the translator fails to convey the style guide, preferred terminology,and other customer requirement which can cause unnaturalness, lack ofreadability and inconsistency in a translation

The classification of translation errorremains diverse; however, mostscholars agreewith Wang Baorong Baorong (2009) arrives at a mutualconclusion that translation errors should be classified into three main types

including pragmatic translation errors, cultural translation errors and linguistic translation errors Pragmatic translation errors were caused by practical issues

such as a lack of receiver orientation and background knowledge Culturaltranslation errors were related to equivalent problems and methods to deal withcultural words Linguistic errors occur due to the lack in the proficiency of thetranslator

As Newmark (1988) points out, linguistic errors involve grammaticalmistakes, punctuations, collocations, idioms and so forth Consented by mosttranslation scholars as the most comprehensive way of classifying translationerrors, this method will be used throughout this study to analyze errors made bytranslation major students.

In this study, the researcher followed the theory and error classifications

of New Mark (1998), because the students were already familiar with thistranslation and errors were quite consistent with the college-level translationcourses New Mark theory and classification were quite common theory todays.According to New Mark focused on investigating linguistic translation errorswhich was the use of articles, capitalization, preposition, punctuation, spelling,using correct grammar, tense, and terminology

1.2 An overview on business letters

1.2.1 The definition of business letters

In 2007, the Post Office of Vietnam estimated that of the 72 millionitems of post they delivered daily, 80% were business communications.Business letters are business tools, they were used to provide or requestinformation, confirm less formal communications or highlight a problem thatneeds to be resolved So, what was a business letters?

A business letters is a formal communication between people or organizations who are involved in trading, exchanging money for goods or services ( Josy Roberts – 1998).

Writing a business letters was about developing that trade, so it wasimportant to remember that a business letters was an official document Ofcourse there were many other communications between peoples andcompanies, for instance telephone conversations, email, meetings,presentations, contracts, orders and invoices A business letters was the mostpowerful communications tool for providing structured and consideredinformation in a formal way

A business letters is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for

correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties The overall style of letter will depend on the relationship between the parties concerned (wikipedia.org)

A business letters serves the main purpose of communication between two companies, or it is a method to talk to different people within a business.

(wikipedia.org)

Business letters is a letter dealing with business.( synonym.com )

Among many definitions, a “business letters” according to the Oxford

English dictionary is ”A missive, communication in writing addressed to a person or body of person Also in extended use applied to certain formal documents issued by persons in authority”

In my opinion, business letters were formal letters used for business tobusiness, business to client, or client to business correspondence A businessletters was a formal means of communication between two people, a personand a corporation, or two corporations Business letters differ from personalletters because they followed very strictly set rules for composition Manypeople were intimidated by the prospect of writing to strict guide lines;however business letters are nothing to be afraid of They were too useful atool to be stigmatized by the public

1.2.2 Kinds of business letters

The kinds of business letters were classified by some of author such as:Bovee, C.L et al (2001), Guffey, M.E (2003), Wolf, M.P & Kuipers (1984).But the kinds of business letters in my study were adapted from Bisticco, M

(1989) with the research “ Instant Business Letter” As in his clear,

straightforward style, Iain Maitland showed how to plan a letter and choose the

correct approach, layout and style to suit every occasion Instant Business Letters also contains over 200 examples of letters - such as ‘acceptances’,

‘complaints’, ‘enquiries’ and ‘warnings’

1.2.2.1 Social business letters

This kind of business letter is used at festival time and on such anoccasion as the award of any honors, a promotion, a wedding or a death etc The

aim of the businesspersons was to send their invitations, good wishes,congratulations, sympathy, condolences or thanks.

Social business letters do not push up their business immediately but theyare able to build goodwill, which is regarded as an intangible asset in computingthe worth of a business That goodwill wills clients’ belief as well as promotescommercial activities of a firm

There are four kinds of social business letters:

a Letter of invitations

While such events as openings, previews, and demonstrations may beadvertised in newspapers or on handbills, guests may be more carefully selected

if invitations are sent by letter

Formal events, such as a reception, open house, or formal social

gathering, require formal invitations These invitations can be engraved or

printed, or they can be handwritten on note-size stationery

A general invitation should be cordial and sincere; a formal invitationshould be less personal, written in the third person Either kind of invitation,however, must do three things:

1) Invite the reader to the gathering

2) Give the date, time, and place of the gathering

3) Offer a reason for the gathering

Invitations were sometimes issued in the indirect form The writer and the

person invited were both referred to in the third person throughout.

Whether written to a close friend or a distant business associate, any letter

of congratulations must be sincere and enthusiastic It may be short, but it

should contain personal remark or references.

A letter of congratulations should contain three essential ingredients; itshould:

1) Begin with the expression of congratulation;

2) mention the reason for the congratulation with a personal or informaltone;

3) End with an expression of goodwill (such as praise of confidence neversay “good luck”, which implies chance rather than achievement)

c Letter of thanks

In business, as in the rest of life, it iwas important to say “thank you” Wehave already seen that letters of appreciation should be sent to new customersupon the opening of an account or the making of a first purchase But manyother occasions call for a “thank you” as well; a note of appreciation shouldalways be sent after receiving: (Andrea B Geffner – 1998)

A lot of thanks should also send in response to a letter of congratulations

A thank-you note may be brief, but it must be prompt, for it must, like all socialbusiness letters, sound sincere

A proper letter of appreciation will contain three key elements: it will:

1) Begin by saying “thank you”

2) Make a sincere personal comment

3) End with a positive and genuine statement

cards, but a specially written note was more personal and genuine.

A message of condolence lets your reader knew that you were aware ofhis personal grief and wishes to lend sympathy and support The message,therefore, should be simple, honest, and direct, and it should express sorrowwith dignity and respect

The message of condolence should begin by referring to the situation andthe people involved This should be bland statement that avoids unpleasant

reminders The note may use the word death but should not describe the death.

The rest of the note should be brief: an encouraging reference to the future

or, if appropriate, a gesture of goodwill (Condolencemessages.net)

Write your letter immediately when you learn the news Say that yousincerely feel and express your sympathy in simple words that are warm andconvincing

1.2.2.2 Inquiries

If your job was a businessperson, request letters were always necessarybecause of your need for information or special favors, services or products.You write an inquiry since you need to get information of prices or technicaldata; to receive printed matter (such as booklets, catalogues etc.) or sampleproducts; to order merchandise; to make reservations at hotel, restaurants,theaters and so on

Your inquiries should be specific, brief and reasonable and providecomplete, accurate information so that your requests can be acted promptly

1.2.2.3 Quotations and offers

a Quotations

After receiving enquiries for prices, you usually send quotations in whichthere was an expression of thank for the enquiry; details of prices, discounts andterms of payment; a statement of clear indication of what the prices cover (e.g.packing, F.O.B etc.); an undertaking as to date of delivery; the period for whichthe quotation is valid; an expression of hope that the quotation will be accepted

b Offers

An offer tells your customer whether you can provide the goods orservices he has asked about It should convey the name of the goods, quality andspecification, quality, price, packing and marking, delivery time, items ofpayment

1.2.2.4 Orders

When you accepted a quotation or an order, you need to make orders Theorders must be complete and accurate in information as incomplete orders canlead to delayed deliveries, and inaccurate facts can result in the wrong deliveryfrom the seller Every order should full details of description, quantities, pricesand catalogue number; your requirement as to delivery place and date, mode oftransport; the terms of payment agreed in preliminary negotiations.( zeepedia.com)

1.2.2.5 Claims

Sometimes the exchange of money, merchandise, or service will notoccur as expected In that case, the customer needs to inform the company orthe organization of the problem by letter, which is called a complaint.( zbook.vn) The letter should be as follows:

+ Begin by regretting the need to complain

+ Mention the number, the date of the order, the date of the delivery andthe goods complained about

+ State your reasons for being dissatisfied and ask for an explanation.+ Refer to the inconvenience caused

+ Suggest how the matter should be put right

+ Complaint of inferior quality

1.2.2.6 Letters of Application

A letter of application was a sales letter in which you were bothsalesperson and product Your purpose was to attract an employer’s attentionand convince him/ her to give you an interview Therefore, in the letter youshould show what you could offer the employer instead of presenting what you

want from the job Your skills, personality, qualifications, experience; ambitionand enthusiasm should be mentioned.( Sherilyn Conley,2016)

An application for the post of junior clerk

1.2.3 Features of business letters

Business letter play an important part in commercial activities, and a goodbusiness letter was always necessary However, many people raised a question

what a good business letter is “A good business letter is one that obtains the results the letter hoped for” (Poe, 1994, p.4) The definition of a good business

letter seems simple and easy to do Please be careful! You can find it difficult towrite a good business letter because that letter must gain the followingstandards:

- Using the correct layout

- Containing necessary information

- Having no repetition or wordiness

- Using a formal and polite language

- Using correctly grammar, punctuation and spelling

This letter of application was a good business letter First, it was laid outcorrectly Second, it had no repetition or wordiness, and it was contents presentsthe good qualifications of the candidate, which were suitable for the position ofRegional Manager Finally, no grammar or punctuation errors can be found

People learn to write just as they learn how to read, to type and to usecomputers However, just like learning to type, learning to write takes work andpractice, Gerfner, (1991, p.11) confirms:

“One gets better at it the more one write In addition, at the

progress you get business results that save money, make money, and help

you build your organization to peak performance These results may

range from the very simple as a letter that wins as appointment with an

important person, instructions on a major project, which are clearly

understood They can also collect bad debts, or win back a lost

customer, all the way up to writing a winning proposal for a contract, or

getting the financing you want”.

A letter may be thought of as a substitute for a personal visit Just abouteverybody finds it impossibled to meet and talk with every person with whomhe/ she wanted to communicate, other friends or relatives in a distant town,fellow employees just three floors or one building away, or clients and suppliersscattered everywhere This fact alone made the letter a powerful medium ofcommunication in all occupations

Being able to write effective business letters enhances your value to yourcompany, which means faster progress up the promotion ladder, makes newfriends and keep old ones for the company, thereby increasing sales and profits,saves a great deal of time and effort that saves money

The emphasis of this paper was on the positive task of how to write aneffective business letter It covered all parts of the letter from “letter head” to

“printed name” under the signature The results of this paper were kept nearby tohelp improve one’s business letter writing ability

1.2.3.1 Giving the letters a professional look

A business letter not only conveys the message that you want to informyour partner itself, but also stands for your company as a representative It willtell the partner about your company, about your attitude The person whoreceives the letter will highly appreciate your company with a professionallooking letter that leads to an easy-going decision in doing business Thefollowing factors that form the appearance of your letter as paper, envelope,margins, spacing, have something to say about your company A weakness inany of these elements can detract from the effectiveness of your message, eventhough it was expertly written

1.2.3.1.1 Paper

The quality of the paper reflected the quality of the company and conveysthe importance of the message It should be plain and unreeled The mostpopular color is white; there were also some firm prefers to use light grey,brown, or blue paper The size of the paper was normally 21, 5 x 28 (8, 5 x 11