ABSTRACT A study on translation of technical terms used in Export – Import from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year English - majored students at ThuongmaiUniversity The purpose of this study is to investigate some difficulties that the fourth-year students of English Faculty encounter when translating Export – Import technical terms and texts as well To further develop the argument, the thesis works out some typical error type made by the students From that, the researcher finds out difficulties they face in translation process The participants are 40 English - major students with the cooperation of teacher of the Faculty To identify difficulties of the students when translating Export – Import technical terms, 40 participants are required to take one translation test which is about Export – Import field The results reveal that students frequently face difficulties in understanding concepts and vocabulary, also in choosing adequate words in Vietnamese Lack of background knowledge and vocabulary are main reasons which cause their problems Besides, due to the difference between English and Vietnamese, they still made grammatical errors in translation The thesis then boldly give recommendations and suggestions for teachers as well as for the students in order to assist the students to improve their translation skill ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my grateful appreciation to all of those who gave me such great support and motivation in process of doing the research I want to give acknowledge all lecturers at Thuong Mai University (TMU) for their teaching and especially to my teachers who directly taught me invaluable knowledge during my study at university, which enables me to complete my graduation paper First and foremost, I wish to express my sincerest thank to my supervisor, M.A Vu Thi Thanh Hoa who helps me a lot in the whole process of my graduation paper Her enthusiasm and dedication have stimulated me to complete my graduation paper successfully Secondly, I am indebted to the fourth-year students of English Faculty who providing necessary materials for me in process of research in order to achieve best results Finally, I would also like to express my appreciation to my family members and my dear friends who always support and encourage me during the time I the research Due to the limited time and knowledge as well as other objective reasons, my graduation paper has inevitable shortcomings Therefore, all comments are welcomed to make my research better Ha Noi, April 2019 Student Bui Thi Lan Anh TABLE OF CONTENTS How major imported goods of Vietnam fluctuated in the first quarter 2019 APPENDIX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SL: source language TG: target language ESP: English for special purpose LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Chart 3.1 Distribution of translation error types Chart 3.2 Distribution of grammatical problem 14 15 Chart 3.3 Distribution of lexical errors Chart 3.4 Difficulties in translating export-import text Chart 3.5 Factors affecting students when translating Export – Import terms Chart 3.6 The ways students improve their translating 17 23 24 25 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale In the context of globalization and integration, it can be seen that Viet Nam has cooperated with many other countries in the world in the field of economy, culture, education, medicine, construction, security, ect In order to become a developed country, Viet Nam has to make more efforts to create opportunities for it, especially to boost cooperation with some of developed countries such as the United State, the United Kingdom and other Western countries For that reason, English is becoming an international language and it is essential quality to become an international citizen Mastering English skill, each person not only has the chance to develop themselves but also makes contribution to the development of the country by cooperated business activities, tourism promotion, cultural exchange Therefore, English is becoming more and more important to all of us in the era of globalization Except from basic skills in English like speaking, listening, reading, writing skills, translation is the most essential when studying English and when working in English-using environment Nowadays, everyone attaches more importance to learning translation skill However, a lot of students and employees have to face difficulties in translation especially as translating technical terms In addition, the improvement of trade leads to higher demand of good exchange and transportation Hence, the knowledge of export – import arises, which results in demand of translation export- import terms At present, there are many of researches done to study aspects of translation in general However, the number of studies on translation technical terms is few, especially on export – import sector gaining popularity nowadays Thuongmai University specializes in training the field of economy and trade Besides, the university has English Faculty which trains students to become would– be English translators The departments and lectures have launched many teaching methods to help their students easily access to knowledge about trade, economy and translation skill As a student of English Faculty at Thuongmai University, I am aware of the problems that English Faculty’ students encounter when studying translation in general and English – Vietnamese translation in particular To be good at export – import translation, students not only have to sharpen their translation skill but also improve their specialized knowledge For these reasons, I choose the topic “A study on translation technical terms in export – import from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year students of English Department at Thuongmai University” for my graduation paper 1.2 Previous studies There are some of studies which are related to translation that I have collected Due to the limitation of time, I just present several studies relating to English – Vietnamese translation in general and English – Vietnamese translation of terminologies in particular The following studies are collected from internet resource Topic for the first study is “English-Vietnamese translation of terminologies on Human Resource Management” implemented by Ngo Thanh Huong, a student of Hai Phong private university The study aims to provide a general overview about Human Resource Management terms as well as strategies to help students and people who are working on Human Resource Management field improve their translation skill In the study, the researcher uses main methods like analysis, interview, questionnaire to collect primary and secondary information The study gives an overall look on Human Resource Management, then the overview of Human Resource Management terms The main part presents the study on translating Human Resource Management terms into Vietnamese, analysis of equivalence and some problems in translation process According to the thesis, there are two popular problems in Human Resource Management including linguistic problem and cultural difference At the last chapter, some suggestions given by the researcher in order to help learners overcome the difficulties in translating process The advantage of this study is that: firstly, the topic of thesis is clear and related to an urgent problem in Vietnam; secondly, the study is done in concrete space and time and implemented with a variety of flexible methods; thirdly, theoretical basis is clear, divided into specific issues The study made contributions to teaching in Vietnam and provide practical solutions for learners to overcome difficulties when studying translation 1.3 Aims of the study The study is conducted to survey and evaluate English-majored students in translation skills It then finds out difficulties which the fourth-year students encounter as well as mistakes that they made when translating From that, the study gives some solutions that can help the students to overcome difficulties also to limit mistakes in translating process and improve their translation skills 1.4 Research Subject In my study, the research subject is the export- import technical term translating skill from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year English-major students at Thuongmai University With the research subject, I will focus on current situation of students while translating, mistakes they made, difficulties they encounter The study is conducted through interview and questionnaire 1.5 Scope of the study In order that the researcher can implement conveniently and gain accurate results, the study is carried out at Thuongmai University with the participants of 40 fourth-year students of English Faculty 1.6 Research methodology The study aims at addressing the following questions: What are the difficulties the fourth-year students of English Faculty encounter when translating export - import terms from English into Vietnamese? What are the reasons for the problems? What are solutions suggested to deal with the difficulties and to improve translation skills of the fourth-year students? To clear these questions up, the research is combined simultaneously both qualitative and quantitative approach so that the researcher can compare, evaluate, supplement and produce the adequate outcomes About quantitative research method, the questionnaire was conducted Collected data is cleaned, processed, encrypted using software support, then synthesized and analyzed About qualitative research method, from the results obtained in the questionnaire, the researcher makes judgment about the nature of the answers and expresses the logic of the answers Data collection instruments 1.6.1.1 Interview With the aim of investigating and evaluating translation skills, also to find out solutions for the fourth-year students to sharpen their skill, this method will support for collecting appropriate as well as accurate answers so that can gain real results for the study From that, the interviewer also makes the study more reliable and information more objective The objects of the interview are teachers and students of English Faculty And the interview was conducted in Vietnamese so as to receive free responses from respondents and avoid misunderstanding Note-taking is one of the vital skills in interview because it was convenient for both the interviewer and respondents and help the interviewer not to forget the important information when the interview ended 1.6.1.2 Practical observation This method has one advantage is that the researcher can save time and money because the observer can evaluate through translation lessons Practical observation was conducted in times per week 1.6.1.3 Questionnaire The questionnaire is a very common instrument when doing research The questionnaire will be conducted online It aims at finding out the student’s attitude towards translation subject, difficulties, causes as well as the way that can help them to improve their skill The questionnaire also helps to look for necessary information for the study as well as gives appreciated solutions The questionnaire is laid-out in the form of multiple-choice items for answering and consisting of closed-ended and open-ended questions In the study, there are 10 questions which are about translation in general and English-Vietnamese in particular, the importance of export-import, technical term translation 1.7 Organization of the study The thesis consists of the four following chapters: + Chapter 1: Overview of the study The first part is overview of the study which includes rationale, previous studies, aims of the study, research subject, scope of the study, research methodology, organization of the study + Chapter 2: Literature review This is the most important part that gives knowledge about translation, technical terms, export – import, export – import terminologies, difficulties in translating process + Chapter 3: Research findings Research findings give results of ability to translate of the fourth-year Englishmajored students + Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions Based on the results, the researcher gives suggested solutions to help the students overcome difficulties when translating as well as improve their translation skill Applicant: người yêu cầu mở LC Compound terms Letter of credit: thư tín dụng Reference no: số tham chiếu Documentary credit: tín dụng chứng từ Clean collection: nhờ thu phiếu trơn Documentary collection: Nhờ thu kèm chứng từ Issuing bank: ngân hàng phát hành LC Phrases Documents against payment: nhờ thu trả Documents agains acceptance: nhờ thu trả chậm Transaction Single terms Inquiry: đơn hỏi hàng Quotation: báo giá Sample: mẫu hàng Compound terms Price countering: hoàn giá, trao đổi giá Trial order : đơn đặt hàng thử Price list: đơn giá Company Profile: hồ sơ công ty 3.2.1.3 Background knowledge Having a good understanding of different fields is one of the most important factor to become a good translator Therefore, in order to have a good translated version about Export-Import field, the students should well-equipped for themselves by broaden their knowledge about this field It is necessary to grasp knowledge about export-import in general, export-import procedure, transportation, international payment, customs, sales contracts, transaction, negotiation, exportimport documents, ect In addition, it is a good idea to learn about some kinds of export-import commodities From the results of the translation test, it can be seen that over 80% of the students makes mistakes for the reason that they not really understand some of typical phrases in Export-Import The following examples illustrate this error type Some students translated the phrase "red, green, yellow channels" as "kênh đỏ, xanh, vàng" Whereas, it should be translated as "luồng đỏ, xanh, vàng" If the students not have a certain knowledge about export-import, they may misunderstand the meaning of this phrase An other example is "export turnover" Some students refer this phrase as "doanh thu từ xuất khẩu", it seemed to be correct However, in this case, it should be "kim ngạch xuất khẩu" 3.2.2 Results of the interview The data obtained from the interview to the teachers and the fourth-year students of English Faculty covering the two main problems as follows Problem 1: The difficulties the students have faced when translating ExportImport terms also texts of this field from English into Vietnamese This problem was discussed to find out students’ difficulties based on two sides: teacher’s perception and students’ perception According to the study, there are three main difficulties the students often encounter when translating specialized texts They are grammatical problem, lexical problem and background knowledge Regarding background knowledge, the teacher stated that most students have not good understanding of Export-Import Therefore, it is difficult for many students to understand the source text as well as translate the text into Vietnamese Problem 2: Some suggestions from teachers and students to improve students' translation skill To be a good translator, the students first need to broaden their knowledge about many different fields such as culture, economy, politics, life, ect An effective method is reading more and more from English and Vietnamese sources After that, it is necessary to sharpen their language skill by learning vocabulary, learning technical terms, learning about export-import because accuracy in translation is an important factor Besides, the students also have to pay attention to some different points of grammar between English and Vietnamese so that will not cause unnaturalness and lack of comprehensive of texts 3.2.3 Results of questionnaire According to the results of the study, students are aware of the importance of translation subject accounted for 99.1% and the percentage of students who aware of the importance of export-import is 90.7% It can be seen that almost all the students of English Faculty pay attention to learning translation and export-import field Chart 3.4 Difficulties in translating export-import text Chart 3.4 illustrates that most students face difficulties in understanding concepts and vocabulary related to export-import and choosing adequate words in Vietnamese to translate Over 80% of the students find it hard to understand technical terms As a result, it is difficult for them to choose correct meaning of word and adequate words to translate into Vetnamese The percentage of students who have problems in analyzing and arranging word orders is about 30% This number shows that the students not face many difficulties in grammar Chart 3.5 Factors affecting students when translating Export – Import terms Chart 3.5 shows that the decisive factor to have a good translated version in Export-Import is the students' background knowledge Therefore, it is vital for students to learn Export-Import knowledge Besides, vocabulary plays an important role in translating terms Consequently, they should pay attention to learn vocabulary especially export-import technical terms to understand and translate the text The students should learn single terms, compound terms as well as phrases which are related to Export - Import In addition, there is an array of abbreviations that learners have to remember Sometimes, misunderstanding these terms may put you in danger Chart 3.6 The ways students improve their translating According to the results, it can be seen that almost all the students are aware of the ways that help them to improve their translation skill Four main ways the students choose as a learning methods are learning vocabulary, reading English and Vietnamese newspapers, enriching their background knowledge as well as practicing translating because they believe that "practice makes perfect" According to the students, grammar is an important factor in learning English However, in translating technical terms, they not pay too much attention to learning grammar As it can be seen from the chart, over 90% of students agree that reading newspapers and articles in two languages is an effective way to improve their translation skill Especially, when they translating technical terms, they must have a good understanding of that field Reading not only help the students broaden their knowledge but also enrich vocabulary CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS From the analysis of the study results, there are some recommendation and solutions to improve the competence as well as skills of students in learning translation subject especially translating technical terms 4.1 Recommendations and suggestions for teachers Teacher plays an important role in directing students as well as helping them to gain knowledge and improve their skill in university Translation subject is a necessary subject of English Department, teachers should have more new teaching methods to help the students improve English skill in general and translation skill in particular so that they will become excellent translators in the near future According to the results of the study, students have to face difficulties which are mainly related to vocabulary, grammar and background knowledge Regarding to grammar, due to the difference of grammatical rules between English and Vietnamese, students frequently make errors on tenses, nouns, verbs, passive voice, ect Because the amount of knowledge is too large to cover, there is too little time spent for grammar Hence, in every lesson, teacher should link knowledge with some grammatical problems so that the students can deeply understand the knowledge and consolidate their grammar as well In term of vocabulary, students should be guided about the context of word, it means that each word may has more than one meaning, this phenomenon can be called multi-meaning of word When translating, the students need to choose appropriate meaning depending on the context In addition, it is necessary for the teachers pay more attention to analyze technical terms for the students to understand This not only assists the students to make a good translation but also to broaden their knowledge about different fields in life What’s more, background knowledge is considered a weakness of students There is a variety of reason for this It may be due to teaching method, time of lessons, knowledge of teachers also may be due to the students themselves According to learning program, English Faculty’s students have opportunity to learn British culture, American culture, English - American literature This helps the students have a good understanding of culture, however, they also broaden their knowledge about other fields such as economy, politics, information technology, science, ect Therefore, the teachers should be good at passing knowledge and experience on to their students, teaching them how to choose appropriate words in Vietnamese to translate an English text especially a specialized text with many technical terms Similar to export – import, in modern life, a student need to equip for themselves export – import related knowledge to become a global citizen In international transactions, the students have to use export - import knowledge in English Hence, the teachers should spend more time in each lesson for economy in general and export – import in particular Besides, more instructions should be made to assist the students in translation process 4.2 Recommendations and suggestions for the students On the side of the students, they themselves are the most important factor determining if they could be better in translation subject or not The students had better be aware of the importance of translation and Export – Import field Students should absolutely avoid passive habits, rely on instructors, not brainstorm or have the habit of looking for translated articles They should take advantage of opportunities to practice translation both in classroom and at home At class, they need to be more active and give their opinions If they make mistake, the teacher will correct and analyze for them to deeply understand the problem The process helps the students make good progress in study Vietnamese students not have much opportunity to approach Western culture and have limitations on background knowledge Thus, students should read more and more to broaden social knowledge to absorb the translation skill as well as understand technical terms Besides, updating words is a way to avoid cofusion to translators Because, the words keep updating everyday, particularly words in major field 4.2.1 Recommendations and suggestions on improving grammar In order to enhance English grammar, the students should find out some reference books which contains not only the knowledge of grammar but also exercises to practice Hard-working is an extremely important factor, the students have good results only when they practice regularly There is a variety of grammar books which are suitable for students They can find for themselves some books which are appropriate with their English level to easily learn 4.2.2 Recommendations and suggestions on improving vocabulary The results of the study illustrate that majority of students face difficulties in term of vocabulary when translating technical terms Reading is an effective way to help students enlarge vocabularies In additions, they can see a lot of words being used in certain context It is also important to find suitable methods to learn new words With the aim of the thesis, in order to translate Export - Import terms well, the students have to broaden their knowledge of economy in general and Export Import field in particular Moreover, when learning new words, students should have suitable method to easily remember and relate this word to the words they have learnt 4.2.3 Recommendations and suggestions on improving background knowledge As it can be seen from the study, the students frequently have problem related to background knowledge Lack of background knowledge causes misunderstanding of text, especially with specialized text In order to translate Export – Import technical terms well, the first thing students should is having certain knowledge about this field Students can learn from people who have much experience, experts, teachers, friends to have practical knowledge In addition, it is necessary for them to read economic articles, newspapers, magazines in both English and Vietnamese The more the students read, the more knowledge they have CONCLUSION In modern society, translation plays an important role in study and work Especially, in the context of integration, it is necessary for all people have a good understanding of every field and use them in different languages In era of economic growth, students should prepare for themselves knowledge of language, economy in general and Export-Import in particular For this reason, issues related to English-Vietnamese translation and Export – Import technical – term translation are the objectives and the focuses of the thesis The study aims to find out difficulties the fourth-year students face when translating Export- Import technical terms by pointing out common errors and analyzing causes From that, the thesis gives some recommendations and suggestions in the hope that can help the students of English Faculty, students studying in various universities in Vietnam and people learning translation who become would-be translators to be more professional Nevertheless, there are some limitations in this thesis that may affect the final result Due to the researcher’s limited knowledge about linguistic also Export – Import field, mistakes are unavoidable However, the researcher hopes that the thesis will be useful to the fourth-year students in particular and all students who are studying translation in general to avoid common errors when translating technical terms and enhance translation quality REFERENCES [1] Catford, J C (1965), An essay in Applied Linguistic: The theory of Translation, London: Oxford University Press [2] Peter Newmark (1988), A textbook of translation, New York : Prentice-Hall International, 1988 [3] Pinhhuck (1977), Scientific and Technical Translation, Andre Deutsch [4] Wilss (1982), The Science of Translation: Problems and Method, Tubingen : Narr, ©1982 [5] Foster, M (1958), Translation from/in Farsi and English, Retrieved April 1, 2007 from http://www.parsa-ts.com/index.htm [6] Houbert, F (1998), Translation as a communication process, Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://accurapid.com/journal/05theory.htm [7] Ngo Thanh Huong (2010), A study on the translation of english human resource management terms into Vietnamese [8] Nguyễn Văn Phúc, Trương Thị Ngọc Điệp (2017), “Các khó khăn ngơn ngữ q trình biên dịch quảng cáo cung cấp thông tin sinh viên năm cuối chuyên ngành biên – phiên dịch tiếng anh, trường Đại Học Cần Thơ”, Tạp chí Khoa học trường Đại Học Cần Thơ, (Phần C), Khoa học Xã hội, Nhân văn Giáo dục [9] Halverson, S (1997), The concepts of Equivalence in Translation Studies, Target 12, 207-233 [10] Hutchinson, Tom & Water, Alan (1987), English for Specific Purposes: A learner – centered approach, Cambridge University Press APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE A B C D E A B C D E A B It’s said that learning translation subject is important Do you agree? Totally agree Quite agree Agree Quite disagree Totally disagree Is it important to have a good understanding of Export – Import field? Extremely important Quite important Important Less important Not important Have you ever translated a text which is about Export – Import? Yes No Which difficulties you get when translating texts about Export – Import from English into Vietnamese? A Understanding concepts and vocabulary B Choosing adequate words in Vietnamese C Analyzing and arranging word orders D Other answers:……… Which of the following factors affect you most when translating Export – Import terms? A Background knowledge B Vocabulary C Grammar D Other answers:……… In your opinion, how can you to improve your competence in translating an English specialized text into Vietnamese? (you may choose more than one answer): A Learning vocabulary B Learning grammar C Reading English specialized texts, articles, newspapers, ect D Reading Vietnamese specialized texts, articles, newspapers, ect E Enrich your background knowledge F Practicing translating from different sources G Other answers:………… Do you often spend time on learning Export – Import knowledge? A Always B Frequently C Sometimes D Occasionally E Rarely F Never How much time you spend on practicing translating texts of Export – Import? A B C D Less than hours About 2-3 hours About 3-4 hours Over hours Translate the following words into Vietnamese: Processing, temporary import/re-export, customs clearance, inbound, outbound, Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System 10 If one of your answers is incorrect, please give reasons for it: (Correct answer: hoạt động gia công, tạm nhập - tái xuất, thông quan, hàng nhập, hàng xuất, hệ thống thơng quan hàng hóa tự động) APPENDIX B PAPER TEST How major imported goods of Vietnam fluctuated in the first quarter 2019 According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, import turnover of computers, electronic products and parts increased US$1.36 billion, machinery, equipment, tools and accessories increased by US$991 million, crude oil increased by US$860 million, CBU cars increased by US$765 million, and coal increased by US$428 million Notably, import turnover of petroleum products fell, while import turnover of crude oil surged to supply the operation of Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex Specifically, the import volume of petroleum products reached 2.08 million tons, valued at US$1.23 billion, increasing by 40.4% in volume and declining by 45% in value compared to 2018 Most petroleum products that Vietnam imported in the first quarter were from Malaysia with 625,000 tons, down 39.7%; Singapore with 488,000 tons, down 30.6%; South Korea with 396,000 tons, down 58.4% Meanwhile, import volume of crude oil reached nearly 2.1 million tons, valued at US$901.9 million, increasing 23 times in volume and 20 times in value compared to 2018 Kuwait is the main crude oil import market According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, import turnover of mobile phones and parts was US$2.79 billion, decreasing by 16.6% compared to 2018 Mobile phones and accessories were mainly imported from China and South Korea with market share accounting for 92.8% of the whole country’s import value Import turnover of material plastics and plastic products reached US$3.62 billion, up 3.8% compared to 2018 Vietnam mainly imports material plastics and plastic products from South Korea, China andTaiwan The import volume of iron and steel reached 3.37 million tons, valued at US$2.26 billion, up 8.3% in volume and 3.1% in value China is the largest exporter of iron and steel to Vietnam with 1.38 million tons, worth US$867 million, up 23% in volume, up 4.6% in value Other major import markets are Korea and Japan Import turnover of chemicals and chemical products reached US$2.43 billion, up 5.7% compared to 2018 Chemicals and chemical products were mainly imported into Vietnam from China, Taiwan, and South Korea Computers imported from China By the end of the first quarter, the commodity groups that had the largest import turnover were computers, electronic products and parts; machinery, equipment, tools and accessories; materials of textile, leather, shoes Import turnover of computer, electronic products and parts reached US$11.79 billion, up 13.1% compared to 2018 This is the country's largest import commodity with a turnover of ten billion dollars until the end of the first quarter ... English – Vietnamese translation, equivalence in translation, factors affecting translation process 2.1 Related concepts in translation 2.1.1 Definitions of translation There are variety of concepts... original, a so-called “intralingua translation? ??, often prolix andpretentious and not translation at all 2.1.2.7 Idiomatic translation Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original... concepts of translation Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language(source language) by equivalent textual material in anotherlanguage(target language), according to Catford