A study on translation of technical terms used in export – import from english into vietnamese of the fourth year students at thuongmai university

A study on translation of technical terms used in Export – Import from Englishinto Vietnamese of the fourth-year students at Thuongmai University ByBui Thi Lan AnhThe purpose of this stu

I would like to express my grateful appreciation to all of those who gave me suchgreat support and motivation in process of doing the research I want to giveacknowledge all lecturers at Thuong Mai University (TMU) for their teaching andespecially to my teachers who directly taught me invaluable knowledge during mystudy at universitywhich 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 papersuccessfully

Secondly, I am indebted to the fourth-year students of English Faculty whoproviding necessary materials for me in process of research in order to achieve bestresults

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 do theresearch

Due to the limited time and knowledge as well as other objective reasons, mygraduation paper has inevitable shortcomings Therefore, all comments are welcomed

to make my research better

A study on translation of technical terms used in Export – Import from Englishinto Vietnamese of the fourth-year students at Thuongmai University

ByBui Thi Lan AnhThe purpose of this study is to investigate some difficulties that the fourth-yearstudents of English Faculty encounter when translating Export – Import technicalterms and texts as well To further develop the argument, the thesis works out sometypical error type made by the students From that, the researcher finds out difficultiesthey face in translation process The participants are 40 English - major students withthe cooperation of teacher of the Faculty To identify difficulties of the students whentranslating Export – Import technical terms, 40 participants are required to take onetranslation test which is about Export – Import field The results reveal that studentsfrequently face difficulties in understanding concepts and vocabulary, also in choosingadequate words in Vietnamese Lack of background knowledge and vocabulary aremain reasons which cause their problems Besides, due to the difference betweenEnglish and Vietnamese, they still made grammatical errors in translation The thesisthen boldly give recommendations and suggestions for teachers as well as for thestudents in order to assist the students to improve their translation skill

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Research Subject 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Research methodology 3

1.7 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Related concepts in translation 6

2.1.1 Definitionsof translation 6

2.1.2 Types of translation 7

2.1.3 Equivalence in translation 8

2.2 Technical terms (terms) 8

2.2.1 Definition of technical terms 8

2.2.2 The characteristics of terms 9

2.3 Difficulties in English – Vietnamese translation 9

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 11

3.1 Research method 11

3.2 Analysis of data 11

3.2.1 Results of the translation test 11

3.2.2 Results of the interview 16

3.2.3 Results of questionnaire 17

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS 20

4.1 Recommendation and suggestions for teachers 20

4.2 Recommendation and suggestions for the students 21

4.2.1 Recommendation and suggestions on improving grammar 21

4.2.2 Recommendation and suggestions on improving vocabulary 22

4.2.3 Recommendation and suggestions on improving background knowledge 22

REFERENCES 23

APPENDIX 24

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

In the context of globalization and integration, it can be seen that Viet Nam hascooperated with many other countries in the world in the field of economy, culture,education, medicine, construction, security, ect In order to become a developedcountry, Viet Nam has to make more efforts to create opportunities for it, especially toboost cooperation with some of developed countries such as the United State, theUnited Kingdom and other Western countries For that reason, English is becoming aninternational language and it is essential quality to become an international citizen.Mastering English skill, each person not only has the chance to develop themselves butalso makes contribution to the development of the country by cooperated businessactivities, tourism promotion, cultural exchange Therefore, English is becoming moreand more important to all of us in the era of globalization

Except from basic skills in English like speaking, listening, reading, writingskills, translation is the most essential when studying English and when working inEnglish-using environment Nowadays, everyone attaches more importance to learningtranslation skill However, a lot of students and employees have to face difficulties intranslation especially as translating technical terms In addition, the improvement oftrade leads to higher demand of good exchange and transportation Hence, theknowledge 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 ingeneral 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–beEnglish translators The departments and lectures have launched many teachingmethods to help their students easily access to knowledge about trade, economy andtranslation 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 alsoimprove their specialized knowledge.

For these reasons, I choose the topic “A study on translation technical terms inexport – import from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year students of EnglishDepartment 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 ofterminologies 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 ofHai Phong private university The study aims to provide a general overview aboutHuman Resource Management terms as well as strategies to help students and peoplewho are working on Human Resource Management field improve their translationskill In the study, the researcher uses main methods like analysis, interview,questionnaire to collect primary and secondary information The study gives an overalllook on Human Resource Management, then the overview of Human ResourceManagement terms The main part presents the study on translating Human ResourceManagement terms into Vietnamese, analysis of equivalence and some problems intranslation process According to the thesis, there are two popular problems in HumanResource Management including linguistic problem and cultural difference At the lastchapter, some suggestions given by the researcher in order to help learners overcomethe difficulties in translating process The advantage of this study is that: firstly, thetopic of thesis is clear and related to an urgent problem in Vietnam; secondly, thestudy is done in concrete space and time and implemented with a variety of flexiblemethods; thirdly, theoretical basis is clear, divided into specific issues The study madecontributions to teaching in Vietnam and provide practical solutions for learners toovercome difficulties when studying translation

1.3 Aims of the study

The study is conducted to survey and evaluate English-majored students intranslation 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 somesolutions that can help the students to overcome difficulties also to limit mistakes intranslating process and improve their translation skills

1.4 Research Subject

In my study, the research subject is the export- import technical term translatingskill from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year English-major students atThuongmai University With the research subject, I will focus on current situation ofstudents 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:

1 What are the difficulties the fourth-year students of English Facultyencounter when translating export - import terms from English into Vietnamese?

2 What are the reasons for the problems?

3 What are solutions suggested to deal with the difficulties and to improvetranslation skills of the fourth-year students?

To clear these questions up, the research is combined simultaneously bothqualitative 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 usingsoftware support, then synthesized and analyzed About qualitative research method,from the results obtained in the questionnaire, the researcher makes judgment aboutthe 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 outsolutions for the fourth-year students to sharpen their skill, this method will support forcollecting appropriate as well as accurate answers so that can gain real results for thestudy From that, the interviewer also makes the study more reliable and informationmore objective

The objects of the interview are teachers and students of English Faculty Andthe interview was conducted in Vietnamese so as to receive free responses fromrespondents and avoid misunderstanding Note-taking is one of the vital skills ininterview because it was convenient for both the interviewer and respondents and helpthe 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 moneybecause the observer can evaluate through translation lessons Practical observationwas conducted in 4 times per week

1.6.1.3 Questionnaire

The questionnaire is a very common instrument when doing research Thequestionnaire will be conducted online It aims at finding out the student’s attitudetowards translation subject, difficulties, causes as well as the way that can help them toimprove their skill The questionnaire also helps to look for necessary information forthe study as well as gives appreciated solutions The questionnaire is laid-out in theform 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 ingeneral 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, technicalterms, export – import, export – import terminologies, difficulties in translatingprocess

+ Chapter 3: Research findings

Research findings give results of ability to translate of the fourth-year majored students

English-+ Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions

Based on the results, the researcher gives suggested solutions to help the studentsovercome difficulties when translating as well as improve their translation skill

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature is an important part in research because it helps researchers gainfundamental knowledge about the problem focused on Therefore, with the chosentopic, this chapter introduces some basic definitions and analysis related to technicalterminologies, terms used in export – import Then the researcher discusses intranslation theory such as definition of translation, definition of English – Vietnamesetranslation, equivalence in translation, factors affecting translation process

2.1 Related concepts in translation

2.1.1 Definitionsof translation

There are variety of concepts of translation Translation is the replacement oftextual material in one language(source language) by equivalent textual material inanotherlanguage(target language), according to Catford (1965) This definition showthat translation is a process in the sense that is an activity Performed by peoplethrough time, when expressions are translated into simpler ones in the same language

It can be done also from one language to another different language

According to Peter Newmark (1988), translation is rendering a written text intoanother language in the way that the author intended the text The translators arerequired to undertake assignments which range from simple items to more complexwritten materials

Besides, there are a lot of other concepts of translation such as:

Translation is the process of finding a target language (TL) equivalentfrom asource language (SL) utterance.(Pinhhuck)

Translation is a transfer process, which aims at the transformation of awritten SLtext into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requiresthe syntactic, the semanticand the pragmatic understanding andanalytical processing of the SL.(Wilss - 1982)Translation is the act of transferring through which the content of a textistransferred from the SL into the TL (Foster - 1958)

Translation is to be understood as the process whereby a messageexpressed in aspecific source language is linguistically transformed inorder to be understood byreaders of the “target language”.( Houbert - 1998)

Translation is a text with qualities of equivalence to a prior text inanotherlanguage, such that the new text is taken as a substitute for theoriginal.(David Frank)

2.1.2 Types of translation

2.1.2.1 Word-for-word translation

This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TLimmediatelybelow the SL words The SL word-order is preserved and theword translated singly bytheir most common meanings, out of context.Culture words are translated literally Themain use of word-for-wordtranslation is either to understand the meaning of the SL or

to construct adifficult text as a pre-translation process

“abnormality” in the translation It attempts tobe completely faithful to the intentionsand text-realization of the SLwriter

2.1.2.4 Semantic translation

Semantic translation differs from faithful translation only in as far asit must takemore account of the aesthetic value of the SL text,compromising on “meaning” whereappropriate so that no assonance,word-play or repetition jars in finished version

2.1.2.5 Adaptation translation

This seems to be the freest form of translation It is used mainly forplays andpoetry in which the themes, characters and plots are usuallypreserved, the SL cultureconverted to the TL culture and text rewritten byan established dramatist or poet hasproduced many poor adaptations butother adaptation has “rescued” period plays

2.1.2.7 Idiomatic translation

Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original buttends to distortnuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and theidiom where these do notexist in the original For example:

2.1.2.8 Communicative translation

Communicative translation attempts to reader the exact contextualmeaning of theoriginal in such a way that both content and language arereadily acceptable andcomprehensible to the readership

2.1.3 Equivalence in translation

According to Vanessa Leonardo “equivalence canbe said to be the central issue

in translation although its definition,relevance, and applicability within the field oftranslation theory havecaused heated controversy, and many different theories of theconcept ofequivalence have been elaborated within this field in the past fifty years”.Catford (1965) believes that the central problem of translation is that of findingtarget language equivalence Halverson (1997) defines equivalence is a relationshipexisting between two entities, and the relationship is described as one of likeness/sameness/ similarity/ equality in terms of any of a number of potential qualities Inconclusion, translation equivalence is the similarity between a word or expression inone language and its translation in another In other word, a translation is acorresponding word or expression in another language

2.2 Technical terms (terms)

2.2.1 Definition of technical terms

Term is a variation of language in a specific condition (Peter Newmark)and hestated that the central difficulty in translation is usually the newterminology Eventhen, the main problem is likely to be that of someterms in the source text which arerelatively content-free, and appearonly once If they are context-bound, you are morelikely to understandthem by gradually eliminating the less likely versions Technicalterminology, which is the specialized vocabulary of a field These terms have specificdefinitions within the field, which is not necessarily the same as their meaning incommon use

2.2.2 The characteristics of terms

There is distinction between technical and descriptive terms Theoriginal sourcelanguage writer may use a descriptive term for a technicalobject for three reasons:

- The objective is new and not yet has a name

- The descriptive term is being used as a familiar alternative, to avoidrepetition

- The descriptive term is being used to make a contrast with anotherone.Normally, you should translate technical and descriptive terms bytheircounterparts and, in particular, resist the temptation of translating adescriptive by atechnical term for showing off your knowledge, there bysacrificing the linguistic force

of the SL descriptive term However, if theSL descriptive term is being used eitherbecause of the SL writer’s ignorance or negligence, or because the appropriatetechnical term does notexist in the SL, and in particular if an object strange to the SLbut not to theTL culture is being referred to, then you are justified in translatingadescriptive by a technical term

Terminology makes up perhaps 5-10 % of a text The rest is“language” usually anatural style of language; and there you normally findan authoritative text aspires tosuch a style; if it does not, you gentlyconvert it to natural and elegant language-thewrite will be grateful to you

2.3 Difficulties in English – Vietnamese translation

When doing translation from English into Vietnamese, we find it difficult toconvert many texts naturally and we can identify two main problems in linguisticdifference and cultural difference

First, in term of linguistic different between English and Vietnamese: the two

languages have various differences in terms of vocabulary and grammatical rules can

be named as below:

Inflexible English grammar

English has very strict grammar rules while Vietnamese is much more flexible.For instance, Vietnamese does not always use articles and the rules are not as clear asthose of English

Phrasal verbs

While English does not have so many grammatical inflections, English verbs canpose problems They are peculiar to English such as turn on, turn off, set up, run out,look into, look after, ect In Vietnamese, specific verbs are used in place of the Englishphrasal verbs

Peculiar English vocabulary

A word in English may mean a lot of words in Vietnamese For example, we may

translate the word problem into vấnđề, vấnnạn, tệnạn, khókhăn, trụctrặc, thắcmắc,ect.

depending on the context

Second, in term of cultural difference, Asian culture in general and Vietnamese

culture in particular has few things in common with Western and American culture.Unless translators are capable of breaking through decayed barriers of their ownculture and opening their mind to new and sometimes alien concepts, their translationcannot be considered successful and natural Difficulties occur when we have totranslate foreign notions like New Year’s revolution, fair go, wife swapping, ect.because they are typical of the culture in English-speaking countries but not inVietnam

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1 Research method

There are three main methods used to deal with the problem of this topic Theresearcher evaluates the results through translation test, questionnaire and interview.The first method requires 50 fourth-year students from English Faculty totranslate an English newspaper into Vietnamese 50 test papers were printed anddelivered to the students with the limited time is 60 minutes, similar to the time to do amid-term test for translation subject

The second method is filling out a questionnaire In this study, the questionnaire

is designed with 10 questions which consist of closed questions, multiple-choicequestions and opened questions These questions focus on gathering information inobjective opinions of respondents on general translation, English-Vietnamesetranslation, importance of Export-Import, difficulties in translating Export-Importterms

The third one is an interview An interview is a process of contact between twoindividuals, in which the interviewer attempt to collect information, responses andviews of the interviewee about these main points: importance of Export-Import in thecontext of globalization and integration, technical terms, Export-Import technicalterms, general translation, English-Vietnamese translation The aim of the interview is

to find out difficulties in studying translation subject, difficulties in translatingtechnical terms especially Export-Import terms, some common errors made by thefourth-year English-majored students when translating from English into Vietnamese.And then find out causes for these difficulties From that, the researcher may makesome suggestions and solutions to help the interviewees solve their problems inlearning process

3.2 Analysis of data

3.2.1 Results of the translation test

The translation error types which were made by the students in their translationtests are described in the following chart