A study on English - Vietnamese translation of the bridge - highway civil engineering texts in some bridge - highway construction projects in Vietnam

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN MINH NGỌC A STUDY ON ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE BRIDGE – HIGHWAY CIVIL ENGINEERING TEXTS IN SOME BRIDGE – HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁCH DỊCH ANH VIỆT CÁC VĂN BẢN CỦA NGÀNH XÂY DỰNG CẦU ĐƯỜNG TẠI MỘT SỐ CÁC DỰ ÁN XÂY DỰNG CẦU ĐƯỜNG TẠI VIỆT NAM M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 Hanoi, October 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ************************* NGUYỄN MINH NGỌC A STUDY ON ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE BRIDGE – HIGHWAY CIVIL ENGINEERING TEXTS IN SOME BRIDGE – HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN VIETNAM NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁCH DỊCH ANH VIỆT CÁC VĂN BẢN CỦA NGÀNH XÂY DỰNG CẦU ĐƯỜNG TẠI MỘT SỐ CÁC DỰ ÁN XÂY DỰNG CẦU ĐƯỜNG TẠI VIỆT NAM M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 602215 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC PROF DR LE HUNG TIEN Hanoi, October 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT Page i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aim of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Translation Theory 1.1 What is translation? 1.2 Translation method 1.3 Translation procedures Text functions, Text types and Road and Bridge Engineering Texts 2.1 Text functions and Text types 2.2 Road and Bridge Engineering Texts (RBE Text) Overview of terminology 10 3.1 What is terminology? 10 3.2 General features of terminology 10 Technical Translation and Translation of Technical Terms 11 4.1 Technical Translation 11 4.2 Translation method 11 4.3 Translation of technical terms CHAPTER II: STUDY OF TRANSLATION METHODS AND 12 14 PROCEDURES OF RBE TERMINOLOGIES BY SURVEYING SOME MATERIALS IN HIGHWAY – BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Overview of the Thanh Tri Bridge Construction Projects 14 Overview of some surveyed materials 15 2.1 The Addendum No.1 of the Contract for Consulting Services for 15 the Thanh Tri Bridge Construction Project 2.2 The Civil Engineering Contract of Package 3A under the Thanh Tri 15 Bridge Construction Project 2.3 The Conditions of the Civil Engineering Contract of Package 3A 16 under the Thanh Tri Bridge Construction Project 2.4 The Technical Specifications and the Special Specifications 17 2.5 Some typical letters, correspondences, decisions… 18 Study of translation methods and translation procedures of RBE 18 Terminologies by survey in some materials in the Thanh Tri Bridge Construction Projects 3.1 General RBE Terminologies 18 3.2 Specialized RBE Terminologies 31 Conclusion 38 PART III: CONCLUSION 40 REFERENCES 42 SOURCES OF SURVEYED MATERIALS 43 APPENDIX ABSTRACT This study surveyed some technical materials of the Thanh tri Bridge Construction Project in both English and Vietnamese version to find out how the Road Bridge Engineering (RBE) terminologies are translated from English to Vietnamese by the translators/ interpreters of the project The author collected 747 general RBE terminologies and 141 specified RBE terminologies (including Material Section and Electric Section) from the technical documents of the Thanh Tri Bridge Construction Project Analysis of those terminologies in comparison with theory of translation methods and translation procedures was conducted As a result, the researcher observed that only three translation methods (word-by-word translation, literal translation and faithful translation) and three translation procedures (naturalization, descriptive equivalent and functional equivalent) used for translation of RBE terminologies in those documents This study clarified the RBE terminologies and translation of RBE terminologies It would not only help the translators and interpreters fulfill their tasks more effectively but also help the engineers and experts of the RBE fields and who concerned to access the RBE documents in both English and Vietnamese version more simply and comprehensively However, this study focused on only the translation of terminology of the Thanh Tri Bridge Construction Project; therefore, it still included some shortcomings, which should be improved in the further researches