A study on methods to translate medical terms in the textbook “English in medicine” for the third-year students at Hai Phong Medical University

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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ĐỖ PHƯƠNG LINH CHI

A STUDY ON METHODS TO TRANSLATE MEDICAL TERMS IN THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH IN

MEDICINE” FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS AT HAIPHONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu phương pháp dịch thuật ngữ ngành v khoa trong giao trinh “English in Medicine” cho sinh vién nam thứ 3, trường

Dai hoc Y Hai Phong

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

q§flœa

ĐỖ PHƯƠNG LINH CHI

A STUDY ON METHODS TO TRANSLATE MEDICAL TERMS IN THE TEXTBOOK “ENGLISH IN

MEDICINE” FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS AT HAIPHONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu phương pháp dịch thuật ngữ ngành v khoa trong giao trinh “English in Medicine” cho sinh vién nam thứ 3, trường

Dai hoc Y Hai Phong

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lé Hing Tiến

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DECLARATION

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Throughout the process of accomplishing the thesis, I have received the support and encouragement of teachers, family and friends

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor, Doctor Le Hung Tien who gave me benefits of his wisdom and his expert knowledge in translation as well as his constant encouragement from the beginning stage of working out the research proposal to the final stage of writing up the thesis Without his critical comments and valuable suggestions, this study could not be completed

My special thanks go to all my lecturers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures during my M.A

course

I also take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues at Faculty of English, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their various kinds of help and supports Last but not least, I would like to express my thankfulness to my family

and friends for their endless love, significant help and encouragement

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ABSTRACT

The thesis focuses on translation methods and procedures of English medical terms It is aimed at investigating the characteristics of medical terms in order to help the translators and learners have a clear understanding of the terms Attempts are also made to identify methods as well as procedures used in translating medical terms in the textbook “English in Medicine’ Hopefully, the result of the study will be helpful

to ESP teachers and learners who are interested in medical terms

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ABBREVIATIONS

English for Specific Purposes ESP

English for Medical Purposes EMP

Target language TL

Source language SL

Target text TT

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L.4.3 Nida — 10

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2.2 Medical terms and Characteristics .ccccccceesesesnsnennneceeceeeeeeeeeeeees 12 1 Translation of medical {€rTmS _ -«« «55c s33 +sseeeeeeeeses 16 1.1 Using TransfÍ€r€TC€ (cv re, 16 1.1.1 Eponyms that derIve Írom De€rSON s55 5s ss2 16 1.1.2 Eponyms that derive from obJec(s_ - - 17

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PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study

From the early 1960’s, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has grown to become one of the most prominent areas of EFL teaching today ESP is now taught in every university and colleges with different purposes such as English for medical professionals, English for waiters, English for tourism, or English for Business, etc Among them, English for Medical Purposes (EMP) is also one of important parts of ESP

As an English teacher at Haiphong Medical University, where EMP is taught, I have recognized the enormous necessity of EMP English for Medical Purposes (EMP) is an interesting subject for medical students or specialists As you know, English is considered as a bridge for cooperation and development, especially in Medical area To advance careers, doctors must write articles in English for international journals and take part in conferences held in English everywhere in the world However, it is also a challenge to them Translating medical terms in English medical textbooks or documents is one of the biggest problems Sometimes, there are many ways of translating for one word or learners do not know how to translate these medical terms exactly This prevents them from studying or reading English medical documents To do this, they need to have translation skills as well as knowledge of English medical terms

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University” In this study, some main characteristics of medical terms are given with methods as well as procedures applied to translate these terms in the textbook From that, the study will support translators and readers a lot of interesting materials for translation in EMP

2 Objectives of the study

The study consists of the following objectives:

- Investigating medical terms with their characteristics

- Identifying methods and procedures used in translating medical terms - Drawing out some problems and solutions for English medical terms

translation as well as giving some suggestions for teaching and studying EMP

3 Research questions

The above objectives will be achieved through the following questions: - What are the characteristics of medical terms?

- What are the methods and procedures applied for medical terms translation?

- What causes difficulties for translators in translating medical terms? 4 Scopes of the study

The study is conducted on Medical terms in the textbook “English in Medicine” for third-year students at Haiphong Medical University 5 Significance of the study

This study will give readers general views about methods of translation In addition, it will also support EMP teachers and learners knowledge of medical terms with solutions for translating medical terms

6 Methods of the study

First of all, Descriptive method is used for describing characteristics of medical terms as well as methods and procedures applied in translating

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these terms In this thesis, Comparative analysis is also used for data collection and analysis Besides, making conclusion is based on Conductive approach During doing this thesis I also collect the relevant information, documents from the books, articles or Internet 7 Design of the study

This study is divided into two main parts:

Part A is the Introduction which includes rationale, objectives, scope, significance, methods and the design of the study

Part B is the Development with two main chapters:

- Chapter | is the Literature review which gives general information of Translation theory, Terminology and Medical terms

- Chapter 2 is the Translation methods and procedures of medical terms with the solutions for the problems This is the main part of the study Part C is the Conclusion with a summary of the groups of terms with

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Translation theory

Definitions of Translation

Translation has been approached from a scientific point of view by linguists through times, so it has been defined variously The following are some typical definitions:

e The term translation itself has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the product (the text that has been translated) or the process (the act of producing the translation, otherwise known a translating) The process of translation between two different written languages involves the translator changing an original written text (the source language or SL) into a written text (the target text or TT) in a different verbal language (the target language or TL) (Jakobson

1959/2000:114)

e Translating is rendering the meaning of a text into one language in the way the author intended the text (Newmark)

e Translating is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL) (Catford)

e Translating is an art that involves the re-creation of a work in another language for readers with a different background (Cowley)

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1.2 Methods of Translation 1.2.1 Larson

According to Larson (1984:15) translation is divided into two categories They are from-based or literal translation and meaning based or idiomatic translation The methods spread in the continuum from very literal, to literal, to modified literal, to near idiomatic, idiomatic, and unduly free The continuum is drawn as follow:

e Very literal is an interlinear translation For some purposes, it is desirable to reproduce the linguistic features of the source text, as for example, in a linguistic study of that language;

e Literal translation is a translation which its sounds like nonsense and has little communicative value It may be very useful for the purposes related to the study of the source language, they are of little help to speakers of the receptor language who are interested in the meaning of the source language text;

e Modified literal methods are a way to modify order and grammar of the source language in an acceptable sentence structure in the receptor language However, the lexical items are translated literally

e Inconsistent mixture mixes literal and idiomatic translation in the final draft of translation

e Near idiomatic reproduces the meaning of the source language (that is the meaning intended by the original communicator) in receptor language without losing the natural form of the source language

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1.2.2

The unduly free translation adds extraneous information, which is not stated in the source text It changes the meaning of SL; it distorts the fact of the historical and cultural setting of the source text (Larson

1984: 16-18) Newmark

Newmark (1988: 45-47) uses eight terms in his classification They are word-for-word, literal, faithful, semantic, communicative, idiomatic, free, and adaptation that divided into two scopes — the methods closest to the source language or literal translation and the methods closest to the target language or communicative translation

(1) The methods closest to the source language - Literal translation:

Word-for-word Translation: The Source Language is translated word by word

Literal Translation: The SL grammatical forms are converted to their nearest target language equivalent However, the lexical words are translated out of context

Faithful Translation: This method tries to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraint of the TL grammatical structures It transfers cultural words and _ faithfully follows the SL grammatical forms

Semantic Translation: This method concerns the aesthetic value-that is the beautiful and natural sound-of the SL text In addition, the method compromises on an appropriate meaning So, that no assonance, or repetition jars in the translation

(2) The methods closest to the target language - Communicative

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e Free Translation: Free translation is the translation, which is not, bonded structure and manner

e Adaptation: This method is the freest form of translation It is frequently used for plays (comedies) and poetry

e Idiomatic Translation: Idiomatic translation reproduces the message of the source text but tend to distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms

e Communicative translation: This method attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership 1.3 Translation Procedures

1.3.1 Vinay & Darbelnet

There are two main translation strategies, direct and oblique translation, covering all together seven concrete procedures

Direct translation

e Borrowing: The SL word is transferred directly to the TL (Munday, 2001, p56)

e Calque: It is a strategy to ‘borrow’ the SL expression or structure and then transfer it in a literal translation (Vinay &Darbelnet, 2004,p.129) This is a special kind of borrowing

e Literal translation: A word-for-word translation It is a translation strategy used ‘most common between languages of the same family and culture’ (Vinay &Darbelnet, 2004, p.130)

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e Transposition: The method involves ‘replacing one word class with another without changing the meaning of the message’ (Vinay &Darbelnet 2004, p.132)

e Modulation: It refers to ‘a variation of the form of the message, obtained by a change in the point of view’ (Vinay & Darbelnet 2004, p.133)

e Equivalence: It refers to a strategy to describe the same situation by ‘using completely different stylistic or structural methods’ for producing ‘equivalent texts’ (Vinay & Darbelnet 2004, p.134)

e Adaptation: It refers to a method ‘used in those cases where the type of situation being referred to by the SL message is unkown in the TL culture’ (Vinay & Darbelnet 2004, p.134)

1.3.2 Newmark

The following are the different translation procedures that Newmark (1988) proposes:

¢ Transference: it is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL text It includes transliteration and is the same as what Harvey (2000:5) named "transcription."

¢ Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal morphology of the TL (Newmark, 1988:82)

¢ Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one however, "they are not accurate" (Newmark, 1988:83)

¢ Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a culture-neutral word (Newmark, 1988:83)

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Componential analysis: it means "comparing an SL word with a TL word which has a similar meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first their common and then their differing sense components.” (Newmark, 1988:114)

Synonymy: it is a "near TL equivalent." Here economy trumps accuracy (Newmark, 1988:84)

Through-translation: it is the literal translation of common collocations, names of organizations and components of compounds It can also be called: calque or loan translation (Newmark, 1988:84) Shifts or transpositions: it involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance, (1) change from singular to plural, (41) the change required when a specific SL structure does not exist in the TL, (ii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SL noun group to a TL noun and so forth (Newmark, 1988:86)

Modulation: it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in the TL text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, since the SL and the TL may appear dissimilar in terms of perspective (Newmark, 1988:88)

Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator "normally uses the official or the generally accepted translation of any institutional term.” (Newmark, 1988:89)

Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is compensated in another part (Newmark, 1988:90)

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¢ Couplets: it occurs when the translator combines two different procedures (Newmark, 1988:91) Âô Notes: notes are additional information in a translation (Newmark, 1988:91) 1.4 Translation Equivalence 1.4.1 Jakobson

Jakobson (1959) makes a contribution to the theoretical analysis of translation He introduces the concept of equivalence in difference He suggests three kinds of equivalence known as:

- Intralingual (within one language, i.e rewording or paraphrase) - Interlingual (between two languages)

- Intersemiotic (between sign systems) 1.4.2 Baker

Baker (1992) defines four kinds of equivalents as follows:

- Equivalence that can appear at word level and above word level, when translating from one language into another

- Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the diversity of grammatical categories across languages

- Textual equivalence when referring to the equivalence between a SL text and a TL text in terms of information and cohesion

- Pragmatic equivalence, when referring to imprimaturs and strategies of avoidance during the translation process

1.4.3 Nida

Nida's theory of translation is characterized by the distinction between two types of equivalence: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence For

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formal equivalence, the translator focuses on the message itself, that is, its form and content, and there should be a close similarity between the ST and the TT message (Nida, 1964)

Concerning dynamic equivalence, Nida mentions that this type is based on ''the principle of equivalent effect", in which ''the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptor and _ the message.'' (Nida, 1964: 159)

In summary, we have finished reviewing the theoretical background of translation with translation methods, procedures, as well as equivalence of translation These important theories will be applied in the next parts

of the thesis

2 Terminology and medical terminology 2.1 Terminology

In this part, some main knowledge of terminology in general and medical terminology in particular will be given and discussed First of all, we will have a look at two concepts ‘terminology’ and ‘term’

According to Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary, term is "a word or phrase used as the name of something especially one connected with a particular type of language." Also this dictionary defines terminology as "a set of technical words or expressions used in a particular subject." As such, terminology is broader in meaning compared with term While terms separately refer to discrete conceptual entities, properties that constitute the knowledge of a particular field, terminology refers to the system of all concepts and definitions concerning a specific technical area In brief, unlike ordinary words, terminology or a set of terms are

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regarded as scientific words and each term denotes a concept in a particular field such as economics, biology, chemistry, and so on Terminology is the language used to describe a specific thing, or the language used within a specific field

2.2 Medical terminology

Medical terminology is one of the main parts of terminology “Medical terminology is the professional language of those who are directly or indirectly engaged in the art of healing (Frenay and Mahoney, 1998).” Most medical terms have Greek or Latin origins, though some are derived from modern languages, particularly German, French, and English In general, terms dealing with diagnosis and surgery have Greek origins, whereas anatomical terms have Latin origins

As other terminologies, medical terminology also has general characteristics of terminology such as Accurateness, Internationalism, Systematic and Popularity and Nationality (Do Huu Chau, 1981) I will give more specific explanation as follows:

Accurateness

First of all, a term needs to be accurate and clear because it refers to an exact concept of a science Medical terms are too A medical term must be clear and exact In addition, it should not make the readers misunderstand the concept it expresses with another These terms often have one-one relation to the concepts that they concern

For examples,

e ‘pneumonia’ (viém phdi): is taken for one single meaning ‘a serious illness affecting one or both lungs that makes breathing difficult.’

e ‘allergy’ (di tng): is an abnormally high sensitivity to certain substances, such as food, drug, weather, etc

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Internationalism

Medical terminology is used all over the world In other words, these terms are used internationally They are special words expressing common scientific concepts to people of different languages It gives the concepts understood by speakers of different cultures This feature is an important property that helps distinguish terminology from other layers of vocabulary such as slang, dialect, etc The internationality is also seen in the form of terms Sometimes it is very interesting to know that many terms used by different countries have similar phonetic form For example:

English Vietnamese French Germany

stress ap luc stress erpruch

shock choang chock erschock

virus vi rut virus asvirus

protein chat dam protein dasprotein

vitamin vitamin vitamine vitamin

amoeba amip amibe amode

Table 1: Internationalism of medical terms Systematic

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medical terminology is, too It consists relating to medicine For example: of the concepts or meaning medical terms medical normal meaning meaning

nervous thudc than kinh hơi hộp lo lắng

tissue mồ giây mêm

spread di can lan ra

Table 2: Systematic of medical terms

Popularity

Many medical terms are so popular that they are not considered as terminology In contrast, they become common words which are used in daily life It becomes easy to remember, easy to understand It is very easy to find out these words For instance, English terms Vietnamese shock sốc

stress áp lực, căng thăng

Cancer ung thư

syringe si-ranh

vaccine văc-xin/ thuơc phịng

vifamin vifamin

virus virut

aspirin thuốc giảm dau

Table 3: Popularity of medical terms

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Structural characteristics

Medical terminology also has some specific characteristics in structure and word forms As above, most medical terms have Greek or Latin origin They are formed from word root, prefixes and suffixes This is a common feature of medical terms We can find out many examples for this in medical texts Here I will show some typical examples in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’ For example:

medical term root prefixes suffixes

pericarditis cardi peri- -itis

(viém bao tim) (heart) (around) (inflammation)

lymphopenia lympho -penia

(giam limpho (lymphoc (lack,

bao) yte) decrease)

antibody body anti-

(khang thé) (body) (against)

Table 4: Characteristic of structure of medical terms

In summary, an understanding of the structure of medical terms, and an ability to break down a medical term into its parts helps you get the most out of using a medical dictionary, and makes dealing with medical terminology less challenging than it first appears

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CHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION METHODS AND PROCEDURES OF MEDICAL TERMS

1 Translation of medical terms

In this chapter, we will discuss some common methods as well as procedures applied in medical terms translation As we know, ‘while translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language’ (Newmark, p81) This paper is about medical terms, so it will pay more attention to translation procedures The scope of these medical terms is in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’ The following procedures are given with examples

1.1 Using Transference

Transference or transcription is a translation procedure used very frequently in medicine Here, I will discuss some groups of terms that can be translated by this procedure

1.1.1 Eponyms that derive from person

Medical eponyms are popular terms in the field of medicine These terms are named after people that are usually the inventors or discoverers There are many kinds of medical eponyms such as eponyms of diseases, medical signs, devices or treatments Some examples of these terms are found out in the textbook:

English Vietnamese

Parkinsonism Hội chứng Parkinson

Bowman’s capsule bao Bowman

Table 5: Eponyms that derive from person

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Usually, the readers are medical students or specialists, so they are more familiar with these terms So, the translators do not have to translate these terms with detailed meaning because they can easily understand the transferred eponyms with this translation procedure This makes the transferred terms shorter

1.1.2 Eponyms that derive from objects

Besides the eponyms that derive from person, there are also some terms that derive from objects They can be brands, properties of devices, materials or chemical elements, etc They are often transferred and coupled with a classifier to make the translation more understandable Here are some examples, English Vietnamese

lymphocyte tế bào lim phơ

collagen fibre sợi collagen

protein metabolism sự chuyên hĩa protêïn

Table 6: Eponyms that derive from objects 1.1.3 Medical acronyms

Acronym is a common feature of all non-literary texts in general and medical texts in particular The letters are joined up and become internationalisms It is usually translated, but sometimes, SL acronyms are retained for convenience Besides, some acronyms are so common that people or specialists in that field often use the acronyms instead of their full name For instance, in Vietnam, there are some popular acronyms such as AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome -

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Hội chứng suy giảm mién dich), Doc (Doctor) The following examples are acronyms used very frequently in medical field English Vietnamese

B.P (Blood Pressure) B.P (huyét ap)

TB (Tuberculosis) TB (bệnh lao phổi)

Ca (Cancer) Ca (Ung thư) DPT DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, (Bach hau, Ho ga, Uốn tetanus) van) CVA CVA (cerebro vescular accident) (tai bién mạch máu não)

Table 7: Medical acronyms

Depending on the TL readership and their familiarity with the name of an organization, its acronym can be transferred and its name is

translated

1.1.4 Terms referring to modern concepts that are not technically lexicalized in Vietnamese

In science, there are a lot of phrases or concepts that are international When they are transferred into the target language, people often use loan words to express them It occurs because of many reasons Normally, these terms are new concepts Sometimes, it is impossible to create a Vietnamese term that can serve as an exact equivalent to English terms So, using of loan words to refer to the new concepts is common and more convenient It is very easily to find out some

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examples of new concepts that can be translated into Vietnamese along with their English names: English Vietnamese virus virut amino acid axit amin protein protéin

folic acid axit folic

carbon dioxide carbon dioxit abscess ap xe Table 8: Terms referring to modern concepts that are not technically lexicalized in Vietnamese

From these examples, we can see that there is a lack of equivalent terms in Vietnamese Sometimes, it is difficult for translators to transfer these terms to the target language Therefore, this translation method is also a good idea for translators during translating

1.1.5 Terms referring to modern concepts that are technically lexicalized in Vietnamese

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term vaccine vac-xin thuốc phịng shock sốc chống

glucose glucoza duong

stress stret ap luc

Table 9: Terms referring to modern concepts that are technically lexicalized in Vietnamese

In summary, Transference is one of the most useful procedures that the translators can apply into medical terms translation This is because of these terms’ features There is a large amount of medical terms that are new concepts in Vietnamese However, using loan words or Vietnamese equivalents depends on the situation or the knowledge of readers For the readers who are not in medical field or do not have a lot of knowledge of medicine, the translators should transfer these terms into Vietnamese equivalents

1.2 Using Naturalisation

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forceps fooc-xép

hormone hoocmơn

Table 10: Terms using Naturalisation

Medical terms are written and read in Vietnamese way, so it is easier for the readers This procedure also appears frequently in the translation of medical terms This can compensate for the lack of new terms in Vietnamese

1.3 Using Transposition

As in the translation theory, a ‘shift? in Catford’s term or ‘transposition? in Vinay and Darbelnet is a translation procedure involving a change in the grammar from SL to TL Through researching medical terms in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’, I have found out that medical terms are often nominal groups Usually, nominal group in English includes the Classifier preceding the Thing, while in Vietnamese they follow the Thing So, Transposition is applied for translating these terms

Classifier/ Epithet + Thing => Thing + Classifier/ Epithet e Classifier/ Epithet (Noun) + Thing

These terms consists of two nouns with the first one functioning as Classifier preceding the Thing For examples, English Vietnamese

sweat gland tuyên mơ hơi

bile duct tui mat

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thyroid gland tuyên giáp skm layer lớp da kidney stone sỏi thận brain tumor khơi u não

Table 11: Terms including two nouns e Classifier/ Epithet (Adjective) + Thing

Different from the first group, in this group the Classifier is an adjective with the Thing English Vietnamese systolic pressure huyết áp tâm thu painful convulsion co giật đau đớn vertebral column cột sơng hot-compress gac dm serious injury chan thuong nghiém trong

Table 12: Terms including an adjective and a noun e Classifier/ Epithet (V-ing) + Thing

In this group, the Classifier or Epithet is present participle English Vietnamese whooping cough ho ga

stabbing pain đau nhĩi

throbbing paIn đau giân giật

Table 13: Terms including V-ing and a noun

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There are also some other groups of nominal groups, but the scope of this thesis is only in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’ and those groups do not appear in this textbook, so those groups will not be discussed here

1.4 Using Through-Translation

As its definition, Through-Translation is also called Calque or Loan words In this textbook, some terms have been found with using Through-Translation These are some examples: English Vietnamese

bacteriology vi khuan hoc

microbiology vi sinh hoc

nasopharynx mũi hâu

lockjaw cung ham

Table 14: Terms using Through-Translation 1.5 Using the omission of the preposition ‘of’

While researching medical terms, it can be clearly seen that some terms are formed with ‘of phrase’ as the Qualifier element The structure of these terms is ‘noun + of + noun’ The following terms are typical examples for this: English terms Vietnamese equivalents cancer of the lungs bệnh ung thư của phơi a state of shock trạng thái của sơc knots of capillaries các cuộn của mao mạch supply of blood việc cung câp của máu feeling of motion sickness cảm giác của say tau xe

the amount of urine

lượng của nước tiêu

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Table 15: Terms using the omission of the preposition ‘of

During translating these terms, if we translate ‘of as ‘cua’, sometimes it is not correct Because of this reason, we should use the omission of the preposition ‘of in the translation of these medical terms In fact, these terms appear very frequently in medical texts So, using this procedure is very useful in translation

1.6 Using Sino elements

Before investigating the participation of Sino-Vietnamese in medical terms translation, it is very important to have a look at Sino- Vietnamese words As a result of a long history of language contacts between Vietnamese and Chinese, a lot of Chinese vocabulary was adopted into Vietnamese To enrich its lexicology, Vietnamese has systematically borrowed a great amount of Chinese words

Sino- Vietnamese are the elements in the Vietnamese language derived from Chinese Talking about it, Dinh Trong Lac (2001) defines ‘Sino- Vietnamese are Vietnamese words borrowed from Chinese language and pronounced in Vietnamese way.’

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hemorrhage xuat huyét chay mau

oliguria thiéu niéu lượng nước tiểu ít

specific biệt dược thuộc đặc biệt medicine stroke volume lưu lượng tim lượng máu trong mỗi nhát bĩp của tim parasite ky sinh tring sinh vat song ky sinh trong co thê excrete bai tiét thai ra

Table 16: Terms using Sino-elements

Besides these terms, there are a lot of other terms using this method in translation In fact, they are very formal and have style of science and technology Sometimes, the use of this method is very closely to using related words

To sum up, these are some major methods and procedures that can be applied in translation of medical terms in the textbook Each method has been given with specific terms as examples to compare

2 Problems in Translation of medical terms

After the process of researching, it is very necessary to find out some major problems that translators may get while translating The following problems are given and discussed based on characteristics of medical terms and the methods as well as procedures applied for

medical translation

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As we know, the more medicine develops, the more medical terms change This occurs frequently, especially in the fields of science Practitioner, specialists and translators believe that there are an increasing number of medical terms and scientific ideas every year Because of this, translating terms relating medicine or science has obviously become more complex

Through this paper, we can realize that abbreviation and acronyms also appears much in medical texts This is one of the most difficulties in medical translation because there are also a lot of meanings for each For examples, the phrase ‘“NVD’ may stand for ‘nausea, vomiting and diarrhea But it also means normal vaginal delivery It can be dangerous to make mistakes in translation

Another problem that we can find out from this study is eponyms It is a big problem in medical translation because they often have synonyms for other terms The term ‘Scurvy’ is an example for this It has some synonyms such as ‘Barlow’s syndrome’, ‘Barlow’s disease’ or ‘Vitamin C deficiency syndrome’

In translation, the reader is also an important element Sometimes, the readers understand or misunderstand the information in the same text For instance, the phrase ‘stroke volume’ is translated into Vietnamese ‘luu lugng tim’ Understanding these terms depends on each kind of readers So, it is also a challenge for translators

3 Suggested solutions to Translation Teaching and Translation of medical terms

Finding out solutions to the problems of medical terms translation is also the aim of this study First of all, translators need to have professional knowledge and proficiency in language It is very

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important to improve their knowledge of medicine as well as knowledge of that field

For the abbreviations or acronyms, translators have to put these terms into certain situations or contexts If translators concern about the contexts, the meaning will be more exact

In addition, eponyms are also another problem in medical terms translation Thinking about target language may be the best way Choosing between an eponym and another term would depend on which is more common in the target culture because the purpose of translation is translating into target language

Lastly, translators need to pay attention on their readers In each situation, translators will decide on how to translate the terms The responsibility of translators plays a big role in translation So, it requires providing an accurate translation because of the benefits of the patients

It is easily to realize that translators need to have a lot of knowledge before doing translation work It includes good knowledge of that field, translation skills, knowledge of language both source language and target language In addition, translator’s attitude is also important

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PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusion

In this paper, we have completed the study on translation methods of medical terms in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’ First of all, some major features of medical terms are drawn out in the thesis It plays an important role during translating Through researching, we can see that there are a lot of terms made up of the affixes So, it is very useful to get the meaning of these affixes in translation of medical terms

From the features of medical terms, some useful methods as well as procedures which can be applied for translation of medical terms in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’ have been studied and found out Now, we will summarize the groups of medical terms with translation methods and procedures used to translate them

e Group 1: Eponyms that derive from person

Method: Proper names are transferred while the common nouns are translated

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Group 6: Terms translated by Naturalisation

Method: Naturalisation

Group 7: Nominal groups

Method: Transposition which involves the change of word order from SL

to TL

Group 8: Terms translated by Through-Translation Method: Through-Translation

Group 9: Terms consists of Noun + of + Noun

Method: Translated by the omission of the pronunciation ‘of Group 10: Terms translated by using Sino elements

Method: Using Sino-Vietnamese words

From the above groups, it is easily realized that some translation procedures such as Transference, Transposition are used very frequently Besides, Sino elements also play an important part in making medical terms more formal It is hoped that this thesis will be useful for translators in general and medical students, specialists or teachers who are teaching English in medicine in particular

2 Suggestions for teaching and translation of medical terms

Translation of terminology is one of the main parts in teaching as well as learning ESP But to make it more effective, both learners and teachers should have a strategy or good knowledge about it

Firstly, it is very necessary to have language competence or language skills before studying ESP Secondly, both teachers and learners need to have some basic skills of translation During translation, teachers not only give the meaning of medical terms, but also explain the way of translation for each group of terms Besides, it is very important to understand and get exact meaning of medical terms in Vietnamese

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Another suggestion is that getting the meaning of affixes is good for translation of medical terms because a lot of terms are composed of affixes From this feature, we will easily guess the meaning of the terms

3 Limitations

Within the framework of a minor thesis, this thesis only pays attention to researching medical terms in the textbook ‘English in Medicine’ In addition, the thesis has just applied translation methods as well as procedures of Newmark in this paper as the models So, the scope of the thesis is still limited

4 Suggestion for further studies

Since medicine is one of the large fields in ESP, there will be many interesting things to research Besides basic medical terms, there are other kinds of medical terms such as traditional medical terms, terms of pharmacy or anatomy, etc So, in the further study, it is possible to expand the scope of the study In addition, we can apply translation methods or procedures of other authors in the study to find out a lot of interesting findings

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