A Study on translation equivalence between some poems of Prison Diary (Vietnamese version) and its English translation by Aileen Palmer on form-based approach of Mona Baker (1992)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN SOME POEMS OF PRISON DIARY (VIETNAMESE VERSION) AND ITS ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY AILEEN PALMER ON FORM-BASED APPROACH OF MONA BAKER (1992) NGHIÊN CỨU TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG DỊCH THUẬT GIỮA MỘT SỐ BÀI THƠ NHẬT KÝ TRONG TÙ ( BẢN TIẾNG VIỆT) VÀ BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG ANH TƢƠNG ỨNG CỦA AILEEN PALMER THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA MONA BAKER (1992) M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi - 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN SOME POEMS OF PRISON DIARY (VIETNAMESE VERSION) AND ITS ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY AILEEN PALMER ON FORM-BASED APPROACH OF MONA BAKER (1992) NGHIÊN CỨU TƢƠNG ĐƢƠNG DỊCH THUẬT GIỮA MỘT SỐ BÀI THƠ NHẬT KÝ TRONG TÙ ( BẢN TIẾNG VIỆT) VÀ BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG ANH TƢƠNG ỨNG CỦA AILEEN PALMER THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA MONA BAKER (1992) M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof Dr Nguyễn Xuân Thơm Hanoi - 2016 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A study on translation equivalence between some poems of Prison Diary (Vietnamese version) and its English translation by Aileen Palmer on form-based approach of Mona Baker (1992)” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2016 Lê Thị Nhung i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Xuan Thom, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to Assoc Prof Dr Le Hung Tien; without his interesting lectures on Research Methodology in Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, consultancy and encouragement, it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the endless sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT Given that translation equivalence lies at the center of what translation is and the translation of Prison Diary has posed both interests and challenges, the researcher conducted a study, investigating types of form-based equivalence proposed by Mona Baker (1992) between thirty Prison Diary poems and theirs translated versions by Aileen Palmer as well as some obstacles encountered by the translator Pairs of data were compared, contrasted and interpreted into different categories Three prevalent types of non-equivalence have been identified, including that at the level of word, above word, and grammatically upon careful collection and interpretative analyses of data from both source texts and target texts In coupled with the existence of such non-equivalence, many obstacles were addressed by the translator due to gaps in both linguistic and literary terms The paper also sheds some light on practical applications for translators, and teachers and students with their work of translation iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv vi PART A : INTRODUCTION 1 RATIONALE AIMS OF THE STUDY .2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 5.1 Research questions and concepts 5.2 Research approach (Theoretical framework) .5 5.3 Research methods (analytical framework) DESIGN OF THE STUDY PART B : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW .8 1.1.TRANSLATION THEORY 1.1.1 Definition of translation .8 1.1.2 Translation equivalence 11 1.2 MONA BAKER‘S THEORY ON EQUIVALENCE 24 1.2.1 Equivalence at word level 24 1.2.2 Non-equivalence at word level 26 1.2.3.Equivalence above word level 37 1.2.4 Grammatical equivalence .44 1.2.5 Textual equivalence 47 1.2.6 Pragmatic equivalence .52 1.3 LITERARY TRANSLATION 57 1.3.1 Literary translation 57 1.3.2 Some problems in literary translation 58 1.3.3 Features of poetic translation and language 58 iv 1.4 PREVIOUS STUDIES ON TRANSTION EQUIVALENCE IN LITERARY WORKS 62 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 65 2.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 65 2.1.1 Aims 65 2.1.2 Objectives 65 2.2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURES .66 2.2.1 Research design 66 2.2.2 Research procedures ( procedural framework) .66 2.3 RESEARCH METHODS .67 2.3.1 Subjects of study .67 2.3.2 Data collection and description .67 2.3.3 Data analysis (discovery – phenomenon – analysis and evaluation/explanation) 68 CHAPTER : FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 70 3.1 TRANSLATION (NON)EQUIVALENCE AND THE MOST POPULAR ONE 70 3.1.1 At-word-level non-equivalence 70 3.1.2 Above- word- level non-equivalence 73 3.1.3 Grammatical non-equivalence 74 3.2 TRANSLATOR‘S STRATEGIES FOR NON-EQUIVALENCE 83 3.2.1 At word level .83 3.2.2 Above-word level 85 3.3 REASONS FOR NONEQUIVALENCE 87 3.3.1 Linguistic reasons 87 3.3.2 Literary or aesthetic reasons 88 PART C: CONCLUSION .90 RECAPITULATION AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ………… 90 IMPLICATIONS AND APPLICATIONS .92 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 93 REFERENCES APPENDICES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SL source language ST source text TE translation equivalence TL target language TT target text GNE grammatical nonequivalence vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale The idea, the question to which the thesis attempts to answer, came from both linguistic (scientific), practical and situational motivations To begin with linguistic reasons, translation has long been a fertile land for research because of its important role in bridging the world and also recording and building up the history of the world Translation theory is extensively regarded one big branch in applied linguistics that is worth researcher‘s intellectual curiosity It brings about the attractiveness of different languages to certain human communities The author herself constantly holds on to the wonder whether or not translation of poetry is different from that of other genres, if so, to what extent, and if there is any working strategy for this special type of translation, especially in the case that it has something to deal with both linguistic and cultural gaps Therefore, it is important to conduct studies on this theory Practically, as one of the most important and common fields of translation, the translation of literary works (literary translation) is indeed a help to the understanding of different cultures and civilizations, so responsible for its complexity and the must for translator of literature to consider every aspect of the material and even beyond the material to produce a good translation Literary translation in general and the translation of poems between English and Vietnamese and other ways round have been such a challenging but charming task for me that I really want to clarify or at least understand the way translators of these works employ when doing translations Another practical and inspiring motivation for my conducting this study is because of the fact that the year 2015 is the 125th celebration of President Ho Chi Minh‘s birthday I really wish to be knowledgeable of how the translated versions of his poems have effects on target readers, whether to be the same to or different from those on Vietnamese counterparts Last but not least, the findings of the paper are expected to be helpful in cross-cultural language learning and teaching In order to evaluate a translation, there is a wide variety of approaches, procedures, methods, all of which more or less draw assumption and notion of linguistic deviation and translation equivalence The latter - equivalence remains the most interesting to me because it is equivalence that in my opinion conveys or destroys the effects on the two groups of readers, source language reader, and the target ones Naturally, there are many theoretical approaches and previous studies on this cornerstone concept The successful evaluation of the translated equivalents in English by Aileen Palmer is also helpful to the reading, teaching, and translating, and studying literary works in Vietnam Lastly, a considerable number of studies have been conducted on the translation of poems and novels between English and Vietnamese, the most famous of which are ―Gone with the Wind‖, ―The Old Man and the Sea‖, and ―The General Retires‖ However, very few studies have made efforts up to date to understand the rendering of Vietnamese great literary compositions into English in spite of numerous translated works This, to my personal viewpoint, represents a gap in the circle of translation criticism and evaluation and motivates me to invest my effort into this topic Aims of the study The conduct of the study firstly aims at providing a theoretical background on several concepts related to the topic of the study such as translation, translation studies, literary translation, and translation equivalence Subsequently, it made an investigation into the achievement of equivalence in the translated equivalents by Aileen Palmer based on Mona Baker‘s theory Equivalence effect can be found at different aspects, namely quantity, function, and form Seeing that poems in Prison Diary remain a great source of literary and translating values, this study employed the form-based approach to equivalence by Mona Baker (1992) to investigate this central issue in translation field, equivalence, at both word and above-word levels, grammatical, textual and pragmatic levels More specifically, the research aims at reasoning out: PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation and shortcomings of the study The study attempted to study the translation non-equivalence of 30 Prison Diary poems into English, strategies applied and the obstacles encountered by the translator- Aileen Palmer First and foremost, pertinent concepts necessary to the understanding of the whole thesis were revised to establish the grounding framework for the study They are translation notion, translation equivalence from different approaches in brief and Mona Baker (1992) theory in particular that was chosen to be the theoretical and analytical base for the study Another theoretical revision was given to literary translation, with a stressed focus on poetic translation Subsequently, the procedure to collect and analyze the data was established to answer the research questions Upon the analysis of data, some important findings are categorized into types of non-equivalence at word level, above word level, grammatical level, with their rate of prevalence; strategies in response with nonequivalence at and above word levels; and obstacles faced by the translator Grammatical nonequivalence (GNE) is discovered to be the most popular one; the second runner-up is at-word-level, followed by the above word group The following table reviews more detailed results from the statistics done in the study: Type of equivalence non- % of poems total Number of % poems of examples total No of total examples GNE in 42 Number 46.7% 14 tense and aspect 56.7% 17 Person 10% Voice >28% 90 At-word-level 26 26 culture-specific 19.2% 15.38% TL lacks a hyponym 19.2% SL and TL words 30.8% difference in form 15.38% Above word level 10 concept SL concepts are not lexicalized in TL make distinction in meaning Differences 10 in 50 % no 30 % TL 20% collocation patterns FIEX has equivalent in TL FIEX has equivalent, but different usage It should be understood that for the grammatical level, one poem may contain more than one example, belonging to more than one subgroup in this level ( pair 1, e.g, may contain both difference in person and voice) For the other two levels, each pair of poem represent one poem, which is the reason for the similarity between the columns of number of poems and number of examples The bold numbers clearly show that non-equivalence at the level of grammar takes the position of highest popularity amongst the three found groups Different strategies were found to deal with nonequivalence: by a more general word, by a more neutral/less expressive word, and by cultural substitution (at word 91 level), and by paraphrase, from sentence into sentence; by paraphrase, from phrase into phrase/ sentence, and by omissions (above word level) Aileen Palmer‘s efforts to transferring values of Prison Diary were challenged by linguistic reasons ( due to differences in syntactic structure and lexical meaning) and literary specularities (economy of words – diverse content expressed by carefully-required number of words; flow and rhythm – with the position of marked and unmarked rhyme in each verse; and rhyming – the sameness of rhyme within each poem) One of limitations of the study is an absence of comparison between different theories on equivalence to see which one is better The study, instead, simply presented relevant theories necessary to discuss and analyze the data and on which the reader find a base to follow The thesis could have been better if in the analysis of data, the writer created some instruments to justify that the conclusion drawn from data analysis is more objective Another shortcoming of the thesis is it is not well balanced with some parts proportionately longer or shorter than others are Though the review of relevant theories is in great detail, not much has been applied corresponding in the analysis of the study due to time limit and thesis scope To be honest, in the analysis of non-equivalence at the level of collocation and fixed phrases, there should be more referent writings on differences between English and Vietnamese collocation and on concepts of singularity and plurality in Vietnamese in order that selecting and discussing such from the two corpora are made easier Additionally, given the fact that the data are found in poems, it may be an insufficiency to skip analysis and comparison between textual and pragmatic nonequivalence Implications and applications The study‘s investigation and findings reveals a number of considerations for translators It is necessary that he/she has a good command of linguistic knowledge 92 that they are working with, say, the grammatical and lexical categories in those languages, to make the translation as correct as possible Also, they have to be aware of numerous differences in different aspects/levels between the two in terms of both language and culture so as to produce possibly the most natural version of translation to the target reader Lastly, a good understanding of literature would help a literary translator to perform best in their job Those knowledge and awareness are certainly affect their choice of words and their translation style The study is honestly a small piece of study with inevitable mistakes and limitations; nevertheless, its findings can be applied to those who are interested in learning about Prison Diary, to teachers, students, and translators as a channel for references More importantly, the findings can be useful to some degree to researchers who wish to conduct an evaluation on the translation of Prison Diary Suggestions for further studies Prison Diary is like a gulf of ideas, values for literary and translational studies Further studies can be conducted to investigate the following topics: - equivalence on other poems - evaluation of the translated Prison Diary - translation equivalence from another approach, namely quantitative equivalence, meaning-based equivalence, and function-based equivalence - translation methods and procedures in translating Prison Diary into English To conclude, this small piece of study is only the author‘s very first effort to conduct a research in linguistics in general and in translation studies in particular; however, it is hoped to provide some findings on the translation equivalence and non-equivalence for teachers, learners, and translators and those taking great interest in poetic translation Due to limited time and research skills, shortcomings are unavoidable and the author expects to receive constructive comments and suggestions 93 REFERENCES BOOKS Baker, M (1992) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation London and New York: Routledege Bell, R.T (1991) Translation and translating: Theory and practice London: Longman Bush, P (1998) Literary Translation In: M Baker, (Ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, London: Routledge, pp 127-130 Catford, J.C (1965) .A Linguistic Theory of Translation London: Oxford University Press Hatim, B & Mason, I (1990) Discourse and the Translator Language in Social Life Series London: Longman Group Jakobson, R (1959/2000) On linguistics aspects of translation In Venuti, L (Ed.) (2000) The Translation Studies Reader London and New York: Routledge, pp 113-118 Koller, W (1979) Equivalence in Translation Theory In Chesterman, A (Ed.) (1989) Reading in translation theory Lambert, J (1998) Literary Translation In: M Baker, (Ed.) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies London: Routledge, pp 130-134 Landers, C.E (2001) Topics in Translation Literary Translation: A Practical Guide Cromwell Press Ltd 10 Landers, Clifford E (2001) Literary Translation: A practical Guide New Jersey University Press: Multilingual Maters 94 11 Larson, Mildred L (1984) Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross- Language Equivalence Lanham and New York: University Press of America, Inc 12 Malone, J.L (1988) The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translation Albany: State University of New York Press 13 Munday, J (2011) Introducting Translation Studies- Theories and Applications Routledge 14 Nair, S.K (1991) Translating Poetry: Some Basic Problems” International Journal of Translation 15 Newmark, P (1980), Approaches to Translation Oxford: Pergamon Press 16 Newmark, P (1988) A Textbook of Translation New York and London Prentice- Hall 17 Nida, E.A and C R Taber (1969) The Theory and Practice of Translation Leiden: E.J Brill 18 Richards, J C & et al (1992) Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics UK: Longman 19 Savory, T (1968) The Art of Translation London: Cape 20 Sánchez, M.T (2009) The Problems of Literary Translation: A Study of the Theory and Practice of Translation from English into Spanish Peter Lang 21 Tran, Xuan Truong (2011) An Investigation into Metonymy Denoting Humans in English and Vietnamese Poetry M.A Thesis 22 Vanessa, L (2000) The Role of Pedagogical Translation in Second Language Acquisition: From Theory to Practice Peter Lang International Academic Publisher 23 Wilss, Wolfram (1982) The Science of Translation Tubingen: Narr 95 ARTICLES Le, Hung Tien (2010) Tƣơng đƣơng dịch thuật tƣơng đƣơng dịch Anh-Việt Tạp chí Khoa học ĐHQGHN, Ngoại ngữ 26, 141-150 Vanessa, L Equivalence in Translation: Between Myth and Reality Retrieved 19th May, 2014 from http://translationjournal.net/journal/14equiv.htm Li, N (2008) The Contrast of Chinese and English in the Translation of Chinese Poetry Asian Social Science, (12), 105-111 Yinhua, X (2011) Equivalence in Translation: Features and Necessity International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, (10), 169-170 http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/article-rhyme-schemes http://literary-devices.com/content/rhyme-scheme Thanh, Do Ngoc Dậy học làm thơ : Tại ta cần đọc thơ làm thơ? Retrieved 4th August, 2015 from http://www.getvl.com/?php=product&cat=238#.Vhx5fyOZbk4 http://www.poetry.org/termsin.htm THESIS Pham, Thanh Binh (2010) Strategies to deal with non-equivalence at word level in translation (Published master thesis) Qiu, X (2012) Translating classical Chinese Poetry into English: Challenges and A possible solution - A Case Study of Translating Lipo's Grievance on Jaded Steps (Published master thesis) Retrieved 23rd https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/qiu_xuelai_201205_ma.pdf 96 May, 2015 from APPENDICES Pair of poems Target text poems (English) Source text poems (Vietnamese) Đường khó Hard Is the Road of Life Đi khắp đèo cao, khắp núi cao, Ngờ đâu đƣờng phẳng lại lao đao! Núi cao gặp hổ mà vô sự, Đƣờng phẳng gặp ngƣời bị tống lao?! Having climbed over steep mountains and high peaks How should I expect on the plains to meet greater danger? In the mountains, I met the tiger and came out unscathed: On the plains, I encountered men, and was thrown into prison Người bạn tù thổi sáo The Flute of the Fellow-Prisoner Bỗng nghe ngục sáo vi vu Khúc nhạc tình quê chuyển điệu sầu; Muôn dặm quan hà nỗi, Lên lầu, ngóng trơng Suddenly a flute sounds a nostalgic note; Sadly the music rises, its tune is close to sobbing: Over a thousand miles, across mountains and rivers, Journey's an aching grief We seem to see a woman Climbing a far off tower to watch for someone's return Ngắm trăng Moonlight Trong tù không rƣợu khơng hoa Cảnh đẹp đêm nay, khó hững hờ Ngƣời ngắm trăng soi ngồi cửa sổ, Trăng nhịm khe cửa ngắm nhà thơ For prisoners, there is no alcohol nor flowers, But the night is so lovely, how can we celebrate it? I go to the air-hole and stare up at the moon, And through the air-hole the moon smiles at the poet Trên đường On the Road I Mặc dù bị trói chân tay Chim ca rộn núi, hƣơng bay ngát rừng Vui say, cấm ta đừng Đƣờng xa âu bớt chừng quạnh hiu Although they have tightly bound my arms and legs, All over the mountain I hear the songs of birds, And the forest is filled with the perfume of spring-flowers Who can prevent me from freely enjoying these Which take from the long journey a little of its loneliness? Đi đường Đi đƣờng biết gian lao, Núi cao lại núi cao trập trùng; Núi cao lên đến tận cùng, Thu vào tầm mắt muôn trùng nƣớc non On the road Only when out on the road can we take stock of our dangers After we climb one mountain, another looms into views; But, once we have struggled up to the top of the mountain range, More than ten thousand li can be surveyed at a glance Trên đường tới Ung Ninh On the Way to Nanning Hôm xiềng sắt thay dây trói, Mỗi bƣớc leng keng tiếng ngọc rung, Tuy bị tình nghi gián điệp Mà nhƣ khanh tƣớng vẻ ung dung The supple rope has now been replaced with iron fetters At every step they jingle as though I wore jade rings In spite of being a prisoner, accused of being a spy, I move with all the dignity of an ancient government official! Đêm không ngủ Sleepless Nights Năm canh thao thức không nằm, Thờ tù ta viết trăm Xong bài, gác bút nghỉ ngơi, Nhịm qua cửa ngục ngóng trời tự Through the endless nights, when sleep refuses to come, I write more than a hundred poems on prison life At the end of each quatrain, I put down my brush And through the prison bars look up at the free sky II Tự khuyên Advice to oneself Ví khơng có cảnh đơng tàn, Thì đâu có cảnh huy hồng ngày xn; Nghĩ bƣớc gian truân, Tai ƣơng rèn luyện tinh thần thêm hăng Without the cold and desolation of winter There could not be the warmth and splendour of spring Calamity has tempered and hardened me, An turned my mind into steel Trời hửng Fine weather Sự vật vần xoay đà định sẵn, Hết mƣa nắng hửng lên thôi; Đất trời thống thu ƣớt, Sơng núi mn trùng trải gấm phơi; Trời ấm, hoa cƣời chào gió nhẹ, Cây cao, chim hót rộn cành tƣơi; Ngƣời vạn vật phơi phới, Hết khổ vui vốn lẽ đời Everything evolves, it is the cycle of nature; Ater the rainy days, the fine weather comes In an instant, the whole world shakes off its damp clothes Thousands of li of mountains unfurl their brocade carpet Under the warm sun and the clean wind, the flowers smile In the big trees with branches washed clean, the birds make chorus Warmth fils the hear of man, and life reakakens Bitterness now makes way for happiness, This is how nature wills it Đêm thu Autumn Night 10 Trƣớc cửa lính canh bồng súng đứng, Trên trời trăng lƣớt mây; Rệp bò ngang dọc nhƣ thiết giáp, Muỗi lƣợn hăng tựa máy bay; Nghìn dặm bâng khuâng hồn nƣớc cũ, Muôn tơ vƣơng vấn mộng sầu nay; Ở tù năm trọn thân vơ tội, Hịa lệ thành thơ tả nỗi 11 In front of the gate, the guard stands with his rifle Above, untidy clouds are carryinging away the moon The bed-bugs are swarming round like army-tanks on manoeuvres While the mosquitoes form squadrons, attacking like fighter-planes My heart travels a thousand li towards my native land My dream inverwines with sadness like a skein of a thousand threads Innoncent, I have now endured a whole year in prison Using my tears for ink, I turn my thoughts into verses Đêm lạnh Cold night Đêm thu không đệm khơng chăn, Gối quắp, lƣng cịng, ngủ chẳng an; In the cold autumn night, without III 12 Khóm chuối trăng soi thấy lạnh, mattress, without blankets, Nhòm song, Bắc Đẩu nằm ngang Lying with back curled round and legs folded up close, I try in vain to sleep The moonlight on the plantains Increases the sense of cold, and through the window-bars The Great Bear draws up alongside and looks in Chăn giấy người bạn tù The Paper blanket of a jail mate Quyển xƣa, sách bồi thêm ấm, Chăn giấy cịn chẳng có chăn; Trƣớng gấm, giƣờng ngà, có biết, Pages of old books and new ones glued together! Trong tù bao kẻ ngủ không an? A blanket made out of paper is better than nothing at all You people who sleep in jade beds with brocade curtains, Do you know in the fials there are many who cannot sleep? 13 Nắng sớm Morning sunshine 14 15 Nắng sớm xuyên qua nơi ngục thất, Đốt tan khói đặc với sƣơng dày; The moring sunshine penetrates into the Đất trời phút chốc tràn sinh khí, prison, Sweeping away the smoke and burning Tù phạm cƣời tƣơi nở mặt mày away the mist The breath of life fills the whole universe, And smiles light up the faces of all the prisoners Thân thể lao, Tinh thần lao; The body is in prison Muốn nên nghiệp lớn, The mind escapes outside Tinh thần phải cao To bring about great things The mind must be large and well-tempred Cảnh buổi sớm Morning scence Đầu non sớm sớm vầng dƣơng mọc Khắp núi nơi nơi rực ánh hồng Chỉ trƣớc lao cịn bóng tối Mặt trời chƣa rọi thấu vào IV In the morning, the sun climbs over the mountain peaks And bathes the mountainside in a rosy glow Only in front of the prison dark shadow remains And the way of the sun is barred from the prison-cell First page of the diary 16 Ngâm thơ ta vốn khơng ham, Nhƣng ngục biết làm chi đây; Ngày dài ngâm đợi cho khuây, Vừa ngâm vừa đợi đến ngày tự 17 But now in prison what else have I to do? These captive days I‘ll spend in writing poems, And, singing these, bring nearer the day of freedom Pastoral scene Dã cảnh When I came here, rice-plants were tender green Now autumn has come, and the harvest is half done Everywhere smiles are shining on peasants‘ faces And song and laughter are heard across the rice fields Alert in Vietnam Tới lúa gái, Gặt hái hôm nửa rồi; Khắp chốn nông dân cƣời hớn hở, Đồng quê vang dậy tiếng ca vui 18 Việt Nam có bạo động Thà chết chẳng cam nô lệ mãi, Tung bay cờ nghĩa khắp trăm miền; Xót giam hãm tù ngục, Chƣa đƣợc xông trận tiền 19 Mƣa lâu Một ngày hửng nắng, chín ngày mƣa Trời thật vơ tình,đáng giận chƣa! Giày rách, đƣờng lầy, chân lấm láp, Vẫn dấn bƣớc dặm đƣờng xa 20 Tiếc ngày Trời xanh cố ý hãm anh hùng, Tám tháng hao mịn với xích gơng, Tấc bóng nghìn vàng đà đáng tiếc, Ngày thoát khỏi chốn lao lung Reciting verses has not been one of my habits, Better death than slavery! Everywhere in my country The red flags are fluttering again Oh, what it is to be a prisoner at such a time! When shall I be set free, to take my part in the battle? Endless rain Nine days of ceaseless rain for one day of fine weather! Really the sky above must be a pitiless thing My shoes are in pieces, the muddy road soils my feet, But however it is done I have to keep on moving Regrets for time lost The blue sky purpose shines out to tease me, Eight months now I have lost in the grip of the fetters, And a day seems worth a thousand taels of gold When shall I ever again enjoy days of freedom? V 21 Thu cảm Autumn Impression Bắc đẩu mƣời ngang đỉnh núi, Dế kêu khoan nhật đón mừng thu; Thân tù đâu thiết thu sang chửa, Chỉ nghĩ hôm mở cửa tù At about ten o‘clock, the Great Bear tops the mountain The criket‘s song, rising and fading, announces autumn What does the prisoner care for the changing seasons? Only one change he dreams of his liberation Last year at the beginning of autumn I was free This year, autumn finds me in the depths of a prison This autumn has been just as productive as the last A milestone Neither high, nor very far Neither emperor, nor king, You are only a little milestone, Which stands at the edge off the highway To people passing by You point the right direction, And stop them from getting lost You tell them of the distance For which they still must journey, Your service is not a small one, And people will always remember you My cane, stolen by the warder All your life with me, you have been upright and strong Together we have passed through seasons of snow and mist Cursed be the thief who has separated us! And will it ever be over, the sorrow he caused us both? Năm ngoái đầu thu tự do, Năm thu đến tù Đã giúp ích cho dân tộc, Thu trƣớc, thu há 22 Cột số 23 Chẳng cao chẳng xa, Không đế không vƣơng, Một phiến đá nho nhỏ, Đứng sừng sững bên đƣờng Ngƣời nhờ anh lối, Đi hƣớng, phƣơng; Anh cho ngƣời biết Nào dặm ngắn dặm trƣờng; Mọi ngƣời nhớ anh mãi, Công anh thƣờng Lính ngục đánh cắp gậy Suốt đời thẳng lại kiên cƣờng, Dìu dắt tuyết sƣơng Giận kẻ bất lƣơng gây cách biệt, Hai ta đằng đặc nỗi buồn thƣơng 24 Không ngủ Một canh…Hai canh… Lại ba canh, Trằn trọc, băn khoăn giấc chẳng thành Canh bốn, canh năm vừa chợp mắt, Sao vàng năm cánh mộng hồn quanh 25 Nhớ bạn A sleepless night The first watch passes…the second watch … the third watch… I toss about, and fidget, and no sleep comes The fourth… fifth watch! No sooner my eyes have closed Then the five-pointed star twinkles in my dreams Thinking of a friend That day, you came with me to the edge of the river ―When will you come back?‖ you asked, ― Ngày đi, bạn tiễn đến bên sông, Hẹn bạn lúa đỏ đồng; VI 26 Nay gặt xong, cày khắp, Quê ngƣời, chốn lao lung! When the new crop ripens.‖ I told you But now that crop has long been harvested, And still I linger, a prisoner in a strange land Buổi sớm Morning Every morning, the sun, emerging over the wall, Darts its rays against the gate, but the gate remains locked Inside the prison, the ward is shrouded in darkness, But we know outside the rising sun has shone Đầu tƣờng sớm sớm vầng dƣơng mọc, Chiếu cửa nhà lao, cửa cài; Trong ngục tối mịt, Ánh hồng trƣớc mặt bừng soi Sớm dậy ngƣời ngƣời đua bắt rận Tám giờ, cơm sáng kẻng vang rồi; Khuyên anh gắng ăn no bụng Khổ đến lúc vui 27 28 Buổi trưa Once awake, everyone starts on the hunt for lice At eight o‘clock the gong sounds for the morning meal, Come on! Let‘s go and eat to our heart‘s content For all we have suffered, there must be good times coming Noon Trong tù khoan khoái giấc ban trƣa, Một giấc miên man suốt giờ; Mơ thấy cƣỡi rồng lên thƣợng giới, Tỉnh ngục nằm trơ In the cell, how lovely it is to have a siesta! Four hours we are carried away in a sound sleep I dream of riding a dragon up into heaven… Waking, I‘m brought abruptly back into prison Qúa trưa Afternoon Hai ngục mở thông hơi, Tù nhân ngẩng mặt ngắm trời tự do; Tự tiên khách trời Biết ngục có ngƣời khách tiên Two o‘clock, the cell door opens to let fresh air in Everyone raises his head for a look at the sky Free spirits haunting the sky of liberty, Do you know your own kind are languishing in prison.? Stumbling 29 Trượt ngã Còn tối nhƣ bƣng phải đi, Đƣờng khúc khuỷu lại gồ ghề, Trƣợt chân nhỡ bƣớc sa vào hố, May nhảy ngoài, nguy! Still darkness covers the earth, but we are forced to set out: The road is tortuous, as well as rugged and hard Stumbling I find I have landed into a VII 30 Giữa đường, đáp thuyền huyện Ung Ninh Đáp thuyền thẳng xuống huyện Ung Ninh, Lủng lẳng chân treo tựa giảo hình Làng xóm ven sơng đơng đúc thế, Thuyền câu rẽ sóng nhẹ lênh thênh VIII dangerous pi That was quite a near thing, but with luck I can jump out On a boat for Nanning Carried along by the current, the boat glides towards Nanning Our legs are tied to the roof, as though we were on the gallows Along both banks of the river are lively, properous villages The boats of the fishermen glide swiftly in mid-stream