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 POSTGRADUATE 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 POSTGRADUATE 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 SCOPE OF THE STUDY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 5.1 Research questions and concepts 5.2 Research approach (Theoretical framework) 5.3 Research methods (analytical framework) DESIGN OF THE STUDY PART B : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER : LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1.TRANSLATION THEORY 1.1.1 Definition of translation 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 grammatical nonequivalence GNE 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 th conducting this study is because of the fact that the year 2015 is the 125 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: 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 19 May, 2014 from http://translationjournal.net/journal/14equiv.htm th 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? th Retrieved 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 rd (Published master thesis) Retrieved 23 May, 2015 from https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/qiu_xuelai_201205_ma.pdf 96 APPENDICES Pair of Source text poems poems Đường khó Đi khắp đèo cao, khắp Ngờ đâu đƣờng phẳng Núi cao gặp hổ mà vô s Đƣờng phẳng gặp ngƣ Người bạn tù thổi sáo Bỗng nghe ngục s Khúc nhạc tình q chu Mn dặm quan hà khơ Lên lầu, ngóng trơ Ngắm trăng Trong tù khơng rƣợu cũ Cảnh đẹp đêm nay, khó Ngƣời ngắm trăng soi n Trăng nhòm khe cửa ng Trên đường I Mặc dù bị trói chân tay Chim ca rộn núi, hƣơng bay ngát Vui say, cấm ta đừng Đƣờng xa âu bớt chừng quạ 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 nƣớ Trên đường tới Ung Ninh Hôm xiềng sắt thay dây trói, Mỗi bƣớc leng keng tiếng ngọc ru Tuy bị tình nghi gián điệp Mà nhƣ khanh tƣớng vẻ ung dun Đêm không ngủ Năm canh thao thức không nằm, Thờ tù ta viết trăm Xong bài, gác bút nghỉ ngơi, Nhòm qua cửa ngục ngóng trời tự Tự khun Ví khơng có cảnh đơng tàn, Thì đâu có cảnh huy hồng ngày x Nghĩ bƣớc gian truân, Tai ƣơng rèn luyện tinh thần thêm Trời hửng Sự vật vần xoay đà định sẵn, Hết mƣa nắng hửng lên thơi; Đất trời thống thu ƣớt, Sơng núi muôn trùng trải gấm phơ Trời ấm, hoa cƣời chào gió nhẹ, Cây cao, chim hót rộn cành tƣơi; Ngƣời vạn vật phơi phớ Hết khổ vui vốn lẽ đời 10 Đêm thu Trƣớc cửa lính canh bồng súng đứ Trên trời trăng lƣớt mây; Rệp bò ngang dọc nhƣ thiết giáp, Muỗi lƣợn hăng tựa máy ba Nghìn dặm bâng khuâng hồn nƣớ Muôn tơ vƣơng vấn mộng sầu na Ở tù năm trọn thân vơ tội, Hịa lệ thành thơ tả nỗi 11 Đêm lạnh Đêm thu không đệm khô Gối quắp, lƣng cịng, ngủ chẳn III Khóm chuối trăng soi thấ Nhòm song, Bắc Đẩu nằm nga 12 Chăn giấy người bạn tù Quyển xƣa, sách bồi thêm Chăn Trƣớng gấm, giƣờng Trong tù bao kẻ ngủ không an? 13 Nắng sớm Nắng sớm xuyên qua nơi ngục Đốt Đất Tù phạm cƣời tƣơi nở mặt mày 14 Thân Tinh Muốn Tinh thần phải cao 15 Cảnh buổi sớm Đầu non sớm sớm vầng dƣơng Khắp Chỉ Mặt trời chƣa rọi thấu vào 16 Ngâm thơ ta vốn khơng ham, Nhƣng ngục biết làm chi Ngày dài ngâm đợi cho khuây, Vừa ngâm vừa đợi đến ngày tự 17 Dã cảnh 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 nơ lệ mãi, Tung bay cờ nghĩa khắp trăm miề Xót giam hãm tù ngục Chƣa đƣợc xơng trận tiền 19 Mƣa lâu Một ngày hửng nắng, chín ngày m Trời thật vơ tình,đáng giận chƣa! Giày rách, đƣờng lầy, chân lấm 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 21 Thu cảm Bắc đẩu mƣời ngang đỉnh núi Dế kêu khoan nhật đón mừng thu Thân tù đâu thiết thu sang chửa, Chỉ nghĩ hơm mở cửa tù Năm ngối 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, Mộ 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, Cơng anh thƣờng Lính ngục đánh cắp gậy Suốt đời thẳng lại kiên cƣờn 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 can Trằn trọc, băn khoăn giấc chẳng t Canh bốn, canh năm vừa chợp mắ Sao vàng năm cánh mộng hồn qua 25 Nhớ bạn Ngày đi, bạn tiễn đến bên sông, Hẹn bạn lúa đỏ đồng; VI Nay gặt xong, cày khắp, Quê ngƣời, chốn lao lung! 26 Buổi sớm Đầu tƣờng sớm sớm vầng dƣơng 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 anh gắng ăn no bụng Khổ đến lúc vui 27 Buổi trưa Trong tù khoan khoái giấc ban trƣ Một giấc miên man suốt giờ; Mơ thấy cƣỡi rồng lên thƣợng gi Tỉnh ngục nằm trơ 28 Qúa trưa Hai ngục mở thông hơi, Tù nhân ngẩng mặt ngắm trời tự d Tự tiên khách trời Biết ngục có ngƣời k 29 Trượt ngã Cịn tối nhƣ bƣng phải đi, Đƣờng khúc khuỷu lại gồ ghề, Trƣợt chân nhỡ bƣớc sa vào hố, May nhảy ngoài, nguy VII 30 Giữa đường, đáp thuyền huy Ninh Đáp thuyền thẳng xuống huyện U Lủng lẳng chân treo tựa giảo hình Làng xóm ven sơng đơng đúc thế, Thuyền câu rẽ sóng nhẹ lênh thên VIII ... definition of translation and translation studies - definition of literary translation in general and poem translation in particular and its typical features - translation equivalence in general and. .. original A translation should read as a contemporary of the original A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation A translation may add to or omit from the original 10 A translation. .. 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