A translation quality assessment of the vietnamese version of the nover the notebook by petal lê (2010) using peter newmarks model

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  BÙI THỊ MAI ANH A TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE VIETNAMESE VERSION OF THE NOVEL THE NOTEBOOK BY PETAL LÊ (2010) USING PETER NEWMARK’S MODEL (Đánh giá chất lượng dịch tiếng Việt tiểu thuyết Nhật ký (2010) Petal Lê dịch theo mơ hình Peter Newmark) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.02.01 HANOI, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  BÙI THỊ MAI ANH A TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE VIETNAMESE VERSION OF THE NOVEL THE NOTEBOOK BY PETAL LÊ (2010) USING PETER NEWMARK’S MODEL (Đánh giá chất lượng dịch tiếng Việt tiểu thuyết Nhật ký (2010) Petal Lê dịch theo mơ hình Peter Newmark) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.02.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến HANOI, 2014 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby state that the thesis entitled “A translation quality assessment of the Vietnamese version of the novel The Notebook by Petal Lê (2010) using Peter Newmark’s model” is the result of my research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and the thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution Hanoi, 2014 Student Bùi Thị Mai Anh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been completed without the support of many people, to whom I am profoundly grateful First and foremost, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến, my supervisor, for his invaluable advice, fervent guidance and enthusiastic support during all the stages of this research Without his advice and indefatigable perseverance, I would not have been able to complete this paper Besides, I want to show my appreciation to my mother and my husband whose encouragement represents the best inspiration I have ever had Their energy and enthusiasm always help me move forward, over tiredness and boredom when everything seems to be in the middle of nowhere This experience would never have been my satisfaction, at least for now, without my friends and colleagues who gave me helpful advice, suggestions and encouragement during my exhaustion ii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the translation quality assessment of the Vietnamese version of the novel The Notebook translated by Petal Lê The Introduction states the rationale for the study as well as establishes the objectives, scope and methods of the study The main part of the thesis starts with the theoretical background which presents issues relevant to the study comprising translation, translation methods, translation equivalence and translation quality assessment After all the theories have been introduced, the researcher evaluates the Vietnamese version of the book using Peter Newmark‟s model The five-step model has been followed strictly with the emphasis on step 3, also known as the heart of the critique In the last part of the study, the critic summaries what she has gained after assessing the translation in order to answer the research questions set in the first part Suggestions for further studies are also offered iii ABBREVIATIONS SL: Source Language TL: Target Language ST: Source Text TT: Target Text iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii ABBREVIATIONS iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Objectives of the study Scope and method of the study 3.1 Scope of the study 3.2 Method of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Theoretical Background 1.1 Translation Theory 1.1.1 Definition of Translation 1.1.2 Translation Methods 1.1.3 Translation Equivalence 1.1.3.1 Definition 1.1.3.2 Types of Equivalence 1.2 Translation Quality Assessment 1.2.1 Definition 1.2.2 Translation Quality Assessment Models 1.2.2.1 Juliane House‟s Model 1.2.2.2 Peter Newmark‟s Model Evaluation of the Translation basing on Newmark’s Model 12 2.1 A brief analysis of the source language text 12 2.1.1 The author‟s purpose 12 2.1.2 Characteristic of the readership 12 2.1.3 The topic 12 2.2 The translator‟s interpretation 13 2.2.1 Omission of original text 13 2.2.2 The translator‟s method 16 2.2.3 The translation‟s likely readership 16 2.3 Comparison of the translation with the original 17 v 2.3.1 The title 17 2.3.2 The structure 18 2.3.2.1 Simple sentences vs Compound sentences 18 2.3.2.2 Active vs Passive voice 19 2.3.2.3 Order of clauses 24 2.3.2.4 Use of antonym 24 2.3.2.5 Change of subject 24 2.3.3 Proper names 25 2.3.3.1 People‟s names 25 2.3.3.2 Geographical names 26 2.3.3.3 Other names 27 2.3.4 Hierarchical pronouns as a cultural feature 28 2.3.5 Borrowed words 29 2.3.6 Puns 31 2.3.7 Some minor issues 32 2.3.7.1 Spelling mistakes 32 2.3.7.2 Mistranslation 32 2.3.7.3 Sentences that sound unnatural in the target language 34 2.4 An evaluation of the translation 35 2.5 Potential importance of the work within the target language culture .36 PART C: CONCLUSION 38 Concluding remarks 38 Suggestions for further studies 39 REFERENCES 40 vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study As the acclaimed translator Edith Grossman writes in the Preface of her book Why Translation Matters (2010), translation has a transcendent significance: “Translation not only plays its important traditional role as the means that allows us access to literature originally written in one of the countless languages we cannot read, but it also represents a concrete literary presence with the crucial capacity to ease and make more meaningful our relationships to those with whom we may not have had a connection before Translation always helps us to know, to see from a different angle, to attribute new value to what once may have been unfamiliar As nations and as individuals, we have a critical need for that kind of understanding and insight The alternative is unthinkable.” Literary translation, on the top of that, is the one effective way to enhance intercultural understanding Not every one has the chance to know well even one foreign language to appreciate a literary work that they so yearn for It is translation and translators that fill the gap and open up new worlds for booklovers to explore Globalization and integration have created great opportunity for a huge amount of foreign literary works to come within reach of Vietnamese readers While booklovers always hunger for new literary works to come out, translators, at the same time, have to cope with enormous workload of translating the originals as fast as possible This makes translation a demanding and tough job that requires not only broad cultural background knowledge but also enthusiasm, professional conscience and scrupulousness However, every now and then, owing to objective and subjective reasons, the translated versions still contain mistakes of various types There are even translated works that cause translation disasters and spark off vigorous debates With thousands of literary translations published every year by hundreds of publishers in Vietnam, translation quality control seems an impossible task Besides highly appreciated and well-received translation works such as Wuthering Heights and Gone with the Wind by Dương Tường, Harry Porter series by Lý Lan, The Twilight Saga by Tịnh Thủy, there remain works of poor quality, for example, the Vietnamese version of Harry Porter and the Order of the Phoenix by Trần Thắng Minh (Văn hóa – Thơng tin Publisher, 2003), The da Vinci Code by Đỗ Thu Hà (Văn hóa – Thơng tin Publisher, 2006), The Elementary Particles by Cao Việt Dũng (Đà Nẵng Publisher, 2006), The Things They Carried by Trần Tiễn Cao Đăng (Văn học Publisher, 2011), Seal Team Six by Đoàn Châu Hoài Giang (Alphabooks Publisher, 2012) These translated versions have received a great deal of criticism since their publication due to their vocabulary, grammar, style, spelling, typing mistakes that even an ordinary reader cannot bear Therefore, this minor thesis would like to concentrate on the evaluation of one literary translation in order that readers and booklovers can have better conception and comprehension of some models of translation quality assessment initiated by notable linguists in the world such as Juliane House and Peter Newmark Since the limitation of a minor thesis, Juliane House‟s model and Peter Newmark‟s model will be introduced and Newmark‟s will be selected as the main means to evaluate the Vietnamese version of The Notebook by Petal Lê to reveal the good points and bad points of the translated texts with regards to the original In addition, the author would like to look into the outstanding equivalence types the translator has achieved in translating this popular literary work so that other translators can get some experience from him Objectives of the study The study covers the following aims:  To assess the translation quality of the translated version of the novel The Notebook in terms of the aspects discovered from theories raised by different scholars including Juliane House and Peter Newmark with Newmark‟s model as the main criteria  To suggest some implications for the translation of literary works To successfully achieve the above aims, the thesis seeks to answer the two research questions:  How good is the Vietnamese version of The Notebook according to Newmark‟s model?  What recommendations can be made from the translated version? 3.Scope and method of the study 3.1 Scope of the study The work of fiction The Notebook consists of twelve chapters in total Since this is a story of logical coherence and requires complete penetration, the researcher finds it is a good idea to evaluate the translation text on a general basis However, due to limitation of time for this study, certain emphasis on highlights of this fiction will be presented 3.2 Method of the study Since this is the study to evaluate the translated version of The Notebook by Petal Lê, a theoretical insight into some different translation quality assessment models by different linguists is necessary Peter Newmark‟s model, for its advantages in terms of applications, will be used as the major criteria for evaluating the Vietnamese version of the novel Name of Origin Orion Stars The Big Dipper Gemini The Pole Star In translating names of the stars, the translator has chosen to transfer all of them to pure Vietnamese These names, in other documents or translations, can be seen in their original spelling This way of Petal Lê‟s translation, in my opinion, is good for readers to understand 2.3.4 Hierarchical pronouns as a cultural feature One typical difference that can be clearly observed between English and Vietnamese is the personal pronoun system There are only seven personal pronouns in English which are I, you, we, they, he, she, it whereas the number of personal pronouns in Vietnamese is much more various In this novel, the translator has had to deal with this difference in the way people call each other when translating it into Vietnamese The complexity of the Vietnamese personal pronoun system makes it really hard in order to have accurate translation, otherwise, misunderstanding is inevitable The following example shows this Original version “Why did you come?” Allie finally asked Her mother raised an eyebrow “I thought I would be the one to ask that question.” Allie paled “I came because I had to,” her mother said, “which I‟m sure is the same reason you came Am I right?” Allie nodded Anne turned to Noah “These last couple of days must have been full of surprises.” “Yes,” he answered simply, and she smiled at him “I know you don‟t think so, but I always liked you, Noah I just didn‟t think you were right for my daughter Can you understand that?” He shook his head as he answered, his tone serious “No, not really It wasn‟t fair to me, and it wasn‟t fair to Allie Otherwise she wouldn‟t be here.” She watched him as he answered, but she said nothing Allie, sensing an argument, cut in: “What you mean when you say you had to come? Don‟t you trust me?” Anne turned back to her daughter “This has nothing to with trust This has to with Lon He called the house last night to talk to me about Noah, and he‟s on his way here right now He seemed very upset I thought you‟d want to know.” Allie inhaled sharply “He‟s on his way?” “As we speak He arranged to have the trial postponed until next week If he‟s not in New Bern yet, he‟s close.” In the original version, there are only personal pronouns I, you, he, she and objective pronouns me, you but in the translated version, in different position, the pronouns have been translated differently as can be seen in the table This is because Vietnamese has a very detailed system of hierarchy when addressing other people Therefore, when translating a text into Vietnamese, especially those with dialogues like this one, the translator has to be very careful and meticulous in choosing the suitable pronouns for the situation Through the illustrated example, it can be seen that the translator has fulfilled his task and made the text reasonably familiar to Vietnamese 2.3.5 Borrowed words Throughout the translated version of the novel, Petal Lê has kept some words in their original form instead of translating them into pure Vietnamese No Original version Usually Gus would bring his harmonica, and after talking for a little while, they‟d play a few songs together Fin laughed then, because he knew what was happening, and Sarah suggested they get some cherry Cokes, and the four of them stayed at the festival until the crowds were thin and everything closed up for the night She wore little makeup, just a touch of eye shadow and mascara to accent her eyes When asked, she said her erratic behavior was due to stress She carried it to the icebox and found some okra, zucchini, onions, and carrots on the bottom shelf Noah was up before the sun and dressed quickly, same jeans as last night, undershirt, clean flannel shirt, blue jacket, and boots It was Wednesday, which meant bridge at the country club, then on to the Junior Women‟s League, where they would probably be arranging another fund-raiser for the private school or hospital She passed an art gallery, almost walked by it in her preoccupation, then turned and went back “I have some bourbon in the pantry Is that okay?” 10 They are my friends, and when I push open their doors, I see rooms that look likemine,always illuminated only by the lights of Wheel of Fortune and Vanna‟s teeth 11 “Caspian stern,” I say softly, and we “Chim Caspian stern,” tơi nói khẽ, devote our attention to it and stare as it tập trung ý vào chim glides over Brices Creek Looking at the examples in the table above, we can see that the translator has used a number of original words in his translation Most of the examples shows that the words in the translated version have the same spelling as in the original, except for examples and where s is omitted In case of words such as mascara, stress, jeans, gallery which have been widely accepted and used in the target language, the readers have no problem understanding the meaning of them and the things they refer to However, in other cases, the translator seems to have made it hard for readers to understand the words In example 1, though this is a relatively common musical instrument to Vietnamese, harmonica has a different spelling and pronunciation in Vietnamese, which is kèn ácmônica Cokes, or in Vietnamese côca-côla, is in fact not popular enough for the translator to leave it unchanged in the target language The translator himself has used footnote to explain Wheel of Fortune to help readers understand the origin of the program This is considered a good solution for the words such as zucchini, flannel, bridge, bourbon, Caspian stern There may be words that not exist in the dictionary, but it is the translator‟s job to research and find definition of recently created words and help readers fully comprehend the words in the text An easy-going reader may skip the word whereas a rigorous and exacting one would like to know every word so that they can completely grasp the author‟s idea for their own imagination In short, using words in their original spelling of the source language is challenging and risky If the word is popular and widely understood in the target language, no problems arise On the other hand, when the word is only comprehended by a minority of readers, clarification and elucidation should be provided Subsequently, more readers can enjoy their favourite literary work to the most 2.3.6 Puns In the novel, the author uses pun once with the word check to make sure he wasn‟t overextending himself… Check? And his mind clicked another notch Check… checking… checking in? He looked to the ceiling Checking in? In English, to check standing alone means to investigate, to examine However, when combing with different prepositions, it has different meanings In the above example, check combining with in becomes check in which means to register as a guest at a hotel, inn, motel, etc This change of structure and meaning seems impossible to translate The translator can only choose to follow either of them, and in his translation, he has chosen to follow the meaning of the word Though the author‟s intention has not been totally conveyed, it is still the translator‟s great effort to make it easier for readers to understand 2.3.7 Some minor issues 2.3.7.1 Spelling mistakes In the translated version, there are some spelling mistakes which are supposedly due to the editorial work On pages 26 and 143, in “chân bắt tréo” and “Vắt tréo chân lại,” the word tréo has been misspelled It should be chéo according to Vietnamese spelling Name of the famous poet Walt Whitman has been misspelled into Walt Withman twice on pages 93 and 202 2.3.7.2 Mistranslation No Original version I have no complaints about my path and the places it has taken me; enough complaints to fill a circus tent about other things,… The remaining property was another story, and that was where he‟d spent most of the day … I need a break from planning the wedding 32 There was a slight tug at his line and Noah hoped for a largemouth bass,… The wedding plans were stressful to everyone involved Noah used the bread knife as a pointer After she climbed in, he pushed the canoe farther into the water, close to the dock No, I didn‟t tell your father or anyone else about it And the answer didn‟t finally come until she reached the door and opened it and saw Lon standing in the lobby 10 What are you doing? 11 She is pushing the gnomes away from her, terrified, now oblivious of my presence 12 It takes a man to that, Noah, to live with something like that And you have For forty-five years now Wonderful years 13 I gently trace the outline of her cheek,… In examples and 2, the translator has mistaken between the head noun and its complement, reversing them, consequently, digressing from the author‟s original design A break in example goes with the preposition from, nonetheless, the translator has translated it into a purpose sentence On page 23, with the same word, the translator has made a correct translation of cá vược miệng rộng, but in example 4, he has just put it cá vược to, which changes the phrase into another one Mọi in example should mean all or every in English, however, there is no such word in the original, where the phrase is simply The wedding plans 33 In example 6, used the bread knife as a pointer and dao cắt bánh (which may be translated into English as pointed at the bread knife) are two totally different actions However, through the translation of Petal Lê, they turn out to be the same! The translator has completely reversed the meaning of the phrase in example 7, where farther into the water, close to the dock unbelievably becomes lại gần phía mình! In examples 8, and 10, the translator has mistranslated the verbs, tell into nghĩ, standing into ngồi, doing into nhìn The intention of the translator here is quite questionable In example 11, it seems that the translator has mistaken oblivious for obvious, thus has conveyed the meaning of the sentence in the wrong way Forty-five in example 12 has been sarcastically translated into bốn mươi! It is wondered whether the translator had been in such a hurry or he had wanted to shorten the life of a person? Example 13 is another case of mistaking words that look similar Cheek and chin are two different parts of the human body; however, the translator might have thought that they are one! To cut a long story short, though these are only minor mistakes of words and phrases, they must not be ignored The translator should have been more precise and meticulous in doing his job Limited time provided for the translation should not always be the excuse for this type of mistranslation 2.3.7.3 Sentences theat sound unnatural in the target language Despite his tremendous effort in translating the whole novel, the professional translator has generated some sentences that sound ludicrous and enigmatic in the target language No Original version His father seemed weak as he walked around, coughing and wheezing She hadn‟t planned on speaking to him until later,… If she could, my wife would accompany me on my evening excursions, for one of her many loves was poetry In this I am a failure In example 1, khò khè thở sounds a bit uncommon in Vietnamese It is not known if the translator has any intention here, but usually, people say thở khò khè The translator has sticked to every word in example 2, translating them with their most common meaning, which makes this sentence sound atypical in the target language Normally, people not use the word kế hoạch together with such word as nói chuyện Instead, we may use có dự định / có ý định / định The definition of love in Vietnamese is exactly tình yêu, but as can be seen from the context of the sentence, love here somehow is similar to fondness, passion or affection And here, love is used in its plural form, therefore, it is advised that the translator turn it into niềm đam mê / điều bà yêu thích A personal subject cannot be compared to a thing or event subject Vietnamese not say such sentence as in example They would rather replace with kẻ, for example, in this situation Briefly, though the translator seems to have tried his best, there are phrases and sentences that he might not have expressed smoothly in the target language Revision is needed in order to have a better quality translation 2.4 An evaluation of the translation In this step, Newmark (1988:188) proposes that we assess the referential and pragmatic accuracy of the translation by the translator‟s standards If the translation is not a clear version of the original, we consider first whether these essential „invariant‟ element of the text which consists usually (not always) of its facts or its ideas is adequately represented Peter Newmark (1988:170) also observes that from a translator‟s point of view, the short story is, of literary forms, the second most difficult, but here he is released from the obvious constraints of poetry – metre and rhyme – whilst the varieties of sound-effect are likely to play a minor role Further, since the line is no longer a unit of meaning, he can spread himself a little – his version is likely to be somewhat longer than the original though, always, the shorter the better He can supply cultural glosses within the text – not, as in poetry or drama, delete or banish them to some note or glossary […] There is no advantage in making generalisations about the translation of serious novels The obvious problems: the relative importance of the SL culture and the author‟s moral purpose to the reader – it may be exemplified in the translation of proper names; of the SL conventions and the author‟s idiolect; the translation of dialect; the distinction between personal style, literary convention of period and/or movement; and the norms of the SL – these problems have to be settled for each text 35 The translator of the novel The Notebook, as pointed out above, has chosen semantic translation method as his main method; therefore, the referential and pragmatic accuracy should be viewed as both denotative and connotative accuracy, with focus on the sentencelevel meaning accuracy From that point of view, the critic would like to make the following evaluations for the translation Firstly, it is quite a clear version of the original in that most sentences have been translated with accurate meaning The structure of the sentences have been translated well The translator have proven his flexibility and competence in translating the whole literary work of approximately fifty thousand words except for the commented changes in simple sentences vs compound sentences, active and passive voices, order of phrases, use of antonyms and change of subject listed above The translation of proper names as well as the hierarchical pronouns have been quite appropriate However, the translation of some borrowed words has not been truly satisfactory Furthermore, there are spelling mistakes and mistranslations of words and phrases that are presumably due to limit of time for the workload Last but not least, in spite of his enormous effort in translating the whole novel, the professional translator has generated some sentences that sound ludicrous and absurd in the target language The other point, suggested by Newmark, is to find out whether the translator has omitted any section of the original text and whether it affects the message that the author wishes to express The finding from the translation is that, the translator has unintentionally or deliberately left out quite many words, phrases and even sentences In some cases, the omission of the words or phrases has no significant impact on the general meaning of the sentences or paragraphs However, it seems insupportable in other cases not translating the whole sentences, which affects the sequence of understanding of readers who only have chance to touch the Vietnamese version of the novel For the most part, the translator has fulfilled his task and produced an acceptable and enjoyable Vietnamese version of the prevalent novel Mistakes during the translating process are unavoidable, and the pointed out shortcoming should be reviewed in order to have a better edition in the future 2.5 Potential importance of the work within the target language culture In this last step, especially in the case of a novel like The Notebook, it is necessary to assess the work‟s potential importance within the target language culture by seeking answers to such questions as Was it in fact worth translating? What kind of influence will it have on the language, the literature, the ideas in its new milieu? (Newmark, 1988:189) 36 Concerning the first question, the answer surely is yes As mentioned above, the original version is a bestseller by a worldwide famous author His fans as well as booklovers all over the world would love to read this one popular literary work in their own language which is not always English Therefore, the translation of this novel into Vietnamese is certainly indispensable Thanks to the translated version of the novel, fans of Nicholas Sparks in Vietnam and fans of romantic love stories have the chance to enjoy another great classical work For the second question, a well-written literary work and its well-translated version would be an invaluable contribution to the literature of both the source language and the target language If The Notebook, shining with a beauty that is rarely found in current literature, establishes Nicholas Sparks as a classic storyteller with a unique insight into the only emotion that really matters, its Vietnamese version of fairly good quality is a valuable addition to the literature and cultural hoard of Vietnam To conclude, the novel and its Vietnamese version are both appreciated and wellreceived The novel itself is a masterpiece of love story genre, and its translated version in Vietnamese would be a perfect one once all the deficiencies are remedied 37 PART C: CONCLUSION Concluding remarks After applying Newmark‟s model to evaluate the translation, the researcher is now capable of coming up with answers to the two research questions posed in the first part of this thesis With regard to the first question, “How good is the Vietnamese version of The Notebook according to Newmark‟s model?”, it can be said that the Vietnamese version of the novel is of good quality Generally speaking, the translated version has conveyed fairly well the author‟s idea using brief and succinct target language of an experienced translator with semantic translation method as the main method In terms of syntax, it has successfully transferred some English sentence structures into Vietnamese structures flexibly and naturally Moreover, concerning semantics, the translator has made good choice of words and expressions, which goes well with the context and Vietnamese way of thinking He has also skillfully used equivalent Vietnamese idioms and phrases In general, language used is natural, smooth and easy to understand Though overall the translated version is a good one, there are still shortcomings that should be considered for future editions Firstly, the translator has omitted some words, phrases and sentences in comparison with the original Whatever the reason is, he had better examine the original version more thoroughly so as not to fail discerning readers Secondly, although some structures have been transferred quite agreeably, there are ones that need revision for better ones Thirdly and most notably, the translator‟s use of borrowed words should be reconsidered seriously Some borrowed words may be popular enough to be recognized by most people, yet, other words only recognized by a group of readers and this is where explanation or clarification comes in Last but not least, as pointed out in step three of the assessment, spelling mistakes and mistranslation must also be revised in upcoming editions From the researcher‟s point of view, this kind of mistakes may be owing to the translator‟s negligence in translating process rather than by his lack of linguistic knowledge Until these mistakes are fixed, confusion and misunderstanding may arise Pertaining to the second question, “What recommendations can be made from the translated version?”, from the results achieved above, some suggestions and implications for translation of English literary works into Vietnamse might be offered It can be seen that Peter Newmark‟s model of translation quality assessment is easy to follow in evaluating the quality of any literary works It helps the critics have a deep insight into the achievements as well as weaknesses of the translated version Hence, it should be 38 taken into account when any researcher would like to evaluate the quality of literary works, especially novels An additional implication for literary translation is that a thorough review of critic relating to the original text would be useful because when some small details are removed, the general meaning of the whole sentence may be affected or modified This can lead to misunderstanding from the readers or unintelligibility of the text More critically, the message that the author wishes to communicate will be modified entirely For this reason, translators should be very cautious when translating any works from the source language into the target language A further lesson that can be drawn from this translated version relates to word meaning The dictionary may not always have all the words that we encounter daily due to the boom of slang and addition of new words every day Therefore, in order to help readers completely enjoy the work, it is the translator‟s task to explain borrowed words that he cannot transfer to Vietnamese In conclusion, the findings of this paper are expected to be useful to teachers and students in their studying Translation Studies Additionally, it is helpful to translation critics since it shows that to improve the quality of translation in general and of literary translation in particular, it is essential to evaluate basing on a certain model to make the assessment more adequate and objective Last but not least, the critic hopes that this research would help the future edition of the book become a better one Suggestions for further studies Due to the limited time and scope of the study, a number of issues were not investigated As a result, the researcher would like to suggest further study on the following: - Letter writing is a noteworthy part in The Notebook, thus, a study that deeply investigates this part should be carried out - Many quotations of poems by famous poets appear in the novel and the translation of these should be examined as well - Apart from The Notebook, there have been many other novels by the same author, Nicholas Sparks, translated into Vietnamese Those who have such a passionate interest in one of these novels might conduct a translation quality assessment research on it - In the past few years, a massive amount of English literary works has been translated into Vietnamese so as to meet the demand of booklovers However, the quality of those translated versions has not been evaluated carefully Future researchers may more research on assessing the translation quality of translated literary works that have been published in Vietnam 39 REFERENCES Baker, M (1992) In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation London: Routledge Baker, M (ed.) (2005) Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies London: Routledge Bell, R T (1991) Translation and Translating London & New York: Routledge Briffa, C & Caruana, R M (2009) Stylistic Creativity When Translating Titles PALA 2009 Conference, Roosevelt Academy in Middleburg, The Netherlands (Accessed via www.pala.ac.uk/resources/proceedings/2009/briffa2009.pdf, August nd , 2011) Carrové, M S (1999) Towards a Theory of Translation Pedagogy Doctoral Thesis Dissertation Department of English and Linguistics, Universitat de Lleida Lérida Catford, J C (1967) A Linguistic Theory of Translation Oxford: OUP Grossman, E (2010) Why Translation Matters New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Hartman, R R K & Stock, F C (1972) Dictionary of Language and Linguistics in Bell, R.T (1991) Translation and Translating Longman Hillman, R (2011) Spoken Word to Written Text: Subtitling in The Oxford Handbook of Translation Studies Malmkjær, Kirsten & Kevin Windle (Editors) Oxford: OUP 10 House, J (1977) A Model for Translation Quality Assessment Tübingen: Gunter Narr 11.House J (1997) Translation Quality Assessment: A Model Revisited Tübingen: Gunter Narr 12 Koller, W (1979/89) Equivalence in Translation Theory (translated by Chesterman, A.) In Chesterman, A (ed.), Readings in Translation Theory (Helsinki, Finn Lectures) 13 Munday, J (2001) Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications, London & New York: Routledge 14 Newmark, P (1982) Approaches to Translation Oxford: Pergamon Institute of English 15 Newmark, P (1988) A Textbook of Translation New York: Prentice-Hall International 16 Newmark, P (1995) Approaches to Translation Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd 17 Nida, E A & Taber, C R (1974) The Theory and Practice of Translation Leiden: Published for the United Bible Societies by E.J Brill 18 Violine, M (2011) Translating Titles of Novels: Why and How We (Don’t) Translate Them Translation Conference 2011, Unika Atmajaya University of Indonesia 40 19 Willams, M (2009) Translation Quality Assesment Mutatis Mutandis Vol 2, No pp – 23, University of Ottawa 20 Wilss, W (1982) The Science of Translation, Problems and Methods Tübingen: Gunter Narr 21 Lê Hùng Tiến, Đỗ Minh Hoàng, Nguyễn Phương Trà (2006), Lý thuyết thực tiễn dịch thuật Anh-Việt: Một số vấn đề lý luận phương pháp bản, Đề tài nghiên cứu cấp Đại học Quốc gia: Khoa Sau Đại học, Trường Đại Học Ngoại Ngữ – ĐHQG Hà Nội st 22 Nicholas Sparks Retrieved on May , 2014 from http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Sparks/e/B000APGF36 st 23 Book FAQs Retrieved on May , 2014 from http://nicholassparks.com/stories/the-notebook/ st 24 Definition of “notebook.” Retrieved on May , 2014 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/notebook?q=notebook st 25 Definition of “diary.” Retrieved on May , 2014 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/diary?q=diary st 26 Definition of “enthrall.” Retrieved on May , 2014 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/enthral?q=%20enthral 41 ... that we assess the referential and pragmatic accuracy of the translation by the translator‟s standards If the translation is not a clear version of the original, we consider first whether these... evaluating target texts Therefore, translation quality assessment is a type of evaluation It can be quantitative or qualitative: it can be based on mathematical/statistical measurement (as in the. .. methods, translation equivalence, and translation assessment Evaluation of the Translation basing on Newmark‟s Model In this part, Newmark‟s five-step translation quality assessment model aforementioned