Common errors in vietnamese english translation made by english translator trainees at nui phao mining company limited

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐINH THỊ HÒA COMMON ERRORS IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION MADE BY ENGLISH TRANSLATOR TRAINEES AT NUI PHAO MINING COMPANY LIMITED Những lỗi phổ biến dịch Việt-Anh phiên dịch Tiếng Anh nghề Cơng Ty TNHH Khai Thác Chế Biến Khống Sản Núi Pháo M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 Hanoi, 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ********************* ĐINH THỊ HÒA COMMON ERRORS IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION MADE BY ENGLISH TRANSLATOR TRAINEES AT NUI PHAO MINING COMPANY LIMITED Những lỗi phổ biến dịch Việt-Anh phiên dịch Tiếng Anh nghề Công Ty TNHH Khai Thác Chế Biến Khoáng Sản Núi Pháo M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC PROF., DR LÊ HÙNG TIẾN Hanoi, 2014 i DECLARATION I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “Common errors in Vietnamese-English translation made by English translator trainees at Nui Phao Mining Company Limited” is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study and research Hanoi, 2014 Đinh Thị Hòa ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is not solely my efforts, but, in fact, contains many contributions of individuals to whom I would like to express my gratitude First of all, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Dr Le Hung Tien, for all his support and encouragement over the past few months and for his valuable comments and advice on the study Without his generous help, this study could not have been completed Secondly, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Post-Graduate lecturers as well as officers working at Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International studies – VNU for their great help and numerous suggestions concerning this thesis Thirdly, I want to extend my special thanks to my colleagues working at NPMC for their help and cooperation during my research I am also grateful to my close friends who encouraged me a lot when I was conducting my research Finally, millions of thanks go to my beloved family for their love, care and support during my MA course, especially the fulfillment of the thesis iii ABSTRACT Many studies have been carried out to investigate the strategies and procedures in translation However, there have been few studies reporting on the errors in translation especially in Vietnamese-English translations The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the common errors in Vietnamese-English translations of English translator trainees In order to achieve this, a case study with 10 English translator trainees working at Nui Phao Mining Company was carried out to find out the most common errors in Vietnamese-English translations They were inexperienced English translators with only some months to years experience in an English translator role The data of this study collected from 30 Vietnamese-English translations of these English translators and the questionnaires distributed to them In addition, the interview questions also were used to get further information for the study from experienced English translators who have had many years in translating and directly helped English translator trainees review their translations Results from errors analysis of 30 Vietnamese-English translations, questionnaires and interviews showed that English translator trainees often made errors in using of preposition, word forms, word orders, verb tenses, lexical choice and omission errors The study also investigated the causes leading to these errors and the ways to void them as well as to improve translation skills for English translator trainees via questionnaires and interview Finally, some suggestions and recommendations are given for English translators trainees as well as English learners to make their Vietnamese-English translations become more perfect and professional iv TABL DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF CHARTS IN THE STUDY LIST OF TABLES IN THE STUDY PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Error Analysis 1.1.1.Definition of error analysis 1.1.2.The significance of error analysis 1.1.3.The sources and causes of errors 1.2 Translation and errors in translation 1.2.1 Defin 1.2.2 Errors 1.2.2.1.Definition of errors in translation 1.2.2.2.Categories of translation errors 1.2.2.3.Common errors in Vietnamese-English translatio 1.3 Previous studies in the world and in Viet Nam CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research Questions 2.2 Settings of the study and participants 2.2.1.Setting of the study 2.2.2 2.3 Participants Data collection 2.3.1 Data collectio 2.3.2 Data collectio 2.3.3 Data analysis CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Personal information of the participants 3.1.1.The first group of participants 3.1.2.The second group of participants 3.2 Difficulties of English translator trainees in translating 3.3 Common errors on Vietnamese- English translation m trainees working at NPMC 3.3.1 and interviews Overall result 3.3.2 Linguistic err 3.3.3 Translation er 3.4 The causes of translation errors vi 3.5 Suggestions to avoid the common errors in translation and improve translation skills 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 38 Summary of the findings 38 Concluding remarks 39 REFERENCES 42 APPENDIX I I APPENDIX II III APPENDIX III VI APPENDIX IV VIII APPENDIX V X vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EA: Error Analysis ETT: English translator trainee EET: Experienced English translator ESL: English as a second Language L2: Second Language NPMC: Nui Phao Mining Company ST: Source text TL: Target language viii LIST OF CHARTS IN THE STUDY Charts LIST OF TABLES IN THE STUDY Tables 10 15 Ervin, S and Bower, R T (1953) Translation Problems in International Surveys Public Opinion Quarterly, 16, 595-604 43 16 Hassan and Aref (2013), An Analysis of some Linguistic Problems in Translation between Arabic and English Faced by Yemeni English Majors at Hadramout University, Journal of Islamic and Human Advanced Research, Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2013, 15-26 17 Hatem, B and Mason, I (1990) Discourse and the Translator London, Longman Group, UK 18 New Hatim, B and I Mason (1990) Discourse and the translator, London and York: Longman 19 James, C (1988) Errors in Language Learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis 20 Kussmaul, P (1995) Training the Translator, Amsterdam: John Benjamins 21 Lauscher, S (2000) Translation Quality Assessment Evalution and Translation, 22 Mauriello, G (1992) Teacher's tools in a Translation Class In C Dollerup and A Loddegaard, Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Trainining, Talent and Experience, 23 Myles, J (2002) Second Language Writing and Research: The Writing Process and Error Analysis in Student Texts TESL-EJ Vol 6.No.2 24 Na, P.T.Q (2007), Errors in the translation of topic-comment structures of Vietnamese into English, School of Languages and Literature-University of Western Syney, Australia.(n.d) 25 Norrish, J (1987) Language Learning and their Errors London: Macmillan Publisher Ltd 26 Nowak (2006), Translation Problems in Polish Language Versions of EU Directives Regulating Medicine and Biology Related Issues, Retrieved May 25, 2014 from https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/jspui/bitstream/10593/4694/1/05-K%C5%82os.pdf 27 Pym, A (1991) Limits and frustrations of discourse analysis in translation theory Revised version in Revista de Filologia (Universidad de la Laguna) 28 Pym, Anthony (1992), Translation error analysis and the interface with language teaching, Published in The Teaching of Translation, Ed Cay Dollerup & Anne Loddegaard, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1992, 279-288 29 Richards, J.C (ed) (1971) A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis, TESOL convention, San Francisco 44 30 Roomy Naqvy (2006), Beginner’s Guide to Translation Errors, Retrieved May 20, 2014 from http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/619/1/A-Beginner%27sGuide-to-Translation-Errors 31 Sager, J (1993) Language Engineering and Translation: Consequences of Automation Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins 32 Selinker, L (1972) Interlanguage International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209-231 33 Sercombe, P (2000) Learner language and the consideration of idiosyncracies by students of English as a second or foreign language in the context of Brunei James, C (1998) Errors in language learning and use London & New York: Longman 34 Steinbach, H.R (1981) On the classification of errors in translation papers with some consideration of interference phenomena, Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 13 37 35 Stenson (1978) Error Analysis and Second language Strategies 36 Tuan, N.V (2006), Translation 1&2, Hue University, Hue Waddington, C (2001) Different Methods of Evaluating Student Translation: The Question of Validity Meta: Translators’ Journal, 46 (2) 38 Weireesh, S (1991) How to analyze interlanguage Journal of Psychology & Education 9:113-22 39 Weinstock, J (1988) Translation: minimizing errors in the thought process In M Jazayery and W Werner (eds.) Language and Cultures: Studies in honour of Edgar C Polome; Mouton de Gryter, Berlin 40 41 Wilss, Wolfram (1982) The Science of Translation Tubingen, Gunter Narr Zakia (2005), A taxonomy of translation problems in translating from english to arabic, University of Newcastle I APPENDIX I QUESTIONNAIRE COMMON ERRORS IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS MADE BY ENGLISH TRANSLATOR TRAINEES Personal information: Name ( optional):……………………………………… Age:…………………………………………………… Sex (male/female):…………………………………… Major:…………………………………………… How long have you worked as an English translator? a) Under year b) year c) years d) More than years What kinds of text you often translate from Vietnamese into English? a) Official Dispatches b) Reports c) Minutes of Meetings d) Contracts e) Others:………………………………………………………………… What are your Vietnamese-English translation about? a) Environment b) Health, Safety and Security c) Construction d) Operation, Processing e) Finance f)Others: ……………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what are your difficulties when you translate from Vietnamese into English? a.Choosing appropriate vocabulary in English b Finding suitable grammar structures in the target language to transfer idea effectively c.Analyzing the meaning of sentences in the source text d Understanding special phrases and terminologies in the source text e.Others: …………………………………………………………………………………… What are linguistic errors you often make when translating from Vietnamese into English? (Please write Y (yes) or N (no)) STT Prepos Verbs Senten Word o Word c Word f Others What are translation errors you often make when translating from Vietnamese into English? (Please write Y (yes) or N (no)) STT Errors Omission Addition Distorted meaning of source text Too literal translation (word-by-wo Too free translation Lexical choice Others (please specify):… In your opinion, what are the main causes leading to the errors in your VietnameseEnglish translations: a.The interference of mother tongue in the process of translating b Lack of vocabulary and grammar c.Lack of knowledge about the translation fields d Insufficient translation skills and the inappropriate translation methods e.Others:…………………………………………………………………………… What did you to avoid translation errors and improve your translation skills? a.Improving your vocabulary especially terminologies b Improving your English grammar c Studying translation methods from translation books, magazines, internet and experienced translators d Reading documents related to your translation topics in both Vietnamese and English e.Others: …………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation III APPENDIX II PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA NHỮNG LỐI HAY GẶP TRONG DỊCH VIỆT ANH CỦA PHIÊN DỊCH VIÊN MỚI RA NGHỀ Thông tin cá nhân: Tên ( tùy chọn):……………………………………… Tuổi:…………………………………………………… Giới tính (Nam, nữ):…………………………………… Chuyên ngành:…………………………………………… Bạn làm công tác dịch thuật bao lâu? a) Dưới năm b) năm c) năm d) Trên năm Các văn Việt-Anh bạn dịch loại văn nào? a) Công văn b) Báo cáo c) Biên họp d) Hợp đồng e) Loại khác:………………………………………………………………… Các văn bạn dịch liên quan đến lĩnh vực nào? a) Môi trường b) An ninh, y tế c) Xây dựng d) Vận hành, sản xuất e) Thương mại f)Lĩnh vực khác: ……………………………………………………………… Theo bạn khó khăn mà phiên dịch nghề gặp phải dịch ViệtAnh gì? a) Lựa chọn từ vựng thích hợp Tiếng Anh b) Tìm cấu trúc ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh để truyền tải nội dung dịch cách xác hiệu c) Phân tích nghĩa câu Tiếng Việt d) Hiểu cụm từ đặc biệt, từ chuyên ngành ngôn ngữ gốc e) Các khó khăn khác: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………… Những lỗi ngôn ngữ (Linguistic errors) bạn hay gặp phải q trình dịch Việt-Anh? (Vui lịng viết Y/N (Có/Khơng) vào lỗi bạn gặp phải) IV STT Lỗi giới từ ( erro Lỗi động từ (erro Lỗi cấu trúc câu Lỗi trật tự từ tro Lỗi kết hợp từ (e Lỗi từ loại từ Các loại lỗi khác Những lỗi dịch thuật (translation errors) bạn hay gặp phải trình dịch Việt-Anh? (Vui lịng viết Y/N (Có/Khơng) vào lỗi bạn gặp phải) STT Lỗi dịch thiếu ý s Lỗi tự thêm vào c (addition) Lỗi dịch sai ý Lỗi dịch sát n Lỗi dịch thoá Lỗi lựa chọn từ v Các lỗi khác Theo bạn, nguyên nhân gây lỗi trình dịch Việt-Anh bạn gì? a) Do ảnh hưởng Tiếng Việt vào trình tư dịch sang Tiếng Anh b) Do vốn từ vựng, ngữ pháp thiếu c) Do thiếu kiến thức lĩnh vực cần dịch d) Do kỹ dịch thuật yếu việc áp dụng phương pháp dịch chưa phù hợp e) Những nguyên nhân khác: …………………………………………………………………………… Bạn làm khắc phục lỗi dịch Việt-Anh mình? a) Bổ sung vốn từ vựng, đặc biệt từ vựng chuyên ngành b) Tăng cường ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh V c) Tìm hiểu phương pháp dịch từ sách, báo, internet người có kinh nghiệm dịch d) Đọc nhiều tài liệu liên quan đến chuyên ngành cần dịch Tiếng Anh lẫn Tiếng Việt e) Các cách khác: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! VI APPENDIX III CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN NHỮNG LỐI HAY GẶP TRONG DỊCH VIỆT ANH CỦA PHIÊN DỊCH VIÊN MỚI RA NGHỀ Thông tin cá nhân: Tên (tùy chọn):…………………………… Tuổi:……………………………………… Giới tính:…………………………………… Anh (chị) công tác ngành dịch thuật thời gian bao lâu? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… Theo anh (chị) khó khăn mà phiên dịch nghề gặp phải trình biên dịch Việt-Anh gì? (Anh chị vui lịng kể 3, khó khăn) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… Trong trình chỉnh sửa dịch Việt-Anh cho nhân viên phiên dịch nghề Công ty Núi Pháo, anh (chị) thấy họ hay mắc phải lỗi đây? 3.1 Lỗi ngôn ngữ (linguistic errors) Lỗi giới từ ( errors of prepositions) Lỗi động từ (errors of verbs) Lỗi cấu trúc câu (errors of sentence structures) Lỗi trật tự từ câu (errors of word orders) Lỗi kết hợp từ (errors of collocations) Lỗi từ loại từ (errors of word forms) Các loại lỗi khác(others)… Lỗi giới từ ( errors of prepositions) 3.2 Lỗi dịch (Translation errors): Lỗi dịch thiếu ý so với văn gốc Tiếng Việt (omission) Lỗi tự thêm vào ý khơng có văn gốc Tiếng Việt (addition) Lỗi bóp méo ý văn gốc (Distorted meaning of source text) Lỗi dịch sát nguyên văn (too literal translation) Lỗi dịch thoáng (too free translation) Lỗi lựa chọn từ vựng (lexcical choice) Các lỗi khác… VII Theo anh (chị), nguyên nhân gây lỗi phiên dịch nghề gì? (Anh chị vui lịng nêu ngun nhân chính) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… Là phiên dịch lâu năm nghề, với kinh nghiệm mình, theo anh (chị) để khắc phục lỗi cải thiện kỹ biên dịch, phiên dịch nghề cần làm gì? (Anh chị vui lòng nêu 3,4 cách khắc phục) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! VIII APPENDIX IV INTERVIEW QUESTIONS COMMON ERRORS IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS MADE BY ENGLISH TRANSLATOR TRAINEES Personal information: Name ( optional):……………………………………… Age:…………………………………………………… Sex (male/female):…………………………………… How long have you worked as an English translator? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what are difficulties faced by English translator trainees working at NPMC when they translating from Vietnamese into English? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………… When reviewing Vietnamese-English translations, what are the common translation errors made by English translator trainees working at NPMC? Lỗi ngôn ngữ (linguistic errors) Lỗi giới từ ( errors of prepositions) Lỗi động từ (errors of verbs) Lỗi cấu trúc câu (errors of sentence structures) Lỗi trật tự từ câu (errors of word orders) Lỗi kết hợp từ (errors of collocations) Lỗi từ loại từ (errors of word forms) Các loại lỗi khác(others)… Lỗi giới từ ( errors of prepositions) Lỗi dịch (Translation errors): Lỗi dịch thiếu ý so với văn gốc Tiếng Việt (omission) IX Lỗi tự thêm vào ý khơng có văn gốc Tiếng Việt (addition) Lỗi bóp méo ý văn gốc (Distorted meaning of source text) Lỗi dịch sát nguyên văn (too literal translation) Lỗi dịch thoáng (too free translation) Lỗi lựa chọn từ vựng (lexcical choice) Các lỗi khác In your opinion, what are the causes leading to the above translation errors of English translator trainees? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………… Could you please recommend the ways to avoid translation errors and improve translation skills? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! X APPENDIX V Pre po si tio ns Grammatical ETTs ETT ETT ETT ETT 4 ETT ETT ETT ETT ETT ETT 10 TOTAL ... Phao Mining Company Limited? ?? which aims at finding out the most common translation errors in Vietnamese- English translation of English translator trainees working at NPMC and then investigating... to investigate the common errors in Vietnamese- English translations of English translator trainees In order to achieve this, a case study with 10 English translator trainees working at Nui Phao. .. translation of English translator trainees at Nui Phao Mining Company Limited The data for this study collected from Vietnamese- English translation works done by English translator trainees, survey