Investigating english vietnamese translation of geology texts m a thesis linguistics 60 22 02

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ CÚC INVESTIGATING ENGLISH - VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF GEOLOGY TEXTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DỊCH ANH - VIỆT CÁC TÀI LIỆU CHUYÊN NGÀNH ĐỊA CHẤT) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Hanoi - 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ CÚC INVESTIGATING ENGLISH - VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF GEOLOGY TEXTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC DỊCH ANH - VIỆT CÁC TÀI LIỆU CHUYÊN NGÀNH ĐỊA CHẤT) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến Hanoi - 2016 Certificate of originality I, Nguyễn Thị Cúc, hereby claim the originality of my study Unless otherwise indicated, this is my own piece of academic accomplishment Signature Acknowledgements I am sincerely grateful to Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến, my supervisor, for his guidance, valuable suggestions, and precious advice during the course of my MA thesis writing Without his guidance, encouragement and critical comments, the study would have never been completed My sincere gratitude goes to all my professors and lecturers at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their enthusiastic teaching and tremendous knowledge that have directly or indirectly enlightened my research paper I would like to take this chance to thank all of my colleagues at Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Basic Sciences, and at Faculty of Geology at Hanoi University of Mining and Geology for their constant encouragement and the favorable conditions they provided Finally, I also wish to express my great thanks to my parents, my husband for their love, support and share of housework and childcare Without their help, this thesis could not have gained the current status Hanoi, October - 2016 Nguyễn Thị Cúc Abstract This thesis is targeted at investigating the English - Vietnamese translation of geology texts Specifically, it is more concerned with the translation of some typical lexical and syntactic features in English geology texts which include geological terminologies, nominalizations, the passives, the relative clauses, and anticipatory empty subject It because of their highly frequent occurrence in investigated geology texts Major findings of the study are discovered: First, transposition is the main procedure applied to translate geology terminologies and nominalizations Next, modulation and transposition stand out to be the two main translation procedures in translating the passive sentences and the empty subject It In the third place, transposition, omission, and addition are three popular translation procedures applied in translation of the relative clauses Besides, there are some lexical and syntactic translation problems which can be solved if the translators are trained to have not only translation skills, specialized knowledge but also English proficiency Some main conclusions are accordingly drawn out In the first place, geology texts have more or less the same characteristics of technical and scientific documents In the second place, although translation methods and procedures applied in translation differ and diversify from one lexical and syntactic feature to another, transposition, modulation, omission, and addition are four common translation procedures applied in translation of geology texts Abbreviations SL: source language TL: target language ST: source text AT: target text N: Noun Adj: Adjective V: Verb NP: Noun phrase VP: Verb phrase Certificate of originality Acknowledgements ii Astract iii Acknowledgements iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Part A: Introduction 1 Rationale Study objectives Scope of the study Methodology Design of the study Part B: Development Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 Translation methods/procedures 1.1.1 Transpositions 1.1.2 Modulations 1.1.3 Omissions 1.1.4 Additions 1.2 Translation equivalence 1.3 Technical translation 1.4 Geology texts Chapter 2: Methodology 2.1 Study subject 2.2 Data collection 12 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion 3.1 Translation of geological terminologies with transposition proced 3.1.1 Translation of single geological terms with transposition 3.1.2 Translation of compound geological terms with transposit 3.2 Translation of the passives with modulation and transposition 3.2.1 Translation of English passive structures into Vietnamese a ones with modulation procedure 2.2.2 Translation of English passive structures into Vietnamese p ones with transposition procedure 3.3 Translation of the relative clauses with transposition, omission, a 22 3.3.1 Translation of the relative clauses with transposition 3.3.2 Translation of the relative clauses with omission 3.3.3 Translation of the relative clauses with addition 3.4 Translation of the empty subject It with transposition and modula 3.4.1 Translation of the structure It + be + Ven + that clause with transposition and modulation 27 3.4.2 Translation of the structure It + be + adjective + to V with modulation 3.5 Translation of the nominalizations with transposition procedure 3.5.1 Translation of SL noun phrases with TL verb phrases 3.5.2 Translation of SL noun phrases with TL noun phrases 3.6 Problems in English - Vietnamese translation of geology texts, po and solutions 3.6.1 Lexical problems 3.6.2 Syntactic problems 3.6.3 Possible causes and solutions 34 Part C: Conclusion Major findings Conclusions Implications for English - Vietnamese translation of geology texts 38 Study limitations 39 Suggestions for further research 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDIXES 43 Part A: Introduction Rationale Recent developments in science and technology have highlighted the acute need for scientific and technical translation because of its pivotal role in disseminating the latest scientific and technical knowledge At Faculty of Geology, Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, English for Geology is a compulsory subject and an essential tool for geology - majored students to be most updated with geological advances in the world They usually have to deal with geology - related documents in English through various kinds of exercises like reading comprehension or translation tasks To many students, translating geology - specialized texts from English into Vietnamese is a difficult and demanding task As an ESP teacher, I frequently apply translation as an indispensable means to promote the students' better comprehension of English spoken or written technical documents in general and geology texts in particular The outcomes, however, are not highly pleasing since in most cases students could not give fully clarified explanations of geological terms or perfect translation versions of difficult texts, and the like The reasons may be consequences of inadequate knowledge of English or lack of translation skills In addition, as doing researches in applied linguistics is one of mandatory duties of university lecturers, I occasionally pay serious attention to translation of scientific and technical texts, especially geology ones I find doing research on this issue problematic since so far there has been very little discussion about English Vietnamese translation of geology documents The above-mentioned reasons inspired me to carry out an M.A minor thesis titled investigating English - Vietnamese translation of geology texts in the hope that the study can find out the major factors affecting the translation process, figure out prominent applied translation methods and procedures, problems, solutions and possibly provide useful implications to English - Vietnamese translation of geology 10 REFERENCES English Books Baker, M (1992), In Other Words: a Coursebook on Translation, Routledge, London Baker, M (1992), In Other Words, Routledge, London Bell, R T (1998), Psychological/cognitive approaches, In M Baker (ed.), Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies, Routledge, London & New York Byrne, J (2006), Technical Translation: Usability Strategies for Translating Technical Documentation, Springer, the Netherlands Catford, J C (1965), A Linguistic Theory of Translation: an Essay on Applied Linguistics, Oxford University Press, London Cobuild, C (1990), English Grammar, Collins Publishers, London Delisle, J et al (1999), Translation Terminology, John Benjamins, Amsterdam and Philadelphia Fetter, C.W (1993), Applied Hydrogeology (3 rd Ed.), Prentice Hall, New York Halliday, M A K (2004), An Introduction to Functional Grammar (Revised by Mathieson, C.M.I.M., Ed), London: Arnold 10 Halliday, M.A.K (1967), Notes on transitivity and theme in English (Part and 2), Journal of Linguistics 3, 37-81; 199-244 11 Halliday, M.A.K & Martin, J R (1993), Writing science: literacy and discursive power, Falmer Press, London 12 Hatim, B A (2014), Teaching and Researching Translation (2 ed.), Routledge, USA 49 13 Hoàng Văn Vân (2005), Translation: Theory and Practice, Education Publisher, Hanoi 14 Holtz, M (2011), Nominalisation in Scientific Discourse: A Corpus-based Study of Abstracts and Research Articles Archived on 14/7/2016 from ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/publications/cl2009/341_FullPaper.doc 15 Koller, W (1979), Equivalence in Translation Theory, Translated by Andrew Chesterman, In Readings in Translation Theory, Andrew Chesterman (ed.), pp 99-104, Oy Finn Lectura, Helsinki 16 Larson, L (1984), Meaning Based Translation: A guide to Cross-Language Equivalence, University Press of America, Lanham 17 Newmark, P (1981), Approaches to Translation, Pergamon Press, Oxford 18 Newmark, P (1988a), A textbook of Translation, Prentice-Hall International, New York 19 Newmark, P (1988b), Approaches to Translation, Prentice Hall, Hertfordshire 20 Nida, E (1964), Principles of Correspondence, In Venuti L The Translation Studies Reader, Routledge, London 21 Nida, E A & Taber, C.R (1969), The Theory and Practice of Translation, E J Brill, Leiden 22 Sofer, M (1999), The Translator’s Handbook, Schreiber Publishing, U.S.A 23 Stuart, C (1998), Translation into the second language, Longman, London 24 Vinay, J P & Darbelnet, J (1995), Comparative Stylistics of French and English: a Methodology for Translation, Translated by J C Sager and M J Hamel Amsterdam, John Benjamins, Philadelphia 25 Vinay, R J & Darbelnet, J (1995), Comparative Stylistics of French and English, John Benjamins, the Netherlands 50 English unpublished dissertations/theses: 26 Đỗ Kim Phương (2012), An investigation into structure and meaning of geological textbooks as a genre in English and Vietnamese, Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, VNU-VLIS, Hanoi 27 Hoàng Văn Vân (1994), A functional Perspective on Translating ELT Texts from English into Vietnamese, Unpublished MA thesis, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Australia Vietnamese book 28 Fetter, C.W (2000), Địa chất thủy văn ứng dụng 1, (Translators: Nguyễn Uyên, Phạm Thanh Hiền & Phạm Hữu Sỹ) Education Publisher, Hanoi Vietnamese Journals/scientific reports 29 Bùi Thị Diên (2005), Các phương thức chuyển dịch câu bị động tiếng Anh sang tiếng Việt, Tạp chí Khoa học ĐHQGHN, Ngoại ngữ, T.XXI, Số 3, 2005 30 Lê Hùng Tiến (2007), Vấn đề phương pháp dịch thuật Anh-Việt, VNU Journal, volume English - Vietnamese dictionary 31 Research institute of geology and mineral resources (2001), English - Vietnamese dictionary of geology, Encyclopedia Publishing House, Hanoi 51 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Hydrogeology texts extracted for data analysis a) Translation of geology terminologies 11 13 15 English dynamic viscosity permeameter constant-head permeameter aquifer confining layer condensation leaky confining layer vadose water 17 depression storage 19 overland flow 21 interflow 23 gravity drainage 25 zone of saturation 27 water table 29 ground water 31 ground-water flow 33 absolute humidity 35 relative humidity 37 land pan 39 transpiration 41 wilting point 43 Duration curve 45 stream gauging 47 49 adiabatic expansion through flow 51 return flow 53 hydrograph 55 57 baseflow recession storm hydrograph 59 gaining stream 61 losing stream 63 stage-discharge rating curve 65 unconfined ground water hydrologic cycle 67 69 b) vadose zone/ zone of aeration Translation of the passive sentences The creation and distribution of precipitation is heavily influenced by the presence of mountain ranges and other topographic features More than 75% of the water in land areas is locked in glacial ice or is saline Below the land surface the soil pores contain both air and water The region is known as the vadose zone, or zone of aeration Excess vadose water is pulled downward by gravity, a process known as gravity drainage The hydrologic equation can be applied to systems of any size is as useful for a small reservoir as it is for an entire continent Water molecules are continually being exchanged between liquid and atmospheric water vapor Research has shown that the manner in which precipitation is measured can affect the amount of evaporation that is calculated at an evaporation station Precipitation can be determined with a rain gauge placed next to the evaporation pan Any open container can be used to catch and measure rainfall The catch of precipitation gauges is affected by high winds 10 Daily records from these weather stations are published monthly on a state-by-state basis in Climatological Data; data from recording stations are published in Hourly Precipitation Data 11 This may be determined for time periods ranging from the duration of part of a single storm to a year 12 To solve the problem, three close precipitation stations with full records that are evenly spaced around tine station with a missing record are used 13 In drawing the isohyets, such factors as known influence of topography on precipitation can be taken into account 14 The start of the baseflow recession was considered to be the day when the annual discharge dropped below 3500 ft /s 15 It is first assumed that both the direct precipitation and the interflow components are inconsequential 16 As a liter of pure water contains million milligrams at 3.89°C, the temperature at which it is most dense, it is commonly assumed that ppm is equal to mg/L 17 The advection-dispersion equation is based on the premise that the center of mass of the solute is moving at the same rate as the average linear ground-water velocity 18 Furthermore it is assumed that hydrodynamic dispersion causes the solute to spread out both ahead of and behind the center of mass in a pattern that follows a statistically normal distribution, which is the familiar bell-shaped curve 19 If human activity alters the natural water quality so that it is no longer fit for a use for which it had previously been suited, the water is said to be polluted or contaminated 20 Leaks can potentially be detected by monitoring the water in the vadose (unsaturated) zone 21 Vapors can be detected by gas-monitoring wells, which are simply wells that terminate in the unsaturated zone c) Translation of the relative clauses Running water and ground water are geologic agents that help shape the land To solve the problem, three close precipitation stations with full records that are evenly spaced around tine station with a missing record are used Precipitation that falls on the land surface enters various pathways of the hydrologic cycle Water flowing in a stream can come from overland flow or from ground water that has seeped into the streambed Several inflows add to this water volume: precipitation that falls on the lake surface, streams that flow into the lake, ground water that seeps into the lake, and overland flow from nearby 10 11 12 13 14 15 land surfaces In 1989, the diversions were halted under a temporary court restraining order that prohibited any such diversions that would result in a lake level of less than 6377 ft (1944 m) A hydrogeologist working for a consulting company paid by the company with funds that come from fees charged to the project owner for the work that is contracted The liquid waste is carried to a drain tile field, where it seeps through the vadose zone to the water table Eventually the shallow aquifer and the deep aquifer merge where the confining layer thins and disappears Wells in tectonic valleys should be located where the aquifer material is coarse, the depth to water is not great, and a source of recharge water is available However, there may not be any surface streams near areas where wells are needed At one time, considerable ground-water outflow occurred from the Bunker Hill Basin in the area where the Santa Ana River crosses the San Jacinto Fault Zone (Colton Narrows) Furthermore it is assumed that hydrodynamic dispersion causes the solute to spread out both ahead of and behind the center of mass in a pattern that follows a statistically normal distribution, which is the familiar bellshaped curve In ground-water hydrology, we utile the concept of a ground-water basin, which is the subsurface volume through which ground water flows toward a specific discharge zone The professional hydrogeologist has a 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 wide variety of occupations from which to choose As a liter of pure water contains million milligrams at 3.89°C, the temperature at which it is most dense, it is commonly assumed that ppm is equal to mg/L Classical studies in hydrogeology focused either on the mathematical treatment of flow through porous media or on a general geologic description of the distribution of rock formations in which ground water occurs The dew point for an air mass is the temperature at which condensation will begin The energy budget for a reservoir may be used to find the amount of energy used for evaporation, which in turn can yield the amount of evaporation Research has shown that the manner in which precipitation is measured can affect the amount of evaporation that is calculated at an evaporation station Transpiration by plants rooted in the soil causes an increase in the humidity, which can be measured in the air space around the plant The increase is greatest during the first year, when there is little reforestation Transpiration from a cornfield in May, when the plants are a few centimeters high, is much less than in August, when they may exceed ft (2 m) in height In months when the potential evapotranspiration is less than the rainfall, some of the demand will be met by drawing upon moisture stored in the soil Hydrogeologists who perform any of the interesting work just described also expect to be compensated for their time Hydrogeologists who work for consulting firms must treat the firm's clients fairly in financial matters and work that is as precise and correct as is possible d) Translation of the empty subject It English Because of physical constraints, it is not possible to model three-dimensional flow with a viscous-fluid model It is difficult to change the aquifer geometry and hydraulic characteristics built into a model It is highly desirable to verify a model (model verification) once it has been calibrated Often it is convenient to vary the size of the rows and columns so that there are more node points in certain parts of the aquifer than others It is much less expensive to apply an already developed model, if an available model will accomplish the desired goal It is very difficult to collect a sample of ground water that is actually representative of the chemistry of the water as it exists in die ground For dilute solutions, it is not necessary to make density corrections … As a practical matter it is quite difficult to collect representative ground-water samples that not undergo reactions during the process of collection In water-budget studies, it is necessary to know the average depth of precipitation over a drainage basin 10 It should be noted that in many areas water quality has been impacted by human activity, but the water is still usable 11 As a liter of pure water contains million milligrams at 3.89°C, the temperature at 12 e) which it is most dense, it is commonly assumed that ppm is equal to mg/L Furthermore it is assumed that hydrodynamic dispersion causes the solute to spread out both ahead of and behind the center of mass in a pattern that follows a statistically normal distribution, which is the familiar bell-shaped curve Translation of nominalizations English A Cross section of a gaining stream, which is typical of humid regions, where ground water recharges streams B Cross section of a losing stream, which is typical of arid regions, where streams can recharge ground water At any given temperature, air can hold a maximum amount of moisture, called the saturation humidity, which is directly proportional to the temperature of the air Discharge is also inversely proportional to the dynamic viscosity of the fluid, µ, which is a measure of the resistance of the fluid to the shearing that is necessary for fluid flow Lusczynski (1961) introduced the concept of point-water head, which is the water level in a well filled with water coming from a point in an aquifer and which is just enough to balance the pressure in the aquifer at that point Fresh-water heads can then be calculated and used for the determination of hydraulic gradients and flow directions For theoretical reasons, equivalent freshwater heads cannot be used to determine the hydraulic gradient in aquifers where there is a lateral variation in density Steps in the determination of the direction of groundwater flow in an anisotropic medium 10 11 12 13 using the hydraulic conductivity ellipse The force potential is the driving impetus behind ground-water flow, and is equal to the product of hydraulic head and the acceleration of gravity A flow net is especially useful in isotropic media; however, with certain transformations it can be used with anisotropic aquifers (independent phrases) In some field investigations the practicing hydrogeologist may need to know the hydraulic conductivity of low-permeability materials Cedergren (1989) presents a complete discussion of the construction of flow nets, including those in anisotropic media If there is the steady movement of ground water in a confined aquifer, there will be gradient or slope to the potentiometric surface of the aquifer (there is/there are) If there is no recharge or evaporation when the flow traverses the region, the quantity of water flowing through the left side is equal to that flowing through the right side Appendix 2: a) The survey questionnaire THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Good morning Sir/Madam! I am Nguyen Thi Cuc, a lecturer at Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Hanoi University of Mining and Geology Now, I am doing a survey on difficulties in English and Vietnamese translation of hydrogeology texts in order to get information for completing my M.A thesis Could you please help me to answer the following questions? What you think how difficult English - Vietnamese translation of hydrogeology texts is to your geology-majored students? 60 (1) very difficult (2) difficult (3) normal (4) easy How you mark the difficulty level of the following features to English- Very difficult (1) Vietnamese translation of hydrogeology texts? a Hydrogeology terminologies b Nominalizations c The passive sentences d Empty verbs e Present tenses f Third persons g Empty subject It h The relative clauses Could you list other features that can cause difficulty to your students’ translation of hydrogeology texts from English into Vietnamese? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… …… What you often to help your students to overcome these difficult features in English - Vietnamese translation of hydrogeology texts? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… …… 61 Personal information Name: …………………………………… Telephone number: ……………………… THANK YOU SO MUCH! Appendix 2: b) Summary table for the survey questionnaires Q.1 a b c d e f g h Q.3 - - Too long senten - Legends of the Ask students to look difficult terms in Q.4 62 ... related languages, can literal translation be understood thanks to their similar general grammatical forms 14 Otherwise, the literal choice of grammatical form and lexical items makes the translation. .. data analysis aimed at analyzing and pinpointing the common translation methods/procedures used in the translation of English geology texts into Vietnamese In fact, a flexible combination of methods... English and Vietnamese geological textbooks are similar in their same pattern of organization with three main parts, a high percentage of unmarked theme, a large number of declarative clauses and