The goals of this study are to identify and investigate the application of omission and addition strategies in the Vietnamese translation of The Secret Garden by Nguyen Tuan Khanh as well as to examine the perspectives held by chosen readers and the translator toward these applications. The idea is to reinforce the roles of addition and omission during the translation process as two translation strategies instead of miscues. Data for this study were obtained through the help of questionnaire and interview. Firstly, the questionnaire was delivered to a number of selected readers in order to get their ideas on the issue, particularly if they are favored or infavored of addition and omission applications together with the reasons for their choice. A questionnaire was also distributed to the translator in order to discover the motives for his applications of the two strategies and compare them with the readers’ opinions. Furthermore, a semistructured interview with the translator was conducted with the aim of getting the translator’s perspectives on the employment of addition and omission during translation process in general. On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that addition strategy tends to be utilized more than omission, and most of the instances detected in the case study is favored by readers. One interesting point can be found is that the translator did make a lot of assumptions about readers when translating the novel, and these assumptions actually match with the majority of respondents’ opinions on the topic of reasons for the applications of those investigated addition and omission phenomena. Moreover, the data also support the expectation that addition and omission play a certain role when translators render messages from one language to another. The goals of this study are to identify and investigate the application of omission and addition strategies in the Vietnamese translation of The Secret Garden by Nguyen Tuan Khanh as well as to examine the perspectives held by chosen readers and the translator toward these applications. The idea is to reinforce the roles of addition and omission during the translation process as two translation strategies instead of miscues. Data for this study were obtained through the help of questionnaire and interview. Firstly, the questionnaire was delivered to a number of selected readers in order to get their ideas on the issue, particularly if they are favored or infavored of addition and omission applications together with the reasons for their choice. A questionnaire was also distributed to the translator in order to discover the motives for his applications of the two strategies and compare them with the readers’ opinions. Furthermore, a semistructured interview with the translator was conducted with the aim of getting the translator’s perspectives on the employment of addition and omission during translation process in general. On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that addition strategy tends to be utilized more than omission, and most of the instances detected in the case study is favored by readers. One interesting point can be found is that the translator did make a lot of assumptions about readers when translating the novel, and these assumptions actually match with the majority of respondents’ opinions on the topic of reasons for the applications of those investigated addition and omission phenomena. Moreover, the data also support the expectation that addition and omission play a certain role when translators render messages from one language to another.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER OMISSION AND ADDITION IN THE VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT’S THE SECRET GARDEN Supervisor: Ngô Hà Thu, MCS Student: Lê Thị Thùy Linh Course: QH2011.F1.E19 HÀ NỘI – 2015 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH THÊM VÀ LƯỢC DỊCH TRONG BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG VIỆT TÁC PHẨM KHU VƯỜN BÍ MẬT CỦA TÁC GIẢ FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Th.S Ngô Hà Thu Sinh viên: Lê Thị Thùy Linh Khóa: QH2011.F1.E19 HÀ NỘI – 2015 STATEMENT OF ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Lê Thị Thùy Linh from class QH2011.F1.E19, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature Date i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep and sincere thank to Ms Ngo Ha Thu, MCS for her guidance and motivation during the entire process of conducting this graduation paper Her constructive mentorship was actually of paramount significance in providing me with necessary knowledge and experience to have this paper carried out and completed In addition, following Ms Thu’s guidance also motivated me to maintain a serious and determining attitude throughout the conduction of this research so as to finish it on schedule with the best quality as possible I would also like to be extremely grateful to Mr Nguyen Tuan Khanh, the translator of The Secret Garden, for his great cooperation in providing responses for the questionnaire and participating in the semi-structured interview Though the translator was in process of disease treatment, he still appeared quite enthusiastic and helpful to respond to all of the questions so that I could gather the primary data that were necessary for deeper analysis on the issue As such, but for the translator’s persistent support, this thesis would not have been possible Finally, I would like to thank all of my classmates and fellows majoring in English Translation and Interpreting for their cooperation in taking part in the questionnaire to supply precious data for my study Moreover, a special thank would be given to my friends and family who always stood by my side and persistently encouraged me to work hard for the dissertation ii ABSTRACT The goals of this study are to identify and investigate the application of omission and addition strategies in the Vietnamese translation of The Secret Garden by Nguyen Tuan Khanh as well as to examine the perspectives held by chosen readers and the translator toward these applications The idea is to reinforce the roles of addition and omission during the translation process as two translation strategies instead of miscues Data for this study were obtained through the help of questionnaire and interview Firstly, the questionnaire was delivered to a number of selected readers in order to get their ideas on the issue, particularly if they are favored or infavored of addition and omission applications together with the reasons for their choice A questionnaire was also distributed to the translator in order to discover the motives for his applications of the two strategies and compare them with the readers’ opinions Furthermore, a semi-structured interview with the translator was conducted with the aim of getting the translator’s perspectives on the employment of addition and omission during translation process in general On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that addition strategy tends to be utilized more than omission, and most of the instances detected in the case study is favored by readers One interesting point can be found is that the translator did make a lot of assumptions about readers when translating the novel, and these assumptions actually match with the majority of respondents’ opinions on the topic of reasons for the applications of those investigated addition and omission phenomena Moreover, the data also support the expectation that addition and omission play a certain role when translators render messages from one language to another iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study: 1.2 Research objectives, research questions, significance and scope of the study 1.2.1 Research objectives 1.2.2 Research questions 1.2.3 Significance of the study 1.2.4 Scope of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of Translation 2.2 Translation Strategies 2.3 Addition and Omission 2.3.1 Addition 2.3.2 Omission 15 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 20 3.1 Research methods 20 3.2 Selection of subjects 21 3.3 Data collection instruments 21 3.4 Data collection procedures 22 CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS 23 4.1 Discussion on investigated materials 23 4.1.1 The application of addition strategy 24 4.1.2 The frequency of omission types 28 iv 4.2 Discussion on questionnaire on addition and omission strategies: Reasons for the applications of addition and omission and the respondents’ perspectives toward those applications 33 4.2.1 Reasons for addition instances and respondents’ perspectives toward the applications 33 4.2.2 Reasons for omission instances and respondents’ perspectives toward the applications 43 4.3 Discussion on the interview with translator about his perspectives toward the applications of addition and omission when translating The Secret Garden 52 4.4 Implication 56 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 57 5.1 Summary of Findings 57 5.2 Strengths and Weaknesses 59 5.3 Suggestions for further study 59 v LIST OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS List of figures Figure Frequency of addition types (p.23) Figure Frequency of omission types (p.28) Abbreviations ST: Source text TT: Target text SL: Source language TL: Target language vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the focus is placed on rationale, research objectives, research questions, significance and scope of the study 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Now that the whole world is coming together on the basis of sharing information and communication advances, it is evidentthat there has been a constant demand and an unprecedented need for translation of ideas from one language into another As such, translation serves as an “ice breaker” which helps bringing people around the world close to each other In the translation process, translators have to deal between two languages with different cultures On this issue, Louise M Haywood from the Universityof Cambridge proposes that “translation is not just a movement betweentwo languages but also between two cultures” (1995, p.135) As a result, it remains problematic and controversial to question that whether the translation can produce the same meaning or message in the target language text as the author intended This problem of equivalence has been elaborated within the field of translation by many scholars such as Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), Jakobson (1959), Nida and Taber (1982), Catford (1965), House (1977) and Baker (1992), in which they classify various problems of equivalence in translation and suggest a number of strategies to deal with them Among the strategies suggested, the researcher would like to concentrate on addition and omission since technically they are directly involved in the loss and gain in terms of meaning of the translation The case study of this research is the Vietnamese translation of The Secret Garden by Nguyen Tuan Khanh, in the light that the translator strives to properly reproduce the prose fiction by using a number of translation strategies, including addition and omission Though the terms addition and omission have been mentioned for so long by the main figure in the founding of Translation Studies, Peter Newmark (1988a), it seems that he only spares little analysis on the issues Besides, being a student majoring in translation and interpreting, the researcher always finds it exhilarating to study the original and translated versions of many literary works because, by carefully analyzing the translations, there can be many invaluable lessons she can unexpectedly learn from them such as how to handle specific difficult texts and select appropriate translation strategies Coincidentally, the translation of The Secret Garden is an excellent case in which the researcher comes across various instances of addition and omission and subsequently draws out interesting lessons Considering this situation, the researcher can find a strong drive to conduct this research in order to provide a more detailed insight about the employment of addition and omission strategies in translation By studying the translated version, the researcher proposes to discuss how addition and omission are applied in the translation as well as to examine the perspectives held by fourth-year students majoring in English Translation and Interpreting of ULIS – VNU (batch QH2011) and the translator toward these applications 1.2 Research objectives, research questions, significance and scope of the study 1.2.1 Research objectives The study mainly aims at investigating the application of omission and addition strategies in the translated version The Secret Garden by Nguyen Tuan Khanh Another goal of the research is to examine the thoughts of a number of chosen readers and the translator about each case that employs omission or addition strategy 1.2.2 Research questions Question 1: How omission and addition strategies are applied in the translation of The Secret Garden? ... TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH THÊM VÀ LƯỢC DỊCH TRONG BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG VIỆT TÁC PHẨM KHU VƯỜN BÍ MẬT CỦA TÁC GIẢ FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT Giáo... subsequently draws out interesting lessons Considering this situation, the researcher can find a strong drive to conduct this research in order to provide a more detailed insight about the employment... certain well-known cotton mill in Massachusetts (Károly, K., 2006) TT: Anh ta trai chủ nhân nhà máy tiếng bang Massachusetts 2.3.1.3 Addition in the case of institutional names The majority of TL