Chiến lược dịch ẩn dụ áp dụng trong bản dịch cuộc đời của pi của dịch giả trịnh lữ

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER AN INVESTIGATION INTO STRATEGIES APPLIED IN VIETNAMESE’S TRANSLATION OF METAPHORS EMPLOYED IN THE NOVEL “CUỘC ĐỜI CỦA PI” BY TRINH LU Supervisor: Nguyễn Ngọc Ninh, M.A Student: Bùi Thị Hường Course: QH 2011 HANOI – 2015 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH ẨN DỤ ÁP DỤNG TRONG BẢN DỊCH « CUỘC ĐỜI CỦA PI » CỦA DỊCH GIẢ TRỊNH LỮ Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Th.s Nguyễn Ngọc Ninh Sinh viên : Bùi Thị Hường Khóa : QH 2011 Hà Nội, 2015 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Bùi Thị Hường, 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 May, 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my supervisor Ms Nguyen Ngoc Ninh who guided and encouraged me throughout the preparation and writing of my thesis With great scrutiny, she offered me insightful comments and suggestions at each stage of my thesis Without her valuable guidance, warm encouragement and patient corrections, this thesis would not be accomplished Secondly, my sincere gratitude goes to Trinh Lu, the translator of the research’s selected literary work, whose original ideas and advices in metaphor translation helped to deepen this thesis I am also very grateful to my dear friends who offered me their generous help, gave me many useful advices and shared with me their experiences of academic writing Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to my beloved family, which has always been a great support i ABSTRACT Metaphor has traditionally been viewed as the most important form of figurative language, and is generally seen as reaching its most sophisticated form in literary language Metaphors in literary works are also rich in culture-specific connotations, which gives rise to difficulties in the translation process The study aims to analyze the English-to-Vietnamese translation approaches to rendering metaphors in literary discourse, with specific reference to Yann Martel’s masterpiece “Life of Pi” (2001) and its Vietnamese version “ Cuộc đời Pi” translated by Trinh Lu (2004) The analysis is expected to help students of English Translation and Interpretation Division, ULIS –VNU in understanding and translating metaphors In order to accomplish this purpose, the researcher sought to grasp trainee translators’ understanding of metaphors by asking them to translate fifteen extracts from the original text of both live and dead metaphors, classified by Larson (1984) The results show that most students gain success in translating dead metaphors as their meanings can be looked up in dictionaries (Larson, 1984) while live metaphors consist of poetic and flowery words which require not only language proficiency but also understanding of source language culture; thus, they tend to be a far more difficult task for them in translation Besides, students made some mistakes in translating metaphors such as word choice and expression, literal translation and source language understanding To overcome these mistakes in translating metaphors, students should take into account many aspects, the two foremost of which are translation purpose and target readership (Trinh Lu, 2015) When these two factors are identified, five strategies of metaphor translation proposed by Larson (1984) were highly recommended These five strategies are reserving metaphors, translating as similes, reserving metaphors and giving explanations, using a target language equivalent metaphor and removing metaphorical imagery ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………… …….….i ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………… ……… ii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………… …… iii LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………………vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of problem and rationale for the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions… 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Metaphor 2.1.1 Definition of metaphor 2.1.2 Classification of metaphor 2.1.3 Annalyzing a metaphor 12 2.2 Strategies applied in translating a metaphor 14 2.2.1 Problems in understanding and translating a metaphor 14 2.2.2 Translating a metaphor 16 2.3 Chapter summary 19 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20 3.1 Structure of the study 20 3.2 Data sample – The book “Life of Pi” 21 3.3 Research methods 22 3.3.1 Procedures of data collection 22 3.3.1.1 Procedures of data collection for research questions and 22 3.3.1.2 Procedures of data collection for research question 23 iii 3.3.2 Procedures of data analysis 24 3.3.2.1 Data analysis procedures for research questions and 24 3.3.2.2 Data analysis procedures for research question 24 3.4 Chapter summary 25 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH RESULTS 26 4.1 Types of metaphors 26 4.2 Translation strategies 29 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 32 5.1 Translation of Trinh Lu ……… 32 5.1.1 Reserving metaphors……… 32 5.1.2 Translating as similes……… 35 5.1.3 Reserving metaphors and giving explanations 36 5.1.4 Using target language equivalent metaphors 37 5.1.5 Removing metaphorical imagery… 38 5.2 Translation of the participants 39 5.2.1 Translation of dead metaphors… 41 5.2.2 Translation of live metaphors… 45 5.3 Recommendations for translating metaphors 52 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS 55 6.1 Major findings 55 6.2 Limitations 56 6.3 Suggestions for further studies 57 REFERENCES… 58 APPENDIX 1…… 60 APPENDIX 2… 81 APPENDIX 83 iv LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES List of tables Table 1: Selected metaphorical expressions in “Life of Pi” 26 Table 2: The frequency of applied translation strategies 29 Table 3: Examples of reserving metaphors 32 Table 4: Examples of removing metaphors 38 Table 5: 15 extracts for students to translate… 40 Table 6: Students’ translations of dead metaphors… 42 Table 7: Students’ translations of live metaphors 45 Table 8: Students’ translation of live metaphors 48 Table 9: Students’ translation of live metaphors 51 Table 10: Students’ translation of live metaphors 51 List of figures Figure 1: Types of metaphor…… 29 Figure 2: Percentage of strategies applied in English – Vietnamese translation of metaphors… 31 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviation Meaning SL Source language TL Target language ST Source text TT Target text vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the statement of the problem and rationale, the aims, the scope and the significance of the whole study Most importantly, the research questions are identified to serve as the guideline for the study 1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Translation has strongly sprung up in the context of globalization Particularly, it is extremely important in today's world, where physical boundaries are not as limiting as those of language and communication Tran Ngoc Vuong said in the international conference focusing on literature translation [1] that “Locally- created literature works fail to meet the real reading demand, thus, it is necessary to have translated works” This statement confirms the necessity of translated works in Vietnam In the current Vietnamese market, there has aroused a trend of translated books in many different fields such as success in business, health and entertainment, etc However, among millions of such various types of translated books, literary works have been representing the majority To illustrate this point, Nguyen Le Chi who has made a significant contribution in bringing foreign literary works into Vietnam and promoting Vietnamese literary works aboard, said in The Third National Young Writer Conference[2] that literary works has accounted for fifty percent of all translated foreign works in the current Vietnamese market The number of Vietnamese people reading foreign literature works has increased for years, which is clearly shown in the purchasing power and continuous reprint of these books Thanks to thousands of literary works being translated intoVietnamese, [1] Titled Literature Translation: Theoretical Issues and Lessons of Experience, the event was hosted by the Hanoi College of Social Sciences in 2014 [2] Titled: The Third National Young Writer Conference held in Ho Chi Minh City from May 27th to May 29th in 2011 That tide of food, water and rest Đồ ăn nước uống nghỉ that flowed through my ngơi weakened system, bringing me triều dâng lên thể Simile a new lease on life, also brought suy yếu tôi, me the strength to see how mang cho sức sống desperate my situation was mới, đồng thời 80-221 làm cho tơi đủ tỉnh táo để nhận tình trạng tuyệt vọng His teeth- an entire army Hàm battalion in a mouth tiểu đoàn binh Simile 83-228 10 With my hands I checked the Hai tay sờ nắn đoạn knots and lashings incessantly, dây nút buộc không trying to read them the way a ngừng nghỉ, thể blind man would read Braille đọc chúng người mù 85-233 đọc chữ He's yawning My, my, what an Nó ngáp Kinh enormous pink cave Look at chưa, hang those long yellow stalactites khổng lồ Hãy nhìn and stalagmites Maybe today dài nhũ đá you'll get a chance to visit Biết đâu hơm Simile Simile có dịp vào chơi 11 Richard Parker's tongue, the Lưỡi Richard Parker, to Simile size and colour of a rubber có màu sắc hot-water bottle, retreated and túi cao su đựng nước 71 12 13 14 his mouth closed He nóng để chườm, lè swallowed thụt vào sau ngáp 96-263 Nó nuốt khan What I had seen up till now Cho đến tận cịn were hillocks of water These nhìn thấy sóng swells were truly mountains cao núi Đúng 119-324 trái núi I thought that perhaps I had Tơi tưởng gặp come upon the forest có vai trị equivalent of a queen bee, ong chúa khu 151-393 rừng, Up, close the fruit were dull Đến gần có màu green They were about the size xanh xỉn Chúng to Simile Simile Simile and shape of oranges Each was có hình dáng cam at the centre of a number of Quả nằm twigs that were tightly curled số cành xoắn xuýt around it-to protect it, I cuộn tròn xung quanh, supposed để bảo vệ 151-394 15 I went there with him three Mỗi tuần ba lần, vào thứ times a week throughout my Hai, thứ Tư thứ Sáu, childhood, a Monday, suốt năm thơ Wednesday, Friday early ấu, với ông đến bể bơi morning ritual with the vào sáng sớm thực clockwork regularity of a good thứ nghi lễ xác front-crawl stroke đặn cỗ máy đồng hồ luyện tập bơi sải 72 Simile 16 To the gurgling beat of my Theo nhịp ừng ực cổ greedy throat, pure, delicious, họng tham lam, dòng nước beautiful, crystalline water tinh khiết, ngon lành, đẹp flowed into my system đẽ vắt pha lê Simile chảy vào thể I took it thathe did I stabbed Tôi đâm dao vào cổ họng Reserving + him in the throat, next to the lão, sát cục yết hầu, Explanation Adam's apple trái táo Adam 172-435 Only oneimportant topic was Chỉ có chủ đề quan Reserving + not addressed: the establishing trọng khơng thấy nói đến: Explanation of alpha-omega relationships việc thiết lập mối quan hệ with major lifeboat pests alpha-omega, chủ tớ, 91-248 với vật nuôi xuồng cứu nạn It is interesting to note that the Một điều thú vị sư tử Reserving + lion that is the most amenable to dễ bảo vòng diễn Explanation the circus trainer’s tricks is the có địa vị xã hội thấp one with the lowest social bầy, hạng standing in the pride, the bét, xếp vào hàng cuối, omega animal omega If Andhra Pradesh, just north of Nếu Andhra Pradesh, us, was alien, if Sri Lanka, a phía Bắc chúng tôi, Explanation monkey’s hop across a strait, viễn xứ; Sri was the dark side of the moon, Lanka, cách imagine what Canada was eo biển hẹp khỉ P 46- 132 nhảy qua, phía tối 73 Reserving + mặt trăng, thử tưởng tượng xem Canada It was as if their tounges were Tưởng chừng lưỡi Reserving + charioteers driving wild thầy chiến binh Explanation horses phải cầm cương cỗ chiến xa bầy ngựa hoang kéo The body can be a hero in a Cơ thể tự dai sức Removing battle.If a castaway is injured, để sinh tồn metaphorical beware of well-meaning but ill- imagery founded medical treatment Ignorance is the worst doctor, while rest and sleep are the best nurses The thing was smaller than I- Nó nhỏ tôi, Removing but wasn't I being a foolhardy đâu có phải khổng lồ metaphorical Goliath here? imagery 116-315 Hot chapattis the size of Bánh bột lọc nóng to Removing Rajasthan núi metaphorical imagery That I was a swimmer made no Việc tay bơi cừ Removing waves; khôi, chẳng gây metaphorical tiếng tăm hết imagery .làm bụi bột mì bốc lên Removing throwing up a small storm of 74 flour mù mịt metaphorical imagery He made up for a lack of formal Thiếu đào tạo quy, Removing training with an intuitive gift bù lại, cha có metaphorical and a keen eye khiếu bẩm sinh mắt imagery nhìn sắc sảo and each would decide upon người nghĩ Removing seeing us that right then was the hội để họ gặp metaphorical golden occasion to meet that nhân vật tiếng imagery Pondicherry notable, Pondicherry, Why climb this Mount Everest Tại phải trèo qua dãy Equivalent of formalities that makes you thái sơn thủ tục metaphor feel like a beggar? Why enter giấy tờ khiến ta cảm thấy this jungle of foreigness where kẻ ăn mày? everything is new, strange and Tại phải dấn bước vào difficult? khu rừng ngoại lai nơi tất p.45 thứ lạ lẫm, khó khăn chưa thấy? DEAD METAPHOR The day broke, humid and Ngày lại rạng, ẩm ướt overcast, with the wind warm âm u, với gió ấm and the sky a dense of blanket bầu trời phủ đầy of grey clouds that looked like đám mây xám đặc trông bunched-up, dirty cotton sheets chăn vải 75 Reserving Idm 71- 196 bẩn thỉu nhàu nhĩ I was feeling dizzy, but since Tơi thấy chóng mặt, the capital moment of my life giây phút trọng đại was coming up this dizziness đến, chóng mặt only added to my sense of làm tăng thêm cảm giác frightened sublimity thăng hoa hãi hùng 72- 200 lịng tơi It seemed the presence of a tiger Có vẻ có mặt hổ had saved me from a hyena- cứu khỏi hàm surely a textbook example of linh cẩu - jumping from the frying pan ví dụ điển into the fire hình tượng Idm 75-207 khỏi chảo lại rơi thẳng Reserving Reserving vào bếp lửa mà The sky was a heavy, Trời chăn Suffocating blanket of grey dày nghẹt thở đầy chặt mây cloud, but without promise of xám, mà lại khơng có tí rain mưa Reserving Idm 114- 310 Getting animals used to the Cốt lõi nghệ thuật presence of humans is at the khoa học coi sóc vườn thú heart of art and science of cho động vật zookeeping quen với có mặt Reserving người It is this compliant animal, to Chính thú thứ bét the public no different from the ngoan ngoãn này, mắt others in size and apparent công chúng to lớn ferocity, that will be the star of khác 76 Reserving the show, while the trainer bầy, leaves the beta and gamma buổi diễn, lions người dạy thú để mặc thứ nhì thứ ba bầy ngồi chầu rìa xung quanh There is Brahman, the world Có Brahman, linh hồn soul, the sustaining frame upon giới, khung muôn which is woven đời dải lụa sinh tồn Reserving dệt nên Technology helps and good Khoa học kĩ thuật có ích ideas spread-these are two laws ý tưởng hay of nature truyền bá- hai quy Reserving luật tự nhiên But it was to Father the Nhưng với cha, dấu crowning touch in Mrs hiệu cuối việc bà Grandhi’s dictatorial takeover Grandhi lên độc of the nation The camel at the tài chiếm đoạt quốc gia zoo was unfazed, but that straw Con lạc đà vườn thú broke Father’s back chẳng hấn gì, p.45 sợi rơm bẻ gãy lưng Reserving cha 10 The trees were larger in the Cây cối to rừng centre of the forest and closely mọc sít set many trees on the quanh khu vực rừng perimeter of the heart of the forest whose bark had been 77 Reserving practically shredded Idm.151- 392 11 To prosper, a zoo needs Để phồn thịnh, vườn parliamentary government, thú cần đến quốc vụ viện, democratic elections, freedom bầu cử dân chủ, tự of speech, freedom of the ngôn luận, tự báo press, freedom of association, chí, tự hội họp, luật lệ rule of law and everything else pháp chế rõ ràng đủ enshrined in India’s thứ khác mà người ta Constitution cam kết thiêng liêng Reserving phải có Hiến pháp Ấn Độ Beware if you go to Calcutta, Hãy cẩn thận vị đến Equivalent my good sirs: if you have sushi Calcutta Qúy vị thân mến on the breath you may pay a phải trả giá đắt high price! thở quý Idm 163- 417 vị có mùi sushi đấy! How true it is that necessity is Quả thật người ta bảo the mother of invention, how khó ló khơn, thật metaphor very true metaphor Equivalent Idm 76-210 Any business is risky business Việc làm ăn có rủi Equivalent and none more so than small ro cả, khơng có rủi business, the one that risks the ro công việc shirt on its back làm ăn nhỏ, p/46-131 chì lẫn chài He was moving through them, Richard Parker qua 78 metaphor Equivalent blazing a trail of murder and trùng điệp chồn biển, đến metaphor mayhem, devouring one đâu giết đến không meerkat after another, blood thương tiếc mảy may, móng dripping from his mouth, and ròng ròng miệng, they, cheek to jowl with a tiger, chúng, kề môi áp má với were jumping up and down on hổ ấy, nhảy the spot, as if crying, "My turn! chồm chồm lên chỗ My turn! My turn!" I would thể kêu, “Đến see this scene time and again lượt tôi! Nào! Đến lượt tôi!” Tôi thấy cảnh tượng nhiều lần .India is on the cusp of .Ấn Độ đỉnh điểm Removing becoming a truly modern and trình trở thành metaphorical advanced nation… dân tộc thực tiên tiến imagery đại When he sees me he stops dead Thấy tôi, cậu đứng sững, Removing in his tracks, startled metaphorical Idm, p.54- 149 imagery The key aim is to diminish an Mục đích rút ngắn Removing animal’s flight distance, khoảng cách bỏ chạy metaphorical vật, imagery Ravi walked in last, guilt Ravi vào cuối cùng, vẻ mặt Removing written all over his criminal đầy tội lỗi metaphorical imagery face He gave me the evil face Rồi anh nhìn tơi hằn học 79 Removing metaphorical imagery 80 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Question 1: Did you recognize and pay special attention to metaphors while translating the novel “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel (2001)? Question 2: Metaphor can be considered as a hidden comparison, in your opinion when translators should: + reserving metaphors in the source text: English version Vietnamese translation “I have nothing to say of my “ Cuộc đời làm chẳng có đáng working life, only that a tie is a nói, trừ nhận xét cà vạt noose, and inverted though it is, it thịng lọng, lộn ngược, will hang a man nonetheless if he’s treo cổ người ta đến chết không thận not careful” trọng” (p.5) (p.27) “A cloud of uncertainty came over “Một đám mây phân vân bao phủ gương mặt her face” mẹ” (p.43) (p.124) “But it was to Father the crowning Nhưng với cha, dấu hiệu cuối touch in Mrs Grandhi’s dictatorial việc bà Grandhi lên độc tài chiếm takeover of the nation The camel at đoạt quốc gia Con lạc đà vườn thú the zoo was unfazed, but that straw chẳng hấn gì, sợi rơm bẻ broke Father’s back.” gãy lưng cha (p.45) (p.130) + using a Vietnamese equivalent metaphor: Why climb this Mount Everest of Tại phải trèo qua dãy thái sơn formalities that makes you feel like thủ tục giấy tờ khiến ta cảm thấy a beggar? Why enter this jungle of kẻ ăn mày? Tại phải dấn bước vào 81 foreigness where everything is new, khu rừng ngoại lai nơi tất thứ lạ strange and difficult? lẫm, khó khăn chưa thấy? (p.45) (p.129) + removing metaphorical imagery and converting that metaphor into senses: The body can be a hero in a battle Cơ thể tự dai sức để sinh tồn Nếu bị If a castaway is injured, beware of thương phải cảnh giác với phương pháp well-meaning but ill-founded chữa trị tưởng hay vô medical treatment (p.246) (p.90) The thing was smaller than I-but Nó nhỏ tơi, tơi đâu có phải khổng wasn't I being a foolhardy Goliath lồ here? (p.315) (p.116) Hot chapattis the size of Rajasthan Bánh bột lọc nóng to núi (p 112) (p 306) Câu 3: Could you please give me advices and suggestions for translating metaphors? 82 APPENDIX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Hi everyone My name’s Bui Thi Huong, from 11E19 I’m conducting a graduation thesis Please help me by translating 15 English sentences below into Vietnamese You may refer to the context hints in parenthesis Your help will be highly appreciated No English version Vietnamese Translation A cloud of uncertainty came over her face (“her” means “mom”) What I had before me was a spectacle of wind and water, an earthquake of the senses, that even Hollywood couldn’t orchestrate I was my luck to have a few good teachers in my youth, men and women who came into my dark head and lit a match But it was to Father the crowning touch in Mrs Grandhi’s dictatorial takeover of the nation The camel at the zoo was unfazed, but that straw broke Father’s back I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he’s not careful What I had seen up till now were hillocks of water These swells were 83 truly mountains With my hands I checked the knots and lashings incessantly, trying to read them the way a blind man would read Braille It is interesting to note that the lion that is the most amenable to the circus trainer’s tricks is the one with the lowest social standing in the pride, the omega animal That I was a swimmer made no waves 10 Why climb this Mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? Why enter this jungle of foreigness where everything is new, strange and difficult? 11 It seemed the presence of a tiger had saved me from a hyena- surely a textbook example of jumping from the frying pan into the fire 12 How true it is that neccessity is the mother of invention, how very true 13 Any business is risky business and none more so than small business, 84 the one that risks the shirt on its back 14 He was moving through them, blazing a trail of murder and mayhem, devouring one meerkat after another, blood dripping from his mouth, and they, cheek to jowl with a tiger, were jumping up and down on the spot, as if crying, "My turn! My turn! My turn!" I would see this scene time and again (“he” refers to “Richard Parker – a tiger) 15 When he sees me he stops dead in his tracks, startled THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION! 85 ... NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH ẨN DỤ ÁP DỤNG TRONG BẢN DỊCH « CUỘC ĐỜI CỦA PI » CỦA DỊCH GIẢ TRỊNH LỮ Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Th.s Nguyễn Ngọc Ninh Sinh viên... literary discourse, with specific reference to Yann Martel’s masterpiece “Life of Pi? ?? (2001) and its Vietnamese version “ Cuộc đời Pi? ?? translated by Trinh Lu (2004) The analysis is expected to help... original selected material “Life of Pi? ?? by Yann Martel (2001) and which translation strategies were employed in the Vietnamese translation named ? ?Cuộc đời Pi? ?? by Trinh Lu (2004) By studying carefully