English vietnamese translation of idioms and proverbs relating to animals in cultural domain

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION FALCUTY OF LINGUISTICS AND CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF IDIOMS AND PROVERBS RELATING TO ANIMALS IN CULTURAL DOMAIN Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Cam Linh, MA Student: Phi Hai Yen Year of enrolment: QH2009.F.1.E25 HANOI - 2013 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHOA NGƠN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HĨA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP DỊCH THÀNH NGỮ, TỤC NGỮ VỀ LOÀI VẬT TỪ TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT TRÊN KHÍA CẠNH VĂN HĨA Giáo viên hướng dẫn: ThS Nguyễn Thị Cẩm Linh Sinh viên: Phí Hải Yến Khóa: QH2009.F.1.E25 HÀ NỘI –NĂM 2013 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Phí Hải Yến, class QH2009.F.1.E25, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University 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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Cam Linh, who has supported me with her enthusiasm, patience and professional knowledge for the accomplishment of my thesis Her stimulating suggestions and critical comments would be considerably helpful to me In addition to, I am much obliged to the University of Languages and International Studies – the Faculty of English Teacher Education, which has equipped a full source of precious reference That would be the great support as I have virtually exploited and used the material effectively for my thesis Last but not least, I owe profound indebtedness to my parents for supporting me throughout all my studies at University and my friends, who always stand by me and encourage me no matter what happens Once again, I would like to express my deepest thank to all these people Without their help, I would not have been able to complete this research ii ABSTRACT It cannot be denied that language and culture have a mutual interaction and close connection with each other The characteristics of a culture is presented via a language, and vice versa, a language is also a vital component of a culture, especially in the globalized world in which cross-cultural and bilingual issues become popular and the translation becomes necessary There exists the culture-bounded terms which are, as a result, playing an important part in translation studies If the culture-related issues in translation are solved, the gap of cultural differences between countries, such as Vietnam and the English-speaking world, would be shortened Among such culture-bound terms, proverbs and idioms have been considered the most attributive factor of language in a culture In addition, animal connotations play significant roles This study aims at reckoning the similarities and differences of the animal connotations in the proverbs, idioms between the Vietnamese culture and Englishspeaking countries’ cultures A further goal of the research is to figure out the most appropriate procedures applied in translating such culture-bounded terms Fulfilling the goals of the study, there are three main steps that the researcher followed: first, cultural correspondence of each proverb and idiom between the two cultures was defined, second, the strategies applied in translating the proverbs and idioms were examined, and finally the similarities and differences between the two cultures were shown for the better understanding of the translation of cultural terms From the results of the study, there would be a close look at not only the translation of proverbs and idioms but also the similar and different concepts of the two cultures That would be a helpful reference for next generations of researchers in both fields of translation and culture iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE…………………………………………………………… .…i ACKNOLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………… … …ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………….……………… vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study .2 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Organization of the paper: CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Translation 2.1.1 Definition of translation 2.1.2 Translation procedures and translation methods .7 2.1.3 Cultural Equivalence 10 2.2 Definition of other key terms 11 2.2.1 Definition of proverbs and idioms 11 2.2.2 Definition of cultural domains 12 2.2.3 Cultural correspondence 13 2.2.3.1 Absolute correspondence 13 2.2.3.2 Partial correspondence 14 2.2.3.3 No correspondence 14 2.2.4 Connotation .14 2.3 Relationship among language, culture and translation 15 2.4 Previous related studies 16 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY iv 3.1 Qualitative approach .17 3.2 Sampling 17 3.3 Data collection instruments 18 3.4 Data collection procedure .18 3.5 Data analysis procedures 18 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Absolute correspondence 20 4.1.1 Findings 20 4.1.2 Discussion 24 4.2 Partial correspondence 26 4.2.1 Findings 26 4.2.2 Discussion 30 4.3 No correspondence 31 4.3.1 Findings 31 4.3.2 Discussion .35 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of findings 36 5.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 37 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………….… 39 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………… … 41 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table Absolute correspondence 20 Table Partial correspondence 42 Table No correspondence 31 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study Translation is commonly known as the bridge not only of source language and target one but also of the two cultures in which the languages reflect to some extents As a result, translating is dealing with both a cover of language and the cultural content inside As Claire (in 1998) assumed that words are communicably uttered by people to express facts, ideas and events as well as attitudes, beliefs, viewpoints of the authors These factors are component parts of culture From this assumption, it is referred that language of a nation is virtually in close relation with its culture; the language is one aspect of culture and reflects the culture One of the most typical elements of the implication of culture in language is the use of proverbs and idioms used frequently and enormously in everyday conversation, writing in every context (Hien, 2006, 3) They could express the speakers/writers' ideas in the precise but profound way The animal is so close to the human that it is used in proverbs and idiom with the connotative meanings to give the truth, advices or imply the maxim of humanity In other word, proverbs and idioms are the typical culture-bound terms which not have literal meanings but contain cultural connotations There are a great number of English and Vietnamese animalrelated proverbs and idioms Therefore, due to the differences between the two cultures, in translation practice, it is necessary for translators to know not only the literal meanings but also the understanding of a culture of the language they are dealing with It is not, indeed, a simple task to convey a message from a language to another as concisely, naturally and beautifully as possible Indeed, for those reasons above, there are certain translation difficulties imposed to translators relating to Culture since according to Nida (in 2001): "The meaning of culturally marked words is often difficult to grasp without some cultural knowledge and poses translation problems, particularly when the words are associated with cultural domains" In the University of Languages and International studies, with the research target of animal-related proverbs and idioms, nevertheless, there are many prior studies on English into Vietnamese translation with deep analysis and further findings Hence, it's essential to take cultural domains into consideration and find out the most suitable translation procedures to tackle these imposed difficulties As an attempt to examine this under-researched topic, the researcher has decided to conduct a replication of Razieh's study of cultural connotations of animals in translation: proverbs, idioms, sayings (English- Persian) in 2012 This research is to acknowledge the findings of Razieh's to develop further and then apply in the context of EnglishVietnamese translation of animal-related proverbs and idioms concerning the cultural domains of Vietnam and other English-speaking counties As proverbs and idioms are used a lot, in the translation practice, translators might deal with them regularly Language reflects its culture, so the understanding of both source language (SL) and target language (TL) and finding the proper equivalent to a given proverb or an idiom are still huge obstacles For all reasons above, doing a research on this area, apart from the main aim of figuring out the translation procedures for animal- related proverbs and idioms, the researcher hopes to define the similarities and differences in the ways of thinking between English culture and Vietnamese culture through the analysis of animal-related proverbs and idioms translation 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study Firstly, the study aims at defining the similarities and differences of connotations of animal-related proverbs and idioms between the two cultures of English and Vietnamese society Next, there will be a close look at the type of correspondence that each proverb or idiom belongs to That means how much proverbs or idioms in English and Vietnamese are similar in terms of meaning Finally, from the defined similarities and differences, a detailed analysis of the Vietnamese and English proverb sand idioms The outcome of that might futher contribute to the sound and complete analysis of the similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English proverbs and idioms From those results, the cuture-realted issues within a research subjects in particular and in language in general Moreover, this study focuses on the English to Vietnamese translation only That means only English provebs and idioms are collected, and analyzed There will be a pity if the Vietnamese proverbs and idioms are put aside as these play a significant role in the diversity and beauty of Vietnamese Last but not least, the equivalents as well as the translation versions are mainly given basing on the understanding about translation study and culture of a researcher Another one who has deeper understanding might have better version of translation 38 REFERENCES Claire K (1998) Language and Culture New York: Oxford University Press Hien T T L (2006) Proverbs and Idioms Related to Animals in English and Vietnamese University of Pedagogy Nida, E (2001) Contexts in Translating Amsterdam: John Benjamins Razieh, M (2012) Cultural connotations of animals in translation: proverbs, idioms, sayings Isfahan, Iran: University of Isfahan Jakobson, R (1959) On Linguistic Aspects of Translation London and New York: Routledge Munday, J (2001) Introducing Translation Studies New York: Routledge Sari, F (2009) An Analysis of Translation Procedures of Translating computer term in Andrews tanenbaum 3rd Computer Networks into Bahasa Indonesia University of Sumatera Utara Newmark, P (1988a) Approaches to Translation Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall Newmark, P (1988b) A Textbook of Translation Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall The Aalborg University Retrieved February 20th, 2013 from http://www.hum.aau.dk/~kim/BoT10/bot5.pdf Ordudari, M (2007) Translation procedures, strategies and methods: Isfahan University Nida, E A (1964) Towards a science of translation, with special reference to principles and procedures involved in Bible translating Leiden: Brill Hatim, B A & Munday, J (2004) Translation: An Advanced Resource Book New York: Taylor & Francis Turnbull & Joanna et al (2010).Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (8th Edition) Oxford University Press Ghazala, H (2001) Cross-cultural link in translation Retrieve March 6, 2009 from http://www.arabization.org.ma/downloads/majalla/50/pdf/51.pdf 39 Salehi, M (2012) Reflections on Culture, Language and Translation Journal of Academic and Applied Studies, 2(5), 76- 85 Lambert, J (2000) Cultural studies, the study of cultures and the question of language: facing/ excluding in new millennium In D Delabastita , L D'hulst, & R Meylaerts (2006), Functional approach to culture and translation (pp.163-172).Amsterdam:John Benjamins Hongwei, C (1999) Cultural difference and translation Translations' Journal, 44, 121-132 Graedler, A.L (2000) Cultural shock Retrieved December 6, 2006 from http://www.hf.uio.no/iba/nettkurs/translation/grammar/top7culture.html Your teacher at inhand Retrieved February 20th, 2013 from http://www.learnenglish.de/idioms/animaldioms.htm 40 APPENDICES No English Vietnamese Proverbs/ equivalence Meaning Correspon Translation dence procedure Idioms An old fox is Sống lâu The old people are Partial Functional not easily lão làng, experienced and not Correspon Equivalent snared gừng già easy to be deceived dence cay, mèo già hóa cáo Each bird Mèo khen Humans have the Partial Functional loves to hear mèo dài đuôi inclination to be Correspon Equivalent conceited, seeing dence himself sing objects belonging to them are the best Crocodile Nước mắt cá To shed false tears Absolute Literal tears sấu or show insincere Correspon translation grief dence To something Partial gió, cá naturally and easily, Correspon Equivalent gặp nước without fear or dence Feel like duck Như diều gặp in water Functional hesitation You cannot Giang sơn dễ People who have Partial teach an old đổi, tính long been used to Correspon + Cutural dog new khó dời some things in a dence tricks particular way will 41 Modulation equivalent = Couplets not easily change their habits Like a frog in Ếch ngồi đáy People are arrogant Absolute Literal a well giếng but silly and Correspon translation unknown about the dence world Close as an Câm hến oyster Someone who is as Absolute Literal close as an Correspon translation oyster will never dence reveal something told in confidence or betray a secret A leopard Giang sơn dễ A person cannot Partial Functional cannot đổi tính change who they are Correspon translation change its khó dời and their identity, dence spots 10 and characters A bird in the Có It is better to be No Functional hand is worth tay content with that Correspon translation two in the hai mà you have than to risk dence bush không nắm losing everything by seeking to get more Người The person The early bird catc trước người who gets started earl hes the worm có lợi No Functional Correspon equivalent y has a better chance dence of success 11 Every dog is Chó cậy gần People tend to be 42 Absolute Literal valiant at his nhà, own door more valiant when Correspon in their own dence translation territory, where they know everything best and the advantages that they have 12 13 A bookworm Mọt sách People who love Absolute Literal books a lot and read Correspon translation all the times dence To be like Mừng quýnh If someone is like a No Functional a dog with lên dog with two tails, Correspon equivalent they are extremely dence two tails happy 14 To eat like a Ăn heo horse 15 People eat a lot than Partial Cultural normal Correspon equivalent/ dence Adaptation Water off Nước đổ đầu Criticism or Absolute Literal a duck's back vit comments which Correspon translation have no effect on dence someone is referred to as being ''like water off a duck's back 16 To pull Đột ngột gây to surprise everyone No Functional a rabbit out of bất ngờ với by suddenly doing Correspon equivalent 43 the hat người khác something that dence shows a lot of skill, often in order to solve a problem 17 A wolf Sói đội lốt To describe Absolute Literal in sheep's clot cừu someone as a wolf Correspon translation in sheep's dence hing clothing means that although they look harmless, they are really very dangerous 18 19 20 bull by the Khơng sợ khó To grapple with a difficulty instead of khăn nguy horns hiểm avoiding it dence A dragon Sư tử Hà A woman who is Partial Cultural lady Đông domineering and Correspon equivalent/ belligerent dence Adaptation To take the No Functional Correspon equivalent Love me, Yêu yêu This expression Partial Functional love my dog đường means that if Correspon Equivalent someone loves you, dence they must love everything about you, including everyone and everything that you love 44 21 22 To have Rất căng The feeling of No Descriptive butterflies in thẳng anxiousness/nervous Correspon translation your stomach chuyện ness you get dence To have Bồn chồn, People who No Descriptive ants in one's lịng nóng have ants in their Correspon translation pants lửa đốt pants are very dence restless or excited about something 23 Bat out of Như ma đuổi hell If something Partial Functional moves like a bat out Correspon Equivalent of hell, it moves dence very quickly 24 Bear with a Nóng tính sore head 25 Someone is very No Descriptive irritable and bad- Correspon translation tempered dence To break the Vượt qua Someone No Descriptive back of the hoạn nạn succeeds in Correspon translation overcoming a major dence beast difficulty 26 Bee in one's Trăn trở Someone who has No Descriptive bonnet điều a bee in their Correspon translation bonnet has an idea dence which constantly occupies their thoughts 27 Kill Một mũi tên You succeed in 45 Absolute Literal 28 two birds wit trúng hai doing two things at Correspon Translation h one stone chim the same time dence Red flag to Khiến To make someone No Descriptive a bull điên lên very angry or upset Correspon Equivalent dence 29 A cat in Cận thận dè If you are too No Descriptive gloves dặt khó làm careful and polite, Correspon Equivalent catches no nên chuyện you may not obtain dence mice 30 A fat cat what you want Người giàu To refer to a rich No Descriptive có and powerful person Correspon translation that you disapprove dence of the way they use their money or power 31 Like cat and Như chó với Two people who Absolute Literal dog mèo fight or argue like Correspon Translation cat and dence dog frequently have violent arguments, even though they are fond of each other 32 A dog and Chiêu trò A dog and pony No Descriptive pony show quảng cáo show is a marketing Correspon translation event or presentation dence which has plenty of 46 style but not much content 33 Every dog Ai có Everyone can be No Descriptive s its day thời họ successful at Correspon translation something at some dence time in their life 34 Donkey's Chậm rùa Someone have been years 35 Partial Functional doing it for a very Correspon Equivalent long time dence Take to Làm dễ You it naturally Partial Functional something bỡn and easily, without Correspon Equivalent fear or hesitation dence like a duck to water 36 Fish out of Không thoải You feel Partial Functional water mái, tự uncomfortable in Correspon Equivalent tin unfamiliar dence surroundings 37 Big fish in a Mai nhân An important or Partial Functional small pond tài highly-ranked Correspon Equivalent person in a small dence group or organization 38 As sly as a fox Khôn cáo Someone is cunning Absolute Literal and clever at getting Correspon Translation what they want, dence especially by 47 deceiving or tricking people 39 Frog in one's Đau họng throat A person has No Descriptive difficulty in Correspon Equivalent speaking clearly dence because they have a cough or a sore throat 40 Even a Chó ngáp Sometimes people Partial Functional blind squirrel phải ruồi can be correct just Correspon Equivalent by being lucky dence can find a nut once in a while 41 Even Con giun xéo When a usually Absolute Literal the worm has meek person or Correspon Translation turned quằn group of people dence becomes angry 42 To open a can Gặp nhiều of worms 43 A cash cow To something No Descriptive khó khăn, vất that exposes a very Correspon Equivalent vả làm difficult issue or set dence Descriptive việc of problems Nguồn thu A product or service No Descriptive which is a regular Correspon Equivalent Equivalent source of income for dence a company 44 All Vịt hóa thiên Someone constantly 48 Partial Functional his geese are nga swans exaggerates the Correspon importance or the dence Equivalent qualities of somebody or something 45 To Nổi da gà You are cold or so Partial Functional have goose pi afraid that your skin Correspon Equivalent mples is temporarily raised dence into little lumps 46 To back/bet Trao niềm tin You support the No Descriptive on the nhầm người wrong person Correspon Equivalent dence wrong horse 47 Straight Từ The information is No Descriptive from horse's miệng người given to you by Correspon translation mouth someone who is dence directly involved 48 Mutton Cưa sừng làm A middle-aged Partial Functional dressed as nghé woman who tries to Correspon Equivalent look younger by dence lamb dressing in clothes designed for younger people 49 Lion's share Phần cỡ lớn The largest portion, No Descriptive or the best part Correspon Equivalent dence 50 To walk into Đi vào hang You find yourself in 49 Absolute Literal the lion's den cọp a difficult situation Correspon (Tình in which you have to dence khó khăn face unfriendly or gặp phải aggressive people Translation nhiều người khơng thân thiện) 51 Monkey Trị lừa bịp business An activity which is No Descriptive organized in a Correspon Equivalent deceitful or dence dishonest way 52 As quiet as Im thóc a mouse To make no noise at Partial Functional all Correspon Equivalent dence 53 Night owl Cú đêm Someone who is Absolute Literal lively and active at Correspon Translation night and goes to dence bed very late 54 Pigs get fat, Tham You should be Partial Functional hogs get thâm satisfied when you Correspon Equivalent have enough; if you dence slaughtered are too greedy, like a hog, you risk losing everything 55 Black sheep Người lạc The one who No Descriptive loài behaves very Correspon Equivalent 50 differently or badly, dence and is considered disreputable by the other members of the family 56 Snake in the Mèo khóc Someone who Partial Functional grass chuột giả từ pretends to be your Correspon Equivalent bi friend while actually dence betraying you 57 Lower than Kẻ tiểu nhân Someone is bad, No Descriptive a snake's dishonest or have Correspon Equivalent belly very low moral dence standards 58 Paper tiger Thùng rỗng A person, Partial Functional kêu to organization or Correspon Equivalent country that is less dence powerful or threatening than they appear to be 59 Pigs might fly Heo nái biết leo The disbelief, or the Absolute Literal idea that miracles Correspon Translation might happen but dence are extremely unlikely 60 Other fish in Núi cao There are many Partial Functional the sea có núi khác people just as good Correspon Equivalent 51 cao as the person mentioned 52 dence ... and idioms relating to animals In the Razieh's study, a number of English proverbs and idioms relating to animals have been given out together with the corresponding translation in Persian All of. .. findings of Razieh's to develop further and then apply in the context of EnglishVietnamese translation of animal-related proverbs and idioms concerning the cultural domains of Vietnam and other English- speaking... Vietnamese translation of proverbs and idioms relating to animals will be further solved 1.4 Scope of the study Although cultural - related issues of translation are enormous, proverbs and idioms translation