An investigation into loss and gain in the translation of a comic “the adventures of tintin

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES LÊ THỊ NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO LOSS AND GAIN IN THE TRANSLATION OF A COMIC “THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: TINTIN IN AMERICA” INTO VIETNAMESE VERSION “NHỮNG CUỘC PHIÊU LƯU CỦA TINTIN: TINTIN TRÊN ĐẤT MỸ” MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES Da Nang, 2020 Da Nang, 2020 THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES LÊ THỊ NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO LOSS AND GAIN IN THE TRANSLATION OF A COMIC “THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: TINTIN IN AMERICA” INTO VIETNAMESE VERSION “NHỮNG CUỘC PHIÊU LƯU CỦA TINTIN: TINTIN TRÊN ĐẤT MỸ” Major: ENGLISH LANGUAGE Code: 822.02.01 MASTER THESIS IN LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES SUPERVISOR: TRẦN THỊ THUỲ OANH, Ph D Da Nang, 2020 ii ABSTRACT This study clarified the loss and gain in the translation strategies of the comic “The adventures of tintin: Tintin in America” into Vietnamese version The investigation indicated kinds the loss and gain of translation applied in the comic The discussion began by collecting the data both the English version and Vietnamese version to be read and to find some Vietnamese there are ain in the translation process of the comic The results of the investigation indicate that there are 134 patterns of loss and gain in the comic by using semantic strategies The study also shows the finding of loss and gain in the comic as well as some reasons why the translator did the loss and gain process in translating the comic “The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America” into “Những chuyến phiêu lưu Tintin: Tintin đất Mỹ” Finally, the study gives some implications and recommendations have been conducted in the field of commic reading in the context of global English and of the emergence of so many variations of English so far Through the results of this study, the researcher hopes that the result of this study can give some benefits to the translators and learners to enlarge knowledge about loss and gain and to learn how to make a good analysis, especially in translation analysis Keywords: loss and gain, comic, translation, source language, target language iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to people who have advised and supported me, and made constructive criticism during the research Thanks are extended to Tran Thi Thuy Oanh, Ph.D, my supervisor for her professional guidance and support Without her professional support and encouragement, this thesis could not reach this present standard My very special thanks go to the board of director, the library staff of The University of Danang, University of Foreign Language Studies for their dedicated helps during the time I carried out this research I wish to express my deep thanks to my family and friends for all their support as well as motivation during the time I was conducting this project iv TABLE CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF CHARTS vii LIST OF FIGURES vii Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1.2 THE AIM OF THE STUDY 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS OF THE STUDY 1.4 THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.5 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.6 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 The The main views of translation 2.2.1.1 Definition 2.2.1.2 The aspects of Language and Culture in Translation 10 2.2.1.3 Equivalence in translation 11 2.2.1.4 Translation procedures 13 2.2.1.5 Translation Strategy 15 2.2.1.6 Process of translation 21 2.2.2 The main tenets of Comic 23 2.2.2.1 Definition 23 v 2.2.2.2 Comic translation 24 2.2.3 Loss and Gain 24 2.2.3.1 Loss 24 2.2.3.2 Gain 25 2.3 SUMMARY 25 Chapter Three 26 METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 RESEARCH METHODS 26 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 27 3.2.1 Data collection 27 3.2.2 Data analysis 29 3.3 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY 29 3.4 SUMMARY 30 Chapter Four FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 31 4.1 THE DISCUSSION OF LOSS 32 4.1.1 Loss in Translation by Cultural Substitution 32 4.1.2 Loss in Translation by using Paraphrase with Unrelated Word 34 4.1.3 Loss in translation by using omission 36 4.1.4 Loss in translation by using A More Neutral/Less Expressive Word 39 4.1.5 Loss in translation by a more general word 41 4.1.6 Loss in translation by using loan word without explanation 43 4.2 THE DISCUSSION OF GAIN 45 4.2.1 Gain in Translation by using Paraphrase with Related Word 45 4.2.2 Gain in Translation by using Paraphrase with Unrelated Word 48 4.3 FREQUENCY OF LOSS AND GAIN IN TRANSLATION BY USING SEMANTIC TRANSLATION STRATEGIES 50 4.4 SUMMARY 53 Chapter Five 56 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 56 vi 5.1 CONCLUDING REMARKS 56 5.2 IMPLICATIONS FROM THE RESULTS 58 5.2.1 To teachers 58 5.2.2 To learners 58 5.2.3 To translators 59 5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 59 REFERENCES 61 APENDIX 65 QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI (BẢN SAO) vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SLT: source language text TLT: target language text SL: source language TL: target language LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The quantity and percentage of loss in translation by using semantic strategies ( P.51) Table 4.2 The quantity and percentage of gain in translation by using semantic strategies (P.53) LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1 The percentage of loss in translation by using semantic strategies (P.52) Chart 4.2 The percentage of gain in translation by using semantic strategies (P.53) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Nida and Taber’s translation process (P.22) Chapter One INTRODUCTION This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the study It begins with rationale for the study, then goes on to the aims and research questions of the study This is followed by scope of the study and significance of the study Lastly, the organization of the study is also presented 1.1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY In the process of globalization today, English has been considered an official language by many nations in the world and used in many fields such as business, politics, economics, education or communication By using English language, people can give or get any information about anything they need In other words, English is a language that enables people over the world to express ideas or what is thought together Therefore, people usually want to transfer good, interesting or attractive works in their own language into English so that those works are able to be brought to the public better, especially in the works of art such as film, music, novels or comic Consequently, people learn how to make a good translation their own language into English and vice versa The case being analyzed in this research is loss and gain, one of the key issues in translation studies With the need of preserving the intended meaning, when rendering from one language to anothers, the translator might use several strategies and make adjustment to the texts in target language, which causes a bunch of changes and differences in the translated texts These were presented by the theory of Loss and Gain by Peter Newmark (1988), in which Gain refers to the addition of words in the translated texts, while Loss tends to shorten and simplify the translated texts In this study, to clarify this strategy of loss and gain process, we choose a comic called The Adventures of Tintin by Belgian artist Georges (1907–1983) writing under the pen name of Hergé which is one of the most popular comics in the world and translated into more than 70 languages in which English version was performed by Leslie and Michael (1978) and Vietnamese version (translated from 100 Hey, you! Don’t you know fancy-dress is forbidden in town? (P.27) Nay, anh Anh có biết khơng mặc đồ cao bồi vào thành phố không? (P.27) Forty-four hoboes have been lynched Bắt 44 tên tội phạm (P.36) (P.36) Easily identified by a tatoo-mark on his Rất dễ nhận diện có bớt vai lelf shoulder-blade (P.45) trái (P.45) 101 You won’t need to walk (P.59) Anh không cần bò đâu hết (P.59) Loss in translation by a more general word No Source language Target language Holy smoke! A real little touch guy! He Quỷ sứ! thằng tới số rồi! dám chơi knocked out the boss and Pietro too! ông chủ thằng Pietro nữa! (P.7) (P.7) 102 You wait there, I am going to buy an Cậu đợi í nhé, vào mua outfit lát We’ve arrived I smell gangsters (P.18) Đến đây! Mình có nghe mùi bọn (P.18) He’s defeated me again! (P.30) Hắn lại chơi vố (P.30) Hello… a sleeper across the rails…right Trời! đặt lên đường ray thế? on the bend (P.39) Lại đặt cua quẹo (P.39) 103 I’m going to arrange a little surprise for Được lắm, cho hú vía our gangster pals (P.15) trận (P.15) Loss in translation by using loan word without explanation No Source language Target language Look! A boomerang (P.3) Nhìn kìa!Một bu-mê-răng! (P.3) Help! Another cop! I’m cornered! Chết! lại cốp nữa! quẹo vào 104 Just remember, I cam to Chicago to nên nhớ đến để quét clean the place up, not to become a tệ nạn xã hội, gangster’s stooge (P.12) làm tay sai cho bọn găngxto đâu! (P.12) Source language: On behalf of the Central Committee of the Distressed Gangsters Asscociation I protest against this unfair discrimination (P.7) Target language: Nhân danh hội đồng găngxto kịch liệt phản đả phá chia rẻ nội (P.7) 105 I was dumped in the water by gangsters (P.60) Tôi bị bọn găngxto quăng xuống sông (P.60) Source language: Led police to the hideout of the central syndicate of Chicago gangsters (P.62) Target language 106 Giúp cảnh sát lột mặt giam giữ bọn găngxto Chicago (P.62) Gain in Translation by using Paraphrase with Related Word No Source language Target language Hey, what’s the game We’re looked Hey, lại trị đây? Chết thật, bọn in! And these shuttlers are made of bị nhốt cửa sổ sắt steel (P.2) mi ca! (P.2) 107 All fixed I’ll still make it in time Xong đem thằng nhãi (P.2) mà! (P.2) Trust me to be in the land of the nơi xe máy, xe ầm ầm mà phải automobile and have to slog ten cuốc mười dặm! buồn cười thật miles on foot Just remember, I cam to Chicago to clean the place up, not to become a gangster’s stooge (P.12) nên nhớ đến để quét tệ nạn xã hội, làm tay sai cho bọn găngxto đâu! (P.12) 108 That suit you ok? (P.17) Bộ yên chứ? (P.17) You can’t escape, my friend! I’ll Ơng chạy đằng trời thơi! Tôi quăng truss you like a turkey (P.18) dây lôi cổ ông cho mà xem (P.18) Giờ phải đào búa, vũ khí Now let raise the tomahawk (P.19) (P.19) 109 Hear, Paleface, (P.21) Nghe đây, thằng da trắng rợ (P.21) This Paleface commands us! (P.22) Tên da trắng bẩn thỉu dám lệnh cho (P.22) 10 Uống One more glass… las one (P.36) ly cho ấm người (P.36) 110 11 He’s defeated me again! Hắn lại chơi vố 12 What brings you here? (P.39) Sao cậu lại cực nhọc đến vậy? (P.39) 13 To think about what happens to Để nghĩ số phận hẩm hiu mày, clever little guys who try to put kẻ dám đối chọi với Bobby Smile thékids under Bobby Smiles (P.40) (P.40) 111 14 And this, Tintin, is one story you Tintin à, phóng ly kì khơng won’t write cịn sống để viết đâu 15 Bugsie! Hey Bugsie! Wake up! Bugies! Cậu xỉu à? Tỉnh (P.50) dậy (P.50) 16 What happened? Ooh, Have I got a Sao đầu nhức búa bổ (P.51) headache! (P.51) 112 17 Tintin!? Jeepers Creepers! A strike! Trời, thằng Tintin! tụi đình cơng, Surely it didn’t start too soon? The có nghĩa không làm việc tức máy boss? What’ll he say? (P.54) khơng chạy thằng chết rồi! (P.54) Gain in Translation by using Paraphrase with Unrelated Word No Source language Target language Golly, what a stroke of luck! (P.24) Trời, nghe nói mà da gà! (P.24) After heap big battle in darkness, with Trong bóng tối, tơi tù trưởng nện chí tử thằng da trắng 113 help of Great Wacondah, I, Sachem of Blackfeet, conquer the Paleface Our dear Bobby Smiles will have Lão Bobby Smiles phải ngạc quite a surprise when sees me nhiên đến dựng tóc gáy thấy reappear! (P.42) trở lại (P.42) A quick trip to the nearest police post Lái mau đến trạm cảnh sát gần with you at the helm or a brief nghe không? Hay anh muốn ăn tạ encounter with this? (P.61) hả! (P.61) ... broad Regarding the topic of loss and gain in translation, there are many practical studies related to the analysis of loss and gain have been carried out ? ?An investigation into Loss and Gain in. . .THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES LÊ THỊ NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO LOSS AND GAIN IN THE TRANSLATION OF A COMIC ? ?THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: TINTIN IN AMERICA” INTO. .. conduct a study with a title ? ?An investigation into loss and gain in the translation of the comic ? ?The adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America” into Vietnamese version “Những phiêu lưu Tintin: Tintin