Procedures in the english translation of stylistic devices commonly used in lục xì by vũ trọng phụng

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FORERGN LANGUAGE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU NGA PROCEDURES IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF STYLISTIC DEVICES COMMONLY USED IN “LỤC XÌ” BY VŨ TRỌNG PHỤNG Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Code: 60.22.02.01 MASTER THESIS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES (A SUMMARY) DaNang, 2017 This thesis has been completed at University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Phan Văn Hòa Examiner 1: Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông Examiner 2: Lê Thị Giao Chi, PhD The thesis was be orally defended at the Examining Committee Time: September, 9th 2017 Venue: University of Foreign Language Studies The University of Da Nang This thesis is available for the purpose of reference at: - Library of University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Da Nang CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Literature always plays a vitally important part in human lives and societies in any time and in any countries Vũ Trọng Phụng “stands today as the single most remarkable individual achievement in modern Vietnamese literature.” (Zinoman, 2002) Through his novels, plays, articles, and reportages we may get a deep insight into the state of society and culture of the colonial Hanoi in particular and of Vietnam in general In fact, Vũ Trọng Phụng attracted the attention of public opinion at that time and the reportage “Lục Xì” (1937) makes him well-known as the “Northern King of Reportage” One of the factors contributing to the success of the book is the use of language Many stylistic devices such as metaphor, irony, simile, etc are used artistically in this work I carry out this thesis with the purpose of investigation of commonly-used stylistic devices in both “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng and English version to consider the translation procedures used to convert these stylistic devices into English Furthermore, the thesis would be significant to help the Vietnamese readers and learners perceive and understand stylistic devices easily and profoundly, then understand thoroughly a literary work Thus, it would partly contribute to teaching and learning stylistic devices as well as translating them From the above analysis, we decided to choose “PROCEDURES IN THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF STYLISTIC DEVICES COMMONLY USED IN “LỤC XÌ” BY VŨ TRỌNG PHỤNG” as our research topic 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.2.1 Aims The study is aimed at examining stylistic devices in “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng and their English translational equivalents in “Luc Xi: Prostitution and Venereal Disease in Colonial Hanoi” by Shaun Kingsley Malarney in order to discover the translation procedures in translating these Vietnamese stylistic devices into English version 1.2.2 Objectives - To collect and analyze stylistic devices commonly used in both “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng and their English translational version - To investigate procedures used for translating stylistic devices in “Lục Xì” via their English translational equivalents - To suggest some implications for teaching, learning and translating stylistic devices 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are the stylistic devices commonly used in “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng? What are translation procedures used for translating these stylistic devices from Vietnamese into English? What are implications for teaching, learning and translating stylistic devices? 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is executed on the work “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng and its English version “Luc Xi: Prostitution and Venereal Disease in Colonial Hanoi” translated by Shaun Kingsley Malarney In fact, the thesis is of great success if it deals with all stylistic devices used in the work However, due to the time, resource constraints and ability of my own, the thesis just investigates some stylistic devices used in highest frequency in “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng its English version, including simile, irony and metaphor Moreover, the thesis focuses on translation procedures which are used to translate those stylistic devices from Vietnamese into English 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The researcher hopes that this study will contribute a source of stylistic devices to who may concern Particularly, the researcher thinks that the readers and learners can get the higher awareness and understanding of translational procedures that are efficiently to translate a stylistic device from English into Vietnamese and versus With a high recognition of stylistic devices and translation procedures, it is likely to be useful for students in learning English effectively as well as improving their language competence 1.6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY There are five chapters included in the thesis: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature review and theoretical background Chapter 3: Research methods Chapter 4: Findings and discussions Chapter 5: Conclusions and implications CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 PREVIOUS RESEARCHES RELATED TO THE STUDY The study of stylistic devices and translation of stylistic devices always get the researchers interested Up to now, there has been a variety of English and Vietnamese writers investigating stylistic devices We can mention some popular studies written by both famous foreign and Vietnamese researchers such as Galperin (1977), Peter Verdonk (2003), Peter Newmark (1981; 1988), Catford (1965), Đinh Trọng Lạc (1996), Cù Đình Tú (1983), Hồng Văn Vân (2005) and so on In terms of translation, it appears many authors whose great works focus on theory of translation or translation methods such as Newmark (1981) in “Approach to Translation”; Munday (2001) in “Introducing Translation Studies”; Catford (1965) in “A Linguistic Theory of Translation” In addition, Newmark (1988) also proposed seven concrete procedures for translating in his book “A Text book of translation” In Vietnamese, studies on translation are also carried out by Hoàng Văn Vân “2005) in “Nghiên cứu dịch thuật”, Nguyễn Thượng Hùng (2005) in “Lý thuyết dịch” 2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.2.1 Theory of Stylistic Devices When studying this area, it is necessary to take some concepts related to stylistics devices into consideration 2.2.1.1 Definition of Stylistic Devices 2.2.1.2 Functions of Stylistic Devices 2.2.1.3 Classification of Stylistic Devices 2.2.2 Lexical Stylistic Devices 2.2.2.1 Simile 2.2.2.2 Irony 2.2.2.3 Metaphor 2.2.3 Theory of Translation 2.2.3.1 Definition of Translation 2.2.3.2 Translation methods 2.2.3.3 Translation procedures Literal translation: This is the basic translation procedure, both in communicative and semantic translation Literal translation ranges from word to word; group to group; collocation to collocation; clause to clause; sentence to sentence Transference: It is a process of transferring of a source language word to a target text following a set of translation procedures Then the word becomes a loan word Naturalization: This procedure succeeds transference and adapts the source language word first to the normal pronunciation of the target language, then to its normal morphology (word-forms) of the target language Cultural equivalent: This is an approximate translation where a source language cultural word is translated by a target language cultural word Functional equivalent: This is also a common procedure, applied to cultural words, requires the use of a culture-free word, sometimes with a new specific term, so it neutralizes or generalizes the source language word Descriptive equivalent In translation, description has to be weighed sometimes against function When we combine the description and function we get the sense “saw” Synonymy: This procedure is used for a source language word where there is no clear one-to-one equivalent, and the word is not important in the text, in particular for adjectives or adverbs of quality Through-translation: It is the literal translation of common collocations, names of organizations and components of compounds It can also be called: calque or loan translation Shifts or transpositions: It involves replacing a grammatical structure in the source language with one of the different grammatical type in the target language in order to achieve the same effect Componential analysis: In translation, this basic procedure is used to compare a source language word with target language word which has a similar meaning but is not an obvious oneto-one equivalent Reduction and expansion: Using fewer or more words in the target language in order to re-express an idea or to weaken or reinforce the sense of a source language word because its correspondence in the target language cannot be expressed as concisely Paraphrase: This is an application or explanation of the meaning of a segment of a text It is used in an “anonymous” text when it is poorly written or when it had important implications and omissions Couplets: Couplets, triplets, quadruplets combine two, three or four of the above-mentioned procedures respectively for dealing with a single problem 2.2.4 The author Vũ Trọng Phụng (1912-1939) 2.2.5 An overview of “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng “Lục Xì” is a remarkable reportage by Vũ Trọng Phụng published in eleven installments in the Hanoi newspaper, Future, from January to April 1937, and then as a book In the late 1930s, there was a mushroom growth of commercial sex industry in Hanoi that involved thousands of people and hundreds of businesses About a hundred women worked legally as prostitutes, and female sex workers with venereal disease were held at the medical facility called the Dispensary (Nhà Lục Xì) It is the place to examine prostitutes for venereal diseases and hold them for treatment The term “Lục Xì” seems to come from the English expression “look see”, means to check for diseases 2.2.6 English version “Luc Xi: Prostitution and Venereal Disease in Colonial Hanoi” “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng was translated into English with the title “Luc Xi: Prostitution and Venereal Disease in Colonial Hanoi” by Shaun Kingsley Malarney This English version was published in 2011 by University of Hawai’i Press CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN This study is a descriptive analysis in which both qualitative and quantitative methods are used - The quantitative method is used for calculating and choosing the three highest occurrences of stylistic devices - The descriptive and analytical method is used for describing the features of commonly-used stylistic devices in “Lục Xì” and giving a detailed description of the samples - The contrastive method and qualitative method is used for identifying the translation procedures for translating commonly-used stylistic devices from Vietnamese into English - The quantitative method in the study is used for calculating the concrete percentage of each procedure of translating simile, metaphor and irony from Vietnamese into English and arranges these procedures in the order of frequency 3.2 DATA COLLECTION 3.2.1 Sampling 3.2.2 Instrument 3.2.3 Research Procedure The study procedure took the following steps: - Collecting the samples of stylistic devices in “Lục Xì” and their English translational equivalents - Classifying stylistic devices in “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng and choosing three stylistic devices with the highest frequency - Describing and analyzing each group - Sorting out and analyzing the translation procedures methods of three commonly-used stylistic devices from Vietnamese into English version - Giving some recommendations concerning VietnameseEnglish translation of three commonly-used stylistic devices and suggesting application in teaching, learning and translating 3.3 DATA ANALYSIS The followings are procedure for the data analysis - The samples were described to find out how these stylistic devices were translated into English in terms of translation procedures - The frequency of each translation procedure was shown in the tables Statistical number and percentage highlighted which of those were dominant and which were at low frequency 10 Among 69 samples collected in the work “Lục Xì”, there are 33 nouns and noun phrases (47.8%), 19 verbs and verb phrases (27.5%), and 17 adjectives and adverbs (24.7%) 4.1.2 The Frequency of Metaphor Among 51 metaphors, 29 are nouns and noun phrases, accounting for 56.9%; verbs and verbs phrases with a smaller number of 16 cases (31.4%) and cases are adjectives and adverbs accounting for 11.7% Only the main part of speech (the lexical vocabulary) are taken into considerations, as they play the important role in any senses and expressions Others (the grammatical class) such as prepositions, articles, or conjunctions are not mentioned in this study 4.2 SIMILE IN “LỤC XÌ” AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN ENGLISH VERSION 4.2.1 Simile in “Lục Xì” 4.2.2 Translation Procedures of Simile in “Lục Xì” 4.2.2.1 Literal Translation There are 26 occurrences of literal translation making up 43.3% of procedures used in the translation of similes Original (4.2a) Gian phịng ngăn làm đơi chấn song sắt sentence chuồng hổ (p.52) Translated (4.2b) The compartmentalized room was also divided sentence in two with iron bars like a tiger cage (p.72) In (4.2), literal translation is utilized to translate simile “như chuồng hổ” from Vietnamese into English as “like a tiger cage” The image “a tiger cage” is quite popular in the Western culture, so foreign readers can understand the bad living conditions of prostitutes infected with venereal disease 4.2.2.2 Expansion 11 In this research, there are 12 occurrences of expansion accounting for 20% of procedures which are used for translation of simile from Vietnamese into English Original (4.14a) Bà giáo tức nắm lấy tay học trị, ẻo lả đập sentence vào vai, trò đùa, với nét mặt giận (p.105) Translated (4.14b) The teacher immediately grasped the sentence student's hand and weakly struck it a few times against her shoulder, as if she were joking, with a face full of rage (p.103) Expansion she In this case, Vũ Trọng Phụng used a noun “trò đùa” to compare with a compared object, whereas the translator employed a clause “she were joking” He expanded the meaning of the original sentence by adding the subject “she” Obviously, the readers can perceive correctly the meaning in English equivalent 4.2.2.3 Reduction With 10 occurrences, reduction procedure makes up 16.7% the total of procedures examined Original (4.16a) Tại trường dạy nhảy, học trị đổ xơ sentence đến nước chảy chỗ trũng (p.126) Translated (4.16b) At the dance schools the students flood in sentence Ø (p.116) Reduction nước chảy chỗ trũng In the example above, the whole phrase “như nước chảy chỗ trũng” is not translated into English It seems that the image “nước chảy chỗ trũng” is not popular to English readers, thus the translator deletes this phrase in his English translational version 12 4.2.2.4 Other procedures a Couplets b Transposition c Naturalization 4.2.3 Frequency of procedures for translating simile The frequency for translating simile is illustrated in the table below: Table 4.4 The Frequency of Procedures for Translating Simile Procedures Occurrences (samples) Percentage (%) Literal translation 26 43.3 Expansion 12 20 Reduction 10 16.7 Couplet 10 Transposition 8.3 Naturalization 1.7 Total 60 100 For a more detailed illustration, the chart below can express those percentages more clearly: 8.3% 1.7% Literal translation 10% 43.3% 16.7% Expansion Reduction 20% Couplet Transposition Naturalization Chart 4.1 The Percentage of Procedures for Translating Simile 13 4.3 IRONY IN “LỤC XÌ” AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN ENGLISH VERSION 4.3.1 Irony in “Lục Xì” 4.3.2 Translation Procedures of Irony in “Lục Xì” 4.3.2.1 Literal Translation With almost half of the examples using literal translation, it is the most common translation procedure in converting ironical expressions into English (making up 50.7%) Original (4.30a) Tôi buồn cười, họ bị giam sentence có giang hồ đâu! (p.71) Translated (4.30b) I had to laugh because if they have been stuck sentence in here, how can they be in the demi-monde! (p.83) “Giang hồ” is a term for people who behave or act illegally and are not fully accepted as part of the main group in society Here the translator has literally translated that word into English “demimonde” to preserve the satire of prostitutes treating their venereal diseases in the Municipal Dispensary 4.3.2.2 Transposition This procedure appears in “Lục Xì” with occurrences and occupied 11.6% Original (4.32a) Lấy vợ nhà thổ khó chút, mà lại sentence danh giá lắm: Ông Cẩm đứng làm "chủ mối", ông Đốc lý đứng làm "chủ hôn"! (p.171) Translated (4.32b) Marrying a brothel woman is a bit difficult, sentence but it is still quite honorable: a police officer serves as the "matchmaker", and the mayor serves as the "best man"! (p.141) 14 4.3.2.3 Couplet With times of appearing and 10.1% of the total proportion of all procedures for translation irony, the couplets procedure stands on the fifth rank In (4.34b), the expansion procedure is combined with reduction procedure to translate the phrase “thâm khuê kín cổng cao tường” from Vietnamese into English Normally, “thâm khuê kín cổng cao tường” is a Vietnamese idiom, it is difficult for the translator to translate this phrase into English Therefore, he tries to explain in a simple way to help the foreign readers get the meaning of the author In this sentence, the reduction procedure is used for omit the word “thâm khuê” Furthermore, the expansion procedure is also used to add the word “women’s apartments” Original sentence Translated sentence Translation Procedure (4.34a) Bọn gái phúc đường sống đoạn đời "thâm khuê kín cổng cao tường" thiếu nữ cấm cung dòng dõi quý phái (p 140) (4.34b) The woman of the Dispensary live the lives of the "Ø closed gates and high-walled women's apartments", like the secluded young women of highborn nobility (p 124) Expansion: women’s aparments Reduction: thâm khuê 4.3.2.4 Reduction With occurrences, reduction procedure makes up 8.7% of the total procedures examined Original (4.28a) Ngày thứ ba, thứ sáu, tất gái lâu sentence Hà Nội phải đến đấy, cảnh ngoạn mục lạ thường Sau buổi khám, quệt trầu tung tóe khắp chỗ; …(p 149) 15 Translated sentence (4.28b) On Tuesdays and Fridays all of the women from Hanoi's brothels had to come in; it was an Ø unusual spectacle By the end of the examination session, the whole place was covered with red spit from women chewing betel… (p.129) Reduction ngoạn mục Herein the ironical phrase “ngoạn mục” is the main word to set the irony but it is not translated into English In this case, although the reader can get the author’s idea, the stylistic device – irony is lost It is clear that it is very difficult to maintain all the meanings from the SL to the TL while they have similar meanings 4.3.2.5 Synonymy In this study, the synonymy procedure occupied 7.2% with occurrences in all procedures for translation irony In (4.36b), the word phrase “hơi đồng” is translated as “the smell of money” by synonymy procedure In this case, “money” is used instead of “bronze” to strengthen the sense of the irony in the English translation equivalent because the noun phrase “the smell of money” is often used for indicate the bad and negative meaning Original sentence (4.36a) Từ mụ triệu phú mù lòa gái trung lưu mà người ta tăng hồi môn lên để cầu người dạm hỏi, than ơi, có tính chất trọc tính có lẫn đồng! (p 77) Translated (4.36b) From a blind millionairess to a middle-class girl sentence whose family is endlessly adding to her dowry as they seek someone to betroth her to, alas, you know how debased love is when tainted by the smell of money! (p.86) 4.3.2.6 Cultural equivalent The cultural equivalent procedure makes up 7.2% with 16 occurrences Original sentence (4.37a) Vậy lẽ mà chốn "nghìn năm văn vật" này, ba mươi lăm người tử tế lại có người làm đĩ? (p 15) Translated (4.37b) Yet how is it that while we are in this city of "a sentence thousand-year civilization," there is for every thirtyfive upstanding people one person working as a prostitute? (p 47) In this case, the translator uses the cultural equivalent procedure to translate “nghìn năm văn vật” into English According to Hoàng Phê (2002), the word “văn vật” is defined as “truyền thống văn hóa tốt đẹp, biểu nhiều nhân tài lịch sử nhiều di tích lịch sử” (Good cultural tradition, manifested in many talents in history and many historical relics) If translated with the literal meaning, it is not familiar with English readers Therefore, the translator brings the English culture into translating by "a thousand-year civilization" By the cultural equivalent procedure, the translational equivalent does not have the same meaning with the original but it helps readers understand more easily 4.3.2.7 Expansion In this study, there are occurrences of expansion accounting for 4.3% of the total (4.39a) Những trường dạy nhảy đầm niên thất nghiệp tiến mở, chế tạo hàng lô nữ kỵ binh (p 126) Translated (4.39b) The schools for teaching Western dance, which sentence have been established by unemployed youth who have taken the innovative step of opening them, produce the "female cavalry" (p 116) Original sentence Expansion have taken, step 17 4.3.3 Frequency of Procedures for Translating Irony The frequency of procedures for translating irony is summarized as below: Table 4.5 The Frequency of Procedures for Translating Irony Procedures Occurrences (samples) Percentage (%) Literal translation 35 50.7 Transposition 11.6 Couplet 10.1 Reduction 8.7 Synonymy 7.2 Cultural equivalent 7.2 Expansion 4.3 Total 69 100 A chart has been drawn below for better illustration: 7.2% 7.2% 4.3% Literal translation Transposition 8.7% 50.7% Couplet Reduction Synonymy 10.1% Cultural equivalent 11.6% Expansion Chart 4.2 The Percentage of Procedures for Translating Irony in “Lục Xì” 18 4.4 METAPHOR IN “LỤC XÌ” AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN ENGLISH VERSION 4.4.1 Metaphor in “Lục Xì” 4.4.2 Translation Procedures of Metaphor in “Lục Xì” 4.4.2.1 Literal Translation In this study, there are 20 occurrences of literal translation making up 39.2% of procedures for translation of metaphor in “Lục Xì”, nearly a half of the total Original sentence (4.45a) Nạn mại dâm vết thương nhân loại (p 133) Translated sentence (4.45b) Prostitution is a wound on all humanity (p 120) In the example mentioned above, the image “vết thương” can be directly converted into English as “a wound” The image “vết thương – a wound” embodies the same messages in both languages, thus thanks to the literal translation procedure, the metaphor can be remained in both Vietnamese and English 4.4.2.2 Cultural Equivalent Appearing in “Lục Xì” with occurrences, this procedure accounted for 15.7% of the total Original sentence (4.47a) Những khách trọ tám, chín ông thiếu niên cao tồng ngồng, học sinh trường tư thục, siêng việc thể thao, chim gái siêng sách đèn (p 160) (4.47b) They had eight or nine lodgers - big young men, Translated students of a private school, who were more serious sentence about playing sports and chasing girls than they were about their studies (p 135) 19 In this example, it is obvious that the metaphorical image “sách đèn” can be literally translated into English as “books and lights” However, it seems so unnatural to English readers, and another cultural equivalence can be applied in this saying, which is more familiar with English audience “studies”, though in this case the translated sentence cannot keep the original metaphor 4.4.2.3 Transposition All in all, among the 51 samples collected, only statements belong to this category, accounting for nearly 13.7% of the total (4.49a) Vì sau làm giàu, thi đỗ tỉnh Original mà làng, chức vụ bổ nơi hương sentence thơn, phần tử có lẽ sóng lớn có biết vi trùng để truyền nhiễm, … (p 33) (4.49b) After getting rich or passing exams in the city Translated sentence and then returning to the village or by being appointed to posts in the countryside, members of this group will perhaps become a large wave that will spread who knows how many germs, … (p 57) The structure of the original sentence “một sóng lớn” (Noun + Adjective) is rendered in English “a large wave” (Adjective + Noun), which translational equivalent must comply with the grammatical rules of TL Although replacing a grammatical structure in the SL with the different type in the TL, both expressions, in Vietnamese and English, can achieve the same effect Here the image of “một sóng lớn – a large wave” embodies the same semantic meaning of a large number of young people who bustle to cities in order to escape family morality 4.4.2.4 Couplet 20 This procedure accounts for 11.8% of the total with samples Original sentence (4.50a) Trong số đó, tựu chung có vài thị trơng cịn xn: bọn tập sự, họ mai lâm vào cảnh hoa tàn nhị rữa (p 113) Translated sentence (4.50b) There are some among that group who still look to be in the bloom of youth: they are the debutantes, who will soon wither (p 108) This example consists of two metaphoric expressions, but they are not treated equally While the latter is converted into English via cultural equivalent process, the former is not able to so In this sentence, the metaphorical word “xuân” which implies “youth” instead of “the first season of the year” is difficult to convert into English using only one procedure Indeed, the translational equivalent “be in the bloom of youth” can be created by using the cultural equivalent “youth”, with the use of the procedure of expansion (adding “in the bloom”) in order to make the sentence smoother in a natural way 4.4.2.5 Reduction The reduction procedure appears in “Lục Xì” with occurrences and occupies 9.8%, which makes it become the fourth highest occurrence in all procedures used for rendering metaphor Original sentence Translated sentence Reduction (4.51a) Cuộc tình duyên vụng trộm dắt đến hôn hay đến dứt tình chàng học sinh gái nhà chứa trọ kể trên, người ta khơng biết nữa! (p 169) (4.51b) No one knows whether that furtive love led to marriage or to the parting of the young student and the daughter of the boarding proprietor! (p 140) tình 21 Obviously, it is very difficult for translators to maintain all the meanings from the SL to the TL, especially the meaning of metaphorical images In the example (4.51), the noun “tình” is the main word to set the metaphor but it is missed in its translational equivalent In this case, although the reader can get the author’s idea, the stylistic device - metaphor is lost 4.4.2.6 Other procedures a Expansion b Transference 4.2.3 Frequency of procedures for translating metaphor The frequency for translating metaphor is illustrated as follows: Table 4.6 The Frequency of Procedures for Translating Metaphor Procedures Occurrences Percentage (%) (samples) Literal translation 20 39.2 Cultural equivalent 15.7 Transposition 13.7 Couplet 11.8 Reduction 9.8 Expansion 5.9 Transference 3.9 Total 51 100 A better illustration can be seen in the chart below: 22 9.8% 5.9% 3.9% Literal translation 39.2% 13.7% 15.7% 11.8% Cultural equivalent Transposition Couplet Reduction Expansion Transference Chart 4.3 The Percentage of Procedures for Translating Metaphor CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 CONCLUSION Firstly, the researcher has found the total of 180 sentences with stylistic devices from the data collected Among them, ironies rank the highest with 69 examples, then come similes and metaphors with 60 and 51 expressions respectively On the one hand, the study has investigated the translation of similes in “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng from Vietnamese into English Totally, six distinctive procedures have been found to be applied in this process, namely literal translation, expansion, reduction, couplet, transposition, and naturalization On the other hand, seven procedures have been found out during the examining of the translation of metaphors in “Lục Xì” and its English translation version by Malaney Their order is as follows: 23 Literal translation, cultural equivalent, transposition, reduction, couplet, expansion, and transference Meanwhile, seven other procedures have been found in ironic translation of “Lục Xì” as follow: Literal translation, transposition, reduction, synonymy, couplet, cultural equivalent, and expansion It can be clearly seen that literal translation is at the top of the ranking in translating three commonly-used stylistic devices in “Lục Xì” into English version It seems to be the most prevalent procedure and able to carry the truest messages to viewers The other translation procedures including expansion, reduction, couplet, transposition, cultural equivalent are also used quite frequently to render these stylistic devices from the ST into TT They are the choices for translators here and there which partially bring the simile, metaphor and irony into the TL Last but not least, naturalization and transference are also applied although their frequency is low The English equivalents, in some case, can still carry the original semantic meaning going along with simile, metaphor and irony 5.2 IMPLICATIONS To some extent, this thesis is expected to be a contribution to: - The further understanding the use of stylistics devices in the original work, and the ways of translating them into English - Drawing something in teaching and learning of similes, metaphors and ironies in Vietnamese and the translation of these stylistic devices into English - Basing on the results of the study, I think we would like to put forward a number of suggestions and implications for learning, teaching and translating stylistic devices 24 5.3 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY The data are collected only from “Lục Xì” by Vũ Trọng Phụng, so the popularity of similes, metaphors and ironies are obviously restricted Furthermore, stylistic devices are complicated and abstract problems of stylistics Due to the limited time and reference materials, we only focus on analyzing similes, metaphors and ironies and finding out the procedures for translation of these stylistic devices, but not go further for other aspects In short, although the thesis has been completed with our greatest efforts, it seems to be unavoidable to have shortcomings and mistakes Therefore, it would be our pleasure to get the constructive ideas, comments and advice from the teachers and those who are concerned about this thesis for a properly further development of this study 5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH As concerning with the points of discussion that have not been touched in this thesis, we would like to give aa number of suggestions on further investigations into following domains: Firstly, during researching, we found out that loss and gain is unavoidable in a translation version Therefore, we suggest that the later researches should investigate loss and gain of meaning in the English translational version of “Lục Xì” Secondly, it had better study on loss and gain of stylistic devices in the English translation version Thirdly, an investigation into factors having an effect on the option of each procedure to translate stylistic devices and translation criticism can be studied in deeper prospect ... devices commonly used in both ? ?Lục Xì? ?? by Vũ Trọng Phụng and their English translational version - To investigate procedures used for translating stylistic devices in ? ?Lục Xì? ?? via their English translational... contribution to: - The further understanding the use of stylistics devices in the original work, and the ways of translating them into English - Drawing something in teaching and learning of similes, metaphors... Procedure The study procedure took the following steps: - Collecting the samples of stylistic devices in ? ?Lục Xì? ?? and their English translational equivalents - Classifying stylistic devices in ? ?Lục Xì? ??