Strategies of interpreting humor in speeches of techfest 2020 used by interpreting and translation – majored senior students of felte, ULIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER STRATEGIES OF INTERPRETING HUMOR IN SPEECHES OF TECHFEST 2020 USED BY INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATION – MAJORED SENIOR STUDENTS OF FELTE, ULIS Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thúy, MA Student: Phạm Thanh Thúy Course: QH2017.F1.E22.CLCPD HA NOI - 2021 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH KHIẾU HÀI HƯỚC TRONG CÁC BÀI NÓI CỦA TECHFEST 2020 ĐƯỢC ÁP DỤNG BỞI SINH VIÊN NĂM CUỐI CHUYÊN NGÀNH BIÊN PHIÊN DỊCH – KHOA SPTA, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thúy, MA Sinh viên: Phạm Thanh Thúy Khóa: QH2017.F1.E22.CLCPD HÀ NỘI – 2021 Signature of Approval ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: Phạm Thanh Thúy, Class QH2017.F1.E22.CLCPD, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Translation & Interpreting) 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 Phạm Thanh Thúy Date: May 4th, 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Dieu Thuy (M.A), for her wholehearted support, great encouragement, constructive and detailed comments Without her guidance I would not have been able to complete my thesis I give my special thanks to beloved five students who spent time answering the interview questions and filling in the questionnaire responsibly instead of merely answering the questions They are also those who have experiences in rendering humor in TECHFEST 2020, therefore giving me the most accurate relevant information Finally, heartfelt appreciation is also expressed to my family members and my friends who always stand by my side with their tremendous support to generate motivation in me for finishing this graduation paper i ABSTRACT Humor is widely acknowledged as an indispensable catalyst in human life, which makes life become livelier The fact is that many studies of this topic have been carried out carefully and intensively in various fields such as education, literature and so on However, humor in conferences, specifically humor rendition, has not received adequate interest notwithstanding the obstacles it poses to interpreters Therefore, the researcher feels the need to conduct this study, which is entitled “Strategies of interpreting humor in speeches of TECHFEST 2020 used by interpreting and translation-majored students of FELTE, ULIS” with a view to filling the gap The main targets of this study are to analyse difficulties students encounter while interpreting simultaneously humor in conferences and their use of strategies to render humor Two speeches of the TECHFEST 2020 were chosen in order to specify the study’s outcomes The basis of data collection and analysis was formed by two main sources: questionnaire and semi-structured interview The study found that all participants struggled with transferring humor and these challenges were posed by internal factors, including interpreters’ lack of vocabulary and background knowledge Moreover, the applied strategies to render humor involving close rendition, reduced rendition, zero rendition, expanded rendition and divergent rendition were also examined through the interview ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF FIGURES v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Research objectives and research questions Significance of the study Scope of the study Organization of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW Interpreting 1.1 Definitions of interpreting 1.2 Simultaneous interpreting Humor 2.1 Definitions of humor 2.2 Types of humor 2.3 The roles of humor Interpreting humor in conference Strategies used in interpreting humor 4.1 Viaggio’s Six Factors 4.2 Gile’s five rules 10 4.3 Strategies used in interpreting humor 11 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 15 iii Research design 15 Sampling method 16 Participants of the study 16 Data collection instruments 16 4.1 Questionnaire 17 4.2 Semi-structured interview 17 Data collection procedure 18 Data analysis procedures 18 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 51 Summary of the findings 51 Implications of the study 51 Limitations of the study 52 Suggestions for further studies 52 APPENDICES 53 Appendix 1: Questionnaire 53 Appendix 2: Interview questions 55 Appendix 3: Recordings 55 Appendix 4: Transcriptions and interpretation 56 REFERENCES 65 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page Figure Statement 1: I not have any difficulties in 27 interpreting humor Figure Statement 2: I fail to see the humor of the situation 28 Figure Statement 3: I cannot interpret the humor 29 Figure Statement 4: I not understand speaker’s purposes 30 of using humor Figure Statement 5: It takes me a lot of time to find 31 equivalent words in TL to interpret humor Figure Statement 6: I am left behind the speaker when 32 finising rendering the humor Figure Statement 7: Speaker’s humor distracts me 33 Figure Statement 8: I can’t stop myself from laughing when 34 rendering humor Figure Specific challenges during humor rendition in 35 speeches of TECHFEST 2020 Figure 10 Strategies applied in rendering humor in TECHFEST 2020 v 50 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FELTE : Faculty of English Language Teacher Education SI : Simultaneous Interpreting ST : Source Text TL : Target Language ULIS : University of Languages and International Studies VEH : Verbally Expressed Humour vi being well equipped with the knowledge about the strategies to render humor will be of great advantage to the interpreters especially student interpreters who not have a wealth of experience Moreover, the outcome of the questionnaire about difficulties encountered by senior students will be a valuable source for them to clarify their strong points and weaknesses, which consequently help them to identify a suitable plan to improve themselves Limitations of the study The limitations of this study are acknowledged by the researcher The first limitation is that this study is just conducted in speeches of TECHFEST 2020 with the limited number of participants Thus, the outcome of the research may vary for a wider scope of population The second limitation recognized is that the applied strategies are used for two main languages which are Vietnamese and English, as a consequent the strategies may not be applied to deal with humor in other languages Another limitation concerns the number of humorous instances in both Vietnamese and English There were four humorous instances in this research including three Vietnamese jokes and one Eghlish joke, which led to the considerable disparity between two source languages Suggestions for further studies Since this is such an understudied topic this research may act as a solid base and a good start for further studies related to applied strategies in transferring humor Further research may investigate extensively with a wider scale of participation including both student and professional interpreters so that some practical suggestions can be offered Another string of the research can be an intensive study about comparison between strategies used by students and professional interpreters which will shed a light on differences and similarities between trainees and professionals 52 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Questionnaire QUESTIONNAIRE ON STRATEGIES OF INTERTERING HUMOR IN SPEECHES OF TECHFEST 2020 USED BY INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATION – MAJORED SENIOR STUDENTS OF FELTE, ULIS This survey is conducted by Ms Pham Thanh Thuy, a senior student majoring in Translation & Interpreting at ULIS The aim of this survey is to investigate the challenges that students confront when rendering humor simultaneously in speeches of TECHFEST Vietnam 2020 as well as strategies employed by Interpreting and Translation - majored senior students of FELTE, ULIS to transfer humor in speeches of TECHFEST 2020 Your information will be kept confidential and data from this research will be only reported to serve the investigation Your personal opinions are highly valued in this survey I am looking forward to receiving appropriate responses from you as only this will guarantee the success of the survey Thank you very much for your help! I General information Full name (optional): Class: II Questions For the following questions, please tick the number that best reflects your viewpoint on a five-point scale Your further explanation and elaboration are highly appreciated Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree disagree No Statement Strongly Disagree 53 Neutral Agree Strongly disagree (2) (3) (1) any difficulties interpreting humor I fail to see the humor of the situation I cannot interpret the humor I not understand speaker’s purposes of using humor It takes me a lot of time to find equivalent words in TL to interpret humor I am left behind the speaker when finishing rendering the humor agree (5) I not have in (4) Speaker’s humor distracts me 54 I can’t myself stop from laughing when rendering humor Others (please specify) Appendix 2: Interview questions What strategies did you employ when rendering humor in TECHFEST 2020? Why? Do you think these strategies are beneficial to your interpretation? Are you going to utilize these strategies when you become an interpreter? Appendix 3: Recordings Recording one • Name of conference: Hội thảo Thành phố Thông minh – Thủ đô sáng tạo (Smart city – Creative Ha Noi) • Name of speech: Thúc đẩy chuyển đổi số logistics Việt Nam (Promoting digital transformation of logistics in Vietnam) • Date: 28th November 2020 (8h00 - 11h00) • Place: National Economics University, 207 Giai Phong St., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Ha Noi • Speaker: Mr Nguyễn Duy Hồng • Length of speech: 38.40 – 1.04.20 • Time: 27 minutes • Recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24De0Bi16Z4&t=2818s&ab_channel=T%E 1%BB%95ch%E1%BB%A9cs%E1%BB%B1ki%E1%BB%87nNhaTrangQuyN h%C6%A1nGTOMediaEvent 55 Recording two • Name of conference: Hội thảo cấp cao “Nâng hệ sinh thái đổi sáng tạo lên tầm cao mới” (Enhancing the innovation ecosystem to the next level) • Name of speech: How Korean investors take startups to IPO? • Date: 28th November 2020 • Place: National Economics University, 207 Giai Phong St., Hai Ba Trung Dist., Ha Noi • Speaker: Mr Shawn Lee • Length of speech: minutes seconds • Time: 1.05.08 – 1.14.15 • Recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmi9cqsc6zs&t=1768s&ab_channel=T%E1% BB%95ch%E1%BB%A9cs%E1%BB%B1ki%E1%BB%87nNhaTrangQuyNh%C6 %A1nGTOMediaEvent Appendix 4: Transcriptions and interpretation Recording Excerpt Speaker (Mr Nguyen Duy Hong) Mình chuyển đổi số phải chuyển đổi số cơm, không ạ? Chúng ta khắc phục, không ạ? Chuyển đổi số mà phải dùng tay Interpreter (V.B) You have the remote control so that I can, uh, be more flexible Okay We're now digitalized, but now sometimes you have to use your, uh…but sometimes you have to use it manually As we called it, the machine that was run by rice Interpreter (T.L) Okay Can you, can you change a slide? I find it funny that we have to perform 56 digitalization manually I think we can improve on it Interpreter (K.N) Please press the button for me It's digital transformation but we still have to manually, right? But we still have to accept that Interpreter (Q.H) Digital transformation still needs rice to run, doesn't it? Okay So still with…we still do, just form the digital with our hand Interpreter (T.N) Is there a press for you to change? It is digital transformation, but we still need to use hands, right? It's okay We will work on that Excerpt Speaker (Mr Đó thay đổi Đúng khơng ạ? Chúng ta phải thay đổi Nguyen Duy Hong) để thích ứng với việc Bố mẹ tơi cách năm trở lại biết dùng Facebook Thỉnh thoảng, đâu “like” ầm ầm Xong nhà bảo: nhà nói mà đường “chém gió” ghê thế, “like” ầm ầm Tức là, bố mẹ hệ lâu bắt đầu dùng Facebook lên “post” hình Bố mẹ có nhu cầu vui chơi, có nhu cầu vui chơi, cịn tương tác với con, động viên bảo: “Ở nhà nói mà đường “chém” ghê Thì đấy, người phải thay đổi mà, phải thay đổi Bà ngoại năm gần 90 tuổi dùng điện thoại cục gạch mà lúc cần gọi con, cháu ăn cơm Gọi điện gọi, ghi cho số “A Hồng”, cịn ơng khơng quan trọng “B”, “A” với “B” A 57 Hồng, A Vinh, A đó, chữ A đầu tiên, gõ tên Thế thơi, cụ đơn giản thơi, không ạ? Nhưng cụ thay đổi rồi, thê trêu cục cụ dùng điện thoại sau cháu có “đốt” xuống dùng Đúng không ạ? Các cụ phải tập sẵn sau “đốt” xuống biết “dùng” Extracted from the conference “Smart city Creative Hanoi” (1:02:20-1:03:12) Interpreter (V.B) So that's the change So we had to change to adopt My parent, for the past two years have been started to use Facebook When I post… whenever I post pictures, they go onto like them And they said to me that: Why are you so quiet at home? But you are so active on Facebook So you have the chance So my parents had the chance to interact with me instead of uh…uh…interacting physically at home My grandma was 90 years old, but she had to use a phone, but she could use a phone to call her children For example, they had to find the contact ABC, uh, is, uh, first number of the contact And then she can easily find the one that needs to contact And people say that you have to, uh, you had to practice using this smart phone here so that when you are death your grandchildren can, uh, burn the, joss paper for you to use in the hell Interpreter (T.L) That’s the change We have to change to adapt My parents two years ago knew how to use Facebook and whenever they see her children though…um…my parents' generation knew how to use Facebook They knew how to entertain themselves And I think they knew that they had to change My grandmother is 90 years old She used her 58 phone and…she can find names for all the contacts in her…so and I think it's simple, but it's a change And, um, we say in Vietnamese culture that if you don't know how to use a phone, uh, when you're die, we cannot send you a phone to the afterlife Interpreter (K.N) That's the change That's a change and we have to change to adapt Two months, my parents have just known to use Facebook for two months, and I have been surprised at how, how talkative they are online Like they post, they post pictures and they interact with us Like they don't talk much at home, but they are really talkative online So that's certainly a change My grandmother, who's almost 90 years old Also call her grandparents Yeah And I mean she's very, she's very adaptive and there's certainly a change And I have been joking around that Uh, my grandparents have to practice using the phone so that when they passed away, I can, uh, they, they can still connect with us in some way Interpreter (Q.H) That's the change and we have to change to adapt to that My parents for two years have, have gotten to know how to use Facebook My parents also get to know how they use Facebook So we have to change My grandmother is nearly 90 years old She just uses a normal phone, not a smart one, but she knows how to make a phone call in order to get her son and her grandson to come back home But even though it is simple They still change Uh, So, uh, this the humor, the older generations have to know how to use the mobile phones in case their son and grandson will burn some, some kind of fake mobile phone when they has gone to live in another world so that they 59 will know how to use it Interpreter (T.N) That’s the change, we need to change Um, my parents started to use, uh, Facebook and in the two recent years They like a lot of my pictures and a lot of pictures on the Internet You know, they are the old generation and they are starting to use the Internet and the social media to interact with their children, showing that they are changing just like my grandmother she's almost 90 years old, but whenever she wants to call us home for a meal, she will call us through the phone So she will make us to write down numbers, to be able to contact with other people We, uh, we wanna, uh, tell a joke that, uh, if our grandparents, our grandparents don't know how to use a phone when they passed away… Excerpt Speaker (Mr Các bạn thấy ông nhập Hà Nội, ông ý muốn Nguyen Duy Hong) nhập ơng phải lấy cơng nhập từ nước ngồi Hải Phịng kéo Hà Nội, xong ơng phải trả vỏ rỗng, chiều rỗng hay chiều chở gió Tương tự, ơng xuất phải xuống Hải Phòng mượn vỏ rỗng kéo Hà Nội đóng hàng lại chở xuống Hải Phịng Như vậy, có chiều rỗng Tơi gặp ơng xuất nhập tơi bảo ơng nói chuyện với Thế ông kết hợp với nhau, ơng trả vỏ ơng dùng Giống bạn trẻ ngồi mà buổi sáng có chở bạn gái học nhớ chở bạn gái thằng Xong thằng trưa đón lại chở bạn gái 60 Đấy, kinh tế chia sẻ bạn Nhá, khơng phải cạnh tranh đâu, cạnh tranh lành mạnh Anh A chở bạn gái anh B học đón bạn gái ngược lại anh anh giúp việc Như vậy, có thời gian rảnh tay, khơng ạ? Interpreter (V.B) So, if you want to import something, uh, you have to calculate and pay the fee of importing the goods from other country to Hai Phong, and then you will have to bring the empty container to back to the, uh, port of Hai Phong Uh it's like, you took you, you take your girlfriend in the morning to, uh, from A, to place A, to place B and then you, uh, and then from place B you take, uh, other people's girlfriend to the place A And in the process of that and during the same process, uh, the other person would take your girlfriend To place A, to place A, from place B to place A in order to take the girlfriend from place A to place B It is called a sharing economy The competition is pretty healthy and fair Interpreter (T.L) If you want to import, you have to bring the container from Hai Phong to Ha Noi and return the empty container to Hai Phong Similarly, if you want to export, you'll have to bring the empty container from Hai Phong to Ha Noi, packet and send it back to Hai Phong So when we talk with exporters and importers, uh, we want to solve, uh, the situation when they empty container is transported So I think this is when sharing economy comes into play For example, when you bring someone, when you bring your girlfriend to school, you can take your friend's 61 girlfriend back home So I think this is very competitive Interpreter (K.N) If he wants to import, then we have to take the imported product from Hai Phong to Hanoi and then leave the packaging there And the exporters will borrow the packaging and, uh, package the product It will make a deal to importers and exporters If you, uh, if you ride your girlfriend to school, then you can pick other’s girlfriend and it's not…it's perfect, healthy competition, and it will be very efficient if you ride your girlfriend to school and remember to pick others inversely It is perfect healthy competition Interpreter (Q.H) If he wants to import something He must take the empty container from Hai Phong to Hanoi, and then he will have to repay it back The same thing happens to the import So we both have two sides So when I'm met them, I told them to cooperate together So for example, like you guys hears in the morning of, in the morning when you, uh, take your girlfriend to school and in the afternoon, you will take his girlfriend come back So we both have free time The same things happen in importing and exporting Interpreter (T.N) So, if he wants to import, he has to take the imported containers from Hai Phong to Ha Noi and then return the empty ones to Hai Phong And if he wants to export, he has to go to Hai Phong and get to empty ones, bring it back to Ha Noi, fill in for the export So I told them to talk to each other and cooperate Just like how you take your girlfriend to school, remember to bring your friends’ girlfriend home, so that in the afternoon, when's your, when your friends take his girlfriend to school, he will 62 remember to take your girlfriend home It's just, it's a share economy It's not competing Recording Speaker (Mr Shawn Well, I'll be using a script to limit myself because I have, Lee) I have only five minutes to present Uh, but anyway, uh, I would like you to focus more on, uh, my, uh, presentation, uh, PPT, uh, rather than my face, because, uh, you know, my presentation much more handsome than myself Interpreter (V.B) Oke, phải đọc thảo soạn trước tơi nghĩ tơi nói q tơi có phút để nói thơi Tơi muốn tập trung vào cái…Tơi muốn bạn nhìn nhiều vào phần thuyết trình tơi mặt tơi tơi nghĩ thuyết trình tơi trơng đẹp trai nhiều Interpreter (T.L) Tôi đọc theo thảo để hạn chế thân tơi có phút thut trình thơi Tơi muốn bạn tập trung vào thuyết trình tơi đừng nhìn vào mặt tơi thuyết trình tơi trơng ưa nhìn tơi nhiều Interpreter (K.N) Tôi xin phép sử dụng…Tôi xin phép nói theo script tơi có phút thơi nên hy vọng tơi khơng q lan man Dù tơi muốn bạn tập trung nhiều vào trình chiếu mặt tơi trình chiếu tơi đẹp nhiều so với mặt Interpreter (Q.H) Tôi giới hạn thân xuống phút Tuy nhiên, muốn bạn tập trung vào phần trình bày tơi thay tập trung vào khn mặt tơi Bởi rõ ràng phần 63 trình bày tơi đẹp trai đáng ý nhiều khuôn mặt tơi Interpreter (T.N) Tơi nói theo kịch để nói kịp thời gian tơi có phút Tơi muốn bạn tập trung lên slides tơi trình chiếu 64 REFERENCES Askildson, Lance (2005) Effects of humor in the language classroom: Humor as a pedagogical tool in theory and practice Arizona Working Papers in SLAT 12 Audrieth, A., 1998 The Art Of Using Humor In Public Speaking [online] 2706 Natalie Dr., Champaign Available at: [Accessed November 2020] Christoffels, I., & De Groot, A (2009) Simultaneous interpreting: A cognitive perspective University of Amsterdam Dynel, M., 2009 Beyond A Joke: Types Of Conversational Humour University of Lodz Gile, Daniel 1995 Basic Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator Training Amsterdam: Benjamins González, L and Mejias, G., 2013 The Interpreter´s Ultimate Challenge: Humor in Conferences Translation journal, 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Pitfalls of Metalingual Use in Simultaneous Interpreting’, The Translator 2(2): 179-98 14 Vita, A (2014, March 25) Gile’s Effort Models for interpreting Alessandra Vita - Translator & Interpreter https://www.alessandravita.com/gileseffort-model-interpreting/ 15 Vymětalová, D (2017) Strategies of Interpreting Humour in the European Parliament (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Palackého 16 Xu, Zhen (2015) Laughing Matters: Humor Strategies in Public Speaking Asian Social Science 12 117 10.5539/ass.v12n1p117 66 ... henceforth, offers an opportunity for new research to be conducted, which is ? ?Strategies of interpreting humor in speeches of TECHFEST 2020 used by interpreting and translation - majored students of FELTE,. .. encountered by student interpreters during humor rendition process in speeches of TECHFEST 2020? ” and “What strategies are applied by FELTE students in interpreting humor in speeches of TECHFEST 2020? ”... encountered by student 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