A STUDY ON PROBLEMS IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH IDIOMS ABOUT HUMAN PERSONALITY INTO VIETNAMESE ENCOUNTERED BY TRANSLATION INTERNS AT BUSINESS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, NEU

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH PHAM THI THUY TRANG Business English 59B A STUDY ON PROBLEMS IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH IDIOMS ABOUT HUMAN PERSONALITY INTO VIETNAMESE ENCOUNTERED BY TRANSLATION INTERNS AT BUSINESS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, NEU Hanoi, May, 2021 NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH PHAM THI THUY TRANG Business English 59B A STUDY ON PROBLEMS IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH IDIOMS ABOUT HUMAN PERSONALITY INTO VIETNAMESE ENCOUNTERED BY TRANSLATION INTERNS AT BUSINESS ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, NEU Supervisor: Pham Phuong Lan, MA Hanoi, May, 2021 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study would not have been completed without the support and encouragement of my supervisor, mentor, family, and friends So, I would like to pass this thank you to everyone who has always been by my side and supported me during the last time First of all, I would like to send my sincere thanks to Ms Pham Phuong Lan, who accompanied and supported me during my translating internship at the economics foreign language department of National Economics University She has always been enthusiastic to help and answer all the questions so that you can complete your thesis well Without her enthusiastic help, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve today’s results Her support and encouragement to me is a great motivation for me to complete my essay Secondly, I would like to thank all the teachers of the Faculty of Foreign Language at National Economics University for giving us advice and useful knowledge, it is not only important to my research completion, but also very important to my future Thirdly, I would like to thank all BEs for enthusiastically participating in my online survey and interview Their participation has greatly contributed to the success of the study Finally, words cannot fully describe my gratitude to my close friends and family members They always love, care, and support me unconditionally, always encouraging me when I have difficulty in completing the research It is also a valuable motivation to help me overcome all difficulties in study, in work, and in life i Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B EXECUTIVE SUMMARY With the explosion of science and technology, the 4.0 revolution was born as an inevitable course with the development of the world Parallel to the advent of this revolution is the integration of the world, and translation is the key to connecting the society However, idioms translation is still a challenging problem, especially English idioms about the human personality In this regard, research focused on classifying and analyzing problems that BE juniors often encounter when they practice translating English idioms In addition, the about characteristics of people into Vietnamese The study also pointed out the causes for these problems and proposed recommendations to overcome the above problem After collecting and analyzing the translation of 60 BE transaltion interns, building and developing the theoretical framework, leading to the analysis of the research survey by presenting a series of 10 questions to 60 students and interview questions for typical students, the researcher investigated the main problems and dificulties that BE interns encountered when translating English idioms about the human personality into Vietnamese, as well as their causes of these obstacles Undoubtedly, to improve your translation skills, nothing is better than practice In addition, students should refer to valuable resources such as the book “200 common English idioms” to expand their economic knowledge as well as learn more good idoms However, students should use the references carefully when accessing online data sources, avoiding untrustworthy information The results of this study will help BE students who are studying translation at NEU realize the value of grammar in translation as well as equip the knowledge and skills to achieve success in the field ii Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BE: Business English NEU: National Economics University SL: Source Language TL: Target Language TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i LIST OF FIGURES v LIST OF TABLES vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the research 1.2 Rationale of the research 1.3 Objectives of the research 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Research questions 1.6 Methodology 1.6.1 Documentary analysis 1.6.2 Survey questionnaire 1.6.3 Interview 1.7 Structure of the study CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 The importance of English grammar in translation 2.1.1 Overview of translation and idioms in English 2.1.2 The importance of translating idioms in English iii Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B 2.2 Problems of BE interns when translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 10 2.2.1 Difficulty in recognize and understand idioms 10 2.2.2 An idiom may have no equivalent in the target language 11 2.2.3 An idiom may have the same idiomatic meaning in the target language but the image used is different 13 2.3 The cause of problems when translating English idioms about the personality of people into Vietnamese 13 2.3.1 Don't practise translating idioms usually, so don't have much knowledge about idioms 13 2.3.2 The very convention of using idioms in written discourse, the contexts in which they can be used, and their frequency of use may be different in the source and target languages 14 CHAPTER III FINDING AND DISCUSSION 15 3.1 BE interns’ attitude towards idioms about the personality of people when translating 15 3.1.1 The degree of assessing the importance of translating English idioms 15 3.1.2 The frequency of BE interns in idiom translation practice 16 3.1.3 The percentage of BE students’ self assessment of their ability to translate English idioms into Vietnamese 17 3.1.4 The percentage of BE students’ evaluation of difficulty level in the translation of English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 18 3.1.5 The frequency of BE students' facing difficulties in translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 19 3.2 BE interns’ problems when translating English idioms about the personality of people into Vietnamese 20 3.2.1 The result of Students’ translation Test 20 3.2.2 The major difficulties BE interns often encounter when translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 21 3.2.3 The frequency of problems that BE interns often encounter when translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 22 iv Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B 3.3 BE interns’ methods to overcome problems when translating English idioms about the personality of people into Vietnamese 24 CHAPTER IV RECOMMENDATIONS 27 4.1 Using an idiom of similar meaning and form 27 4.2 Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form 27 4.3 Translation by paraphrase 27 4.4 Practicing translation 28 4.5 Asking lecturer to support 28 CHAPTER V: CONLUSION 29 5.1 Summary of the research 29 5.2 Limitations of the research 29 5.3 Suggestions for further studies 29 REFERENCE 31 APPENDIX LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 The degree of assessing the importance of translating English idioms 15 Figure 3.2 The frequency of BE interns in idiom translation practice 16 Figure 3.3: The percentage of BE students’ self assessment of their ability to translate English idioms into Vietnamese 17 Figure 3.4: The percentage of BE students’ evaluation of difficulty level in the translation of English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 18 Figure 3.5: The frequency of BE students' facing difficulties in translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 19 Figure 3.6: The major difficulties BE interns often encounter when translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 21 v Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B vi Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: The result of Students’ translation Test 20 Table 3.2 The frequency of BE interns’ difficulties in translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 22 Table 3.3 BE students’ self assessment of methods to overcome difficulties of translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese 24 vii Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the research In this era of globalization, communication requires more than one language This will be an important foundation for the development of all countries Learning more than one language needs not only love and passion, but also extensive understanding and knowledge of those languages Such knowledge includes all important factors such as sounds, symbols, words, structures, etc As learning foreign languages becomes increasingly popular and important, translation has become an urgent need for everyone, especially when they engage in bilingual communication Therefore, the ability to translate is essential for students when learning a foreign language However, translation is not an easy job, which needs a combination of various skills This job requires understanding of the structure of both the source and target languages to produce a good translation result A good translation also needs to convey meaning so that the reader can understand or interpret the message Language is a system of communication that is used by a particular community of speakers It has literal and figurative meanings The literal meaning is the direct reference of words or sentences to objects The figurative sense, however, is different from the literal one in the sense that it is used for giving an imaginative description or a special effect In this case, the meaning of individual words in an expression has nothing to in the comprehension of the whole meaning Such a meaning characterizes notions like metaphors, similes and idioms Idioms have a great extent used in everyday language, and they are considered as one of the most frequently used means of non-literal language Their frequent, spontaneous and appropriate use is usually a mark of good English, and an indication of native or near native command of the language The problem, however, is that despite recent development in the field of translation theory and application, idiomatic expressions still pose a serious challenge for translators and foreign learners In this research, I choose to analyse problems of BE interns when translating English idioms about the personality of people intoVietnamese Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B 3.3 BE interns’ methods to overcome problems when translating English idioms about the personality of people into Vietnamese I guess the meaning of idioms from the context I use verbal (textual or audio) information to help activate my Disagree Strongly disagree Agree Strongly agree 12 22 18 11 22 19 5 20 30 11 26 15 22 15 11 12 24 16 10 10 knowledge of idioms I look up unknown idioms in the dictionary I learn idioms communicating by in English outside classroom the I learn idioms by using them in sentences I learn idioms through retelling, elaboration, and paraphrasing Table 3.3 BE students’ self assessment of methods to overcome difficulties of translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese Overall, the table above shows the BE students’ consensus on the first four strategies Most of them said that they agree or strongly agree with these options In contrast, only the twolast option has a high number of votes with “disagree” and “strongly disagree”, and there is no student who chooses other strategies for their respondent 24 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B Specifically, for the first strategy of recognizing the techniques used, 40 out of 60 students expressed “agree” and “strongly agree” attitudes Indeed, when looking back at the theoretical background of the translator's requirements, it can be seen that they must visualize the message (in both literal and figurative meaning) and analyze the nature of the idioms before conveying the message and the characteristics within the text of it into the target language But in fact, as mentioned in the previous section, not everyone can recognize and understand the use context of idioms Therefore, guessing the meaning of an idiom based on the context of the sentence is sometimes very useful for learners and translators For the second strategy that is to use verbal (textual or audio) information to help activate the knowledge of idioms, there are 41 students said that they agree and strongly agree with In contrast, there are only students who choose “strongly disagree”, and 11 students who choose “disagree” It indicates that most BE students feel this strategy is useful For the third strategy which is to use dictionaries, most BE students agree and strongly agree, accounting for 50 out of 60 respondents There are only 10 students who choose “disagree” and “strongly disagree” It means that strategy is really helpful As mentioned before, idioms are composed of phrases, but its meaning is not the meaning of those words or phrases put together Therefore, it is difficult for translators to translate idioms about human characteristics into Vietnamese with only guessing the meaning of words or putting their meanings together In reality, however, the problem is not to translate completely or not to translate completely; rather, the difficulty of the translations depends on their nature, as well as on the ability of the translator When the translator cannot find an equivalent structure or vocabulary between the source language and the target language, they can use the help of an English idiom dictionary, or a book “200 common English idioms” They can help readers and translators convert the meaning of idioms quickly and accurately For example, the idiom “Couch potato”, if we just translate this idiom by putting words together, this will be a nonsensical phrase But when we use the idiom dictionary it can be immediately found that this is an idiom for a human personality, referring to a lazy person However, learners and translators should also note that the dictionary should only be used as a support tool, not too overused Because when we depend too much on dictionary, our reaction to idioms will be lost, leading to learning and memorizing idioms will be very difficult 25 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B The fourth strategy is to learn idioms by communicating in English outside the classroom that has 41 out of 50 students expressing “agree” or “strongly agree” attitude This is also quite easy to understand because after memorizing the theory, practice is always very important Therefore, memorizing idioms through daily communication is also a very optimal method For the last strategy that is to learn idioms through retelling, elaboration, and paraphrasing, there are 40 out of 60 students choosing the option “disagree” and “strongly disagree” Twenty other students expressed agreement This shows that BE students evaluate this strategy as not suitable for translating English idioms about hman personality into Vietnamese Obviously, English is a popular language in the world, and Vietnamese is more limited Therefore, when the translator wants to translate a sentence from English into Vietnamese, especially the idiom, it is necessary to choose a target idiom that closely matches the image that the original one wants to show most 26 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B CHAPTER IV RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Using an idiom of similar meaning and form The best case is still that the translator can find an idiom with meaning and the form is equivalent to the original one Thus, the version can be most literally and true to the requirements of the translation For example, with the idiom “New one in, old one out”, we can easily find a meaningful idiom and equivalent form in Vietnamese, that is “Có mới, nới cũ” Using such equivalent idioms will make the translation as easy and accurate as possible 4.2 Using an idiom of similar meaning but dissimilar form Another strategy that may be used for translating idioms is: translating the English idiomatic expression by a TL one that conveys the same meaning but has a different form In this method, unlike the first one, it is often possible to find a fixed expression in the TL which has similar meaning to the SL”s one, yet it consists of different lexical items 4.3 Translation by paraphrase Paraphrasing is the most common strategy in the process of translation It is usually used in cases where the translator fails to find a TL’s correspondent idiom to the one used in the SL, or when it seems inappropriate to use idiomatic language in the source text because of the stylistic differences between the two languages That is, in such cases the translator can simply use neutral terms to transmit the intended meaning behind the SL’s idiom For example, the idiom “Salt of the earth”, the translator cannot find an equivalent idiom in Vietnamese, so we can use idiom translation through the shortest explanation of the meaning, such as: this is an idiom to talk about someone who is honest and kind Another example, the idiom “Home bird”, we can explain meaning that: This idiom refers to the person who likes being at home It can be said that, when not finding an equivalent idiom in TL, this is also a quite useful way for learners and translators 27 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B 4.4 Practicing translation Our parents once had the sentence “Practice makes perfect” It is undeniable that for the improvement of any skill, practice is extremely important and indispensable It is also not except to improve translation skill Through the process of practice, learners not only identify the strengths and weaknesses in their translation, but also gain a lot of experience Therefore, they can improve them by avoiding repeating the same errors and overcome the problems in the next translation 4.5 Asking lecturer to support Teachers or instructors are experienced and highly specialized people Therefore, when having learning difficulties, particularly in the translation process, students can ask for their help On the other hand, in reality, few students can carry out this recommendation because they are afraid and shy to express their problems In a university environment, contacting time with lecturers is not much, which makes students more distant from them However, with the support of social networks, this proposal is not impossible Students need to be braver in expressing their own problems so that teachers can understand and give appropriate support 28 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the research Generally, the study gathered problems-related issues in the translation of English idioms about human pesonalities into Vietnamese of BE interns, categorized them and recommended some advice for students From what has been discussed in the survey questionnaire, it can be concluded that BE interns often face problems when translating English idioms into Vietnamese and most of them are aware of the importance problems in translation It is not easy for a student to encounter these problems, because translating expressions is always considered a quite difficult task, and also quite complex.When encountering these obstacles, students tend to resort to the help of the Internet or online translation tools The research has given a number of recommendations to help them overcome the grammatical errors Obviously, regular practice is the best way to improve translation skills as well as overcomethese problems The more learners practice translating, the more idioms they can learn Furthermore, actively reading and referencing translated documents brings various benefits for translators And finally, you can turn to the support of your teacher to help improve your translation learning skills 5.2 Limitations of the research Although it can be concluded that the research also has some certain achievements, what is presented in the thesis is only at the preliminary research level and has many limitations First, within the scope of a thesis and the time limit, research cannot cover all aspects of the problem Second, the online survey cannot be done for all students of the Faculty of Foreign Studies at the National Economics University, and the interview cannot be applied to qualified students and different experiences Therefore, the research scope is limited and minimized Finally, strategies and recommendations are given for general BE students, which are not yet classified according to the actual level of each student 5.3 Suggestions for further studies Due to the aforementioned limitations of the study, the following recommendations provide suggestions for greater success and further study as follows: First, researchers should study further To get a full picture of idioms : 29 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B Research more deeply about the means of English idioms, study difficulties and techniques of translating idioms from English to Vietnamese for comparison Second, researchers should conduct surveys at a larger scale and scope Finally, researchers should consider every aspect, make use of all resources to make more recommendations suitable for different levels of students to help them improve their ability to translateEnglish idioms about human personalities into Vietnamese 30 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B REFERENCE In English Alessdro, D (1997) Linguistic Anthropology Cambridge Univercity Press Baker, M (1992) In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation London: Routledge Ball,W J.(1968) Apractical Guide to colloquial idiom London: Longman Group Ltd Bassnett, S (2005) Translation Studies London: Routledge Bassnett, S (1991) Translation Studies London: Routledge Campbell, L (1998) Historical Linguistics: An introduction U.K: Edinburg University Press, G.B Carter, R (1993) Introducing Applied Linguistics London:Penguin books Catford, J, C (1965) A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics.Oxford: Oxford University Press Fernando, C (1996) Idioms and Idiomacity London: Penguin books 10 Ghazala, H (1995) Translation as Problems and Solutions: A Course Book for University Students and Trainee Translators Valetta: ELGA Publications 11 Glasser, M (2009) Open Verification Methodology Cookbook Springer 12 House, J (1977) A Model for Translation Quallity Assessment Tubrigen: Gunter Nan 13 Ifill, T (2002) Seeking the Nature of Idioms: A study in idiomatic structure Haveford College 31 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B 14 Jackobson, R (1959) On Linguistic Aspect of Translation Brower, R.A (ed) On Translation Cambridge: Harvard University Press 15 Kharma, N (1997) Translation.(1sted) Alquds: Alquds Open University 16 Larson, M (1984) Meaning-based Translation: A guide to Cross-Language Equivalence Lanham New York.London: University Press of America 17 Lyons, J.(1981).Language and Linguistics: An introduction U.K, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18 Moon, R.(1998).Fixed expressions and idioms in English Oxford: Oxford University press 19 Newmark, P (2003) A text Book of Translation Edinburgh Pearson Education Limited 20 Nida, E & C Taber (1969) The Theory and Practice of Translation Leiden: EJ Brill.58 21 Palmer, F.R(1976) Semantics.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 22 Shettleworth, M & M, Cowie.(1997)Dictionary of Translation Studies Manchester: St Jerome Publishing 23 Seidl, J (1982) Exercises on Idioms Oxford University Press 24.Seidj,J& Mcmordie,W.(1988).English idioms China: Oxford University Press 25 Zagy, M.M.(2000).Translation and Meaning Translation Journal,4 In Vietnamese Nguyen Thien Giap (1985), Dẫn luận ngôn ngữ học Tieu Ha Minh (2014), Đi tìm điển tích thành ngữ 32 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B 33 Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE Dear participants, I am carrying out the survey questionnaire on “The problems that BE interns often encounter in translating English idioms about characteristics of people” This questionnaire is really necessary to my research; therefore, it would be highly appreciated if you could spend a little time completing all the questions honestly Please feel free to express your own opinions through writing in the space provided, ticking the boxes and/or the column of your choice All your information will be kept confidential and used for the thesis purpose Thank you very much for your participation! What you think about the importance of translating idioms from English to Vietnamese? A Very important B Important C D A Normal Not ipmportant How often you often practice translating English idioms? 10- 30 minutes per day B C D 30- 60 minutes per day 60- 90 minutes per day More than 90 minutes How you evaluate your ability to translate idioms? A B C D E Very good Quite good Normal Bad Very bad Please list some English idioms about human personalities you have ever known? How you evaluate the level of difficulties when translating English idioms about human personalities into Vietnamese? A Very difficult Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B B Difficult C D Normal Easy E Very easy How often you encounter the difficulties when translating English idioms about human personalities into Vietnames? A B Always Often C D Sometimes Rarely E Never What major difficulties you often encounter when translating English idioms about human personalities into Vietnamese? A Difficulty in recognize and understand idioms B An idiom may have no equivalent in the target language C An idiom may have the same idiomatic meaning in the target language but the image used is different D Others Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B How often you face difficulties when translating English idioms about the personality of people? Never Idioms are difficult to understand because of the lack of cultural background behind the idioms Idioms are difficult to understand because of the lack of experience dealing with idioms An idiom may have no equivalent in the target language An idiom may have the same idiomatic meaning in the target language but the image used is different Idioms are difficult when they have no context Rarely Sometimes Often Always Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B What methods you use to boost your ability to translate English idioms about the personality of people into Vietnamese? Disagree Strongly disagree Agree Strongly agree I guess the meaning of idioms context from the I use verbal (textual or audio) information to help activate my knowledge of idioms I up look up unknown idioms in the dictionary I learn idioms by communicating in English outside the classroom I learn idioms by using them in sentences I learn idioms through retelling, elaboration, and paraphrasing 10 Could you give some recommendations to overcome the difficulties when translating English idioms about the personality of people into Vietnamese? Phạm Thị Thùy Trang - 11174950 – Business English 59B APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS How you think about the importance of translating idioms in English? What problems you think are difficult when translating the English idioms about characteristics of people into Vietnamese? What are the reasons behind these difficulties you face when translating English idioms about human characteristics into Vietnamese? What are recommendations for BE interns to translate English idioms about characteristics of people into Vietnamese ? APPENDIX Students’ translation Test Dear Students, This test is used as a data collection instrument for my research project translation So, you are kindly asked to translate the following English idioms intoVietnamese Your participation is of great importance, I will be grateful if you give full attention when translating! To be as good as gold Lie in wait (with something) As obstinate as a mule Spick and span Couch potato Daydreamer Eager beaver Busybody 10 wolf in sheep's clothing As straight as a die ... to one of the following options: translation according to the meaning of each element, translation by explanation / interpretation and only figurative translation (idiomatic meaning) Choosing... Department, NEU in translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese? ?? 1.3 Objectives of the research Research aims to identify problems that translation interns at Business English. .. students' facing difficulties in translating English idioms about human personality into Vietnamese The frequency of BE students' facing difficulties in translating English idioms about human personality