VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ************** TẠ THỊ MAI HƢƠNG ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL TITLES IN THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS – A STUDY FROM PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE (Từ chỉ chức danh thuộc hệ thống quản lý của công ty cổ phần trong tiếng Anh và cách diễn đạt tƣơng đƣơng trong tiếng Việt – Nghiên cứu từ góc độ ngữ dụng học) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 02 01 Hanoi – 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ************** TẠ THỊ MAI HƢƠNG ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL TITLES IN THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS – A STUDY FROM PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE (Từ chỉ chức danh thuộc hệ thống quản lý của công ty cổ phần trong tiếng Anh và cách diễn đạt tƣơng đƣơng trong tiếng Việt – Nghiên cứu từ góc độ ngữ dụng học) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc. Lâm Quang Đông Hanoi – 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Tạ Thị Mai Hương, hereby state that this minor thesis is the result of my own research and all the materials in this study which are not my own work have been identified and acknowledged. I also state that the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree to any other universities or institutions. Student‟s signature Tạ Thị Mai Hương i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This minor thesis has been successfully completed thanks to the assistance and guidance of my supervisor, teachers, colleagues, friends and relatives.
First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Lâm Quang Đông for his patient and enthusiastic guidance, endless encouragement and invaluable critical feedback throughout my research. Secondly, I wish to thank all the lecturers in the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their very useful and interesting lectures which have laid the foundation for my thesis. I am also grateful to the librarians of the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, who enthusiastically helped me in finding necessary materials for my thesis.
In addition, I am greatly indebted to my colleagues at Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration for sharing my duties and providing me with both professional and emotional support while the work was being done. Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my family whose love, care, support and encouragement enabled me to accomplish the study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to uncover the intrinsic meanings of commonly used English professional titles in the management system of American joint-stock companies and look for their Vietnamese equivalents. In the study, the researcher investigates some American and Vietnamese companies‟ organizational structures, as well as scans some job suggested websites to figure out and make a list of the common professional titles in English and Vietnamese language, centering upon the titles in the management system of a company.
These jobs titles are then described, compared and contrasted in terms of responsibilities to look for the equivalents in the target language. The results of the study present the Vietnamese equivalents of the investigated English professional titles. Based on those findings, the thesis provides some implications for translation and pedagogy. Last but not least, suggestions for further research are given as direction in the time to come pursued by the author and/or other interested people.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS CA Contrastive Analysis CAO Chief Accounting Officer CCO Chief Customer Officer CEO Chief Executive Officer CFO Chief Financial Officer CHRO Chief Human Resources Officer CMO Chief Marketing Officer COO Chief Operating Officer CSO Chief Sales Officer IT Information technology MD Managing Director QA Quality Assurance R&D Research and Development SL Source Language SOC Standard Occupational Classification TL Target Language UK The United Kingdom U.S The United States VP Vice President iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Types of equivalence relationship………………………………………………… 7 Table 2: English professional titles and their Vietnamese equivalents……………………. 36 Table 3: Vietnamese professional titles and their English equivalents……………………. 39 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Company structure introduced by Tullis, G.…13 Figure 2: Company structure introduced by Mackenzie, I.14 Figure 3: Company structure introduced by McKellen, J. (1990) ………………………15 Figure 4: Company structure introduced by Sweeny, S.16 Figure 5: Company structure introduced by Mascull, B.17 Figure 6: Structure of Binh Minh Plastics Joint-stock Company……………………….…18 Figure 7: Structure of Lac Hong Joint-stock Company………………………………….…19 Figure 8: Structure of BSC Joint-stock Company…………………………………….……20 Figure 9: Board of Directors in American companies……………………………….…20 Figure 10: Inner governance structure of Vietnamese joint-stock companies………….…21 Figure 11: Overview of the translation task…………………………………………….…38 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .iv LIST OF TABLES. v LIST OF FIGURES. v TABLE OF CONTENTS .vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study.
Scopes of the study. Significance of the study. Methods of the study. Design of the study.
4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Theory of Pragmatics .2 Theory of Translation.1 Definitions of translation. Equivalence in translation. Types of equivalence. 9 CHAPTER 2: A DESCRIPTION OF AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.
Definition of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies. American joint-stock companies. Vietnamese joint-stock companies. Organizational structures of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies.
Organizational structures of some American companies. Organizational structures of some Vietnamese companies. 17 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Main titles in management system of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies.
Main titles in American joint-stock companies. Main titles in Vietnamese joint-stock companies. 24 CHAPTER 3: A CONTRATIVE STUDY ON PROFESSIONAL TITLES IN THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES. A description of professional titles in management system of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies.
American professional titles. Vietnamese professional titles. A contrastive analysis of professional titles in management system of American and Vietnamese joint-stock companies. Titles denoting General Managers.
Titles denoting Functional Managers. 35 CHAPTER 4: APPLICATIONS FOR TRANSLATING, TEACHING AND LEARNING BUSINESS ENGLISH .1 Suggestions for translating English professional titles into Vietnamese and Vietnamese titles into English. Implications for teaching and learning Business English. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further research. 45 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART 1: INTRODUCTION Part one of the research states the rationale for the study. It also outlines the aims, scope, method, significance, and design of the thesis. Rationale Over the past decade, the increase of international economic integration after Vietnam‟s accession to the WTO has made more job opportunities available for Vietnamese labor force.
People are made accessible to positions not only in local business enterprises but also in large foreign corporations. As a direct result, university graduates have great chances to be employed by local companies which have increasing business relationships with oversea ones, and even by multinational enterprises. Hence, the ability to use English has become one of the preliminary requirements for a potential candidate. Although Vietnam has been exposed to the market economy for a considerable period, there remains a lack of economic terminology system in general and Vietnamese equivalents of English occupational titles in particular.
Professional titles are among those English terms which are popularly used in both local and global companies. In addition, an incorrect choice of business contacts due to the misunderstanding of their job title‟s responsibilities may negatively affect the viability of business cooperation. As a matter of fact, working people need to have some knowledge about business titles. Being a teacher of English responsible for teaching English to students majored in management studies, my job is to help students improve their language proficiency and provide them with the language skills they need for their future career.
Thus, I feel the need to pre-teach students the common job titles and people‟s responsibilities when they hold these posts. So far, few researchers have had interest in researching the job titles in the economic fields. Therefore, to be able to provide learners with better understanding of the professional titles and their implied meanings, it is necessary for me to do a research into the frequently used job titles and the responsibilities undertaken by people carrying those titles. Throughout history, joint-stock companies, though might be denoted by different names, remain one of the most popular business models in many countries in the world as well as in Vietnam.
In addition, the professional titles of this type of company can be found 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com in many other business models. Therefore, I decided to make an investigation into the management system of the companies of this type. Aims of the study The primary purpose of the study is to look for the intrinsic meanings of the words denoting common professional titles in management system of American joint-stock companies and their Vietnamese equivalents. Research questions The study is carried out with a view to answering the following research questions: 1.
What are the common English professional titles and their responsibilities in management system of joint-stock companies in the United States? 2. What are the equivalents of these job titles in the Vietnamese language? 4. Scopes of the study The study investigates the management system of some large joint-stock companies in the United States (U.), looking for common professional titles and their responsibilities. These business titles will then be compared to titles existing in management systems of Vietnamese companies to find the equivalent terms in Vietnamese language.
It should be noted that the study only deals with linguistic aspect. The term “joint- stock company” used in this study is an old word referring to the companies raising capital by issuing stocks and being owned by its shareholders. It can be replaced by “shareholding company” or “public company” in modern English. Significance of the study It is expected that the result of this research will help Vietnamese learners of English, especially students whose major is economics and business administration, have better understandings of the management system of joint stock companies and the responsibilities of some popular positions in the company system.
Having a clear idea of the possible responsibilities of a title will facilitate students in the process of applying for a job as well as being of great help when they have to find the right people to work with in their future career. Also, the attempt to find and suggest equivalents of professional titles in Vietnamese language will help limit the use of borrowing words, thus, partly contribute to preserving the value of our national language. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods of the study This research is a kind of qualitative research, in which the author integrates different methods including listing, descriptive, comparative and contrastive to be able to successfully answer the research questions.
By stating that the study is a kind of pragmatic perspective, the author implies that she mainly focuses on working out the intrinsic meanings of the professional titles investigated. In terms of contrastive analysis, the researcher follows the principles suggested by James C. (1980), who stated that contrastive method involves two steps, namely, description and comparison. Following this method, the thesis is carried out through two steps: - Step one: English and Vietnamese professional titles in are listed and described.
- Step two: English and Vietnamese professional titles are compared to find out the equivalents. Design of the study The study has three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion.