VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -----***----- TRẦN THANH HƯƠNG EVALUATING THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD” (Đánh giá bản dịch Việt – Anh tác phẩm “Oxford thương yêu”) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Hanoi - 2012 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -----***----- TRẦN THANH HƯƠNG EVALUATING THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD” (Đánh giá bản dịch Việt – Anh tác phẩm “Oxford thương yêu”) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc. LÊ HÙNG TIẾN Hanoi - 2012 z TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vi LIST OF TABLES. vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Scope of the study.
Aims of the study. Organization of the study. 04 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Literary translation definition.
Characteristics of literary translation. Methods used in literary translation. Problems of literary translation. Translation quality assessment.
Definition of translation quality assessment. Role of translation quality assessment. Models for translation quality assessment. 10 iv z CHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE 14 ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD”.
Source text and the author. Translation and the translator. Translation quality assessment of the English version of Beloved Oxford. Limitations and suggestion for further research.
III v z LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OALD Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary SL Source language ST Source text TL Target language TQA Translation quality assessment TT Target text VD Vietnamese Dictionary vi z LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Examples of the strengths of the translation. 16 2 Examples of word omission. 19 3 Examples of addition. 20 4 Examples of inappropriate equivalence at word level.
22 5 Examples of inappropriate equivalence above word level. 26 vii z PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Translation has been of great importance to the world‟s society and culture, especially in the current process of globalization. Thanks to translation, more and more books, documents, news have been translated between languages, which enables human access to the repository of knowledge of many fields in different languages.
It also contributes to the introduction of each country‟s identity to the world. Therefore, international understanding, social cultural awareness among people is dramatically improved. Among translation fields, literary translation catches many people‟s interest. A lot of foreign literature works have been translated into Vietnamese, and vice versa.
However, the question of how much the quality of literary translation is remains unanswered. A plenty of translated versions have drawn much criticism from reviewers and readers for the last few years. Thus, assessing the translations becomes inevitable. The novel Beloved Oxford written by Duong Thuy (published in 2007) is chosen for several reasons.
Firstly, it is one of the best sellers in its original Vietnamese language in 2007. The novel has been reprinted seventeen times with the total copies of 59,500 so far (up to April, 2012)1. Secondly, Beloved Oxford is one of my favourite novels, which helps me understand more about the life of Vietnamese students overseas. This novel is translated into English by Elbert Bloom, an American reader, who is fascinated by Duong Thuy‟s works.
These reasons and interests provide me with motivation to work on this thesis, “Evaluating the English version of the novel Beloved Oxford”. 1 From http://duongthuy.php?id=3&cid=154&page=1 Retrieved May 20, 2012 1 z 2. Scope of the study The beautiful romantic novel Beloved Oxford consists of sixteen chapters. On the ground of limited time, conditions, this thesis focuses on the first three chapters, namely The Surprising School Admission, The Challenger, The Lonely Winter respectively.
These chapters are selected because they help the readers imagine the setting of the novel, the main characters‟ background and personalities; and especially contain the typical strengths and weaknesses of the translation. Aims of the study The study is carried out to investigate the quality of the English version of the novel Beloved Oxford based on Newmark‟s theory of translation criticism. Research questions In order to serve the aim of the study, two research questions are raised: 1. What are the strengths of the English version of Beloved Oxford in terms of linguistic aspect and translational aspect? 2.
What are the weaknesses of the English version of Beloved Oxford in terms of linguistic aspect and translational aspect? 4. Research methods To achieve the goal of the study, contrastive analysis is employed. The researcher conducts the study in the following steps: Building up a theoretical background for the study 2 z Choosing an approach for TQA, that is Newmark‟s Analyzing and comparing source text and target text to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the translation in term of linguistic aspect and translational aspect 5. Organization of the study Part I is the Introduction which provides readers an overview of the thesis including the rationale for the study, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the organization of the study.
Part II is the Development, which includes two chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical background knowledge related to literary translation and TQA. Chapter 2 is the main part of the study. It provides comparison and analysis between original texts and translation texts, and discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the translation.
Part III is the Conclusion which summarizes the main ideas and findings of the study, draws some implications for Vietnamese - English literary translations, points out limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further research. 3 z PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Literary translation definition Translation plays an important role in increasing awareness and understanding among diverse cultures and nations. Literary translations in particular help these different cultures reach a compromise.
According to Toury (1995, cited in Elkjær, 2010), a literary translation is a translation of a text deemed literary in the source culture, which conforms - translates - to the requirements of a literary text in the target culture. Therefore, in order for a translation to be a literary translation the result of the translation must be acknowledged as literature in the target situation and culture, thus bearing the target literature requirements upon it. Having the same viewpoint, Schulte (2010) claims that “Literary translation bridges the delicate emotional connections between cultures and languages and furthers the understanding of human beings across national borders. In the act of literary translation the soul of another culture becomes transparent, and the translator recreates the refined sensibilities of foreign countries and their people through the linguistic, musical, rhythmic, and visual possibilities of the new language.
Characteristics of literary translation According to Reiss (1976/ 1989, cited in Huang, 2011) literary text - as an “expressive” text type - has a set of typical features. It is in a written form, fictional, and canonical, and has an aesthetic function, focusing on the expression of emotions, with poetic language, implicit meanings, and deviations. 4 z In literary translation, the translators need to take the typical features of the source literary text as well as the influential elements from the target perspective into account, for example, the linguistic and cultural differences and the target readers. In his studies, Huang (2011) discusses five points regarding the uniqueness of literary translations.
Firstly, literary texts are characterized by rhetorical and aesthetic value, which is the essence expected to be captured and maintained in a literary translation. Secondly, in literary translation the form interlinks with the content whereas in non-literary translation the content may be considered detachable from the form or structure. The third point is that literary translator‟s choices of wording are highly dependent on the TL and culture. In addition, a consideration of the target audiences is another important issue in literary translation.
Lastly, literary translation is a complicated act, and to this effect, there is no definite correct translation yet there is a proper or an appropriate translation according to certain criteria or from a certain perspective. Similarly, Belhaag (1997, cited in Hassan, 2011) summarizes the characteristics of literary translations: - expressive - connotative - symbolic - focusing on both form and content - subjective - allowing multiple interpretation - timeless and universal - using special devices to “heighten” communicative effect 5 z - tendency to deviate from the language norms 1. Methods used in literary translation According to Nida (1964) there are two distinguished types of translation: a formal equivalence translation in which the form and content of the original message is to be preserved, and a dynamic equivalence translation which focuses on creating an equivalent effect in the TL text. Another opinion is expressed by Larson (1984) who classifies translation methods based on the form and meaning of the text.
Accordingly, there are two translation trends: one is form-based and the other is meaning-based. Form-based translations attempt to follow the form of the SL and are known as literal translation. Meaning-based translations or idiomatic translations make every effort to communicate the meaning of the SL text in the natural forms of the receptor language. Translation falls on a continuum from very literal, to literal, to modified literal, to near idiomatic, to idiomatic, and may even move on to be unduly free.
Having the same idea, Newmark (1988) proposes eight translation methods which are divided into two main categories: semantic translation and communicative translation. He puts the translation methods in the form of a flattened V diagram: 6 z It seems that Nida‟s formal equivalence translation, Larson‟s literal translation, and Newmark‟s semantic translation focus on the form of the text. However, they ignore context. Similarly, Nida‟s dynamic equivalence translation, Larson‟s idiomatic translation and Newmark‟s communicative translation seek one goal, that is, conveying the message of the original text to the receptor audience and are equivalent to the original text in a dynamic way.
Therefore, it is advisable that translators bear these methods in mind when translating literary text. Problems of literary translation The first problem is that of equivalence. Jakobson (1966, cited in Boushaba, 1988) considers that equivalence cannot be defined in terms of sameness and synonymy in translation theory. No translation can be a complete version of the original, for translation is no more than “a creative transposition”.
Languages are very complex systems determined by various factors, some of which are related to the structure of these languages and others are extralinguistic such as the social and cultural contexts. Since no two languages share similar structure or have identical social and cultural association, equivalence, in the sense of sameness, is thus an impossible achievement in translation. Therefore, equivalence in translation should be viewed as being an approximate rendering of a text from a SL to a TL. In other words, it is the relationship between a ST and a TT that allows the TT to be considered as a translation of the ST.
A translator should search for equivalents that produce the same effects in the translated text as those that the author was seeking 7 z for readers of the original text. This forces the translator to consider the text, always from the perspective of literary translation, as the base of an ongoing “negotiation” with the author so that the language of the new text presents equivalent values to those of the original language, without forgetting its strength, dynamic elements, or aesthetic quality. It is generally accepted that meanings are not translated, but messages, which is the reason that the text must be considered in is totality. The problems of literary translation also include differences between cultures.
Equal importance should be stressed on both linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the TL. According to Nida (1964), “differences between cultures may cause more severe complications for the translator than do differences in language structure”. Therefore, when translating, it is important to consider not only the lexical impact on the target reader, but also the manner in which cultural aspects may be perceived and make translating decisions accordingly.