MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN NHAT QUANG 443026 ENGLISH-MAJORED SENIORS’ DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE LEXICAL LEGAL TERMS: A CASE STUDY AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY Hanoi — 2023 MINISTRY OF JUSTICE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NGUYEN NHAT QUANG 443026 ENGLISH-MAJORED SENIORS’ DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE LEXICAL LEGAL TERMS: A CASE STUDY AT HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY NHUNG KHO KHAN CUA SINH VIEN NAM CUOI TRONG VIEC DICH CAC THUAT NGU TU VUNG PHAP LY ANH-VIET: MOT NGHIEN CUU DIEN HINH TAI DAI HOC LUAT HA NOI Major: Legal English GRADUATION THESIS Supervisor Hanoi — 2023 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Nguyen Nhat Quang - class K4430, a candidate for the degree ofBachelor of Arts accepts the requirements ofHanoi Law University 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 ofstudy and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Date: April 2"4, 2023 Supervisor’s confirmation Researcher’s signature MA. Nguyen Hai Anh Nguyen Nhat Quang ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratefulness towards my supervisor, MA.
Hai Anh Nguyen for her support with great patience, devotion, unwavering advice, profound insight, and experience. Mrs Anh has been very attentive to me and guided me through the difficulties I have in the process of writing this thesis. Besides my supervisor, my sincere thanks go to all the Members of the Thesis Committee, and the lecturers who work hard and fair to evaluate this research of mine, give insightful comments and questions, as well as provide me with detailed feedback to help my future studies. I am deeply grateful that Hanoi Law University creates such opportunity for me to enhance my writing and research skills.
Via this activity, I and other students shall gain a variety of useful knowledge and experience for our future careers. Last but not least, I am particularly grateful for my family members and close friends who have been supportive and caring throughout the journey with their unconditional love, understanding and kindness. I thank my fellow K4429 and K4430 classmates for the tremendous amount of advice and cooperation to support me in the writing and survey process. i ABSTRACT The intricate nature of legal terminology renders its translation challenging, as distinct legal systems in different countries create unique terminology that can vary significantly even among those countries sharing the same language.
As opposed to scientific or other technical terminology, legal translation poses greater difficulty owing to its system-bound character. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the lexical difficulties encountered by fourth-year students at Hanoi Law University when translating legal terms, as well as their causes and potential solutions. The sample consisted of 60 fourth-year students majoring in legal English, who completed questionnaires and participated in semi-structured interviews as primary data collection tools. Results revealed that a large number of students faced challenges when translating legal terms, with borrowing terms, highly technical terms, archaic terms, and legal system-bound terms being the most difficult.
As a matter of facts, last-year students also utilized various approaches to overcome these challenges. Based on the findings, the study offers suggested recommendations for students, teachers, and course designers to enhance legal translation proficiency. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE PAGE i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iil LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF FIGURES Vill LIST OF TABLES ix INTRODUCTION | 1. Rationale for the study 1 2.
Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 3 5. Significance of study 4 6. Organization of the study 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.
Definition of terminology 5 1. Definition of legal terminology 6 1. Characteristics of legal terminology 6 1. Definition of translation 8 1.
Definition of legal translation 9 1. Characteristics of legal translation 9 1. The nature of legal language 9 1. A system-bound discipline 10 1.
Ambiguity and interpretation 11 1. Categories of legal translation 12 1. Strategies for translation of legal terms 12 1. Formal equivalence 13 IV 1.
Lexical difficulties in legal terms translation 14 1. Reciprocal words and titles 19 1. Legal system-bound terms 19 1. Review of some previous researches related to difficulties in translating legal terms 20 1.
Data collection instrument 24 2. Semi-structured interview 25 2. Data collection procedures 25 2. Data analysis procedure 27 2.
Data analysis from questionnaires 27 2. Data analysis from semi-structured interview 28 2. Summary 28 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 29 3. Seniors’ identification of learning and translating legal terms 29 3.
Lexical difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese 33 3. The possible causes of these lexical difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese 38 3. Suggested approaches applied toward lexical difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese 43 3. Summary 49 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS 50 4.
Recommendations for students 50 4. Recommendations for teachers 52 4. Recommendations for curriculum designer 53 4. Summary of the main findings 54 2.
Limitations and suggestions for further research 56 3. Limitations of the study 56 3. Suggestion for further study 56 REFERENCES 57 APPENDICES 62 APPENDIX 1 62 APPENDIX 2 69 APPENDIX 3 70 APPENDIX 4 78 VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELP English for Legal Purposes HLU Hanoi Law University SL Source Language TL Target Language vil LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Seniors’ identification of learning their knowledge of 29 legal terminology Figure 2.
Seniors’ identification of improving their knowledge of 30 legal terminology Figure 3. Seniors’ frequency of translating English-Vietnamese 30 legal terms Figure 4. Figure 4: Seniors’ identification of the types of 3l documents translatedfrom English into Vietnamese Figure 5. Figure 5: Seniors’ identification of difficulties in 32 translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese Figure 6.
The lexical difficulties that seniors may encounter when 34 translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese Figure 6. The lexical difficulties that seniors may encounter when 36 translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese Figure 7. Suggested approaches applied by seniors toward lexical 45 difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese Figure 7. Suggested approaches applied by seniors toward lexical 47 difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese vill LIST OF TABLES Page(s) Table 1 Legal English tautologies 18 Table 2 The lexical difficulties that seniors may encounter when 33 translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese Table 3 Seniors’ lexical difficulties in translating legal terms from 38 objective causes Table 4 Seniors’ lexical difficulties in translating legal terms from 40 subjective causes Table 5 Suggested approaches applied by seniors toward lexical 43,44 difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese 1x INTRODUCTION This chapter intends to lay the groundwork for the research paper by describing its rationale, aims, research questions, scope, significance and organization with a clear focus, purpose, and direction.
Rationale for the study The phenomenon of globalization, coupled with the rapid dissemination of information and communication across nations, has significantly accelerated the process of translation (Hatim & Munday, 2004). Translation has become an essential undertaking, not only to comprehend the language, culture, society, and legal norms of foreign counterparts but also to comply with the current global inclination towards entering into international agreements. However, legal translation is not a straightforward affair, as referred to by Cao (2007), and requires translators with special skills, knowledge, and experience. When it comes to translation and interpretation, legal terminology has been a subject of keen interest among linguists, who recognize the challenges posed by cultural differences (Sierocka, 2014) and legal system differences (Khizhnyak, 2014).
In particular, legal translation presents greater difficulties than other types of technical translation due to the system-bound nature of legal terminology, which is specific to each country's legal system and lacks counterparts in other legal systems (Alwazna, 2019). More importantly, legal terminology is not only shaped by a state's legal system traditions, but also by the direction of its development and foreign policy. Additionally, legal translation involves converting legal texts from one language to another while preserving the original meaning and intent and maintaining the unity of terminology between the original and translated texts. Therefore, the rationale for studying English-majored seniors’ difficulties in translating English-Vietnamese legal terms at Hanoi Law University is multifold.
Firstly, Hanoi Law University is considered one of the most prestigious law schools in Vietnam, attracting numerous students who aspire to pursue a career in law. As part of the language and law training education, English majors at Hanoi Law University are required to study legal translation, which is a challenging course that demands a thorough understanding of both knowledge of translation and legal 1 concepts. It can be said that technical term translation in general and legal term translation in particular represent one of the most difficult tasks for students. Thus, it is crucial for lecturers and the Department to comprehend the difficulties faced by students when translating legal terms to overcome limitations in training, establish varied and effective teaching methods, and alter the curriculum for English major students.
Secondly, fourth-year English majors at Hanoi Law University will be a vital group of future legal practitioners in Vietnam, who will be responsible for translating legal documents between English and Vietnamese. Any errors or inaccuracies in translation could lead to legal disputes or other serious consequences. Understanding the challenges that students face when translating legal terms from English to Vietnamese is crucial to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed to meet the demands of the global legal profession as well as improve the quality of legal translations, which is essential in today’s globalised world. Given that these students are at the early stage of their studies and may lack experience in translation-related theories and skills, it is essential to provide them with adequate support to overcome the difficulties they will encounter.
Thirdly, the English-Vietnamese language pair poses a unique set of challenges for legal translation, including differences in legal systems, cultural norms, and linguistic structures. These factors can significantly impact the translation process, making it difficult for students to accurately and efficiently translate legal terms between the two languages. In fact, there may be limitations on the availability of research resources for students at Hanoi Law University to explore the difficulties in translation, the causes for those difficulties, and approaches to overcome them. Therefore, the aforementioned reasons have urged the researcher to conduct a study on “English-majored seniors’ difficulties in translating English-Vietnamese lexical legal terms: a case study at Hanoi Law University”.
Aims of the study With reference to the study questions and problem, this study intends to achieve the following aims: - To identify the lexical difficulties that HLU’s English-majored seniors may encounter when translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese; - To investigate the causes of lexical difficulties that HLU’s English- majored seniors encounter; - To explore the suggested approaches that HLU’s English-majored seniors applied to overcome these lexical difficulties in legal terms translation; - To suggest some recommendations concerning overcoming these lexical difficulties in translating legal terms for English-majored seniors, teachers and curriculum designer at Hanoi Law University. Research questions The research will be undertaken to address the following questions: - What are the lexical difficulties encountered by English-majored seniors when translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese? - Which suggested approaches can be applied for English-majored seniors to overcome the lexical difficulties in translating legal terms from English into Vietnamese? 4. Scope of the study The research paper focuses on the lexical difficulties in translating legal terms by students with a major in English at the Hanoi Law University. The participants in this study were 100 senior students registered as full-time students regardless of gender from classes 4429 and 4430 in the Faculty of Foreign Legal Languages at Hanoi Law University.