VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDLES PHAM THI MINH CHIEN M.A MINOR THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISIIT TRANSLATION OF VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE TEXTS (Nghiên cứu việc dịch các tài liệu Y học Câ truyền tiếng Việt sang tiếng Anh} : English Linguistics 1 60.15 Hanoi, 2010 iv ABBREVIATION: Vietnamese ‘Iraditional Medicine VIM Souree language sl Target language TL TABLE OF CONTENT PART 1: INTRODUCTION Background - 1 The rationale af study t The ai oŸhe siudy,. sssnenistnienetanieiinoeensisieiasistmanesennsenases 2 Scope of the study. 2 Methods of the study. 2 The structure of the study wow PART 2: DEVELOPMENT.
Chapter 1: Literature review.2 Translation equivalence RA 1.1 Shudly of Jakobson (1959) 1.2 Study of Nida (1964) DAA 1.3 Study of Baker (1992) .4 Study of Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) 1.5 Sludy of Catford (1996).3 Translation methods and procedures.1 Word — for — word translation 1.2 Lileral transtalion ~ 00 mm 1.3 Free transÌation.6 Loan word translation.4 Translation strategies: Domestication and Voreignization. oe Chapter 2: Current sttuation of VIM translation and characteristics of language and English transtation of VTM .1 Bricf introduction Of VIM .c ccc secseesneae nesses LO 2.2 Necessities of VIM translation.1 For the integration o£ WesteTn seienfifc rnedicine and V1M 11 vi 2.2 For the modernization of VIM. 12 235 sting problems of Engtish translation of VTM.1 Problems in tranalating VTM tochnolosical terms 2.2 Problems in translating classics of VIM 2.4 Reasons for probicms.1 Great differences between VI'M and Western medicine 7 2.5 The characteristies of the language of VIM.1 ‘The Chinese influence on VIM 25 2.2 The inlegration of VTM and ancient philosophy 26 2.3 The blsnding oŸ conccpts of VTM and wcstcrn medieine.4 The incompatibility of the terminology of VIM with that of Wester medicine 27 2.6 The characteristies of the English translatien ø£ VIM.1 Using word — for - word translation 27 2.2 Using literal translation.3 Using fizz translation.4 Using idiomatic translation.6 Using loan word translation 32 Chapter 3: Solutions for English translation of VIM and standardization of English translation of VIM.1 Solutions for Eugtish translation of VTM 33 3.1 Abproachcs nppliod to translalc VTM 33 3.1 Literal translation or fiee translation.2 Techniques to translate VIM 34 3.1 Using lown-word trarslation for unique basic tert 3A 3.2 Using Hileral translation for VIM terms and cxpre 35 3.3 Careful selection in word-for-word translation.4 Minimizing number of equivalents for one word 36 3.2 The solutions for standardization of English translation of VTM 7 vit 3.1 Measures concerning the translators 37 3.2 Measures concerning the gavernment 37 3.1 Establishing systematic translating theory.2 Formulating standard source terminology 2.3 Standardizing core concepts of VIM 3.4 Building np standardized reference database 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION. Summary and results of the study, 40 Limitations of the study 4 Suggestions for further study - 4 REFERENCES.
APPENDIX APPENDLX 1: Terms and phrases causing difficulties for English translation of VIM APPENDIX 2: Molhods used in (ranslating VTM Lexis APPENDIX 3: Glossaries Glossary of acupuncture and moxibusion Glossary of herbs and preseriplions Glossary of ancient works PART 1: INTRODUCTION Background Vietnam ¢ Traditional Medicine (VTM) is rogardad as one shining pear! of the gronlosl cultoral heritages of Vietnamese ancien! civilization. TL is a comprehensive and unique scientific system with remarkable curative effects and few side effects during the several thousand years of medical practice and has proved to be an extremely useftl method to prevent and treat discascs. Because of the chưactoristios of VTM, World Health Organization recommended it as usefiul experience to the world and more and more people in the world began to realize its importance. Actually, since the implementation of reform and opening policy in Vietnam, VI'M has developed rapidly together with our country’s ceonomic property and it has gained world- wide attention through its amazing achievernent, In spite of the great popularity in the world over last several decades and great amount of translation work done in the field of the English translation of VIM, there are still many obstacles lay ahead for the persormel of VTM int the field of medicine and forsign academic exchanges.
To a great degree, this is due to many historical and cultural factors, such as VI'M’s long history, its unique theoretical system and so om; all those cause difficullics in translating VTM inlo English ‘The rationale of study English translation of VIM serves as a bridge for VIM to integrate into the world and help improve the treatment and prevention of diseases, ‘The accurate and standardized English translation of VTM has become more and more iinpartanl, Both (he Vietnamese scholars who want to introduce VIM to the outside world and the enthusiastic foreign learners who want to draw the essence of VI'M are calling for the standardization of the English translation of VIM, honce the trend of going standardize is becomming obvious and urgent ‘As an English major teacher, who has been teaching in Military Institute of Traditional Medicine for ycars, and has the opportunitics to attend many lectures and courses given by the famous scholars in the field of VI'M and has the experiences of doing some English translation af VTM, the wriler of (his thesis will make a systematic explosion on the English translation of VIM on the basis of ter own practical exporient experiences of other translators and scholars. The aims of the stuily The study is implemented with the following aims: - ‘Toidentify common problems in translation of VM and the main causes. = To clarify typicat charactoristivs of the language and English translation af VTM. - To ind an angle ftom which to approach the translation.
- To make some recommendations to translate VIM and some solutions for standardization of Tinglish translation of VTM. The research questions ‘These above aims of the study are supposed to be fulfilled by answering the four following questions: 1, What are the recommendations tor English translation of VIM? 2 Which transtation approacly strategy to adopted in translating VIM? 3 istics o[ hmgnago and Rnglish Iranshilion of VIM? 4, What causes difticulties for translators in translating VTM? Why? Scope of the study Medical translation is a huge ficld, cach branch has its own charactctistics, and thercforc, the translator working on any branch of medical translation has to try his best to fulfill the job. The transtation of VIM texts is nol an exception. Within the scope of this study, @ study on English translation of VIM texts is very exclusive to talk about, However, due to the limitation of time and lack of experience, my minor thesis is only limited to dealing with some problems, characleristies, methods, strategies and recommendations in translating VTM texts Methais of the siudy Comparative analysis, quality analysis and conductive approach are used in this research.
Comparative analysis and qualily analysis are employed in daia collection and anal while conductive approach is used in making conclusion: fiom theoretical background, previons relevant studies, analysis of collected data and personal observations the author comes to the conclusion. The structure of the xtuily The main boily of this thesis is divided into three chapters, exchuting intraduction and conclusion. Chapter 1: Literature review Parl 1 deals with translation deGnition of Nida, Cartford, Bell, Tlatiin & Mason and ‘Newmark, Each has different dimension and emphasis but they come to a common target Equivalence. Part 2 lists ‘Translation iquivalence studies of Jacobson, Nida, Baker, Vinay & Barbelnet and Catford in accordance of the time they were published to see that Catford is reasonable to define cquivalenee as cultural and linguistic cquivalents, Four studics prior Catford (akobson, Nida, Baker, and Vinay & Darbelnet) could be divided into two groups.
The first group included Jakobson's, and Vinay & Darbelnet’s that mainly defined and focused on linguistic aspects of equivalence. The second group consisted of Nida's and Baker's that emphasized on the cultural dimensions of equivalence. Part 3 introduces two basic translation strategies, Domestication and foreignization through studies of Linfors and Vermuti, Chapter 2: Current situation of VIM translation and characteristics of language and English transtation of VPM Parl 1 introduces brisily VTM, then the necessity of English translation of VTM. Engtish translation of VIM is very essential for the integration of Western scientific medicine and VIM and for the modemization of VIM in the age of globalization, Part 2 identifies the existing problems and the reasons in the process of translating VI'M then analyzes the charactcristics of lmgnage and English translation of VPM.
Chapter 3: Solutions for English transtation of VIM and standardization of English translation of VIM Parl | suggestions Hiteral vs, translation and domes cation vs, forcignization strategios to translate VIM. Then, four techniques are proposed as the sohition for translating VIM. ‘They are using loan — word translation for unique VIM terms, literal translation for VIM terms, carefully sakecting words white using word — for — word translation and minimizing the number of equivalents for one word. Parl 2 makes suggestions to standardize English transtation of VTM on measuras of translators and government.
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. ‘Translation has a very wide range of comotations (Tien, L. It may even cover inlerprelaion and machine translation. Different linguisls have pul the definition in various ways.
And obviously, it is a real challenge to give a precise one. ‘The difficulty is not the fact that they are conflicting but as Nida (1976) who is recognizably the leading scholar of translation, says that their focuses are different. In order to have the relatively overall piclure of translation, outstanding figures’ namics in translation studies should be put forward. Equivalent text in Bell’s translation definition (1991) is defined more detailed “translation is the expression in another language (or TL) of what has been expressed in another, SH, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences”.
Watim & Mason (1990), however, focuses more on the communication purpose of translation rather than the semantic and stylistic features: “Translation is a conmunicative process which takes place within a social context". Meaning is the emphasis in Nida’s definition (1975): “Translating consists of producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to the message of the SL, first in meaning and secorully in style”. More simply, Newmark (1988) defines translation as “the rendering ofa written text into another language in the way the author intended in the text”. spite of differences in the expressions, the above definitions share common feature, which is to find equivalents that best preserve features of the original by the choice of appropriate ‘'L's semantic, lexical, grammatical structures, cultural context or even communi 1.2 Translation equivalence Translation defined by many scholars from different notions of view.
Some of translation scholars defined their theories a source-oriented theory, others regarded. the largel-orienled Iheories. There are also theorists who chose a place in between; howcvcr, aÌl trarslation thcorics are relatcd to the notion of cquivalcnee in one way or another. Hence, equivalence plays a crucial role in translation.
Study of Jakabson (1959) Jekabson (1959) makes ø conhibntion lo the theoratical analysis of translation, He introduces the concept of sqpivalence in differcree, He suggests three kinds of equivalence known as: - Intralingual (within one language, ie. rewording or paraphrase) - Interlingual (between two languages) = Inter somiotic (bolwsen sign systems) 1.2 Suedy of Nida (1964) Nida (1964) argues that there are two different types of equivalence, namely formal equivalence- which in the second edition by Nida is referred to as formal correspondence and dynamic equivalence. Formal comespondence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form and content, unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon the principle of equivalent effect.3 Study of Baker (1992) Raker (1992) defines four kinds of cquivalents as follows + Faquivalence that can appear al word level and above word level, when translating trom one language into another. - Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the diversity of grammatical calogorics across languages - Textual equivalence when referring to the equivalence between a SL text and a ‘TL text in terms of information and cohesion.