VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NÓI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ane, TRAN THANH HUONG EVALUATING THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD” (Dảnh gid ban dich Vige— Anh tac phẩm “Oxford thuong yêu”) M.A MINOR THESIS Ficld: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Hanoi - 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NÓI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES. TRAN THANH HUONG EVALUATING THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD” (Đảnh giá bản địch Việt— Anh tác phẩm “Oxford thuong yêu”) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc. LE HUNG TIEN Hanoi - 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. LIST OF TABLES. Rationale of the study. Scope of the study 3.
Aims of the study A, Research methodology. Organization of the study. £ CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW, Li, Literary transÌ8tÄON. con th reeire REREE 1.
Lilorary translation definition 1. Characteristics of literary translation 1. Methods used im literary translation. Problems of literary translation.
Translation quality assessment 8§8 1. Definition of translation quality assessment 1.2 Role of translation quality assessment 1. Models for translation quality assessment. 10 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OALD Oxford Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary SL Source language Source text TL ‘Target language IQA ‘Translation quality assessment vr ‘Target text VD Vietnamese Dictionary © 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 | introduces the theoretical background knowledge related to literary translation and TQA. Chapter 2 is the main part of the study.
Ít provides comparison and analysis between original texts and translation texts, and discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of [he translation. Part II is the Conclusion which summarizes the main ideas and findings of the study, draws some insplications for Vietnamese - English hterary translalions, points out limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further research. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OALD Oxford Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary SL Source language Source text TL ‘Target language IQA ‘Translation quality assessment vr ‘Target text VD Vietnamese Dictionary PART Tl: 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 Dkjzer, 2010), a literary translation is a translation ofa text deemed literary in the source culture, which conforms - translates - to the requirements of a literary text in the target culture. ‘herefore, 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 requiremerits upon iL Llaving 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 recreaies the refined sensibilities of foreign countries and their people through the linguistic, musical, rhythmic, and visual possibilities of the new language.
Characterislics of literary translation According to Reiss (1976 1989, cited in Huang, 2011) literary text - as an “expressive” toxt type - has a sct of typical features. It is ina written form, fictional, and canonical, and has an aesthetic function, focusing on the expression of emotions, with poctic language, impheil. meanings, and deviations. Rationale for the study ‘Translation has been of great importance to the world’s society and culture, expecially in the current process of globalization.
Thanks to translation, more and more bouks, 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, Therclore, inlernalionat understanding, social cultural awarem S aMONg people is dramatically improved. Among translation fields, litcrary 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 umarswered. A plenty of translated versions have drawn much criticise from reviewers and readers for the last few years. [hus, assessing the translations becomes inevitable. ‘he 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 limes with the total copies of 59,500 sơ far (up to April, 2012)', Secondly, Beloved Oxford is one of my favourite novels, which helps me understand more about the life of Victnamese students overscas, This novel is translated into English by Elbert Bloom, an American reader, who is fascinated by Duong, ‘huy’s works These reasons and imlcrosts provide me with motivation to work on this thesis, “I’valuating the English version of the novel Beloved Oxford”. * From http://duongthuy.php?id=3&cid=154&page=1 Retrieved May 20, 2012 CHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD". Source lext and the author 2.
Translation and the translator 2. Translation quality assessinerd. oŸ the English version of Beloved Oxfbrd. H HH HH em reg —¬ 33.
Summary PART 3: CONCLUSION. ieee secre renee 2, Dmplications 00. HH H Ho ha gi - 3. Limitations and suggestion for further research.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OALD Oxford Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary SL Source language Source text TL ‘Target language IQA ‘Translation quality assessment vr ‘Target text VD Vietnamese Dictionary CHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE NOVEL “BELOVED OXFORD". Source lext and the author 2. Translation and the translator 2. Translation quality assessinerd.
oŸ the English version of Beloved Oxfbrd. H HH HH em reg —¬ 33. Summary PART 3: CONCLUSION. ieee secre renee 2, Dmplications 00.
HH H Ho ha gi - 3. Limitations and suggestion for further research. © 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 | introduces the theoretical background knowledge related to literary translation and TQA. Chapter 2 is the main part of the study. Ít provides comparison and analysis between original texts and translation texts, and discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of [he translation.
Part II is the Conclusion which summarizes the main ideas and findings of the study, draws some insplications for Vietnamese - English hterary translalions, points out limitations of the study and makes suggestions for further research. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS OALD Oxford Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary SL Source language Source text TL ‘Target language IQA ‘Translation quality assessment vr ‘Target text VD Vietnamese Dictionary LIST OF TABLES Table Page Examples of the strengths of the translation. 16 Examples of word omission Ww Fxamples of addition Examples of inappropriate equivalence at word level. Examples of inappropriate equivalence above word level 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 chaplers, 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 [he typical strengths and weaknesses of the translation 3. Aims of the study ‘The study is carried out to investigate the quality of the Hoglish version of the novel Beloved Oxford based on Newmark’s theory of translation criticism.1, 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 Belaved Oxford in terms of linguistic aspect and translational aspect? 2. What ure 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 LIST OF TABLES Table Page Examples of the strengths of the translation.
16 Examples of word omission Ww Fxamples of addition Examples of inappropriate equivalence at word level. Examples of inappropriate equivalence above word level PART 1: NTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study ‘Translation has been of great importance to the world’s society and culture, expecially in the current process of globalization. Thanks to translation, more and more bouks, 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, Therclore, inlernalionat understanding, social cultural awarem S aMONg people is dramatically improved. Among translation fields, litcrary 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 umarswered.
A plenty of translated versions have drawn much criticise from reviewers and readers for the last few years. [hus, assessing the translations becomes inevitable. ‘he 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 limes with the total copies of 59,500 sơ far (up to April, 2012)', Secondly, Beloved Oxford is one of my favourite novels, which helps me understand more about the life of Victnamese students overscas, This novel is translated into English by Elbert Bloom, an American reader, who is fascinated by Duong, ‘huy’s works These reasons and imlcrosts provide me with motivation to work on this thesis, “I’valuating the English version of the novel Beloved Oxford”. * From http://duongthuy.php?id=3&cid=154&page=1 Retrieved May 20, 2012 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 chaplers, 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 [he typical strengths and weaknesses of the translation 3. Aims of the study ‘The study is carried out to investigate the quality of the Hoglish version of the novel Beloved Oxford based on Newmark’s theory of translation criticism.1, 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 Belaved Oxford in terms of linguistic aspect and translational aspect? 2. What ure 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 PART 1: NTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study ‘Translation has been of great importance to the world’s society and culture, expecially in the current process of globalization.
