1 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** BÙI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG A STUDY ON ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE PRIMARY EDUCATION TEXTS IN THE PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN PROJECT IN VIETNAM CÁCH DỊCH ANH-VIỆT VĂN BẢN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CỦA DỰ ÁN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CHO TRẺ EM CÓ HOÀN CẢNH KHÓ KHĂN Ở VIỆT NAM M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 Hanoi - 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** BÙI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG A STUDY ON ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE PRIMARY EDUCATION TEXTS IN THE PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN PROJECT IN VIETNAM CÁCH DỊCH ANH-VIỆT VĂN BẢN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CỦA DỰ ÁN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CHO TRẺ EM CÓ HOÀN CẢNH KHÓ KHĂN Ở VIỆT NAM M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 SUPERVISOR: Dr. LE HUNG TIEN Hanoi - 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3.
Scope of the study 3 4. Methods of the study 3 5. Significance of the study 3 6. Design of the study 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5 I.2 Distinction between terms and words 6 I.1 Definition of translation 8 I.
Translation strategies and translation procedures 10 I.3 Translation of terminology 13 I.1 Role of terminology in technical translation 13 I.2 Translation of neologisms 13 CHAPTER II: TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE PEDC PROJECT II.1 Background knowledge of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged 16 Children (PEDC) Project II.2 Typical features of terminology 16 II.3 Classification of technical terms of the PEDC Project according to their 18 structural features LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.1 Single terms and neologisms 18 II.2 Compound terms 22 CHAPTER III: THE TRANSLATION OF TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE PEDC PROJECT III.1 The present context of translating the technical terms used in the 28 materials of the PEDC Project III.1 The translators 28 III.2 The readers 29 III.3 Some problems facing the translators and readers 30 III.2 The common strategies and procedures used in the translation of 31 technical terms of the PEDC Project III.1 Translation of terms which are names of intervention initiatives of the 31 PEDC Project III.2 Translation of the simple terms by transference procedure 38 III.3 Translation of the compound terms by transposition procedure 40 PART C: CONCLUSION 1. The groups of terms and translation strategies and procedures used to 48 translate them 2. Suggestion for the strategies and procedures 49 3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 50 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 8 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the study Like other countries in the world, the education sector in general and the primary education cycle in Vietnam play an important role in the society. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has implemented many education projects at all education levels. These education projects are conducted by the cooperation and financing of the GOV and donors from many foreign countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Canada… Foreign languages, especially English are used widely; therefore, translation of English materials into Vietnamese plays an important role to those projects. Thanks to good translation, all the national and international members of project teams can well understand and effectively cooperate with each other.
However, the translators often face many troubles with technical terms and language structure, particularly in finding suitable equivalence in translating English technical terms used in the project materials into Vietnamese. The Government of Vietnam (GOV) has made a commitment to universal, high quality basic education for all in its education laws, poverty alleviation programs, and 2005-2010 strategies. It has also committed internationally to achieving Education For All (EFA), the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention of the Rights of the Child. This is one part of the rationale of the GOV to run projects and try to reach many of the un-reached students who do not go to school.
Over the last ten years Vietnam has successfully met its initial Universal Primary Education (UPE) goals. However, the country still has an unfinished primary education agenda in the provision of access to education for un-reached children and the improvement of education quality in the overall system. This unfinished agenda involves ensuring that all children have the opportunity to attend a school that meets minimum standards in terms of space, curriculum, materials and personnel qualifications. One of the education projects implemented by MOET is the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children (PEDC) Project in Hanoi, Vietnam with financing from (i) the International Development Association (IDA), (ii) bilateral grants from various foreign donors including Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), British Department for International Development (DFID), Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation (NORAD) and (iii) the Government of Vietnam.
The translation of the technical terms in the material of the PEDC Project is controversial. There are strong arguments among translators about how to deal with the specialist vocabulary or the technical terms: explaining in other words or translating into Vietnamese. Experience shows that LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 9 explaining a new technical term in a longer group of words to a large class of non-English majors is almost impossible for the involvement of more complicated words in the explaining groups of words. Translating the terms into Vietnamese is more time-saving and comprehensible; however, translating terms of a specialized field is not a pleasant and easy task for the translators.
In their efforts to translate the terms, they may fail to give proper equivalents due to their lack of knowledge, cultural context and exposure in the field. As a result, different translators may have various translations for the same term and in no way can they agree on one “unified and standardized” equivalent. In the hope of finding a proper solution to the problem of translation of the terms in the materials of the PEDC Project, and in the hope for some suggestions that can be of some use to those who are responsible for translating the technical terms of the PEDC Project; the author would like to carry out the study to answer the questions: what are some of the more problematic technical terms, what are the common strategies and procedures used in the translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project in Vietnam? 2. Aims of the study: (i) To collect the English technical terms in the materials of the PEDC Project and to study their main features in terms of characteristics and structural patterns and work out the similarities as well as the differences between English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents (ii) To suggest the strategies and procedures that may apply to the translation of technical terms of the PEDC Project and to suggest some implications for translating technical terms of the PEDC Project.
Scope of the study The study is confined to the investigation into English – Vietnamese translation of technical terms of the PEDC Project. The major aspects to be considered are their classification, structural patterns and their translation. Methods of the study To accomplish this study, firstly, we will go through a number of materials on translation and terminology to build up a theoretical background for the research. Then as stated in the aims and scope of the study, the writing is based on the review of many types of materials of the PEDC Project in order to collect and group the English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents for description, analysis, comparison and induction.
From typical examples of English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents; we can find the similarities and differences and draw out the strategies and procedures used in the translation of technical terms of the PEDC Project. The main method is contrastive analysis. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 10 We also conduct discussions and interviews with colleagues (translators of the PEDC Project), specialist translators and readers (National consultants and Vietnamese stakeholders of the PEDC Project) to find out the tendency for better and more preferable strategies and procedures. Data collection: The technical terms to be studied will be taken from a number of materials of the PEDC Project such as training materials, manuals, monitoring and evaluation reports.
However, within the scope of the study, only typical terms with high frequency of occurrence are selected 5. Significance of the study This study can, hopefully, offer some references that can be useful to those who are responsible for translating the technical terms of the PEDC Project and other projects and help them to get more knowledge about translation methodology in general and about terminology translation in particular. On that basis, they can find out the most suitable strategy and procedure to translate technical terms, which may help them to improve the quality of their work. This study also helps the author to extend the existing knowledge on this section, and successfully fulfill her task as a translator and cope with difficulties in daily work.
Moreover, the author also provides suggestions for the further studies on English – Vietnamese translation of the PEDC Project. However, this study is conducted within the PEDC Project in Hanoi, Vietnam using only some kinds of materials with technical terms of this project. If the research can be applied to other primary education projects in Vietnam utilizing other kinds of primary education materials, such as written or spoken materials from meetings including speech and conversation, it may be possible to get a more comprehensive view of this field and the overall answer to the problem stated in the study. Design of the study: This study consists of the three parts with the three main parts, a bibliography, and a number of appendixes Part A: Introduction The introduction gives rationale for the study; it also outlines the aims, scope and methods of the study.
Part B: Development The development consists of three chapters Chapter I: Theoretical background This chapter provides the theory of terminology and translation Chapter II: The technical terms of the PEDC Project This chapter discusses the typical features of the technical terms of the PEDC Project and their structural patterns. Chapter III: The translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 11 This chapter studies the present context of the translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project; strategies and procedures applied in their translation Part C: Conclusion The conclusion summarizes the strategies and procedures as well as comments on them The appendixes give examples of different groups of terms. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 12 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND As the study focuses on the translation of technical terms of the PEDC Project, the theoretical background of this study would be a review of issues relevant to the thesis topics: terminology, characteristics of terminology, translation, technical translation, translation procedures and the translation of terminology.1 Definition Definition of terminology has been proposed up by many linguists to establish its structure and meaning. “Dictionary of Linguistics Terminology” (1997) mentions fifteen (15) definitions of terminology.
One of those definitions is given by Russian authors in “Russia Encyclopedia” (1976: 473 - 474): “Terminology is a word or a combination of words that denotes the concept in a specific area. Terminology is a specialized and restricted expression on things, phenomena, characteristics and the relationship in specific profession”. Many Vietnamese linguists such as Do Huu Chau, Nguyen Thien Giap…also provided definitions of terminology. Do Huu Chau (1998) claims “Terms are specialist words used within a scientific field, a profession or any technological field”.