VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON THE USE OF SINO-VIETNAMESE IN THE TRANSLATION OF THE BILINGUAL BOOK “THE LITTLE PRINCE” Supervisor: Vũ Thị Kim Liên (M.) Student’s name: Doãn Thị Lý Lan Course: QH.E20 HANOI, 2023 i ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁCH SỬ DỤNG TỪ HÁN VIỆT TRONG BẢN DỊCH CỦA SÁCH SONG NGỮ “HOÀNG TỬ BÉ” Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Vũ Thị Kim Liên (Ths) Sinh viên: Doãn Thị Lý Lan Khóa QH.E20 HANOI, 2023 i Signature of Approval: _____________________________________________________________ Supervisor’s Comments & Suggestions _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Doãn Thị Lý Lan, class QH2019.E20, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the 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 of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature Hanoi, May 5th,2023 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express sincere appreciation to everyone who assisted and motivated me to finish this paper. The success of this paper is also attributable to them.
First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Ms. Vũ Thị Kim Liên (M.), my instructor and supervisor, for her enthusiasm and dedication, her critical comments and feedback, as well as continuous assistance. Without her detailed orientation and supportive guidance, I would not have been able to finish my graduation thesis, which was one of the most challenging assignments I have ever undertake. Secondly, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the 20 students from the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education and the Faculty of Chinese Language and Culture who voluntarily attended my thesis conducting.
I was able to complete this assignment thanks to their enthusiastic support and participation in my questionnaires. Thirdly, I would like to express gratefulness to my family for providing me with continuous encouragement over the past few years so I could have the determination to overcome the challenge. Last but not least, I would like to show my gratitude to all of the readers for their interest in the paper. I sincerely hope that this paper would at least somewhat useful to the readers.
i ABSTRACT This study highlighted the use of Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in the translation of literature, specifically bilingual literature. The purpose of the study was to identify types of equivalence of English words and Sino-Vietnamese words in the TT. Based on that, the effectiveness of using Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and the talent of the translator in terms of word choice was revealed. In addition, this paper also evaluated the impacts of Sino-Vietnamese words on the reading experience of readers.
With the participation of 20 students from the FELTE and the FCLC in the questionnaires, the paper pointed out the effect of these words on the comprehension of readers. It is hoped that translators can have wise tactics when employing Sino- Vietnamese words based on the result of this research. However, the study did have a few shortcomings that provided insight for future research. Keywords: translation equivalence, Sino-Vietnamese words, The Little Prince.
ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education FCLC Faculty of Chinese Language and Culture SL Source Language TL Target Language ST Source Text TT Target Text TQA Translation Quality Assessment iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 4.1 Types of equivalence of Sino-Vietnamese words in the translation iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Research aims and research questions 2 1. Scope of the study 2 1. Contributions of the research 3 1.
Design of the study 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 2. Sino-Vietnamese words 5 2. Translation of bilingual books 7 2. The nature of equivalence 7 2.
Types of equivalence 8 2. Meaning-based equivalence 8 2. Formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence 10 2. Translation quality assessment 11 2.
Julianne House - Functional- Pragmatic approach 12 2. Newmark’s comprehensive criticism approach 12 2. Related studies and research gap 13 2. An overview of “The Little Prince” and the bilingual version translated by Nguyen Tuan Viet 15 2.
“The Little Prince” 15 2. “The Little Prince” translated by Nguyen Tuan Viet 15 v CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16 3. Selection of subjects 16 3. Data collection instruments 17 3.
Data collection procedures 18 3. The procedure of data analysis 19 CHAPTER 4: FINDING AND DISCUSSION 21 4. The analysis of the source text based on House’s TQA model. The analysis of the target text and Sino-Vietnamese words in the text based on House’s TQA model.
The common types of equivalence of Sino-Vietnamese words in the translation of the book “The Little Prince” 25 4. The effect of Sino-Vietnamese words on readers’ reading experience 33 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 40 5.1 Summary of findings 40 5. Limitation of the study 41 5. Suggestions for further research 42 REFERENCE 43 APPENDIX 45 vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter provides a concise summary of the whole research project by describing the researcher's rationale for doing the study, the research aims and significance, as well as the scope and design of the study.
There are also two research questions revealed in order to provide a more clear orientation for the research. Rationale “The Little Prince” is one of the most classic literary works that attract readers of all ages in the world in general, in Vietnam in particular. This masterpiece leaves worldwide readers with the distinct impression of a clear, bright style and humanity- rich story. With an estimated 140 million copies sold globally, The Little Prince became Saint-most Exupéry's popular work and one of the best-selling books in history.
Along with that, the attraction and heat of the work with translators has never stopped that is also the reason it has become the second most translated work in the world. It is the second-most translated text ever written behind the Bible, having been translated into more than 505 different languages and dialects worldwide. In Vietnam, there have been more than 10 translations of this novel. The translation of Nguyen Tuan Viet is distinct as it has a unique bilingual form so that readers can learn English (or foreigners learn Vietnamese).
This translation is characterized by using several Sino-Vietnamese words to bring a formal style and artistic expression. Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary is a crucial component of the Vietnamese lexicon and is used frequently in both spoken and written languages. It has been estimated that the Vietnamese language consists of 70% Chinese in origin with technical vocabulary constituting 80% (Mark J. Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary includes Vietnamese words with elements borrowed from the Chinese language.
To conform to Vietnamese's phonetic system, the pronunciation of these words has been Vietnamese-ized. Sino-Vietnamese language is widely used in all areas of social life in Vietnamese and has a very high frequency of occurrence, particularly in written documents. According to a number of linguistic research, there is a significant demand for Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary, particularly at events or in programs, 1 scripts, and serious and formal writing, when this requirement is increased (Trinh et al. Although this type of language has great value in the literature, it requires writers to have a deep understanding of this language so that they can use the right words in the right situation.
Especially, overuse of Sino-Vietnamese can make the sentence unnatural and make the readers confused. However, it seems that the use of Sino-Vietnamese in the translation has not been paid enough attention and thoroughly examined. For the reasons above, this paper will examine the use of the Sino-Vietnamese language in the translation of the bilingual book “ The Little Prince”. Research aims and research questions 1.
Research aims The paper is anticipated to make a comparison and analyze the ST and TT based on meaning-based equivalence (Koller, 1979) evaluating the equivalence of the Sino-Vietnamese words in the translation of “The Little Prince”; find out the impact of it on the understanding of readers. Then the researcher hopes to draw conclusions and give recommendations to improve this translation. Research questions - What are the common types of equivalence of Sino-Vietnamese words in the translation of the book “The Little Prince”? - To what extent do Sino-Vietnamese words affect the reader’s reading experience? 1. Scope of the study “The Little Prince” is a famous French masterpiece that has been translated into several languages around the world.
Even in one language, several different translations are basically similar in terms of the plot, but different in terms of writing styles. This study sets its boundary in studying Sino-Vietnamese words in the translated text of the book “The Little Prince”. It will look into the equivalence of 2 Sino-Vietnamese words based on the equivalence classifications of Koller and examine the impact of Sino-Vietnamese words on readers’ reading experience. Contributions of the research This paper is expected to help those who are working in the translation field and who are trained to become a translator in the future, especially, those who work in the field of transition of bilingual books.
Based on the findings, they can draw a conclusion about using the Sino-Vietnamese language in particular, and word choice in general. Design of the study This study consists of five main parts, a reference, and a number of appendixes. Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION - gives an overview of the study. In this chapter, the rationale to choose the thesis topic, the aims, and the research questions are revealed.
Besides, the scope and the significance and the structure of the study are also provided. Chapter 2: “LITERATURE REVIEW” - provides the background knowledge and the related theoretical frameworks of the research. This chapter goes through the results of the previous studies within related fields and revises background knowledge in order to form the theoretical frameworks of the research. Chapter 3: “METHODOLOGY” - indicates the orientations of the study.
This chapter describes the methods and instruments used in doing the research containing data collection and analyzing techniques. Chapter 4 – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS – presents the classification of equivalence of Sino-Vietnamese words in the TT, the result of questionnaires. Following that, the assessment of using Sino-Vietnamese words is pointed out as well. Chapter 5 – CONCLUSION – summarizes what has been found out in the study.
Comments are given and limitations of the research are mentioned so that further studies of similar topics can take it as a potential reference to investigate. 3 The appendixes list examples of different groups of equivalence and the questionnaires. 4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter builds a foundation for the study by reviewing existing research on Sino-Vietnamese words, their definition, their classification, translation, bilingual translation, translation equivalence, and translation quality assessment. Sino-Vietnamese words 2.
Original Both Chinese and Vietnamese have a lengthy history. The early formative Sino- Vietnamese era under the Han dynasty laid the groundwork for continuous Chinese cultural impact that continues to the current day, particularly in the vocabulary through the coining of contemporary terminology. Before the "ancient" form of the language emerges, Vietnam was governed by the Han Dynasty of China for millennia (from the 2nd to the 10th centuries AD). A thousand years of Chinese dominance had a significant and long-lasting impact on the language.
Archaic Vietnamese and everything that follows after it does, in fact, rely heavily on Chinese vocabulary and grammar principles. However, they were adopted in a way that they were altered to fit Vietnamese. The far more comprehensive Sino-Vietnamese proper was introduced in the late Tang period with Chinese rhyme dictionaries such as the Qieyun (618–907).