TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .1 LIST OF TABLES .4 LIST OF CHARTS .4 LIST OF FIGURES. Background of the research. Rationale of the study.
Structure of the thesis .7 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of translation. Translation and Culture. Definition of culture.
Definition of culture-based words. The importance of culture in translation. Procedures of translating culture-based words. What are essential skills that any good translator should have?.
Translation and Translator training in Vietnam. Translation situation in Vietnam. Translation training in Vietnam. 36 Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Findings and discussion. The students‟ views towards translating culture-based words. The translation strategies used by English students to deal with unfamiliar culture-based words. 72 Chapter 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS.
Summary of the findings. What are Vietnamese English major students‟ view towards translating culture-based words?. What are the strategies in dealing with culture-based words?. For Policy makers.
For Future Researchers. 80 APPENDICES 2 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The culture‟s role in translation. 37 Table 2: Frequency of translating culture-based words. 39 Table 3: Frequency of having difficulty translating unfamiliar culture-based words.
42 Table 4: the amount of knowledge of culture is taught in translation classes. 65 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Frequency of translating culture-based words inaccurately. 45 Chart 2: The possible consequences due to inaccurate translation of culture - based words. 46 Chart 3: Translation strategies to deal with unfamiliar culture-based words.
50 Chart 4: Essential skills that any good translator should have. 59 Chart 5: The ways students do to improve their cultural knowledge. 68 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Cycle of Translation Program Design and Development (Gabr 2000:17).
28 3 ABSTRACT This thesis aims to investigate the English major students‟ views towards translating culture-based words and students‟ strategies in dealing with these words in their translation at Phu Xuan University. The data were collected by means of questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Forty questionnaires were delivered and returned. In addition, ten interviews were conducted with 10 students and four interviews were conducted with four translation teachers.
The findings show that all students were well aware of the significance of culture in translation and used many different translation strategies in dealing with unfamiliar culture - based words. However, they did not use the translation strategies effectively because they did not master the translation theory and did not pay attention to the readership of the translated work. Based on the findings, it is suggested the translation teachers need to vary their teaching methods. In addition, teachers also need to include a translation theory section in their course.
Also, it is essential that students need to translate much more documents laden with cultures more frequently and make great efforts to overcome language and culture barriers so that they can improve their translation ability in general and cultural knowledge in particular. Background of the research Since its inception, translation has not ceased to play its indispensable role of transferring messages across languages and cultural barriers (Adewuni, 2006). It is helpful to millions of people of different professions. Thanks to translation, we have obtained considerable achievements in many fields such as science, technology, literature, arts, sports, etc which have been applied to our life.
Just imagine, if we had no translations, we would be isolated from the rest of the world and our country would be covered in the dark of ignorance. We could hardly know Shakespeare, Gorky, Balzac, Karl Marx, V. Lenin and Louis Pasteur. and we would not recognize the development of science and technology as well as many other marvelous things in the world.
Along with economic development, open-door policy, international trade, globalization, and the expansion of the mass media and technology, the needs of translation from English into Vietnamese and vice versa in Vietnam have significantly increased. A great number of texts, documents, items of news need to be translated from English into Vietnamese and from Vietnamese into English. However, training qualified translators at university is a matter of great concerns in Vietnam. For example, as Đông (2007a) points out, students lack not only profound knowledge of linguistics including grammar, pragmatics but also of awareness of culture relevant to countries, people, lifestyle, and customs of two peoples.
Another serious challenge is that translators neither acquire abundant vocabulary nor know how to treat the different meanings of the same word in various contexts. This is a prime matter of concern and draws much attention of professional translators, lecturers and educators at universities. While translation work requires translator‟ a good command of language and wide knowledge of culture and civilization of both source language (SL) and target language (TL), at present, translator training at universities seemingly provides only linguistic theoretical knowledge for students (Hiệp &Hương 2007). In addition, most people 5 think that if someone is proficient in a foreign language, s/he can work as a translator/ an interpreter without understanding all translation requirements.
It is quite a misconception. Being fluent in a foreign language does not mean to become a translator/ an interpreter (Đông 2007a). Sharing the same idea, Hiệp & Hương (2007) point out that few people think after finishing a course, they can become translators because translation requires many skills and knowledge accumulated for many years. Like other universities in Vietnam, Phu Xuan has difficulties in training translators.
From my experience in teaching there, I have found that in the translation class, students lack not only translation theory but also general knowledge of many subjects such as economy, culture, current affairs, society and education. They are not well aware of the differences and similarities between two languages in terms of grammar, semantics and pragmatics. In addition, they tend to use literal translation which sometimes sounds nonsense and has little communicative value and makes serious errors. One of the difficulties students face is word collocation.
Word collocation consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. Another factor that challenges students is culture. Students often have difficulties translating things, events, phenomena, concepts existing in the Anglo-American culture into Vietnamese culture. Rationale of the study As a translation teacher, I always wish to raise the teaching quality of my class, and improve the translation skills for my students.
I have learnt from experience that students are confused in translating culture - based words and texts from English to Vietnamese. They often make many errors in the translated text due to lack of cultural awareness when working with the source text. As culture - based words play an important part in translation, it is necessary to do research on this matter to reflect the reality of translation strategies to deal with unfamiliar culture-based words. Based on the findings of the research, some suggestions and implications need to be made as a reference source for better translation of cultural documents.
Research aims This research project attempts to investigate the students‟ views towards translating unfamiliar culture-based words. It also aims to find out what the translation strategies are used by English students at Phu Xuan University to deal with unfamiliar culture-based words. The project particularly seeks to answer the following questions: 1. How are students‟ views towards translating unfamiliar culture-based words? 2.
What are the translation strategies used by English students to deal with unfamiliar culture-based words? 1. Research scope Within limited time, resources, condition and the length of the thesis, the data for this project are collected at one university in Hue City and the findings might not be generalized to other contexts. However, many aspects of the study are still likely to be applied to other Vietnamese contexts. Research significance As mentioned in research aims, the project is to provide information based on which suggestions can be offered with a view to improving students‟ translation ability.
Personally, after completion of this research work, I can develop my knowledge as well as teaching skill. Hopefully, the suggestions can benefit teachers, trainers and colleagues interested in translation and translation teaching. Structure of the thesis This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 has presented a general overview of the study.
It states the background, the reasons, the aims, the scope and the organization of the study. Chapter 2 will offer an overview of fundamental and theoretical concepts relevant to the research. Besides, the rationale of the study is included. Chapter 3 will provide detail description of the research design and methodology, participants, data collection and data analysis.
7 Chapter 4 will describe the findings from questionnaires, interviews with students and teachers at Phu Xuan University. Based on the findings through the questionnaires and information from the interviews, this chapter also discusses some issues relating to the reality of translation strategies to deal with culture-based words. Chapter 5 will summarize the results of the study. At the same time, this chapter will focus on the implication of the findings and suggestions for further studies.
8 Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Introduction This chapter first presents some definitions of translation, culture, culture- based words and the importance of culture in translation. Secondly, procedures of translating culture laden words are explained and analyzed to provide a general understanding of translation strategies of culture-based words. Thirdly, translation and translator training in Vietnam are discussed.
In the conclusion, the need for this study will be highlighted. Definition of translation Translation has been a subject which attracts much interest, passion and research of not only linguists, professional and amateur translators, and language teachers but also scientists and electronic engineers. Every year, a great number of books and articles have been translated in many different fields. More attention is paid to translation especially in the age of information explosion.
However, the definition of what is meant by translation is not easy. It can be said that translation has been defined from different aspects by famous scholars such as Jakobson (1959), Nida (1964), Firth (1965), Wilss (1982), Hatim & Mason (1990), Bell (1991), Larson (1984), and Tittone… In Vietnam many researchers such as Cẩn (2007), Vân (1997), Dũng (2002), and Đông (2007)… are much interested in translation. Whatever the difficulty in the translation process, procedures must aim at the content of the message and faithfulness to the meaning of the source language text being transferred to the target language text. With such a view, Nida & Taber (1974) assert, “Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.12) 9 According to Nida & Taber (1974), translation should not be stuck so closely to stylistic details that translating is hardly ever done.
This is considered a crucial point because there are always cultural differences between the source language (SL) and the target language (TL) and it would be difficult to preserve the style of the source language text. It may occur in translation practice when a word in this language can be conveyed by a phrase or even a clause in another language. Besides, Nida & Taber (1974) lays a great emphasis on readers‟ understanding as a fundamental issue in translation. When a high percentage of people misunderstanding a rendering, it cannot be regarded as a legitimate translation, (Nida & Taber 1974, p.20) In his definition, Catford (1965) focuses on two important points such as “textual material” and “equivalence”.
Catford (1965) maintains that not the linguistic entirety of a source language is translated, but is replaced by target language equivalents, which may take place at one or more levels of language. In his further explanation, the classification of translation types is useful because the translator will have to decide the kind of translation which s/he thinks may be appropriate for his/her purpose. Wilss (1982) has a more thorough definition.