ACKNOWLEDGEMENT soLlicr I would like to express my sincerest thanks and gratitude for those who help me complete this final graduation thesis. Without their in-time and energetic support, my thesis would not have been completed successfully. First of all, I want to show my greatest and deepest gratitude to Ms. Lê Thu Huong — our course instructor and supervisor for this thesis.
Thanks to her valuable feedbacks, practical strategies, profound knowledge, teaching experience and easy-to-understand instructions, I am able to complete my thesis on time and successfully. Secondly, I am very grateful for participants and respondents who proactively contribute to the completion of my survey. All of respondents are senior year students in FFL in NEU. They are very willing to spend their precious free time completing this survey form and sending constructive feedback for the author.
Finally, my final graduation thesis would not have been completed without help and encouragement from my best friends and classmates. I want to send my special thanks to those who have always been by my side and given me strength to complete this final graduation thesis. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY sLElcq Based on the foundation of the study titled “A research on challenges in Vietnamese to English terminology translation for FFL students in NEU”, the author finds out what difficulties FFL students in NEU may face during translation process. The data is collected from 82 participants from FFL in NEU from 1‘ March to 20" March 2023, together with previous studies, main findings and publications of famous researchers from Vietnamese and around the world.
There are four challenges, in terms of terminology and vocabularies that FFL students encounter with both in TL and SL, which includes: e Abbreviation: The analysis shows that it is quite challenging for some students although some thinks that it is not an issue. e Metaphor: This is among one of the two most challenging vocabulary aspects for FFL students e Metonymy: It is considered as the most challenging aspect FFL students have to encounter with during the analysis. e Idiomatic Expression: This is also a common challenge which many FFL students struggle with. From these analysis and findings, it is recommended that students ought to have specific strategies and constant practices so that they can overcome difficulties in terminology for translation field.
LIST OE ABBREVIATION NEU = National Economics University FFL = Faculty of Foreign Languages SL = Source Language TL = Target Language E-—V = English to Vietnamese LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Importance of Knowing many Specialized Terminologies: - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- 16 Figure 2: Frequency of Translating Specialized Terminologies ------- -------- --- -- - -- 17 Figure 3: Vocabulary Proficiency Rating ----------------------ccccccccằssssssehehhehtee 18 Figure 4: Vocabulary Quality Rating -------------------- + eee e tees tees een 19 Figure 5: The Most Challenging Translation Field -------:----------------++++‡‡‡‡***++ 20 Figure 6: Main Reasons for Difficulties in Terminology Translation - --- - -- --- - -- - - -- 21 Figure 7: Difficulties during Terminology TranslatIOn:-- -- - -- -- ---------- + ‡‡‡‡‡ 22 Figure 8: Students’ Expectation to Improve Translation Skills ------- ------------- ---- 23 Figure 9: Students’ Expectation for Lecturers to Help with Improving Translation TABLE OF CONTENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARYY.0 i LIST OF ABBREYVIA TION. 0000090050096 004 080 ii LIST OF FIGURES .00009600409004 60900 iii CHAPTER 1: EINTRODUCTIONN.6 Design of the in. 3 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGRODUND.-5 5< S5 S°5seese°e 4 "My Ji.1 Definition of tranSÏatIOII. - 5s tx nnnnnHhnnh nHngh nHghn 4 2.3 Reasons for difficulties in terminology transÏation.1 Lack of background knowledge about specific topics .2 Specialized vocabularies in Certain fODICS.3 No appropriate equivalence in target lanØuaỹ©.4 TOO many SYNONYMS .- Gv HH HH TH TH nh nghiệp 11 2.4 Difficulties in terminology tranSÏafIOT.- -- - -- + + sx + kE+skEseekeseeereeeee 12 2.
G2 nnnH nh nghệ 12 2.- cọ HH TH ng nưkt 13 2. 14 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSTIS.1 Research Question 1: Why do students have difficulty in translating terminology from IE~ŸV”). - -- «se xxx HH cờ 16 3.2 Research Question 2: What are the difficulties that students may encounter during E-V terminology tranSÏAfIOI7. -- «xxx 11v HH ng hư, 22 3.3 Research Question 3: What can be done to help students deal with translation 81951011051 TT.1 Summary of the 0 .2 Limitation of the SfUỦy,.-- <1 E11 SH HH ky 26 4.3 Suggestion for further study 0.
eee eesecesecsseesseeceseeseeeeecsseesaeeseessaeesaeesseees 27 REEERENCE.0 vil Phạm Anh Tú — MSV: 11195563 — Business English 61B CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Topic: A research on challenges in English to Vietnamese terminology translation for FFL students in NEU 1.1 Rationale Language undeniably plays a crucial role in the transmission of message and communication between people in a society. For this reason, the English language is seen as a common language which is widely used to close the gap between countries all around the world. According to the survey conducted by Statista (2022), among the most spoken languages in the world, the number of English-speaking population is the most significant, with up to 1. Because of English popularity over the globe, there are great demands for translating source language to English with various purposes, such as legal documents, magazines, contracts, international treaties, articles, public books and published journals.
Translation from Vietnamese to English or vice versa, therefore, is becoming more and more common than ever before. Those who desire to have a well-paid job, sustainable living standard and international logical thinking must be proficient in fundamental English skills Nevertheless, for English-major students, it is not an easy task when they have to translate texts or newspapers from Vietnamese to English or vice versa. To excel in translating skills, they must be able to have a decent amount of background knowledge, linguistic elements between SL and TL, grammatical proficiency or reading comprehension. Among these criteria, the capability of comprehensively understanding vocabulary and specialized words under specific circumstances is the most crucial one.
Phạm Anh Tú — MSV: 11195563 — Business English 61B For example, when students have to translate this sentence into English: “7:6i ưu lợi ích cổ đông là một van dé quan trong” (Long Phan, Nhân Dân), they can mistakenly translate “cổ đồng” into “stakeholder”. The correctly translated equivalence for this sentence should be “Maximizing shareholders’ benefit 1s an important 1ssue”. In this finance and business management context, students are required to completely understand the key differences between “stakeholders” (cac bén lién quan) and “shareholders” (cô đông) if they want to have an accurate English equivalence of “ cổ đông”. Another example is “ Comrade General Secretary of Vietnamese Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong paid an official visit to China” (Vietnam News Agency).
The word “comrade” in this sentence is quite unfamiliar. This word is used to describe a friend who has been through dangerous circumstances, especially during wartime and military training. Due to its unfamiliarity and specialization, many students may become confused and mistakenly assume “comrade” and “partner” are synonyms. “Partner” (đối fác) is used for business purposes when there is a financial contract signing between corporations whereas “comrade” should be termed as “dong chi/chién hitu” Due to the diversity of vocabulary, specialized terminology and language barriers, I decide to conduct a research titled “A research on terminology challenges in English - Vietnamese translation for FFL students in NEU”.
I expect that FFL students will be able to deal with vocabulary aspects and improve translation quality after this study is completed.2 Objectives This research is conducted for: e Identifying reasons why FFL students in NEU have difficulties in translating terminology from E-V Phạm Anh Tú — MSV: 11195563 — Business English 61B e Identifying popular difficulties encountered while translating terminology from E-V e Recommending some strategies to help FFL students overcome translation difficulties.3 Scope Research space: This study is conducted at Faculty of Foreign Languages in NEU Research period: This study is conducted from 22/12/2022 to 01/04/2023.4 Research questions (1) Why do students have difficulty in translating terminology from E-V? (2) What are the popular difficulties that students may encounter during E-V terminology translation? (3) What can be done to help students deal with translation difficulties? 1.5 Methodology The researcher hopes to find out dominant reasons why FFL students are struggling with specialized terminology and vocabulary in English - Vietnamese translation by conducting quantitative methods. Quantitative method is also used to investigate the difficulties which FFL students may encounter while translating E-V terminology as well as to suggest some useful recommendations for dealing with this situation. The survey will be utilized to get opinion and responses from respondents.6 Design of the study The research will include these five main parts: Chapter 1: Introduction - includes the rationale, explanation of the research objectives, the scope, research questions, methodology, and the research structure. Chapter 2: Literature Review - includes an analysis of relevant theoretical knowledge.
Phạm Anh Tú — MSV: 11195563 — Business English 61B Chapter 3: Data Analysis - contains the summary and the analysis of the primary data and present expectations for the problem. Chapter 4: Conclusion - summarizes the research, identifies the accomplishments of the study as a basic foundation for further research. CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Definition of translation Translation is the process in which terminologies, sentences, phrases, complex structures and thoughts are decoded from the SL to the TL. However, there are a variety of thoughts and ideas related to the translation process and its meaning.
Phạm Anh Tú — MSV: 11195563 — Business English 61B Catford (1965) stated that translation is the process in which the elements in terms of their original meaning are kept and preserved before being placed by the new elements in TL. Similarly, according to Bell, Roger (1991), “translation is the process in which the TL is expressed in the closest equivalence without changing its core and implications of the authors”. Similar to these previous studies, according to Zainudin and Awal (2012), they suggest that the translators need to fully realize their duty of alternating the meanings from SL to TL with the closest equivalence. The content and the change from SL to the equivalence in TL should be comprehensive and easy-to-understand for readers by full comprehension and flexible style adaptation from grammatical, linguistic and cultural aspects (Siregar, 2016).
From these points, it can be concluded that translation is the process in which the SL will be expressed in their equivalence in the TL and the translators will need to work on their best to keep the authors’ message and written style as concise and comprehensive as possible.2 Types of translation Although translation is mostly used for translating paragraphs from SL to TL, there are many methods that can be applied for translation in order to have the most appropriate and accurate language equivalence. Based on Newmark’s research (1988) and Dr. Shadia Banja’s materials (2008), there are about 8 types of translation strategies.1 Word-for-word translation This strategy of translation suggests that all phrases and sentences from the SL will be translated to the TL in its closest meaning, in which readers will most likely to fully understand its meanings. This translation approach aims at providing readers a 5 Phạm Anh Tú — MSV: 11195563 — Business English 61B general overview and comprehension of the original source text if the source materials are challenging to be translated from the first attempt.
For example: “ After their parents had come home, they had dinner together” (SL) “ Sau khi bố me họ về nha, họ cùng nhau ăn tôi” (TU) 2.2 Literal translation As for literal translation, the majority of sentence structures will remain unchanged while being translated from the SL; however, in terms of lexicology, it is most likely to be expressed differently from the context. Similar to word-for-word translation, literal translation serves as a reviewing translation version.