APPLIED LINGUISTICS APPLIED LINGUISTICS PROJECT

The TL version 523 words Nằm bên cạnh Lucy trên chiếc giường bệnh, cả hai chúng tôi đều khóc, những hình ảnh trên tấm chụp CT vẫn đang phát sáng trên màn hình máy tính, như thể muốn nói

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ASSIGNMENT OF

APPLIED LINGUISTICS

Class English Linguistics Course 21

Binh Dinh, 2019

APPLIED LINGUISTICS PROJECT

Select a text (or part of a text) of about 300 words (either in English or in Vietnamese), translate it into the target language and then provide your comments on the problems you have experienced in translating the text (Problems might include: lexical & grammatical intricacy, cohesion and coherence, etc.)

1 Introduction

Newcomers to translation may hold a common misconception that there exist one-to-one correlations between words and phrases in different languages and that translators‟ job is just to „encode‟ and „decode‟ equivalents between the two languages

so as to reproduce the text Translation, in fact, is a decisional process (Farruggia, n.d.) It is a succession of choices between options made by translators in order to accurately transfer not only syntactic but also semantic features of source language (SL) message into the target language (TL) Indeed, according to Wilss (1969, p.95), the competence of a translator "is aptly assessed in transfer situations that require at least some degree of adaptation to new and challenging textual demands." Therefore, it

is fair to say that translation is not a reproduction but a rewriting of an original text This paper is devoted to the examination of possible difficulties I encountered when attempting to translate an excerpt of approximately 300 words from a well-known literary work „When breath becomes air‟

2 Literature review

2.1 Definitions of translation

Due to the increasing interest of linguists ever since its first appearance, translation has quite a host of definitions The abundance in interpretations seems justifiable as “there are vast differences in the materials translated, in the purpose of the publication, and in the needs of the prospective audience.” (Nida, 1964, p.161)

Though different in wordings, the majority of definitions all emphasize the use

of equivalent terms/ counterparts To be specific, translation can be briefly regarded as the process of “rendering the meaning of a text into another language” so as to maintain the author‟s intention (Newmark, 1988, p.5) or “any translational action where a source text is transferred into a target culture and language.” (Nord, 2007, p.141)

There are however other more complex definitions, most of which revolve around the notion of „equivalent‟ and „meaning‟ (Catford, 1965; Dubois, 1974; Gotz, 2005; Koller, 1995; Meetham and Hudson, 1972; Nida and Taber, 1969 among others) To Catford (1965, p.20), translation is “the replacement of textual material in

one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL).” In the same train of thought, Nida and Taber (1969, p.12) postulate that “translation consists

in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the SL message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.” Translation, in Dubois‟s (1974) perspective, is also designated as “the expression in another language (or the target language) of what has been expressed in another, source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.” In a similar vein, Koller (1995, p.196) describes translation as “a text processing activity” which establishes a translational and equivalent relation between a source-language text and a target-language one Gotz (2005, p.139) also emphasizes the meanings as she defines translation as a process whose purpose is “present a readable, grammatically correct and idiomatic text, in which the meanings of the linguistic choices of the source text are maintained

in the target language.”

2.2 Translation theory

With the view to assisting translators with problems often encountered in the translation practice, the notion of translation theory has emerged and intensively studied by linguists Translation theory can be seen as the appropriate method used for

a certain type of text Nevertheless, from a wider perspective, it is concerned with “the body of knowledge that we have about translating, extending from general principles

to guidelines, suggestions and hints.” (Newmark, 1988, p.9) The theory, in Gotz‟ (2015, p.133) viewpoint, offers theoretical frameworks for the description of translation practice, and it is believed, therefore, to facilitate the process of applying theory to practice and to produce a good translation in the end

2.3 Translating methods

According to Newmark (1988, pp.45-47), some translating methods often adopted by translators are as follows

 Word-for-word translation: In this method, the SL word-order is preserved, and the words are examined individually Therefore the translation is not based on the context but each word‟s most common meaning in the dictionary This type

of translation can be regarded as an effective way to understand the mechanics

of the SL in the pre-translation process

 Literal translation: In literal translation, the SL grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated singly and out of context

 Faithful translation: Translators adopting the faithful translation strive to stay completely faithful to the intentions and the text-realization of the SL writer They would attempt to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures

 Semantic translation: The major distinction between semantic translation and faithful translation is that the former is more flexible, and it focuses more on the aesthetic value, which are the beautiful and natural sounds, of the SL text Translators compromise on meaning where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play or repetition jars can be found in the finished version Hence, it is fair to say that semantic translation allows for the translator's intuitive empathy with the original

 Adaptation: Used mainly for plays, comedies and poetry, adaption is considered the „freest‟ form of translation as the test is rewritten, with the SL culture being converted entirely to the TL culture

 Free translation: Free translation is also called „intra-lingual translation‟ as it only reproduces the content, not the form, of the original text To some translators, this method is merely a paraphrase, not translation at all

 Idiomatic translation: Idiomatic translation, as the name suggests, makes use of colloquialisms and idioms (which do not originally exist in the SL text) to deliver the „message‟ of the original

 Communicative translation: Communicative translation aims to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership

Commenting on the above-mentioned methods, Newmark (1988, p.47) argues that only semantic and communicative translation fulfill the main goals of translation, which are accuracy and economy In detail, semantic translation is more personal as it follows the thought processes of the author, whereas communicative translation is more social since its aim is to reproduce a simple, clear and brief script that is at readers‟ linguistic level

3 The literary work ‘When breath becomes air’ and the selected excerpt

„When breath becomes air‟ is an autobiographical book written by Dr Paul Kalanithi, who was at that time in residency in neurological surgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at Stanford University In May 2013, unfortunately, Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer He passed away two years later

in March 2015 at the age of 37

The book chronicles Kalanithi‟s transformation from a nạve medical student into a neurosurgeon at Stanford, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality It is a memoir revealing his reflections and experiences as both a doctor and a patient facing a terminal illness It was posthumously published by Random House on January 12, 2016 and instantly became a New York Times bestseller, spending 68 weeks on the non-fiction bestseller list

The excerpt under examination (315 words) is in the beginning of Part II: Cease Not till Death, which depicts Kalanithi‟s inner thoughts and emotions that he experienced during the treatment process at the hospital

4 The SL excerpt and its TL version

The SL excerpt (315 words)

Lying next to Lucy in the hospital bed, both of us crying, the CT scan images still glowing on the computer screen, that identity as a physician – my identity – no longer mattered With the cancer having invaded multiple organ systems, the diagnosis was clear The room was quiet Lucy told me she loved me “I don‟t want to die,” I said I told her to remarry, that I couldn‟t bear the thought of her being alone I told her

we should refinance the mortgage immediately We started calling family members At some point, Victoria came by the room, and we discussed the scan and the likely

future treatments When she brought up the logistics of returning to residency, I stopped her

“Victoria,” I said, “I‟m never coming back to this hospital as a doctor Don‟t you think?”

One chapter of my life seemed to have ended; perhaps the whole book was closing Instead of being the pastoral figure aiding a life transition, I found myself the sheep, lost and confused Severe illness wasn‟t life-altering, it was life-shattering It felt less like an epiphany – a piercing burst of light, illuminating What Really Matters – and more like someone had just firebombed the path forward Now I would have to work around it

My brother Jeevan had arrived at my bedside “You‟ve accomplished so much,”

he said “You know that, don‟t you?”

I sighed He meant well, but the words rang hollow My life had been building potential, potential that would now go unrealized I had planned to do so much, and I had come so close I was physically debilitated, my imagined future and my personal identity collapsed, and I faced the same existential quandaries my patients faced The lung cancer diagnosis was confirmed My carefully planned and hard-won future no longer existed Death, so familiar to me in my work, was now paying a personal visit

The TL version (523 words)

Nằm bên cạnh Lucy trên chiếc giường bệnh, cả hai chúng tôi đều khóc, những hình ảnh trên tấm chụp CT vẫn đang phát sáng trên màn hình máy tính, như thể muốn nói rằng cái danh tính bác sĩ này – cái danh tính của chính tôi này – không còn ý nghĩa

gì nữa Khi ung thư đã di căn đến hệ thống đa cơ quan, thì việc chẩn đoán đã quá rõ ràng Căn phòng trở nên tĩnh lặng Lucy nói rằng cô ấy yêu tôi “Anh không muốn chết”, tôi nói Tôi bảo nàng nên tái hôn đi, rằng tôi không thể nào chịu đựng được cái ý nghĩ nàng sẽ phải ở một mình Tôi bảo nàng rằng chúng tôi nên vay nợ để trả tiền thế chấp ngay Chúng tôi bắt đầu gọi cho người thân trong nhà Có lúc nào đó, Victoria ghé thăm phòng bệnh, và chúng tôi thảo luận về bản chụp và những phương pháp điều trị khả dĩ trong tương lai Khi cô ấy đề cập đến việc sắp xếp cho tôi quay trở lại kì nội trú, tôi dừng cô ấy ngay

“Victoria,” tôi nói, “Tôi sẽ không bao giờ quay trở lại bệnh viện này với tư cách

là một bác sĩ Cô không nghĩ vậy sao?”

Một chương trong cuộc đời tôi dường như đã kết thúc; hoặc có lẽ cả quyển sách cũng đã khép lại Thay vì đóng vai người linh mục giúp đỡ bệnh nhân trong những biến chuyển của cuộc đời, tôi lại thấy bản thân mình chính là một chú cừu, bối rối và mất phương hướng Căn bệnh nghiêm trọng này không thay đổi cuộc đời, mà phá nát cuộc đời tôi Đó chẳng phải là một sự khai sáng – luồng ánh sáng sắc bén soi rõ Điều Thật Sự Quan Trọng – mà nó giống như ai đó vừa đánh bom con đường phía trước tôi

đi Và giờ đây việc tôi cần làm là giải quyết nó

Em trai tôi Jeevan đến cạnh giường bệnh “Anh đã đạt được rất nhiều thành tựu,” cậu nói “Anh biết mà, đúng không?”

Tôi thở dài Cậu có ý tốt, nhưng những con chữ nghe thật sáo rỗng Cuộc sống tôi gầy dựng đã từng rất có triển vọng, những triển vọng mà giờ đây sẽ không bao giờ được hiện thực hóa Tôi có rất nhiều dự định cho tương lai, và tôi đã chạm được đến rất gần nó Khi mà bản thân tôi suy nhược về thể chất, tương lai tôi đã mường tượng ra

và cả danh tính cá nhân của tôi cũng sụp đổ, và tôi đối mặt với những câu hỏi hóc búa

về sự tồn tại hệt như những gì bệnh nhân của tôi đã trải qua Chẩn đoán bệnh ung thư phổi đã được xác nhận Tương lai được hoạch định kĩ càng và không dễ gì có được của tôi không còn tồn tại nữa Tử thần, đã quá quen thuộc với tôi trong công việc, vào lúc này đây đang ghé thăm chính bản thân tôi

5 Discussion

Lexical feature is a problematic factor for me on my first attempt to translate the excerpt It proves to be inevitable for the text which revolves around a doctor‟s personal experience of a fatal illness to include a number of uncommon, specialized words and phrases Translators‟ unfamiliarity with words can be solved easily and quickly by consulting a dictionary In my case, I made use of dictionaries written in both English and Vietnamese for a better understanding of the words However, Oxford and Cambridge dictionary were preferable to Vietnamese ones as they can provide more accurate interpretations and examples of the lexical units in context of daily communication

Literal translation may indicate translators‟ commitment to the original However, though two words of SL and TL seem to denote more or less the same, there still might be subtle differences in their meaning or usage Therefore, even the most common words and structures can sound unnatural or bizarre in one-to-one translating method As a result, even if the dictionaries helped me understand the general meaning

of a specific lexical unit, it was still hard to select a Vietnamese equivalent that could both precisely convey the meaning of the original and naturally fit into the TL linguistic context

Some lexical units I had difficulty translating and their Vietnamese equivalents from my personal perspective were as follows

multiple organ systems hệ thống đa cơ quan

refinance the mortgage vay nợ để trả tiền thế chấp

physically debilitated suy nhược về thể chất

existential quandaries những câu hỏi hóc búa về sự tồn tại

After the literal translation stage, it is recommended for translators to distance themselves from the original text and examine the TL version on its own as if it was an independent excerpt This step could assure that the final translated version sounds as natural as possible and there remain little or no confusing notions to potential audience Therefore, during the translation process, with the attempt to be faithful to the spirit of the original in mind, I occasionally made changes in wording of the excerpt so as to achieve a certain level of naturalness in the TL These changes involved addition, deletion, substitution and reorganization

Addition is essential in the translation procedure as it helps make the text more natural as well as clarify possible cultural aspects necessary for a complete understanding

SL TL Lying next to Lucy in the hospital

bed, both of us crying, the CT scan

images still glowing on the computer

screen, that identity as a physician – my

identity – no longer mattered

Nằm bên cạnh Lucy trên chiếc giường bệnh, cả hai chúng tôi đều khóc,

những hình ảnh trên tấm chụp CT vẫn

đang phát sáng trên màn hình máy tính,

như thể muốn nói rằng cái danh tính bác

sĩ này – cái danh tính của chính tôi này –

không còn ý nghĩa gì nữa

One chapter of my life seemed to

have ended; perhaps the whole book was

closing

Một chương trong cuộc đời tôi dường

như đã kết thúc; hoặc có lẽ cả quyển sách

đã khép lại

Deletion method is adopted when certain words, though syntactically or semantically needed in the SL text, become redundant in the TL version

Lucy told me she loved me Lucy nói rằng cô ấy yêu tôi

My brother Jeevan had arrived at my

bedside

Em trai Jeevan đến cạnh giường bệnh

Substitution and reorganization involve altering and restructuring some words

or phrases in order to meet the needs of the TL audience For instance, the phrase

‘accomplished so much’ in the first sample was translated into ‘đạt được rất nhiều thành tựu’ (gained so many accomplishments) and the clause ‘My life had been building potential’ turned into ‘Cuộc sống tôi gầy dựng đã từng rất có triển vọng’

(The life I had been building used to have lots of potential)

“You‟ve accomplished so much,”

he said

“Anh đã đạt được rất nhiều thành

tựu,” thằng bé nói

My life had been building potential,

potential that would now go unrealized

Cuộc sống tôi gầy dựng đã từng rất

có triển vọng, những triển vọng mà giờ

đây sẽ không bao giờ được hiện thực hóa

Interpreting personal pronouns in English like ‘I’, ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘her’ was

another challenge as it required translator‟s comprehension of the excerpt to fully identify the role of other characters and their relationships with the author In the following examples, since Lucy and Jeevan are the author‟s family members (wife and