A study on linguistics aspects that translators Should take into consideration when translating financial news

A Final assignment Dinh Thi Thu Thuy –K18C Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies Post Graduate Department ( ( ( FINAL ASSIGMENT A study on linguistics aspects that translators Should take into consideration when translating financial news Student Đinh Thị Thu Thủy Class K18C Instructor Dr Hà Cẩm Tâm Dead line June 28th, 2010 Hanoi 2010 table of contents 3A INTRODUCTION 31 Rationales 32 Aims 33 Methods 3B DEVELOPMENT 31 Translation theory 31 1 Defini.

Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies

Post-Graduate Department

  

FINAL ASSIGMENT

A study on linguistics aspects that

translators Should take into consideration when

translating financial news

Student: Đinh Thị Thu Thủy

Instructor: Dr Hà Cẩm Tâm Dead line: June 28th, 2010

Hanoi - 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A INTRODUCTION 3

1 R ATIONALES 3

2 A IMS 3

3 M ETHODS 3

B DEVELOPMENT 3

1 T RANSLATION THEORY 3

1.1 Definition of translation 3

1.2 Methods of translation 4

1.3 Translation equivalent effect 4

2 N EWS 5

Definition of news 5

3 F INANCE , FINANCIAL NEWS AND THE TRANSLATION OF FINANCIAL NEWS 5

3.1 Finance and financial news 5

3.2 What is translation of financial news? 6

4 T HE LINGUISTICS ASPECT THAT TRANSLATOR SHOULD TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WHEN TRANSLATING FINANCIAL NEWS 6

4.1 The news headlines 6

4.2 Vocabulary 9

4.3 Sentences 11

C CONCLUSION 12

D REFERENCES 13

A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales

It is said that we are living in the Information Age Indeed, in the ever-lasting development period, information plays a vital part in our lives since it reflects the events that have been and will

be happening in lines with the social development Information, in general, and news, in particular, contains a wide variety of aspects of life such as socio-culture, economy, politics, etc One of the most significant of which is the information or news in finance As a translator, I have to translate many documents related to economy, especially finance In fact, I have come up with some difficulties in reading comprehension as well as translating English financial news It is due to the lack of knowledge about general background, cultures, and linguistics, ect Thus, I decided to

make “A study on linguistics aspect that translators should take into consideration when

translating financial news”

2 Aims

Implementing this research, I want to make an in-depth study on the translation of English financial news By reading referential materials, I wish to equip myself with a good theoretical background of related issues, including translation theory, news language and the translation of news, especially financial news

3 Methods

At first, I collected various materials in the fields of finance, language, culture, and newspaper, ect I read all of them and got all information related to my research I also read some graduate papers in the English Department library for references Then I selected and analyzed the information and studied to make my writing logical, clear and understandable

B DEVELOPMENT

1 Translation theory

1.1 Definition of translation

Translation takes an important part in our country’s process to integrate into the world Nowadays, thanks to translation, people who have no knowledge of foreign languages are able to approach information of all types: culture, science, technology, politics and especially finance

written in different languages Many people even consider translation “a bridge that links countries

to countries, societies to societies”

However, what is actually translation? A number of translation theorists have attempted to suggest a common definition of translation Some of them are listed as followed:

- “Translation is the replacement of a text in one language (source language) by an equivalent text

in another language (targeted language)”

Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary _ 2002

- “Translation is rendering a written text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.”

Peter new Mark, 1995, a textbook of translation, p.5

- “Translation is the transportation of a text written in a source language into a target language”

K Weber Wilhelm Training and Conference Translator - Interpreters

These definitions state out the work of translators is “replace a text in one language by an

equivalent text in another” or “convey messages across linguistic and cultural barriers”.

Obviously, translation can be a bridge to link countries to counties, societies to societies It has a very essential task to make those whose translation education and cultures are different to learn about each other

1.2 Methods of translation

Theoretically, there are many translating methods, which enable translator to do his job at best results As well known, translation is the transportation of a text written in a source language into a target language Based on the criteria of emphasis on source language or on target language, Newmark (1995) introduced a system of eight translation methods (Newmark, 1995:45):

Emphasizing on source language Emphasizing on target language

Word – for – word translation Adaptation

Literal translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

Commenting on these methods, Newmark notes that only semantic and communicative translation fulfills the two main aims of translation, which includes accuracy and economy

1.3 Translation equivalent effect

According to Peter New Mark, “Equivalent effect principle is an important translation

concept, which has a degree application to any type of text, but not the same degree of importance” In terms of meaning, translation should be as close as possible to the original The

translators should also pay attention to the message that the author of the original wants to convey

to his readers

2 News

Definition of news

As well known, the history of news industry is as old as human beings According to some ancient theories, the word “news” first came from the abbreviation of four words: North, East, West and South Under the light of statements, everything can become news, from a caveman, from a worker to a president, from the price of gold and its trend to the whole economy Thus,

“news” is a term of broad meaning Following are some definitions, which have been widespread accepted

- “News is a report of recent occurrences, information of something that has lately taken place, or

of something before unknown.”

(Milton, 2003)

- “News is an account of a current idea, event, or problem that interests people”

Campbell and Wolseley, 1989

In short, news is the communication between human beings; it is the reflection of different aspects of the outside world and what happens in it

2 Finance, financial news and the translation of financial news

2.1 Finance and financial news

According to Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary, 7th edition, finance is “the activity of

managing money, especially by a government or a commercial organization” Financial news is;

therefore, the daily news concerning all financial activities such as exchange, stock or information concerning human resource management As being news, financial news also has all typical features of common news: linguistic and cultural characteristics Moreover, financial news is also

a form of mass information and is designed for the public, so there is less specialized language in

it As a result, translating financial news is as demanding and challenging as other specialized documents

2.2 What is translation of financial news?

Somewhat the same as other fields, translation of financial news is “rendering news or

events in finance from foreign language into another, keeping full intention of author and

informative capacity” (Michael Donald, 1999) Therefore, like translation of other types of text,

when translating financial news, a translator has to overcome the linguistic challenges (news headlines, vocabulary, sentences…) However, as typical financial features characterize financial news, the translators should regularly get the information rapidly and must have capability of understanding the news in the source language

4 The linguistics aspect that translator should take into consideration when translating financial news

Translation is considered a complicated process, which involves a number of skills and competences The first requirement from a translator of this type of news is the linguistic

competence It is because translation is “rendering a written text into another language in the way

that the author intended the text”

In my opinion, translation financial news is not simply the work of transferring words in a language to another one, keeping the same meaning but it involves a number a linguistic challenges It can be the use of words such as word form, the choice between symbolic words and words in different contexts It can also be the organization of sentences or paragraphs In this study, the author would like to talk about translation of the news headlines first

4.1 The news headlines

Headlines play a very important part in attracting readers It is the first thing that readers notice when approaching news However, because of this impressiveness of news, translators face enormous difficulties when translating it

4.1.1 The use of tense

“Tense” is any form of verb used to show the time of the action or state expressed by the verb However, in the news headlines, the use of tenses is quite abnormal

a The use of future form

In English, the forms “will + verb” or “to be going to + verb”… are often used to express future For example:

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank will raise capital, issue additional shares

Or:

Lilama EME will open in capital city However, English news headlines need to be concise and compendious Such sentences as above seem to be a little long Therefore, the future is rarely used

For example:

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank to raise capital, issue additional shares

Or:

Lilama EME to open in capital city

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

In these examples, “to” is used instead of “will” to express the events that will happen in the future Thus, when translating, the translator must transfer these ‘financial meaning” although there is no sign of the future form

b The use of simple past tense

The simple past tense is normal used to express actions that completed in the past In regular verbs, the simple past tense is formed by adding “ed” in the verb

For example:

Agribank offloaded $4.8 in bad debts

Or:

HSBC added 5% to Techcom Bank stake

However, simple past is hardly used in financial news For example:

Agribank offloads $4.8 in bad debts

Or:

HSBC adds 5% to Techcom Bank stake

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

Instead of using simple past tense, most English news headlines use the simple present form to express actions that completed in the past The aim of this is to give the readers the feeling that the news is new and fresh Therefore, when translating, even if the news headlines are given simple present, we can still understand that the events they mention may be already happened

c The use of present continuous tense

The present continuous tense is used to express actions or events that are happening around

a time It is formed with present form of “be” plus present participle For example:

Diamond is warning over Congo trade

Or:

Firms are worrying about the higher tax burden

In English news headlines, the present continuous tense is still used to express events that are going on However, the auxiliary is often omitted to be concise The above examples are, in reality, written as followed:

Diamond warning over Congo trade

Or:

Firms fearing the higher tax burden

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

But sometimes, this may cause the confusion between present continuous and the present participle, which is used to link 2 clauses When translating, we should carefully consider this point

4.1.2 Omission in English news headlines

a The omission of verb

The omission of “to be”

The role of “to be” is not much important to the meaning of the sentences As a result, in English news headlines, “to be” is often omitted Firstly, let’s look at the headlines of passive voice

+ The passive voice is used when it is not necessary to mention the doer of the action or when doer of the action is unknown For example:

Stocks are weighed by IPOs

However, in English news headlines, passive voice is often presented with the omission of the “to be” For example, above sentence is, in reality, written as followed:

Stocks weighed by IPOs

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

This omission sometimes makes the readers or translators mistake the passive voice for the simple past tense Therefore, when translating, we must take more notice of this

+ In some other cases, “to be” is omitted when it goes with adjective For example:

PVFC is optimistic about initial public offering

However, instead of being written as above, this sentence is done as followed:

PVFC optimistic about initial public offering

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

The omission of “to infinitive”

In some English news headlines, instead of verb, the preposition is used to make the sentence concise For example:

Consumer index up 9.34% on rising oil, food costs

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

In terms of grammar, this sentence is written as followed:

Consumer index rose by 9.34% due to rising oil and food costs

b The omission of “article” “title”

In grammar, there are three articles They are “a”, “an”, “the” Like “to be”, “article” is of less importance as compared to their linguistic units since it has no significant contribution to the meaning of the sentence In the news headlines, article is also omitted For example:

Techcombank, Vinacontrol form (a) strategic partnership

Or:

Stocks slip for (the) third session

(http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/)

“Title” is words in front of a person’s name to show their position or profession For example: Mr., Miss, president…Like “to be” and “article”, “title” in English news headlines is also omitted For example:

BP's Browne to stand down in July

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/)

In theory, this sentence can be written as followed:

BP’s chief executive Lord Browne will stand down in July

4.2 Vocabulary

Vocabulary could be threatening to translator, especially when he has to work in an in-dept aspect The following problems are among the most common:

4.2.1 Word-in-context

When we do translation, which means we transfer words of one language into another However, it is impossible to translate the words only without taking their context into account If a translator does so, he may fail to convey the meaning of thing that is expressed in the source text Thus, context plays such an important role in the translation of lexis According to Newark (1995), all words are more or less context-bound in their meaning and it would be a mistake if the translators ignore it So when translating, translator should read thoroughly for the main ideas, put the deadlines in link with the contents of the news, at least put sentence with sentence, paragraph with paragraph in close connection so as to find out the best versions among many of one word; it means to bring satisfaction to readers and make your translation a good of outstanding word choice For example:

“It is said that firms could also be hurt by higher tax burden.”

In terms of vocabulary, we are all familiar with the word “hurt” However, when translating, we should not translate the word “hurt” literally, but should place it into the context of the sentence of the news The word “hurt” in the above sentence refers to the affection or the consequence of higher tax

4.2.2 Proper names

Peter Newmark ever said that there are some main kinds of proper names that translators often face with They’re people’s names, names of objects (here means trade marks, brands or proprietary, geographical names and names of films, private institutions, schools, universities…).when translating news, any translator can meet all kinds of the above mentioned proper names because the main reflected of news are events, and events normally relate to people, places and all kinds of emotional things Up to now, it seems that there is still no common standard for translating of proper names As it can be seen, many English proper names are expressed in many different ways in Vietnamese For example, the word “Australia” is sometimes translated into the word “Úc”, sometimes “Ôxtrâylia”, and sometimes it is kept unchanged – “Australia” According to Peter Newmark, proper names in source language can be transferred, transcribed, or even translated into the target language In common, they are also three main methods used in Vietnam newspaper For example:

- The word “Mexico” is transcribed as “Mê xi cô” – in the past: “Mễ Tây Cơ”

- The word “Paris” is transferred as “Paris”

- The word “Pearl Harbor” is translated as “Trân Châu Cảng”