Vietnamese english translation of hotel amenity lists errors and solutions

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ LINH HƯƠNG VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF HOTEL AMENITY LISTS: ERRORS AND SOLUTIONS MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGU

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ LINH HƯƠNG

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION

OF HOTEL AMENITY LISTS: ERRORS AND SOLUTIONS

MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8 22 02 01

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

BINH DUONG PROVINCE – 2022

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ LINH HƯƠNG

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION

OF HOTEL AMENITY LISTS: ERRORS AND SOLUTIONS

MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJOR CODE: 8 22 02 01

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SUPERVIOR:

PH.D NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT ÁNH

BINH DUONG PROVINCE– 2022

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original, except as acknowledged in the text I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this

or any other institution

Binh Duong, April 2022

Nguyen Thi Linh Huong

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ph.D Nguyen Thi Nguyet Anh for her guidance and encouragement during my study I’m very grateful for being accepted as her student in this subject and I really appreciate all her help and suggestions on various drafts of this thesis Without her valuable advice and support, this research could not have been completed on schedule

I would also like to express my full appreciation to all receptionists as well as hotel managers at Vung Tau city who helped me so much in my data collection

Besides, I want to use this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to all 10 translators for having cooperated in analyzing, categorizing errors, and recommending solutions If it hadn’t been for their help, I wouldn’t have finished my thesis with great success

Additionally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends for their help and warm encouragement throughout my hard times carrying out my study Without them, I could not have overcome such times and concentrated on my study

Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family, especially my loving parents for their continuous support during my study Their love and encouragement helped me overcome the difficult times during my study I could not have been able to complete this project without their intense devotion

Binh Duong, April 2022

Nguyen Thi Linh Huong

ABSTRACT

English is considered an international language as well as the tourism language which is used to provide information about tourist services, promote tourist attractions, and instruct travelers in tourist areas However, many Vietnamese–English hotel amenities lists are found with errors, which causes misunderstanding and confusion about tourist services Therefore, accurate translation is essential to meet the tourists’ need for understanding hotel accommodation services 24 four-and five- hotel amenity lists were collected and processed into a bilingual Vietnamese and English parallel corpus 10 experience translators were asked to find translation errors, analyze causes and then give solutions for each translation error After studying, the author learned that the translation errors in hotel amenity lists are mainly due to the negative influence of the mother tongue, the lack of grammatical knowledge

as well as word-for-word translation method In addition, the study also aims

to provide suggestions as a useful reference to help improve the quality of translation in general and the translation of hotel amenity lists in particular

18 E2.3 Omissions of some parts of the source text

19 E2.4 Inaccurate rendition of individual lexical choice

20 E2.5 Distorted meaning of the source text

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Newmark’s diagram of translation methods 7

Table 2 The hybrid model of error types 19

Table 3 The basic information about the participants 39

Table 4 The frequency of all the translation errors 43

Table 5 The frequency of all the linguistic errors 44

Table 6 The frequency of all the translational errors 61

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1 The percentage of the causes of parts of speech errors 47

Chart 4.2 The percentage of the causes of spelling errors 49

Chart 4.3 The percentage of the solutions to spelling errors 49

Chart 4.4 The percentage of the causes of lexical choice errors 51

Chart 4.5 The percentage of the solutions of lexical choice errors 52

Chart 4.6 The percentage of the causes of singular-plural noun errors 53 Chart 4.7 The percentage of the causes of the use of article errors 56

Chart 4.8 The percentage of the solutions of the use of article errors 57

Chart 4.9 The percentage of the causes of preposition error 58

Chart 4.10 The percentage of the solutions of preposition errors 59

Chart 4.11 The percentage of the causes of punctuation errors 60

Chart 4.12 The percentage of the solutions of punctuation errors 61

Chart 4.13 The percentage of the solutions of pragmatic errors 63

Chart 4.14 The percentage of the solutions of pragmatic errors 64

Chart 4.15 The percentage of the solutions of addition errors 65

TABLE OF CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES v

LIST OF CHARTS vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Structure of the study 3

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Definition of terms 5

2.1.1 Hotel amenities 5

2.1.2 Translation 5

2.1.3 Vietnamese- English translation 6

2.2 Translation methods 6

2.2.1 Newmark’s translation methods 7

2.2.2 Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation methods 11

2.3 Translation errors 16

2.3.1 Errors 16

2.3.2 Translation errors 16

2.3.3 Categories of translation errors 17

2.3.4 Common errors in Vietnamese-English translation 18

2.4 The causes of errors in Vietnamese-English translation 29

2.4.1 Negative influence of mother tongue 29

2.4.2 Lack of motivation 30

2.4.3 Lack of concentration 31

2.4.4 Misuse of dictionary 31

2.4.5 Poor language competence 32

2.5 Review of previous studies 33

2.5.1 The previous study carried out in foreign countries 33

2.5.2 Previous studies carried out in Vietnam 35

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 38

3.1 Research design 38

3.2 Population and sample 38

3.2.1 Population 38

3.2.2 Population size 38

3.2.3 Sample 40

3.2.4 Sample size 40

3.3 Research instruments 40

3.3.1 Hotel amenity list 40

3.3.2 Error analysis table 40

3.4 Data collection 41

3.4.1 Hotel amenity lists 41

3.4.2 Error analysis table 41

3.5 Data treatment 41

3.5.1 Hotel amenity lists 41

3.5.2 Error analysis table 42

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 43

4.1 Results and discussion 43

4.1.1 Linguistic errors 44

4.1.2 Translational errors 61

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 67

5.1 Conclusion 67

5.2 The implication of the research 67

5.3 Limitations of the research 68

5.4 Recommendations 69

5.4.1 Recommendations for translators 69

5.4.2 Recommendations for translation learners 70

5.4.3 Recommendations for hotel owners 71

5.4.4 Recommendation for further research 72

5.5 Summary 72

REFERENCES 73

APPENDIX 1: LISTS OF HOTELS STUDIED 76

APPENDIX 2: LISTS OF HOTEL AMENITIES 77

APPENDIX 3: ERROR ANALYSIS TABLE 126

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

For the past decade, Vietnam’s tourism business has grown rapidly Tourism was designated as a key economic industry in Decree No.08-NQ/TW; it is now one of the most important sectors in the Vietnamese economy due to its numerous advantages Vietnam welcomed 18 million international arrivals in 2019, a record for the country, following year-on-year growth in visitor numbers since 2016 (http://www.statista.com) As a result, Vietnam was placed first among the countries with the fastest growth rates globally Because tourism is predicted to continue to be a significant part of Vietnam’s economy, the country plans to welcome 20.5 million international visitors by 2020 (http://hanoitime.vn)

The development of the international travel industry has led to an increase in tourism services such as hotels, restaurants, tours, resorts, and cruise packages Tourism language is to help transfer communication messages between foreign tourists and local people (Leclerc and Martin, 2004) English is considered the international language and the tourism language used to provide information about tourist services, promote tourist attractions, instruct travelers in tourist areas, and describe local objects

Therefore, accurate translation is essential to meet the tourists’ need for understanding hotel accommodation services However, many Vietnamese – English hotel amenities lists are found with errors, which causes misunderstanding and confusion about tourist services These errors can create

a negative impression on Vietnam’s hotels, reducing the attractiveness of these hotels and, as a result, decreasing the competitiveness of tourist destinations in comparison to other international tourist destinations

Many hotel amenity lists do not appear to have been translated by professional translators or people who know English very well Inaccurate hotel amenities translation can be found in most hotels, leading to misunderstanding Tourists are irritated as a result of this As a result, research

on the mistranslation of hotel amenities lists is useful and meaningful

For those reasons, the author chose “Vietnamese-English Translation of Hotel Amenity Lists: Errors and Solutions” as a topic to discover errors in translating hotel amenity lists, identify basic errors in Vietnamese-English translation, and provide answers to the question of how to avoid them Hopefully, the study will serve as a useful reference for translators and those interested in translation work who aspire to become expert translators

1.2 Aims of the study

This study aims to examine errors commonly found in translating hotel amenities lists from Vietnamese to English and the causes that lead to these mistranslations The researcher can then make suggestions for improving the translation of hotel amenities lists in Vietnam Therefore, after errors in translating hotel amenities lists are identified, some recommendations will be made to help improve the quality of translation in general and the translation

of hotel amenity lists in particular

1.3 Research questions

The study aims at addressing the following questions:

Research question 1: What errors and error types are commonly found

in hotel amenities lists translated from Vietnamese into English?

Research question 2: What are the possible causes of these common

errors?

Research question 3: What should be done to help translators deal with

such errors?

1.4 Scope of the study

The research author only focuses on the translation of amenity lists found in hotels in Vung Tau city because Vung Tau city attracts a significant number of international visitors and overseas Vietnamese who demand high-quality services Vung Tau has established itself as one of Vietnam's most well-known tourist destinations thanks to its beautiful climate, natural scenery, and pristine beaches Over the years, the number of tourists visiting Ba Ria- Vung Tau has increased According to statistics from the

Province's tourism authorities, the number of foreign visitors to tourist attractions, hotels, beaches, and leisure centers as of December 28, 2019, was 680,000, up 22.6 percent year on year, bringing in VND 474 billion ($20.6 million) in income During big holidays, the occupancy rate of hotels in Ba Ria-Vung Tau was between 80 and 100 percent, according to representatives

of local tourism companies Guests who book rooms over the weekend account for 60% of the occupancy rate in Ba Ria-Vung Tau (http://nhandan.vn)

1.5 Significance of the study

This research is helpful for translators, especially translators specializing in tourism texts overcome the problems in translating hotel

amenity lists so that they can avoid errors and produce accurate translations

This research will also help English major students interested in the translation field recognize their common errors in translating tourism texts The research will be a useful reference with the solutions suggested which help the students to self-correct their common mistakes and find out their own effective ways of learning in order to improve their translation skills Furthermore, this research helps the students not only improve their translation skill in general but also have a great advantage for their future ideal job

Moreover, this research is also helpful for 4-5 star hotel owners in Vung Tau to recognize errors in the translation of hotel amenity lists, thereby helping them to review these lists to avoid a negative impression on their hotels

1.6 Structure of the study

The study is presented in five chapters:

Chapter 1 provides the background to the study, states the purpose and

scope of the study, poses the research questions, states the significance of the study, and draws the overall structure of the study

Chapter 2 summarizes the literature that is relevant to the research

project

Chapter 3 describes the research methodology applied in this study:

research design, participants, instruments, and research procedure

Chapter 4 presents the study’s findings and discussion It figures out

translation error categories and their frequency

Chapter 5 summarizes the study's main findings and suggests

implications for further improvements

Chapter summary

Chapter 1 shows the purpose of this study is to investigate common errors in translating hotel amenities lists from Vietnamese to English, the causes of these mistranslations as well as make some recommendations for improving the quality of translation in general, and the translation of hotel amenities lists in particular

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of five sections highlighting the literature review for this thesis which are presented as follows:

2.1 Definition of terms

2.1.1 Hotel amenities

Hotel amenities are defined by Vallen and Vallen (2005) as additional products or services found in hotels that are free of charges, such as a swimming pool, concierge desk, and health spa Guest amenities, as defined

by Casado (2000, p 127), are "non-reusable supplies" or "items that guests are expected to use up or may take away with them at the end of their stay" According to Jones (2005, p 135), "the term amenity is commonly used to identify luxury items that a hotel gives away to its guests at no extra charge, although the cost of those items is often hidden in the room rate” In general, hotel amenities include shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, soaps, and other items available to guests in their rooms (Cindy and Sunghyup, 2015)

it is an activity performed by people from one language in another language Hartman and Stork (1972, p.713) also define that “Translation involves replacing a text in one language by an equivalent text in a second language” With the same point, Bell, R.T (1991, p.6) defines that “Translation is the replacement of a presentation of a text in one language by a representation of

an equivalent text in a second language”

Next, Wilss (1982) says that “Translation is a transfer process, which aims at the transformation of written source language text into an optimally equivalent target-language text, and which requires the syntactic, the sematic

and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the source language”

Besides, Koller (1995) shows the equivalence relation among languages when saying that “Translation can be understood as the result of a text-processing activity, by means of which an SL text is transposed into a TL text Between the resulting text in the TL text and SL text, there exists a relationship which can be designated as translational or equivalence relation” Although there are many different perspectives, most of them indicate the significance of “equivalence” in both languages

According to Peter Newmark (1982), “Translation is a craft consisting

in the attempt to replace a written message in one language by the same message of textual material in one language into another language in the way that the author intended the text” This definition based on his theories named Culture and Context, focuses on culture and context during the translation process

In brief, it can be understood that “Translation is the process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language” (Advanced Oxford Dictionary) All the above definitions of translation show that translation replaces or transforms a written text, message, or utterance from one language into another language, which remains equivalence in terms

of content, the purpose of communication, or pragmatics

2.1.3 Vietnamese- English translation

According to Su (2003, p.8), Vietnamese-English translation can be defined as an accurate rendering of Vietnamese to English suitable for the document's intended purpose The translation is also the expression from Vietnamese to English while maintaining semantic and stylistic equivalence

It is the substitution of a Vietnamese text for an equivalent English text

2.2 Translation methods

It is hard to do translation well and naturally Therefore, an effective translation method will assist translators considerably Each translator has his/her technique of translating However, this part will focus on the

most popular and well-known ways collected and analyzed by famous and experienced translators and linguists

2.2.1 Newmark’s translation methods

Newmark (1988) argues that a general theory cannot propose a single method but must be concerned with the full range of text types and their corresponding translation criteria and major variables Translation types are types used in translating process in rendering the meaning based on each translator’s intention in translating a translation work While translation methods relate to whole texts, procedures are used for sentences and smaller language units Translation types are applied to identifiable text categories; each perspective consists of four translation methods The first perspective provides word-for-word, literal, faithful, and semantic, while the second perspective provides adaptation, free, idiomatic, and communicative translations

Table 1 Newmark’s diagram of translation methods

Word-for-word translation

Literal translation Faithful translation

Semantic translation

Adaptation translation Free translation Idiomatic translation Communicative translation

2.2.1.1 Word for word translation

Newmark (1988, p.45) states that "the source language (SL) word order

is preserved and the words translated by their most common meanings" Therefore, in translating text with word-for-word translation, the translator uses common words; Newmark (1988, p.46) adds that "the main use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language or construe a difficult text as a pre-translation process”

Example:

Source language (SL): The cat likes catching small birds

Target language (TL): Con mèo thích bắt những con chim nhỏ

In terms of form, the translator changed the order of the words to suit Vietnamese grammar (nouns go before adjectives after) In terms of the

meaning, the translator ensures the correct meaning of the word small (nhỏ), birds (những con chim) as the meaning of these words in the dictionary

2.2.1.2 Literal translation

Newmark (1988, p.46) says that “in literal translation, the SL grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context It means that when the translator translates, the words are translated literally from SL into TL” As a pre-translation process, this indicates the problems to be solved

Example:

SL: The refugees lead a cat and dog life

TL: Những người tị nạn sống một cuộc sống chó mèo

If the translator explains this sentence in a literal way, the translation means in the target culture that, the refugees are very poor and humble in living conditions like vagrant cats and dogs

Example:

SL: I do not want to quit my current job start a new job A bird in the

hand is worth two in the bush

TL: Tôi không muốn nghỉ công việc hiện tại để bắt đầu một công việc

mới Một con chim trong tay đáng giá hơn 2 con trong bụi rậm

The translator, in this Example, tries to translate the contextual meaning

of the original translation correctly The translation still contains the grammatical structures of the original text Cultural words are preserved from original text to translation text

2.2.1.4 Semantic translation

Newmark (1988, p.46) states that "semantic translation may translate less important cultural words by the culturally neutral third or functional terms but not by cultural equivalents and it may make other small concessions to the readership"

This type of translation is used in cases where the specific words of the speaker or writer are as important as the content, such as philosophical, religious, political, scientific, technical, or literary expression (authoritative texts)

value of the original text are also conveyed by the translator in the translation

text Translators have chosen the Vietnamese phrase ‘tươi hồng’ instead of

‘đẹp trời’ because ‘tươi hồng’ creates more vivid images than ‘đẹp trời’

2.2.1.5 Adaptation translation

Newmark (1988, p.46) says that “this is the freest form translation It is used to translate literary works (comedies, poetry, short story, narrative, etc.)

and the SL culture is converted to the TL culture and the text rewritten” This kind of translation is used mainly for plays and poems

Example:

SL: John asked Lan “Do you wanna be my dog?”

TL: John tỏ tình với Lan “Em có muốn chiếm hữu trái tim anh không?”

The woman may be surprised and irritated because, in Vietnamese culture, dogs are used to dispraise people Nevertheless, John did not mean it, but he meant to take his heart, his true love, and let him belong to her He is English It is well-known that dogs are loved and considered human's best friends in Western culture The translator converted SL to TL based on SL's culture to make the translation more meaningful and interesting

2.2.1.6 Free translation

Newmark (1988, p.46) states that "free translation is part of in TL emphasis which reproduces the matter without the manner or the content without the form of the original” This translation method is commonly used

to translate texts of informative genres such as conversation, advertising

Example:

SL: Killing me softly with his song

TL: Nỗi đau dịu dàng

The translator conveyed the main idea in the original text into Vietnamese without caring about semantic details such as the vocabulary in

the original text: ‘killing’ means ‘giết’, ‘me’ means ‘tôi’, ‘softly’ means 'một cách mềm mại’, and ‘with his song’ means ‘bằng bài hát của anh ta’ The

meaning of these words offers few clues as to the semantic analysis and

message finding to translate into ‘nỗi đau dịu dàng’

2.2.1.7 Idiomatic translation

Newmark (1988, p.47) says that “idiomatic translation reproduces the

‘message’ of the original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in the original”

Example:

SL: Blood is thicker than water

TL: Một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã

The translation conveys the idiomatic sense that blood relation is stronger than other social relations Symmetrical images of blood and water retained in the TL evoke the same effect as the SL

2.2.1.8 Communicative translation

Newmark (1981, p.39) states that “communicative translation attempts

to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the readers of the original” Most non-literary writing, journalism, informative articles and books, textbooks, reports, scientific and technological writing, non-personal correspondence, propaganda, publicity, public notices, and popular fiction use this translation

Example:

SL: And I love her

TL: Và tôi mãi yêu em

‘And I love her’ (Và tôi yêu cô ấy) is translated into ‘Và tôi mãi yêu em’

as a communicative translation method The translator has translated the main determinant of the contextual meaning in the original text in terms of

meaning In terms of form, ‘Và tôi mãi yêu em’ translation features the

naturalness and beauty of TL so that the title is accepted and understood by the receivers in the TL

2.2.2 Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation methods

Borrowing, calque, literal, transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation are the seven methods outlined by Vinay and Darbelnet (2000)

2.2.2.1 Borrowing

According to Vinay and Darbelnet in Venuti (2000, p.84-93), borrowing is the easiest of all translation methods The SL is directly transferred to the TL throughout the borrowing procedure In other words, this

method means that one language borrows an expression form from another It

is typically employed to bridge a gap, usually metalinguistic, in terms of new technical or unknown concepts

Example:

SL: In today's world, the Internet has become extremely popular in

human life

TL: Trong thế giới ngày nay, Internet đã trở nên vô cùng phổ biến đối

với cuộc sống của con người

SL TL

Internet Internet

In Vietnam, the computer term ‘Internet’ is rendered as ‘Internet’ The translators use borrowing in translating this word The translator takes the SL term internet and translates it into the TL word without any changes The meaning of the SL's word is preserved in the TL by borrowing it

2.2.2.2 Calque

Calque is a phrase borrowed from another language and translated word for word According to Vinay and Darbelnet in Venuti (2000, p.84-93), a calque is a type of borrowing in which a language takes an expression from another but then literally translates each of its constituents This kind of translation is used to render the author's neologisms in the literary text, give emotional expressivity to the translated literary text, and avoid overuse of borrowings in the target language

Example:

SL: My parents work full time

TL: Ba mẹ tôi làm việc toàn thời gian

SL TL

full time toàn thời gian

‘Full time’ is translated into Vietnamese as ‘toàn thời gian’ The

method applied by the translators in translating this word is calque They

translate one of the elements in the SL's words, which is a ‘full time’, into

‘toàn thời gian’ in the TL’s words Then, they keep borrowing the SL word

points in the TL In translating the word, they do not change the word order

Example:

SL: She goes upstairs

TL: Cô ấy đi lên lầu

In translating these words, the translator applies literal translation The translator perfectly translates the words into the TL without any borrowed words

2.2.2.4 Transposition

Vinay and Darbelnet define transposition in Venuti (2000, p.84-93) as

‘a method that includes substituting one-word class with another without affecting the message's meaning or the sense’ It refers to the change of grammar from SL to TL

Example:

SL: You let me go

TL: Anh đừng giữ em lại nữa

SL TL

In this case, SL's ‘You let me go’ means ‘You do not hold me anymore’

in the TL The positive structure used in the SL is converted into the negative structure in the TL

SL: Tom lends me his car

TL: Tôi mượn xe của Tom

‘Lend’ is translated into Vietnamese as ‘mượn’ The procedure applied

by the translators in translating this word is modulation The translator changes the point of his/ her view without changing the message's meaning

2.2.2.6 Equivalence

It is often preferable for the translator to adopt a different structure with

a different meaning than that of the SL text, as long as it is regarded appropriate in the communicative setting equal to that of the SL text

Example:

SL: Ouch I hurt my toe

TL: Ui cha Tôi bị đau ngón chân

SL TL

‘Ouch’ is translated into Vietnamese as ‘ui cha’ The procedure applied

by the translators in translating this word is equivalence They keep the SL word points in the TL

2.2.2.7 Adaptation

Adaptation is the most extreme form of translation, employed when the translator must construct a new circumstance that can be regarded similarly Adaptation is used when the type of situation referred to by the SL communication is unknown in the TL culture In this circumstance, a translator can invent a new equal situation This translation is usually used for the translation of book and film titles

TL in the most natural, effective, and accurate way

2.3 Translation errors

2.3.1 Errors

When the learner lacks knowledge of the TL, errors occur Brown (2000, p.107) defines an error as "an error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflects the learner's competence" Firstly, this means that the error stems from the learners' competence in learning the language Vacide Erdogan quotes Ellis in his journal as saying that an error occurs when the learner consistently uses the incorrect form and is unable to try to correct his deviant utterance Secondly, the consistency with which the learner makes errors reveals their error Because the student has no idea what

is correct or incorrect, they will make the same mistake repeatedly, and if the teacher asks the learner to self-correct, they will be unable to do it According

to Corder (1967, p 68), errors should be eliminated as soon as possible; however, errors are now viewed as a tool that can aid in understanding the learning process The analysis will assist in identifying errors made by learners to bring the realization into reality Error analysis is the examination

of errors made by L2 learners and the analysis of errors made by second language learners (Cagla Atmaca, 2016) It is an alternative to conventional analysis for assisting students in identifying and correcting errors The feedback will also influence the researcher’s decision to devise learning strategies to address this issue

Errors are distinct from mistakes Mistakes are viewed as an inconsistency (Norish, 1897, p.8) and can be caused by a lack of attention, fatigue, or carelessness Learners do not make the same mistakes repeatedly since they know exactly where the fault is, but when they do, it is considered

an error (Calga Atmaca, 2016)

2.3.2 Translation errors

Neubert & Shreve (1995) describe a translation error as something very complicated and difficult to define and identify in the translation field From the standpoint of equivalence, translation errors can be considered non-equivalence between the source text and target text or non-adequacy of the

manifestation of a defect in any factors entering into the skills in translation Hatim & Mason (1997, p.203) define translation errors as (1) significant (unmotivated) mismatches of denotational meaning between source and target text (subdivided into omissions, additions, and substitutions); and (2) breaches

of the target-language system (e.g orthography, grammar)

Viewed from a functionalistic approach, (3) text form, (4) linguistic conventions, (5) culture- and situation-specific conventions and conditions, (6) the language system" The "skopos theory" views a translation error "As a failure to carry out the instructions implied in the translation brief and as an inadequate solution to a translation problem" and how much the target text function meets the expectations of the receivers (Nord, 2009, p.190)

2.3.3 Categories of translation errors

According to Pym (1991), errors can be classified as either binary or non-binary He says that a binary error pits a wrong answer against the proper answer, whereas non-binary errors can be evaluated as correct with some flaws but are not right or wrong

As Pym puts it, binary errors fall under the headings of grammar, morphology, system, and lexis, all aspects of language Non-binary errors are caused by incorrect application of addition, omission, selection, and ordering methods Kussmaul (1995, p.129) makes a similar distinction between binary and non-binary mistakes Weinstock (1988) claims that he commits two errors when translating from Swedish to English: conceptual errors and dictionary errors Under the former, he claims ‘are included errors of comprehension, portions of text that I have simply misunderstood By dictionary errors, I mean cases where I have been led astray by my reference materials’

Although lists of descriptions of translation faults are more thorough in teaching translation, the two distinction classification is also frequent from a different perspective For example, Steinbach (1981) and Sager (1983) use the two distinction approach, splitting them into types of mistakes and levels of error

On the other hand, Sager's (1983) approach includes five categories, each of which works at a linguistic, semantic, or pragmatic level The following are the five sorts of errors: (1) The invention of meaning, (2) Omission, (3) Addition, (4) Deviation, and (5) Modification

Mauriello (1992, p.64), on the other hand, presents a taxonomical list of abbreviations designating the most common faults in academic translations: (1) Nonsense, (2) Misunderstanding, (3) Tense, (4) Structure, (5) Grammar, (6) Topology, (7) Overtranslation,8) Omission, (9) Word, (10) Form, (11) Style

Furthermore, according to Roomy (2006), there are four sorts of translation faults: (1) grammatical errors, (2) mistranslations, (3) localization errors, and (4) inconsistency errors

Meanwhile, American Translators Association (ATA) suggests a list of

22 types of errors that should be used as criteria for evaluating work done by professional translators: (1) Incomplete passage, (2) Illegible handwriting, (3) Misunderstanding of the original text, (4) Mistranslation into the target language, (5) Addition or omission, (6) terminology, (7) Register, (8) Too freely translated, (9) Too literal, word-for-word translation, (10) False cognate, (11) Indecision in word choice, (12) Inconsistent, (13) Ambiguity, (14) Grammar, (15) Syntax, (16) Punctuation, (17) Spelling, (18) Accents, (19) Case (upper case/lower case), (20) word form, (21) word choice, and (22) Style

2.3.4 Common errors in Vietnamese-English translation

According to Pham Phu Quynh Na (2005), translation errors can be comprehensive, linguistic, and translational errors In contrast, Le Phuong Lan (2006) divides translation errors into linguistic and cultural errors Hang & Hang (2015) show that translation errors include linguistic and translational errors Throughout this study, linguistic and translational errors will be used to analyze errors in Vietnamese-English translation of hotel amenity lists

Table 2 The hybrid model of error types

E2.3 Omissions of some parts of

the source text

E2.4 Inaccurate renditions of

individual lexical choice

E2.5 Distorted meaning of the

source text

2.3.3.1 Linguistic errors

Newmark (1998) classifies linguistic errors involving mistakes due to the lack of translator’s competence, such as articles, prepositions, punctuations, tense, parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, lexical choice, and spelling collocations In this aspect, Nord (1989) shared the same viewpoint with Newmark (1998)

1) The use of articles

Example:

SL: Này! Nhìn qua đó Bạn có thể thấy xe buýt đang đến theo hướng

này ngay bây giờ

TL: Hey! Look over there You can see bus coming this way right now

The error in the Vietnamese-English translation above is the lack of the

article ‘the’ According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 3rd

Edition, the article ‘the’ is “used before nouns to refer to particular things or people that have already been talked about or are already known or that are

in a situation where it is clear what is happening” In this context, ‘xe buýt’ in

SL is moving that has been identified object Therefore, the translators must

add the article ‘the’ before the noun bus to identify the noun Errors in the use

of articles can be explained by the fact that Vietnamese does not have articles

equivalent to "a, an, the" In other words, article errors may stem from the

interference of the Vietnamese, which possess no articles at all Instead, the Vietnamese use a system of word numbers and word types Because of this difference between English and Vietnamese, many Vietnamese people who use English have difficulty distinguishing the usage of a, an, the Many Vietnamese people mix or even omit these articles when speaking and writing English

Suggested translation (ST): Hey! Look over there You can see the bus

coming this way right now

2) Capitalization

Example:

SL: Tôi thường đi bơi vào ngày thứ sáu

TL: I often go swimming on friday

Friday is a noun indicating the day in Vietnamese In Vietnamese style, days and months are not capitalized, and they can also be written as numbers because they are both numbered, except for Sunday This way of writing is

different from the English style Dates are capitalized in English For the reason above, the sample is categorized into capitalization error

A capitalization issue arises when the target language's upper and lower case usage standards are not followed

ST: I often go swimming on Friday

3) Parts of speech

Example:

SL: WTO là trung tâm của hệ thống kinh tế toàn cầu

TL: The WHO is at the center of the globally economic system

In the above Example, translators use the adverb ‘globally’ instead of the adjective ‘global’ because they think the adverb modifies the adjective

‘economic’ but modifies the whole noun phrase ‘economic system’

Translators make parts of speech errors when they confuse different words of the same family; that is, the root of the word is right, but the erroneous form is utilized The most prevalent mistake is mixing verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs with the same root

ST: The WHO is at the center of the global economic system

4) Preposition

Example:

SL: Hàng triệu ngôi sao nhỏ lấp lánh đang chiếu sáng trên bầu trời đêm

TL: Millions of small twinkling stars are shining on the night sky

The error that occurs in the Example above is the mistake of using the

wrong preposition on and in The English preposition on means ‘trên’ in Vietnamese, so ‘trên bầu trời đêm’ is translated into ‘on the night sky’

However, this translation is not correct The noun sky is defined as a space, not a flat surface The definition of the preposition on is a position covering, touching, or forming part of a surface Therefore, the translators can not use the preposition in this Vietnamese-English translation text

This error results from interferences of Vietnamese The translators tend to select English prepositions based on Vietnamese patterns, indicating a

lack of linguistic competence in English In Vietnamese, each preposition has

a definite meaning that is not affected by the noun, adjective, or verb In contrast, the meaning of prepositions in English depends on the surrounding words This difference explains Vietnamese people's mistakes when translating texts from Vietnamese to English

ST: Millions of small twinkling stars are shining in the night sky

to follow the idea of the sentence

The translators only focus on how they transfer the word in the source language into the word in the target language without taking a note of punctuation This makes an error in the text that they translate The reader will not understand the meaning of the contents that they read So, the translators should be aware of punctuation in their writing and be consistent with the rules of punctuation in English to ensure the fluency of the translated sentence

ST: Franklin D Roosevelt said: “We have nothing to fear but fear

The error that occurs in the Example: sentence above is the misspelling

of writing the word ‘interesting’ So, this translation is incorrect because of

the wrong spelling The translators must replace the correct word interesting

or lack vocabulary mastery, so they misinterpret vocabulary in the TL Secondly, translators do not have much time for proofreading and checking their translation before submitting Lastly, the translators lack focus in the translation process, leading to spelling errors

ST: Art is an interesting subject

7) Singular and plural forms

Example 1:

SL: Cô ấy đến bệnh viện để kiểm tra sức khỏe thường xuyên

TL: She goes to the hospital for regular check-up

Based on the context, the word in the translation must be in the plural

form because the noun ‘check-up’ has a general meaning, generalizing the

intention to refer to all the medical examinations to test the general state of health

ST: She goes to the hospital for regular check-ups

Example 2:

SL: Các hướng dẫn dựa trên thông tin khoa học mới nhất

TL: The guidelines are based on the latest scientific informations

In the English version above, the SL's word 'thông tin' (information) is

written without any numerals, quantifiers, or plural markers preceding it

Accordingly, translators believed that 'thông tin' could be translated as a plural

noun and added the plural morpheme –s after a noun Unfortunately,

'information’ is considered an uncountable noun Therefore, translators can not add ‘s’ after the uncountable noun 'information'

ST: The guidelines are based on the latest scientific information

This translation error does not merely refer to an error in noun formation but reflects an error in the interpretation of the source text It can be easily recognized that Vietnamese often have difficulty in recognizing the number of nouns in Vietnamese texts when there are no quantitative adjectives in front In these translations above, the problem is not with the translators’ understanding of the difference between the singular and plural forms of the word but with the failure to recognize the meaning of the word in the original text as singular or plural

In the translation samples above, the problem occurs in the second

sample when translators lack ‘s’ to make the agreement between subject and verb in English sentences The verb ‘cố gắng’ (to try) keeps its invariant form, although the subjects are different In the first translation text, the verb ‘to try’

is kept in the infinitive form because the subject ‘companies’ is in the plural form On the contrary, the subject ‘Stec company’ is singular, so the verb ‘to try’ must add ‘s’ to match the verb

Verbs must be changed according to the subject (by number and personal pronoun) in English For example, verbs after singular nouns and

singular pronouns must end with ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ In contrast, verbs in Vietnamese

always keep the same form even if the subject changes

ST: Stec company tries to maintain production through Covid 19

pandemic

9) Tense

Example:

SL: Tôi dọn dẹp nhà cửa để đón khách ngày hôm qua

TL: I clean the house to welcome guests yesterday

Yesterday is an adverb of time used in past tense, so the translators

have to change the main verb ‘clean’ (dọn dẹp) into the regular verb cleaned

to express an action that happened in the past In the above example, they translate without paying attention to the tense error

The errors in tense uses might result from the differences between English and Vietnamese The Vietnamese language lacks a system of tenses similar to that of English There is no change in verb form to express the aspect of time Vietnamese will not change the verb but only add time elements to express different tenses As a result, it is difficult for translators to translate the implication of tenses in Vietnamese into English correctly

ST: I cleaned the house to welcome guests yesterday

10) Lexical choice

Example:

SL: Hệ thống ngân hàng trực tuyến mới cung cấp một cách kiểm tra tài

khoản tiện lợi và hiệu quả

TL: The new online banking system offers a convenient and effective

way to check your account

According to the above translation sample, both the words ‘effective' and 'efficient' can be understood as 'capable of producing a result The word 'effective' means 'producing a result that is wanted’ Otherwise, ‘efficient’ means ‘capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time,

or energy’ Therefore, the use of the word ‘effective’ to describe the benefits

of the online banking system is not appropriate in the context because internet banking is a service that allows users to check information or make

transactions with their bank account without having to spend time going to the

counter or ATM The translators should replace it with the word ‘efficient’ to

produce a perfect translation

Lexical errors occur when translators' capacity to choose an acceptable word for the target language or the context of the texts is limited A variety of factors might impact the translators' choice of words It can be influenced by a lack of vocabulary, a manner of thinking, a native language, and poor language competence Furthermore, the translators employ inappropriate words and translate the TL word for word In other words, these errors are made when translators transfer the particular meaning of an item without knowing the set expressions in the TL It also generates uncertainty in the sentence, making it harder for the readers to comprehend the meaning

ST: The new online banking system offers a convenient and efficient

way to check your account

2.3.3.2 Translational errors

1) Pragmatic translation errors

Example:

SL: Tôi đi cắt tóc ở một tiệm nổi tiếng

TL: I cut my hair at a famous salon

The Vietnamese words ‘cắt tóc’ usually carry an active meaning

because the Vietnamese style does not have a passive form In the original, the writer wanted to mention that he went to the salon to ask for a barber to cut his hair Otherwise, the reader may understand the sentence's meaning as he cuts his hair in the translation text Therefore, the translation has a different meaning from the original text

ST: I got my hair cut at a famous salon

This example shows that they did not read the entire sentences to understand the main message of the text and used to translate sentence by sentence without any attention to the whole of the text's message to get the pragmatic sense of the message This means that translators do not translate the source text or do not comprehend the source text; they will choose a word

changes the meaning and the focus of the source text This example also indicates translators’ incapability in grammatical points, and this error causes translators’ inability to transfer pragmatic senses

2) Omissions of some parts of the source text

Example:

SL: …… khó có ai chơi cờ hay hơn Garry Kasparov

TL: It hard to play chess as well as Garry Kasparov

In the example above, the words ‘có ai’ are omitted in the text because

the translators might have thought of this part as unimportant and decided not

to translate the two words ‘có ai’ Nevertheless, the omission of these words

decreases the talent and incomparability of Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess master

Omission errors occur because of the reasons below Firstly, the translators entirely overlook a section of the SL Secondly, they are unable to comprehend or interpret a portion of the material Finally, they cannot locate the proper word and choose to omit a word from their translation

ST: It is hard to find someone else who could play chess as well as

original text clearer and express interest in the film Contrary to the translator's expectations, two added verbs made the meaning of the TL

unnatural The correct reasoning should be ‘searched for the film's preparation’ and then ‘followed’ in the English version

Addition occurs when the translators add new factors that are not in the

SL or had problems handling the syntactic structure to convey the meaning of the SL

ST: I followed the birthing of the “Ve nha di con” film attentively 4) Inaccurate renditions of individual lexical items

Example:

SL: Những bộ phim tình cảm luôn làm khán giả cảm động

TL: Romantic movies always make audiences moving

In the example sentence above, translators translated‘ cảm động’ into the phrase ‘make us moving’ In terms of grammar, the combination of ‘make +objective+adjective’ shows that the subject of the verb ‘make’ causes something to happen to the object Unfortunately, the choice to 'make us moving' has a negative effect and generates ambiguity because 'move' in this context can mean both 'affect a person with emotion' and 'to change position physically' As a result, this inaccuracy is noteworthy since it has the potential

to mislead readers Therefore, translators should replace the phrase ‘make us moving’ with ‘touch’ for a more accurate and convincing translation

This error occurs when translators fail to render one lexical item appropriately from the SL to the TL A single word or a phrase might be used

as the lexical item This issue can be attributable to a poor choice of lexical counterparts and a failure to maintain the meaning of the SL item when the structure of the translation changes Furthermore, this error may occur due to the translators' negligence and uncertainty in distinguishing the sentence's syntax and tense The issue arises in some circumstances when translators attempt to paraphrase the material to make it more understandable

ST: Romantic films always touch audiences

5) Distorted meaning of the source text

Example:

SL: Đội tuyển bóng đá Việt Nam chơi quá tuyệt vời, chiến thắng nào cũng có những giọt mồ hôi mồ hô

TL: The Vietnamese football team played so well, every victory was

also found drops of sweat

In the example above, the translator made a distortion error using the passive form when translating SL into TL Initially, the translator meant to

translate the sentence into passive voice with ‘the sweat’ as the subject

However, during the translation process, the translator chose the incorrect

subject The sentence became ‘Any victory was also found drops of sweat' instead of ‘We can see the sweat behind the victory’

ST: The Vietnamese football team played so well, we can see the sweat

behind the victory

2.4 The causes of errors in Vietnamese-English translation

In addition to identifying the types of translation errors, previous studies presented the causes of translation errors encountered by translators Popescu (2013) showed that a lack of linguistic knowledge was another factor that contributed to translation errors among translators Other researchers discovered additional causes of translation errors The translator's interference with his or her mother tongue (intra-lingual interference) could lead to translation errors, as might be a lack of knowledge of the target language (Cuc, 2018) Additionally, Hang & Hang (2014) showed some causes influencing translation text They pointed out five causes of errors: negative influence of mother tongue, lack of motivation, lack of concentration, misuse

of the dictionary, and poor language competence Silalahi, Rafli, and Rasyid (2018) presented some additional causes that caused the translators to make mistakes while translating They stated that there are six causes of errors: lack

of knowledge, inability to compose correct grammar of the target language, failure to consult a dictionary, and the use of a translation machine The researchers also added that the causes of translation errors were not always the translators' fault The source text could also contribute to translation errors, such as poor quality, unclear sentences, and incoherent ideas Wongranu (2017), on the other hand, provided a different perspective on the causes of error Carelessness, which included misreading and interference from background knowledge, low self-confidence, and the primary cause-effect