Luận văn a study on english vietnamese translation of compound nouns in information technology

ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the translation of English compound nouns in the information technology IT from now on into Vieismese.. Tu the main part, a delailed investigation and exa

'VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IIANOL

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGKS AND INTERNATIONAI, STUBIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

#etk

NGUYÊN THỊ OANH

A STUDY ON ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF COMPOUND NOTNS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC ĐỊCH ANH-VIỆT CÁC DANH TỪ GHÉP

CHUYÊN NGÀNH CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS:

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Tkanoi - 2016

'VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IIANOL

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGKS AND INTERNATIONAI, STUBIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

#etk

NGUYÊN THỊ OANH

A STUDY ON ENGLISI-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF COMPOUND NOUNS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

NGHIÊN CÚU VIỆC ĐỊCH ANH-VIỆT CÁC DANH TỪ GHÉP

CIIUYEN NGANII CONG NGIIE TIONG TIN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS:

Kicld: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Kiée Thi Thu Huong

DECLARATION

T, Nguyen Thi Oanh, hereby certify that the minor thesis enlilled “4 study on

English-Vietnamese translation of compound nouns in information technology” is

the study of my own research to fulfill the Degree of Master of Art at Faculty of

Post Graduale Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of

Languages and Intemational Studies, Vietnam National University, [lanoi The

substance of this research has not heen submitted for any degree at any other

university or institution

Hanoi, 2016 Signature

Nguyen Thị Oanh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Throughout the process of accomplishing (he thesis, T have received the support and

encouragement of teachers, family and friends

Wirst and foremost, 1 would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Kieu Thi Thu Huong, for her patient guidance, critical feedback, cnepuragement and contuctive provision throughout my research

T would also like 19 send my sincere thanks to all my lecturors al (he Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures during my MLA course

Finally, my special thanks go to my family and fiends for their considerable assistance ching the time of the rescarch conduction Without their help and support, this study could not have been completed

ABSTRACT

This thesis focuses on the translation of English compound nouns in the information technology (IT from now on) into Vieismese It aims al, investigaling the five common strategies normally applied to translate IT compound nouns from English

into Vietnamese

The study staris with the theoretical background Lat elaborales on the nolion of

translation, translation methods as well as translation procedures and cquivalence

‘Then it touches upon the typical features of Linglish compound nouns in information technology Tu the main part, a delailed investigation and examination of the translation of these English compound nouns is carried out, from which it identifies the common translation strategies used in this field The five common strategies, namely transposilion, transference, naturalization, couplets procedure (combining

both transference and naturalization) and communication methods are common choices that translators often make in different situations or for different types of

compound nouns, through cach procedure embodies in itself both advantages and disadvantages

Lopefully, the results of the study will be of some help to people who are in charge

of teaching studying and translating English IT terms into Vietnamese

LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS

Translation of compound nouns by transposition procedure Translation of compound nouns by transference procedure Transhation of IT acronyms by bansference procedure

The translation of [{ compound nouns by naturalization procedure Table 10: The translation of IT compound nouns by both transference and nusturalication procedure (couplets)

Yable 11: The translation of IT’ compound nouns by communicative method

FIGURES,

Figure 1 The two main parts of information technology

Figure 2: The five functions of information technology

1, Rationale of the study

Aims of the study

Research questions

Scope of the study

Methods of the study

Design of the study

An overview of information technology

3.1, What is information technology’

3.2, What are the main paris of information teckmolagy? 1 3.3, What are the main fanetions of infonnation technoloay” sees 20

CHAPTRER 2: FINDINGS AND ANAI.YSIS

equivalents in the dictionary or on the Internet

3, Translation strategies applied to transtate [T compound nouns from

English into Vietnamese

3.1, Translation of compound nouns by transposition procedure ¬ 3.2 Translation of compound nouns by transference procedure (use of loan

3.3 ‘Translation of compound terms by naturalization procedure 32

3 4 Translation of compound nouns by both transference and naturalization

1

2

PART A: INTRODUCTION

Rationale of the study

In the globalized world, translation has played an important role and has had

remarkable influsnces on facilitating international exchanges and cooporalion

in various fields, particularly in information technology Information

technology (IT) has been crossing geographical boundaries in serving clients

and other industries

Tn Vietnam, informnation icelmology has an indispensable role in the county's industrialization and modemization Information technology with its superhighway has revolutionized man’s ways of working Ta [he siluation of an open market cconomy with international cooperation and fast-pace development of I'l, translation of {1 terminologies, therefore, has become an urgenl.- iced lo exchange informnalion and updale mods tectmology

Being a project assistant in the FPT Corporation, one of the biggest IT corporations in Vietnam, I am fully aware that the translation of IT terms is a difficult job It requires translators to continuously improve knowledge in the

IT field as well as translation skills That is the main inspiration to me to carry

out this research

All the things concerned above have offered the researcher an opportunity to

conduct a study on “English-Vietnamese transiation of compound nouns in

information fechnology Hopefully, the thesis will bring benefits lo

translators/interpreters, researchers, I'l’ engineers, and those who are interested

in the field

Aims of the study

In brief, the study is aimed at

> Identifying common English compound nouns in information technology and their Vietnamese equivalents;

> Analyzing the translation strategies applied to translate these terms

3 Research questions

To achieve the above-stated aims, the following research questions are raised:

1 What are English IT compound nouns in some IT documents and their Vietnamese equivalents in the dictionary or on the Internet?

2 What are translation strategies normally applied to translate IT compound nouns from Linglish into Vietnamese?

4 Scope of the study

The English compound words in information technology are inmumerous and

diverse in many materials and documents Due to the author’s limited time and

experience, it would be impossible for her to cover all compound terms

Moreover, among different lypes of TT compound words such as compound adjectives compound adverbs and compound verbs, compound nouns are

considered to be the largest in number and variety Thus, the study only focuses

on the English compound nouns wainly in computer technology section,

5 Methods of the study

Since the aim of the study is to analyze and pinpoint some common translation strategics used in the translation of English IT compound nouns into Vietnamese, the main method of the study is descriptive Also, some other additional methods have been used, namely analytic, statistical, comparative

and contraslive methods

Tn the earch, a number of TT compound nouns tm Enghsh and their

equivalents in Vietnamese are collected, and processed with various activities

of sub-group classification, description, analysis, and compare and contrast

6 Design of the study

‘The present thesis is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and

Conclusion.

“+ Part A entitled INIRODUCTION, which gives the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, method and design of the study

* Part B with the title of DEVELOPMENT, is divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1 reviews theoretical background of the study Some concepis of

translalion theory such as translation definition, anslalion methods, translation

equivalence and translation procedures have beon reviewed The chapter also

provides theories of compound words and compound nouns in Linglish

Chapter 2, entitled “Phe translation of compound nouns in information lechnology from Rnglish into Vielnamese”, investigates typical translation strategies employed m the translation of 1 compound nouns from English into Vietnamese Analysis and discussion are made to bring out more insight to

these translation palicms and some ructhods are drawn out for belter translation

of these terms in the information technology field

+ Part C, namely CONCLUSION, presents major findings as well as some limitations of the study Suggestions for further study are also included

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

To support the analysis, this chapter discusses relevant concepts and theories that

help build the theorstieal aspect of the sludy The Girst part of this chapter mainly addresses the conceptions concerning translation, its types and the translation

methods or procedures, and the second part devotes to features of compound nourt and its classification,

1 Translation Theory

1.1 Definition of translation

‘The concept of translation has been defined in various ways by different linguists,

among which the followings stand out

Let us now start with the definition from Oxford Advanced Leamer’s Dictionary,

which says translation is the process of translating words or texts from one language

into another

Catford (1965; 20) defines translation as the replacement of textual material in one

language (source language) by equivalent textual material in another language

(target language)

According to Newmark (1988), translation is a craft consisting of the attempt to replace a written message and statement in one language by the same message

and/or statement in another language

Bell (1991) simply provides the goal of translation as the transformation of a text

originally in one language into an equivalent text ina different, language retaining,

as far as possible, the content of the message and the formal features and functional roles of the original text

Although these definitions have some differences, they still have common [ealures

that translation is considered as the conversion from a source language to a target

language to find appropriate equivalents

1.2 Definition of translation equivalence

‘Translation equivalence is considered as a principal concept in Western twanslation theory As Catford (1965) conchides, “the central problem of translation-practice is

thal of Gnding targel language equivalents A central task of translation theory is

that of defining the nature and conditions of translation equivalenes” (p.21)

Translation cquivalence is the similarity betweon a word (or expression) in one language and its translation in another ‘this similarity results from overlapping ranges of rclercnee

1.3 Technical translation

Tn terms of nature of SL text, Sofer (1991) classifies translation into translation of

literary works and translation of scientific and technical matters According to him,

literal translation covers such areas as fiction, poetry, drama and humanities in

general Meanwhile, technical translation covers scientific and technical matters

such as books wrilten on science, lechmques like books on computers, instruction

manuals on ‘T'V, washing machine, etc ‘echnical translation is normally done by the one with significant knowledge of linguistics and technical field To define it

government etc is the other” Ile also gives the following definition:

Technical translation is primarily distinguished from other forms of

translation by terminology Its characteristics, its grammatical features

merge with other varieties of language Its characteristic format is technical report, but is also includes instructions, manuals, notices, publicity, which put more emphasis on forms of address and use of the second person

5

According to him, technical translation has three levels: academic, professional, and popular,

Technical translation is primary distinguished from other forms of translation by

terminology, ils characteristics, grammatical fealures (passive, nominalizalion,

third person, empty verb, present tonsc) and its technical format (technical report)

In his opinion, the ccntral difficulty in technical translation is usually the new terminology As a result, the very first requirement of translating technical texts or documents is to comprehend and translate technical terminology execlly, which is really a challenging task In order to become @ competent technical translator, one

of the most important requirements for a translator is to have sufficient linguistic knowledge and background knowledge of a specific Held

1.4 Translation methods

The translation methods are divided into two main groups called semantic

translation and cormmurncative translation (Newmark, 1988) He put these methods

in the form of a flattened V diagram that demonstrates the relationship between the

source language (SL) and the target language (TL)

Semantic translation Communicative translation

According to his V diagram, the method of word-for-word translation is the closet with SL and semantic translation is further and closer with the emphasis of TL Snmilarly, the adaption melhod is the one coneems the TT most and the communicative is the method nearest to SL but furthest to TL

% Wordjor-word translation is demonstrated as mterlinear translation m which

words are translated singly by their most common meanings, oul of context For

this method, the SL word order is preserved

6

*wLHteral translation is a translation that follows closely the form of the source

language In literal translation method, lexical words are translated singly, aut of

context The SI grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TT

equivalent

+ Faithful translation attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the

text-realizalion of the ST writer Ti is used when translators want to reproduce

precise contextual meaning within the constraints of TL grammatical structures

Tt transfers cultural words and preserves the grammatical and lexical

“abnormally”

“8 Semantic translation is somelow similar to faithful translation However, it takes

more account of the aesthetic value of SL text Tt is more flexible, less dogmatic

than faithful danslation Semantic (ranslalion admils the creative exception and

makes some small concession to the readership

Communicative translation allempls to render the exacl contextual meaning of

the original, in such a way that, both content and language is readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership

‘8 Idiomatic translation reproduces the mossage of the origial but tends to distort

nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialism and idioms where these do not

exist in the original Therefore, the translation product of this method is more

Nexible, natural and acceptable with the readership

“Sree translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original It is usually a paraphrase much longer than the original

4È AdapHon is considered as the freest form of translation It is mainly used for

plays and poetry in which the themes, characters and plots are usually preserved,

the SL converted to the TL culture and text rewritten

As can be see, each method exposes its own features and advantages although

many people have considered some methods more advanced or qualified than

others ‘hus, the different and relevant methods of translation can be applied

flexibly and effectively due ta different contexts and purposes

sa

% Transference is the process of transerring an STL word lo a TL word The word

then becomes a “loan word” It includes transliteration and is the same as what

Harvey (2000: 5) names "transcription." Wards and expression that are normally transferred arc: names of all living and mosi dead people; geographical and topographical names inchiding newly independent countries unless they already

have recognized translations; name of pertodicals and newspapers; lilles of as yeL

untranslated literary works, plays, films, names of private companics and

institutions; names of public or nationalized institutions: street names, addresses,

ele

“% Naturalization ndapls Ihe ST word [ist 1o the normal pronunciation, then to the

normal morphology of the TL (Newmark, 1988b: 82)

* Cultural equivalent means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one, however, "they are not accurate” (Newmark, 1988b: 83)

«Functional equivalent requires the use of a culture-neutral word (Newmark, 1988b: 83)

% Descriptive equivalent: Necording to Newmark (1988b: 84), “in translation, description sometimes has to be weighed against fimetion” Moreover functional procedure and descriptive one cau be simuliancously used in translation TL is

8

reasonable when he says “description and function are essential elements in

explanation and therefore in translation” and “in translation discussion, function

used to be neglected: now it tends to be overplayed”

> Synonymy is a “near ‘TL equivalent." “Lhis procedure is used for a SL word where there is no clear one-to-one equivalent, and the word is not important in the

lext, in particular for adjectives or adverbs of quality” The procedure is only

appropriate where literal translation is not possible and because the word is not

important enough for camponential analysis “Here, economy precedes accuracy.”

(Newmark, 1988b: 84)

“ Through-transtation 1s the literal translation of common coliccations, names of

organizations and components of compounds It can also be called: calque or loan

(ranslalion, (Newmark, 1988b: 84) “The most obvious cxamples of through- translations are the names of international organizations which often consist of

universal words which may be transparent for English and Romance languages,

aud scmantically motivated for Germanica and Slavonic.” In addition,

“international organizations are often known by their acronym”

& Shift_or transposition imvelyes a change m the grammar from ST to TL, for

instance, (i) change from singular to phuwal, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does not exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SI noun group to a TL noun and so forth (Newmark, 1988b:

86) As it is stated by Newmark (1988b: 85), “transposition is the only translation

procedure concemed with grammar, and most translators make transpositions

Couplets occurs when the translator combines two different procedures

(Newmark, 1988b: 91)

4 Translation label is regarded as “a provisional translation, usually of a new

institutional term, which should be made in inverted commas, which can later be

discreetly withdrawn”

Tn general, anslaGion procedures are useful to a translator He/ She may apply them

flexibly in a particular context or combine two, three or four procedures (couplets, triplets, quadruplets) to deal with a single problem

2 Compound nouns in English

defined as stems consisting of more than one root (2000-79)

According to Sclkirk (1982:13), “Compounds in English arc a type of word structure made of two constituents, each belonging to one of the categories noun, adjective, verb or preposition”

Tn olhor words, it can be concluded that a compound word is joiting two or more separate words to produce a word with a new meaning

For examples:

bed+ time > bedtime eye + sight => eyesight black + board =» blackboard

silk — worm —> silkworm

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2.2 Classification of compound words

‘There are a number of ways to classify compounds according to certain criteria such

as word class, syntactic, and semantic relationship between the roots

The most accessible way of approaching the study and classification of compound

words is Lo classify ther according to lhe part of speech, as the following list of

compounds shows

Noun (N} Verb (V) Adjective | Preposition (P)/

(Bookworm) (brainwash) | (headstrong)

(pickpocket) | (freese-ary) | (dry-clean)

(greenhouse) | (blindfold) | (light-green)

Adverb (Adv) (back talk} | (downplay) | — foverripe) (into)

Table 1: Classification of compound words according to part of speech Another possible approach is lo classify compounds in terms of the semantic relationship between the compound and its head According to Spencer (1991), compounds are classified into three types: endocentric, exocentric and appositional

> Endocentric compounds are compound words containing a head that carries the semalic load of the whole compound, making them semantically trmsparent, A

word like blackboard is an endocentric compound word, whose head is board

> Hxocentrie compounds ae compound words with no clear head inside them,

iving rise to semantic arbitrariness and opaqueness It is thought that the head and

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underlying semantics lies somewhere outside the compound or is generally absent For this reason, Exocentrie compounds are called as headless compounds “Pick-

pocket” is an example of the exocentric that refers to a kind of person not a kind of

pick or a kind or pocket, However, its meaning or any assumptions about its semantic properties cannot be found from looking at the compound word itself

> Appositional compounds are compound words, whose both constituents contribnle equally to the meaning of the compound int denoting an entity or property For example, bittersweet refers to a quality, which is both bitter and

sweet The two elements seem to modify each other

2.3 Compound nouns

2.3.1 Definition of compound nouns

Compound noun is a noun that is made up of two or more words Each compound noun acls as a single unil and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns A compound noun is one comprising at least two words, which has nouns as head and involves nouns, verbs, or adjectives, prepositions as modifiers However, there are

some rare cases where the noun head does not exist The table below will illustrate how other ward classes combine to make a compound noun:

12

Preposition + | Verb output

Table 2: The formations of compound nouns

‘The compound noun structure is extremely varied in the types of meaning relations

i can indhcale A compound noun can be used Lo indicate what someone docs

(language teacher), what something is for (waste-paper basket, grindstone), what the qualities of something are (whileboard), how something works (immersion heater), when something happens (night frost), where somethmng, is (doormat) or what something is made of (wroodpile)

‘There are three forms of compound nouns:

* Open or spaced that is when there is space between words (tennis shoe)

“> Llyphenated that is when there is hyphen between words (six-pack)

* Closed or solid that is when there is no space or hyphen between words

(bedroom)

2.3.2 The distinction between a compound noun and a noun phrases

One of the most problems to deal with compounding is the criteria for

distinguishing between a compound and a phrase The problem arises most when it

is a compound noun rather than a compound verb or a compound adjective With adjective, for example, tax-exempt is clearly a compound, there is no contrasting

synlaclic consiruclion where an adjective has a oun (lax) as modifier Similarly, it

is unproblematic to distinct betwoen the compound verb “baby-sit” and a construction “baby sit” In general, there are three criteria that we can base on to distinguish a compound noun with a noun phrase: phonological, synlactic, and semantic ‘hese criteria are also used to distinguish the other types of compounds

and a phrase in general

Phonologically, most compound nouns can be identified as having a main stress on the first clement meanwhile a phrase oflon has stress un the last, Consider the following examples

Compound nouns Noun phrases

Syntactically, Jackson (2000) considers the specific syntactic features to make a compound noun different from a noun phrase, namely, word order, interruptihility, modifivation and inflexibility By word order, he refers to the position of the different elements of a compound in relation to one another Some compounds have ungrammatical or unusual word order in English For example, dry-cleaning,

output, ot haircut etc

Compound nouns have non-interruptible characteristic, ie., their constituents are note interrupted by extraneous elements This again confirms the assumption that a compound is indeed @ single lexival unit For example, the compound blackbird cannot be inserted extra elements as in the black naught bird which is a noun

phrase

Ry modifications he means the use of other words to modify the meaning of a compound As a compound is a single unit, it can only be modified by other words

as a whole but cannot be modified independently each of its constituents

Inflexibility is the use of inflections to present the grammatical function of compound To make the compound noun foftle-neck plural, for example, its constituents cannot be inflected as bottles-necks Instead, bottle-necks mnust be used Similarly, we have the other compound nouns in plural as ash-trays, dishwashers,

water paper baskets

Semantically, most compounds tend ta acquire special meanings like idiom And some aulhors lake this special characteristic as their defining features: “If the meaning of the whole cannot be deduced from the meaning of the elements sepurately, then we have a compound” (Jesperson 1942:137) Fach compound conveys only one concept oven though it may consist of more than two stems Take

the word tallbay as an example, it does not denote a person but a piece of furniture,

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a chest of drawers supported by a low stand fallboy expresses onÌy one concept whereas a tall boy, a noun phrase, conveys two concepts: a young male person and

big in size

Although all the criteria above seem to be convincing, itis insufficient to base ona

criterion alone, it is advisable to combine all three criteria to distinguish a

compound noun from a noun phrase

2.3.3 Classification of compound noun

a Accarding to the meaning

In terms of meaning, a compound noun can be idiomatic or non-iđiomaiio

Meaning of idiomatic compound is hardly deduced from the constituents” meaning

such as blackbird, mmimute steak or bulfer-finger Meanwhile, non-idiomatie

compound nouns are compound nouns of which meaning can be deduced from the

constituents, i.e the meaning is the sum of its part and it can be guessed even they

are oul of conlexi Some examples of non-idiomalie compound nouns are

doorkeeper, working man or dining table

b According to componential relationship

Compound nouns can be classified as coordinative or subordinative according to componential relationship

Coordinate compound nouns are compounds whose constituents are both semantically and structurally independent The constituents are often of the same part of s

pooch or of the same sematic group Coordinale compound nouns are like

in these following examples: actor-manager, bye bye, or chitchat

On the other hand, subordinative compounds are those that characterized by the

domination of one component over the other semantically or structurally The

sccond component, which is also called the determenatum, is the structural cenler and the dominant part of the word The first component is called the determinant

which modifiers the second For examples: honey-bee, oil well, table leg piano keys, pine tree, sandwich-man

¢ According to the relation of the compound noun as a whole to its constituent

Jackson and Amvela states that compound nouns can be classified into two

different types, namely, endocentric and exocentric

> Endocentric: is a type of compound in which one member functions as the head

and the other as its modifier, aliribuling a property to the head “ Blackboard” is

considered as an endocentric in that it refers to a type of board,

> Exocentric: is a type of compound words whore the thing that the compound refers to is not the same as the head “Pick-pocket” is an example of the

exocentne which refers lo a kind of person nota kind of pick or a kind or

pocket

3 An overview of information technology

3.1 What is information technology?

Information technology (IT) is a gonoral term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate and/or disseminate information

According to Gay and Blades (2005),

Information ‘technology (11) is the term used to describe the equipment, hardware and computer programs (software) that allows us to access,

present data and information

If 1s the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store,

retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a business or other

enterprise Tn other words, TT refers to the creation, galhenng, processing, sloring,

protecting, presenting and dissemination of information using hardware, software

and telecommunication technology

Many companies now have IT departments for managing the computers, networks,

and other technical areas of their businesses TT jobs include computer programming, network administration, computer engineering, Web development,

technical support, and many other related occupations As the results, information

technology has become a part of our everyday lives

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3.2 What are the main parts of information technology?

According to Senn (2004), two different parts of IT are computer technology and

communication technology

Figure 1: The two main parts of information technology

3.2.1 Computer technology

The first component is computer which is an electronic device or flexible machine

that can accept data-raw facts, figures, processes, or manipulates, and convert it into information The computer is programmable, meaning that it all depends upon

what program it is using for performing a particular function

% Classifications of computers:

Computer can be classified into four different types according to the size, speed

and cost The four main types of computers includes Supercomputer, Mainframe

computer, Minicomputer and Microcomputer The most powerful and the largest

computer is supercomputer which allows multiprocessing and lots of users to access at the same time Supercomputer is normally used for special tasks in

aerospace, satellite, chemical, electronics, weather forecasts and nuclear power

industries Mainframe computer is designed to meet the needs of large organization with large databases Minicomputer is smaller than a mainframe

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computer, but big enough to cater a medium sized organization or a small-scale business Microcomputer is designed to meet the needs of an individual and thus is also called as Personal Computers Microcomputers could be PCs or desktops or laptops or even notebooks

© Elements of computers:

The all types of computers mentioned above may different in shapes, sizes and purposes but all of them have certain characteristics in common

Li Hardware refers to the physical parts of the computer or includes anything in

the computer thal we can touch Hardware can be divided into four mam

categoties They are processor, memory, input and output devices, and storage devices

O Software brings lile into the computer Soliware guides the hardware how to do its job by different programs System software and application software are two calegories of soflware

O People are a part of the computing process The people are sometimes dircetly

or indirectly involved in the computing process ‘I'herefore, the computer works

under the control of human and can never be the boss People mvolved im the

computing process can broadly classified into users (end users), power users, and computer professionals

O Pate includes all the information that van be accepted, provessed or stored by a

computer ‘This information may be in the form of text documents, images, audio clips, software programs, or others

O Procedures arc the steps that a user follows to make the computer work, and the steps that the computer follows to accomplish the instructions given by the user All these elements have to be organized in such a way that each element works smoothly and efficiently, both individually and in coordination with others During, the computing process, computers integrate all these five elements

‘Characteristics of computer

According to Deepak Bharihok (2000), there are seven main features of computers

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O Speed: A computer can perform billions of calculations in a second It takes only few seconds for calculations that we take hours to complete The speed of a computer is measured in Mega Hertz (MH?) or Gega Hertz (GH?)

O Storage: A computer can store massive amount of data ‘This data can be used and reused for years (unless something goes wrong with the hardware) The

slorage capacily of a computer is measured in Mega Ryle, Gega Byle or Tera

Byte

Li Accuracy: Computers can perform operations and process data with accurate

TesUlls and no errors The errors in computer are due to human and incorrect

data

U Versatil ty: A computer is versatile that means it can perform different types of

lasks and be used in various lields such as al schools, umiversitics, hospitals,

government organization or at home for entertainment and work purposes

U Automation: A compuler is an intelligent device and it is capable of functioning

automatically, once the process is given to the computer, When it is programmed for an activity in advance, it keeps doing it till it finishes, without

any human intervention

UDitigence: Human beings normally suffer from physical and mental fatigue, so they cannot perform work with the same speed and accuracy Unlike a human, a

computer is free [rom bredness, lack of comeentralion or fatigue TL can work for

hours or perform tasks with the same speed and acouracy

ORetial All the above qualities of computers make them reliable and also

make us too dependent on them

3.2.2 Communication technology

‘The second component is Communication technology or ‘Telecommunication technology, consists of electromagnetic devices and systems for communicating cover long distances Communication technology refers to all the technology used to handle telecommunications, broadcast media, intelligent building management systems, audiovisual processing and transmission systems, and network-based

control and mountoring functions it contains three sub-parts as following:

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“ Communication: the sending and receiving of data and information over a communications network

“ Communications Network: a set of locations, or nodes, consisting of hardware, programs, and information linked together as a system that transmits and

receives data and information

% Data Communication: the transmission of data and information through a communications medium,

3.3 What are the main functions of information technology?

Figure 2: The five functions of information technology

Capture

, `

+ Capture: The process of compiling detailed records of activities

+ Processing: The process of converting, analyzing, computing, and synthesizing all forms of data or information including: Data Processing, Information

Processing, Word Processing, Image Processing, Voice Processing

* Generation: The process of organizing information into a useful form, whether

as numbers, text, sound, or visual image

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Storage and Retrieval: Storage is the computer process of retaining information

for future use Retrieval is the process by which a computer locates and copies

stored data or information for further processing or for transmission to another

user

“Transmission: The computer process of distributing information over a communications network like Electranic Mail, or E-Mail, Voice Messaging or

Voice Mail.

CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

1 Introduction

This chapter presents the result of the data analysis of common English compound

noms in information technology and the translation straiegies applied to Iranshate

these compound nouns into Vietnamese ‘he chapter will be divided into three main

sections Apart from the chapter introduction, the secand and third sections serve to

present the findings of data analysis to find the answors lo the lwo research

questions Finally, a brief chapter summary will be given

‘The data involved in the study are taken mainly from three books: “Oxford English Jor Information Technology” and “Oxford English for Computing”: and Microsoft Computer Dictionary (e-book formas)

2 English IT compound nouns in some IT documents and their Vietnamese

equivalents in the dictionary or on the Internet

The three books: “Oxford English for Information Technology” and “Oxford English for Computing”; and “Microsoft Computer Dictionary” acc tic main resources for the study’s data Most I’ compound nouns presented in this study are largely collected from the three books mentioned above and their Vietnamese meanings or equivalents are found in some dictionaries or searched on the Internet, The development of information technology entails increasing occurrence of terms, especially compound terms to describe new concepts or new objects, which requires that readers have understanding of the formation and structure of compound terms

so that they can really get benefit from what they deal with

Jt is a fact that in compound nouns, the exact relationship between the words depends on the particular expression, but all these expressions have one thing in common: the last word in the chain says whal the thing is, while the preceding word

or group of words describes the thing, which is termed “classifier” ‘This order is opposite in Vietnamese For example,

Y¥ Network configuration information => Thông tin cầu hình mang

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All common compound nouns are listed based on them structures in order that

readers can easily follow and understand Accordingly, compound nouns ean be formed by Noun and Noun, Adjective and Noun, Preposition and Noun or Participle

and Noun

2.1 Compound nouns formed by Noun and Noun

The inosl common structure or formation of a compound noun is noun and nour

The head noun (last noun) tells us about the thing is mentioning and the first noun

or group of nouns can tell us what the second noun is made of, what it is for, or

whal il is part of

1 | access charge phí lồn truy cập

3 | access control kiểm tra truy cập

7 | access time thời gian truy xuất

& | address bus bus dia chi

9 | alpha test kiểm tra alpha

11 | base address địa chỉ ca sở

16 | boot disk đĩa khởi động,

17 | bootstrap program chương trình tự khởi động,

18 | cache memory bộ nhớ dệm

19 | character generator bộ tạo ký tự

20 | character generator bộ tạo ký tự

22 | client-server may chit client

23 | space character kỹ tự tring

24 | visual display unil bộ hiển thị

25 | soumd card Thẻ âm thánh

Table 4: Compound nouns formed by Noun and Noun

2.2, Compound nouns formed by Adjective and Noun

A compound noun including an adjective and a noun is (he second popular structure

of a compound noun In this case, the preceding adjective modifies the noun to create a compound terms such as dinary number (số nhj phan), hierarchical database (ca sé dit liéu phân cấp), aelie window (cửa số biện hành, compuler-

based training (dao tgo trén may tinh), ete

|_| absolute address địa chỉ tuyệt đối

2 | achive window cửa sô hoại động

4 | alternate key phim alt

7 | blaekimstruction lệnh giả

11 |eoldbeet khởi động nguội (rebooting by pressing

the computer's power button)

16 | logie bomb chương trinh phả hủy dữ liệu

17 | primary storage bộ lưu trữ sơ cấp

through the menu option or the

22 | integramming language mạch tổ hợp

24 | operating system hệ điều hành

35 | programming language ngén nett lap tinh

Table 5: Compound nouns formed by Adjective and Noun

2.3 Compound nouns formed by Preposition/ Adverbs and Verb