Luận văn the equivalence of english and vietnamese translation of noun phrases in the book fire and fury by michael wolff

The study aims al toslilying the importance of equivalence in the process of translation among languages aud clarifying the mismatches between the two languages according to the theory o

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

LA TID PIIVONG LOAN

THE EQUIVALENCE OF ENGLISH — VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF NOUN PHRASES IN THE BOOK

“FIRE AND FURY” BY MICIIAEL WOLITE

‘Tinh Tương Đương Trong Bản Địch Anh — Việt Đối Với Cụm Danh Từ Trong

Tac Pham “Bao Lira Va Cudng Nộ” của Michael WolfT

M.A TIIESIS (PROGRAM 1)

Field:English Linguistics

Code:8220201.01

HANOI - 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IIANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

LÃ THỊ PHƯƠNG LOAN

THE EQUIVALENCE OF ENGLISH — VIETNAMESE

TRANSLATION OF NOUN PITRASES IN TITE BOOK

“FIRE AND FURY” BY MICHAEL WOLFF Tinh Tương Đương Trong Bản Dịch Ánh — Việt Đối Với Cụm Danh Tù Trong

“Tác Phẫm “Bão Lửa Và Cuẳồng Xộ” của Michael Wolff

M.A THESIS (PROGRAM 1)

Field: English Linguistic:

Code:8220201.01 Supervisor: Assoc Professor Dr Le Hung Tien

HANOL— 2020

DECLARATION

I declare that this thesis “The cquivalence of Englsh — Vietnamese Translation of noun phrases in the book Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff” has been composed solely by mysell'and that it has nol been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree This thesis is submitted after a carefully checking progress in order to fulfill the requirements of the M.A degree

Hanoi, 2020

La Thi Phuong Loan

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my gratitude to the beloved supporters who played important roles in my accomplishment of this thesis entitled: “The equivalence of English and Vietnamese Translation of Noun Phrases in the book Fire and Frey” I realive that this thesis was not completed without their support 1 would like to express my sincere gratitude and respect to:

} Assoc Professor Dr Le Hung Tien whose precious guidance, advice and supervision are the assets to the thesis,

All the lectures of English Department of Ilanoi University of Language and

International Studics who have always beon reliable teachers for the encouragement and enlightenment;

> My colleagues for their support of time and encouragement;

v Last, but nol leasl, the members in my family who have always given me great support and encouragement all the time

Finally, I thank for all the constructive criticism and suggestion from the readers

for the betler conbybution of the thesis

Hanoi, January 2020

La Thi Phuory Loan

ABSTRACT

There have been various researches on translation cquivalenee which have been key words in the field of translation so far Within the thesis, an investigation

of the equivalence of the English and Vietnamese translation of the noun phrases

collected in Chapter Ll of the book “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff was taken under the aspects of lexicon, grammatical structure, situational and cultural context

The study aims al toslilying the importance of equivalence in the process of

translation among languages aud clarifying the mismatches between the two languages according to the theory of Meaning-based Translation by Larson (1984)

The mismatches of lexicon, grammatical structure, situational and cultural context

between the two versions are the principal elements for the assessment of the equivalents of the collected noun phrases in the translation The contrastive analysis

was implemented at the level of phrase and lexis to draw oul the mismatches

‘between the two language texts in term of lexicon, grammatical structures and situational and cultural context The method of descriptive qualitative and approach

ag well as the mduclive method was used for the implementation of the study 67 mismatches of lexicon in term of surface structure and one case of mismatch in

deep structure (deep meaning) were found Tn the case of changes in deep meaning,

the original information can be distorted Deep structure is therefore given higher priority over the surface structure in order to get the faithful and natural translation

There arc 16 cases of gilualional and cullural mismatch (four cases of culural

anismatch, eleven cases of situational mismatch) ‘the translator showed the flexible attitude to make the justifiable adjustment, which is clearly illustrated with three

cas

8 slay inlacl, three cases translated in larget oullure and nine cases following the style of source culture 18 mismatches of grammatical structure were found, which shows the fact that the Inglish text has the priority of noun phrases while Vietnamese favors verbal expression 6 cases of literal translation have been found during the investigation From the findmgs, useful expericnces and principles of

iii

translation have been drawn out: Mismaiches in term of language features and

silualion commurication are mevilable, the theory of equivalent translation is

thorofore very necessary in translation The knowledge of divergent language systems, cultural norms and mismatches of lexicon would help the translator, Tổnglish (cacher and their students deal with the gaps in lerm of language and

cultures and gain their targets effectively.

1.2 Aims and objectives of the Study

1.3 Scope uf the Study

DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION OF EQUIVALENT

TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH NOUN PHRASES

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Mismatches of lexicon

4.1.2, Mismatches of grammatical structure

4.13 Mismatches of situational and cultural context

4.2 Cases of literal translation

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Translation process by Larson (1984: 4)

Figure 2 Translation as a continuum by Larson (1984: 17)

Tablc 1: Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt by Nguyễn Tài Cần (1998: 203)

Table 2: The sumunary of findings for mismatches are shown as the table below

13

14

19 48

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1, Rationale

Translation means conveying information from one language (source language)

to another language (target language) Nowadays, in the world of communication and international integration in various aspects of life, the need for information exchange and development or enhancement of relationships with different people and nations of various cultures at the intemational level is more and more indispensable the role of translation is therefore inevilable, Of all languages, English, as one of the officially and widely recognized international languages, has the largest number of target lmguage or source language in term of translation In fact, English covers almost in-formal as well

as formal material of all fields as a language of target text or source text

‘Unexceptionably, we have seen the need for Vietmamese language to be in the relation with English as the bagel langusge or source language in all kinds of material However, tanslalors have dealt with many obstacles during their process of translation duc to the differences in term of language features, communication situation and culture Those differences show the inevitable reality in wanslation, which forces the theorists to set out the concepts of equivalence in translation that help translators to be justifiably aware of the differences and have the reasonable methods for their task That

is the reason why the concep! ranslation equivalence is one of the key words in my thesis, Duc to the ength of the thesis, iL is impossible for the author to reler to all Iinguistic ranks and the collection of noun phrases in the chapter IM of the book “Fire and Tury” was taken to get the data for the study “The equivalence of English and Vietnamese Translation of Noun Phrases in the book Fire and Fury” Both English noun phrases and Vielramese noun phrases have pro-modifiers and posl-modiliers; nevertheless, the formation of noun phrase i the Iwo languages is different in term of structure and order of modifying-elements ‘Ihe post-modifiers are rather complex, ranked from phrases to finite, non-finite and verbless clauses [lowever, the author has leamt from other theses that the difficulties in translation of noun phrases in term of

structures (basing on structural differences of noun phrases in the two languages

English and Vietnamesc) have been investigated One more expericnes learnt from the article “The characters and functions of the nominalization in the science and technology document” by Professor Hoang Van Van _that it is not proper if the elements such as situational context, culture, communication situation ete are not taken

ilo consideralion when Iranslaling noun phrases”, the author therefore decided to

apply the translation strategies basing on the meaning-based method by Larson (1984) for the assessment of the equivalence of Noun phrases in the book “Tire and Fury” Strategies in translation would be regarded for the treatment of the linguistic situations where mismatches exemplified for the holes between the two languages in term of lexicon, grammatival simucturc, silustioual and culluwral context Those kinds of gaps need filling lo gain the cquivalenee The basic theuretical convepls of meaning and lexical choice in Larson (1984) Meaning —Based Translation, would be very helptul for the analysis of the data The complex of modifiers in English noun phrase reflexes the fact that a large amount of information of the message can be contained in a noun phrase Translators therefore may cope wilh many obslacles to decode meaning and gaplure rightful information contained in English noun phrase during the process of translation This reabty encourages me to take the rank of noun phrase into the investigation

1.2 Aims and objectives of the Study

1.2.1 Aims of the study:

~ To compare the noun phrases in the original text of the book “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolll and the Vietnamese version translated by Tran Trong Hai Minh and to identify mismatches between the two texts in term of lexicon, grammatical structure, situational and cultural context

- To find out how the translator deal with those mismatches Lo achieve the equivalent trarmlation

1.2.3 The objectives of the study

- ‘To clarify the mismatches between the two languages found in the translation of the noun phrases in the Chapter II of the book “Tire and Fury” according, to the theory of Meaning-based Translation by Larson

(1984)

- To investigate the cquivalence between the source text and target text at

the range of noun phrase

1.3 Scope of the Study

The thesis investigated the equivalence of the Lnglish and Vietnamese translation of the noun phrases collected in Chapter II of the book “Fire and Fury”

by Michact Woll!, published by Henry and Holt Company in New York im the year

2018 and its target text in Vietnamese “Bao lửa và cuồng nd” translated by Tran

Trong IIai Minh (a journalist and reporter) and published by Vietnam Literature Association Ihe mismatches of lexicon, grammatical structure, situational and cultural context between the two versions are the principal elements for the

asscasment of Dre equivalence of the collected noun phrases in the translation The

theory of translation strategies by Larson (1984) and theories of dynamic equivalence are the resorts for the assessment

1.4 Methodology

The contraslive analysis will be taker ai the level of phrase and lexis to draw out

the mismatches between the two language tex

8 at the range of lexicon, grammatical

structures and situational and cultural context 28 examples of noun phrase in the source language text and their target version are analyzed and interpreted The

thesis concenlraies on how the noun phrases are translated m Viclnamesc

equivalence

The method of descriptive qualitative and approach was resorted to make the description and interpretation of the language of translation of the noun phrases in the target text in order to find out the useful and practical implications for

translators and students of the area

The inductive method is used for the implementation of the study From the typical examples of Linglish noun phrases taken from the book “Lire and Fury’, 1 based on the language features as well as the differences in term of situational and cultural context

belween the Iwo languages to conduct the assessment of translation equivalenee

‘between the two versions, then draw out some experiences and rules for the translators and Jinglish leamers

1.5, Organiration of the thesis

Chapter 1: Introduction

The rationale for the study, aims of the study, scope of the study, methodology used

to conduct the study and the organization of the thesis are introduced in this part Chapter 2: Literature review: (1) inaslalion theories, Larson's lansbation strategies and (3) Notion of nou phrase and noun phrases in English and Vietnamese

Chapter 3: Methodology

Chapter 4: Description and Evaluation of The Equivalence of English Noun Phoases itt The Translation: (1) dala analysis and (2) implication and findings Chapter 5: Couclusion

mental activity in which meaning of a given language discourse is rendered from

one language to another Through the process of Iranslation, linguistic onlilics are

transferred from one language into their equivalents to another language, which

means that many related elemems are deliberately considered in the translation, and translation therefore is not only a normally physical movement of linguistic cnlities

‘but the mental one

Peler Newmark (1988: 7) identifies translation as “a erafl consisting im the

attempt replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the sane

message and/or statement in another language” ‘the word “craft” does not only

mean the act of crafling bul also refers to conmolalive meaning Peter Newmark’s

view on ‘translation’ is showed clearly in his work “A ‘lextbook of Translation” He refers to translation as a science, a skill which entails the knowledge The process of

translation bears the ercalive, the intuitive, the inspired and a maticr of taste

‘Translation, as defined by Catford (1995), is the replacement of textual material

in one language by equivalent textual material in another language Types and shifts

are the main concepts tn his contribulion im the field of translaliou There are three

criteria of types including: full translation, total translation, rank-bound - translation

and unbounded translation; while Shifés refer to the changes that take place during the Inmslalion process However, Catford (1995) mainly bases on linguistic thoory

to discuss the nature of translation therefore he does not refer to cultural, situational and historical factors which should also be taken into consideration along with the discipline as claimed by Snell-Hornby (1988)

Hatim and Munday (2004: 6) define translation as “the process of transferring a written text from source language (SL) to target language (TL}” In the two points

of view, the authors do not explicitly express that the cbject being transferred

is meaning or message, they only points to the text itself

Ghazala (1995) goes further with the translation which is partly more concrete

“translaliom 1s generally used to refer to all the process and methods used to convey the

meaning of the source language into the target language” Lle focuses on both terms

meaning as an essential element in translation and method that helps to transfer xruaning Thai is, underslanding the meaning of Ihe source loxt as well as thơ elTeotive

amethod is the vital and decisive element to gain the appropriate equivalence in the

target text It is meaning that is translated related to lexicon, grammar, culture,

sHualional communication and so on and methods are the resort io solve the dilferences

xeparding to the above elements

Besides, Nica and Taber (1982: 12) also refers Lo the reproduction of the meaning,

of the source language text mto that of the target language text by saying that

translation comprises the transforming in the receptor language at the nearest natural

equivalent evel of the souree language message in ton of bath meaning and style

Larson (1984) highlights the result of the translation process, which regards to the conformity of the target text to the source text in relation to the semantic

structure He poses that meaning of the source text must not be distorted when it is

translated into the target text, which means that the original flavor shall be kept unchanged IIe raises the importance of keeping the meaning constant despite the

changes in form when linguislic erfities are turned iuto the form of the target

language

In summary, only Catford (1995) and Hatim and Munday (2004) do not refer to meaning or message os well as the relaicd clemerts that need deliberately

considering, including language features, culture, situational contexts They only

refer to the text itself which is only the container not the flavor of the source text The others all refer to the concepL of equivalence in translation in different ways Peter Newmark (1988) uses the words knowledge, art, science and skill to describe

the task of translation, which implies the gaps between the two texts need filling

during the process of translalion by transtalors According Foster (1958), translation

process does not mean physically substituting words, he realized that Finguistic entities must be mentally transferred into their equivalents to another language with

a deliberate consideration of related elements Ghazala (1995), Nida and Taber

(1982), and Larson (1984) all refers to the word meaning in their views of

translation Ghazala (1995) uses the phrase appropriate equivalent to express his

view of translation targel while Nida aud Taber (1982) say the nearest equivalent in

term of meaning and style is necessary in translation, Larson (1984) raises the

importance of keeping meaning instant despite the changes 1m form

2.1.2, Notion of equivalence:

‘The notion Equivalence plays the central role in translation ‘The equivalence’s

typical stalus in translation helps il to evolve many different, pomts of view in

‘translation In fact, we deal with two systems of languages: source language and

target language, Lach language has its own set of language features, culture,

commutication situation of which some are shared and some are not shared Tn case

of literal translation, it is easy for us to be aware of the notion of equivalence, hence

all the translator does is substitute words from one language for words in another

language and clarify grammar features However, the translation itself is factually

auch more complicated Literal translation cannot help to convey the original flavor of the source language text due to the differences or even big holes in term of

language, culture and communication silualion belween the two languages,

subsequently concepts don’t always exist equally in two different languages or cultures, The translator then often decodes the deep structure of words or phrases in

ä senlenco by using his underslanding of context and culture, theu scck the correct

encoding in the target language This requires the translator to have a deep understanding of both cultures, not just the language In fact, one can speak both

languages (uently, but if he/she docs not understand the idiomatic moaning of words and culture behind them, the translation would be unfaithful to the original

spirit, A literal translation is unacceptable — it is very necessary for the translator to

capture (he deep structure or meaning behind the words Egzivalence is a powerlul

tool in service of that goal, but it is only an effective resort when you have a deep, comprehensive understanding of the deep meaning of words or phrases As Peter

Newmark (1988: 51) paints oul that meaning is basically known as a network of

various relations which is very complicated and it shall be deliberately considered at many levels in the process of translation

2.4.3 Translation equivalence

Translation equivalence is an important concept of translation theory It is

considered one of the most important and core issues in translation theory since the

second half of the twenlicth vertury Gaining equivalents bas become the problematic factor that the translator deal with As Catford indicates “the central

problem of translation practice is thal of fmding target language equivalents A central task of translation theory is that of defining the natwe and condiuons of translation equivalence.” (Catford, 1965, P.21) In fact, the concept of equivalence

in trarelation [heory is inchided in many works by prominent theorists

Nida (1964: 159) evolves two essential orientations in translating, including,

formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence Formal equivalence focuses on the

message itself in term of both form and content while dynamic equivalence aimed at

complete natural expression, ‘Lhe formal equivalence comprises the view of point that the message in the receptor language text should as close as possible match the

different elements in the source language lex However, the dynamic equivalence

does not involve the relation between the source message and the target message, a follower of dynamic equivalence tries to relate the receptor to modes of behavior

relevant lo the contexl of his own culture.

Baker (1992) proposes a more detailed list of clemonts relating to the concept of equivalence She investigates the notion of equivalence at different levels, in relation lo the translation proves, including various aspects of the linguislie and Ihe communicative approach She identifies the different aspects of equivalence: (1) Tiquivalence can happen at levels of word and above word, She mentions wards as a single unit whieh is assigned an equivalent in target language; and a single word can

be assigned in different meanings in different languages, which evolves the fact that the translator shall look at a number of factors when considering a single word such

as number, gender and lense (2) In term of textual equivalence, Baker aims at

essential factors, including the target audience, the purpose of the translation and text type, would guide the translator's decision In her opinion, it is very necessary

for the translator 10 creale a cohesive and coherent tex!

for the largel audiouce ina

specific context, (3) With respect to grammatical equivalence, she regards to the

diversity of grammatical categories across languages She argues that grammatical

rules are different across languages, which may Icad ta obstacles in term of finding

a correspondence in target language More specifically, she claims that differences

in term of grammatical structure between the source language ard the target language may cause significant changes in the way the information or message is

carried across ‘These changes may cause the unfaithfulness to the original spirit due

to addition or omission of information in the target text because of the lack of

certain grammatical devices in the target language (4) Besides, Baker proposes the pragmatic equivalence The author pays much attention to the notion implicature in

translation since it refers to the information which is not explicitly said in the source

text, it lies under the suface linguistic structure It is therefore necessary for translators to discover the implied meanings in translation in order to get the source

message across The translator has the duty lo reproduce the aulhor’s imtertion in

another language of different linguistic features and in another culture in such a way that enables the target readership to capture it clearly

Bell (8991: 6) refers to the term equivalent translation of different tevels such as

semantics, grammar, lexis, context and so on He claims that texts im diffcrcnt languages can be fully or partly equivalent al different ranks of words, plrases and

sentences The source language text sometimes has no meaning in the target text and

the meaning in the tanget text gained partly or fully equivalent to the source language

text because the twe texts may share the communicative situation and purpose

House (1997) argues that the original and translalion should match one another

in function The author raises the importance of function in equivalence The

translation is only considered to be adequate in quality if it matches the “textual” profile and function of the original She evolves two types of translation: overt

translation and covert translation In an overt translation text, the translator makes

no allempl to hide the fact that iL is a translation, in olher words reader [ind il casy

to recognize that it is a translation Ilowever, a cover translation always makes the

target readers feel that it is not a translation because some implicit information

captured by intended reader of the source language text is made explicit in the target language text for the benefit of the target culture and intelligibility

Newmark’s point of view on the equivalence translation is expressed in his two

books: Approaches to Translation (1981) and A Testbook of Transiation (1988) Ie

docs not refer to the tenns formal and dynamic equivalence like Nida dees, mstcad

he notes the term semantic and communicative translation vespectively Semantic

focuses on meaning, while communicative which refers to the needs of the addressee focuses on effect The communicative translation therefore tries to satisfy the readers by producing the target language text with the deliberate consideration

of sinoothness and readability Particularly, Newmark (1981) shows his strong

belief that literal wanslation is the best approach in term of semantic and

communicative translation, but the communicative translation would be more favored in case of conflict between the two forms of translation

2.1 Larson’s Translation stratepies

21.1 Concerning concepts

Larson clarifies the concepts with respect to what he interprets in his translation

strategies

10

(1) Font and meaning: Form is something that can be scen in sprint and heard

in speech like words, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraph ete which are regarded

as surface structure of a language Form of one language, source language, is

placed by the form of another, target language, in the process of translation

‘Meaning, on the other hand, is referred to as deep structure which is information or

content lo be transferred [rom source language text to the Largel language text Tt is

constituted by the elements of lexical and grammatical structure, communication

situation and cultural context of the source language text The translator has to analyze the above elements to determine meaning

(2)implicit meaning and explicit meaning: Various kinds of meaning constitute the meaning of the text on a whole Some of those may not be overtly expressed in

the forms of the source language text, which is called impheit meaning Clearly,

explicit meanings are those overtly expressed in the source language text The

translator therefore shall consider both explicit and implicit information to uncover the whole meaning of Ihe source language toxl

(3) Referential meaning, organizational meaning and situational meaning:

Referential meaning is what the communication refers to Ti is the information or

content contamed in the source language text which is organized into the semantic

structure Organizational meaning is formed on the base of the mformation referred

garlier in the same text, Titherefore helps to pul the information logether in order Lo

create a coherent text, The translator sometimes builds up meaning on the base of the communication situation, by that way, the organizational meaning is formed It

is crucial to the understanding of any text The situational matters resulting in

situational meaning may include where and when the communication take places,

age, sex and social status of the addresser and addressee, cultural back grounds and

one correlation between form and meaning While the characteristic of “skewing” is the reason for the constituting the secondary and the figurative meaning In each

language, there is the diversity or tha Jack of one io one correlation between form

and meaning which is the characteristic of “skewmg” Larson (1984) points out that distinctive forms for representing the meaning are different across languages and

“skewiug” helps io avoid the literal translatiou which may leads to the distortion of

meaning since the same meaning may be expressed in different forms in the other language In fact, one language may be interested in forms of noun while the other

is interested in verbal usage The skewing between grammar and semantic structure

therefore shall be considered in order to find the underlying meammg in any circumstance, meaning always takes the priority over form

(5) Lexical equivalent: Normally, the two languages are spoken by people of different cultures, the lexical of the twa certain languages will therefore not match

Accordingly, the term lexical equivalent, a term crucial to matters of faithfulness

and naturalness, has become so popular in translation Larson (1984: 153) says thera

are three matters concerning to the choices of adequate lexical equivalents,

including: concepls when knowledge is shared, concepts when knowledge is not

shared and key terms of the text that need special treatment He further discusses the

complexity of the term lexical equivalent by pointing out that even in the case of

shared concepts “the way in which they are expressed m the two laryguages is ollerr

very different” Meaning components and the way in which they are combined are different across languages, especially mismatches in term of secondary senses and

figurative senses of lexical items In fact, some senses of meaning may be figurative

in one Janguage but non-figurative in another, positive in one language but negative

in another

(6) Commnunication situation According 1q Larson (1984), the elements

conceming to communication situation comprises of the author, purpose in his

writing, the audience, the relationship between the author and the audience, culture

of the sours lex, common knowledge shared by both readers of source language

12

and target readership, social context and other factors Of which the author’s

altitude toward his audience in an important part of communication as author

always wriles with his writer in mind Culture is alse ar indispensable element in

the communication situation for the fact that language is part of culture and as stated by Larson (L984: 431) “translation from one language to another cannot be

donc adequately wilhoul knowledge af (he two cultures as well as the two language

structures”

21.2 Larson's translation strategies

According to Mildred Larson, Translalor bases on the source language text lo

discover the meaning and then represses the meaning in the receptor language

During the process of translation, he/she can use tools like dictionaries, lexicons, grammars, cultural descriptions cte of both source language and larget language

She holds the opinion that the translator has the duty to keep meaning constant in

the target language text Basically, the form of the source language may change as it

is lured info dhe targel language text however the distortion of meaning is nol

permutted in the translation he translator therefore often considers the different

Kinds of meaning (primary meaning, secondary meaning and figurative meaning)

which conyey the explicit and implicit information of the text, as well as communication situation which comprises historical setting, cultura! setting, author’s intention when translating (he document,

Discover the meaning Re-express the meaning

Figure 1: Translation process by Larson (1984: 4)

13

As argued by Larson, translation concerns not only linguistic features but also other elements of communication situation, hence referential and structural meaning, situational meaning is regarded as a crucial factor that helps the (ranslalor interpret the author’s culture or the cultural information given in the text According

to Larson (1984: 15), there are two main types of translation, mainly form-based

and meaning-based translation Form-based translation alfempts to follow the form

of Source Language and is known as literal translation, while meaning-based translation makes every effort to communicate the meaning of the SL text in the

natural forms of the receptor language Such translation is called idiomatic

translation which means that translation shall not sound like a translation It shall gain both targets: natural as much as possible in the target Janguage text and not to

fall mo “unduly (ree translation”

literal Literal Literal wmixture idiomatie THiamRHie free

‘Translater’s goal

Figure 2: Translation as a continuum by Larson (1984: 17) Larson (1984: 16) says thal idiomatic banslations use Ibe walural forms of the receptor language both in the grammatical constructions and in the choices of fexical items A successful translation would be an idiomatic translation which

seems to be wrillen originally in the re

pior language However, a Iranslalion is

often a mixture of literal and idiomatic forms of language ‘Lranslation then falls on

lo

a continuum from very literal, to hteral, lo modified literal, to near idiomalic,

idiomatic, and may fall, even more on the unduly fice as displayed above Within

my thesis, | grouped the cases into two groups: literal translation and idiomatic translation This division is based on Larson’s framework of translation strategies

and the collected data

14

Mismatch of grammatical structure:

Larson (1984: 58) also notes that the translator shall consider the skewing belweon grammar and the semantic valegories in order to find the underlying meaning He must be aware of this skewing in the source language as the same form

may be used as two different parts of speech Since language system has its own

way lo arrange concepts imo different paris of speech, there is lille guarantce thal a

noun in one language is often best translated by a noun in another language One language may have the preferential use of noun while the other may be expressed in

the same meaning by forms of verbal noun Being aware of the natural differences

between languages would be very useful for the translator to gain both faithfulness and intelligibility in his/her translation becanse skewing between semantic classes

and part of speech occurs often

Mismatch of lexicon:

Larson (1984: 154) points out the fact that the languages may share some

concepts but may nol share the others Ever in cases where concepts are shared, the

way in which they are expressed in the two languages is not always the same, it is

ofien very different, Meaning components are combined, divided and grouped

differently in dificrent languages She also states “there is usually complete

mismatch between secondary senses and figurative senses of lexical items between

languages” How Lo allain Ihe best lexical equivalent [or the translation is art unoasy

question for translators According to Larson (1984), the translator must be aware of the fact that a single word in source language text may be translated by one word or

‘by more than one ward in the target language text and vice versa several words in

the source language text may be sometimes translated by one word in the target language text A complete match between the two languages happen when there is

the same primary serise used im both texts Resides, the translator shall accept

different ways in the two languages in expressing the same concepts since lexical structures of the two languages are different Sometimes, the translator unpacks the meaning comporients of a word in source Ianguage and then usc phrase and clase

in target language to express the meaning in the translation The equivalent lexical items will almost never have the same secondary senses from one language to

language; figure serises therefore always need adjustmerts im translation

Sometimes a nonfigurative equivalent will be needed in the receptor language

Mismatch of situational and cultural context:

For Larson, choices of lexival items shall be laken mio consideration from

the point of view of situational context Communication situation is very important

for rightful interpretation of information contained in the source language text The

meaning is partly determined by who aulhor was, purpose in his writing, who the

text was written for, the relationship between author and his audience, the culture of

the source text, how much common information shared by both source language

audienee and Largel language audicrice, and other factors of the communication

situation (social context, age, sex, social status, culture’s ideals etc.) Lexical

choices will depend on various factors of the situation where communication is

presented, the translalor shall therefore be aware of the meanmg of words conditioned

by situational context (Larson 1984 F131) In fact, situational context helps the translator Lo define the appropriate events, things or behaviors referred in the message The translater shall base on the spunt of the whole text to unpack bundles of meauings

and interpret the noun phrases with the most adequate lexical choices in the receptor

language Convepis of three kinds of meamng: rolerential mearing, organizational

sneaning and situational meaning refered as above in the theoretical part would exemplify for the useful ways to deal with the mismatches of cultural and situational

context and gain the equivalent translation which is faithfully and naturally nearest to

the receptor language ‘Lhe meanings must be understood and translated in the light of

situational context and lexical items shall be looked at from the point of view of the

situational comext (Larson 1984: P 421) The chapter talked aboul the worry or partly

surprised feeling of ‘Lrump’s inner circle when they were trying to support him in his new position a3 President of United State The book’s genre clearly belongs to political prose and the dilTerencus in (arm of political aystem, geography, anid the culture of the

16

two counhics prcduccs the mismaiches, of which inckading ni-equivalenees (not translated) and idiomatic equivalent m the interest of target readership

2.2 Noun phrase

2.21 English Noun phrase

Noun phrases as well as other phrases are essential parts in constituents of any

language Wilhoul noun phrase, ro agenis, no patients, no reeipicnl, oceurs The

occurence of noun phrase in language is inevitable Thus, a single word is often insufficient in expressing, our thought in communication

Traditionally, noun phrases are phrases whose head word is a noun which acts

like a noun as a whole ‘There are often a group of words in a noun phrase

Noun phrase, as defined by Quick R and other Grammarians (1972: 127), is the

clement in the sentence which typically Junctions as subject, object and

complement

The structure of a noun phrase is rather complex, there are words standing

around the head noun to function as modifiers A noun phrase thus comprises of

three potential parts: The head noun part, the central part of a noun phrase, is an

indispensable part which is essentially required for the occurrence of a noun phrase

The other two parts are optional, of which, the onc precedes the head noun is called

the pre-modification and the one follows the head noun is known as the post-

mattifieation

Example:

(i) A beautiful girl is standing near the door

(3) The beautiful standing near the door is my sister

(3) The girt in the corner is my classmate

When describing a noun phrase like those cited above, it is essential that we

have Lo distinguish (hres paris which help 1o coustruel a noun phrase

(a); Pre-modification: ‘The part comprises five elements: identifier (the book, my pon, ), numeral/quantifier (some orange juice, three tables ), adjective (a red hat,

a handsome boy }, noun modifier (schoolboys), proper noun (Harvard University,

New York Times ), past participle (a retired general, clected president .), prosont participle (falling star, the frightening robber

(b): The head: Head of a noun is often a noun itself, around which are

components helps io support the head im term of meaning and contribute lo the

information of a noun phrase as a whole, also im a concord with the rest of the

sentence

(e): Post-modification: Alf the items including: relative clause, non-finite clause, prepesitional phrase, adjective can be located behind a head noun for the role of post-modification

Example:

(1) Lhe pupil, who L met yesterday, is my friend’s son

(2): The teacher teaching us English this semester is my aunt

(3) He takes a move to leave (Hire and Fury by Michael Wolff)

(4) The book on the table is mine

(5) Jerry would pay a call on the president elect (Fire and Fury by Michael

Woy)

From the examples above, il is possible to indicate thal the post modifiers can be

‘both restrictive and non-restrictive In case of restrictive post-modification, the head

noun can be identified only through post-medification, and in case of non-restrictive posi-madification, a head can be viewed as a part of speech that has been identified independently

There are sometimes cases where the head is omitted and the communication context would help the readers or listeners to capture the meaning, of the phrase

Example: A small of well —wisher (Wire and Fury by Michael Wolf)

2.2.2 Noun phrase in Vietnamese

In Vietnamese, when a noun is used as some kinds of function in a sentence, it is usually added to some other elements in order to form a phrase known as noun

phrase with a noun as the role of central part or a head

18

The head lics in the middle of a phrase while modification is widely spread into both sides around the head ‘he items preceding the head is called pre-modification and the items following the head is known as post-modilication

Table }: Vietnamese Grammur by Nguyén Tii Cin (1998: 203)

Cases where there is pre-modification only

- Babdt > Three bows

- Bén ban — Four tables

Cases where there is post- modification only:

- Ban gai nay! — This girl

-_ Táo đã —+ a red apple

Cases where there is pre-modification and post-modification only, the head is skipped

- Ba tai, hai chin, mét gdu! > Hanoi Pho — three bowls of rare beef, tvo bowls of cooked beef one bowl of beef brisket

The head noun — bow! is skipped in Vietnamese in a certain communication contexl when the listener and (he speaker share the knowledge and communication is effective without the head noun

Một cuỗn sách rất hay — ä very interesting book

Một quãng đường dài - a long distance

Mội quãng đường khả dài— a rather long dislance

A clause can ñanetion as post-modification

Nha phd - Street house

Vườn nho - grape garden

A demonstrative word functions as post-modification

Con tau ấy - the ship

Adjectives and adjective phrases used as post-modification,

Cam với to

An elephant hig > a big elephant

Verbs used as post-modification

Cá ca sĩ hái sáng nay

The singer who sang this morning

20

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCLH METHODOLOGY

Language features are often different across languages Besides, languages

are influenced or dominated by different cultures, different world realities and peculiar ways lo express information in communivation, iranslalors therefore find it

difficult to gain the exact equivalence between words of one language and the words of another A complete match between languages seldom happens in

transtalion Usually, one word in the source language lexl is ranslated by several

words in the receptor language or vice versa words in the source language text are translated by a single word, In order to testify the above view, the researcher chose

the book “Fire and Fury”, collected $50 noun phrases im the Chapter 2 of the book

Trom the collected data, I based on the relevant theories of translation, especially Larson's translation strategies (1984) Meaning Based Translation to categorize

and analyze (hree kinds of mismalches and cases of hicral translation Finally, the

researcher considered the findings, made conchisions, and drew out some

experiences and prinerples for the translalor and students of the field in particular, for teachers of English and English learners in general, The research method used to

conduct the research, object of the research, data sources, data collecting method, daia analysis lechnique will be discussed in this chapter

3.1 Research question

In order to fulfill the aims of the study, the researcher attempted to address

the two following research questions:

1/ What are the typical mismatches in translating noun phrases in the book “Fire

the target text to find out the useful and practical implications for translators and students of the area in particular; Uinglish teaching and learning in general After

taking the Lypicat examples of cach kind of mismatch, (he researcher made effort to

describe the surface structure and deep structure of the noun phrases in the source target text and its version The techniques used for the description of the source text

and targel text are lexical ilems and situational and cultural context, which helps to

find out the senses of meaning in the original text and make the assessment of the

translation

The assessment, of the mismatches between the source language lex and target

language text was based on the referred elements (language features, culture, communication situation) with the theoretical support of the relevant theories

The inductive method is used for the implementation of the sludy From the

typical examples of English noun phrases taken from the book “Fire and Tury”, the

author based on the language features (figurative language, grammatical structure,

colloeation, implicit meaning, explicil meaning, referential, organizational meaning)

as well as the differences in term of situational and cultural context (culture,

political syslem, world reality) between the two languages to conduct the assessment of equivalent translation between the two versions in the light of

theories of translation equivalence and Larson's translation strategies, then draw out

some experiences and rules for lhe Iranslalors and English learners

typical examples:

ST: background of a mortal war of wills — with the media

TT: Bếi cảnh một cuộc chiến tranh sống znái piffa các ý chỉ — voi truyén théng SIL: the bare bones transition team

TT: Nhém chuyén giao ñết sức đơn giản

This nol difficult to see the obvious mismalches im Lerm of surface meaning in

the two versions l’rom theories of translation equivalence and Larson’s translation strategies, the author made the assessment of the translation and discovered how the

the translator deal with the inevitable differences between the two languages to gain

22

the equivalence in term of decp meaning Consequently, expericenecs are drawn out ‘Ihe phrase mortal war means a war which is very dangerous to life People who lake parl in a mortal war arc ready lo face with their dealh The edge between

death and life in such a war is very fiagile ‘The words séng and madi in Vietnamese

refers to the sex sense of male and female Ilowever, in this situational dimension,

the phrase séng mdi can convey the similar meaning with the word mortal in the

souree text, which is the best equivalent satisfy both the faithfulness and the interest

in Viemamese culture in this case In fact, some words carry figurative or imelaphorical meaning and they acquire symbolic meaning Those cases require the translator to make necessary adjustments in order to successfully transfer the original flavor of the source text with the expression suitable with linguistic features

of the targel readership Io capture he content casily and comfortably

Cases of literal translation manifest the importance of notion of equivalence in translation as well as the higher priority of deep meaning than surface meaning in

Larson’s translation sIralcgics

Typical examples:

ST: Washinglon insiders, or would be insiders, would have to come Lo him

TT: Những kế trong cuộc ở Washington hay những kẻ sắp thành trong cuộc

sẽ phải tới triều kiến ông

The phrase in the receptor language scems not to be natural and cause Ihe target language text is not smooth and easy in a whole Ihe phrase shall be

translated “những kẻ sắp nhập cuộc”

ST: the president —elect's lack of immediate focus on a White House structure

that could serve and protect him

TT: Vige tân tổng thông thiếu sự tập trung ngay lập tức vào cầu trúc Nhà

think of the design of the famous building However, the textual meaning of the

word structure in this casc docs not r;fer to this kind of sense but the personnel

amechanism of a new Trump Government Accordingly, there is a big difference in

deep meaning belween the source language lext and the largel language text Lough

the surface lexicon structure (surface meaning) in the Lwo version are similar The

targel language text shall be “Viée tan Lang thong thiéu su tap trung ngay lận lức

vào cơ câu tô chức Nhà Trắng đế phụng sự và bảo vệ mình”

Translators must be aware of the obvious existence of inevitable mismatches

and related concepts, which would partly support them to obtain the successful

translation that guarantees the criteria of faithfulness, readability and naturalness

3.3 Research method

in order to investigate the mismatches in term of language features, situational and cultural context between the two languages, the text book “Fire and Fury” was chosen, the text is a kind of political prose Within the master thesis, the theories of translation equivalence and Larson’s wanslation stralegivs basing on the

reaning-based method by Larson (1984) are the theorclival basis for the author to make the (ranslalion assessment of the text im term of noun phrases Duc lo the

length of the text and the frame of my thesis, chapter II is chosen to collect data for

my research T took the observation of the whole chapter and read carefully with

more concrete observation and made the collection of 550 noun phrases in the

chapter TT of the hook “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff as well as their target

versions in Vietnamese translated by Tran Trong Iai Minh Strategies in translation

would be regarded for the treatment of the linguistic situations where mismatches

exemplified for the holes between the two languages in term of language features, communication situation and cultural context Those kinds of hole need filling to gain the translation equivalence Ihe basic theoretical concepts of meaning and lexical

choice in Larson (1984) Meaning Based ‘Translation, as refered above would be

very helpful for the analysis of the data

14

3.4 Data collection

Data selection criteria: ‘The source text is a text of political prose written by

Michael Wolf — a famous wnter and a regular communist, who has received

bumerous awards for his work ‘the author chose the chapter LI which talked about the

worry or partly surprised feeling of Trump’s inner circle when they were trying to

support hin im his new position as President of United State The translator (Tran

‘trong Hai Minh) is a journalist and a famous translator with many works (I'ram Diéu,

Soi day thimg nghiét nga ) Noun phrases and their target versions which manifest

clear mismatches between the Lwo languages in term of lexicon, grammatical structure

and cultural and situational context are the choices of the needed data

In order to gain the needed data, the researcher based on the traditional grammar and the eoncepl of noun phrase for the identificalion of nour phrases in the saurce text,

zead the original text thoroughly and collected 550 nown phrases Of which, 267 cases

include post-modifiers, 285 cases have pre-modifiers only The methods used in

collecting data were compiling, reading, and writing techniques Aller that the

xesearcher read the collected noun phrases and their versions in target language text

carefully and seriously im order to gel the needed data, Of 550 nourrphrases, 105 cases

ancet the requirements and scope of the study, nevertheless, the author took only 28

cases into the contrastive analysis due to the length of the thesis Next, the chosen data

were calegorized inlo different kinds of mismatch (mismatch of lexicon, mismatch of

grammatical structure, mismatch of culture and situational context) ‘he representative

data were then analyzed in details to find out the ways that the translator deal with the

mismatches to get the idiomatic translation that meet the requirement of faithfulness,

seadability and naturalness to the target language

3.5 Data analysis

351 Calegariring

Data categorizing was taken following the collecting data step Careful reading, and comprehensive reading helped the researcher to get the raw data which wore then calogorizad ino relevant calegories according to aims of thie study In this

step, relevant mismatches were identificd, including: mismatches of language features, mismatches of cultural and communication situation ‘Ihe researcher based

on the relevant coneepis and Larson’s bra jaion stralegies and other relevant

theories to conduct the process of data categorization, which helped to find out the ways that the translator deal with the differences between the two languages to get

the equivalenls in the translation

3.5.2 Classifying

The next step was data classification Classification required a good and deep

understanding on the theories and concepts employed The mismatches in term of language features, communication situation and cultural context between the source

language text and the target Ianguage text were elaborated as data were classified

info categories that employ the theory and concepts of Meaning-Based Translation

by Larson (1984) Mismatches of language features happen at the range of lexicon

(relevant concepts including: implicit and explicit meaning, organizational meaning

and referential meaning, figurative meaning) and grammatical strupture (breach of

language system and collocation clash) Mismatches of cultural and communication

sHualon happens due to different, worlds of reality, different political systems,

diffcrent views of culture, This kind of mismatch was classified unto three levels:

Virst, the source culture and the target culture do not own the same reality, the

translation was conducted im the light of orginal culture Second, the source culture

and the target culture own the same reality, the translation was conducted in the light of target culture in order to guarantee faithfulness and naturalness Third, the

translation was unchanged (in case of untranslatable situation or nil equivalence)

Besides, the cases of literal translation were also identified in order to give more

support for the exemplification of the idiomatic translation

3.5.3 Analyzing

Basing on the categories classified as well as deep and comprehensive

understandinys of relevant theortes and concepls, mismatches of different kinds as

referred were identified one by one according to the categorization The occurrences

26

of cach kind o£ mismafch werc statistically prescntcd in tables The researcher tried

to make the mformation aboul the translation of the neun phrases clearer, and

clarified the problem The data were interpreted in the correlation with the relevant theories and concepts Finally, the contrastive analysis was implemented at the level

of phrase and lexis to draw out the mismatches between the two language texts at the range of lexicon, grammatical structures and situational and cultural context

Many examples of noun phrase in the source language text and their target version

were analyzed and interpreted The thesis concentrates on how the noun phrases are expressed in Vietnamese equivalent Implicit and explicit information, skipped words, figurative meaning, breach of language system and changes in term of surface structures are (ho key words indicating the ways thal ihe translator used to deal with the mismatches between the two languages and gain the equivalent translation ‘I'he cases of literal translation were also referred and analyzed in the analyzing phase, which strengthens the view point that idiomatic translation is beticr than Hiteral translation and the translation equivalence is always Ihe

translator's target to pursue

In order to avoid bias in collecting, categorizing data and analyzing data, which helps to get the reliable findings, the rescarcher has strictly followed the aims and objectives of the study as well as related theories and concepts (translation

equivalence, meaning-based translation strategies, communication and cultural

situation, referential meaning, figurative meaning, grammatical structure, surface structure, deep structure and so on) Lispecially, a good and deep understanding on the inevitable differences between the two languages in term of lexical item

(figurative meaning, implicit and explicit meaning), communication and cultural

situation (culture, situational context and world realities) and grammatical structure aust be required for a thorough analysis

‘Typical examples showing the principles in collecting, categorizing data and analyving dala

- Mismaiches of lexican:

+ Difference of figurative sense of meaning:

ST: A chicf of staff with History in Washington and federal government

TT: Một chánh văn phòng e6 dink nghiém vé Washington va chính quyền liên bang

In term of concordance, a word will probably be translated in many ways as the senses in which it is used Larson (1984: 147) Different ways give different senses, The secondary meaning or the figurative meaning of the samc lexicon item

in two lmguages is differcnt or cach language has ils peculiar way Lo figure lexicon meaning The term history can be figured as experience while we rarely see the cases where the term ijch si in Vietnamese is figured as kinh nghiém

+ Implicit information in the source language is made explicit in the target language

ST: A small of well — wisher

TT: nhóm nhỏ đến chic mimg,

‘The translator based on the situational context and pragmatic equivalence to add more words and made the information explicit in the target language

= Mivmaiches of grammatical structure

ST: A working-class kid originally from New Jersey and then Wisconsin, at thirty two he made first and last rum for elective office

TT: Sink ra fong gia dink lao động gốc ở New Jersey roi sau đỏ chuyển tới Wisconsin, 3 tudi ba muyi hai, éng chay dua lén dau va eding 14 lan cudi trong một

cuộc bầu cử

- Mismatches of cultural and situational context:

+ Difference in term of culture:

ST: his view of a man whe, for more than a generation, had been at best a

clown prince among the rich and famous

TT: Quan điểm của mình về một người mà, trang suốt hơn một thế

nhất cũng chỉ là

ệ, nhiều

hè trong biểu đình của giới giàu có

‘The phrase “triéu dinh” shows the mismatch of culture ‘The phrase has no

+ Difference in term of situational context

ST: The speaker of /he //2use

TT: Chis lich Ha vin

The House is a political term referring to one of the Legislative Entities in the political system of America which is very different from that in Vietnam It cannot