Luận văn an evaluation of the translation of the film rio based on newmark’s model

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TT QWgg.OQ,, TRẢN THỊ NGÂN AN EVALUATION OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE F

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TT QWgg.OQ,,

TRẢN THỊ NGÂN

AN EVALUATION OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE FILM “RIO*

BASED ON NEWMARK’S MODEL

Đánh giá bún dich 66 phiew *Rio” diva trén mô hình của Newmark

M.A MINOR PROCRAMME THESIS

: English Linguistics + 60220281

VIETNAM XATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES X+++EE+4444412212112111122121411e

TRAN THINGAN

EVALUATION OF THE TRANSLATION OF THE FILM “RIO"

BASED ON NEWMARK’S MODEL Dénh gid bin dich bf phim “Rio” tea trên mô hình của Newmark

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Vield + Ruglish Linvuistics

Snpervism - : Assac.Praf.Dr Lâm Quang Dang

DECLARATION

T declare that the th is entitled ‘An evaluation of the translation of the film

“Rio”, based on Newmark’s model reflects the findings of the study conducted

by myself The thesis is submitted to University of Langoages and International Studies — Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi for the Degree of Master in English Linguisica It has not been smbmitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institutions

Mano, 2016

Trân Thị Ngân.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not exist without the immense encouragement which I received along the way from my supervisor, my family, my colleagnes and my friends

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc.Prof Lam Quang Dong, why has leu! his expertise to Meck my ideas and provide reference sources {am indebted to him for his enthusinan, Kindness and dedication during my course of study

T alin take this opportunity t thank all

Faculty of Graduate Studies for their inspiration to me

Bezides, I am grateful to my friends and my colleagues for their valuable advice and great encouragement Last bul sol fest, L would Jike (o deliver speciat thanks to my husband for his kind support which helps me a ot in completion of this thesis,

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ABSIRACT

This thesis assesses the translation quality of the Vietnamese version of the filo “Ria”, which was translated and dnbhed in the praject of MegaSter Media T.td Company, Viet Nam in April 2011

To each its aim, the study used fonr methods inclnding analysis and comparison, which were based on Newmark's model In addition, stalisteca? and observakonal methods were also applied to examine the synchronisotion of cach utterance and its tranelated version,

‘The rescarch findings show that in general, the film was well-trensloted in ters of structures, proper nouns, hierarchical pronouns, borrowed wonds and pans

‘Weaknesses of the trmstation were fonnd in the Wile and several misiranstidions The study also reveals that the translated utterances were synchronised with the original ones quite well, especially in terms of duration

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3

3

5

6, Signiticance of the study

7 Orgmaization of the thesis

PART 2; DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1A Theoretical Background

1.1.4, Transtation quality assessment

LLS Synchronisalion in dubbed fitz

1.2 An overview af previews =tHdies

Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

$.1-A brlef analysis sf the §L cext

3.1.2, Characteristic of the readership

3.2.1 Omission of the original text - 2A

3.3.3 The translator's prospective readership 27 3.3 Compurisom of the (rumslution with dhe original

Synchronisatimm nF the translseed film

2, Limitations of the study

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It iz said thot translation has received a tot af attention frem linguists, scholaes and sspecially translators Typically in the era of globalization and integration, imeraction among, nations and the need to exchange information and cultures have become greater Translation has been regarded a one af the most offéctive tools that satiefy people’s need to entertain and enrich their knowledge about the world, It

is undeniable that Gausfatmg a fiku frm oue language inte anolher is really a challenging task becanse of its important rote in bringing understanding of the texts

to the “readers” with different knowledge backgrounds

Tn fort, fim translation is a widely discussed topic aming tinguists Adapting

a film from the source language to the target language requires a lot of translators’ efforts In filo translation, not only is the translator dealing with basic issues of (ransletioa, such as linguistics, idcological aud cultural barriers, but he or she is also focing with the multimedia constraints such as synchronisation in dubbing or the appropriateness of the characters’ lip movements, the syllables or even the number

of syllables

In the field of film industry, “Rio” is the first Holywood 3D cartoon dubbed

in Vietnamese under a project of MegaStar, one of the biggest film importers in

Viol Nam, and the 20th Ceulury Fox (Sai Gon ‘Times Online Newspaper) Review from website Rottentomatoer.com, an 18-year-old American review aggregator website for fitm and television, and a-variety of others, indicates that “Rin” is really highly upprecisled by viewers and crilics, Hom the day af ils release, “Une fin was also a bor office sucess, grossing over $143 million in the United States and 484 million worldwide” (Wikipedia) The author of thie study is imprensed-with the hình cleboraiencas in the proces: of dubbing According to Vicinamnct Online Newspaper, Vietnamese voice actors, including actress Minh Iang, actors Minh Tiep and Đai Nghĩa, wers selected hy the film director himself Then the voice dubbing was carried oul under the supervision 0Ÿ Amcricen caperls Furlbermore,

the dialogues were traslaled in Viet Nam while songs were transtated in (he Caited States of America, After that, Vietuamese musicians edited the songs Next,

‘Vietnamese artists sang the songs and sent them hack ta the 11.8 for editing

Jn fact, there arc different ideas about ho: film transtation should be defined and what should be the methods, az well as the criteria to assess its quality

‘Therefore, conducting a research to examine the success and drawback of the translation of a film is expected to bring about benefits to language learners,

‘translation assescors and expecially to the film industry

2 Aims and objectives of the sindy

Thic study was conducted with the aim of applying Newmark’s TQA model fo evaluate the quality of the trmskled versiou of the film “tiv” With this aim, the objective of this smdy is to examine the success and the shortcomings of the translation of the film “Rio”, based on Newmark’s model

3, Research question

“The study addressed the following question:

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the transiation of the film “Rio”,

according to Newmark 's model?

4, Scope of the sindy

As previously mentioned, this study was undertaken to assers the translation quality of the Liha namely “Rio” Both the wriginal and (rauslaled Gln sexipls were

TQA model Additionally, the audio af the two versions of the fil was also measured fo sce the duration, the starting time and

chosen for analysis based on Newmark’

ending time of cach utternnce Hurthermore, articulatory movements and postures in the film were observed to examine the phonetic synchronisation between the

5 Methods of the study

‘The study was carried out with four methods as follows

= Analy method: film scripts in bath English and Vietnamese were exan _

in torms of the topic, the prospective readorship, the translation method, the title, the structure, proper names, hierarchical pronouns, borrowed words and uae,

- Statistical method: the software named “Acgisub* was applied to measure the duration, starting time and ending time of each utterance in the film seripts

- Dbservational method: phonetic features of the close-np of each witeranc

‘the 2 versions of the

= Contrastive method: Data collected by the abave methods were compared fo

assess the advantages ond disadvantages of the translation of the Blm

6 Significance of the sindy

Currently there have been rlevoted researchers interested in andioviswal translation; however, studies on the quality of the translated version of a specific film have not been conducted yet Therefore, the very firet purpote of the researcher when conducting (bis study 1 lo Ggare out how govd the Kaglish-Vieloamese

‘translation of the film “Rio” iz, The assessment lay not only om the film seripts

‘based on Newmark’s model but alzo on the duration, starting time, ending time and phonetic fealures of cach ullerance in the Iwo versions of the fil bn terms of implication for film translation, the thesis is expceted to offer several useful lessons

to the film industry

7 Organization ef the thesis

‘The thesis is composed of three main parts

Part Que is he INTRODUCTION in which the rationale, the objectives, he scope, the rescarch questions and the organization of the thesis are presented

Part ‘Iwo, the DEVELOPMENT, consists of three chapters

Chapter 1, Literature Review, reviews the previous studies related to the topic aad a

®rief theoretical hasksround with concepts sich as definition of translation, translation methods and procedures, translation equivalence, and Newmack’s model

of translation quality assessment

Chapter 2, Research Mathodalogy, describes the research-governing principles, data collection aad data analysis procedure

Chapter 2, Analysts and Discussion, offers a detailed analyeis of the data, the results obtained and discussions af these results

Last but not least, the Appendix presents the film script in both English and

‘Vietoamese Tn the analysis, examples taken from the soripts to be examined are abbrevinled for convenience Kor illustration, the text aumbered 10 in page 1 of the appendix will be shortened as (A10 — p1)

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

“Weber (1968), on the other hand, pravides another widely-agreed definition

of translation as follows, “Yranstation is the trangocsition of @ text written tt a source language (82) tito a targer ‘anguage (T1) The rranstated version must be absolutely accurate in maaning, sontat all nuances of the original, and musst be watien in clear, elegant language thal can be eastly undursiond by tre reader Meedtess to say, punctuation spelting and grammar masst be flaviess" However, this definition is not so persuasive since it over-appreciates the role af grammar in teanstation

For a formal notion, Dubois claims “translation is the expression in another language (ar target Ianguage) of whal has been expressed in mother, source Innguage, preserving semantic and sipftstic cqpivalences” (Bell, 1991:5)

In 1959, Roman Jakebson, a structural linguist offers a quite detailed defivition af transtation that is distinguished among three kinds as follows:

© Intralingual trmslatioa, or rewording, is un interpretation of verbal sigus by ineans of other signs of the came language

2 Tutedingual, or translation proper, is an interpretation of verbal signs hy means of some other language

© Intersemiotic translation, or transmutation, is an interpretation of verbal signs

fy means of sigus of monverbal sign systems

Aller discussmg the three wpeds of meming, House proposed a teuletive definition of transkeion; “tranclation is the replacement of a text in the somree language

‘by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language” (1977-39) ft could be sccn that these are only for uitten texts,

‘Newmark (1981: 7) defines translation ar “a cratt consisting im the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one languaze by the same messaze and/or statement in another language”

Theu, ia 4 Fasthcok of Transiation, ke claims that tranelation is “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the sane way Seat the anthor dutereded the text" (1988: 3)

General speaking, those definitions af translations mentioned above all share the basic idea thal trauslation does not deal with language as « system, bul wath Janguage in nse However, with regards to the aspect of sound in translation, it is just mentioned slightly by Newmark in his theory That is the reason why the author

Literal translation ree translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

‘Semantic translation Communicative translation

‘These methods are briefly explained as:

- Word for word translation: The SL word-order is maintained and words are

‘TL, equivalents but the lexical words are again translated individnally, withont being contexinalized

Faithtul transiation: A faithfid translation altempts to reproduce the precise contextual meming of the original within the constraints of the ‘TH gymnmuatieal simctures It attempts to he completely faithful to the infentions and the text- realization of the 1 writer

Semantic transiatian: Semantic translation differs from aithf tranelation" onty

in as far as it must take more account of the aesthetic value (that is, the beantiful and natural sounds of the SL text, compromising on ‘meaning’ where appropriate

so that no assonance, word play or repetition jars in the finished version) Kurther,

it may translate less important cuttwal words by culturally nentral third or functional terms but uot by cultural equivaleuts ‘Ihe distinction between TaithZul' and ‘semantic’ translation is that the Sitet is uncompromising and dogmatic, while the second is mote flexible, admits the creative exception to 100% fidelity and allows for the translator's intuitive empathy with the original

Adaptation: ‘this is the “Sreest” form of translation, It is used mainky for plays and poetry; the themes, characters, plote ate usually preserved, the SL culture converted to the TL cultare and the text rewritten,

Free trandatien: Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, oF the content without the fom of the original Usually it is a paraphrase much Jonger than the original, a so-called “intra-Liugual transtation”, often prdlix aud pretentious, and:not translation at si

Idiomatic translation: Idiomatic translation reproduces the “mersage” of the original but tends to distor! nuance of meaning by preferring colloquialiams and idioms where these do not exist in the original

Communicative translation: Communicative translation attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and Janguage are readily acceptabie and comprehensible to the readership

(1988: 45-17)

113 Transiation Equivalence

From different definitions of trauslation by scholars and fiuguists, it ix obvious that equivalence is the central isme in transtatinn theory Transletion equivalence refers to the relationship between a SL text and a TL test thet allows

‘the TL text to be regarded ay a translation of the SI test In the book “A Linguistic Theory Translaon” (1965:21), Catford points out, “the central problem of translation-practice is that of finding TL equrvalents A central task of tronstation

‘theory ie that of defining the nature and conditions of trauclation equivalence." For

‘that reacon, equivalence is considered the key criterion in evalnating the quality of a translation, that is, a good translation must have a certain degree of equivalence to

ST

According lo Juin House (1977-25), “Whe essence of rusfation fies in the preservation of mcaning across two different languages”, that is, meaning equivalence is the most important in translation

The following are several elaborate appron + Lo translation equivalence

- Nida claims that there are two different types af translation equivalence, namely dyaainic equivalence and formal equivalence, in which the later in the second cdihon by Nida md ‘Taber (1982) is referred (o as formal correspondence The

‘two theorists provide a very detailed explanation of each type of equivalence In formal comespondence, the message in the TL should be conveyed by elements

as closely inalching as possible with those in the SL At the same tine, dynamic

is achieved when the SL and TL words have the same effcet on their effective readers (Nida and Tiber, 1974), In their point of views, the achievement of equivalent response in the two fonguages, or dyaamic equivalence in other

‘words, is the goal ofa successful translation,

- Newmark emphasizes the importance of functional equivalence in his statement,

“the overriding purpose of amy traslation should be to achieve equivaleat efféct,

ic to produce the same effect (ar ane as close az possible) on the readership of the translation as was obtained on the readership af the original.” (1995:48) Tn

his opinions, equivalence effec! is a desirable result ralher than the objectives of

auy translation except for two cases (a) ifthe purpose of the SL text is to effect

and the TE transla

© Denotative equivalence: Denotative equivalence is the type of equivalence in which the ST, and the TT words refer ta the same thing in the real world Tt is

an equivalence of the extra-linguistic content af a text It is also the purpose

of any translation procedure, which is to find the referential identity between

SL aud TL mits

2 Connotetive equivalence: Connetarive equivalence provides additional value and is achieved by the translators’ lexical choice of syaonymous words of

expressions, especially hefween near-synonyms

@ Textuormative equivalence: The 8L and the TL words are used in the same

or similar contest ia their respective readers

uy Hregmetic equivalence: Pragmatic cquivalence is orienicd towards the receiver of the text or message This type of equivalence is chosen to transtate a text for particular readership where the expectations of the target readers must be cousiered Pragmatic equivalence is also used when the tramstetor wants to make an impact on the readers

9 Formal equivalence: This type of equivalence ix selated to the form and acstheties of the text, including word plays and individual stytistic features of the source text, It is particularly used in translation of poems, songs, ete

(54, Translation quality assesment

1.14.4, Definition of translation quality asvessment

Reter Newmark names translation quality assessment as translation criticism and consirters it an essential link between translation thenry and its practice

Malcolm Willimus at Univesity of Ottawa, another scholar, preseals a more detailed definition of translation quality assessment basing ou several factors inching evaluating, sources (their usefitlness and authenticity), evaluating anthors and their translators (their acathctic, their influences and how this informs their

quality assessment could be regarded a type of evaluation, which can be cuaattaites or

work), evaluating source texts and evaluating target texts TTence, trans!

quatttanve, ie it cam be based on mathematical or statistical measurement or ơn reader response, interviews, and questionaires, Besides, translation quality

ving feedback dering

assessment can be duagnoate (when measmring progress and

a course of study), rmative (when measuring progress and giving feedback during

a course of study) or summative (when measuring the resulte of leaning) In his opinions, whether we focus un produds, performance or competence, i is important

to determine degeces of goodness when we perform franslation quality assessment The approach can be prescriptive, assessing translation against criteria of aesthetic

effect, usability, and intrinsic compliance with standards af target tan;

correctness and tide ity

144.2, Translanon Quality Assessment Models

‘There have been a oumber of inguisls amd scholes proposing models of

‘twonstation quality assessment such as Wilss (1974), Kotler (1974), or Reiss (1974) Peter Newmark (1995) and Juliane Touze (2997) are the two brilliant researchers who cree their ovn models to repair the deficiency and limifalion of the preceding amthors

mo Hunse’s TOA Mi Juliane House 18 famous for funetional-prasmatic model of transtation evaluation, which was tirst designed in the mid-1970s (louse, 1977, 2d.ed 1981)

fased on a theory of

and recently revisited (House, 1997), This kind of model

translation as re-contexlualizalion, transtalion (exts are doubly contextually bound

to their originals and to the new recipients’ contextual conditions As appropriate use of language in communicative perfomance is what matters most in translation,

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fumotional pragmalic cauivalenee plays am very importaut role ‘this type of equivalence underpins this functional translation model, The model explicates the wey semantic, pragmatic and textual meanings are re-constitnted across different contests

Following is a view of fimction and context-text underlying the analytic sramework of the model

- ‘Irenslation is concerved as the replacement of an LI text by a semantically and pragmaticatly equivalent L2 text Aa adequate translation is thea a progmatically and semantically equivalent ane

= A first requirement for this equivalence is that a translation text has a function equivalent to that of its original

= ‘the fnctims of atext with ts idealioual aud inlerpersoual components is simply the spplicetion of text in a particular context, and there is a systematic relationship between context and the functional organization of

Ionguage-indtext, which can be revealed by tresking down cantext into ä manageable set of “contextual parameters” To grasp a text’s meaning, it anust be referred to the particular “context of situation” which envelope it According fo Lé Hing Tién (2006), the model of trunslmlion quality assergmeni has a clear linguistically thearctical base and concrete, detailed steps Hlowever, this madel also requires linguistic knowledge and high professional skills

of the critics and the crificisn mainly sims al researching languages and lranslation

“Therefore, this model has net been applicd widely and just at experimental levet in

‘Translation Sindies,

Peter Newmark’s 1QA Model

Peter Newmark's theory of translation pedagogy in 1988 revolver around the nation af text This theory is explained in the book “A textbook of transla

(1988:5) and has been selected in many irauslalion-teaching conledts, Basing ou Nida and Taber's model, Newmark starts explaining his theory with the question what is translatu:n? He mggests that it is often, but nat ahwaye, rendering the

"

zncening o£ a lexl imto mmother kmgusge in thể veny thet the xuthor intended the ext

‘This raeans the text is pulled ia ten different directions:

1 The indivicnal style or idiolect of the ST, author;

2 The conventional grammatical and lexical usage for the type of SL text, depending on the fopic and the situation;

3 Content items referring specifically to the SL culture;

-4 The typical format of a SL language text an a book, periodical, newspaper ete., as influenced by the tradition at the time;

5 The expectations af the putative readership, bearing in mind their estimated Jmowledge of the topic and the style of language they use, expressed in terms of the largest common factor;

6 ‘The conventional grammatical and lexical usage for the type of ‘TL text, depending on the topic and the situation:

7 Content items referring specifically to the TL culture:

8 The typical form of a TT text in 4 hook, periodicak nevspmper, etc, a

influenced by the tradition at the time

9 What is being described or reported, ascertained or verified (the reôxential truth), where possible independently of the BL lext and the expectations of the readership;

10 The views and prejudices of the transtator, which may be personal and subjective, or may be social and cultural

“This can be visualized as follows:

8.1L etting and

His theory is also based om sn unrealistic therc-levet activity process, by which, translators recave, anaiyes the SL text and then transfer it into the Th However, professionel translators and scholars alike have demoustrated that translators do not first receive and analyse an SL text and then transfer it into the TL, but that the

analy

“Yims, the translator dues uol receive aud analyse the SL in a eutral way but wilh &

process af reception an s operate according ta the purpose of translation

‘view to translating it for a certain purpose The eclectic approach proposes a five- step Yearning pracess of translation to help students tackle the source text and its

1B

translation more coufideally md with more and beter arguments đo secua fax their decisions, Therefore, rather than getting ctudents to proceed following a linear structure (receive analyse transfer), they Tea to approach the text fiom differom angles and perceive the different factors existing in the translation such as linguistic, extra-linguistic, pragmatic or professional

ilarities and differences between the two texts are, in terms of different linguistic and cultural constraints

in Newmerk’s model, the ‘IT is compared (o the SI in order to see the accuracy, correctness, precisenese and faithtniness of the TT In this

“comprehensive criticism of @ translation” (Newmark, 1988), the translator does not

receive, analyse x convey the meaning from the ST, into the TT in a.meutral way, bat with a view to translating it Zor a certain purpose, Also, Newmark’s model pays wach altention in the readership, which is a ceally important factor ia translating ncaa products

In short, as this study atfompts to assess the English-Vietuamese translation quality of a film, Newmark’s practical model seems to be the best to match the revearch’s purpose

11.5, Andiovisnal transtation (AVI)

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the adjective audiovisual is defined as

“uzing both sight and sound, typically in the form of images and recorded specch or anusic”

Em Ngư

Facyclopadia of Translation Studies, Luis Perez Gonzales (2009) gave a brief definition thal “audiovisual (ranstalion is « bral of Traustation Smdies concerned with the transfer of multimodal and nvultimedial texts info another language and/or culture” Besides, Diaz and Cintas (2006) refined AVT as,

H

“the translation of products im whic the verbul dimeusion is supplemented by elements in another media,”

Iw short, AVT refers to the translation of audi al texts Tu this study, the researcher cxamined the strengths and weaknesses of a film translation, where the

‘film is considered an audiovisual text

a

Syneleronivation tn dnblied films According to Varela (2004), synchronisation, alsa known as tip-syac, is one

of the key factors at stake in film translatioa, particularly in the context of dubbing,

‘This author alsa established three types of synchronisation inchiding, kinetic synchrony, phonetic synchrony and synchrony between utterances and pauses

Firstly, kinetic synchrony is a kind of body movement synchrony in which the (ranslation must also agree with the movements of the screen characters Kor instration, in most enttures, a shaking bead indicating negation eaot be accompanied by an affirmative “yes”, or a character raising his hands to his head must pronoance an interjection Lo match the gesture, (Whitonan, 1992-33)

Regarding phonetic synchrony {or lip syuchreny), Whitman (1992:20) claimed that it consists of adapting the translation to the articulatory movements of the on-sercen churncters, expecially i close-ups and extreme close-ups According

‘40 Goris (1993), in order to attain the reality and uaturalise the product to make it appear less foreign and more familiar, the translation shontd particularly respect the open vowels pronounced on screeu

Concerning synchronisetion of doration of the translation, Varcla (2004) stared that the translated dialogne must fit exactly in the time between the instant the sereca actor opens hissher mouth to utter the source text dialogues and the instant in which he/she closes histher mouth, Most criticisms of a badly dubbed film are grounded in deficiencies of duration synchronisation as itis here that the viewer

is most likely fo nofice tbe fault, For exxauple, whew the character's lips have closed

at the end of an utterance but the viewers still hear the translated speceh, or when an actor is cbvionsly speaking, while the viewers hear nothing; these are frequent

Is

grounds [or justified critician by both critics und the public

1.2 An overview of previous studies

Film industry has beon one of the most outstanding entertaiument tools that people are much inferested am in thal context, filn resources within a nation”

‘boundary are not enough to meet entertainers’ demands It is nadeniable that film translation has received a lot atteution of translators and scholars who love

‘transferring the meaning and messages from the langnage of a foreign film to the Innguage of the audience

There have been dedicated overseas researchers investigating the topic up to

ow Ndaga (2011) evaluated sublilles in the traneladion of colloquial expressions and ended up with the conclnsioa that meaning was not adequately transferred due

to the lack of professionals in the field Next, in 2013, Arrey’s thesis was an

Tn Vier Nam, there have heen several researchere interested in film translation T.ẽ Thị Thánh Vân (1999) and 1.2 Thi Thank (2001) are the Ewo typical authors in this field, to name but a few Their shudies cover several facets af film

‘twanslation such as translating film scripts or translating idioms in a film, etc However, am assesment of tnmslation quahty of a dubbed fibn hạn not bees addrezsed in these studies despite its importance

Jn recent years, Neuyén Th) Thu Hién (2012) examined the translation quality of a shod siory named “The Call of the Wild” It is shown Grom her study

‘that although the translation text hay achieved a lot of success in conveying the awthor’s message, it still reveals several mismatches between the source tert and the translated text Besides, Bui Thị Mai Anh (2014) also investipated the quality of

16

‘translated version of the novel named “The Notebook” and caine tơ a conclusion that the work is quite well-ranslated except for ceveral shortcomings related to amistransfation or omission Both of these two studies applied Newmark'z model in evaluating the quality of translated text; however, the subjects of their studies are not a dubbed film

In general, ranslation qualily assessment bas beew « quite interesting lopic hat has received duc attention from researchers, However, there exists 8 gap in

Chapter 2: RESEARCII METIIODOLOGY

‘This part presents general informetion about the film, restatement of rescarch

questions, research approaches, research instruments, data collection procedure and

methods of data analysis

2.1 The film

The sindy was conducted on the American 3D compater-animated musical advesture-comedy enlilled “Rio” This highly-appreciated fikn with « fealure of length of nearly 100 minutes was produced by Bhic Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha in 2011, and then it was dubbed ia Vietnamese in May 2011 The reason for choosing,

fin inctndes:

(i) This is the first Hollywood 3D cartoon dubbed in Vietuamese under a project

of Mega Star and the 20th Century Fox;

(i 1

received generally positive reviews from film critics (Rottemtomatocs.com)

e author of the study is inspired with the success of the film when it hus

tn addition, the film has heen widely welcomed by not anty children fnut also ailalts The audience nat only enjoys the film in their ows mather tongue but also is able to hear background sound like melodious music in a scene, This factor reflects how the film is outstanding in comparison with others as it applied Hollywood dubbing technology:

(iii) The author of this study is impressed with the bigh claborateness in the process af dabbing According to Vietnamnet Online Newspaper, Vietnamese voice actors, including actress Minh Hang, actors Minh Tiep smd Dai Nghia, were selected by the film director, Then the voice dubbing was camried ont ander the supervision of American experts, In addition, the dialogues were translated in Vict Nam while songs were translated in the United States of America, After that, Vietnamese musicians edited the songs

‘Next, Vietnamese artists sang the songs and sent them back ta America for

euiting

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2.2 Restatement of research question

“The study addressed the following question:

3 of the translation of the Alm “Ras”,

What ara tha strengths and khaaEmer

accoraing to Newmark's model?

2.3 Hesenreh appranches

2.3.1 Qualitative analysis approach

The original and the translated film scripts were examined thoroughly and comprehensively in terms of the anthor’s pnspose, the topic, characteristic of the audience, the title, as well as several linguistic features such as sirucrure, pronouns,

or pane, ete

in audition, phonetic features in the close-up of each utleramce in bulk

‘versions were also examined to sec how well the translation was adapted to suit the

‘on-screen characters’ lip movement

2.3.2, Quantiative approach

In order to get the quantitative data, the saftware “Aegisub” to measure the duration, starting and ending time of each single ST and TT when they are wtered,

“The process of collecting this kind of dala wax quite complex nu challenging task

‘When a vimgle utterance is made, the researcher mast listen to the characters” specch attentively many times to decide the starting and the ending time, This step requires the researcher to be really patient iad careful fo get the most exact liming,

2.3.3, Contrastive analysis approach

Iu thie thesis, the ST was compared to its transtation under the framework of Newmark’2 translation quality assessment model

Besides, another comparison was made to see how well the TT was

synchronised with the ST i terms of daration, starting time, ending time and phouetic features in the close-up of au utterance

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2.4, Research instrument:

Jn order to obtain the quantitative data, the software named “Aegisub” was

applied ta measnre the curation, starting time and encling time af each ufteranc:

the original fii and its translated version,

According to Wikipedia, “Aegisab” is a free open-source cros-platform subtitle editiag program, which har been designed for timing and styling of subtitles ‘The software is considered the standard in well-kaown subbing groups and is extensively used in creating subtitle for films

Data collection and analysis precedure

This study was conducted in stages as Follows

Firstly, general information aboul the film such us ils coutext, seewaria wailer, producer, plot or characters is collected

Secondty, both the English and Viewamese film scripts are noted by watching the two versions af the films The researcher can muuke use of the Faglish script which is available on the Internet while the Vietnamese one is transcribed by the researcher herself when watching the dubbed film many times

Thirdly, the teamslated (ext was compwed te its original (exl under the remework of Nenmark’s TQA model with five steps as follows:

= A brief analysis of the SL text stressing its intention and itr fanctional

ssperls This may include a statement of (he sulber’s purpose, Hat is, the attitude he takes towards the topic; characterization of the readership: an indication of its category and type;

~ ‘The translator's interpretation of the SL text's purpose, his translation method and the translation’s likely readership:

~ A selective but representative detailed comparison of the translation with the original im terms of both semantics and syntactic You do nol take the points successively; you gronp them selectively under general headings’ the HC; the stmcture, including the paragraphing and sentence

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councetives, proper ames: cull words, shifly metaphors, trauslationese; neologiame; “untranslatable” words; ambignity: level of Iangnage; and, where relevant, meta-language, puns, sound-efect

= An evaluation of the translacion: (a) in the transtator’s terms, (b) in the critic's terms, (¢) as a piece of writing, independently of its original

- Where appropriate, an assessment of the likely place of the translation in the target language culture of discipline In the case of a serious text, say a novel, a poem, of an important book, you assess the work's potential impostence within the largel Imguagze cufture

(Newmark, 1988: 186-189) Next, the software named

egisub”, a free open-somrce crass-platform sublille editing progriun desigmed for timing, and styling of sublilies, was applied fo measure the duration, starting time and ending time of each utterance in both

‘versions of the film

Féftety, phonetic features of an niteranee in both versions were also examined

In steps four and dive, a comparison between the original utterance and its translation were made in terms af tining and phonetic features ta see how well the (wo versions arc synchronized with cack olher:

Finally, data were consolidated and categorized The cesults then were analysed and presented in forms of tables

2.6 Snmmary

This sindy uses a combination of three approaches including qualitative, quantitative and contrastive for the data analysis, ‘he generalisation of the conducted daa was expected to provide relatively exact information about the translation quality of the film There may exist inevitable shortcomings dhring the study but it iv hoped that the trustworthy basis for the data analyses and findings will be provided

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Chapter 3: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the franslated texts are analysed by means of Newmark’s

model (1988) with five stepe mentioned in the previous section Becides, the

estigated the synchronisation of ntterances in the original film and in

‘the translated version in terms of duration (including storting time and ending time),

tip movements and even the sumber of syllables in each utterance

3.4, A brief analysis of the SL text

Iu “Taxtbook of translation”, Newanark affirms, “Tn your analysis of the SL

text, you may inchule a statement of the auther’s purpose, that is, the altitude be taker towards the topic; characterization of the readership; an indication af its category and type, You assess the quality of the language to determine the translator's degree of license, asaming for example thal he can reduce cliché to natural language in informative but not in muthoritative texts You briefly state the topic or themes, but do not précis the text and a not ‘plot-manger’ (painfully retell the plot)" (1988:186) From th

analysis of statement of the author's purpose, characterization of the readership, and

‘the topic of the chosen literary work,

BLL The author's purpose

According to Wikipedia, director Saldanha developed hie first story coneept

in Then, he feared of the

s theury, the researcher is going to give a brief

af Ria

1995 when a penguin was washed mp in

production of some other films aad changed the concept lo involve macaws sud their environments in Rio It is obvious that the title “Rio” refers to the magnificent Brazitian city of Rio de Janeiro, where the film is set It is said the filmmakers aim

af introducing the landscape beeuty and euttnrc of Brazil in general, and of Rio de Janciro in particular, to the audience worldwide

Especially, the film describes the relationship between the macaw, namely Blue, and Linda, the main supporting protagonia in “Rio” ‘Through tbe film, the audience can see how they and other birds fight against emugglers to escape to

22

đecdom It is obvious thet the sceuario writer's purpose is lo celebrate lave and

freedom spirit, which can fight against all anugglers or traffickers

On the other hand, it could he easily seen that, at the beginning and the end

of the film is the image of birds singing and dancing happily together It iz reflected

‘that the birds in particalar, and animals in general, also have feelings and emotions like huenan They feel happy when living in freedom; they are wretched when being, kidnapped; and they have solidarity and willing spirit to help cach other “Chat is also anothes message the scenario composer wishes to bring ue

4.2.2 Characteristic of the readership

As an amunated fikn with colourfill scenes and cute characters, “Rio” centres

om children viewers Desides, the film tells the story of Blu, a male Spix amacaw who was taken lo Rio de Janeiro to mate with x Gve-spirited female Spix's macaw, Jewel, The two eventually fell in Jove, and together they had to escape fiom

‘being smuggled by Nigel, a cockatoo, In the film, the audience can see afew flirting scenes between the we birds or hetween Linck and Tutio Hence, the md

could also be young adults as well Both kinds of audience, children and young adults, are those whose love discovering novel and creative things

3.23, The tupie

‘As discussed in the above scction, there are various ideas sbout the topic o the theme of this adventure cartoon; however, the most outstanding one is that tue Jove can couquer all ‘the love betwee Linda and ‘Lulio, or the love between the

‘wo macaws, a2 eell asthe relationship between Linda and the bird Blne finally win all ferocious emmgglers to have freedom

3.2, The transiater’s interpretation

Jw this second step, a review is made to see whether the translator has omilled amy section of the SY aud whether il allects the message that (he sather wishes to express Besides, the researcher wishes to investigate the translator's method and the translation’s likely readership

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3.3.1 Omisston of origtual text

Caceful analyses of the SL text of the film Rio reveal that several phrases and sentences in the original hive not been translated

1 [Yall and tm and young and |(A618 LOIN) (untranslated)

lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes

4 | Well, Mii show him (A112 —p XD) Minh af cho anh tathấy

5 | elt, that's a fair question (A ET pUXVI)MG can hal công bing,

6 [dad have | ever broken a (A132 — pXil) Dé of boo gibt Ga bin

7, | This is the heart and soul of oar |(A.180— p- XVII) Bay chink Ta tai tim va aviary Tính tiến kim chuằng chén

8 | No, no, guys, rea/8:, Em fine (AT/4-XYIIJEhẽng Đuối, tôi 6n

‘The cage is great, Cải lông rãi tắt

9 | Yost And wofoctunately, the poor | (A-190— p.XIX) Đứng: Đăng hiếc những birds are often hut ccon chăm tội nghiệp thường bị thương

- Where?

1, | Hey! Mp swatch! (ACG pLXVIE, cal ding hdl

18, | Where Tneed to come down for | (A814 —pLEXXIV) Toi hq mudng ha tho

13 | Em that samba, samba master |(A€26—p LXXXV) Tali samba, samba

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15 | Hey! Wait for aa? (ATISS_pOXX) Ay Doi dil

16, [I's Blu! Look, Tulio, i's Blut (Al2® — pCXXX) Chish Bh Tuho,

“wife” to help Blue and Jewel see Laiz In the original film, Rafael appears as a

d

romantic hird wha sings not very well Hence, if these 2 sentences are tram:

and then dubbed by a Vietnamese singer, the audience may misinterpret the quality

of the voice actor For the third example, the original text, “Tlasta la vista”, is from Spanish Imguage, which meme goudlye When following Ibis scene, the mudieace may be confused about its meaning The researcher herself must listen severel times and then see the Raglish subtitle to see what the character says

In addition to three totally-nntranslaled texts above, ue tramstalr seems te have overlooked several words in other sentences Examples 4, 5, 6, and 9 in the table iIlnstrate this point - they refer to the exclamation words which mean “Uin, a ” in Vietnamese The oimission of those words docs aol cause much change in the meaning of tae original version

Examples tO, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 demonstrate the 2 of some

25

words in the seulences, Particularly, in examples 12 amd 13, where amd master, master, master, master, master is totally ignored However, this semence is from

‘the lyrics of the sang at the beginning of the film The translator not only has to interpret the meaning of the original text but also make it suitable with the melody

‘Therefore, this adaption is reasonable

Examples 10, 13, 14 and 16 reflect the disappearance of the equivaleuce of the translated version of some words Yet, it is agreeable as these texts are mitered in conversations where there exist many different kinds of sounds such as characters’ voice or the music Therefore, the andience cannot realize any signals of this

omission

In general, all the above-mentioned texte chow that afew words, phrases and even sentences in the (cuslation of the film have been intewtionally or deHberalely eff out As previously discussed, in most cases, the omisvion of the words or phrases has Ho significant impact on general meaning of the original text, The teanstalor ty suppose that conveying the whole meaning, af the di

important than translating every single word Besides, as the influence of this on the audience’ understanding is immaterial and they caa still grasp the main gist of the

logue is more

Gibu, this kind of (renslaling is still acceptable However, it seems insupportable in ome case: the phraze Hasta fa visea iz not translated, which affects the understending

of the audience whe ouly have chance to watch the Vietnamese version of the film

‘This may result rom literary (vmslation where the trnstator has to comply will he principles of the target language; hence, be might not be able to maintain the format

of the original version

4.2.2 The translator’s method

‘Viewers praise “Rio” not only because the message and meaningfininess the film brings ahout int also because its language is simple and easy to understand In fact, the glosvary and expressions in the [ibn we aol complex; hence, (ranstating the fil is not a hard job Nonetheless, how to convey as much ay the beauty of the content of the film, especially of content of the song, is a challenging tark

26

Generally, the translator has stuck to the communicative translation method as it

attempts to produce the message from the original film to the audience in a very

smooth and natural way The Vietnamese version of “Rio” can be considered a

target language biased translation because of its accessibility of thought and cultural

content of original to viewers On the other hand, in a long and complicated work

like a film, the complexity of communicative language is inevitable; therefore, the

translator certainly has to combine some methods of translation along with a chief

method, Especially, for the song sung by the birds in the film, adaption translation

method is also utilized

4.2.3 The translation’s prospective readership

Resembling the original, the translated version generally aims at young

audience such as children or young adults who love watching foreign animated

cartoons The methods and language the translator has used suggest that the targeted

readership is mostly of these two types of audience and even those who are

hep oo

3.3 Comparison of the translation with the original

“The third step of assessment, also considered as the heat of the study, will deal

swith how the translator has solved the particular problems of the SL text The researcher

will pick out the most selective and representative examples of the accomplishments and

shortcomings of the translated version in comparison with the original text Then, they

are grouped under general headings including the ttle, the structure, proper names, and

cultural words (Newmark, 1988:187) In addition, a discussion of translation problems

will be presented as well

3.31 The tithe

In Viet Nam, editorial staff of film producers often determine titles of

translated films Potential viewers decide whether they will wateh a film or not by

some scenes of the film narrative which starts with film titles (Hillman, 2011:388)

Brifa and Caruana (2009:14, 2) pointed out the complexity of title translation

27

because it is “gơyerncd by nam-dotaclinbiBty” considering thet “the litle derives its identity from the context and translation must take this into account.” Peter Newmark (1988:56) argues that the transfhted title “should usnally hear some relation to the original, if only for identification”, but it should also “sound attractive, allusive, suggestive” to attract the potential readery, In general, a translator is entitled to “change” the title of the text (Newmark, 1988:156) However, translating titles is not simple beemuse the only fruc anit of translation (the minimal stretch of language that has to be translated together, as one unit) is the whole text (Newmark, 1988:54), that is to say, it is necessary ta take the title into serions consideration as a part of the whole text when dealing with tifle translation 3t is compulsory thar a translator understands the whole text before translating its fille, Newmark (1988: 57,

6) suggests thal all tiles are edher descriptive, which, deseribe the topic of the text, or allusive, which have some kind of referential or figurative relationship to the topic; the latter ones are suitable for imaginative literature, and may have tole changed

Titles of films need to be attractive, allusive, and suggestive in order to catch the alteation of the viewers, For this purpose, itlee should be able to attract the readers ainotiomally because, #3 Nide and Taber (1974:91) states, “Swe do aot only understand the reference of words; we also react ta them emotionally This aspect

of the meaning which deals with our emotional reactions to words is called comnotetive meaning.”

Concerning the film, both the original and the transtated name is “Rio” “rhe title itself refers to the magnificent Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, where the film

is set It seoms that onc of the film-makers” purposes 1 to introdace the picturesque scenery and culture of Brazil in general, and of Rio de Jaucite in particular to the audience worldwide, The title ix quite interesting, especially with thase who hy

‘heady had some knowledge dbout io de Janeiro of af leas! they have heard this name before However, for those who have never heard of Rio, then the fitle seems

th carry too little infarmation to attract potential viewers Hence, it is mggestite

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that the brandeled lille should have additioual {extures tu be smere sirsetive, allusive, and suggestive

B22, The struchere

This scction of the thesiz will present several key points with remarkable examples that reflect the differences between the ST and the TT

2.2.2.4, Simple sentences vs, compound sentences

After the thorongh examination of the #T and the TY, it is noticeable thet in general, structures in both versions are mostly retained Reapons for this may come from the fact that most of the texts in the film are parts of dialogues ar of a sang, which usually does not contain long and compound sentences ‘Thus, it is obvious that the translator is quite bucky ax he/he does mot have to modify structures from the original tu the translated version

22.2.2 Active voines va passive voices

force-field calfed alass lớp màn chắn go đồ kính

2 | Thí pew guy wwz /ờ/wï last| (A.157 - pXPX) Anh bạn khẩn khả

4 [Tre always been mesmerized by | (A289 — D.XCXIX) Và lúc mảo tôi cũng,

those big round, intelligent eyes | &ý đổ? mưiến bởi mất to tròn và thông

thai của chủng,

= [You were atincked by a little (A310 —pXXXI) Aab aX Af mdt com

white hird? chim nhs lông trắng đu nômg?

6 |Tahecomlessd (A350 - p.XXXV) #2 plom vấn côn

9 [We five na dens We're having | (A682 pI.XU Cũng hồng biế nữa,

HH [You were locked up and ngự | (À775 — pLXXDK) Lúc tuớc thì Of

you're rolling with a hatewing, giết mà giả thì tại đi chang vai người

đẹp

‘the table shows the differences in the use of passive and active voice between in the Janguage in the original film and its translated version The illustrations are briefly described as follows

tn examples 1,2, 3.4, 5, 7,9 and 14, sentences in both the TL and the TT are

in paavive voice, Mare specifically, the translator has transformed the structures of original text in examples 1, 2, 3 and 9 into passive voice in the translated version, adding được as the signal of passive voice in the target Innguage On the other hand, the source test in examples 4, 7 and 11 is translated with the addition of 6

Frample 6 is also an ilhutration of the change fram passive vaice inka active voice

in the structure of the TT Eapecially, the tronslarar alzo adds 38 phima as the subject

in the TT This makes the translated film more lively and easier to understand

Jn examples 8 amd 10, (he trauslalor has transformed the passive action inte a active one Of these two, the IT in cxample 10 is totally different from the ST wath, the addition of Zém sao as an exclamation This also makes it sound more natural

Tn short, baesings ow the difference between the two lamguages the source Innguage and the targel laagnage — in using active and passive voices, the tramslalor has ckilfally awitched between the two voices, helping viewers understand the text amore easily and clearly However, in aust cases, il is uoliced thal passive voice in English has still been maintained in Vietnamese In spite of great efforts of the

30

translalor, iaslsmecs sạch as 1, 2 and 9 seera (o sownd sirenge fo lhc Vietnamese

people as they ate more familiar with active voice Hence, it is more judicious to

alter the original structure af the text in the translated version

3.3.2.3, Onder ofclauser

“here is nothing nahưal shomt 6sửg |(A.III — XI) Hệ xám guảng ở

Srrown balfinny across tke roam hing, ching cũ gì là tự nhiền cả

As the example above indicates, the stracture in the TT ix a complex sentence whose complement is a dependent clanse, The translator haz transported the position of the clauses when translating this ST into the TT In this way, the translator has solved the complexity of the sentences and made them exsier to understand as well az more natural in the target laaguage

Tứ T wonliml muke yơn đồ hy (A-I34 p XT ưng tớ sẽ không ép

iil wasn't the right thing (odo cậu lám điều máy nêu như nở là điểu sư mác

‘The example above demonstrates the adjustment in the strnofure of the TT

i is added as the subject of the translated sentence Obviously this modification in the TT makes the text much

tu the ST, subject of is not transleted Instead

more intelligible to the andienee

aL

Ne | Original version Translated version

1 | Thanks, Linda! (A.33 —p TH) Cảm on Lindat

3 | Good naming, Bie (A38 pil) Chae budi sing Blu

3 | Rapttet, quit following me (A.1085—p CXT) Rayfet, đăng theo chán nữa

4, _ | Yeah, aing tt, Liomeh, {A.240~p.XSTV] Đứng rồi, hát nữa Gi, ZZonel,

| Walia! Tuco! Usain! (A179 —p CXX) Tako! Tutto! Tal nhìn thấy

names are regarded as people’s names and will be discussed in this section,

According to Newmark (1988:214), normally, people's first aad sumames are transferred, thns preserving their nationality, and assuming that their wames bave no connotations in the text Morcover, currently more people have some knowledge of Tnglish and are more familiar with Fngtich names, most translated version of

foreign works retain de spelling of chiwactens’ scunes tu the film, it és shown

names of main characters such as Linda, Biu, Jewel, Tulio, Femmando, Nigel, Nico,

Pedro, as well as other names such as Marcel or Lionel appear with the same

iu the Gunshaled version,

a