A study on pragmatic equivalence in the English Vietnamese translation of the story Confession of an economic hit man by John Perkins

A study on pragmatic equivalence in the English Vietnamese translation of the story "Confession of an economic hit man" by John Perkins Vũ Thị Thanh Hoa Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận

A study on pragmatic equivalence in the English Vietnamese translation of the story "Confession

of an economic hit man" by John Perkins

Vũ Thị Thanh Hoa

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Assoc.Prof.Dr Lê Hùng Tiến

Năm bảo vệ: 2009

Abstract This study examines how Vietnamese readers responded to the translation of

pragmatic markers in the TT, through which pragmatic equivalence was somehow taken into consideration To fulfill these goals, the study first makes clear the notion of pragmatics and identifies pragmatic markers along with their specific types Also, it conducts a review on such relating translation theories as equivalence in translation, pragmatic equivalence and E A Nida‟s response-based approach on Translation Quality Assessment Then comes the explorations of the source and target language texts in the aspect of functions of pragmatic markers

Keywords Tương đương ngữ dụng; Ngữ dụng học; Dịch

Content

Much ink has flown on discussing the term equivalence in translation It is the relationship between a source text (ST) and a target text (TT) that allows the TT to be considered as a translation of the ST It signifies any relation characterizing translation under a specified set of circumstances Equivalence was a relationship between two texts in two languages, rather than between the languages themselves It can be said that success of a translation is determined not only by the equivalence of meaning The degree of success also depends on some other factors like stylistic equivalence, pragmatic equivalence or textual equivalence The neglect of any equivalence for any possible reasons may affect or reduce the target readers‟ reception of a translation Therefore, it is required for a considerate translator to be aware of the SL text‟s

pragmatic peculiarities and reproduce them in the target language one In practice, an important

assumption which translators entertain seems to be one epitomized by something Eugene Nida said many years ago, echoing Jakobson (1959): “Anything which can be said in one language can be said in another, unless the form is an essential element of the message (Nida and Taber 1969:4).”

The focus of the study will be put on pragmatic equivalence between the source and target language texts, which is indicated by taking pragmatic markers in both texts into consideration Accordingly, the book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” (published in 2004) is chosen John Perkins lifted the veil on a world rarely seen by most people He took us on a tour of the costs and consequences of American corporate hegemony, dispelling myths of the „free market‟,

and forcing us to peer deep into our own souls As Perkins states in his earlier works, "The world

is as you dream it," so the question is, “what will you dream?” This book is translated into Vietnamese by a group of translators headed by Lê Đồng Tâm and has caught a great interest of certain Vietnamese readers

2 Purposes of the study

The study sets out to obtain the purposes as follows:

- To investigate the numerous functions of pragmatic markers in the ST as well as the treatment

of these markers in the TT

- To study the dynamic equivalence between the original text and its translation

- To suggest some implications for teaching and learning of English in general and translation studies in particular

3 Scope of the study

The study is focused on dynamic equivalence between “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” &

its “Lời thú tội của một sát thủ kinh tế” More specifically, the study is confined to the relationship between pragmatic effect of pragmatic markers valid for different receiver groups and habits of using these markers as well as of choosing language style in different language pairs The ground for the investigation in this study is the notion of dynamic equivalence proposed by Nida & Taber (1969), Koller (1989), Baker (1992), Newmark (1981), Hatim and Mason (1990) and Monia Bayar (2007) and the conception of pragmatics and pragmatic markers suggested by Levinson (1983), Richards J.C, Platt J & Platt H (1992) and Fraser (1999)

4 Methodology

4.1 Research Questions

- What are pragmatic features of the source text and the receptors‟response to the translation text?

- What are functions of pragmatic markers demonstrated in John Perkins‟s original work? Are these markers treated equivalently in the translation text?

- To what extent are the original text and the translation pragmatically equivalent?

4.2 Methods

On the one hand, this study will be conducted under the corpus-based analysis The aim of this method is to attempt to outline the existing territory occupied by a new field of research in translation studies The research techniques are gathering quantitative data via a survey questionnaire and presenting the results through statistics and tables On the other hand, the qualitative method will be resorted to as a supplementary one and not officially employed It will help understand the meaning of the numbers produced by quantitative methods Using quantitative methods, it is possible to give precise and testable expression to qualitative ideas This combination of quantitative and qualitative data gathering is often referred to as mixed-methods research

4.3 Data collection procedures

To investigate the pragmatic equivalence between the original text “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” and its Vietnamese translation, the following steps will be taken to collect data for the study:

- doing document analyses to build up a strong theoretical framework for the study

- conducting a survey according to DCT method to identify and collect all pragmatic markers explicit in the SL and TL texts

In the DCT the discourse is structured so that part of it is left open and part closed A

space is provided for subjects to supply speech act under investigation, but the response is provided in order to cue the respondent as to the appropriate nature of the speech act realization, i.e., the level of formality, and a description of the roles and relationship of the interlocutors

Also the DCT is an effective means of studying the stereotypical perceived requirements for a socially appropriate response and is a good way to gain insight into social and psychological factors that are likely to affect speech and performance i.e it avoids those very context specific constraints that influence authentic data

Cohen (1996, p.25) concludes that “discourse completion tests are effective means of gathering a large amount of data quickly, creating an initial classification of semantic formulas, and ascertaining the structure of speech act under consideration.”

- holding discussions with colleagues in the field to investigate their viewpoints and experience in translating pragmatic markers

4.4 Data Analysis

To facilitate the process of analyzing data, the inductive method has been employed Then, comparison and contrast between the original and its translation are made as well as detailed analyses are carried out so that a conclusion on the level of pragmatic equivalence between the original and translation can be reached

5 Design of the study

The study is composed of three main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion

The introduction states the rationale, purposes, scope, methodology and design of the study The development consists of three chapters:

Chapter one: Theoretical background

Chapter two: Pragmatic markers in the original text

Chapter three: Treatments of pragmatic markers in the Vietnamese translation

The conclusion summarizes the main points discussed in the previous parts and puts forwards some implications for translation learning and practice

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