An in-depth analysis of the English - Vietnamese translation version of Jack London's famous novel The Call of the Wild

Lê Hùng Tiến Năm bảo vệ: 2012 Abstract: This minor thesis has conducted a comprehensive research and analysis into the translation quality of Chapter 6 – The Call of the Wild by Jack

Phân tích sâu về bản dịch Anh - Việt cuốn tiểu thuyết nổi tiếng của Jack London "Tiếng gọi nơi

hoang dã Nguyễn Thị Hoàn

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến

Năm bảo vệ: 2012

Abstract: This minor thesis has conducted a comprehensive research and analysis into

the translation quality of Chapter 6 – The Call of the Wild by Jack London The researcher based the analysis on J House’s model with 8 dimensions elaborated in two categories: Language User and Language Use The qualitative and quantitative methods were incorporated to bring about the extensive analysis of data in both ST and TT The results presented in Chapter III of this thesis indicate that the TT features mismatches in full comparison with the ST as five dimensions (Medium, Participation, Social Role Relationship, Social Attitude, and Province) go along The mismatches, of which, the most prominent one concerns the formality level and literary style, are attributed to the cultural differences between English and Vietnamese Overt translation was proven to be applied in the TT due to the translator’s intent to retain the value of this timeless famous novel as much as possible The thesis makes a modest contribution to the assessment of literary work, especially timeless and valuable one like this novel

Keywords: Ngôn ngữ học; Tiếng Anh; Dịch thuật

Content

INTRODUCTION

I Rationale for the study

Over the past years, translation has been playing a crucial part in bridging two cultures and has enabled the advances of modern life and internationalism of around the world In literature, foreign poetry and prose into the curriculum also increasingly covers much ground, which brings translation to more attention However, the translation of literary works is not an easy – to – deal matter and the question of how a good translation text is measured has never ceased to challenge linguists

In fact, Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) has been addressed by many linguists so far and it remains a controversial topic with many a theory proposed Among many linguists who have put forward models to carry out a comprehensive assessment, J House is chosen by most researchers because of the best applicability of her model, based mainly on the theory of functional grammar by K Halliday

The novel “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London is the author’s first literary work,

which helped him rise to the prominence as the top author of American literature in the early 20th century The researcher has taken the translation version by Nguyễn Công Ái and Vũ Tuấn Phương to measure how well the translation is

The novel also characterizes Jack London’s writing style, straightforward but formal,

which is embraced in each chapter of the novel In this minor study, Chapter 6 of the novel titled

“For the love of a man” is chosen as the data for the analysis This chapter is the only one which

reveals Buck’s passionate love for his master and this love demonstrates the humanity in the whole novel

II Objectives of the study

The study aims at investigating the translation quality of the target text of Chapter 6 in full comparison with the source text, based on J House’s model

At the end of this study, the answers to the following research questions should be provided:

- What are the features of the ST, according to J House’s model?

- What are the mismatches of the TT in comparison with the ST?

- What kind of translation, covert or overt, is employed?

III Scope of the study

As referred to earlier, J House’s model is adopted to assess the quality of the translation

in this research

Due to its modest scale, this study is merely confined to chapter 6 of the novel “The Call

of the Wild”, which partly features Jack London’s basic writing style in the novel With such a

limit set out at the beginning of the study, all the analysis and comparison between the ST and the TT is only restricted in this chapter

IV Method of the study

The principal method employed in the study is Documentary Research, using the outside

sources (the ST and TT of chapter 6 – “The Call of the Wild) to support the whole procedure of

translation quality assessment

The researcher also combines both qualitative and quantitative research, analyzing data and providing the readers with deeper insights into the distinctions and value in the ST and TT Some important conclusions can be drawn from these analyses

V Organization of the study

The first chapter of the study will be Literature Review in which some related concepts of translation theory and typical models of translation quality assessment are discussed

In the second chapter, the research will introduce an overview of the original text’s content, and J House’s model applied to analyze the ST

In the third chapter, the researcher will apply J House’s model to analyze and compare English ST and its Vietnamese TT to find out mismatches and draw a conclusion of what type of translation is employed in the study

CHAPTER I:

LITERATURE REVIEW

I What is translation?

There have been many different definitions of translation so far From the researcher’s point of view, however, 5 following definitions should be taken into consideration

II Literary translation

II.1 General characteristics of literary language

Literature is the use of well-chosen words to tell a story through narrative, involving characters in conflict, or to express an emotion or idea through artfully arranged images

II.2 Problems of literary translation

One of the prominent problems in translating literary texts is the differences between cultures It is easily recognized by a translator who uses a cultural approach that each language contains elements which are derived from its culture

III Translation Quality Assessment

III.1 Proposed models

Over long history of translation quality assessment, linguists have kept on putting forward their approaches to reach the best assessment for the quality of translation

III.1.1 Nida’s response – based approach

Nida and Taber (1969: 173) proposed three similar criteria: the correctness with which the receptors understand the message of the original, the ease of comprehension and the involvement a person experiences as a result of the adequacy in the form of translation

III.1.2 Koller’s text – based approach

Koller (1974) acknowledges the importance of a linguistic model of translation quality assessment, which is portrayed in three straightforward stages introduced by him

III.1.3 Peter Newmark’s comprehensive criticism approach

Peter Newmark states that any comprehensive criticism should cover five topics to criticize a text

III.1.4 Julianne House’s functional – pragmatic approach

House’s model for translation assessment is based on pragmatic theories of language use

It concerns semantic field, pragmatic aspect and textual aspect In the definition of translation, the term “equivalent” is the key term

III.2 Representation of Julianne House’s TQA model

III.2.1 Covert and Overt Translation

In an overt translation, the TT audience is not directly addressed and there is, therefore,

no need at all to attempt to recreate a second original text since an overt translation must overtly

a translation In overt translation, the work of the translator is important and visible

Covert translation, on the other hand, means the production of a text which is functionally equivalent to the ST In this type of translation, the translator has to attempt to recreate an equivalent speech event

III.2.2 Representation of J House’s model

House adopts Halliday’s term ideational and interpersonal as labels for the referential

and the non-referential functional components

House’s model consists of two sections: dimensions of language user and dimensions of

language use, possibly broken down into the following subcategories:

A Dimension of language user:

1 Geographical Origin

2 Social Class

3 Time

B Dimension of language use

1 Medium (Simple/Complex)

2 Participation (Simple/Complex)

3 Social Role Relationship

4 Social Attitude

5 Province

CHAPTER II:

ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE TEXT, BASED ON J HOUSE’S MODEL

I Brief introduction of the chapter

I.1 The author Jack London

Jack London was the most successful authors in the early 20th century, gaining

widespread recognition subsequent to the publication of the novel “The call of the wild” in 1903

I.2 The novel “The call of the wild”

“The call of the wild” is the story of Buck, a domesticated dog which is snatched cruelly

out of his beloved home and thrown into a hostile world of clubs and fang, where he has to learn the hard way to survive

I.3 Introduction of Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of the novel, titled “For the love of a man” is the only part which portraits the

intimate relationship between Buck and his master, John Thornton

II Discourse features of the source text

II.1 Syntactic features

II.1.1 Clause and Clause Complexes

The chapter is comprised of 227 clauses, breaking down into numerous smaller units, 52

of which are clause simplexes, whereas the remaining are complex clauses with a huge number

of clauses with rather intricate relationship between clauses

a Elaboration

Elaboration is conveyed in an effective way via the use of relative clauses, which are often used to modify and elaborate the nouns before them

b Extension and enhancement

The use of non – finite verbs describes Buck’s loafing time with Thornton and his two dogs, which is absolutely his dream after being exhausted for a long time

II.1.2 Transitivity

By means of material verbs, the chapter is aimed at describing the heroic and touching

actions performed by Buck in many times to rescue Thornton from dangerous situation

Not appearing as often as material process, relational process and behavioral process also greatly contribute to the elaboration of love between Buck and Thornton

Furthermore, by means of behavioral process, the passionate love for Thornton is also conveyed clearly through Buck’s behaviors

Despite its infrequent appearance in the chapter, verbal process mainly deals with the intimacy Thornton gives Buck in another way

Mental and existential processes only account for a minor part in the chapter In consideration of the main aim of the chapter, which deals with the love between Buck and his master, the small percentage of these two processes is understandable

II.1.3 Mood

Another feature of formality is inversion, which appears much in this chapter The part of

clause which is inversed prior to Subject may be the Complement or Adjunct

In the chapter, it is also obvious that ellipsis is also used The Subject (Buck) is omitted

the beginning clauses because of its reference in the last clause

Modality is also a part of mood structure, which is of significance to create the

illocutionary force in the chapter

As regards voice, it is found without difficulty that the passive voice is favored in the

chapter, among the clauses with active voice to describe the plot of the story

II.2 Textual features

II.2.1 Thematization

The chapter is made up of various kinds of themes Regarding simple and multiple theme,

70 percent of clauses is unmarked simple theme, while nearly 30% is marked multiple theme, which is often composed of textual and topical theme

II.2.2 Cohesion

The chapter employs personals, demonstratives, and comparatives as the prominent

devices of reference when creating the connection between clauses

b Ellipsis and Substitution

The ellipsis employed in the chapter nearly limit itself in clauses, which eliminate the subject of the subsequent or prior clauses and there exists only one subject in the last or first clause

Substitution, otherwise, should be considered as the common way of creating the cohesion in the discourse

Most of conjunctions in chapter 6 convey the meaning of extension among clauses, which

can be broken down into addition, adversative and variation

Since the chapter aims at telling a story, spatio – temporal conjunctions appear much in the chapter, especially time conjunctions

Connecting clauses by using lexical cohesion involves the employment of many means of lexical wording such as repetition, synonyms, collocation

III Analysis of the original text based on J House’s model

III.1 Dimension of language user

Geographical Origin: Non – marked, standard American English

Social class: non – marked, educated middle class

Time: The novel was published in 1903

III.2 Dimension of language use

III.2.1 Medium

 Syntactic means

i Virtual absence of anacolutha, contact parentheses and comment parentheses typical of

spoken modes

ii Strict use of tense mixture, especially perfect tenses such as present perfect and past

perfect, which are supposed to signify the written language

 Lexical means

i Virtual absence of interjections as one of spoken language features

ii Presence of “must” instead of “have to” Apparently, “must” is used preferably in

writing whereas “have to” is seen more commonly in speech

 Textual means

i Absence of redundancy in the chapter

III.2.2 Participation

 Syntactic means

i Predominant use of monologues and scare appearance of dialogues, which prove the

text’s simplicity in addresser and address’s participation

ii Overwhelming dominance of declarative clause over imperative and interrogative, owing

to the narrative feature of the text

 Lexical means

There is an abundant use of third person pronouns

III.2.3 Social Role Relationship

 Syntactic means

i Little presence of conversations and hence, not much implication of relationship among

interlocutors in the chapter

ii Little presence of interrogative and imperative, indicating little transitional role of the

interlocutors in the chapter

 Lexical means

i Presence of reference

ii Little presence of first and second pronouns (I, you) in conversations, which has been

proved scare in the chapter

III.2.4 Social attitude

 Syntactic means

i Absence of elliptical clauses, anacolutha and contractions

ii Strict use of tenses, especially perfect tenses, namely present and past perfect tenses (cf

Medium above)

iii Frequent use of passive voice (cf Medium above)

 Lexical means

i Absence of subjectivity qualifying modal adverbials, interjections, and other emotive

markers (cf Medium above)

 Textual means

i Comprehensive representation of a well-structured, elaborate, logically sequenced and strongly

cohesive text

III.2.5 Province

 Syntactic means

i Use of past tenses in most of the chapter

ii Frequent use of simile as a prominent figure of speech in the chapter

 Lexical means

i Frequency of action verbs and nouns, predominantly conveying the intimate interaction

between Buck and Thornton

ii Judicious use of adjectives and adverbs

iii Frequent use of active nouns, which perform actions

 Textual means

i Frequency of spatio – temporal cohesive devices

III Statement of function

The function of the source text, in Halliday (1973)’s terms, falls into two categories, namely

“ideational” and “interpersonal”

In the dimension of Medium, a simple, written – to – be – read language supports the ideational component by providing the readers a condensed information flow, typified by the overwhelming employment of declaratives over interrogatives and imperatives

In the dimension of Participation, predominantly monologous, non-participatory character of the text, which allows for a fully-premeditated , non-alternating, and well-organized flow of information, supports the ideational component as well

On the dimension of Social Role Relationship, little interpersonal impact is created due to its characteristic as a literary work whose aim is to entertain the readers

On the Social Attitude dimension, the deliberate writing style ranging from consultative to frozen supports the interpersonal functional component, since it widens the proximity between the addresser and addressees (readers)

Regarding the dimension of Province, as a literary work, the source text impresses the readers

by the employment of various imagery lexical wordings, figurative language, and numerous cohesive devices

CHAPTER III:

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SOURCE TEXT AND ITS VIETNAMESE

TRANSLATION

I Comparison between the source text and the target text based on J House’s model

In full comparison with the ST, mismatches are found in the TT in terms of all five dimensions of language use

The TT adds some comment and contact parentheses as a result of the author’s attempt to explain or provide additional information for the readers’ better understanding

This addition of information on the one hand, assists the readers’ comprehension as the story progresses; on the other hand, it proves that the TT nears the spoken style rather than written style in the ST

In addition, in terms of textual structure, many changes, most notably adding some clauses, also characterize TT whereas ST is much more precise

I.2 Participation

In TT, these pronouns are retained well, though some connotations are added For

example, Skeet is favorably referred to as “cô ả” or “cô nàng” due to this character’s femaleness whilst Buck or Nig are mentioned with a more neutral pronoun “nó”

Apparently, such words or phrases as “đấy thôi”, “nữa kia” and the comment parenthesis “nó đấy” reduce the neutrality performed in the ST and adds some feelings or

attitudes of the storyteller to the TT

I.3 Social Role Relationship

Due to the remarkably limited conversation in both ST and TT, few traces of relationship among characters are shown

One side is a group of rich and arrogant men, typified by Matthewson and another side is John Thornton, an ordinary man, who is needy and therefore possesses no power Consequently, the illocutionary force created in the TT is proved to be much milder and inappropriate compared

to that in the ST

I.4 Social attitude

The social attitude deals mainly with the text writer’s attitude towards the readers, demonstrated by means of linguistic formality or informality

While numerous clauses in the ST is in passive voice, in the TT, the active voice is used otherwise

Many clauses in the chapter either start or end with phrases characterizing spoken language

Another perceptible feature of formality concerns the textual structure of TT compared with ST

Besides the transference of relative clause, the formality is also lessened in the TT due to the switch of noun phrases in the ST into clauses in the TT

So often are noun phrases in the ST switched into verb phrases in the TT, which clearly identifies the TT as much more informal because the employment of noun phrases in English means high formality in every discourse

I.5 Province

One of the significant mismatches between the ST and the TT is the deliberate addition of words, or phrases in lieu of a word in ST

The ST is especially filled with single action verbs, which often result in the combination

of many verbs together in the TT The purpose of the translator is obviously to enable the TT readers fully understand the exact meaning of the words used in the ST

In some cases, the verbs are also inserted into the phrases in the TT whereas ST carries

no verbs at all:

The TT also gives preference to reduplicated adjectives or verbs to modify the verbs, sometimes by adding the adjectives after or before verbs or nouns with the aim of creating imagery effects in the readers:

The reduplicated adjectives are also used in the TT to describe the adjectives and adverbs

in the ST

As regards Textual means, the addition of some cohesive conjunctions is also applied Another typical feature of the ST as a literary work is the abundance of action nouns

Despite great attempts in the TT, some of the errors still exist due to the complexity of wordings in the ST which leads to the incorrect interpretation in the TT

III Statement of Quality and Translation Type

III.1 Statement of Quality

In general, the translator has demonstrated his great attempts in keeping the TT as close

to the ST as possible However, the mismatches are unavoidably found along the 5 dimensions

III.2 Statement of Translation Type

Simply put, overt and covert translation features each kind of text and the adoption of either translation method also depends on the function of the ST and TT

Since the ST is a part of the timeless and valuable literary work of American literature in the early 20th century, the overt translation is adopted