The translation of environmental terminology from English into Vietnamese

Attempts are also made to identify the procedures and strategies commonly used by teachers in the lessons on English for Environmental Science and translators for rendering environmental

The translation of environmental terminology

from English into Vietnamese

Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh

University of Languages and International Studies M.A Thesis: English Linguistics; Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến

Year of graduation: 2011

Abstract The thesis focuses on the translation of English environmental terms into

Vietnamese It is aimed at investigating their features and structural patterns in the light of functional grammar proposed by Halliday in order to help the translator and readership have a clear understanding of the terms Attempts are also made to identify the procedures and strategies commonly used by teachers in the lessons on English for Environmental Science and translators for rendering environmental terms Hopefully, the result of the study will be of some help to people who are in

charge of teaching and translating English for Environmental Science materials

Keywords Tiếng Anh; Dịch; Thuật ngữ; Môi trường

Content

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Research question

Given the hindrances behind the translation of environmental terms, the research question is

raised: “What are the common strategies and procedures for the translation of English

environmental terms into Vietnamese?”

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at investigating features of English environmental terms and their compositions in the light of functional grammar proposed by Halliday, then, identifying the procedures and strategies commonly used by teachers in the lessons on English for Environment and translators for rendering environmental terms

3 Scope of the study

Since the research serves the need of the teaching of English for Environmental Science and rendering English enviromental terms, it mainly focuses on environmental terms derived from materials currently used in well-known universities of science and technology which offer environmental English as a subject

However, the study cannot cover all terms which appear in these sources, only typical terms with high frequency of occurrence are chosen It is the author‟s purpose to conduct a study on the translation of environmental terms at word-level and above-word-level terms based on the grammatical and semantic features of the terms investigated

4 Method of the study

This is a descriptive research as this kind of research is aimed at answering “what?” questions, but not “why?” questions As Wisker (2001: 118) points out, the purpose of descriptive study is to “find out more about a phenomenon and to capture it with detailed information” Often the capturing and description is only true for that moment in time, hence, ideally, the description should be repeated several times so that stability or change could be noted However, in the framework of a thesis, the study proposes to focus on the present condition of English environmental terms and their common translation strategies and procedures into Vietnamese, which still helps us to understand more about the phenomenon under question

Descriptive data is collected by observing and noting only aspects which are of interest for the research because descriptive research, as stated by Seliger and Shohamy (2000: 127) begins with a premise about what to look for in the observation, that is to say the research question In a more detailed way, English environmental terms belonging to two categories: one-word and above-word-level terms are collected from the study corpus Afterwards, the translation of these two groups and their subgoups are analyzed to identify appropriate transalation procedures and strategies

The study is carried out through five steps: first, reviewing environment materials from different realiable sources; second, collecting English environmental terms from these materials; third, classifying collected terms into two groups: one-word terms and above-word-level terms; fourth, analyzing the translation of typical examples of above-mentioned groups in order to find out the significant strategies and procedures for the translation of environmental terms and finally, suggesting some implications for translation of environmental terms

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE

LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Terminology

Through the definitions of terminology by a great deal of prominent authors such as Valeontis and Mantzari (2006: 1), Nguyen Thien Giap (1981: 308-309), it is clear that terminology is a special lexicon of a language The particularity is that terminology is words and phrases which accurately denote concepts of a specialized field”

1.2 Translation theory

1.2.1 Definitions of translation

Generally speaking, the definitions proposed by Nida and Taber (1969: 12), Marlone (1988,

in Bell, 1991: 5) and others reveal basic features of translation, including the conversion from source language (SL) to target language (TL), the equivalent and the preservation of meaning and style of original text

1.2.2 Translation equivalence

Based on varied factors, translation equivalence can be categorized in various ways Le Hung Tien (2006: 54-55) presents four common ways of sorting translation equivalence as followed:

 Function-based equivalence: dynamic and formal equivalence (Nida)

 Meaning-based equivalence: denotative, connotative, pragmatic and formal equivalence (Koller)

 Quantity based equivalence: to-one equivalence, to-many equivalence, one-to-part-of-one equivalence and nil equivalence (Kade)

 Form-based equivalence: equivalence at word, sentence and text level (Baker)

1.2.3 Non-equivalence at word level and above word level

1.2.3.1 Non-equivalence at word level

In view of Baker (1992: 20), “non-equivalence at word level means that the TL has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text” She presents some common types of non-equivalence at word level such as the SL concept is not lexicalized in the TL, the SL is semantically complex and the use of loan words in the source text

1.2.3.2 Non-equivalence above word level

Collocation is concerned with the company that a word keeps contributes to its interpretation The meaning of a word, as Baker (1992: 53) puts it, depends largely on its patterns of collocation and is not something that the word possesses in isolation It is, therefore, crucial

to take account of collocational meaning rather than substituting individual words with their dictionary equivalents

1.2.4 Translation procedures

Translation procedures, as stated by Newmark (1995: 81), are used for the translation of sentences and the smaller units of language

1.2.4.1 Literal translation

Literal translation ranges from one word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, clause to clause, to sentence to sentence

1.2.4.2 Transference

As Newmark (1995: 81) puts it, transference (loan word, transcription) refers to the process

of transferring a SL word to a TL text The word then becomes a „loan word‟

1.2.4.3 Naturalization

This succeeds transference and adapts the SL first to the normal pronunciation, then, to the normal morphology of the TL

1.2.4.4 Cultural equivalence

In Baker‟s terms (1992: 31), this procedure involves replacing a culture-specific item or expression with a TL item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is likely

to have a similar impact on the target reader

1.2.4.5 Functional equivalent

According to Newmark (1995: 83), as a cultural componential analysis, this procedure is the most accurate way of translating, that is to say deculturalising a cultural word

1.2.4.6 Descriptive equivalent

Description and function are essential elements in explanation and therefore in translation

1.2.4.7 Shifts or transpositions

“A „shift‟ or „transposition‟ involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL” (Newmark, 1995: 85) There are four main types of shift The first type of change may be from singular

to plural or in the position of the adjective, which is automatic and offers the translator no choice The second type of shift is required when an SL grammatical structure does not exist

in the TL The third type of shift is the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but may not accord with natural usage in the TL As Vinay and Darbelnet see it, transposition means the replacing of one word-class by another, without changing the meaning of the message (Newmark, 1995: 86) The fourth type of transposition is the replacement of a virtual lexical gap by a grammatical structure

1.2.4.8 Recognized translation

The translator is advised to use the official or the generally accepted translation of any institutional term, and he can gloss it if he wants to show his disagreement with this official version

1.2.4.9 Paraphrase

This is an amplification or explanation of the meaning of an item

1.2.4.10 Omission

If the meaning conveyed by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to the development of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy explanation, translators can and often do simply omit translating the word or expression in question

1.2.4.11 Couplets

Newmark (1995) presents that couplets, triplets, quadruplets combine two, three or four of the above-mentioned procedures respectively for dealing with a single problem

1.3 Technical translation

1.3.1 Definitions of technical translation and its characteristics

Both Newmark (1995) and Sofer (1999) believe that specialised terms in a text being translated is the first signal of technical translation though they usually only make up about five to ten per cent of a text Newmark (1995: 152) also states that the central difficulty in technical translation is usually the new terminology

1.3.2 Translation of neologisms

As Newmark (1995: 140) states, “neologisms can be defined as newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense” He also proposes types of neologisms including old words with new senses, new coinages, derived words, collocations, eponyms, transferred words and acronyms and the way to deal with each type in translation

1.4 Environmental terms

Environmental terms can be classified into two groups in accordance with their grammatical composition including one-word terms and above-word-level terms One-word terms are made up of one word and neologisms can be new coinages, eponyms, acronyms, and measuring units Besides, there are terms which are composed of two or more than two words; these words, which are of different parts of speech, combine together and create terms that have the form of nominal group as proposed by Halliday (1985) (classifier + thing, classifier/epithet + thing, thing + qualifier (prepositional phrase/relative clause)

1.5 Summary

In this chapter, the study considers the issues of terminology, translation theory in general and technical translation in particular Furthermore, there is an attempt to classify and divide

environmental terms into groups namely one-word and above-word-level terms The classification of these terms will be of great importance with regards to the translation of environmental terms in the next chapter

CHAPTER TWO

THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TERMS

2.1 The appropriate strategies and procedures in translating English environmental

terms

Group 1: New coinages

Strategies: Transference

Group 2: Eponyms derived from persons

Strategies: Proper names are transferred while common nouns are translated

Group 3: Acronyms

Strategies: Transference

Group 4: Terms that have two possible equivalents in Vietnamese: loan word and

Vietnamese term

Strategies: Choosing which of the two terms depends on the readership: those who have some knowledge of the field and professionals prefer the loan word while laymen prefer the Vietnamese one

Group 5: Terms referring to concepts that are not lexicalized in Vietnamese

Strategies: Naturalization, which can be coupled with functional-descriptive equivalent if necessary

Group 6: Terms that are international measuring units

Strategies: Transference

Group 7: Terms that are units of the imperial system

Strategies: Either transference or cultural substitution

Group 8: Eponyms derived from the periods of time making up the geologic time scale

Strategies: Naturalization coupled with a classifier

Group 9: Terms consisting of: noun + noun, adjective + noun, noun + noun + noun,

adjective + noun + noun, present participle + noun

Strategies: Transposition which involves the automatic change in the word order from SL to

TL

Group 10: Terms consisting of: noun + present participle + noun, noun + past participle +

noun

Strategies: Translated by a rank-shift (SL nominal group = TL clause)

Group 11: Terms consisting of past participle + noun

Strategies: Translated by either automatic transposition (SL nominal group = TL nominal group) or rank-shift (SL nominal group = TL clause)

Group 12: Terms consisting of Thing + Qualifier (relative clause)

Strategies: Transpotion (replacing word class, zero linking device, apposition and syntagmatic change)

Group 13: Terms consisting of Thing + Qualifier ( „of‟ prepositional phrase)

Strategies: Translated with the omission of the preposition „of‟

Group 14: Semantically complex terms

Strategies: Translated by paraphrase

2.2 Discussion

2.2.1 Problems in the translation of environmental terms

2.2.1.1 Lexical issue

First, a large number of environmental terms are not used in everyday language, thus they are difficult for the translator without specialized knowledge Second, problematic translation occurs when the translator just translates a sub-technical term with its general meaning, being unaware of its specialized meaning, hence, does not convey the exact message of SL text The problem may be partly dealt with by consulting specialist dictionaries However, using dictionaries to translate technical texts has its own limitations, for example, data in dictionaries become out-of-date compared to new coinages and more than one translations for

a dictionary entry lead to the translator‟s confusion about choosing one appropriate meaning Additionally, after selecting one nuance of meaning, the translator should take the consistency in translation into consideration, that is to say, he sticks to one translated version

of a term thoughout a text or even texts in a book

In short, the underlying reason for most of above-mentioned lexical problems is the issue of grasping concepts

2.2.1.2 Conceptual issue

The first problem is that without specialist knowledge, the translator may come to a standstill even when knowing all words as well as grammatical structures In this situation, there are only two solutions, studying those concepts and consulting experts The second issue is the development of new concepts which might be difficult to understand and translate In order to handle this problem, the translator also asks for help from experts and even the author

Ideally, a combination of an engineer and a high level of foreign language will create the best background for a technical translator However, if a person does not meet such ideal demands, but is outfitted with some specialist knowledge, theory of translation, experience in translating and a good command of foreign language, he could do the translation well

2.2.2 Suggestions for translation strategies and procedures

2.2.2.1 Suggestions for translation by the use of loan words

Although the use of loan word has gained much popularity and preference in the translation

of environmental terms, this strategy, naturally enough, has both advantages and disadvantages

In terms of the advantages, it is of great help in dealing with non-equivalence since the concept has not yet been lexicalized in Vietnamese Another advantage is that the loan term vividly represents one of the main characteristics of terminology, internationalism as it appears in the same or similar form with the same meaning in different languages In addition, it enables the translator to give a short, precise translation easily without having to

go deeply into the meaning of term, hence avoiding false translation, especially when the term in question is completely new Particularly, when the borrowed term is accompanied with functional-descriptive explanation, the concern that it is impossible for the readership to induce the meaning of the term will no longer exist What is more, this strategy helps to enrich lexis of the borrowing language by adding more and more new terms and new concepts

Regarding the disadvantages, the task of preserving the purity and clarity of Vietnamese and avoid attacking the national characteristic of terminology appear to be harder than ever if borrowed or loan words are used frequently Another disadvantage lies in the way these terms are read and written If the written form of the loan word is kept the same in the TL, it can be easy for the writer/translator but difficult for the reader If they are Vietnamized, there might

be a lack of unification in the way they are read and written

On balance, in spite of disadvantages of this strategy, many translators and specialist readers are really in favour of loan words Meanwhile, non-technical translators and laymen would choose the Vietnamese alternative, which has more suggestive power

2.2.2.2 Suggestions for transposition procedure

Many groups of terms are translated by different types of transposition Undoubtedly, it is a useful translation procedure in the sense that it can help deal with non-equivalence due to the differences of word formation and structural patterns between the two languages

2.2.2.3 Suggestions for paraphrase strategy

This translation strategy is one of the effective options in dealing with non-equivalence problem The concept the writer wishes to convey to the readership does not exist in the TL, and if it is dealt by some other translation strategies, a certain loss of meaning may not be avoided Meanwhile, this strategy might help clarify the meaning and make the term in question comprehensible to the reader

2.3 Summary

In a nutshell, the translator is required to make a smart choice of a translation procedure so as

to render the terms in questions appropriately in terms of the intended readership, and accurately with regards to the message wished to be conveyed To this end, transference, naturalization, transposition, paraphrase and omission are the choice of the translator in different situations or for different groups of terms

PART C: CONCLUSION

The research is an attempt to study the translation of English environmental terminology It is kept on the right track to find the answer for the research question The concepts in translation that are relevant to the study are revised in chapter one, literature review, to establish the ground for the research Particularly, the theory of translation procedures and strategies sheds light on the aspects under investigation during the study In addition, the notion of environmental terms is touched upon to set the ground for the study analysis In the remaining chapter, the study comes up with the typically recommended translation procedures and strategies of English environmental terms according to the aims of the study

In this part, the major findings are briefly summarized, followed by some implications for the translation of environmental terms

1 Major findings

As the environmental science develops, new concepts come to life, which accounts for the occurrence of both one-word and above-word-level terms It is recognized that the translation

of terms in the environmental field makes use of several strategies

Firstly, transference is adopted when there is a lack of standardized equivalent term in the TL for a new concept in the SL and also when acronyms and eponyms are translated Meanwhile, naturalization is reflected in the translation of terms referring to concepts that are not

lexicalized in Vietnamese or that are lexicalized in Vietnamese, terms that mean measuring units and periods of time making up the geologic time scale This is seen to be an increasingly common strategy applied to most types of terms, one-word or above-word-level,

in environmental materials under observation

Secondly, transposition is seen to be the most common strategy applied to almost all types of above-word-level terms presented in environmental texts Specifically, typical nominal groups with the structure of Premodifier + Thing in studied matertials are translated by transposition which involves the automatic change in word order from the SL to the TL or rank-shift Moreover, transposition procedure is also applied in the translation of nominal groups which contain Thing + relative clause as Qualifier or Postmodifier Since the concept

of relative clauses does not exist in Vietnamese, the translator has to resort to other means to render this grammatical category from the SL into the TL This kind of nominal group can be

dealt with by means of using linking words like mà, nơi mà, by means of zero linking device,

apposition or by syntagmatic change This strategy largely depends on the translator‟s expertise and his mastery of Vietnamese language

Thirdly, translation by omission is resorted to in translating terms in the form of a nominal group which takes „of‟ prepositional phrase as the Qualifier This helps make translated version sound natural in the TL

Finally, translation by paraphrase is applied in the translation of terms which are semantically complex Accordingly, a SL may be translated by a TL phrase, clause, sentence or even several sentences

2 Implications for the translation of environmental terms

On the basis of the investigation into translation strategies, it is critical to further consider the translation of environmental terms

In general, as the the translation involves a number of language skills of both SL and TL, the translator has to be a master of language skills Additionally, in dealing with the environmental field, the translator himself should accumulate specialist knowledge in order to manage specialized materials successfully

3 Suggestions for further studies

Because of the scope of the thesis, the study is conducted to investigate only the English - Vietnamese translation of the environmental terminology based on the analysis of grammatical and semantic features of the terms in this field Therefore, further studies may take on other aspects such as the standardization of Vietnamese environmental terminology

or English - Vietnamese translation of clauses and sentences in environmental materials

It is hoped that the study would be useful for providing some ideas on the translation of environmental terminology to translators, teachers and learners, particularly those interested

in English for Specific Purposes Due to time condition and the author‟s limited experience and knowledge, shortcomings are inevitable Therefore, all comments as well as recommendations for better performance are of high appreciation

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