Translation of relative clauses from English

With the aim to improve the quality of translating relative clauses into Vietnamese as well as to help learners deal with matters concerned, I hope my paper is useful especially for: - S

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support from a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation

First of all, I would like to thank Mr Nguyễn Viết Thắng, my supervisor I’m indebted to his inspiration, scholarly supervision and intellectual support throughout the course of writing this graduation paper His continual encouragement, careful reading, critical comments and patient guidance made my work more enjoyable and easier

Special words of thank also go to all my informants for their willling participation

in the study I greatly appreciate their generosity with their time and efforts in filling in the questionnaire Without them this paper could not have been possible

Finally, my deepest gratitude and appreciation go to my family, my friends and

my classmates Their love, support and constant encouragement gave me a great deal of strength and determination that help me during the stressful time of writing this paper

Nguyễn Thanh Hương

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements………1

Chapter I: Introduction

I.1 Definition of translation and its role in human communication……… 4

I.2.Relative pronouns and relative clauses in English and in Vietnamese….6

Chapter II: The findings of the survey

II.1.Introduction 9 II.2 Students’ knowledge of relative clauses in English……… 12 II.3 Their translations of relative clauses from English into Vietnamese 13

Chapter III: Theoretical Background

III.1.Definition………15 III.2.Classification……… 15 III.3 Some notes on relative clauses and other cases……… 18

Chapter IV: Common problems in translating relative clauses and some popular methods for the translation

IV.1.Common problems………21 IV.2.Som popular methods………22

Chapter V: Analysis and suggestions for the translating relative clauses from

English into Vietnamese

V.1.Introduction………28

V.2 Analysis and suggestions……… 29

Chapter VI: The treatment of relative clauses as a writing device and conclusion VI.1.Introduction……… 36

VI.2 Examples and discussion………37

VI.3 Conclusion……… 42

References……… 44

Appendix……… 46

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

I.1 DEFINITION OF TRANSLATION AND ITS ROLE IN HUMAN COMMUNICATION

First, let’s share the following funny story :

“ When the Evita Production Company came to Budapest, Madonna ( an American pop singer) had an interview with the Budapest newspaper Blikk The questions were posed in Hungarian, then translated into English for Madonna, whose replies were then translated back into Hungarian for the paper’s exclusive

Soon after, at the request of USA Today, Madonna’s comments were then retranslated from Hungarian back into English for the benefit of that paper’s readers The end result

is far from the original but much funnier “I am a woman and not a test- mouse!” The translations have Madonna exclaim.”

(http://www.innocentenglish.com/Funny-Translations-Madonna-Interview.html)

Do you find it curious and unbelievable? By the way, it’s a real story, if you are interested It’s a mistake made by accident by a careless translator and its consequence may be serious Had Madonna been furious with the newspaper and decided to bring the case to court, a lot of people would have been in trouble

In daily life, there have been numerous similarities in which bad versions can cause problems, for instance: failures in business contracts, job fire, or political matters at international level, etc As a result, accurate and successful translation plays a crucial role in effective communication through words between people – an activity only exists

in human being Along with the interpretation, translation bridges the gaps between

people who live in different nations In other words, translation helps remove the language barrier and make people closer to each other

In the discussion about mechanical translation, Voltaire (1694-1778), French

writer and historian, said:

“Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by doing so we can say the letter kills and the spirit gives life”

(http://www.nonstopenglish.com/reading/quotations/k_Translation.asp)

(Thật là tai họa khi những dịch giả lại dịch một cách máy móc Làm như vậy là đã làm giảm đi ý nghĩa của câu chữ Làm như vậy chính là huỷ diệt đi cuộc sống mà chỉ có ý nghĩa thực sự mới đem lại được)

Paul Goodman (1911- 1972), the American author, poet and critic runs another way

“The problem of translation is to retreat to a simpler tenor of one’s own style and creatively adjust this to one’s author”

(Bản dịch là mặt bên kia của tấm thảm hoa.)

Unlike such vivid sayings of famous figures, in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 7th edition, A S Hornby defines translation as the following:

“Translation (is) the process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language.”

(Dịch là một quá trình chuyển một văn bản ở dạng viết hoặc nói từ ngôn ngữ này sang ngôn ngữ khác)

Bùi Tiến Bảo and Đặng Xuân Thu in their “Interpresting and Translation Course Book”, (1997) pointed out another interesting way for the definition

“ Translation is rendering a written text into another language in the way that the author intended in the text”

(Dịch là việc chuyển một văn bản viết từ ngôn ngữ này sang ngôn ngữ khác theo đúng ý của tác giả bản gốc)

In short, translation field is immense and requires a lot of studies and discussion This paper only looks at one respect of it: translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese and tackling problems relating to this process

I.2 RELATIVE PRONOUNS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

In Vietnamese we don’t have the concept of “ relative pronouns” Only the definition of pronoun exists According to Đinh Văn Đức in his “Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt”

( p.199), “ Đại từ là từ loại của các từ có chức năng thay thế”( pronoun is a kind of

words having the function of replacement.)

Bùi Ý (Basic English sentence patterns, 1980) presents that in Vietnamese grammar, relative pronouns are rarely seen Sometimes we use “mà” which is called “ connector” or “conjunction” (Đinh Văn Đức, Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt (Từ Loại), p.207.)

E.g: The boy whom you see at the door is his brother

( Bùi Ý, Basic English sentence patterns, 1980, p.111)

Due to the complexity of words and parts of speech in Vietnamese, in this section

we only take “who” as an example for the transformation of English relative pronouns into Vietnamse ones in terms of the name

Consider the following example and compare “who” and its equivalent in Vietnamese

E.g: They are talking about the pupil who often skips school

(Họ đang nói về một cậu học sinh thường xuyên trốn học)

= (Họ đang nói về một cậu học sinh Cái cậu học sinh ấy thường xuyên trốn học.)

So, “who”( relative pronoun) in English actually means “Cái cậu học sinh ấy” ( noun phrase) in Vietnamese

Nguyễn Tài Cẩn ( Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt, 1999, p.229) refers to “Cái cậu học sinh ấy” as “danh ngữ”or “ đoản ngữ có danh từ làm trung tâm”

Similarly, “ mệnh đề quan hệ” is not popular in Vietnamese language In fact, we only have the concept of clause ( mệnh đề) Also in Ngữ pháp Tiếng Việt ( p.148), Nguyễn

Tài Cẩn defines “ mệnh đề” as “ một tổ hợp gồm hai trung tâm nối liền với nhau bằng quan hệ tường thuật”( a group consisting of two parts connected by the description relation.)

E.g: Cuốn sách tôi vừa mua hôm qua

often find easy to translate English sentences with relative clauses into Vietnamese However, in Vietnamse, relative clauses are not popular and typical, which is different from in English As a result, Vietnamese students’ translations of relative clauses from English into Vietnamese often sound awkward Moreover, their renderings may be correct and understandable but monotonous and gloomy and of course, these versions weaken the meaning, even ruin the stylistic purpose of English original text This is also one of my big concerns since I took my first steps in learning English to date

With the aim to improve the quality of translating relative clauses into Vietnamese

as well as to help learners deal with matters concerned, I hope my paper is useful especially for:

- Students learning English at Hanoi University of Foreign Studies

- English learners in other academic subjects in other schools, colleges or universities

- People interested in translating

My paper is based on two procedures:

- The survey on students learning English at HUFS

- The findings of mistakes in some English grammar materials

So, the study will deal with common problems both in real learning process of our students and in the books readers might use And you will see that knowing relative clauses in English is a matter, understanding and accurately translating them into Vietnamese is another one which is not as easy as some people might think

CHAPTER II: FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY

II.1.INTRODUCTION

Following is the findings of the questionnaire survey which is carried out with 100 students in all levels from junior to senior The survey has 2 purposes: First, to test students’ knowledge of relative clauses in English (the first five questions) Second, to see how they translate relative clauses from English into Vietnamese (the next five questions) Let’s see the results

1 Do you encounter relative clauses during your study in English?

3 Which ones are relative clauses in the following?

Mr John, for whom I was working, was very generous about overtime

payments.(80%)

I like the idea that students can become independent learners (60%)

The manufacturers soon stopped marketing the drug, which was found to have serious side effects (60%)

There wasn’t one boy in the class but knew exactly what the teacher was referring to (0%)

They went to the same hotel as we always stay at (10%)

The news that the teacher is ill is not true (30%)

4 Which ones are not relative clauses?

He told his wife, who then passed on the information to a neighbour (20%)

He told the story to his wife, who is a great lover of gossip (10%)

I used to listen to the radio when I was young (80%)

He spoke of the time when he was a boy (50%)

5 Which sentences follow can we omit relative pronouns?

A woman whom my sister knows has just bought the house next door.(80%)

Have you got anything that will clean this carpet? (10%)

I’m sorry for people who haven’t got a sense of humour.(10%)

The doctor who treated me didn’t know what he was doing.(0%)

6 Do you come up with problems in understanding and translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese?

Never (0%)

Always (30%)

Often (50%)

Rarely (20%)

How do you translate the following sentences ?

7 Bill has a son, who is a doctor

Bill có một cậu con trai làm nghề bác sĩ.(60%)

Bill có một cậu con trai và cậu ấy là bác sĩ.(10%)

Trong số các cậu con trai của Bill có một cậu làm bác sĩ (10%)

Bill làm nghề bác sĩ và có một cậu con trai.(20%)

8 The man dived fully into the river to save the boy, for which he later received a commendation for bravery

Vì luôn được khen ngợi là người dũng cảm người đàn ông đó đã chẳng ngần ngại để cả quần áo nhảy xuống sông cứu cậu bé.(15%)

Người đàn ông đó đã để nguyên quần áo nhảy xuống sông cứu cậu bé -

điều mà vì nó ngay sau đó anh ta đã được ca ngợi về sự dũng cảm của mình.( 50%)

Người đàn ông đó được mọi người ca ngợi về lòng dũng cảm vì đã để nguyên quần áo nhảy xuống sông cứu cậu bé.(30%)

Người đàn ông đó đã để nguyên quần áo nhảy xuống sông cứu cậu bé và sau đó đã được mọi người khen ngợi vì sự dũng cảm của mình.(5%)

9 No one puts any faith in the Government’s promises, which they have frequently gone back on in the past

Việc mọi người không ai tin vào những lời hứa của chính phủ là điều thường chỉ xảy ra trong quá khứ.(30%)

Chẳng ai còn tin vào những lời hứa hẹn của chính phủ, những người thường xuyên thất hứa trong quá khứ.(25%)

Do chính phủ thường xuyên thất hứa trong quá khứ nên giờ đây chẳng còn

ai tin vào những lời hứa hẹn của họ nữa.(35%) Chính phủ không còn tin vào những lời hứa của những người thường xuyên thất hứa trong quá khứ.(10%)

10 Mr Jones, for whom I was working, was very generous about overtime payments

Ông Jones, người mà tôi đang làm việc, rất hào phóng về việc trả tiền lương làm việc ngoài giờ.(10%)

Ông Jones, người mà tôi đang làm việc cùng, rất hào phóng về việc trả tiền lương làm việc ngoài giờ.(10%)

Ông Jones, người mà tôi đang làm việc cho, rất hào phóng về việc trả tiền lương làm việc ngoài giờ (60%)

Ông chủ Jones của tôi rất hào phóng về việc trả tiền lương làm việc ngoài giờ.(20%)

II.2 STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES

As you can see from the questionnaire, most of them often encounter relative clauses during their study, no one rarely does this but they there are 50% of the students have the wrong answer for the second question Two other names of relative clauses are adjective and attributive clauses Appositive clause looks a great deal like relative clause and 20% of the students made the mistake Accordingly, there are only 37.5% give the right answer to the third question Especially, only 10% think that "as

we always stay that " is a relative clause and nobody believes " but knew exactly what the teacher was referring to" is used as a relative clause Similarly, only 62.5%

of respondents is good at realising relative clauses in the fourth question.( Readers

will have a chance to understand more about relative clause and the difference between relative clause and appositive clause in the chapter III) However, 80% are right in the fifth one, which shows that most of them know when to omit relative pronouns in relative clauses

II.3 STUDENTS’ TRANSLATIONS OF RELATIVE CLAUSES

In terms of translation, only 10% choose the best answer and 60% seems to pay little attention to the difference between defining and non-defining clause of relative clauses in the seventh question, which can cause misunderstanding to Vietnamese people This is due to 50% of students often encounters difficulties in understanding and translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese Similarly, 50% translates mechanically the sentence in the eighth question Even 15% of the respondents give the completely wrong rendering of the sentence, changes its entire meaning (This is also the thing frequently happening in the process of translation of students in general) The same case occurs in the next question : 35% gives the most suitable answer, 25% gives the acceptable one and 40% absolutely does the wrong translation To the last question, only 20% seems to be good at translation: they choose the fourth answer This answer ensures both accuracy of the sentence and flexibility of word using The third answer is acceptable but a little bit mechanical ( 60% of the students supports this way of translation) and according to the findings 20% gives the wrong answer, which shows that they both do the translation mechanically and have difficulty in finding the equivalent grammar structure in Vietnamese

After conducting the survey, I find that translating relative clauses from English into Vietnamese is not "a piece of cake" Moreover, accurately translating is difficult,

producing a good one is even more difficult As a result, I hope the next chapters will help students and readers understand more about relative clauses and better their skills of this translation

CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

III 1 DEFINITION

Relative clauses are subordinate clauses that attach to nouns Because they add information to a noun, some grammarians call them adjective clauses (or attributive clauses) So among other kinds of clauses, how can you recognize a relative one?

First, it will contain a subject and verb Next, it will begin with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that or which) or a relative adverb (when, where, or why) Finally, it will

function as an adjective, answering the questions: what kind? How many? Or which one? The relative clause will follow one of these patterns:

- Relative pronoun (or relative adverb) + subject + verb = incomplete thought

- Relative pronoun (functioning as subject) + verb = incomplete thought

E.g:

He is the sort of person who you can rely on

III.2 CLASSIFICATION

There are two types of relative clause:

- Defining clause (with other names in different books that you can encounter:

restrictive clause (mệnh đề quan hệ hạn định), essential clause (mệnh đề quan hệ thiết yếu)

E.g :

The boys who were interested in playing football were disappointed at the rain (a)

So, not all the boys were disappointed at the rain The relative clause “ who were interested in playing football” shows us the kind of boys they are and describes the characteristics of the boys and limit what kind of boys they are

- Non- defining clause (mệnh đề quan hệ không hạn định hay mệnh đề quan hệ bổ

túc)

(Other materials can refer this kind of clause as non- restrictive clause or:

+ Parenthetical clause (mệnh đề quan hệ chêm)

+ Amplifying clause (mệnh đề quan hệ giải thích)

+ Non- essential clause (mệnh đề quan hệ không thiết yếu)

of clause

E.g:

The house, which was built in 1980, came tumbling down two days ago

Not : The house, that was built in 1980, came tumbling down two days ago

Note:Commas can change the meaning of the whole sentence

Let’s analyze example (a) and (b)

(a): means there are other boys who were not interested in playing football, and may

be they were not disappointed at the rain

(b): demonstrates that all the boys mentioned are interested in playing football and all

of them were disappointed at the rain

However, B.D Graver in Advanced English Practice (1997) notes that:

“Students will find many examples in modern English where commas are omitted before non- defining relative clause The writer’s meaning may be perfectly

unambiguous without the use of commas, or there may be stylistic reasons for omitting

them Nevertheless, students are advised to follow the “ rules” of punctuation illustrated

in the above examples, since observation of these patterns is less likely to lead to

confusion.”

III 3 SOME NOTES ON RELATIVE CLAUSES AND OTHER CASES

III.3.1.Difference between relative clause and appositive clause

Many English learners often identify relative clause with appositive clause because

appositive clause looks a great deal like relative clause

Let’s look at following examples and see what kind of word is the clause attached to?

And what is the original sentence that the clause was created from?

E.g1: I like the idea that students can become independent learners

1 The clause is attached to noun: the idea

2 The underlying sentence : students can become independent learners

E.g2: Students who become independent learners can continue to learn after they leave

our classes

1 The clause is attached to a noun: students

2 The underlying sentence : students become independent learners

So, based on that analysis, how are these two subordinate clause types different from

each other?

A relative clause includes in its internal structure the same noun that it attaches

to The relative pronoun means the same thing as the noun that the clause is attached to

and it has a grammatical role that combines being a connector with a role in the syntax of its clause

An appositive clause does not include the noun that it’s attached to Appositive

clause is like a linking verb or an equal sign

The idea = the students can become independent learners

The connector “that” just connects the clause to a noun without playing any internal role

in the clause

There are many similar cases of appositive clause

E.g:

- I agree with the old saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder

- The news that the teacher is ill is not true

- The idea that you can do this work without thinking is quite wrong

Or: Some structures such as: I believe that…

E.g: He told his wife, who then passes on the information to a neighbour (= and she

passed on the information) (B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p.267)

Graver also stresses that not every clause introduced by a relative pronoun is an adjectival clause Non- defining clauses sometimes have an explanatory function They may suggest an adverbial idea, implying the reason or cause of the fact presented in the main clause

Eg: The manufacturers soon stopped marketing the drug, which was found to have

serious side-effects (i.e because it was found to have serious side effects)

(B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p.267)

-> Các nhà sản xuất đã sớm ngưng tiếp thị loại thuốc đó vì người ta đã chứng minh được rằng nó có những tác dụng phụ nguy hiểm

III.3.2 “As” and “but” used as relative pronouns

Sometimes “but” is used as a relative pronoun Let’s look at some example:

E.g1: There wasn’t one boy in the class but knew (= that didn’t know) exactly what the

teacher was referring to (B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p 186)

( Trong lớp không có ai hiểu được chính xác thầy giáo đang nói đến điều gì.)

Graver (1997) states that “as” may introduce a defining relative clause, commonly after

“the same” or “such”

E.g2: They went to the same hotel as we always stay at (= They went to the hotel that we

always stay at.) (B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p 133)

E.g3: The student wasn’t working hard enough, and such work as he had done was very

poor

(= The student wasn’t working hard enough and the work that he had done was very poor).(B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p 133)

“As” may also introduce a non-defining (co-ordinate) clause Such clauses

differ from all other relative clauses, however, in that way they can precede the main clause, as well as interrupting or following it

E.g: As he later admitted, it was a stupid thing to do

It was, as he later admitted, a stupid thing to do

It was a stupid thing to do, as he later admitted

(B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p 133)

CHAPTER IV: COMMON PROBLEMS IN TRANSLATING

RELATIVE CLAUSES AND SOME POPULAR METHODS FOR

THE TRANSLATION

IV.1.SOME COMMON PROBLEMS

As mentioned in the Introduction, relative clauses are not typical in Vietnamese

Accordingly, Vietnamese students often encounter difficulties in translating English

relative clauses into Vietnamese You can get this idea through the findings of the

survey presented in the chapter II Their renderings may be correct but not smooth In

general, relative pronouns and adverbs are translated through formulaic expressions

E.g: Who : người (mà) Whose : (cái) của (người, vật)

Which : cái (mà) Whom : người (mà)

That : người (đó), cái (đó) When : khi (mà) Why : tại sao, là lí do của… Where : nơi (mà)

These words are repeatedly used and become clichés As a consequence,

translation involving in these clichés would be monotonous and gloomy

For example:

1 That lawn mover, which is broken, is in the garage

-> Cái máy cắt cỏ, cái mà đã bị gẫy, đang ở trong ga ra ô tô

2 John, whose father is a boss, is a real play boy

-> John, mà bố của anh ta là một ông chủ, là một tay chơi thứ thiệt

3 Madona, whom I like the most, is a real talent

-> Madonna, người mà tôi thích nhất, là một tài năng thực sự

So what are the solutions ?

IV.2 POPULAR METHODS FOR THIS TRANSLATION

In fact, in written texts, there are some popular ways for this kind of translating:

IV.2.1 Splitting (tách câu)

E.g: Foreigners often take some time to get used to English breakfast, which is often

quite a substantial meal ( B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p.125& 291)

-> Người nước ngoài thường phải mất một khoảng thời gian để quen với bữa sáng của người Anh Bữa ăn này thường khá quan trọng.

This method is often put into use in case the sentence comprises more than two relative clauses

E.g: Monika also helps in the bar, the “Happy Skier” which is run by Erwin, whose

uncle Enrich runs a hotel, in partnership with Klaus’s brother Paul, whose wife

Christiane was a national ice-dancing champion in her younger days (Swan M

and Walter C., How English Works, p.344)

This kind of relative clause seems to be very effective in transmitting information while still capable of identifying the relation between different subjects in one sentence

It also expresses the stylistic purpose of the author However, a Vietnamese will not understand or will feel confused if you translate the sentence this way:

“ Monika cũng giúp việc trong quán ba Happy Skier này, được Erwin điều hành

mà chú của cậu ta sở hữu một khách sạn cùng với Paul, anh trai của Klaus, mà vợ của cậu ta là Christiane trước kia từng là một nhà vô địch quốc gia môn khiêu vũ trên băng.”

This awkwardness can be removed through the sentence splitting:

“ Monika cũng giúp việc cho Erwin ở quán ba Happy Skier Chú của Erwin sở hữu một khách sạn cùng với Paul, anh trai của Klaus Và Christine, vợ của Klaus thì trước kia từng là quán quân cấp quốc gia môn khiêu vũ trên băng.”

IV.2.2 Changing into compound sentence

Sometimes, English sentences with relative clauses are treated as compound sentences in the translation into Vietnamese The translation into the target language would be smoother and easier to understand Let’s take an example in Advanced English Practice (B.D Graver,1997 p 271) for illustration

E.g: He was taken to the police station, where he proceeded to make a full

confession (1)

→ Hắn bị dẫn đến đồn cảnh sát và ở đó hắn đã khai tuốt luốt

= He was taken to the police station and he proceed to make a full confession there (2)

Pay attention to the fact that the changing (1) into (2) would partly destroy the relative clause’s stylistic purpose which is very typical of English language However,

in Vietnamese there exists no so-called equivalent structure As a result of it, that transformation might be a solution

In other cases, we have to depend on the meaning of the sentence to use the connectors accurately

For instance, “và”( as shown in above example), “nhưng”, “vì”, mặc dù”, “cho nên”, “song”…

E.g The London Team, which played so well last season, has done badly this season

(Nguyễn Khuê, Ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh, p.32)

→

→ Đội bóng Luân Đôn mùa trước rất xuất sắc nhưng mùa này lại chơi rất dở

The following cases are different

E.g1: The man dived fully clothed into the river to save the boy, for which he later

received a commendation for bravery ( B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p.186 & 303)

→ Người đàn ông đó được mọi người ca ngợi về lòng dũng cảm vì đã để nguyên quần áo nhảy xuống sông để cứu cậu bé

E.g2: No one puts any faith in the Government’s promises, which they have frequently

gone back on in the past.( B.D Graver, Advanced English Practice, p.127 )

→ Do chính phủ thường xuyên thất hứa trong quá khứ, giờ đây chẳng còn ai tin vào những lời hứa hẹn của họ nữa

IV.2.3 Using parenthesis ( ) or hyphen “ – ” for explanation

Let’s look at the following example