A study on how to translate the names of some selected beasts in “fantastic beasts and where to find them” by j k rowling into vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N o 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES === === NGUYEN THI LINH CHI A STUDY ON HOW TO TRANSLATE THE NAMES OF SOME SELECTED

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N o 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

=== ===

NGUYEN THI LINH CHI

A STUDY ON HOW TO TRANSLATE THE NAMES OF SOME SELECTED BEASTS IN “FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO

FIND THEM” BY J.K ROWLING INTO VIETNAMESE

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts in English)

GRADUATION PAPER

SUPERVISOR: PHAM THI TUAN, M.A

Hanoi, May 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2, especially the lecturers in the Faculty of Foreign Languages for their dedicated instructions during years of my university work

I place on record, my sincere and special thank to my supervisor, Ms Pham Thi Tuan, for the full guidance that she gave me while I was doing in research

I would love to show profound gratitude to my lecturers and supervisor for their scholarly instructions, critical comment, great encouragement and valuable materials Without these, the thesis could not have been completed

Last but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved family and friends for their support, encouragement and love, which were extremely important for the completion of this paper

Student

Nguyen Thi Linh Chi

ABSTRACT

The aims of this study has primarily been to find out meanings and origins of

the names of some creatures in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by

J.K Rowling, to figure out and recommend methods for translating them into Vietnamese in order to carry the author’s concepts, and to minimize the distinction between the source text and the target one for readers

The similarities of the names of beasts are found A name of beasts might be familiar with one of the others in the matter of culture, the word structure of names, the way the author created names and so on Therefore, they are classified into groups which are based on the collected information involved in the beasts and their names

The research findings reveal meanings and origins of the selected beasts in the alphabet order in each group; also, the translation of the names is also suggested Moreover, discussions of methods to translate the names of beasts, which explain how

to convert them, are written in the paper

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title: A Study On How to Translate the Names of Some Selected Beasts In

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” By J.K Rowling into Vietnamese

I certify that no part of above the thesis has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the thesis is initially written by me under instructions of my supervisor

Date submitted: 16/05/2018

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

SL: Source Language

TL: Target Language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the Study 1

2 Aims of the Study and Research Questions 2

3 Scope of the Study 2

4 Methods of the Study 3

5 Significance of the Study 3

6 Design of the Study 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1 Overview of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Translating of the Beasts 5

2 Overview of Translation 7

2.1 Definition of Translation 7

2.2 Criteria of Translation 8

2.3 Methods of Translation 9

2.3.1 Word-for-word Translation 9

2.3.2 Literal Translation 10

2.3.3 Faithful Translation 10

2.3.4 Semantic Translation 10

2.3.5 Adaptation 10

2.3.6 Free Translation 11

2.3.7 Idiomatic Translation 11

2.3.8 Communicative Translation 11

2.3.9 Other Methods 11

2.4 Translation Equivalence 12

3 Translation of Literary Works 13

CHAPTER 2: THE METHODOLOGY 16

1 Procedure of Data Collection 16

2 Methods of the Study 16

2.1 Descriptive Method 16

2.2 Comparative Method 17

3 Data Analysis Process 17

CHAPTER 3: MEANINGS AND ORIGINS OF NAMES OF SOME SELECTED BEASTS AND THEIR SUGGESTED ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION 20

1 Discussions on Methods of Translating the Names of the Selected Beasts 20

1.1 Methods of Translating Converted Name Group 20

1.2 Methods of Translating Compound-Word Name Group 22

1.3 Methods of Translating Played-Word Name Group 23

1.4 Methods of Translating Derived-Word Name Group 24

2 Meanings and Origins of Names of Some Selected Beasts and Their Suggested English - Vietnamese Translation 25

2.1 Converted Names 25

2.2 Compound-Word Names 38

2.3 Played-Word Names 41

2.4 Derived-Word Names 41

PART 3: CONCLUSION 43

1 Major Findings of the Study 43

2 Limitations of the Study 44

3 Suggestions for Further Research 45

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This initial chapter presents the rationale of the study, along with the aims, objectives and the scope of the whole dissertation Above all, it is in this chapter that the research questions are demonstrated to work as clear guidelines for the whole paper

1 Rationale of the Study

The practice of translation dates back some two thousand years and never since has existed until present days It is generally believed that translation plays a vital role

in the universalization of human knowledge It helps improve international understanding, socio-cultural awareness, professional communicative activities, implementation of technologies, and so much more Translation is of undeniable significance to the development of the world culture and society

Today, demands for foreign languages are higher and higher and many people are better and better at English language skills, yet it does not mean that bilingual translation plays a less important role than it did Translation is necessary means not only for anchorpeople, correspondents, and journalists to transfer news from a language (i.e., English) to another one (i.e., Vietnamese) so that the public could absorb accurate information, but also for executive staff and businesspeople to convert administrative and commercial contracts, projects and data Translation also supports learners in their foreign professional documents; directly, it also meets needs of reading literary works for readership and the researcher

The realization that translation theory should be applied to translation practice encouraged the researcher to study how to translate a source text into a target text

Then, she was getting started with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the very

beloved book to the researcher

All the people who love reading literary books know Harry Potter series It is a

series of fantasy novels written by the British author J.K Rowling The stories chronicle the life of a young wizard Harry Potter and his friends, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry The books have won

multiple awards and more than 400 million of their copies have been sold They have become the best-selling book series in history In the Harry Potter universe, the 2001

book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a required textbook for first-year

Hogwarts students It contains the history of magic zoology and describes 75 magical

species seen around the world For faithful readers of Harry Potter, mythological

beasts are exciting and attractive due to both their fantasy and their unusual names Vietnamese copies of this book have always been sought, but there is no official press

in the language of Vietnam Being the same as them, the researcher usually wonders what the names of beasts mean and how they are translated into Vietnamese; therefore, she has looked forward to the Vietnamese version of this literary work for several years, but up to now it has not been published

Therefore, the study “A study on how to translate the names of some selected

beasts in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” by J.K Rowling into Vietnamese” was conducted not only to fulfil the expectation of Harry Potter, to apply

translation theory to practice, but also to use a method for translating the English nouns of which features are similar to ones listed in chapter 3 of part 2 into Vietnamese in general, and in the aspect of literature in particular That is also the attempt that this graduation paper tried to accomplish, though in much more limited scope

2 Aims of the Study and Research Questions

The study is aimed to find out meanings and origins of names of some selected

beasts in the book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them”, and to suggest their

English – Vietnamese translation and to figure out translation methods

The research seeks to answer the two following questions:

a What are suggested English – Vietnamese translations of names of some

selected beasts in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”?

b Which are translation methods used to translate names of selected beasts in

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”?

3 Scope of the Study

The thesis is focused on studying methods of translating the names of selected

beasts in the book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them” by J.K Rowling on the

aspects of their etymology and meaning, and in their culture

4 Methods of the Study

With the aim of finding out the way to translate the names of the beasts in the

book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them”, the research methods applied in this

paper are descriptive method and comparative method

5 Significance of the Study

The book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is mentioned as a copy

of the textbook in “Harry Potter” series This the book series is beloved by millions of

readers at any age all over the world, especially teenagers These books have

“travelled” childhood age with many generations in Vietnam and other countries as

well However, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” has never been translated

officially in Vietnam

This is the first time the research that studies how to translate the names of the beasts in this book has been done officially Therefore, this thesis gives the theoretical

background about general translation, the author J.K Rowling, the book “Fantastic

Beasts and Where to Find Them”, and give suggested English – Vietnamese

translation of these selected beasts and translation methods applied to translate

classified groups of the beasts Readers, who admire “Harry Potter” series as well as

the book, can gain benefits from this thesis They are given a comprehensive view on what the names of the beasts mean, why the author named after the beasts like that, and how they should be translated To the people, who are interested in translation, especially translation of literary books, this thesis provides a somewhat way of transferring from English to Vietnamese, which can help “improve means of expression” (Newmark, 1988)

6 Design of the Study

The thesis has three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion

The part 1 “Introduction” includes seven sections: Rationale of the Study, Aims

of the Study and Research Questions, Scope of the Study, Methods of the Study, Significance of the Study, Design of the Study

The part 2 “Development” consists of three chapter

Chapter 1 “Literature Review” has two sections known as “Overview of Translation” and “Translation of Literary Works” It mentions theories of translation, which have been studied by linguists in the world

Chapter 2 “Methodology” includes Overview of Fantastic Beasts and Where to

Find Them, Procedure of Data Collection, Research Methods, and Data Analysis

Process

Chapter 3 is “Meanings and Origins of Names of Some Selected Beasts and Their English – Vietnamese Translation” The names of the selected beast are given and analysed, then the discussion and suggested translation methods are indicated

In Part 3 “Conclusion”, major findings and limitations of the research are recapitulated, plus suggestions of the following research are given as well

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Overview of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Translating of the

Beasts

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2001 book written by British

author J K Rowling (under the pen name of the fictitious author Newt Scamander)

about the magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe The original version purports

to be Harry Potter's copy of the textbook of the same name mentioned in Harry Potter

and the Philosopher's Stone (or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US), the

first novel of the Harry Potter series It includes 22 pages of Introduction, and 42 pages of the seventy-five-beast list in the range from A to Z with several notes inside it

supposedly handwritten by Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, detailing their own experiences with some of the beasts described, and including in-jokes relating to the original series

In a 2001 interview with publisher Scholastic, Rowling stated that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a fun topic for which she had already developed a lot of information in earlier books Rowling's name did not appear on the cover of the first edition, the work being credited under the pen name "Newt Scamander", who, in the books, wrote this textbook as seen on Harry's supply list for his first year

The book benefits the charity Comic Relief Over 80% of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various places around the world

According to Comic Relief, sales from this book and its companion Quidditch

Through the Ages have raised over £17 million

On 12 September 2013, Warner Bros and Rowling announced they would be producing a film inspired by the book, being the first in a series of five such films Rowling herself is the screenwriter She came up with a plan for a movie after Warner Bros suggested the idea The story features Newt Scamander as the main character and is set in New York City, 70 years before Harry's story started The film was released on 18 November 2016

On 14 March 2017, a new edition of the book was published with six new creatures and the foreword by Albus Dumbledore It is assumed to be a new copy as it does not feature any handwritten notes Proceeds from this edition are donated

to Lumos as well as Comic Relief

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has never been translated into

Vietnamese and released in Vietnam officially, however, a few people have translated the book into some different Vietnamese versions and posted them on Internet websites Temporarily, these versions are not evaluated in the point of translated literary works but the names of the beasts in these versions are true to the principle: they all are in English, not Vietnamese In fact, many of them either were structured by etymology and the creativeness of J.K Rowling or have been existing in people’s imagination through fairy tales and ancient legends The readers of the original work can imagine some beasts’ appearance on account of morphemes which compose a name of a beast when they read the book, except for the ones who cannot understand English

Lý Lan, a famous Vietnamese translator, translated a few names of the creatures

mentioned in “Harry Potter” series by J.K Rowling She was translated Ashwinder as

Cuốn tro in the story The Fountain of Fair Fortune in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Bowtruckle as Bịp-bướm in the story Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump in The Tales of Beedle the Bard and in the sixth novel Harry Potter and the Half Prince, Pixie as Yêu tinh nhí in the second novel Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber,

Merpeople as Người cá in the forth novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Besides, there are many creatures which have familiar equivalents in Vietnamese, are close to cultural life of Vietnamese people and appear in the book

such as Dragon, Fairy, Phoenix and Unicorn They have already translated into Vietnamese as Rồng, Cô tiên, and Bạch Kỳ Mã

In a fairy tale of Grimm, there is a tale called “The Griffin”, and in a

Vietnamese copy of Grimm’s tales, Truyện cổ Grimm published by Literature

Publishing House (Nhà Xuất Bản Văn Học) in 03/2015, the tale “The Griffin” is translated into Vietnamese with the title “Chim ưng thần” In the Vietnamese

language, there is another equivalent of the beast, Điểu sư In the novel The House of

Hades from the series The Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan mention Griffin in

chapter 51 and in the copy of the Vietnamese language, published by Times Publishing

House (Nhà Xuất Bản Thời Đại), it is translated as Điểu sư

There are many stories mentioning Leprechauns One of them is the Irish fairy tale The Leprechauns and the Shoemaker which is translated into Vietnamese with the title Hai Người Tí hon và Người Thợ đóng giày

2 Overview of Translation

2.1 Definition of Translation

Translation has been approached from a scientific point of view by linguists through times and thus has been defined variously Often, not though by any means always, it is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text Common sense tells us that this ought to be simple, as one ought to be able to say something as well in one language as in another On the other hand, you may see it as complicated, artificial and fraudulent, since by using another language you are pretending to be someone you are nor Hence in many types of text (legal, administrative, dialect, local, cultural) the temptation is to transfer as many SL words to the TL as possible The pity is that the translation cannot simply reproduce,

or be, the original And since this is so, the first business of the translator is to translate (Newmark, 1988) In order to find an adequate definition of translation, prominent figures in linguistics such as Cat Ford, Bell, Hatim & Mason, Nida, and many others have carried out careful analyses of the process of translating, especially in the case of source and receptor languages having quite different linguistic structures and cultural features

We start with a definition quoted from the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (1994, pp.4739):

“Translation is the replacement of a text in one language (Source Language - SL) by an equivalent text in another language (Target Language - TL).”

And it is then followed by the linguists’ definitions:

“Translation is the expression in another language of what has been expressed

in another, source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.” – Bell,

These five definitions, in spite of slight differences in the expressions, share common features that they all emphasize the importance of finding the closest equivalence in meaning by choice of appropriate target language’s lexical and grammatical structures, communication situation, and cultural context

2.2 Criteria of Translation

Through the linguists’ definitions, these scholars also confirm the possibilities

of effective interlingual communication by translation if a set of basic requirements which are considered “Laws of Translation” could be achieved

Nida (1964, pp.164) proposes four major principles:

1 Making sense

2 Conveying the spirit and manner of the original

3 Having a natural and easy form of expression

4 Producing a similar response

Whereas Savory (1968, pp.54) sets up twelve objectives for a translation, in which there are such six important criteria of translation as:

1 A translation must give words of the original

2 A translation must give the idea of the original

3 A translation should read like an original work

4 A translation should reflect the style of the original

5 A translation should read as a contemporary of the original

6 A translation may add to or omit from the original

Nida and Savory’s principles are different in number However, they all pay their first attention to correspondence of meaning over correspondence of style And it

is also recognizable that equivalence in both meaning and style cannot always be retained altogether In a concrete textual situation, it is the translator that decides which principles must be achieved and it is the meaning that must have priority over the stylistic forms

Massoud (1988, pp.19-24) sets criteria for a good translation as follows:

1 A good translation is easily understood

2 A good translation is fluent and smooth

3 A good translation is idiomatic

4 A good translation conveys, to some extent, the literary subtleties of the original

5 A good translation distinguishes between the metaphorical and the literal

6 A good translation reconstructs the cultural/historical context of the original

7 A good translation makes explicit what is implicit in abbreviations, and in allusions to sayings, songs, and nursery rhymes

8 A good translation will convey, as much as possible, the meaning of the original text

El Touny (2001) respected the form and structure of the original and which is easily comprehensible to the readers of the TL

2.3 Methods of Translation

According to Peter Newmark (1988, pp 45-47), there are eight methods of translation including word-for-word translation, literal translation, faithful translation, semantic translation, adaptation, free translation, idiomatic translation, and communicative translation as follows:

2.3.1 Word-for-word Translation

This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TL immediately below the SL words The SL word-order is preserved and the words are translated

singly by their most common meanings, out of context Cultural words are translated literally The main use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the SL or to construe a difficult text as a pre-translation process

E.g., There is a book on the table – Có một cuốn sách ở trên bàn

2.3.2 Literal Translation

The SL grammatical construction is converted to their nearest TL equivalent but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context As a pre-translation process, this indicates the problems to be solved

E.g., The White House – Nhà Trắng

2.3.3 Faithful Translation

A faithful translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures It ‘transfers’ cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical “abnormality” (deviation from SL norms) in the translation It attempts to be completely faithful to the attention and the text-realisation of the SL writer

E.g., The new iPhone is selling like hot cakes – Dòng iPhone mới đang bán

word-E.g., She has a sunny smile on her face – Cô bé có khuôn mặt với nụ cười tỏa

nắng

2.3.5 Adaptation

This is the “freest” form of translation It is used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture

converted to the TL culture and the text rewritten The deplorable practice of having a play or poem literally translated and then rewritten by an established dramatist or poet has produced many poor adaptations, but other adaptations have “rescued” period plays

E.g., In the Belgian comic book “The Adventure of Tintin”, Tintin’s trusty canine side kick Milou is translated as Snowy in English, Bobie in Dutch, Kuttus in Bengali, and Struppi in German

2.3.6 Free Translation

Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original Usually, it is a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so-called intralingual translation, often prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all

E.g., One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it – Số phận đã

an bài, có tránh cũng chẳng được

2.3.7 Idiomatic Translation

Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialism and idioms where these do not exist in the original

E.g., Ngưu tầm ngưu, mã tầm mã – Birds of a feather flock together

2.3.8 Communicative Translation

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

E.g., She said she loved another – Cô ta nói cô ta không yêu anh nữa

2.3.9.2 Plain prose Translation

The prose translation of poems and poetic drama initiated by E.V Rieu for Penguin Books Usually, stanzas become paragraphs, prose punctuation is introduced, original metaphors and SL culture retained, whilst no sound-effects are reproduced The reader can appreciate the sense of the work without experiencing equivalent effect Plain prose translations are often published in parallel with their originals, to which, alter

‘careful word-for-word comparison’, they provide ready and full access

2.3.9.3 Information Translation

This converts all the information in a non-hierarchy text, sometimes rearranged in a more logical form, sometimes partially summarized and not in the form of a paraphrase

2.3.9.4 Cognitive Translation

This reproduces the information in a SL text converting the SL grammar to its normal TL transpositions, normally reducing any figurative to literal language

2.3.9.5 Academic Translation

This type of translation practiced in some British universities reduces an original

SL text to an “elegant” idiomatic educated TL version which follows a non-existent, literary register It irons out the expressiveness of a writer with modish colloquialisms

2.4 Translation Equivalence

From the definitions of translations by different scholars, it is clear that equivalence is the central issue in translation studies

From the view point of Juliane House (1977, pp.25), meaning equivalence is

the most essential in translation: "The essence of translation lies in the preservation of

'meaning' across two different languages"

Newmark (1995, pp.48) emphasizes the importance of functional equivalence

as "the overriding purpose of any translation"

Koller (1979) stated the following five types of equivalence referring to the lexical meaning equivalence:

1 Denotative equivalence: the SL and TL words refer to the same thing in the real world

2 Connotative equivalence: this type of equivalence provides additional values besides denotative value and is achieved by the translator's choice of synonymous words or expressions

3 Text-normative equivalence: the SL and the TL words are used in the same

or similar context in their respective languages

4 Pragmatic equivalence: With readership orientation, the SL and TL words have the same effect on their respective readers

5 Formal equivalence: This aims to produce an "analogy of form" in the translation by exploiting the formal possibilities of the TL or even by creating new forms if necessary

Baker, M (1992) views the concept of equivalence differently by discussing the notion of non-equivalence at word level Non-equivalence at word level means that the target language has no direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text Common problems of non-equivalence then involve such cases as culture-specific concepts, the SL concept is not lexicalized in the target language, the SL word is semantically complex, the SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning, the TL lacks a super-ordinate, the TL lacks a specific term, differences in physical or interpersonal perspective, differences in expressive meaning, difference in form, difference in frequency and purpose of using specific forms, the use of loan words in the source text

Larson, M.L (1984) points out that new terms must be invented for the translation if there is no equivalent between the SL and the TL

3 Translation of Literary Works

During the recent years, in Vietnam, translated literature has developed actively, gained considerable achievements, contributed positively to the development

of the foundation of literature in Vietnam, helped to promote cultural exchanges and integrated into the world

Translated literature, a long-standing field, has attracted a staff of writers and translators and become a crucial part of Vietnamese literature It has also helped readers approach brilliant literary works coming from other countries around the

world It can be said that the market of translated literature books used to be not as various, diverse and updated as it does now, which is easy to realize that translated literature books hold a large market share of literary book market in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City as well as other cities Especially, the works of current foreign literature are updated more and more timely Many of winning award writings, even Nobel Award, were translated into Vietnamese quickly Therefore, the number of readers who love foreign literature have risen because of the huge custom and reprint of foreign literature translated into Vietnamese

Translated literature, a long-standing field, has attracted a staff of writers and translators and become a crucial part of Vietnamese literature It has also helped readers approach brilliant literary works coming from other countries around the world It can be said that the market of translated literature books used to be not as various, diverse and updated as it does now, which is easy to realize that translated literature books hold a large market share of the literary book market in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City as well as other cities Especially, the works of current foreign literature are updated more and more timely Many of winning award writings, even Nobel Award, were translated into Vietnamese quickly Therefore, the number of readers who love foreign literature has risen because of the vast custom and reprint of international literature translated into Vietnamese

Much of the work published is the theoretical basis of literary translation

Prominent publications of this include Literary Translation, A Practical Guide,

(Clifford E Landers, 2001) Landers attempts to address the problems of literary translation by providing a guide to those who wish to practice this craft The highlight

is on the word practical; this is not a book espousing any specific theory of translation, but rather an overview of all the issues involved in translating literature (though he does touch on some theoretical issues) But Landers starts out on the wrong foot He seems not to understand that all types of translation are craft; whether technical, commercial or other He says such things as, “only literary translation lets one consistently share in the creative process,” and “In technical translation, for example, style is not a consideration so long as the informational content makes its way unaltered from SL to TL.” This is a shame because he is basically deriding all

“technical” or “commercial” translators by saying that they are just doing grunt work; style is as important in all kinds of translations, as any professional translator knows The author does manage to make some stylistic gaffes in his own writing, which, perhaps, is not literary, and style is not therefore important as much “In many countries,” he says, “writers are a small coterie, all of whom know each other.”

Trần Đình Hiếu’s Bàn về dịch văn học report in the workshop of Translated

Literature Committee directly under Writers of Vietnam which took place on August

10th 2012, states that translating is cultural exchanges; the key factor of a successful translated version is not only language but culture, because just in specific cultural circumstances, language makes sense It means that translating must combine native culture with foreign culture, especially the Western culture The difference between two cultures in translating always causes mistakes or distorts cultural idea He believes that the subject of translated literature is readers They justice quality of translation as well as cultural effects, so translators never ignore the role of them

Literary translation, as well as general translation, allows translators to share their creativeness to a huge number of readers In the creative process, translators need not only gain much knowledge of languages or translating skills but also work with a respectful attitude towards others like colleagues, especially readers Readers are always the subject of translated literary works because they are judges of translation quality and cultural effects At last, culture is also such a remarkable factor in the translation process

CHAPTER 2: THE METHODOLOGY

1 Procedure of Data Collection

Date of doing preliminary research is planned from 10 Nov 2017 to 30 Nov

2017

Firstly, in order to obtain a sustainable theoretical basis of translation skills, translation data which includes theories of dominant linguists such as P Newmark, J.C Catford, M Massoud and E.A Nida is collected

In the book, there are several creatures appearing in legendary and mythological stories of different cultures such as Greece, Egypt, Britain, Scotland, Ireland, Norway and Japan Meanwhile, many beasts are imagined and named by the author Rowling, which is based on particular criteria In this case, the data involved in the origins, features about these creatures and even etymology of the names needs collecting Then, based on all material, a suitable translation method will be selected Most data sources which are relevant to these creatures are searched on online encyclopedias, the

website created by the worldwide loyal readership of Harry Potter, and the website J.K Rowling created on her own, which are mentioned in Reference

2 Methods of the Study

A research method is a particular way of studying something in order to discover new information about it or understand it better So as to translate the names

of beasts, information about them has to be known and understood precisely; therefore, appropriate research methods are efficient means to approach the destination In this paper, several research methods were used to support the research and proved to be useful for researching

2.1 Descriptive Method

According to Nguyen Thien Giap (2009), descriptive method is a system of research procedures applied to express linguistic phenomena in the certain time It is a synchronic analysis method

The procedures of descriptive method are very various, three of which are taken

advantage of in researching how to translate the beasts are word and object, creating

groups with headings, and context analysis

With word and object procedure, the meaning of words is studied in the relation

with objects or definition of words; the meaning of words is discovered through the description in realistic situations Therefore, in order to get the meaning of names of beasts, all descriptions related to the beasts have to be sought Then, context should be

analysed Context is divided into two types: context of situation and context of culture

The latter is the necessary one in this research which includes a mass of cultural factors such as customs, moral standards, values, historical events, and the knowledge

of nature, society, politics, and economy All of these have created cultural symbols, fairy tales or legends in which magic and legendary creatures are imagined or added through cross-culture That is a reason why we need study history, culture and customs

to have ideas of the origins of beasts

Another procedure is creating groups with headings It is to gather the words

which are common in certain features as long as they have the mark as their headings Therefore, the beasts are classified

2.2 Comparative Method

In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent According to Nguyen Thien Giap (2009), this method consists of three procedures: historico-comparative method, diachronico-comparative method, and contrastive method In this paper, only contrastive method is used Contrastive analysis (Whorf, 1941) means the comparison of two languages by paying attention to differences and similarities between languages being compared

People believe that translation is a lingual activity to transform the text from source language to target language and preserve equivalences of meaning Based on results of contrastive analysis, rules and methods of translation are discovered

3 Data Analysis Process

All data involved in beasts is collected to find out these questions below:

Are beasts available in legends or imagined by J.K Rowling?

- If available, have they been translated into Vietnamese? If they have, what are they called in Vietnamese? If they have not, what do their names mean, which countries are their origins, which cultures are they involved and should they be translated?

- If imagined by the author, what do their names mean, why does she name them as they are called and how are their names built?

After having answered all of these enquiries, the researcher of the study found what similarity of their names and they are classified into four categories: converted names, compound-word names, played-word names, and derived-word names The classification is based on beasts’ origins (that are legends, fairy tales or the author’s imagination), word formation of the names and methods of translating them

(1) Converted names

Converted names category is a group of the beasts whose names have already been translated into Vietnamese or have an equivalent in the language of Vietnam For this group, either dictionaries are looked up or equivalent names in Vietnamese are found by studying their origins, cultures, appearance, characteristics and so on They all are in legendary or fairy tales

E.g., Dragon, Centaur, Phoenix

(2) Compound-word names

Compound-word names category is a group of the beasts whose names consist

of two nouns or one prefix and one noun to make a name a compound noun And, they often are translated with the meaning of every word

Every name of this group needs learning about meanings of each word which composes the name

E.g., Ashwinder, Billywig, Bowtruckle

(3) Played-word names

Played-word names category is a group of the beasts whose names are meaningless while we speak them out loud However, they are named by Rowling and also imagined by her, so she played words with rhyme with their names

E.g., Bundimun, Diricawl

(4) Derived-word names

Derived-word names category is a group of the beasts whose names are words derived from other ones, so they are just pronounced differently a little and make them sound funny

E.g., Augurey, Clabbert

CHAPTER 3: MEANINGS AND ORIGINS OF NAMES OF SOME SELECTED BEASTS AND THEIR SUGGESTED ENGLISH –

VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION

The list of beasts in the alphabet order includes fictitious creatures which are imagined by the author J.K Rowling or in legends over the world, the majority are from Europe

Some in legends have a direct equivalent in the Vietnamese language and have been familiar with Vietnamese folks The rest, however, is novel and has never appeared in Vietnamese culture and so are the creatures by J.K Rowling Especially, ones by J.K Rowling are not only unheard-of but also used graphology to be named Every name of a beast, J.K Rowling named, has an original meaning that gives readers

some concepts such as appearance, colours or habitats when reading When Fantastic

Beasts and Where to Find Them is translated into Vietnamese, names of the beasts

should be translated for readers of Vietnamese version to understand and have Vietnamese equivalents, which is faithful to the original, one of the criteria to evaluate

a translation

Because Rowling used graphology to name the beasts, the etymology of names must be researched and then considered to be transferred successfully and faithfully as well

1 Discussions on Methods of Translating the Names of the Selected Beasts

By presented translation theory in Chapter 1 of Part 2, translation methods used

to translate the names of beasts would be discussed

1.1 Methods of Translating Converted Name Group

As mentioned, the group of converted names is the one that has already translated into Vietnamese or had an equivalent in the language of Vietnam These beasts are all in legends or fairy tales of countries around the world All of the

converted-name beasts in this group are converted with Adaptation Method for the matter of culture Adaptation is the “freest” form of translation It is used mainly for

plays (comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the

SL culture converted to the TL culture and the text rewritten Thus, in this situation, it

is used for the names of beasts This may aim at creating relevance to the TL culture when translating the SL text, or due to intercultural communication which has made two cultures – TL one and SL one – have common in concepts of beasts Intercultural

communication is not new In Communication Between Cultures 7 th by Samovar,

Larry A., Porter, Richard E., McDaniel, Edwin R., it said: “Since the dawn of

civilization, when the first humans formed tribal groups, intercultural contact occurred whenever people from one tribe encountered members of another tribe and discovered that they were different Sometimes these differences, in the absence of the multicultural awareness and tolerance, elicited the human propensity to respond malevolently However, in the pursuit of political alliances, knowledge, or commercial trade, these differences were more often recognized and accommodated.” These cultural exchanges have speeded up in the past at a dizzying pace, which is a reason why we have equivalents of the names of beasts

For instance, some question that why the English term dragon is translated into Vietnamese with rồng; dragons in Western concepts can fly and have wings of bats, four legs, lizard’s body with lots of sharp horns, and scales, while rồng in Eastern

concepts can fly and has no wings, four legs, lots of fins, serpent’s body, scales’ fish, a lion’s mane, a deer’s horns; moreover, in Western culture, dragons are the symbol of

cruel, mean things, but in Eastern culture, rồng is considered as a God and the symbol

of a king They are so different in aspects of appearance, characteristics and religions

as well, so why is dragon equivalent with rồng? The answer is that they are from the

same origin and in cross-culture progress, they are transformed to be suitable for the

culture they immigrated; however, in English language, it is called dragon and in Vietnamese one, it is called rồng

If I have this answer, it is because there are researches of dragons by professors

and doctors mentioned as follows: Trần Ngọc Thêm & Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ with Vấn đề

nguồn gốc con rồng từ góc nhìn văn hóa, Nguyễn Tài Cẩn (3/2000) with Rồng của người Việt, Graeme Base with Discovery of Dragons, and Michael Hague with The Book of Dragons As a result, the origin of dragons is concluded: In the aspect of

cross-culture, European dragons originate from Egypt and Mesopotamia In Western

languages, the word dragon is developed from Greek drakōn which means “serpent”

Besides, Greek culture comes from Egyptian and Mesopotamian culture, and appearance of Egyptian dragons is mostly serpent dragons In the other hand, Egyptian and Mesopotamian dragons originate from China – a region of Eastern culture As far

as here, there is a basis that is related to the matter of culture so as to translate dragon into rồng It is similar to other beasts such as centaur, fairy, ghoul, phoenix or unicorn

However, there are exceptions in this group, which are breeds of dragons imagined by J.K Rowling In another way, they are not converted-name beasts, but

Rowling listed them as ten pure breeds of dragons, so I considered them as the items

of dragons In order to translate these creatures, Literal Translation Method is used for

its feature which is that the SL grammar construction is converted to their nearest TL equivalent but lexical words are again translated singly, out of context Furthermore, J.K Rowling’s descriptions of beasts are the base for me to decide translation methods After all descriptions of these dragons are read, it is realized that Rowling creates the names of dragons by combining their native lands with a typical feature of theirs For

example, Chinese Fireball is described as “The only Oriental dragon has a particularly striking appearance… The Fireball gained its name for the mushroom- shaped flame that burst from its nostrils when it is angered…”; or Common Welsh Green is written as “…blends well with the lush grass of its homeland…”, and the

others are similar – they are all named by combining their native lands with their remarkable feature Therefore, meanings of geographic names and features are understood correctly, translated, and then transferred from the SL grammar to the TL grammar Specifically, an adjective standing before a noun in English stands after a

noun in Vietnamese That is why Chinese Fireball is translated as Cầu lửa Trung Hoa, and Common Welsh Green as Xanh lá xứ Wales

1.2 Methods of Translating Compound-Word Name Group

The category of compound-word names is the group consisting of two nouns or one prefix and one noun to make a compound noun a name For this group, every component of the word is translated, which is based on its meaning explained on the

official website harrypotter.wikia.com and pottermore.com, as well as it is also based

on Rowling’s description in the book Additionally, these creatures in this group are all imagined by the author J.K Rowling and she just built the names of these beasts in the way of combining a word with a word Furthermore, these words, which are used by her, get involved in features or appearances of the beasts’ Every word in a name has its own meaning along with the author’s implicature, so we need to convert each word

into an equivalent and then to combine them with each other It is a reason why Literal

Translation method is chosen to translate the beasts of this group

The beast Ashwinder is an example In the book, Rowling writes, “The

Ashwinder is created when a magical fire is allowed to burn unchecked for too long… slither away into the shadows of the dwelling in which it finds itself, leaving ashy trail behind it…” After reading this description, we know that ash in its name ashwinder is

related to “ashy trail behind it” mentioned in the book Besides, when studying what

the name means, the information of the beasts’ etymology was found on

harrypotter.wikia.com which is inferred that ash comes from the colour of itself and

ashes are connected to fire, and winder recalls the side-way movement of some snakes Therefore, the translating suggestion is Cuốn tro

Another example is Billywig It is also named when the term billy is combined with the term wig The term billy means, “smooth, gentle”, and wig means “artificial

hair that you wear on your head” I brainstormed so much for this name and wondered

how it should be transferred At last, I translated as Tóc dẻo, and it is just a suggestion

The others in this group are also translated in the same way

1.3 Methods of Translating Played-Word Name Group

This group contains the beasts whose names we cannot define correctly what

they mean when we speak them out loud, such as Bundimun or Diricawl They are

named by Rowling and imagined by her own Therefore, what I must identify is how their names are created I found, that the name of this group is built is based on a stem,

or root Then, the author added some sounds to create rhyme in a word

For example, Bundimun comes from the word bund meaning “an embankment

or causeway” and it makes rhyme when combining with –imun so bundimun has its

transcription as /bɅdǝmɅn/

In order to translate this group, firstly, Word-For-Word Translation method is

used to covert the stem into Vietnamese The stem is a single word, so the SL order or the structure is unnecessary to be considered The word is translated singly by its most common meaning and what its context is not important here When the stem is already transferred, the rhyme in the TL text should be considered to establish the connection between the SL name of beasts and the TL one In order to guarantee that the factor of rhyme will not be ignored, I will manage to seek an appreciate single word in Vietnamese to combine the TL which is translated from the stem in English

word-with it If bund- goes word-with –mun, đê will get on word-with mê for my suggestion Therefore,

I translated Bundimun as Đê-đờ-mê

1.4 Methods of Translating Derived-Word Name Group

This group includes the beasts whose names are created on the basis of an original word so I call them derived-word names, and they are also imagined by the author It does not make nonsense if we carry out the meaning of beasts’ names in aspects of the author’s description

According to harrypotter.wikia.com, the term Augurey comes from the term

augury which means, “a sign of what will happen in the future; an omen” and most

commonly refers to a method of divination by studying the flight patterns of birds

I use Word-For-Word Translation method to translate it into Vietnamese The

names of these beasts are a single word, so the SL word-order is completely preserved

Besides, because of Rowling’s description, which is “The Augurey has a distinctive

low and throbbing cry, which was once believed to foretell death…”, it is more

reliable to refer the meaning of Augurey relating to the meaning of the word augury Therefore, augury is translated singly by its most common meaning as Báo-điềm

2 Meanings and Origins of Names of Some Selected Beasts and Their Suggested English - Vietnamese Translation

2.1 Converted Names

The names of these beasts have already been converted or have an equivalent in Vietnamese They must be found out their origins, appearance, features or characteristics And all beasts in this group come from legendary stories or fairy tales 2.1.1 Centaur

A Centaur or occasionally hippocentaur, is a mythological creature with the

upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse, and featured in Greek literature Rowling writes on page 6:

“The centaur has a human head, torso and arms joined to a horse’s body which may be any of several colours Being intelligent and capable of speech, it should not strictly be termed a beast… The centaur is forest-dwelling Centaurs are believed to have originated in Greece…”

Centaur is also a sign of the Western zodiac and now it is so popular with the

Vietnamese youth Therefore, Nhân mã is a good ideal when we translate Centaur into

Vietnamese

2.1.2 Dragon

A Dragon is a legendary creature, typically scaled or fire-spewing and with

serpentine, reptilian or avian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures around the world The two most well-known cultural traditions of dragons are:

The European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Balkans and Western Asian mythologies Most are depicted as reptilian creatures with animal-level intelligence, and are uniquely six-limbed (four legs and a separate set of wings)

The Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan (namely the Japanese dragon), Korea and other East Asian and South Asian countries Most are depicted as serpentine creatures with above-average intelligence, and are quadrupeds (four legs and wingless)

The two traditions may have evolved separately, but have influenced each other

to a certain extent, particularly with the cross-cultural contact of recent centuries The

English word dragon and Latin word drakon derive from Greek, meaning serpent of

huge size, water-snake

Rowling writes on page 10, “Probably the most famous of all magical beasts,

dragons are among the most difficult to hide The female is generally larger and more aggressive than the male, though neither should be approached by any but highly skilled and trained wizards…”

In the book of Rowling, dragons, of course, are European Rồng is a correct

The word Antipodean means “relating to Australia and New Zealand”, and the word Opaleye is combined from opal and eye This means Rowling creates names of

the dragon by combining native lands with a typical feature of theirs, and other breeds

of dragons below are named in the same way

A suggestion of translating this dragon breed into Vietnamese is Rồng Mắt mèo

Miền Đối cực

2.1.2.2 Chinese Fireball

Chinese Fireball is described as “The only Oriental dragon has a particularly striking appearance Scarlet and smooth-scaled, it has a fringe of golden spikes around its snub-snouted face and extremely protuberant eyes The Fireball gained its name for the mushroom-shaped flame that bursts from its nostrils when it is angered…” on page 11

A simple suggestion of translation is Cầu lửa Trung Hoa

2.1.2.3 Common Welsh Green

About Common Welsh Green, Rowling writes on page 12, “The Welsh Green

blends well with the lush grass of its homeland, though its nests in the higher mountains, where a reservation has been established for its preservation…”

Its translation is suggested as Xanh lá xứ Wales

2.1.2.4 Hebridean Black

Hebridean Black may be translated simply as Đen xứ Hebrides The Hebrides is

a group of islands comprising a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast

of mainland Scotland

2.1.2.5 Hungarian Horntail

Hungarian Horntail, a phrase is easy to understand – Đuôi gai Hung-ga-ri

Rowling writes on page 13, “…Hungarian Horntail has black scales and is

lizard-like in appearance It has yellow eyes, bronze horns and similarly coloured spikes that protrude from its long tail…”

Horn means “the hard pointed thing that grows, usually in pairs, and on the

head of animals such as cows and goats”, according to Longman, Dictionary of

Contemporary English Tail means “the part that sticks out at the back of an animal’s

body, and that it can move”

2.1.2.6 Norwegian Ridgeback

Norwegian Ridgeback can be translated: Lưng gai Na Uy

Ridgeback is the etymology of ridge and back Ridge means “a long area of high land, especially at the top of mountain” (according to Longman, Dictionary of

Contemporary English) and back means a part of body

2.1.2.7 Peruvian Vipertooth

Peruvian Vipertooth means Nha độc xà Peru

Viper means “a small poisonous snake” and tooth is “one of the hard white

objects in mouth that is used to bite and eat food” (Longman, Dictionary of

Contemporary English)

2.1.2.8 Romanian Longhorn

Romanian Longhorn, “has dark-green scales and long, glittering golden horns with which it gores its prey before roasting it When powdered, these horns are highly valued as potion ingredients.”

A suggestion is Sừng dài Ru-ma-ni

2.1.2.9 Swedish Short-Snout

Swedish Short-Snout, a name is understood simply as Mõm cụt Thụy Điển

Snout means “the long nose of some kinds of animals” and short means

“measuring a small amount in length and distance” (Longman, Dictionary of

Contemporary English)

2.1.2.10 Ukrainian Ironbelly

Ukrainian Ironbelly, is named in the same way as others: a native land and a

feature It should be translated: Bụng sắt U-krai-na

Iron means “a common hard metal that is used to make steel, is magnetic, and

is found in very small quantities in food and blood” and belly means “the middle part

of an animal’s body, near its stomach” (Longman, Dictionary of Contemporary

English)

2.1.3 Fairy

A Fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore,

a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural

Sometimes the term fairy is used to describe any magical creature, including goblins or

gnomes: at other times, the term describes only a specific type of more ethereal

creature or sprite The concept of “Fairy” in the narrow sense is unique to English

folklore, conflating Germanic elves with influences from Celtic and Romance (French) folklore, and later made “diminutive” according to the tastes of the Victorian era “fairy tales” for children

Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical

powers Diminutive fairies of one kind or another have been recorded for centuries, but occur alongside the human-sized beings; these have been depicted as ranging in size from very tiny up to the size of a human child Even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans On Orkney they were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour

Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings In some folklore, fairies have green eyes Some depictions of

fairies either have them wearing some sort of footwear and other depictions of fairies are always barefoot

According to Rowling on page 16, “The fairy is a small and decorative beast of

little intelligence * … Ranging in height from one to five inches, the fairy has a minute humanoid body, head and limbs but sports large insect-like wings, which may be transparent or multi-colored, according to type…”

(*Muggles have a great weakness for fairies, which feature in a variety of tales written for their children These “fairy tales” involve winged beings with distinct personalities and the ability to converse as humans (though often in a nauseatingly sentimental fashion) Fairies, as envisaged by the Muggle, inhabit tiny dwellings fashioned out of flower petals, hollowed-out toadstools and similar They are often depicted as carrying wands Of all magical beasts the fairy might be said to have received the best Muggle press.)

The Fairy is the character who is mentioned so much in international fairy tales

translated into Vietnamese such as: Cinderella or The Sleeping Beauty

Therefore, Cô tiên is a good suggestion of Fairy

2.1.4 Ghoul

A Ghoul is a monster or evil spirit in Arabic mythology, associated with

graveyards and consuming human flesh

However, it becomes so gentle, funny and cute in any way in Rowling’s writing

on page 18, “The ghoul, though ugly, is not a particularly dangerous creature It

resembles a somewhat slimy, buck-toothed ogre and generally resides in attics or barns belonging to wizards, where it eats spiders and moths It moans and occasionally throws objects around, but is essentially simple-minded and will, at worst, growl alarmingly at anyone who stumbles across it… In wizarding families, the ghoul often becomes a talking point or even a family pet.”

Therefore, it should be translated as Ma cà rồng

2.1.5 Griffin

Griffin is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the

head and wings of an eagle; and an eagle’s talons as its front feet Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of birds, the

griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature Griffins are

known for guarding treasure and priceless possessions

Rowling writes, “The griffin originated in Greece and has the front legs and

head of a giant eagle, but the body and hind legs of a lion Like sphinxes, griffins are often employed by wizards to guard treasure…”

In a fairy tale of Grimm, there is a tale called “The Griffin”, and in a

Vietnamese copy of Grimm’s tales, Truyện cổ Grimm published by Literature

Publishing House (Nhà Xuất Bản Văn Học) in 03/2015, the tale “The Griffin” is translated into Vietnamese with the title “Chim ưng thần” However, this translation

does not “give the idea of the original” (Savory, 1968) The Griffin in the original has

a head plus wings of an eagle, and the body, the tail, and two back legs of a lion The concept “chim ưng” (the hawk), even “chim ưng thần” (the magical hawk), is so

different from the description of the Griffin

In the Vietnamese language, there is another equivalent of the beast, Điểu sư In the novel The House of Hades from the series The Heroes of Olympus, Rick Riordan mention Griffin in chapter 51 and in the copy of the Vietnamese language, published

by Times Publishing House (Nhà Xuất Bản Thời Đại), it is translated as Điểu sư The

Griffin has the front half body of an eagle, and the back half body of a lion, so it can be

translated as Điểu sư Điểu means “bird”, and sư means “lion” Similarly, the translation of the Sphinx in the language of Vietnam is Nhân sư (in 2.1.16) which has the head of a man and the body of a lion Nhân means “human” and sư means “lion”

2.1.6 Imp

An Imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or goblin, frequently described

in folklore and superstition

The Old English noun impa meant a young shoot or scion of a plant or tree, and

later came to mean the scion of a noble house, or a child in general Starting in the 16th

century, it was often used in expressions like “imps of serpents”, “imp of hell”, “imp

of the devil”, and so on; and by the 17th century, it came to mean a small demon, a

familiar of a witch The Old English noun and associated verb impian appear to come from an unattested Late Latin term emputa

Tiểu yêu is a suggestion of translating Imp

2.1.7 Kappa

A Kappa is a yokai demon or imp found in traditional Japanese folklore The name is a combination of the words kawa (river) and wappa (child) Kappa has been used to warn children of the dangers lurking in rivers and lakes, as Kappas have been

said to try to lure people into the water and pull them

Rowling describes, “The Kappa is a Japanese water demon that inhabits

shallow ponds and rivers Often said to look like a monkey with fish scales instead of fur…”

The word Kappa is a transcription of 河童 in Kanji system which loans Chinese

a lot And in the Vietnamese language, there are also many borrowed words from

known in Vietnamese as Hà đồng, meaning “a child living near a river”

2.1.8 Kelpie

Kelpie is the Scots name given to a shape-shifting water spirit inhabiting lochs

and pools of Scotland It has been described as appearing as a horse, but is able to

adopt human form Some accounts state that the Kelpie retains its hooves when

appearing as a human Almost every sizeable body of water in Scotland has an associated kelpie story, but the most extensively reported is that of Loch Ness The origin of the belief in malevolent water horses has been proposed as originating in human sacrifices once made to appease gods associated with water, but narratives about the kelpie also served a practical purpose in keeping children away from dangerous stretches of water, and warning young women to be wary of handsome strangers

Rowling describes, “The British and Irish water demon can take various

shapes, though it most often appears as a horse with bulrushes for a mane Having lured the unwary on to its back, it will dive straight to the bottom of its river or lake and devour the rider, letting the entrails float to the surface…”

Description about the Kelpie seems to be the same as the definition of Hà bá in

Vietnam, so it is my suggestion

2.1.9 Leprechaun

A Leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore They are usually depicted as

little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief They are solitary creatures who spend their time and making and mending shoes and have a hidden pot

of gold at the end of the rainbow If captured by a human, they often grant three wishes in exchange for their freedom

Rowling writes, “…it achieves a height of up to six inches and is green in

colour It has been known to create crude clothing from leaves…”

There are many stories mentioning Leprechauns One of them is the Irish fairy tale The Leprechauns and the Shoemaker which is translated into Vietnamese with the title Hai Người Tí hon và Người Thợ đóng giày Therefore, a suggestion of translating

Leprechaun is Người Tí hon

2.1.10 Merpeople

Merpeople are legendary aquatic creatures with the head and upper body of a

human and the tail of a fish Mermaids, female merpeople, appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Africa and Asia such as in

Hans Christian Andersen’s well-known fairy tale ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1836)

Rowling describes, “…The oldest recorded merpeople were known as sirens

(Greece) and it is in warmer waters that we find the beautiful mermaid…”

It is unnecessary for any more explanation with this creature This is Nhân ngư

2.1.11 Phoenix

In Greek mythology, a Phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn Associated with the Sun, a Phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor According to some sources, the Phoenix dies in a

show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again According to

some texts, the Phoenix could live over 1,400 years before rebirth

The Phoenix is sometimes pictured in ancient and medieval literature and

medieval art as endowed with a nimbus, which emphasizes the bird’s connection with

the Sun In the oldest images of Phoenixes on record these nimbuses often have seven rays, like Helios (the personified sun of Greek mythology) Although the Phoenix was

generally believed to be colourful and vibrant, there is no clear consensus about its