THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TERMINOLOGY

Furthermore,translators or interpreters also face challenges of translating environmental terms becausethey do not have enough knowledge of environment and Vietnamese language has not ha

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- ϑ 

-THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TERMINOLOGY

FROM ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE

(CÁCH DỊCH THUẬT NGỮ CHUYÊN NGÀNH MÔI TRƯỜNG TỪ TIẾNG ANH

SANG TIẾNG VIỆT)

M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 60.22.15

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The environment has become a burning issue on a world scale as well as in each country,especially after a series of recent serious disasters such as tsunami, earthquake, volcaniceruption, storm and flood Accordingly, environmental science has developed, a number ofpeople have taken courses on this field, a variety of research and international, regional aswell as national conferences have been carried out Several matters arise from thetranslation of environment terms in such kinds of courses and meetings First, whenteaching English for environmental science, the teacher may be confused about whether heshould explain one English environmental term in other words or he should translate it intoVietnamese so that students are able to understand it completely Experience shows thatexplaining a new technical term in a longer group of words, the teacher unavoidablyutilizes words which are new or more complicated to his students Meanwhile, translatingthat term is more time-saving and more comprehensible However, translation is notalways pleasant and easy to the teacher due to inadequate knowledge of environmentalscience This could lead to different ways of translation of the same term by differentteachers

In addition, there are some English - Vietnamese dictionaries of environmental sciencenow, however, for one English term, a dictionary may offer various Vietnamese meaningsand it might not be able to provide all meanings of environmental terms Therefore, itcauses difficulties in translating as well as in selecting appropriate meanings Furthermore,translators or interpreters also face challenges of translating environmental terms becausethey do not have enough knowledge of environment and Vietnamese language has not hadprecise equivalences for certain English words It is time the translators and interpretersneeded to study the theory of translation so that they can find suitable strategies to translateenvironmental terms

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

is raised: “What are the common strategies and procedures for the translation of English environmental terms into Vietnamese?”

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at:

• Investigating characteristics of English environmental terms and their compositions

in the light of functional grammar proposed by Halliday

• Identifying the procedures and strategies commonly used by teachers in the lessons

on English for Environmental Science and translators for rendering environmentalterms

It is expected that the research partly contributes to English for Specific Purposes ingeneral and English for Environmental Science in particular in terms of the translating,teaching and learning as well

3 Scope of the study

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

However, the study cannot cover all terms which appear in these sources, only typicalterms with high frequency of occurrence are chosen Because of the characteristics of textsand the language in the materials of environmental field, most of the terms are one wordand above-word-level terms It is the author’s purpose to conduct a study on the translation

of environmental terms at word-level and above-word-level terms based on thegrammatical and semantic features of the terms investigated

4 Method of the study

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

and procedures into Vietnamese, which still helps us to understand and know more aboutthe phenomenon under investigation

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

The steps of the study on the translation of environmental terminology are as follows

Step 1: Reviewing environment materials from different reliable sources

Step 2: Collecting English environmental terms from these materials

Step 3: Classifying collected terms into two groups: one-word terms and above-word-level

terms

Step 4: Analyzing the translation of typical examples of the above-mentioned groups in

order to find out the significant strategies and procedures for the translation ofenvironmental terms

Step 5: Suggesting some implications for the translation of environmental terms.

5 Design of the study

The thesis consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion The first part, Introduction outlines rationale, scope, aims, method and design of the research.

The second part entitled Development is divided into two chapters Chapter One refers totheories which serve as the foundation for this study and presents the typical features of

environmental terms and their structural patterns Chapter Two, The translation of

environmental terms offers common procedures and strategies for the translation of the

terms Finally, Conclusion summarizes all the research findings.

Ultimately, references, data sources and appendixes are indispensable parts of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Terminology

1.1.1 Definitions of terminology

Terminology is a fascinating subject to researchers in the world as well as in Vietnam Alarge number of definitions of terminology have been proposed

In the words of Valeontis and Mantzari (2006: 1), “terminology has a twofold meaning: (1)

it is the discipline concerned with the principles and methods governing the study ofconcepts and their designations (terms, names, symbols) in any subject field, and the job ofcollecting, processing, and mangaging relevant data and (2) the set of terms belonging tothe special language of an individual subject field”

In practice, it is more familiar with the second meaning of the term terminology, which is

further clarified by Russian authors in “Russian Encyclopedia” (1976), “terminology iswords or combinations of words that denote the concept precisely and its relationship withother concepts in a specific area Terminology is a specialized and restricted expression onthings, phenomena, characteristics and the relationships in specific profession” (quoted inNguyen Thi Mai, 2003: 16) This definition shares some common features in content withthe definition given by Nguyen Van Tu (1960: 176): “terminology is words orcombinations of words that are used in science, technology, politics, art, etc And it has aspecific meaning, precisely denotes concepts and names of the above-mentioned scientificareas” Similarly, Nguyen Thien Giap (1981: 308-309) claims that terminology, which isunderstood as a special linguistic unit of a language, consists of words and phrases whichare accurate names of concepts and subjects belonging to different specialized fields ofhuman beings

Through the above-mentioned definitions, it is clear that terminology is a special lexicon of

a language The particularity is that terminology is words and phrases which accuratelydenote concepts of a specialized field

1.1.2 Characteristics of terminology

Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1981) and Luu VanLang (1998) share the idea that terminology possesses three important characteristics,namely accurateness, systematism and internationalism

a Accurateness

A term needs to be accurate and clear because basically it reflects an exact concept of ascience If a term is of absolute accuracy, people never mistake one concept for another

For example, precipitation cannot be translated as mưa as in a dictionary for general

language Precipitation means water in rain, snow, etc that falls, therefore it should be

giáng thủy Once a word has become a term, it no longer has connotational and emotional

meanings; it also loses its polysemousness and antonymousness In short, terminologynecessarily works on the principle that “one concept has only one term for it and one termindicates only one concept”

b Systematism

Any field of science has its own limited system of concepts, which is named by a system ofterms Therefore, each term has its own position in the system of concepts and belongs to aterminological system The value of each term is determined by its relationships with otherterms in the same system As a result, a term loses its value when isolated from its system

For instance, if warming is not put in the environmental terminology, it is normally understoood as làm ấm, but not ấm lên toàn cầu as it is in the field of environment In

short, a term has to be a dependent member of its system

different languages For example, gradient, arsenic, gel, front, etc are found in English

and Vietnamese with little difference in form

In a word, these are the important characteristics of terminology in their common use.Based on the criteria of terminology, each language may require other principles inaccordance with its culture Accordingly, terminology in Vietnamese also has its typicalfeatures including nationalism and popularity.

d Nationalism

Although terms are special words used in specialized fields, they are undoubtely part of thenational language They, therefore, possess the colours and the characteristics of thenational language Put differently, they should be made from the the materials of thenational language in terms of lexicology and grammatical composition

e Popularity

Terminology needs to be popular or close to the language of the masses Science is to servethe masses, to make the masses involved in scientific fields and at the same time, to bringthe knowledge and benefit to them The language, especially terminology, used in scientificmaterials should not be complicated or comprehensible to a limited group of upper orintellectual class In fact, terminology ought to be popular, i.e easy to understand, easy toremember and easy to use

In a nutshell, terminology needs to possess five characteristics: accurateness, systematism,internationalism, nationalism and popularity These characteristics are key elements orprinciples in the creation and standardization of terminology

1.2 Translation theory

1.2.1 Definitions of translation

Munday (2001: 4-5) refers to translation in two ways, first is the product (a text or workthat has been changed from one language into another) and second is the process (theprocess of changing something that is written or spoken into another language) Sharingthe same idea, The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines translation as “the act or aninstance of translating” and “a written or spoken expression of the meaning of a word,speech, book, etc in another language” (quoted in Hatim and Munday, 2004: 3)

Based on these two basic ways, prominent figures in linguistics and translation make theirown definitions of translation Catford (1965: 20) defines translation as “the replacement

of textual material in one language (source language) by equivalent textual material inanother language (target language)” Similarly, Hartman and Stork (1972: 713) state that

“translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by apresentation of an equivalent text in a second language”

Sharing the same idea but supplementing the idea of equivalences, Nida and Taber (1969:12) claim that “translating consists in producing in the receptor language the closest naturalequivalent to the message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style”

By the same line of argument, Marlone (1988) asserts “Translation is the expression inanother language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another, sourcelanguage, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences” (quoted in Bell, 1991: 5)

In general, these definitions reveal basic features of translation, including the conversionfrom source language (SL) to target language (TL), the equivalent and the preservation ofmeaning and style of original text

1.2.2 Translation equivalence

The concepts “equivalence” and “the equivalent” appear rather frequently in definitions oftranslation, for example, “equivalent textual material” (Catford 1965: 20), “the closestnatural equivalent” (Nida and Taber, 1969: 12), “a maximally equivalent target languagetext” (Wilss, 1982: 72) Apparently, “equivalence” is considered a central concept intranslation theory It postulates a relation between source language text and target languagetext and as Koller (1979) puts it, the kind of equivalence relation is defined in terms of theframe and the conditions to which one refers when using the concept of equivalence(Chesterman, 1989: 100) In other words, there exists equivalence between a given sourcetext and a given target text if the target text fulfils certain requirements with respect tothese frame conditions The relevant conditions are those having to do with such aspects ascontent, style, function and so on The requirement of equivalence thus has the following

form: quality (qualities) X in the source language text must be preserved This means that

the source language content, form, style, function and so forth must be preserved, or atleast that the translation must seek to preserve them as far as possible

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

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

• Meaning-based equivalence: denotative, connotative, pragmatic and formalequivalence (Koller)

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

• Form-based equivalence: equivalence at word, sentence and text level (Baker)Starting with Nida (1964), he strongly advocates dynamic equivalence rather than formalequivalence

• Formal equivalence: the closest possible match of form and content between SLand TL texts or a means of providing some degree of insight into the lexical,grammatical or structure form of a source text

• Dynamic equivalence: the principle of equivalence of effect on readers of TL text

or the same effect on the TL receivers as the source text had on the SL receivers.Later, Koller (1979) differentiates more types as follows (Chesterman, 1989: 101)

• Denotative equivalence: the SL and TL expressions refer to the same thing in thereal world This kind of equivalence orients towards the extralinguistic contenttransmitted by a text

• Connotative equivalence: As the name points out, this is the kind of equivalencebasing on the connotative dimension of language Apart from a denotative meaning,

SL and TL expressions need to create equivalent communicative values when theyare read by native readers of two languages The connotation is transmitted bymeans of word choice between synonymous expressions with respect to level ofstyle (register), the social and geographical dimension, frequency and so on

• Text-normative equivalence: Expressions of SL and TL are used in the same orsimilar context in their respective languages To put it another way, text-normativeequivalence has to do with the text and language norms for given text types

• Pragmatic equivalence: the achievement of pragmatic equivalence meanstranslating the text for a particular readership, i.e the reader to whom thetranslation is directed and to whom the translation is tuned in order to achieve agive effect

• Formal equivalence: this type of equivalence is generated by form expression whenthe SL and TL have the same formal-aesthetic features To achieve formalequivalence in a TL text is to produce an “analogy of form” in the translation byexploiting the formal possibilities of the TL or even by creating new forms ifnecessary

As regards quantity-based equivalence, Kade (1968) presents four types of equivalence (LeHung Tien, 2006: 55-56)

• One-to-one equivalence: A single expression in TL is equivalent to a singleexpression in SL The type of equivalence often appears in terminology

• One-to-many equivalence: More than one TL expressions are equivalent to a single

SL expression

• One-to-part-of-one equivalence: a TL expression covers part of a conceptdesignated by a single SL expression

• Nil-equivalence: there is no TL expression for a SL expression

Baker (1992) approaches the concept of equivalence differently by discussing the notion ofnon-equivalence at word level and above word level, grammatical equivalence, textualequivalence and pragmatic equivalence However, it is the one-word terms and above-word-level terms that the study focuses on, hence, grammatical equivalence, textualequivalence and pragmatic equivalence are not taken into consideration The first two types

of equivalence will be further explored in the following part

1.2.3 Non-equivalence at word level and above word level

1.2.3.1 Non-equivalence at word level

In view of Baker (1992: 20), “non-equivalence at word level means that the TL has nodirect equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text” She points out some commontypes of non-equivalence at word level including culture-specific concepts, the SL concept

is not lexicalized in the TL, the SL is semantically complex, the SL and TL make differentdistinctions in meaning, the TL lacks a super-ordinate, the TL lacks a specific term,differences in physical or interpersonal perspective, differences in expressive meaning,differences in forms, differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms, the use

of loan words in the source text

1.2.3.2 Non- equivalence above word level

In the previous section, problems arising from non-equivalence at word level are discussed

In this section, the study will go one step further to consider what happens when wordscollocate with other words to form stretches of language

It goes without saying that words rarely occur on their own; they almost always occur inthe company of other words But words are not strung together at random in any language;there are always restrictions on the way they can be combined to convey meaning.Restrictions which admit no exceptions, and particularly those which apply to classes ofwords rather than individual words, are usually written down in the form of rules Somerestrictions are more likely to admit exceptions and apply to individual words rather thanclasses of words These cannot be expressed in terms of rules, but they can be identified asrecurrent patterns in the language In the following section, the study will concentrate onthis type of lexical patterning, namely collocation and the difficulties encountered bytranslators as a result of differences in collocation of the source and target languages

1.2.3.2.1 Definitions of collocation

Collocation, as it is defined by Baker (1992: 47), is the tendency of certain words to occur regularly in a given language Robin (1989: 65) also claims that collocation is thehabitual association of a word in a language with other particular words in sentences.Jackson and Amvela (2000: 113) believe that collocation refers to a structural and

co-syntagmatic relation, to meaning relations that a word contrasts with other words occurring

in the same sentence or text

Collocation, therefore, is said to be concerned with how words go together, i.e thecompany that a word keeps contributes to its interpretation

as a country where wine is prohibited, dry fact means clear evidence Those who render

dry all as it is in dry weather or dry clothes may misinterpret in these contexts

As a result, it becomes clear that what a word means often depends on its association withcertain collocates The translator is to recognize a collocational pattern with a uniquemeaning different from the sum of the meanings of its individual elements It is, therefore,crucial to take account of collocational meaning rather than substituting individual wordswith their dictionary equivalents

1.2.3.2.3 Some collocation problems in translation

When translating non-literary texts, translators probably encounter some problems relatingdifferences in the collocational patterning of the SL and TL The followings are the morecommon collocational problems: the engrossing effect of source text patterning, the tensionbetween accuracy and naturalness, culture-specific collocations (Baker, 1992: 54-61).Some strategies used by professional translators are given as suggestions to overcome theproblems under discussion Firstly, the engrossing effect of source text patterning isavoidable once the translator is aware of the potential influence that the collocationalpatterning of the source text can have on him A way to detach oneself from the source text

is to put the draft translation aside for some time, then, return to it with a better response toits patterning as a target reader would It is advised to avoid carrying over SL collocationalpatterns which are untypical of the TL, unless there is a very good reason for doing so

Secondly, in terms of the tension between accuracy and naturalness, the translator isjustified to use a natural collocation in the TL with some change in meaning unless it is toosignificant Accuracy is no doubt an important aim in translation, but it is also important toachieve the communication aim by choosing a familiar collocational pattern to the targetreader, which makes a translation sound original Finally, the problem of translatingculture-specific collocations is caused by the significant difference between the culturalsetting of collocations in the SL and TL As a consequence, it is advised to make use ofcollocation with familiar associations of ideas or concepts which are easily understandable

to the target reader

1.2.4 Translation procedures

Translation procedures, as stated by Newmark (1995: 81), are used for the translation ofsentences and the smaller units of language The followings are the translation proceduresproposed by Newmark (1995: 81-93)

1.2.4.1 Literal translation

Newmark (1995: 69) approaches literal translation by distinguishing it from word-for-wordand one-to-one translation “Word-for-word translation transfers SL grammar and wordorder, as well as the primary meanings of all the SL words, into the translation” This

translation is supposed to be effective only for brief simple neutral sentences, e.g He

works in the house now - Il travaille dans la maison maintenant One-to-one translation is

a broader form of translation in which each SL word has a corresponding TL word, but

their primary meanings may differ Thus in passer un examen - take an exam, the two verbs passer and take can be said to correspond with each other, but they are not semantic

equivalents Literal translation goes beyond one-to-one translation It ranges from oneword to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, clause to clause, tosentence to sentence

1.2.4.2 Transference

As Newmark (1995: 81) puts it, transference (loan word, transcription) refers to theprocess of transferring a SL word to a TL text The word then becomes a ‘loan word’.When it comes to the role of a translator with respect to this translation procedure, he has

to decide whether or not to transfer a word unfamiliar in the TL, which in principle should

be a SL cultural word whose referent is peculiar to the SL culture Generally, only culturalobjects or concepts should be transferred to show respect for the SL country’s culture Words and expressions that are normally transferred are: names of all living and most deadpeople; geographical and topographical names including newly independent countriesunless they already have recognized translations; names of periodicals and newspapers;titles of as yet untranslated literary works, plays, films; names of private companies andinstitutions; names of public or nationalized institutions; street names, addresses, etc.Moreover, there are two ways of using a loan word, it can be used with or without anexplanation First, speakers of many languages now prefer to borrow words from otherlanguages directly without an explanation Word is written in the same form as in the SL

and pronounced as though it were a native word For instance, the words bar, karaoke,

pub, telecom are now written in newspapers in original and understood by readers This

way seems to be effective as it preserves the SL meaning, stylistic effect It, nevertheless,causes difficulties in pronouncing and writing As a consequence, the communicationeffect is limited

Another way is the loan word with an explanation Following the loan word with anexplanation is very useful when the word in question is repeated several times in the text.Once explained, the loan word can then be used on its own; the reader can understand itand is not distracted by further lengthy explanations (Baker, 1992: 34) Some borrowedwords may denote a new concept or something unfamiliar to speakers of the TL As aresult, an explanation is necessary when it occurs the first time For instance, in 1986 in

Vietnam there appeared a new term in politics đổi mới When it was translated into English

in newspapers, the term was kept in the same form and followed by an explanation as đổi

mới (a renovation process in political policies) This way of borrowing seems appropriate

as it is easy to understand for all kinds of readers and able to preserve the SL phonologyand its nuances

This use of loan word without explanation bases on two main ways, with or withouthyphen In the case of using a hyphen each morpheme is written separately with hyphen inorder to exemplify TL pronunciation It seems to be appropriate form, a compromisebetween the norms of the two languages and easily used by the TL speakers This loantranscription shows some problems as there is no unique rule to separate morphemes inmulti-morpheme words Following the original phonological pattern of the TL may result

in changing the original pronunciation of the word Yet, it seems much easier for speakers

of the TL to recognize it a borrowed word to pay attention when pronouncing it

1.2.4.4 Cultural equivalence

In Baker’s terms (1992: 31), this procedure involves replacing a culture-specific item orexpression with a TL item which does not have the same propositional meaning but islikely to have a similar impact on the target reader This is rather useful when the concept

in the SL appears unfamiliar to the reader of TL Replaced culture-specific item providesreaders with a familiar and understandable concept Although the literal meaning of thewords may be different, both items produce the same effect for their expressive value

It is noted by Newmark (1995: 83) that this kind of translation is limited, sinceapproximate cultural equivalents are not accurate They can be used in general texts,publicity and propaganda, as well as for brief explanation to readers who are ignorant ofthe relevant SL culture In particular, the main purpose of this procedure is judged tosupport or supplement another translation procedure in a couplet

1.2.4.5 Functional equivalent

According to Newmark (1995: 83), functional equivalent, which is applied to culturalwords, requires the use of cultural-free words, sometimes with a new specific term Itsfunction is to neutralize or generalize the SL word; and sometimes add a particular thus;

baccalauréat - French secondary school leaving exam, Sejm - Polish parliament As a

cultural componential analysis, this procedure is the most accurate way of translating, that

is to say deculturalising a cultural word

This procedure is also utilized when a SL technical word has no TL equivalent For

instance, the English term cot death can be translated as subite d’un nourrisson in French.

In other words, this procedure fills in the gap between the source language or culture and

target language or culture In translation of cultural terms, this procedure is often combined

with transference: taille can be translated as a tax on the common people before the French

Revolution, or taille.

1.2.4.6 Descriptive equivalent

In translation, description sometimes has to be weighed against function, for example,

samurai in Japanese is described as ‘the Japanese aristocracy from the eleventh to the nineteenth century’; its function was ‘to provide officers and administrators’ Description

and function are essential elements in explanation and therefore in translation

1.2.4.7 Shifts or transpositions

“A ‘shift’ (Catford’s term) or ‘transposition’ (Vinay and Darbelnet) is a translationprocedure involving a change in the grammar from SL to TL” (Newmark, 1995: 85) Thereare four main types of shift

The first type of change may be from singular to plural or in the position of the adjective,which is automatic and offers the translator no choice This is clearly seen in the case of

Vietnamese versus English grammar For example, sustainable development will be translated as sự phát triển bền vững, which involves automatic change of word order in the noun phrase; or glasses/spectacles means kính đeo mắt which automatically neglects the

plural form of the original version but does not affect the meaning of the words in the TL.The second type of shift is required when an SL grammatical structure does not exist in the

TL In such cases, there are always options for the translator to choose For example, theEnglish gerund offers many choices as it can be translated by verb-noun or a subordinate

clause or an infinitive, for instance, “on hearing his death…” - “Khi biết tin anh ấy mất

…/Khi biết tin về cái chết của anh ấy …”

The third type of shift is the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but maynot accord with natural usage in the TL As Vinay and Darbelnet see it, transposition meansthe replacing of one word-class by another, without changing the meaning of the message

(Newmark, 1995: 86) They give an example which contains several transpositions: ‘Dès

qu’on essaie d’être arbitraire, on est tout de suite aux prises avec des contradictions’

-‘Any attempt to be arbitrary at once involves one in inconsistencies’ The transpositions in

the example are:

(1) SL verb, TL noun (essaie - attempt)

(2) SL conjunction, TL indefinite adjective (dès que - any)

(3) SL clause, TL noun group (dès qu’on essaie - any attempt)

(4) SL verb group, TL verb (est aux prises - involves)

(5) SL noun group, TL noun (des contradictions - inconsistencies)

(6) SL complex sentence, TL simple sentence

However, to strictly standardize transpositions in the way that Vinay and Darnelnet do isimpossible because many of the transpositions overlap and convert to lexis which Carford

calls ‘level-shifts’ e.g ‘après sa mort’ - ‘after she had died’ (Newmark, 1995: 86).

The fourth type of transposition is the replacement of a virtual lexical gap by a

grammatical structure, for example “after his arrival …” - “sau khi anh ấy đến …”.

Additionally, certain transpositions appear to go beyond linguistic differences and can beregarded as general options available for stylistic consideration An example of this is theconversion of one complex sentence to a co-ordinate sentence or to two simple sentences:

“Si lui est aimable, sa femme est arrogante” - “He is very pleasant, but his wife is arrogant” - “He is pleasant; his wife, however, is arrogant.”

To conclude, transposition is the only procedure concerned with grammar, and mosttranslators make transpositions intuitively

1.2.4.8 Recognized translation

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

version Thus ozone hole has to be translated as lỗ thủng tầng ôzôn However, this

translation may make readers misunderstand the concept, they might think that the ozonelayer has a “hole” like a hole in a sheet of paper In fact, ozone hole refers to an area in theozone layer where the amount of ozone has been very much reduced so that harmfulradiation from the sun can pass through it As a result, a more reasonable translation could

be suy giảm tầng ôzôn Nonetheless, to change the term is now too late and would cause

confusion if it is stated in any official or serious informative text

1.2.4.9 Paraphrase

This is an amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the text, for

example, abbreviation - sự rút ngắn giai đoạn tiến hóa As Baker (1992: 40) points out, the

main advantage of paraphrase is that it achieves a high level of precision in specifyingpropositional meaning One of its disadvantages is that a paraphrase does not have thestatus of a lexical item and therefore cannot convey expressive, evoked, or any kind ofassociative meaning Expressive and evoked meanings are associated only with stablelexical items which have a history of recurrence in specific contexts A seconddisadvantage of paraphrase is that it is cumbersome and awkward because it involvesfilling a one-item slot with an explanation consisting of several items

1.2.4.10 Omission

This strategy which is proposed by Baker (1992: 40) may sound rather drastic, but in fact itdoes not harm to omit translating a word or expression in some contexts If the meaningconveyed by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to the development of thetext to justify distracting the reader with lengthy explanation, translators can and often dosimply omit translating the word or expression in question For instance, translators may

delete the word “of” in some terms like “velocity of air current” - “tốc độ luồng gió” or

“transfer of land property” - “sự chuyển nhượng quyền sở hữu đất đai” However, this

strategy should be used only when the advantages of producing a smooth, readabletranslation clearly outweigh the value of rendering a particular meaning accurately in agiven context

1.2.4.11 Couplets

Newmark (1995) presents that couplets, triplets, quadruplets combine two, three or four ofthe above-mentioned procedures respectively for dealing with a single problem Thesecombinations are particularly common for cultural words if transference is combined with

a functional or a cultural equivalent

In short, above are popular procedures employed in the translation of terminology fromEnglish into Vietnamese The study will also discuss the problem of technical translationand translation of neologisms in the next section in order to find out more convincing

theoretical backgrounds to come to the best procedures and strategies for translation ofenvironmental terms.

1.3 Technical translation

1.3.1 Definitions of technical translation and its characteristics

With the rise of technology, professional translators have been facing new types of textwhich are identified by distinctive grammatical features and characteristics as well as anumber of terms As a result, technical translation has come into existence with others It isconsidered as one part of specialised translation, potentially non-cultural, stated Newmark(1995: 151)

Another definition of technical translation is given by Sofer (1999: 37) He claims that thetranslation of a text may be called technical when it requires specialized terms in aparticular field

Both Newmark and Sofer believe that specialised terms in a text being translated is the firstsignal of technical translation though they usually only make up about five to ten per cent

of a text Newmark (1995: 151) also points out characteristics of technical translation forEnglish such as passives, nominalisations, third persons, empty verbs, present tenses andits characteristics format is the technical report, instructions, manuals, notices andpublicity In addition, technical style is usually free from emotive language, connotations,sound effects and original metaphor Newmark (1995: 153) suggests three varieties oftechnical language as follows: academic style including transferred Latin and Greek wordsassociated with academic papers, professional style which refers to formal terms used byexperts and the popular one which may include familiar alternative terms

A significant problem in technical translation is the distinction between technical anddescriptive terms The original SL writer may use a descriptive term for a technical objectfor three reasons (1) the object is new, and has not yet got a name; (2) the descriptive term

is being used as a familiar alternative, to avoid repetition; (3) the descriptive term is beingused to make a contrast with another one In addition, as Newmark (1995) claims, where

an SL technical term has no known TL equivalent, a descriptive term should be used

In the view of Kennedy and Bolitho (1984), terms can be highly technical or sub-technical.Highly technical terms account for an intrinsic part of the learning of the discipline itself

To understand these terms, the user might need to understand their theory For example,

virucide (chất diệt virut), trophobiosis (hiện tượng cộng sinh dinh dưỡng), etc., if

appearing without more detailed explanations, may be problematic to a translator who has

no knowledge of the subject Meanwhile, sub-technical terms are words which are notspecific to a subject speciality but occur regularly in scientific and technical texts, e.g

assemblage (hợp quần, hợp thể), wash (phù sa, đất bồi), etc

However, according to Newmark (1995: 152) the central difficulty in technical translation

is usually the new terminology There are some reasons for this challenge

The first reason is that there are some technical neologisms (more information onneologisms will be provided in the next part) in the SL which are relatively context-freeand appear only once If they are context-bound, the translator is more likely to understandthem by gradually eliminating the less likely versions

The second reason lies in the fact that even standardized terms may have more than onemeaning in one field, as well as in two or more fields Although the purpose of terminologystandardization is to establish a single one-to-one relationship between a referent and itsname, there are, in fact, many concept-words which are notorious for their differentmeanings in various technologies

1.3.2 Translation of neologisms

As Newmark (1995: 140) states, “neologisms can be defined as newly coined lexical units

or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense” According to him, each languageexpands its vocabulary or neologisms steadily in order to meet a particularly arisen need asnew objects and processes are continually created in technology

Neologisms are perhaps the non-literary and the professional translator’s biggest problemdue to their number of types Newmark (1995) also proposes types of neologisms and theway to deal with each type in translation Some of these types, however, are more oftenmet than others in a specific technical text Here, the most popular cases of neologisms inenvironmental texts will be discussed

1.3.2.1 Old words with new senses

Existing words with new senses are non-technical as they do not normally refer to newobjects or processes, so they are usually translated either by a word that already exists inthe TL or by a brief functional or descriptive term

Existing collocations with new sense are usually descriptive terms which suddenly becometechnical terms as their meaning sometimes hides innocently behind a more general orfigurative meaning Existing collocations with new senses may be cultural or non-cultural;

if the referent (concept or object) exists in the TL, there is usually a recognized translation

or through-translation If the concept does not exist or the TL speakers are not yet familiar

to it, an economical descriptive equivalent has to be given

1.3.2.2 New coinages

New coinages can be internationalism such as quark coined by James Joyce, a fundamental particle in physics or computer term byte, sometimes spelt bite Because they are

internationalisms, they are usually transferred in translation

Nowadays, the main new coinages are brand or trade names such as Bisto, Schweppes,

Persil, Oxo, etc and these are usually transferred unless the product is marketed in the TL

culture under another name In other cases, the proper name may be replaced by afunctional or generic term if the trade name has no cultural or identifying significance

Thus Revlon may be translated by one of the followings: Revlon, lipstick or fashionable

American.

1.3.2.3 Derived words

The great majority of neologisms are words derived by analogy from ancient Greek and

Latin morphemes usually with suffixes such as -ismo, -ismus, -ija, etc., naturalized in the

appropriate language

This word-forming procedure is applied mainly to designate scientific and technologicalrather than cultural institutional terms, the advance of these internationalism is widespread.Normally, they have naturalized suffixes A great number of environmental terms are nouns

with suffixes -meter to indicate a device for measuring the thing mentioned such as

anemometer, barometer or nouns with suffixes -sphere to indicate a region that surrounds a

planet, especially the earth such as ionosphere, atmosphere.

1.3.2.4 Collocations

Newmark (1995) claims that new collocations (noun compounds or adjective plus noun)are particularly common in the social sciences and in computer language Collocations in

environmental field such as acid rain, wildlife reserve or sustainable development can

serve as a good example These terms represent their problems as some of them do notexist in TL In such cases, what a translator is expected to do is to transfer them and thenadd a functional-descriptive term He does not have the authority to devise his ownneologism

1.3.2.5 Eponyms

Newmark (1995: 198) defines eponyms as “any word that is identical with or derived from

a proper name which gives it a related sense” Eponyms can be divided into threecategories, those derived from persons, objects and places In the first category, eponymsdenoting objects usually derive from their inventors or discoverers When eponyms derivefrom people’s names, they tend to rise and fall depending on the popularity of their referentand ease of composition When they refer directly to the person, they can be translatedeasily, but if they refer to the referent’s ideas or qualities, the translator may have to add

some sort of explanation such as Baldwin-effect - “hiệu quả Baldwin (biến tình trạng

không di truyền thành di truyền do đột biến và chọn lọc)” In the second category, when

derived from objects, eponyms are usually brand names, and can be transferred only when

they are equally well known and accepted in the TL, for example, nylon Thirdly, new

eponyms deriving from geographical names appear to be rare - most commonly theyoriginate from the products (wines, cheeses, sausages, etc.) of the relevant area - intranslation, the generic term is added until the product is well enough known Manygeographical terms have connotations When they are names of towns and villages, theyshould be transferred and glosses where necessary Nowadays, there is an increasingpractice of referring to governments by the name of their respective capitals or locations

and institutions or ministers by their residences or streets (Whitehall - the British

government, the Pentagon - US military leadership, Fleet Street - the British press).

1.3.2.6 Transferred words

Newly transferred words keep only one sense of their foreign nationality; they are thewords whose meanings are least dependent on their contexts They are likely to be media

or product rather than technological neologisms and given the power of the media, they

may be common to several languages, for example, El Nino, La Nina and have to be given

a functional-descriptive equivalent for less sophisticated TL readership

1.3.2.7 Acronyms

Acronyms are an increasingly common feature of all non-literary texts, for reasons ofbrevity or euphony In Newmark’s words (1995: 200), an acronym is “the initial letters ofwords that form a group of words used for denoting an object, institution or procedure” In

science the letters are occasionally joined up and become internationalisms (laser, maser),

requiring analysis only for a less educated TL readership Acronyms are frequently createdwithin special topics and designate products, appliances and processes, depending on theirdegree of importance; in translation, there is either a standard equivalent term or, if it does

not yet exist, a descriptive term Take as an illustration, in environmental field, ABF

(Activated Biofilter) can be translated as ABF or bể lọc sinh vật hoạt tính; ADS (Air Data System) - ADS or hệ thống dữ liệu khí quyển Acronyms for international institutions are

usually internationalisms, usually written unpunctuated such as WWF (World Wildlife

Fund Quỹ bảo vệ sinh vật hoang dã thế giới), WWP (World Weather Programme chương trình khí hậu thế giới) Depending on the TL readership and their familiarity with

-the name of an organization, its acronym can be transferred and its name is translated

1.4 Environmental terms

1.4.1 Features of environmental terminology

Environmental terminology possesses typical characteristics of terminology as stated inthe previous chapter

1.4.1.1 Accurateness

Environmental terms are emotionally neutral with denotative meaning and most of themhave one-to-one relationship with the concept they refer to

Example:

The term ecosystem (hệ sinh thái) refers to only one concept that denotes all the plants and

living creatures in a particular area considered in relation to their physical environment

The term global warming (sự ấm lên toàn cầu) refers to only one concept that denotes the

increase in temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, that is caused by the increase ofparticular gases

Similarly, there are endless examples of single meaning terms such as geosphere (địa

quyển), ordinatormeter (dụng cụ đo tung độ), etc that respectively refer to a single

concept

1.4.1.2 Systematism

An environmental term takes on a different meaning in the field of environment Thismeaning is decided by its relations with other terms in the same system or by its position inthe system

Example: The term vector means sinh vật truyền bệnh (not vectơ) when it is used in the field of environment and in its relation to mosquitoes and malaria in the sentence:

Mosquitoes are the vectors in malaria (Muỗi là sinh vật truyền bệnh sốt rét.)

1.4.1.3 Internationalism

Environmental terms are used internationally Though they may appear in similar ordifferent forms in different languages, they refer to the same concepts that exist in differentcultures

Example:

1.4.1.5 Popularity

Many environmental terms have become so popular that they are no longer regarded astechnical terms but have become ordinary used in daily life of the user

Example:

sustainable development sự phát triển bền vững

greenhouse effect hiệu ứng nhà kính

1.4.2 Classification of environmental terms according to their structural features

Environmental terms can be classified into two groups in accordance with theirgrammatical composition including one-word terms and above-word-level terms

1.4.2.1 One-word terms and neologisms

One-word terms are made up of one word (usually a noun or a verb) and neologisms can

be new coinages, eponyms, acronyms and so on

1.4.2.1.1 One-word terms which appear in the form of a verb

delime (khử vôi) descale (khử cặn, làm sạch gỉ)

aerate (sục khí) desludge (tách bùn, tách cặn)

coppice (dọn rừng) detoxify (khử độc, khử ô nhiễm)

One important feature of these terms is that they are not ‘fixed’ i.e they can appear either

in the form of a verb or a noun at different time in the same text or in the same sentence toavoid repetition Almost all the verbs have their nouns to be used as alternatives:

detoxify detoxification (sự khử độc)

1.4.2.1.2 One-word terms which appear in the form of noun

The terms which are nouns (also including the nouns that derive from verbs in 2.2.1.1) can

be divided into subgroups as follows:

Subtechnical terms

Those are words which are not specific to a subject speciality but occur regularly in

scientific and technical texts e.g reflection, intense, accumulate, isolate, dense and so

forth These items will be accorded high priority in language program as Inman’s estimate(1978) puts the occurrence of subtechnical terms in scientific text almost as high as eightyper cent (Kennedy and Bolitho, 1984)

Many environmental terms are ordinary words that lose their ‘normal’ sense and take on

the specialist meaning, e.g the normal sense of vehicle is ‘a thing that is used for transporting people or goods from one place to another’ (xe cộ) while its specialist meaning is “a substance that something travels through’ (vật truyền, chất môi giới).

Highly technical terms

Every subject has its set of highly technical terms, which is an intrinsic part of the leaning

of the discipline itself To understand these terms the user might need to comprehend theirtheory These highly technical words can be really problematic when the user has relativelylittle knowledge of his subject discipline as well as of English

Example:

trophobiosis (hiện tượng cộng sinh dinh dưỡng)

diplobiont (sinh vật tính kép (vô tính và hữu tính))

1.4.2.1.3 Neologisms referring to newly created concepts

In technology, new objects, new processes are invented and created all the time; therefore,there rises a need for neologisms to name them These neologisms are initially used in theculture where the concepts are invented Later, the concepts are transferred to othercultures, and sometimes the original names may be transferred together with the concepts

1.4.2.1.4 Eponyms derived from persons

These are terms that designate objects, processes, laws and theorems which are namedafter inventors or discovers

Example:

Bergmann’s rule (quy tắc Bergmann)

Baumé hydrometer scale (thang tỷ trọng kế Baumé)

1.4.2.1.5 Eponyms derived from the periods of time making up the geologic time

scale

One essential part of environmental terminology is eponyms derived from the periods oftime making up the geologic time scale

Example:

barstonian (kỳ Bactoni; bậc Bactoni)

1.4.2.1.6 Acronyms

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of words that make up a term or aproper name

Example:

SAC (Special Areas of Conservation) SAC (các khu bảo tồn đặc biệt)

ACS (Absorption Capacity of Soil) ACS (khả năng hấp thu của đất)

DF (Decontamination Factor) DF (hệ số khử tạp nhiễm)

1.4.2.1.7 International measuring units

In the field of environment, there are many terms that are measuring units of variousphysical variables such as radioactivity, quantity of heat, capacity, depth, length, weightand so on.

Example:

becquerel (becơren) fathom (fathom)

1.4.2.1.8 Units of the imperial system

In many English texts, the SL writer prefers to use the units of the English system rather

than the units of the metric system As a result, words such as inch, foot, yard, mile, gallon,

ounce, pound, degree Fahrenheit, etc are found much more frequently than centimeter, meter, kilometer, liter, kilo, degree centigrade, etc.

1.4.2.2 Above-word-level terms

There are terms which are composed of two or more than two words; these words, whichare of different parts of speech, combine together and create terms that have the form ofnominal group as proposed by Halliday (1985)

Deictic Numerative Epithet Epithet Classifier Thing Qualifier

pantographs

Deictic: The Deictic element indicates whether or not some specific subset of the Thing is

intended It can be either specific such as this, that, these, those, my, your, her, its, etc or non-specific like a, an, each, all, every, etc.

Numerative: The Numerative element indicates some numerical features of the subset:

either quantity (one, two, three, etc.) or order (first, second, third, etc.), either exact (one,

two, three, etc.) or inexact (few, little, several, etc.).

Epithet: The Epithet, which usually appears in the form of an adjective, indicates some

quality of the subset This can be an objective property of the thing itself, e.g old, long,

blue, fast; or it may be an expression of the speaker’s subjective attitude towards it, e.g splendid, silly, fantastic.

Classifier: The Classifier indicates a particular subclass of the thing in question, e.g.

electric trains, passenger trains, wooden trains, toy trains Classifier can be an adjective

e.g electric trains or a noun, e.g toy trains.

Verbs also enter into the nominal group and function as Epithet or Classifier in one of thetwo forms:

(i) Present (active) participle, e.g wilting, as in wilting coefficient (hệ số héo, hệ số

tàn lụi)

(ii) Past (passive or intransitive active) participle, e.g urbanized, as in urbanized

environment (môi trường đô thị hóa).

When serving as Epithet, these forms usually have the sense of the finite tense to whichthey are most closely related: the present participle means “which is (was/will be)… ing’,and the past participle means ‘which has (had/will have) been … ed.’

Example: an absorbing medium (a medium which is absorbing)

sterilized wastewater (wastewater which has been sterilized)When these forms function as Classifier, they typically have the sense of a simple present,active or passive: present (active) ‘which …s’, past (passive) ‘which is/are …ed’

Example: a stilling zone (a zone which stills)

uncultivated lands (lands which are uncultivated)Often the participle is itself further modified and embodies any one of a number of

experiential relations as in waste activated sludge, virus induced resistance,

yeast-containing waste, weather warning service.

Sometimes, the same word may function either as Epithet or Classifier, with different

meaning To take an example, fast serves as Epithet in fast trains that means ‘trains that go

fast’, and functions as Classifier since it classifies a subtype of train, that is ‘express train’

Another example is revolving in “he got stuck in a revolving door’ which can be

interpreted as either Classifier ‘of the kind which revolves’ or Epithet ‘which wasrevolving’

Thing: The Thing is the semantic core of the nominal group, which may be common noun,

proper noun or personal noun

Qualifier: The Qualifier element follows the Thing and characterizes it The Qualifier can

be a relative clause or a prepositional phrase

1.4.2.2.2 Environmental terms created in the form of the nominal group

1.4.2.2.2.1 Terms consisting of Classifier (noun) + Thing

As implied by the name, a term of this group consists of two nouns, the first nounfunctions as Classifier and helps to distinguish the Thing (the second noun) from otherconcept of the same group For example, there are many types of pollution (Thing) that can

be distinguished from one another by different Classifiers that precede them, e.g airpollution >< water pollution >< noise pollution >< light pollution Other examples of thisgroup:

woodland ecosystem (hệ sinh thái đất rừng)

wildlife reserve (khu bảo hộ động vật hoang dã)

watershed forest (rừng phòng hộ đầu nguồn)

1.4.2.2.2.2 Terms consisting of Classifier (adjective) + Thing

A term of this group is formed by an adjective that serves as Classifier and the Thing.Example:

xerophilous forest (rừng ưa khô)

unicellular organism (sinh vật đơn bào)

The Classifier can be further modified by another subclassifier that takes on the form of anoun or an adjective

Example:

age determination method (phương pháp xác định tuổi)

air pollutant concentration (nồng độ chất gây ô nhiễm không khí)

acoustical reduction factor (hệ số giảm âm thanh, hệ số cách âm)

1.4.2.2.2.3 Terms consisting of Classifier/Epithet (present participle) + Thing

In this group, as discussed in (2.2.2.1), some present participle may function as Classifierand some as Epithet when interpreted in different situations

Example:

activating agent (tác nhân hoạt hóa)

assimilating stage (giai đoạn đồng hóa)

1.4.2.2.2.4 Terms consisting of Classifier/Epithet (past participle) + Thing

Like present participle, some past participle may serve as Classifier, some as Epithet andthe function it carries depends on different situations

Example:

treated sewage (nước thải đã xử lý)

sustained aeration (sự thông khí liên tục)

suspended impurities (tạp chất lơ lửng)

1.4.2.2.2.5 Terms consisting of Classifier/Epithet (noun + present participle) +

Thing

The present participle can be modified by nouns and create terms like the followings:

water-indicating plant (thực vật chỉ thị nước)

tank-washing system (hệ thống dội rửa bể chứa)

ash-handling system (hệ thống xử lý tro)

1.4.2.2.2.6 Terms consisting of Classifier/Epithet (noun + past participle) + Thing

The past participle can also be modified by nouns and create terms like the followings:arsenic-contaminated soil (đất bị nhiễm asen)

automobile-emitted lead (chì do ôtô thải ra)

virus induced resistance (tính kháng do virut gây nên)

1.4.2.2.2.7 Terms consisting of Thing + Qualifier (prepositional phrase)

The Qualifier in this group is a prepositional phrase which includes preposition ‘of’ plus anominal group

Example: