A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY

thạc sỹ, luận văn, ngoại ngữ, tiếng anh, khóa luận, chuyên đề

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Nguyễn Thị Nhàn

A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY

(Nghiên cứu cách dịch Việt-Anh các phụ đề hiện vật

tại bảo tàng dân tộc học Việt Nam)

M.A.THESIS

Field: Linguistics Code: 5.04.09

Hanoi, 2005

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

Nguyễn Thị Nhàn

A STUDY ON THE VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF EXHIBIT LABELS IN THE VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY

(Nghiên cứu cách dịch Việt-Anh các phụ đề hiện vật

tại bảo tàng dân tộc học Việt Nam)

By: Nguyễn Thị Nhàn Supervisor: Dr Trần Xuân Điệp

Hanoi, 2005

PART I INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE

In Vietnam as well as in every country of the world, museums have been open to helppeople understand and appreciate the natural world, the history of civilizations, and therecord of humanity’s artistic, scientific, and technological achievements Museums exhibitobjects of scientific, aesthetic, or historical importance for the purposes of public educationand the advancement of knowledge The Vietnam Museum of Ethnography founded in

1997 is a cultural and scientific center It studies, collects, classifies, preserves, restoresand exhibits cultural and historical values of all ethnic groups in Vietnam People visit themuseum not only to amuse themselves but also to study ethnic groups as well as variouscultural values of Vietnamese people Therefore, people from all over the country as well

as foreign visitors, scientists as well as students can find interesting things in here For thepurpose of welcoming foreign visitors, all the exhibit labels are written in Vietnamese andthen translated into English and French

The translation of exhibit labels is not at all an easy process as many concepts about thelife of ethnic people in Vietnam do not have equivalents in the English language Thetranslators have to use lots of translation strategies in transferring the concepts in a waythat is the most understandable to foreign visitors However, the translators also have somedifficulties in translating the concepts for the problem of non-equivalence at word level

So far, little research on the Vietnamese – English translation of exhibit labels has beendone Therefore, an investigation on the Vietnamese – English translation of exhibit labels

in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography is really necessary In the hope for somesuggestions of implications that can be of some use to those who are responsible for

translating exhibit labels in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography as well as in othermuseums, the author would like to carry out this minor thesis to answer the question: Whatare the translation strategies and procedures used in the translation of exhibit labels in theVietnam Museum of Ethnography (VME)?

II SCOPE OF THE STUDY

There are several types of exhibit labels in a museum: title or headline labels giving the

title of an exhibit; primary or introductory labels providing an overview or introduction to

the exhibit; secondary or text labels giving an intermediate level of information between an introductory label and the more specific object labels; and object labels providing

information, such as description or title, date or age, artist or user, material composition,and sometimes a brief text on a particular object This study limits itself to the analysis ofthe Vietnamese-English translation of object labels in the Vietnam Museum ofEthnography in Hanoi

III OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study aims at:

 Analysing the strategies and procedures used in the translation of exhibit labelsfrom Vietnamese to English in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography

 Working out the difficulties of translation process that the translators in themuseum may have

 Giving some suggestions for the problems

IV METHODS OF THE STUDY

To accomplish this thesis, we will go through a number of materials on translation studies

to build up a theoretical background for the research Then, as it was stated in the aims and

scope of the study, we will collect the authentic exhibit labels in the Vietnam Museum ofEthnography in Nguyen Van Huyen street, Cau Giay district, Hanoi for description andanalysis From these sources, we will analyse and draw out the methods and techniquesused in the translation Furthermore, some translators who have translated the labels, willalso be interviewed for more specific information about the translation

V DESIGN OF THE STUDY

This study consists of three major parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion; abibliography, and some photographs for illustration

Part I - Introduction

The rationale of the study is given in this part It also gives the aims, scope and methods ofthe study

Part II - Development

Chapter I - Literature review

This chapter provides the theory of translation, translation equivalence, translationstrategies and procedures

Chapter II - The translation of exhibit labels in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnography This chapter presents the current context of the translation of exhibit labels in VME; it alsodeals with the methods and procedures used in the translation

Part III – Conclusion

This part summarises all the things mentioned in chapter II and gives comments on thesuggestions for better translation and further research on the problem

The appendix shows photographs for illustration

PART II – DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I – TRANSLATION THEORIES

I.1 Definition of translation

Translation has been approached from a scientific point of view by linguists through timesand thus has been defined variously Many have concluded that translation is scarcely anaspect of applied linguistics or it is just regarded as a complicated process ofcommunicating, in which one decodes from one language and encodes into another Someothers, who have considered translation as something scientific, however, think oftranslation merely in terms of complex techniques of comparative linguistics (Jumpet

1961, Carry and Jumpet, 1963) In order to find an adequate definition of translation,prominent figures in linguistics such as Cat Ford, Bell, Hatim & Mason, Nida, and manyothers 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 culturalfeatures

We start with a definition quoted from the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics(1992:4739):

“Translation is the replacement of a text in one language (Source Language-SL) by anequivalent 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 (1991:5)

“Translation is basically a change of form In translation the form of the source language isreplaced by the form of the receptor (target) language.”

Larson, M.L (1984:3)

“Translation is a communicative process which takes place within a social context.”

Hatim & Mason (1990:3)

“Translating consists of producing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent tothe message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style.”

Nida, E.A (1975:33)

These five definitions, in spite of slight differences in the expressions, share commonfeatures that they all emphasize the importance of finding the closest equivalence inmeaning by the choice of appropriate target language’s lexical and grammatical structures,communication situation, and cultural context Through their definitions these scholars alsoconfirm the possibilities of effective interlingual communication by translation if a set ofbasic requirements which are considered “Laws of Translation” could be achieved Nida(1964:164) 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 (1968:54) sets up twelve objectives for a translation:

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 read like a translation

5 A translation should reflect the style of the original

6 A translation should possess the style of the original

7 A translation should read as a contemporary of the original

8 A translation should read as a contemporary of the translation

9 A translation may add to or omit from the original

10 A translation may never add to or omit from the original

11 A translation of verse should be in prose

12 A translation of prose should be in prose

Nida and Savory’s principles are different in number However, they all pay their firstattention to correspondence of meaning over correspondence of style And it is alsorecognizable that equivalence in both meaning and style cannot always be retainedaltogether In concrete textual situation, it is the translator that decides which principlesmust be achieved and it is the meaning that must have priority over the stylistic forms

I.2 Translation equivalence

Equivalence can be considered a central concept in translation theory; many theoristsdefine translation in terms of equivalence relation Pym (1992) has even pointed to itscircularity: equivalence is supposed to define translation, and translation, in turn, definesequivalence Here are some elaborate approaches to translation equivalence:

Nida 91964) distinguishes formal equivalence and dynamic translation as basicorientations rather than as a binary choice:

+ Formal equivalence is achieved when the source language and target language wordshave the closest possible match of form and content

+ Dynamic equivalence is achieved when the source language and target language wordshave the same effect on their effective readers

Newmark (1988a) terms Nida’s dynamic equivalence as ‘equivalence effect’ or

‘equivalence response’ principle: “the overriding purpose of any translation should be toachieve ‘equivalence effect’, that is to produce the same effect (or one as close as possible)

on the readership of the translation as was obtained on the readership of the original”(Newmark 1988a) He also sees equivalence effect as the desirable result rather than theaim of any translation except for two cases: (1) if the purpose of the source language text is

to affect and the target language translation is to inform or vice versa; (2) if there is apronounced cultural gap between the source language and the target language text

Koller (1979) considers five types of equivalence:

+ Denotative equivalence: the source language and target language words refer to the samething in the real world

+ Connotative equivalence: provides additional values besides denotative and is achieved

by the translator’s choice of synonymous words or expressions

+ Text-normative equivalence: the source language and target language words are used inthe same or similar context in their respective languages

+ Pragmatic equivalence: with readership orientation, the source language and targetlanguage words have the same effect on their respective readers

+ Formal equivalence: produces and analogy of form in the translation by either exploitingformal possibilities of target language, or creating new forms in target language

I.3 Non-equivalence at word level

According to Baker (1992:20), non-equivalence at word level means that the TG has nodirect equivalent for a word which occurs in the ST The type and level of difficulty posedcan vary tremendously depending on the nature of non-equivalence Different kinds of

non-equivalence require different strategies, some very straightforward, others moreinvolved and difficult to handle

I.3.1 Different kinds of non-equivalence

(a) Culture-specific concepts

The SL word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture Theconcept in question may be abstract or concrete; it may relate to a religious belief, a socialcustom, or even a type of food Such concepts are often referred to as ‘culture-specific’

Speaker (of the House of Commons) has no equivalent in many languages It is often

translated into Russian as ‘Chairman’, which does not reflect the role of the speaker of theHouse of Commons as an independent person who maintains authority and order inParliament

(b) The SL concept is not lexicalised in the TL

The SL word may express a concept which is known in the target culture but simply not

lexicalised, i.e not allocated a TL word to express it Landslide has no ready equivalence

in many languages, although it simply means ‘overwhelming majority’

(c) The SL word is semantically complex

This is a fairly common problem in translation A single word which consists of a singlemorpheme can sometimes express a more complex set of meanings than a whole sentence.(d) The SL and TL make different distinctions in meaning

The TL may make more or fewer distinctions in meaning than the SL What one languageregards as an important distinction in meaning another may not perceive as relevant

(e) The TL lacks a superordinate

The TL may have specific words (hyponyms) but no general word (superordinate) to headthe semantic field

(f) The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym)

More commonly, languages tend to have general words but lack specific ones, since eachlanguage makes only those distinctions in meaning which seem relevant to its particular

environment English has many hyponyms under article for which it is difficult to find precise equivalents in other languages, for example feature, survey, report, review and

many more

(g) Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective

Physical perspective may be of more importance in one language than it is in another.Physical perspective has to do with where things or people are in relation to one another or

to a place, as expressed in pairs of words such as come/go, take/bring.

(h) Differences in expressive meaning

There may be a TL word which has the same propositional meaning as the SL word, but itmay have a different expressive meaning The difference may be considerable or it may besubtle but important enough to pose a translation problem in a given context Differences

in expressive meaning are usually more difficult to handle when the TL equivalent is moreemotionally loaded than the SL item This is often the case with items which relate tosensitive issues such as religion, politics and sex

(i) Differences in form

There is often no equivalent in the TL for a particular form in the source text Certainsuffixes and prefixes which convey propositional and other types of meaning in Englishoften have no direct equivalents in other languages English has many couplets such as

employer/employee, trainer/trainee, and payer/payee

(j) Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms

Even when a particular form does have a ready equivalent in the TL, there may be adifference in the frequency with which it is used or the purpose for which it is used.

English uses the continuous –ing form for binding clauses much more frequently than

other languages which have equivalents for it

(k) The use of loan words in the source text

The use of loan words in the ST poses a special problem in translation Quite apart from

their respective propositional meaning, loan words such as au fait, chic in English are often

used for their prestige value, because they can add an air of sophistication to the text or itssubject matter This is often lost in translation because it is not always possible to find aloan word with the same meaning in the TL

I.3.2 Strategies used by professional translators

(a) Translation by a more general word (superordinate)

This is one of the commonest strategies for dealing with many types of non-equivalence,particularly in the area of propositional meaning It works equally well in most, if not all,languages, since the hierarchical structure of semantic fields is not language-specific.(b) Translation by a more neutral /less expressive word

Baker (1992:29) gives an example to illustrate this

Source text: the shamanic practices we have investigated are rightly seen as an archaicmysticism

Target text (back-translated from Japanese): the shamanic behaviour which we have beenresearching should rightly be considered as ancient mysticism

The translator could have used a Japanese phrase which means ‘behind the times’ andwhich would have been closer to both the propositional and expressive meanings of

archaic This, however, would have been too direct, that is too openly disapproving by

Japanese standards The expressive meaning of archaic is lost in the translation.

(c) Translation by cultural substitution

This strategy involves replacing a culture-specific item or expression with a language item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is likely to have asimilar impact on the target reader The main advantage of this strategy is that it gives thereader a concept with he/she can identify, something familiar and appealing

target-E.g Source text: The Patrick Collection has restaurant facilities to suit every taste – fromthe discerning gourmet, to the Cream Tea expert

Target text (back translated from Italian): to satisfy all tastes: from those of the demandinggastronomist to those of the expert in pastry

In Britain, ‘cream tea’ is ‘an afternoon meal consisting of tea to drink and scones with jamand clotted cream to eat It can also include sandwiches and cakes ‘Cream tea’ has noequivalent in other cultures The Italian replaced it with ‘pastry’, which does not have thesame meaning However, ‘pastry’ is familiar to the Italian reader and therefore provides agood cultural substitute

(d) Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation

This strategy is particularly common in dealing with culture-specific items, modernconcepts, and buzz words Following the loan word with an explanation is very usefulwhen the word in question is repeated several times in the text Once explained, the loanword can be used on its own; the reader can understand it and is not distracted by furtherlengthy explanations

E.g Source text: Morning coffee and traditional cream teas are served in the conservatory

Target text (back-translated from Japanese): Morning coffee and traditional afternoon teaand cream cakes can be enjoyed in the conservatory (green house)

The underlined word in the ST is used as loan words in the Japanese text, not because theyhave no equivalents in Japanese but because they sound more modern, smart, high class.(e) Translation by paraphrase using a related word

This strategy tends to be used when the concept expressed by the source item is lexicalised

in the TL but in a different form, and when the frequency with which a certain form is used

in the source text is significantly higher than would be natural in the TL

E.g Source text: There is strong evidence, however that giant pandas are related to thebears

Target text (back-translated from Chinese): but there is rather strong evidence that showsthat big pandas have a kinship relation with the bears

(f) Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words

If the concepts expressed by the source item is not lexicalised at all in the TL, theparaphrase strategy can still be used in some contexts Instead of a related word, theparaphrase may be based on modifying a superordinate or simply on unpacking themeaning of the source item, particularly if the item in question is semantically complex.E.g Source text: ….the lower mixed broadleaf forests….are the areas most assessible toand disturbed by Man

Target text (back-translated from Chinese): …the mixed broadleaf forests of the lowlandarea …are the places where human beings enter most easily and interfere most

The main advantage of the paraphrase strategy is that it achieves a high level of precision

in specifying propositional meaning One of its disadvantages is that a paraphrases doesnot have the status of a lexical item and therefore cannot convey expressive, evoked, or

any kind of associated meaning Another advantage of using this strategy is that it iscumbersome and awkward to use because it involves filling a one-item slot with anexplanation consisting of several items.

(g) Translation by omission

This strategy may sound rather drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omit translating aword or expression in some contexts If the meaning conveyed by a particular item orexpression is not vital enough to the development of the text to justify distracting thereader with lengthy explanations, translators can and often do simply omit translating theword or expression in question

(h) Translation by omission

This is a useful option if the word which lacks an equivalent in the TL refers to a physicalentity which can be illustrated, particularly if there are restrictions on space and if the texthas to remain short, concise, and to the point

I.4 Translation procedures

Translation procedures, as stated by Newmark (1988:81), are used for the translation ofsentences and smaller units of language According to Newmark there exist the followingprocedures:

The first three, called direct translation procedures, are used when structural andconceptual elements of the source language can be transposed into the target language Theother four, called oblique translation procedures, are used when structural and conceptualelements of the source language cannot be directly transposed without altering meaning orupsetting the grammatical and stylistic elements of the target language Oblique translationprocedures require that the translator have an in-depth knowledge of both languagesinvolved in the translation process For instance, transposition requires that the translatorknow it is possible to replace a word category in the target language without altering themeaning of the source language text Modulation, which is perhaps the most complex of allthe procedures, requires that the translator knows the mechanics of both source and targetlanguages as well as their respective inherent qualities

I.4.1 Borrowing

It can be said that borrowing is the simplest translation procedure of all Indeed, it wouldscarcely be a procedure of any relevance here if the translator did not occasionally need tomake use of it in order to create some particular stylistic effect To introduce an element oflocal color, foreign terms are often retained Elements of local color evoked by means ofborrowings have an effect on the style, and consequently also on the message itself It isworth noting that loans often actually enter language via translation as happens withsemantic loans or false friends against which one has to be on one’s guard

Vietnamese is a language that has so many borrowings, especially in recent times when theinfluence of foreign cultures is stronger than ever Examples of borrowings in Vietnameseare: Internet, vitamin, live show, hormone, axit, virus, dollar, email… (English), toilette,cravate, fromage, savon (French), etc

Similarly, when translating from Vietnamese into a foreign language, we have to retainsome culturally distinctive words that cannot be replaced by foreign words Eg Ao dai,pho, xich lo….

I.4.2 Calque

A calque is a loan translation of a particular kind: a complete syntactic unit is borrowed,but its individual elements are translated literally The result may be a calque ofexpression, which preserves the syntactic structure of the source language whileintroducing a new mode of expression

Eg Global warming vs sự nóng lên toàn cầu

Cold war vs chiến tranh lạnh

Trade mark vs nhãn hiệu thương mại (thương hiệu)

Superman vs siêu nhân

Call girl vs gái gọi

The White House vs Nhà trắng

The summit conference vs hội nghị thượng đỉnh

suicide bombing vs ném bom tự sát

I.4.3 Literal translation

Literal, word-for-word translation is defined as one where the resulting target language text

is grammatically correct and idiomatic, but where the translator has not needed to makeany changes other than those that are obviously required by the target language grammaritself (such as concord, inflectional endings)

Eg Kim Chi là cô gái đẹp, làm vợ thằng Tuân đúng là “hoa nhài cắm bãi cứt trâu”

 Kim Chi is a beautiful girl, and as Tuan’s wife it was certainly a case of “a sprig of

jasmine in a field of buffalo shit”

(Source: Nguyen Huy Thiep, Tuong ve huu, Material for translation studies tutorials)

In principle, literal translation is a unique solution, reversible and complete in itself It ismost commonly found in translations between closely related languages, and especiallythose having a similar culture If literal translation is often possible between French andEnglish, this is because shared metalinguistic concepts can equally well derive from aphysical co-existence, periods of bilingualism, with the conscious or unconscious imitationthat accompanies a certain intellectual or political prestige Another reason is the generalconvergence of thought, and sometimes of structure, among the European languages (such

as the creation of the definite article, the concepts of culture and civilization)

I.4.4 Transposition

Transposition means the replacing of one word-class by another, without changing themeaning of the message The procedure can also be used within a language, as inrewording: thus He announced that he would return can be reworded, with the subordinateverb becoming a noun, as He announced his return We call this second version thetransposed form, and the original one the base form In translation, two types oftransposition can be distinguished: obligatory and optional transposition

The base and transposed forms are not necessarily equivalent from the stylistic point ofview The translator must thus be prepared to carry out a transposition if the resultingversion fits better in the sentence or allows a particular stylistic nuance to be retained Thetransposed form generally has a more literary character

When translating from Vietnamese into English or vice versa, we have to use thisprocedure very often The reason is English tends to have more noun phrases whereas itsounds more Vietnamese to use verb phrases

Eg His generosity was a result of the poverty of his early years

Sự hào phóng của ông là kết quả của những năm tháng nghèo khó thời niên thiếu.

As with transposition, we can distinguish free or optional modulations from fixed ofobligatory ones An example of an obligatory modulation is the phrase “in the world”which must be rendered in Vietnamese as “trên thế giới” It is because it would soundunnatural to say “trong thế giới” A common example of an optional modulation takesplace when a negative expression in the source language becomes positive in the targetlanguage, although this is also closely linked to language specific stylistic features

Eg It is not difficult to do this

 việc này dễ thôi mà

The difference between fixed and free modulation is one of degree In the case of fixedmodulation, a competent bilingual will not hesitate to have recourse to this procedure if it

is supported by frequency of usage, total acceptance of usage, or a status established by thedictionary or a grammar book

With free modulation, no fixation has taken place and the process must be undergone anew

in each case However, this kind of modulation is not really optional in the strict sense;correctly carried out, it must result in the ideal target language solution corresponding to

the source language situation By way of comparison, one could say that a free modulationleads to a solution which makes the reader exclaim “yes, that’s just how it would be said.”Free modulation thus nevertheless tends towards a unique solution; and this uniquesolution rests on a habitual mode of thought, which is imposed and not optional Betweenfixed and free modulation, there is only a difference of degree; a free modulation may atany moment become a fixed one as soon as it becomes frequent, or as soon as it is felt to

be the unique solution (this usually happens during the examination of bilingual texts ordiscussions at a bilingual conference, or as a result of a famous translation which becomesestablished by virtue of its literary value) The evolution of free modulation into a fixedone becomes complete when it is recorded in dictionaries and grammar books, becomingsomething to be taught From that moment on, non-modulation constitutes a mistake ofusage and is condemned as such

There are several types of modulation

Concrete vs abstract: give a pint of your blood  donnez un peu de votre sang (give a little

of your blood)

Whole vs part: he shut the door in my face  il me claque la porte au nez (he shut the door

in my nose)

Part vs different part: water off a duck’s back  nước đổ đầu vịt

Converses: you can have it  je vous le laisse (I leave it to you)

Cause vs effect: baffles analysis  échappe a l’analyse (escapes analysis)

Means vs result: firewood  bois de chauffage (wood for heating)

Different sense: the rattle of a cab (sound)  le roulement d’un fiarce (movement) (therolling of a cab)

I.4.6 Total syntagmatic change

Two texts may account for the same situation by means of very different stylistic andstructural devices The change involved is usually syntagmatic, affecting the whole of themessage Most examples are thus fixed, they belong to the phraseological repertoire ofidioms, clichés, proverbs, nominal or adjectival collocations, etc proverbs typically

provide perfect illustrations of the procedure: when the cat’s away, the mice will play 

vắng chủ nhà gà vọc niêu tôm; the early bird catches the worm  trâu chậm uống nước đục And the same is true of idioms: as like as two peas  giống nhau như hai giọt

nước; promise the moon  hứa nhăng hứa cuội

I.4.7 Adaptation

This last procedure brings us to the extreme limit of translation; it is used in cases wherethe situation to which the message refers does not exist at all in the target language andmust thus be created by reference to a new situation, which is judged to be equivalent This

is therefore a question of situational equivalence

Eg Bụt lại xuất hiện, khuông mặt hiền từ như người mẹ an ủi cô: con đừng khóc

The Goddess of Mercy appeared again, with a face as sweet as a loving mother, and

comforted her: "Do not cry, my child”

(Source: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/tam.html)

In Vietnamese culture, But is understood as an old fairy man, but when ‘Tam Cam’ istranslated into English by an English author, ‘But’ is translated as ‘The Goddess ofMercy’, a female fairy figure, which is popular in English folklores

Besides the above-mentioned procedures, Baker (1992) also suggests some other strategies

to deal with the problems of non-equivalence at word level

I.4.8 Naturalisation

This is the translation procedure that succeeds transference and adapts the SL word to thenormal pronunciation, and then to the normal morphology (word-forms) of the TL, e.g.cowboy – cao bồi;

I.4.9 Cultural equivalent

This procedure is an approximate translation where the translator translates a SL cultural

word by a TL cultural word, e.g baccalaureat is translated as “A” level The translation

uses of these approximate equivalents are limited because they are not accurate, but theycan be used in general texts, publicity and propaganda, as well as for brief explanation toreaders who are ignorant of the relevant SL culture A great advantage of approximatecultural equivalents is that they have a greater pragmatic impact than culturally neutralterms; they are important in drama as they can create an immediate effect However, themain purpose of this procedure is to support or supplement another translation procedure in

a couplet

I.4.10 Functional equivalent

Functional equivalent, which is applied to cultural words, requires the use of cultural-freewords, sometimes with a new specific term Its function is to neutralise or generalise the

SL word; and sometimes add a particular, e.g baccalaureat – French secondary schoolleaving exam This procedure is the most accurate way of translating or deculturalising acultural word

This procedure is also used when a SL technical word has no TL equivalent In otherwords, this procedure fills in the gap between the SL culture and TL culture In translation

of cultural terms, this procedure is often combined with transference

I.4.11 Descriptive equivalent

To distinguish description from function, Newmark (1988) presented an example: Samurai

is described as ‘the Japanese aristocracy from the eleventh to the nineteenth century’; itsfunction was ‘to provide officers and administrators’ Generally, description and functionare essential elements in translation

I.4.12 Reduction and expansion

Reduction and expansion are rather imprecise translation procedures, which the translatorpractises intuitively in some cases and purposedly in others There is, however, at least oneshift for any procedure

E.g (1) SL adjective of substance plus general noun, TL noun: science linguitique –linguistics

(2) For expansion, a not uncommon shift is SL adjective, TL adverb plus past participle:cheveux egaux – evenly cut hair

I.4.13 Combination

Couplets, triplets, quadruplets are the combinations of two, three or four of the proceduresfor dealing with a single problem These combinations are particularly in the translation ofcultural words in which transference is combined with a functional or a cultural equivalent