Using translation methods and procedures in teaching English-Vietnamese translation for students of Lang Son College of Education

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* HOÀNG THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG Using translation me

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

HOÀNG THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG

Using translation methods and procedures in teaching

English-Vietnamese translation for students of

Lang Son College of Education

Ứng dụng phương pháp và thủ thuật dịch vào dạy dịch Anh-Việt cho

Sinh viên trường Cao đẳng sư phạm Lạng sơn

M.A MINOR PROGRAMMETHESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTIC CODE: 8220201.01

Hanoi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

******  ******

HOÀNG THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG

Using translation methods and procedures in teaching

English-Vietnamese translation for students of

Lang Son College of Education

Ứng dụng phương pháp và thủ thuật dịch vào dạy dịch Anh-Việt cho

Sinh viên trường Cao đẳng sư phạm Lạng sơn

M.A MINOR PROGRAMMETHESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTIC

CODE: 8220201.01

SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Dr Le Hung Tien

Hanoi, 2018

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project

report entitled Using translation methods and procedures in teaching English-Vietnamese translation for students of Lang Son College of Education(Ứng dụng phương pháp và thủ thuật dịch vào dạy dịch Anh- Việt cho Sinh viên trường Cao đẳng sư phạm Lạng sơn.) submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Lang Son, 2018

Hoang Thi Huong Giang

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Assoc Prof Dr Le Hung Tien

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number of people

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Le Hung Tien, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through

my growth as an academic researcher

A special word of thanks goes to all the lectures of the Master course at Hanoi National University and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family, my friends for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

ABSTRACT

The ability to choose the correct translation methods and procedures is

an indispensable skill; therefore it is essential for translation students to be aware of why particular methods and procedures are used The study aimed at exploring the difficulties that face the students of Lang Son College of Education in the translation process from English to Vietnamese The researcher attempted to find suitable translation methods and procedures that applied for English major students at Lang Son College of Education The author followed an action research in the study and designed survey questionnaire and a test in order to explore the difficulties and problems that face these students There are eight survey questionnaires, three interview questions and a test The study was conducted on the English students of DK7-NNA at Lang Son College of Education that applied the suitable statistical methods in the research At the end of the study, the researcher offered numerous recommendations and suggestions

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students‟ attitude toward translation course

Table 2: The biggest challenge that students have to face when translating a passage from English to Vietnamese

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES iv

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 3

5 Organization of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1 1 Translation definition 4

1.2 Types of translation 5

1.2.1 Word-for-word translation 5

1.2.2 Literal translation 5

1.2 3 Faithful translation 6

1.2.4 Semantic translation 6

1.2.5 Adaptation translation 6

1.2.6 Free translation 7

1.2.7 Idiomatic translation 7

1.2.8 Communicative translation: 7

1.3 Translation process 7

1.4 Translation principles 8

1.5 Translation Equivalence 8

1.6 Translation procedures and methods 11

1.7 Translation strategies 16

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 19

2.1 Research aims 19

2.2 Research participants 19

2.3 Research methods 19

2.3.1 What is “Action research”? 20

2.3.2 Steps for doing action research 21

2.4 Data collection instruments 22

2.4.1 Research questionnaires 22

2.4.2 The interview questions: 23

2.4.3 Test 23

CHAPTER III: MAIN FINDINGS 25

3.1 Problem identification 25

3.1.1 General information about English major and translation courses at Lang Son College of Education 25

3.1.2 Students‟ attitude toward translation course 26

3.1.3 Problems students faced while learning English-Vietnamese translation 27

3.1.4 Students‟ expectation to translation course 31

3.2 Plan of action 34

3.3 Data collection 35

3.4 Analysis of data 35

3 5 Plan for future action 45

PART C: CONCLUSION 46

1 Overview and summary of the thesis 46

2 The meanings of the thesis 47

3 Suggestions for further research and final comments 47

REFERENCES 50 APPENDIX I

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Translation plays an increasingly important role of people life, when the process of integration is taking place almost everywhere in the world Despite the fact that English has a far and wide reach today, the impact of local culture and language remains as strong as ever With the growth of Internet and communications technology, it is relatively easier to reach audiences that are thousands of miles away purely on the back of effective translation This in turn has resulted in a need for translation in diverse fields such as education, mass communication, science and technology, literature, tourism, religion, trade and business, etc

However, it is extremely difficult for students to have a valid translation because a good translation depends on a large variety of factors Moreover, students have to face some problems during translating texts First

of all, the topic of the text, it may involve in many fields in culture and social such as: politic, art, music, sport, entertainment, nature, travel, ethnic, religion, tale, idiom…Another one is grammar and vocabulary The words that are really hard to translate are frequently the small, common words, whose precise meaning depends heavily on context Besides, some words are untranslatable when one wishes to remain in the same grammatical category The question of whether particular words are untranslatable is frequently debated For example, it isn't easily to translate a poetry because you need to analyze the words and meaning and after the flow and rhythm Poetry's most translations are bad Sometimes students lack of words and structures to express the meaning of the sentences In addition, students‟ general knowledge is limited so they are difficult to translate some specific aspects This is principally because the translatorknows the foreign language too well and his or her native language too poorly In addition, the differences of

discourse between a source language and a target language make the process

of translating a real challenge Among the problematic factors involved in translation such as form, meaning, style, proverbs, idioms, etc., Moreover, the methods and procedures are used in students‟ translating is limited, this mean that it is extremely hard to have a good translation Therefore, it is necessary

to apply suitable methods and procedures for English major students and help them to find out what methods and procedures should be used to have good translation The thesis is going to concentrate mainly on the translation methods and procedures which should be used for English major students in translating texts at Lang Son College of Education

2 Aims of the study

The study is carried out with the following aims:

-Finding out whether the specific translation methods and procedures that influence students‟ learning translation

- Finding out how students‟ translation skill is improved

The thesis answers these questions:

-Do these methods and procedures improve students‟ translation?

-Does this course effect on students‟ learning translation?

3 Scope of the study

This study aims at exploring translation methods and procedures for translating, which were proposed by famous names in translation, such as Peter Newmark, Catford, Mona Baker, Vinay and Darbelnet and is expected

to offer practical advice for major students with detailed and suitable of the strategies used in translation

However, because of limitation of time and my knowledge, my study could not cover all aspects of this theme I only focus on English – Vietnamese translation methods and procedures used for an English translation course at Lang Son College of Education

4 Methods of the study

Being an English teacher at Lang Son College of Education, after years

of teaching translation, I found that students at our College needed to find a suitable translation methods and procedures in learning process To complete this study, I used action research that applied for an English translation course

at Lang Son College of Education

5 Organization of the study

Besides the Introduction and Conclusion, my study consists of 3 main chapters:

The first chapter focuses on the theoretical background of concept of translation, types of translation, principles of translation, process of translation and methods and procedures of translation

The second chapter describes the methodology of doing this thesis in details It shows the aims, participants, methods and how to collect and analysis information

The third chapter is the main findings In this chapter, I will give the reality of learning and teaching English – Vietnamese translation at Lang Son College of Education and then suggest some suitable translation methods and procedures

According to Advanced Oxford Dictionary, translation is the process

of changing something that is written or spoken into another language

Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in another language (target language) (Catford, 1965)

Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise called a "translation" that communicates the same message in another language The text to be translated is called the "source text" and the language that it is to be translated into is called the "target language"; the final product is sometimes called the

"target text" (Wikipedia)

Translation is a transfer process, which aims at the transformation

of written source language text into an optimally equivalent target language text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the source language (Wilss, 1982)

Translation is the expression in another language (target language) of what has been expressed in one language (source language), preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences (Bell.R., 1991)

These concepts support the idea that translation is a complex process I require theoretical knowledge as well as practical experiences

The forms are referred to as the surface structure of a language It is a structural part of a language, which is actually seen in print or heard speech

In translation, the form of the receptor or target language replaces the form of the source language But how is this change accomplished? What determines the choice of form in the translation?

1.2 Types of translation

Practically, there are some kinds of translation that have their own characteristics and forms Some kinds of translation are found because of the differences and similarities of the source structures, different kinds of text that are going to be translated and different purpose of translation Newmark states that translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language Newmark (1988, p.45-47) classifies translation methods into eight methods as follows:

1.2.1 Word-for-word translation

This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the target language immediately below the source language words The source language word -order is preserved and the words are translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context

Culture words are translated literally The main use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the meaning of the SL or to construct a difficult text as a pre-translation process For example:

Source text:This is a big city

Target text: Đây là một lớn thành phố

1.2.2 Literal translation

Here the source language grammatical constructions are translated to their nearest target language equivalents but the lexical words are translated singly, out of context A literal translation sounds like nonsense and has little communicative values For example:

Source text: The project was implemented thank to the assistance of the

Source text: He runs as fast as a kangaroo

Target text: Anh ấy chạy nhanh như một con kangaroo

1.2.4 Semantic translation

This type of translation takes into account the aesthetic values of the source language text It may translate less important cultural words by culturally neutral third or functional forms but not by cultural equivalents For example:

Source text: Enjoy your stay!

Target text: Chúc ông bà có kì nghỉ tuyệt vời!

1.2.5 Adaptation translation

The freest form of translation, and is used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the source language culture is converted to the target language culture and the text is rewritten For example:

Source text: Mai cốt cách, tuyết tinh thần

Mỗi người một vẻ, mười phân vẹn mười

Target text: Both with apricot bodies and snow spirits,

Each had their unique style and perfect beauty

1.2.6 Free translation

It adds extraneous information which is not stated in source text It changes the meaning of source language; it distorts the fact of the historical and cultural setting of the source text For example:

Source text: To reduce USD dollar rate the present 2.5 percent to 2 percent Target text: Tỉ giá đồng đô la Mỹ hiện tại giảm từ 2,5 xuống còn 2 phần trăm

1.2.7 Idiomatic translation

It reproduces the message of the source text but tend to distort nuances

of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms For example:

Source text: It rained cats and dogs yesterday

Target text: Hôm qua trời mưa như trút nước

1.2.8 Communicative translation:

This method attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership For example:

Source text: Hello, Mrs Lan!

Target text: Cô ạ!

1.3 Translation process

To translate a text, translator needs some processes Some experts classified it to many kinds of process based on their understanding about it Newmark (1988, p.21-24) proposed two kinds of approach to translate:

+ Start to translate sentence by sentence, the first paragraph or chapter,

to get feel and the feeling tone of the text, then review the position and read the rest of the second language text

+ Read the whole text two or three times, and find the intention, register, tone, mark the difficult words and passage and start translating only when you have taken your bearings

Nida and Taber propose the process of translation and its illustration as follows:

The system of translation consists of a more elaborate procedures comprising, three stages:

+ Analysis, in which the surface structure is analyzed in terms of the grammatical relationship and the meanings of the words and combination of words

+ Transfer, in which the analyzed materials is transferred in the mind of the translator from language A to language B, and

+ Restructuring, in which the transferred materials is restructured in order to make the final message fully acceptable in the receptor language

have caused heated controversy, and many different theories of the concept of equivalence have been elaborated within this problem Translation equivalence occurs when a source language and a target language text or item are relatable to (at least some of) the same features of substance The greater the number of situational features common to the contextual meanings of source language and target language texts, the “better” the translation According to Peter Newmark, translation equivalence is an unwritten rule about translation which people know and which influences the form of translating exchange “Translation equivalence will not be achieved word for word, collocation for collocation, clause for clause, sentence for sentence, but possibly only paragraph for paragraph, or, rarely, text for text For this reason, translation equivalence, like the term „unit of translation‟, is sometimes a useful operational concept, but it can be only roughly and approximately indicated for a stretch of language.” (p.123) Mentioning translation equivalence, Eugene Nida (1969, p.26) distinguishes two types of equivalence: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence Formal equivalence focuses attention on the message itself, in both form (poetry to poetry, sentence to sentence, concept and concept) and content (gloss translation, aim to allow the reader to understand as much of the source language context as possible) However, dynamic equivalence is based on the principle of equivalent effect, i.e that the relationship between receiver and message should aim at being the same as that between the original receivers and the source language message J.C Catford (1965, p.47) claims that source language and target language texts or items are translation equivalents when they are interchangeable in a given situation Catford's approach to translation equivalence clearly differs from that adopted by Nida since Catford had a preference for a more linguistic-based approach to translation and this approach is based on the linguistic work of Firth and Halliday Catford proposed very broad types of translation in terms of three criteria: the extent

of translation (full translation vs partial translation); the grammatical rank at which the translation equivalence is established (rank bound translation vs unbounded translation); the levels of language involved in translation (total translation vs restricted translation) Moreover, Popovic(1995, p.25) distinguishes translation equivalence into four types: (1) Linguistic equivalence, where there is homogeneity on the linguistic level of both source language and target language texts, i.e word for word translation (2) Paradigmatic equivalence, where there is equivalence of the elements of a paradigmatic expressive axis, i.e elements of grammar, which Popovic sees

as being a higher category than lexical equivalence (3) Stylistic (translational) equivalence, where there is “functional equivalence of elements in both original and translation aiming at an expressive identity with

an invariant of identical meaning” (4) Textual (syntagmatic) equivalence, where there is equivalence of the syntagmatic structuring of a text, i.e equivalence of form and shape In trying to solve the problem of translation equivalence, Newbert postulates that translation equivalence must be considered a semiotic category consisting of the components (syntactic, semantic and pragmatic) These components are arranged in a hierarchical relationship, where semantic equivalence takes priority over syntactic equivalence and pragmatic 11 equivalence conditions and modifies both the other elements Equivalence overall results from the relation between signs themselves, the relationship between signs what they stand for and those who use them In general, to achieve translation equivalence requires translators 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 The translation equivalence is showed in some rules and principles which are very useful for the translators The focus is to assure the equivalence in translation of participants for translating to take place smoothly and effectively These principles help people best achieve their goals not only in communication but

also in translating: exchanging information and establishing and maintaining

social relations

1.6 Translation procedures and methods

There are some differences between the methods and procedures of translation Translation methods relate to the entire text, while translation procedures apply in sentences and the smaller unit of language such as clauses, phrases, and words

Translation procedures are very important in process of finishing translation There are some translation procedures which the writer quoted from the experts The following are the different translation procedures that Newmark, one of the most popular translation scholars, (1988,p.144) proposed:

- Transference: it is the process of transferring a source language word

to a target language text It includes transliteration and is the same as what Harvey (2005, p.5)named “transcription”

- Naturalization: it adapts the source language word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal morphology of the target language

- Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the source language with target language one However, “they are not accurate.”

- Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a cultural-neutral word

- Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure, the meaning of the based translation is explained in several words

cultural Componential analysis: it means “comparing a source language word

language word which has a similar meaning but is not an obvious oneequivalent, by demonstrating first their common and then their differing sense components.”

one-to Synonym: it is a “near target language equivalent” Here economy trumps accuracy

- Through-translation:it is the literal translation of commoncollocations, names of organizations and components of compounds It can be called: claque or loan translation

- Shifts or transpositions: Transposition, or shift as Catford calls it, reflects the grammatical change that occurs in translation from source language to target language According to Newmark, it involves a change

in the grammar form source language to target language, for instance, (i) change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific source language structure does not exist in the target language, (iii) change of a source language verb to a target language word, (iv) change of a source language noun group to a target language noun and so forth

- Modulation: With Newmark, it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in the source language text in conformity with the current norms of the target language, since the source language and the target language may appear dissimilar in terms of perspective

- Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator “normally uses the official or the generally accepted translation of any institutional term.”

- Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is compensated in another part

-Paraphrase: in the procedure, the meaning of the cultural-based translation is explained Here the explanation is much more detailed than that

language, they can employ either a parallel category or a parallel concept to convey the meaning of the source text This can be accomplished with one of

the following direct translation procedures:

- Borrowing: This is the simplest of all the procedures used for

translation, involves using foreign phrasing in the target language It is a

transfer of a source language term into the target language without translating

it Borrowed terms can be proper names or cultural terms…

E.g:

Source text: He is humorous like Mr Bean

Target text: Ông ấy hài hước như Mr Bean vậy

- Calque: Calque is special of borrowing in which the target language

borrows an expression from the source language by translating literally each

of the original elements Calque usually occurs at the phrase or sentence level and consists of imposing the structural, semantic or stylistic features of source language or target language Calque may conclude two types: lexical calque and structural calque Lexical calque preserves the syntactic structure of the target language, but at the same time introduces a new mode of expression Structural calque introduces a new construction into the language

E.g:

Source text: to have breakfast

Target text: ăn sáng

- Literal translation: Literal translation, or word for word translation,

relies on the direct transfer of a text from the source language into a grammatical and meaningful text in target language Using this procedure, the translator focuses on predominantly on adhering to the linguistic rules of the target language In literal translation, the words and phrases of the source language are translated taking no account of the context but respecting the syntactic structure of target language

E.g:

Source text: She usually watches television in the evening

Target text: Cô ấy thường xem ti vi vào buổi tối

Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/2000) note that due to structural and metalinguistic differences between languages certain stylistic effects are unattainable without upsetting the lexis or the syntactic order in the target language In such case, more complex methods must be employed to convey the meaning of the source text Although at a cursory glance they might look

fairy sophisticated, or even unusual, the Oblique translation procedures allow

translators to exert a strict control over the reliability of their efforts:

- Transposition: Transposition is changing grammatical structure of

source language with different form in target language There are transpositions that Machali stated about:

+ Automatic transposition: the translator has not any option beside to

do it, because of the language system and grammatical rules

+ Transposition conducted when the grammatical structure in source language text is not equivalent in target language text

+ Transposition conducted when the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but may not accord with the natural usage in the target language This transposition offers translator a plenty of possible version

+ Transposition conducted to fill up the gaps of lexical words

- Modulation: Modulation is a change of the meaning that is caused by

a shift of perspective or point of view There are obliged modulation and free modulation:

+ Obliged modulation must be done if there are no equivalent words, phrases or structures in target language

+ Free modulation is process of translation which is being done because

of nonlinguistic aspect It is conducted to make the clearest meaning, or to make the target language text so natural or familiar

- Equivalence: Equivalence deals with situation The message is taken

as a whole A target language equivalent should usually carry the same emotive weight as that of the source language expression and at the same time

is understood by the target language reader

+ Cultural equivalence: this is approximate translation where a source language cultural word is translated by a target language cultural word

+ Functional equivalence: these common procedures, applied to cultural words, require the use of a culture-free word, sometimes with a new specific term; therefore, neutralizes or generalizes the source language word; and sometimes adds a particular thus

+ Descriptive equivalence: In translation, description sometimes has to

be high against function

- Adaptation: This procedure is the extreme limit of translation It

consists of conveying an identical message depicting an analogous situation in the target language to that in the source language It may be used when a situation in the source language text does not exist in the target language

Another commonly used form of active pedagogy in translation classroom is cooperative learning Cooperative learning represents the most carefully structured end of the collaborative learning continuum In the field

of translation teaching, little research has been conducted on cooperative learning An exception is GerdingSalas (2000) recommendation for structured workshop activities called the This structured workshop includes a step-by-step procedure that has been motivation, productivity and work quality The most recent application of the cooperative approach in a translation classroom was conducted by the research team of Stewart, Orban and Kornelius (2010) This research group called the use of the cooperative method in a translation class Students are placed in groups of three to four and they complete a translation task in a realistic professional translation environment One of the main objectives of this research is to examine Stewart et al (2010) claim that

cooperative translation receives positive responses from students and is well suited for translating ordinary texts into native language

In brief, there are different methods of translation and each method has its own strong and weak points A good translator, then, is a person who flexibly applies the suitable method or effectively combines these methods in his or her texts

1.7 Translation strategies

Another popular translation scholar whose work on translation practice

is widely adopted is Mona Baker (1992), pointed out 8 strategies for dealing with non-equivalence at word level

Translation by a more general word (super ordinate):this is one of thecommonest 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

Translation by a more neutral/less expressive word: this is also one

of the commonest ways to set the equivalence between two or more languages

by using a word or phrase to get the general meaning

Translation by cultural substitution: This strategy involves replacing a culture-specific item or expression with a target-language item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is likely to have a similar impact on the target reader

Translation by using a loan word or loan word plus explanation: this strategy is particularly common in dealing with culture-specific items, modern concepts, and buzz words Following the loan word with an explanation is very useful when the word in questions repeated several times in the text Once explained the loan word then can be used on its own; the reader can understand it and it is not distracted by further lengthy explanation

Translation by paraphrase using a related word: this strategy tends to be used when the concept expressed by the source item is lexicalized in the target language 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 target language

Translation by paraphrase using unrelated word:if the conceptexpressed

by the source item is not lexicalized at all in the target language, the paraphrase strategy can still be used in some contexts Instead of a related word, the paraphrased may be based on modifying the super ordinate or simply on unpacking the meaning of the source item, particularly if the item

in question semantically complex

Translation by omission: this strategy may sound rather drastic, but in fact it does no harm to omit translating a word or expression in some contexts

If the meaning convey by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to thedevelopment of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy

explanations, translators can and often do simply omit translating the word

or expression in question

Translate by illustration: this is a useful option if the word which lacks

an equivalent in the target language refers to a physical entity which can be illustrated, particularly if there are restrictions on space and if the text has to remain short, concise, and to the point

At the syntactic level, Catford (1965), another well-known translation studies scholar suggests examining “shifts”, he defines them as departures from formal correspondence in the process of going from the source language

to the target language Catford argues that there are two main types of translation shifts, namely level shifts, where the source language item at one linguistic level (e.g grammar) has a target language equivalent at a different level (e.g lexis), and category shifts which are divided into four types:

+ Structure shifts,which involve a grammatical change between thestructure of the source text and that of the target text;

+ Class-shifts, when a source language item is translated with a target language which belongs to a different grammatical class, i.e a verb may be translated with a noun;

+ Unit-shifts, which involve changes in rank;

+ Intra-system shifts, which occur when source language and target language possess systems which approximately correspond formally as to their constitution, but when translation involves selection of a non-corresponding term in the target language system For instance, when the source language singular becomes a target language plural

The theoretical background are considered an useful instrument for researching because It is a available sourse for researcher in carrying out the studies in these kind of fields The research focus on using translation methods and procedures for improving students‟ translation skills thereforce the translation course needs to apply many theories related to the aspects They were used for designing the course and planning the action.The methods and procedures were given can help students get better understanding of translation and suport for students in having valid translations Moreover, the theories play an important role in insreasing the application of translation theory in teaching, learning and researching

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research aims

This study aims:

- To survey problems students faced while learning Vietnamese translation and their expectation to the translation course

English To find out the specific translation methods and procedures that influence students‟ learning translation

- To show how students‟ translation skill is improved after being taught some useful translation methods and procedures

This study answers these questions:

-Do these methods and procedures effect on students‟ learning translation?

2.2 Research participants

The subjects of the thesis are 40 students of English major in three classes at Lang Son College of Education but only one class DK7-NNA including 10 students is taken part in English – Vietnamese translation course which used some useful methods and procedures that I am researching in this thesis

2.3 Research methods

Beside the quantitative and qualitative method which are used to collect and analyze the data and the library research which is used for literature review, in which different methods and procedures are presented, the main method in this study is an action research which applied for a class DK7-NNA including 10 students at Lang Son College of Education to find out the most suitable methods and procedures in English –Vietnamese translation

2.3.1 What is “Action research”?

Action research is deliberate, solution oriented investigation that is collectively or personally owned and conducted It is characterized by spiraling cycles of problem identification, systematic data collection, reflection, analysis, data-driven action taken, and, finally, problem redefinition The linking of the terms "action" and "research" highlights the essential features of this method: trying out ideas in practice as a means of increasing knowledge about and/or improving curriculum, teaching, and learning

The concept of action research can be traced back to the early works of John Dewey in the 1920s and Kurt Lewin in the 1940s It is Stephen Corey and others at Teachers College of Columbia University who introduced the term action research to the educational community in 1949 Corey defined action research as the process through which practitioners study their own practice to solve their personal practical problems

Very often action research is a collaborative activity where practitioners work together to help one another design and carry out investigations in their classrooms According to John Elliott, teacher action research is "concerned with the everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the 'theoretical problems' defined by pure researchers within a discipline of knowledge" (Elliott, cited in Nixon, 1987) Research is designed, conducted, and implemented by the teachers themselves to improve teaching in their own classrooms, sometimes becoming a staff development project in which teachers establish expertise in curriculum development and reflective teaching

2.3.2 Steps for doing action research

Step 1 - Problem identification:

- Why do you want to do study this topic?

Step 2 - Plan of action:

- Will you develop and implement a new strategy or approach to address your question?

- What data do you need to learn about your question?

Step 3 - Data collection:

- What, why, when, where, and how will you collect your data?

- How will you ensure that you have multiple perspectives?

Step 4 - Analysis of data:

- What can you learn from the data?

- What patterns, insights, and new understandings can you find?

Step 5 - Plan for future action:

- What will you do differently in your classroom as a result of this study?

- How will you write about what you have learned so that the findings will be useful to you and to others?

These steps are not always completed in this sequence and we may loop back through some steps several times And in the next chapter II will show my action research in details

2.4 Data collection instruments

2.4.1 Research questionnaires

A carefully designed questionnaire for students about the reality of studying written translation and their difficulties in studying this kind of subject The questionnaires were designed based on the specific context of the school and the ability of students in learning translation

In this study, the questionnaire consists of 8 questions written in English 40 copies were delivered to the English major students of 3 classes, and copies were collected The aims of those questions can be described as follow:

The question(1) was to find out the students‟ attitude towards translation course It was for seeking students‟ feelings in studying written translation, whether they find translation easy or difficult, interesting or not The question (2) was used to explore the biggest challenge that students have to face when translating a text from English to Vietnamese To know more about how the students study written translation, the next group of three questions were designed with the following detail Question (3) was used to explore the way that the students usually apply when they encounter a new word arising from the original translation text To know whether the students have a preparation before class or not and how they do to prepare the new lesson, question (4) was designed to clarify that What students usually

do after they finish their translation was the content of question (5).Question (6) was to seek for the methods that the students usually apply to improve their translation skill Question (7) was on survey to get more information about the students‟ point of view on the factors influence on their interest in translation In order to know what students think about the importance of teacher and teaching method, whether the teacher with his teaching method affects the students‟ interest in studying translation or not, question (8) was designed as well

2.4.2 The interview questions:

In order to make the study more reliable, the researcher planned to design extra interview questions to get more information about the students‟ difficulties and expectations in learning the subject as well as their suggestions for the teacher and his teaching method via directly interviewing activities

Question (1) was to get more information about the students‟ difficulties in translating a text from English into Vietnamese

Question (2) was asked to know more clearly about the methods and procedures that students used in translating a text from English into Vietnamese

Exploring about the students‟ expectations in learning written translation subject(ex: teacher‟s behavior, teaching methods, teaching materials, etc.) is the purpose of question (3)

2.4.3 Test

In order to test the result of translation course that applied for 10 English major students at DK7-NNA at Lang Son College of Education, I designed a test to compare the quality of translation between two courses: one normal translation course and the other that applied some useful methods and procedures in learning translation process After doing the test, students have

to write a report about translation techniques that they used in translating the test The test consists of seven questions and 58 items Each question represents and deals with a kind of translation to show the level of difficulty

Question 3 refers to translating the sentences related to tenses

Question 4 refers to translating the sentences related to modals

Question 5 refers to translating the sentences related to adjectives and adverbs

Question 6 refers to translating the sentences related to clauses

Question 7 refers to translating the sentences related to proverbs, block language and newspaper headlines

In summary, this chapter is about the aspect of methodology of the study such as research questions; research participants who directly participated in the study including the researchers and the subjects of the study; data collection instruments including the questionnaire, the interview questions and the test which are going to be solved in the next chapter- chapter 3: results and suggestions

CHAPTER III: MAIN FINDINGS 3.1 Problem identification

3.1.1 General information about English major and translation courses

at Lang Son College of Education

English major is one of three main majors at Foreign Language Faculty

at Lang Son College of Education There are three English major courses including 40 students Each course consists of 15 to 20 students The number

of teachers who are taking part in teaching translation includes 5 teachers All

of them now have master in English degree There are three translation subjects in the course: Translation 1(3 credits), translation 2(3 credits) and translation 3(4 credits)

In translation 1, students make familiar with translation course They will be able to practice "reflective translation" through short work assignments in the classroom with a time limit to increase the ability to analyze sentences and paragraphs Students understand about academic writing and journalism related to advanced grammar In this subject, teachers provide the necessary skill, basic methods, and translation techniques for students

In translation 2, students can enhance the translation quality and speed

of translation In this subject, students will increase their technical vocabulary, fixed structures, and how to handle difficult structures when compiling They are able to translate and learn how to translate difficult sentences into complex sentences; localization , advanced grammar

In translation 3, students will improve the quality of translation and translation speed at high level in the translation process Students will increase their technical vocabulary, difficult structures, and handle hard structures, and analyze high-level texts in the compiler