Some recommendations to improve translation skill for students majoring in the English language at department of foreign languages – Saigon University

Translation - Interpretation is an important orientation for students majoring in the English Language and English Language Teacher Education at Department of Foreign Languages - Saigon University. Students have three modules to cover: Introduction to Translation and Interpretation, Translation module and Interpretation module. All are taught to students after they gather a considerate amount of language knowledge, mainly in the third and fourth academic year.

ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY

Email: tcdhsg@sgu.edu.vn ; Website: http://sj.sgu.edu.vn/

MỘT SỐ ĐỀ XUẤT GIÚP CẢI THIỆN KỸ NĂNG DỊCH THUẬT

CHO SINH VIÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI

KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ – ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN

Some recommendations to improve translation skill for students majoring in the English language at department of foreign languages – Saigon University

ThS Đặng Quỳnh Liên

Trường Đại học Sài Gòn

TÓM TẮT

Biên - phiên dịch là định hướng quan trọng đối với sinh viên các chuyên ngành Ngôn ngữ Anh và Sư phạm tiếng Anh tại Khoa Ngoại ngữ, Trường Đại học Sài Gòn Sinh viên phải hoàn thành ba học phần: nhập môn dịch thuật và biên dịch, kỹ năng biên dịch và kỹ năng phiên dịch Sinh viên học ba học phần này sau khi tích lũy được một khối lượng kiến thức ngôn ngữ đáng kể, chủ yếu vào năm thứ ba và thứ

tư Từ các phương pháp và thủ pháp phổ biến trong dịch thuật, người viết xin trình bày một số đề xuất trong quá trình biên dịch để nâng cao chất lượng bản dịch cho sinh viên

Từ khóa: định hướng dịch thuật, phương pháp dịch thuật, quy trình dịch thuật

ABSTRACT

Translation - Interpretation is an important orientation for students majoring in the English Language and English Language Teacher Education at Department of Foreign Languages - Saigon University Students have three modules to cover: Introduction to Translation and Interpretation, Translation module and Interpretation module All are taught to students after they gather a considerate amount of language knowledge, mainly in the third and fourth academic year However, students are still facing many difficulties during practice process Based on some translation methods and procedures, I would like to present some recommendations in translation process in order to improve the quality of their translations

Keywords: translation orientation, translation methods, translation procedures

1 Introduction

Nowadays, the demand for conversion

of two languages, especially Vietnamese

and English, is increasing with a noticeable

speed due to higher and higher needs

of social exchange and development This

requires research and resolution on

translation issues not only in practical

aspect but also in scientific reasoning

basis, in other words, translation theories

According to several translators, in translation, language knowledge plays a very important role; it helps to analyze exactly what are involved in the translation process from one language to another

In the framework of formal university training program of Department of Foreign Languages - Saigon University, students at their third and fourth academic year have to cover three modules in the

Translation - Interpretation orientation

They are Introduction to Translation and

Interpretation module, Translation module

and Interpretation module They are

taught to students at their third and

fourth academic year when the students

accumulate a considerate amount of

language knowledge However, students

still encounter various problems during

practice process Based on some translation

methods and procedures and due to time

limitation, I would like to present some

recommendations in only translation

process in order to improve the quality of

their translations

2 What is translation?

There are many viewpoints presented

by researchers on translation concept

during its developing history

Translation is usually known as the

process of transferring meaning from the

source language into the target language

Jeremy Munday (2001:4) states: “The

process of translation between two

different written languages involves the

translator changing an original written text

(the source text or ST) in the original

verbal language (the source language or

SL) into a written text (the target text or

TT) in a different verbal language (the

target language or TL) According to

Larson (1998:5), translation is the research

of vocabulary, structures, communication

situations and cultural context of source

language, analyzing text to define meaning,

then using vocabulary and appropriate

structures in target language in order to

restructure the text in target language

However, Newmark (1988:5) states that

translation is rendering the meaning of a

text into another language in the way

that the author intended the text

In general, translation, as the process

of conveying messages across linguistic and cultural barriers, is an eminently communicative activity A diagram of the communicative relationship in the process

of translation shows that the translator is both receiver and emitter, the end and the beginning of two separate but linked chains

of communication:

Author - Text - Receiver - Translator Receiver -Receiver -Text Receiver -Receiver -Receiver

In translation from the source language into the target language, translator needs a translation way or a translation strategy Some translation theorists call them translation methods such as Newmark (1988:45) and others regard them as translation procedures such as Nida (1964) However, Newmark believes that translation methods relate to full documents, while translation procedures are used in sentences and smaller language units

3 Some common translation methods

Newmark (1988: 45-48) states that there are eight translation methods as follows:

3.1 Word- For- Word translation

This is the method of converting source language into target language just by serial translation way: word to word, clause

to clause and sentence to sentence The source language word-order is preserved and the words translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context Cultural words are translated literally This method of translation is normally effective only for short simple sentences, for example, “I play basketball every day” for

“Tôi chơi bóng rổ mỗi ngày.”

3.2 Literal translation

Grammatical structures of the source language are converted to their nearest equivalences in the target language but vocabularies are translated in the most common meaning, out of context This

method is used as a pre-translation process and

ranges from word to word, phrase to phrase,

clause to clause and sentence to sentence

3.3 Free translation

This is translation method which

translators get out of source language’s

constraints, use target language to

paraphrase the meaning of the source

language in a natural way and match target

language’s context and culture This is the

reason why by this method, the translation

is often longer than the original

The advantage of this translation

method is that the translation sounds more

natural On the contrary, its disadvantage is

that as being free, different variations as

compared to the original meaning usually

happen, especially for documents with

spiritual feature such as philosophy,

theology and literature

3.4 Adaptation

Modulation method means a variation

in the message due to a change in the point

of view: understand something in another

viewpoint This method is suitable when

translating literally or transposing so that

we have one correct grammar translated

sentence but does not sound naturally in

target language In modulation method, we

can differentiate free/optional modulation

from fixed/obligatory modulation

3.5 Idiomatic translation

Metaphor is a method which uses a

specific object that literally implies

something figuratively Idiom also has the

same character of insinuation Metaphor and

idiom are often local, national (cultural);

although it is possible to translate, it is

unlikely that strangers will understand the

meaning, if not attach annotation

3.6 Faithful translation

A faithful translation attempts to

reproduce the precise contextual meaning

of the original within the constraints of the target language’s grammatical structures

It “transfers” cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical

“abnormality” in the translation It tries to

be completely faithful to the intentions of the source language writer This method is used often in documents that need to be completely correct such as economic contracts or legal documents

3.7 Sematic translation

Semantic translation is written at the author’s linguistic level It is personal and individual, follows the thought processes of the author, tends to over-translate, pursues nuances of meaning, yet aims at concision

in order to reproduce pragmatic impact

3.8 Communicative translation

On the contrary, communicative translation is written at the readership’s linguistic level It is social, concentrates on the message and the main force of the text, tends to under-translate, to be clear, simple and brief and is always written in a natural and resourceful style

For example:

The source language text: “'I never hear or read the name of Yarmouth (name

of a town) but I am reminded of a certain Saturday on the beach ' (extracted from

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens) Semantic translation: Tôi không bao

giờ nghe hoặc đọc đến tên 'Yarmouth' mà tôi lại không nhớ đến một sáng thứ bảy nào

đó trên bãi biển ( không bao giờ mà lại không )

Communicative Translation: Cứ mỗi

lần nghe hoặc đọc đến tên 'Yarmouth' thì tôi lại nhớ đến một sáng thứ bảy nào đó trên bãi biển (Cứ mỗi lần thì lại ) From my perspective, translator should avoid Word-for-Word translation and Literal translation If the source language

text is too difficult to translate, we can

use Literal method as a pre-translation

process, and then restructure the text in the

target language For novels or literature

documents, we can apply Free translation

or Adaptation In economy, education,

health and other social sectors, Faithful

translation can be applied

If the emphasis is on the source

language, Word-for-Word translation,

Literal translation, Faithful translation and

Semantic translation are used On the

contrary, Adaptation, Free translation,

Idiomatic translation and Communication

translation are applied in case the translator

focuses on the target language

4 Some recommendations in the

translation process

Based on the translation methods

discussed above and in order to prevent

mistakes in translation, I would like to

recommend following principles so that we

can enhance translation skill:

1- Before translating a document,

make sure to read it carefully, highlight

difficult-to-translate or

not-understand-meaning paragraphs Please keep in mind

that a word/ phrase may have many

different meanings and expressions,

therefore, translator should direct towards

the meaning which author is referring to in

order to translate correctly

2- During translation process, in order

to accurately express translated meaning

from Vietnamese into English or vice

versa, use the correct English / Vietnamese

synonym phrase, also use equivalences to

translate phrases and idioms accurately

For example: "Carry coals to

Newcastle" -> "Chở than đá về Newcastle"=

"chở củi về rừng" (carry coals to the forest)

(Newcastle is a city in England which is

also the World's largest coal exporting port,

it means do not bring back something to an

overabundant place) Or “Ngưu tầm ngưu,

mã tầm mã” can be translated as “Birds of a feather flock together”

3- Absolutely avoid completely literal translation (or word by word) because this may lead to incorrect translation and not conveying author's ideas exactly Especially, in order to understand text’s meaning, it is necessary to understand the intention of the author and meaning in each sentence, each paragraph, not in each word For example” “It was cold enough to freeze our fingers” -> “Trời đủ lạnh để làm

tê cóng ngón tay của tôi” -> Trời lạnh đến nỗi ngón tay của tôi tê cóng” (The author wants to emphasize that cold weather freezes his/her fingers, not the level of the coldness)

4- However, we should not avoid faithful translation because if we translate too freely, the translation may be unreal and not close to the original text’s meaning Therefore, it is essential to select and retain necessary ideas and remove unnecessary ideas, we can re-edit translated sentences so that they remain unchanged as compared to the original 5- Avoid using less common words or old technical terms which are rarely used

or are unpopular Only select words that

we know well and readers can easily understand in translation Do not use too exaggerated words; this will make readers confused and does not ensure an effective translation

6- Do not use too many synonyms in a translated document; this will make the translation become incoherent

7- During translation process, when encountering complex sentences which are difficult to translate, split them into short sentences, it will be easier However, make

sure to keep the meaning unchanged so that

when joining together, the paragraphs will

have the same meaning as compared to the

original

For example: “Thousands of Algerians

tonight fled from the dead city of

Orleansville after a 12-second earthquake

had ripped through central Algeria,billing

an estimated death toll of 1,100 people.”

“Đêm nay tại trung tâm Angieri đã xảy

ra một trận động đất kéo dài 12 giây đồng

hồ Theo ước tính thì số người bị thiệt

mạng lên đến 1.100 người Hàng ngàn

người khác đã chạy khỏi thành phố

Orleansville đầy tang tóc đó.”

8- After pre-translation process, always

ensure that sentences in the translated text

are coherent and connected to each other

The style of the target language text must be

clear and still keep accurate meaning as

compared to the original

9- In addition to practicing and

improving the above-mentioned skills, it is

necessary to read and learn more about

English used in many different fields:

English for Business, English for Banking,

English for Construction, English for

Medicine, English for Environmental

Studies for a better understanding to

support English translation process

5 Conclusion

Good translators need a variety of knowledge including background knowledge

of both languages and professional knowledge of the fields they are translating They need to be proficient, have a rich vocabulary, a thorough understanding of linguistic issues of both languages, understand the similarities and differences between the two languages not only in term

of grammar but also in terms of semantics and pragmatics These insights are closely linked with cultural knowledge about country, people, lifestyles, habits, customs and practices of the two language communities Finally, each field has its own terminologies, expressions, and styles, requiring translators to understand at least their meaning and connotation, although it cannot be as deep as a specialist The requirements for a translator on such knowledge are not easy for students who have just started taking translation courses However, some of the principles and noted issues during translation process mentioned above may contribute to facilitating students more during their translation practice process

REFERENCES

Larson, M.L (1998) Meaning-based Translation: A Guide to Cross-language Equivalence Oxford: University Press of America

Munday, J (2001) Introducing Translation Studies New York: Routledge

Newmark, P (1981) Approaches to translation New York: Pergamon Press Ltd

Newmark, P (1988) A textbook of translation New York and London: Prentice Hall

International (UK) Ltd

Nida, E A (1964) Toward the Science of Translating: With special reference to principles and procedures involved in Bible translating Leiden: E J Brill

Ngày nhận bài: 13/3/2020 Biên tập xong: 15/4/2020 Duyệt đăng: 20/4/2020