The reality of assessing speaking skill of high school students at nguyen tat thanh gifted high school and recommendations

TRẦN THỊ PHƯƠNG CHITOWARDS DESIGNING A TRANSLATION SYLLABUS FOR THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HANOI UNIVESITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY Xây dựng chương trình dạy học môn dịch cho sinh vi

TRẦN THỊ PHƯƠNG CHI

TOWARDS DESIGNING A TRANSLATION

SYLLABUS FOR THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS

AT HANOI UNIVESITY OF BUSINESS AND

TECHNOLOGY

(Xây dựng chương trình dạy học môn dịch cho sinh viên

hệ cử nhân chuyên tiếng Anh năm thứ 3 tại

Trường ĐH Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESISFIELD : English Teaching Methodology CODE : 60.14.10

HA NOI – 2010

TRẦN THỊ PHƯƠNG CHI

TOWARDS DESIGNING A TRANSLATION

SYLLABUS FOR THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS

AT HANOI UNIVESITY OF BUSINESS AND

TECHNOLOGY

(Xây dựng chương trình dạy học môn dịch cho sinh viên

hệ cử nhân chuyên ngành tiếng Anh năm thứ 3 tại Trường ĐH Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESISFIELD : English Teaching Methodology CODE : 60.14.10

Supervisor: Đỗ Minh Hoàng, M.A

HA NOI – 2010

Source TextTask-Based Language TeachingTarget Language

Target Text

Appendix 1……… i

Appendix 2……… v

Appendix 3……… v

Appendix 4……… iii

Appendix 5……….vi

Appendix 6……… x

Appendix 7……… xi

Appendix 8……… xiv

Appendix 9……… xviii

Appendix 10……… xix

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

APPENDICES ……… v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aim of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Content of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

Chapter 1: Literature Review 4

1.1 Syllabus in language teaching 4

1.1.1 Definition 4

1.1.2 Types of syllabuses 5

1.2 Translation 7

1.2.1 Definition of translation 7

1.2.2 Translation in teaching 8

1.2.2.1 Grammar-based syllabus 8

1.2.2.2 Task-based syllabus (Constructivism) 9

1.2.2.3 Topic-based syllabus 9

1.2.2.4 Text-based syllabus 10

1.2.2.5 Combined syllabus 10

1.2.2.6 Skills 11

1.2.2.7 Directionality 12

1.2.3 Types of translation in translation pedagogy 14

1.2.4 What is happening in other universities 14

1.2.4.1 General situation 14

1.2.4.2 Examples 15

1.2.4.3 Summary 19

1.3 Needs analysis 20

Chapter 2: Methodology 21

2.1 Data collection instruments 21

2.1.1 Structure of the questionnaire 21

2.1.2 Structure of Interviews with the teachers 22

2.2 Subjects of the study 22

2.3 Data collection procedures 22

3.1.1 Learners‟ background 24

3.1.2 Target needs 24

3.1.3 Learning needs 28

3.2 Interviews 31

3.2.1 The teachers‟ background 31

3.2.2 The teachers‟ comments 31

3.2.3 Suggestions 32

3.3 Summary 32

Chapter 4: The proposed translation syllabus 34

4.1 Introduction 34

4.2 The aims and objectives of the translation course 34

4.3 Choosing the translation content 35

4.3.1 The integration of translation theory 35

4.3.1.1 Introduction to History of translation 35

4.3.1.2 Introduction to Translation 36

4.3.1.3 Translation Methods 36

4.3.1.4 Text analysis 36

4.3.2 Grading content 37

4.4 Tasks and activities in the year 37

4.5 A proposed translation syllabus for third-year English majors at Hanoi University of Business and Technology 38

4.6 Sample translation lesson (Appendix 8) 42

Part C: CONCLUSION 43

1 Summary 43

2 Recommendations for further research 44

References 45

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It is without doubt the economic changes all around the world have honestly affected thelanguage translation service and these days translators are equally involved in every part ofintercultural and business communication In a world globalization, today language translationservice is becoming a more significant factor for concise transfer of ideas Translation haspreviously been regarded as an art or a craft; now translation scholars are happy to have theiractivity recognized as a science and admitted to the inner circle of scholarly pursuits as abranch of applied linguistics

Educating English majors to fluently use the foreign language after an undergraduate course is

a becoming an ever important task now in Vietnam when we integrate more deeply into theworld‟s economy One of the jobs graduates can do is to work as translators or interpreters in aprofessional manner How can educational institutions make sure that their graduates can adaptthemselves to the market changes? Therefore, gaining an insight into target needs and learningneeds so as to develop a translation syllabus is an urgent task I myself, as the researcher,would like to try to build up a translation syllabus which is helpful for teachers and meets withthe desires of the learners

In the process of teaching translation the students, it seems that our current syllabus does notquite meet the learners‟ needs and what the instructors want them to learn during the course.There are different opinions among the teachers about the content of the course At least thesyllabus should give teachers and learners a direction of what to be taught and how to betaught Both the teachers and students have complained about the time available for thelearning of skills in the first and second years This is the time when acquisition of Englishskills is so important to be used as the foundation for the third year when more time is spent

on translation practice

As for the students, they are not proficient in the 4 skills after the first two years This has led

to the fact that they meet some difficulties in learning translation and interpreting Besides, it

seems that theoretical backgrounds as well as the methodology have not been paid muchattention to.

Another point is that the researcher sees that little time is spent on teaching studentstranslation-related skills such as the use of computers as a tool for would-be translators andinterpreters Ulrych (2005) in her paper asserts that technological aids improve translators‟status and self image

2 Aim of the study

The study is aimed to identify the needs, wants and lacks of the third-year English majors andexpectation of trainers or course designers so that the researcher can use them as thefoundation for putting forward an appropriate syllabus including content, method of teaching,time To achieve the aim, a needs analysis was done to find out the target needs and learningneeds of the students

3 Research questions

1 What are the learning needs of the third-year English majors?

2 What are the target needs of the third-year English majors?

3 How should the proposed syllabus meet these needs?

4 Scope of the study

The study is done based on the circumstance for third-year English majors at Hanoi University

of Business and Technology (HUBT) Due to the size of the thesis, this is aimed at designing awritten translation syllabus for them (an oral translation syllabus is therefore not within thescope of this thesis)

5 Significance of the study

This is aimed at making learning of translation more efficient in terms of learners‟ desires,trainers‟ objectives based on the learning needs and target needs Theoretically, this will helpprovide teachers with basic knowledge of syllabus design in general and translation syllabusdesign in particular Hopefully, this syllabus will give teachers as well as students the profile

of what and how should be taught and learnt in order to achieve the course‟s objectives

6 Content of the study

Part A: Introduction is aimed at providing the background, rationale, the aims, research

questions and significance of the study

Part B: Development

Chapter 1 Literature Review reviews the literature of syllabus design, translation teaching

and translation syllabus

The first part is about syllabus design and types of syllabi which are used as a base fordesigning the proposed syllabus The second part taps into translation in terms of definition,types of translation syllabi, types of translation and the training situations in some Europeanand Asian countries From the situation, the researcher may apply some good ways indesigning the proposed syllabus

The last part will provide some facts about The English Department, Hanoi University ofBusiness and Technology

Chapter 2: Methodology deals with methodologies of collecting data.

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion consists of an analysis of a post-course questionnaire, a

semi-structured interview with the translation teachers

Chapter 4: The Proposed Translation Syllabus is devoted to the proposed translation

syllabus including the aims, objectives of the translation course, the translation content, tasksand activities, the proposed syllabus and a sample translation lesson

Part C: Conclusion and Recommendations

This chapter summarizes what has been done and arrive at recommendations for furtherresearch

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature Review

1.1 Syllabus in language teaching

1.1.1 Definition

A syllabus can also be seen as a "summary of the content to which learners will be exposed"(Yalden 1987: 87) By looking at the syllabus, learners can know where they are during thecourse, and what they will have achieved Therefore, the syllabus is actually a very basic guidefor them Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 80) define syllabus as follows:

At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is to be learnt

It reflects of language and linguistic performance

There is another view further with the aim of a syllabus Breen (cited in Read 1984a: 1) assertsthat syllabus can also be seen as "a plan of what is to be achieved through our teaching and ourstudents' learning" I quite agree to this approach as teachers often base themselves on a certainsyllabus to make their lectures detailed In Wilkins' (1981: 1) words, syllabuses are

"specifications of the content of language teaching which have been submitted to some degree

of structuring or ordering with the aim of making teaching and learning a more effectiveprocess.” If the above authors focus on the content factor in the process of syllabus design,some other authors tend to have a quite different point of view Candlin (cited in Nunan 1988:46) wondered whether it is possible to distinguish the content from the method and evaluation.The researcher thinks that it is better to combine all these factors to have a more comprehensiveview to what teachers are to do in class Breen (cited in Nunan 1988: 46) also has the sameviewpoint which does not only mention the pedagogy in the syllabus but also certain assumptionsabout the psychological and social processes From my own teaching experience, syllabuses inVietnam only reflect the pedagogy but not the others mentioned by Breen as they require expertswith rich knowledge of psychology and social issues

Dublin and Olshtain (1986: 28) offer a very comprehensive view on syllabus They hold that itshould contain the following ingredients:

1 What the learners are expected to know at the end of the course, or the course objectives

2 What is to be taught or learnt during the course.

3 When it is to be taught, and at what of progress relating to the inventory of items to the different levels and stages as well as to the time constraints of the course

4 How it is taught, suggesting procedures, techniques and materials

5 How it is to be evaluated, suggesting testing and evaluating mechanism

In the process of designing the translation syllabus for HUBT students, the researcher wouldlike to adopt the comprehensive view as such a syllabus specifies not only what to teach buthow to teach as well Such a syllabus may contain some items such as aims of the course ofstudy, expected outcomes, names of major topics and activities/tasks, time allocation,suggested teaching/learning methods and materials

1.1.2 Types of syllabuses

Designing English as Foreign Language (EFL) syllabuses is increasingly important inlanguage teaching as it reflects the direction of the whole program in terms of courseobjectives, content, methodology, assessment, and attendance This subject has attracted a lot

of attention from linguists Therefore, there have been various opinions on types of syllabuses

so far In this section, the author of the study would like to present several types of syllabuseswith their specific features

1.1.2.1 Structural (grammatical / linguistic) syllabus

As Dublin (1986: 37) asserts, the structural (grammatical / linguistic) syllabus focuses ongrammatical elements Structural syllabuses are the ones in which the content of languageteaching is a collection of forms and grammatical structures of the language being taught,

„sequence from easy to difficult or frequent to less frequent‟ (Brown 1995: 7)

1.1.2.2 Task-based syllabus

Nunan (2001) defines task-based syllabus as representing “a particular realization ofcommunicative language teaching Instead of beginning the design process with lists ofgrammatical, functional-notional, and other items, the designer conducts a needs analysiswhich yields a list of the target tasks that the targeted learners will need to carry out in the

„real-world‟ outside the classroom.” In my reflection, this type of syllabus is suitable forstudents who are learning business English for their future jobs.

Task-based syllabuses enhance learning They are different from other types of syllabuses inthat learners can acquire some skills as a result Thus, they are not based on linguistic formsbut the division of tasks and activities done in the class (Read 1984: 42) Richards (2001: 161)further clarifies that “these syllabus tasks and activities are basic units” of a syllabus I thinkthis approach is preferred now as our teaching pedagogy is so practical that we should providelearners with skills which they can use at work well especially this type of syllabus is suitablefor a translation class where acquiring skills is an important part.” By providing such tasks andactivities (which are of course based on the overall aims of courses) in class, learners can beactively engaged in class and acquire the home language and skills easily

1.1.2.3 Topical syllabus

Topical syllabuses are organized around themes, topics rather situations (Brown 1995: 9) With atopical syllabus, content is the starting point in syllabus design Topics are selected by the syllabusauthor on the basis of his/her sense of importance of the topics or themes to the lives of thestudents The main advantages of this syllabus type are mentioned by Robinson (1991: 37) andRichard (2001: 158) as follows: it can address learners‟ needs and can motivate them It can allowfor the use of authentic materials and can act as the best basis for the „real syllabus‟ of languageforms, functions or whatever the syllabus designer wants to focus on

1.1.2.5 Mixed or layered syllabus

There is a tendency that syllabus designers combine two certain syllabus types or more This

makes the family of syllabi adopt a new member called mixed syllabus Discussing this new

type of syllabus, Brown (1995: 12) states, „mixed syllabi occur when authors choose to mixtwo or more types of syllabi together into what looks like a different type of syllabus – at least

in the table of content.‟ Then depending on priorities on a certain course, course designers cancombine one type of syllabus with one or two others to bring about a suitable syllabusframework for the course

1.2 Translation

1.2.1 Definition of translation

For the benefit of the readers, some clarification should be made to the concept of translation.Reiss and Vermeer (1984) assert that translation and interpreting are considered as one Bothactivities are about that a source text should be translated into a target language (TL) one Thefollowing definition covers both translation and interpreting:

It is a written or spoken expression of the meaning of a word, speech, book, etc in another language

(The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition, revised 2008)However, in the framework of this study, the researcher would like to use translation to refer

to the written form of transferring ideas from one language to another

Translation consists of reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent ofthe source language ( SL) message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style(Nida & Taber 1974:12, cited in Hoang 2006) Catford (1965) has a similar view but in terms

of textual material when claiming translation is the substitution of textual material in onelanguage (source language) by corresponding textual material in another language (TL) Wecan also see another way of definition: Translation is the replacement of representation of atext in one language by a representation of another equivalent text in a second language(Hartmann & Stork 1972: 713) Bell (1991) has another view when indicating translation is

the expression in one language (or TL) of what has been expressed in another (SL), preservingsemantic and stylistic equivalences He thinks translating is the transformation of a textoriginally in one language into an equivalent text in a different language retaining, as far aspossible, the content of the message and the formal features and the roles of the original text).

To be more specific, Wiles (1982: 112, cited in Hoang 2006) claims translation is a procedurewhich leads from a written SL text to an optimally equivalent TL text in terms of syntactic,semantic, stylistic and text pragmatic comprehension by the translator of the original text.There are some approaches to translation as a process Translation, as the process of conveyingmessages across linguistic and cultural barriers, is an eminently communicative activity, onewhose use could well be considered in a wider range of activities than may currently be thecase (Tudor, cited in Duff 1989: 5) Hatim & Mason (1990: 3) shares the same view whenclaiming translating is a communicative process which takes place within a social context In

my opinion, depending on different situations, the translation (as a product) can be transferredeither to keep the original the same or suitable for the readers All in all, translation does thetask of moving a text from one language to another

1.2.2 Translation in teaching

As the researcher doing research on designing a syllabus, it is important to consider somefactors to design an efficient one To make it clear what should happen during a translationcourse especially during the third year, the researcher would like to do research on differenttypes of translation syllabuses, skills needed by the students, discussed by experts and wonder

if it is a good idea to teach translation in both ways (direct translation-L2 into L1 and reversetranslation L1 into L2)

ends with the linguistic production of a target text (TT) Zeng and Lu-Chen (2002) further addthat by using this syllabus, students concentrate on specific linguistic problems withoutadhering to the overall picture of translation process Students may gain individual techniquesbut it is challenging to produce a satisfactory target rendition of a larger source text (ST).

1.2.2.2 Task-based syllabus (Constructivism)

There is a very interesting point when applying constructivism to the translation pedagogy As

a matter of fact, learners should be encouraged to take part in different activities during thecourse This is really important in learning translation It should be a process rather than aproduct Duffy and Cunningham (1996:171) mention two principles which are “learning is anactive process of construction rather than acquiring knowledge and instruction is a process ofsupporting….” Kiraly (1995), the first person applying constructivism in translation pedagogy,asserts that he wants to give direction to building an educational culture that empowers thelearners The researcher thinks that only by doing things at first hands and practicing, dolearners acquire skills required by a translator Task-Based Language teaching (TBLT)employed real world or pedagogical tasks as units of syllabus design Long & Crookes (1992)suppose in the TBLT approach, the teaching process is a simulation of real world experiences.Pica, Kanagy & Falodun (1993) hold that students learn best through social interactionsenabling them to reach a common goal, by exchanging information and solving the sameproblem Then, students should work together in class, which promotes students‟ motivation

to learn

1.2.2.3 Topic-based syllabus

This type of syllabus rates translation experiences around fields of knowledge Example of thistype can be found in Sewell‟s survey (1996: 152): translation material in many universities

“focuses on areas such as education, university life, the media or current affairs.” This

framework has also been very popular in translator training programs in Vietnam As Richardsobserves, topic-based syllabus is believed to address students‟ needs and thus motivate them (2001: 158) This might be the reason for the popularity of this framework in Vietnam

1.2.2.4 Text-based syllabus

With the development of text linguistics, a “top-down approach” to translation has beenintroduced with the overall evaluation of a ST, moving from larger units to smaller units.Organizing the translation experience around the analysis and experiences of text types hasbecome a common practice because it is believed to be “closely related to the actual process oftranslation, with different types placing different demands on the translator” (Reiss, cited inNguyen 2005: 14) The notion of text and text-type has been employed in translationcurriculum design of many universities According to subject matter, texts can be categorized

as journalistic, technical, and literary and so on In terms of function, text types includeexpressive, informative and vocative (Newmark 1988)

1.2.2.5 Combined syllabus

For the translation syllabus design, we adopt a combination of topic-based, text-based andtask-based syllabus First, students will choose the topics they would like to translate, then theteacher, taking target needs and learning needs into consideration, will decide the mostsuitable activities Snell-Hornby (1992:19) states that translation activity should reflect “therealities of future professional needs”, even in the setting of a training program if it is to beviewed as an authentic task Marsh (1987) claims the text types used for translation arejournalistic, literary technical or scientific He recommends two categories: journalistic andtechnical being the most suitable for language learners Choosing articles from newspapers,magazines, and journals are appropriate especially for the students at HUBT- a businessschool, and this is also in line with what Marsh argues:

They are … based on the topical issues which the students are likely to haveknowledge of and interests in, therefore increase motivation, and reducing culturallacunae; the language is modern; within journalese, style varies considerablydepending on which section of newspapers, magazine or journal ….; information load

is usually high, calling for extremely compact syntactic structures and a high

proportion of content lexical items, which proves challenging without being

impossible; and finally, topic range is wide (p.28)

1.2.2.6 Skills

The cooperative model is proposed by Holz-Manttari (cited in Mackenzie 2004: 36) With therole of future translators in mind, teachers should offer situations in which students canpractice translators‟ roles including product specification (analyzing what type of ST is andthe situation by using the formula suggested by Christiane Nord (1991) which is - who issaying what to whom, why, how, by what means, for what purpose?- and deciding whether the

TT needs those factors, then the text itself- resource, time and client management skills used)text research (consultation of the ST‟s author, colleagues and experts on the subject … tobridge the gap in one‟s “own deficient knowledge”), text production (composition skills-rules

of cohesion, coherence, ability to identify and write indifferent register – as well as textprocessing skills are needed), and text evaluation (quality management skills-choosing the way

to translate based on different situations, kind of revision, client management skill to obtainclients‟ satisfaction) Holz-Manttari (cited in Mackenzie 2004: 36) asserts that “in translationcompanies these roles are separate” However, to prepare student translators for working life inthe translation industry today, it seems reasonable to give them opportunity to practice all ofthese roles in the course of their training He further states that translators need to havelinguistic skills -cultural skills, inter-personal skills, IT skills which are used for research andtext production, assisting the translation process when using translation memory tools,terminology software and the Internet He also emphasizes that students should be immersed

in real or simulated situations Apart from practice in translation skills, professionals need tohave history background, theory and methodology of the subject so as to get a deeperunderstanding in their roles and enhance the self-image as professionals

Ulrych (2005:16) also mentions the use of translation aids “Computer skills are a basicrequirement of professional translating today since it provides powerful tools for translators towork competently and reliably in various domains” Bowker (2002) notes that they helpenhance translators‟ status and self-image Being able to use new technology represents an

added professional skill for translators, and it is a skill that is becoming increasinglyappreciated in the market place Therefore, as Bowker (2002) asserts, the integration oftechnology into a translation program inevitably has an impact on the way translation itself istaught.

Besides, “translator are not infrequently confronted with defective texts, and they need to beable to summarize, explain or adapt according to the needs of the employer concerned” (Snell-Hornby 1992: 20) Research skill is important for translation too A translator will not be intouch with only one topic or an area of knowledge A translator at the start of his/her careermay not have comprehensive knowledge of all fields Therefore, a good research skill willenable him/her to adjust to all working situations and thus go further in their work Once againBermardini (2004: 28) claims that “translation skills are the very essence of the translation andtranslating professions: They are […] what, first and foremost, we should teach the translators

of tomorrow”

1.2.2.7 Directionality

There is another issue in designing a syllabus Should the students be taught direct translation

or inverse translation or both?

Hatim (2001:164) in his book, Teaching and Researching Translation, says this is about

whether translators work from their mother tongue into the foreign language or the other wayround It is believed that working into one‟s mother tongue (the “A” language) is the naturalorder In fact, teachers and employers tend to think that bilingual competence is important andthat translators should have no difficulties well in both directions (into and out of the foreignlanguage) The debate on this has a great value to training and pedagogy of translation.Newmark (1988: 3), while acknowledging the existence and value of what he calls “servicetranslation”, believes that “translation into the language of habitual use is the only way youcan translate naturally and accurately and with maximum effectiveness” In most Europeantranslator-training institutions, according to Hatim (2001:164), the general tendency istranslation into the mother tongue as the normal direction Lonsdale (2000: 64) claims this isalso dominant in English-speaking countries as well as in the practice of professionalorganization Campell (1998: 56) states that when translating from a second language, the

problem is to understand the ST In translating into a second language, comprehension of the

ST is easier; the real difficulty is to make a natural TT

However, Lonsdale (1998) says in the context when English has become the language ofinternational trade and communication, the numbers of translations in English far outweighsthose into any others and there are not sufficient translators with English as their mothertongue at the right place at the right time, many translators are inverse And Vietnam is not anexception As Newmark (1988: 52) states, “the practice [translating from one‟s language ofhabitual use into another language] is necessary in most countries

In Australia, many translators are accredited to work in two directions There are plenty oftranslations in Australia are done into and from English Therefore, despite of advantages oftranslating into their first languages, there will always be the need for many to work intosecond language This is quite true in Vietnam The need to translate into Vietnamese is great.The same is true for translating into English literary works, diplomatic documents, and tourismbrochures Therefore, learners must be taught to translate in both ways: direct and reversetranslation Technical and scientific translations are also often inverse translations: Inspecialized fields, […] it was more suitable to use a subject specialist with knowledge of thesource language than a mother tongue translator especially if the text is subsequently edited”(Snell and Crampton 1989: 85) The researcher thinks it is important to understandterminologies to translate in specialized fields

Dollerup (1996: 26) asserts the importance of accepting a double directionality Firstly, itbrings the real-life fact that most translators actually have to work in at least 2 directions intothe reality of classroom Secondly, translators make errors, but they do not make themdeliberately Single directionality is just suitable for language acquisition Otherwise, doubledirectionality brings to light a number of factors in the translation activities which are ignored

in single-directionality classes such as opaqueness of source text and importance of fluencyand style in the target texts

In summary, the use of teaching double directionality is essential in teaching translation in that

it helps the students produce acceptable translations in ST and TT More importantly, this willenable them to be adaptable to the real demand of the translation market For these

reasons, we propose to design a syllabus that develops double directional skills for ourstudents at HUBT.

1.2.3 Types of translation in translation pedagogy

Sofer (1998: 37) asserts that the translation field is divided into literary and technicaltranslation Literary translation covering such areas as poetry, fiction, drama, and thehumanities in general is often done by writers of the same genre or at least by translators withthe required literary aptitude Technical translation is extremely broad It covers much morethan technical subjects in the narrow sense of the word If the text being translated includesspecialized terms in a given field, then it is technical translation In the context of HUBT,which is a business school, students are oriented to translate technical translation To be morespecific, it is better to offer them most materials on the subjects of business, banking andfinance so that the students can utilize their background knowledge in L1 and are actually

motivated to do so For more types of translation, please refer to Appendix 1 Based on the

context of HUBT, translations will be on topics of finance, business and economic activities.Therefore, commercial, economic and financial translation will be main topics in the thirdyear

1.2.4 What is happening in other universities

1.2.4.1 General situation

Before deciding to design a translation syllabus, the researcher would like to have a review ofwhat other universities in Europe and Asia are doing The demand for translators increasessharply together with the economic development This is quite true for Vietnam where a lot ofstudents not trained in translation or interpreting are working as translators and interpreters Inother countries, a lot of universities have opened T/I courses in response to this demand Post-graduate translation programs are also organized to enhance translation skills Someinstitutions provide undergraduates programs specifically designed to train translators, othersoffer such training in postgraduate ones Those that have both undergraduates andpostgraduate programs provide a general degree, leading to a specialist training at a higher

level As for the length o the course, most last 4 years while some others last 3 years A fewoffer a 2-year diploma course On an average, a course lasts 25 to 35 weeks per academic year

or 12 to 16 weeks per semester At some institutions, a majority of the time is devoted tocontacts hours In general, the average distribution is 50%

1.2.4.2 Examples

The researcher would like to provide some facts about translation training courses in some countries in Europe and Asia and at the same time try to relate to the situation in her HUBTthrough comparisons and learning

a Singapore

In Singapore, English-Chinese translation has been part of the programs offered by theDepartment of Chinese at the National University of Singapore since the 1960s as an electiveleading to degree in Chinese (a 3-year system) They can continue the fourth year withspecification in translation to take the English-Chinese translation degree In comparison withcourses in China, the structure of these translation courses in Singapore is more strictlydefined in that there is a clear demarcation between theoretical and practical work, as shown in

the chart (See Appendix 2) Only 2-3 teaching hours are spent on practical work To enhance

students‟ practical work hours, they are given translation home assignments The researchercan see this can be applied more at HUBT Hung (2002) asserts critically that the fourth year

of optional specification reflects the dilemma of recognizing the need for more intensivetraining and not being able to provide truly professional courses The researcher thinks that itwould be better if students have another compulsory year learning translation in order thattheir translation skills are strengthened In fact, in Singapore, translation remainsovershadowed by other languages and literature courses This is not seen at HUBT wheretraining subjects are mostly business-oriented and translation is taught so as to enable thestudents to work as professional translators in that context but not in linguistics and literature.Though the scope is limited, Singapore has clear objectives in training students to beemployed in relevant government departments and the mass media In comparison to HUBT,

we have also set clear targets which will be mentioned in Chapter IV: the Proposed

Translation Syllabus.

b Hong Kong

Hong Kong is the first among Chinese communities to teach translation as an academicdiscipline rather than an element of foreign language acquisition The first course withprofessional orientation was the High Diploma in Translation and Interpretation offered by theHong Kong Polytechnique Unlike the situation in China and Singapore, the course is much

more intensive and career-oriented When looking at this chart, (See Appendix 3), the

researcher sees that during the second and the third year, no focus is put on translation.Therefore, translation skills are definitely not enhanced However, there is one interestingthing about this course During the third year, group project is integrated This will helpstudents be familiar with team work, which is very popular among professional translators.Therefore, the researcher does suggest the syllabus for the third year at HUBT should take thisinto account as well.There are different types of programs at university level One translationprogram is a four- year course with the third year being a compulsory internship designed totackle the problem of the professional gap Another one offers the only combined majorallowing students cross-departmental as well as cross-faculty options From the point of view

of the researcher, this way can be applied at HUBT There are a lot of good students fromother departments such as management, finance and banking, accounting who want to improvetheir English or even want to be professional translators at HUBT Why don‟t we offer them

an opportunity after they finish their second year as long as they pass a requirement test?

c Spain

Beeby (2004: 39) makes it clear that translation has been taught as an undergraduate degreesince 1972 The course lasts 4 years The students learn Chinese as second foreign language asbeginners and only start direct translation in the third year The teachers are translators with auniversity and mainly literature PhD holders who are also part-time translators This maycause conflict between what the learners expect and the university Literature – oriented

teachers want to have more linguistics and literature in the curriculum, whereas the moreprofessionally-oriented students like a more practice and not too much theory.

In their third year, different modalities of specialized translation are introduced, such asdubbing and subtitling, scientific, legal, commercial, or literary texts It is at this point thatstudents start translation from their C language (one of the two foreign languages available tothem) and follow subjects on resourcing for specialized terminology Also, third-year studentshave to decide whether they would like to specialize as translators or interpreters and followone pathway or another This is not always easy and levels may vary since not all facultiesoffer the same number of credits in interpreting due to the high cost of the equipment, thedifficulties in finding teachers and the low number of students who choose this pathway This

is quite true at our HUBT in terms of teaching staff, facilities and the students Therefore, inthe coming time, it is hard to train the students either in translation or interpreting Besides, thestudents at HUBT has quite similar attitude as those in Spain Then the teachers should makethe students think that a lot of skills are needed to translate a text

d Italy

Bernardini (2004: 24) points out that traditionally, Italian undergraduate courses lasted 4 years,ending with a Masters-like dissertation Undergraduate translation and interpreting followed a

similar model - the Y model (See Appendix 4): all students learn together in the first two

years, and then the students choose to specialize in either translation or interpreting This is thesame as in Spain This may be applied in HUBT on the condition that the student intakeimproves in the near future and the teaching staffs are competent enough for eachspecialization The Italian university systems want to change towards undergraduate andpostgraduate courses with closely integrated modules This has not been done not only atHUBT but also at other colleges of foreign languages in Vietnam There are a lot ofpreparations to be made in terms of teaching staff, facilities as well as the programs before thismodel can applied in Vietnam Now they, in Italy, offer three-year courses aimed at fosteringthe development of the ability towards a goal, and adopting a professionally correct attitudetowards work Hopefully, this can be fully understood by translators at HUBT so that they areaware of the needs of continuously reviewing their teaching to catch up with the world‟s most

up-to-date translation pedagogies In Italy, teaching and research skills are taught because theynot only want to train professional translators and interpreters but also interpreting, translatorsand language teachers The research skill at least may be useful at HUBT and should beintegrated in the third-year syllabus in that during this year more texts on specialized topics areassigned to the students They need this skill to learn how to store terminology on each topicwhich they may use in future.

e Sweden

According to Dimitrova (2002), the Institution for Interpretation and Translation Studies atStockholm University works in close collaboration with language departments and otheruniversities in Sweden in organizing programs of varying duration in professionaltranslation and in interpretation Both interpreter and translator training programs are based

on the students‟ previous knowledge of TL and SL Training is organized into specializedprograms on a more advanced, although still at the undergraduate level A special entrancetest ensures students be competent in SL, TL and translating Teachers are mostly fromuniversity language teachers The Institute also invites professional translator to ensure aprofessional perspective However, university teachers are too theoretical and professionaltranslators are too practical and rarely have experience in pedagogy This situation issimilar to the one in Spain The following skills are needed in reading and understanding

ST and producing the TT: use of different kinds of aids such as dictionaries, term lists andterm banks, databases, encyclopedia, specialized literature and parallel texts, consultationswith specialists The students can be given some competence in one or several areas ofspecialization The competence is about revision (Mossop 1992), use of computers Sometasks for freelance translators are advertising their own business, managing contacts withclients and dealing with accounts The contents of the course include the translation theoryand the didactics of translation From the way translation courses are conducted in Sweden,there are 4 things which can be learned and may be employed at HUBT:

* It necessary to cooperate with language departments to teach the students Vietnamese and translators as well as experienced teachers of translation on designing training programs

* The program should take students‟ linguistic competence into consideration

* Specialized programs can be considered

* Teachers of translation are encouraged to take part in actual translating or in short coursesfor translation pedagogy As a result, they have good teaching methods and bring to class thepractical world of translating

1.2.4.3 Summary

In conclusion, after reviewing some translation courses in some countries, the researcherwould like to arrive at some comments regarding the proposed training program Firstly,most of training programs last between 3 and 4 years Secondly, there is a need to combinetheory and practice during the course In terms of practice, some translation-relating skillsare paid attention to such as use of translation aids Thirdly, the success of a course depends

a lot on teachers‟ capability, students‟ intake and the program itself Fourthly, from thethird year, students from other departments can follow a translation course if they arequalified enough or English majors can choose to specialize in translation or interpreting.Finally, most countries are moving forwards to professional and career-oriented courses

Do (2007: 86) suggests that students should be taught general knowledge on translation andinterpreting skills in the initial stage and translation and interpreting skills at later stage forthe two reasons:

+graduates do double directionality

+graduates will work as translators and interpreters

There are good reasons why these models should be localized In terms of the proficiency

of the learners, the students‟ intake is not so good Therefore, more time should be spent onfostering the four skills even in the third year In teaching translation, understanding the ST

is very important That is why students in the third year should be good at that reading skilland given more opportunities to foster it Besides, HUBT mainly deal with business issues

in its curriculum Therefore, it is practical to make students specialize in translatingcommercial, financial and economic texts The students „background in business willmotivate them to learn translation Once again, the teaching of translation should be career

- oriented rather than literature-oriented like in Hong Kong By that I mean the studentsneed to deal with translation on economic and business topics, have opportunities to

practice translation skills so as to work as translators or interpreters in the future To havecontact with professional translators is also a way for the students to know the practical side

of the job This is in accordance with the aims of the course It is difficult for ourdepartment to offer the choice to the students to specialize in translation or interpreting.The first reason is competence of students The second one is the facilities for interpreting.The third one is the number of our teaching staff It takes time to train teachers specialized

in teaching translation and interpreting During the third year, we can cooperate with othertranslator training institutions or businesses to send our students there to learn andexchange experience, and especially they can be involved in real life translations

1.3 Needs analysis

Some facts about Hanoi University of Business and Technology

Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT) is a private university founded in

1996 It specializes in training bachelors of English studies, bachelors of businessadministration, bachelors of finance and banking, bachelors of tourism and bachelors ofaccounting From the very beginning, the Management Board of the University has put a lot ofpriorities to English and computer and made it a target that graduates from our Universityshould be competent in English and business In fact, a lot of our graduates have gainedadvantages over other graduates from other universities The English-major students are bothEnglish competent and business competent The curriculum for English majors at HUBTconsists of 240 credits, of which the time budget for translation is 80 credits (equivalent to

1200 periods) This shows that teaching translation is an integral part of the whole curriculumeven not too much time is devoted to translation practice During each term, two sessions arespent on translation weekly There are 4 periods for each session The English program forEnglish majors last four years Textbooks are Market Leaders (Elementary, Pre-intermediate,Intermediate and Upper–intermediate) by David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent (2005)from the first to the third years respectively After the first two years, the students haveacquired the intermediate level Apart from some subjects like Discourse Analysis, ContrastiveLinguistics, Functional Grammar, translation practice in both directions (direct and reversetranslation) have been taught to the students in the first two years

Chapter 2: Methodology

2.1 Data collection instruments

The researcher would like to use a survey as the rerearch method in this study According toHutchinson and Waters (1987), Robinson (1991) and Dudley-Evans and St John (1998), thebest methodology for studying the target needs and learning needs of any particular group ofworkers/students is to use such methods as questionnaires, interviews, collection of authenticworkplace texts and visits to the workplace Among these techniques, using questionnaires isthe most popular and the main way of collecting information In this study, a combination oftwo main data instruments is used:

 Questionnaires for the current students

 Interviews with translation teachers

The purpose of this multi-method approach is to ensure the reliability of data collectedbecause according to Richards (2001: 59) any single source of information is likely to beincomplete or partial for data collection and a triangle approach (i.e obtaining informationfrom two sources or more) is advisable

2.1.1 Structure of the questionnaire

This questionnaire consists of two parts: Part A and Part B Part A was designed to collect the

information about who the learners are The questions in this part will provide the researcher

with information about third-year students‟ background information such as their age, gender,place of birth and years of studying English Part B consists of 16 questions of which 10 areclosed-ended and 6 are open-ended ones The aims of the questionnaire are to collect thestudents‟ opinions on the translation course, methods of learning they have accessed and whatthey expect from the course In order to achieve these aims, the questionnaire was toinvestigate the students‟ awareness of translation, the teaching methods, the translationteachers and suggestions to make the translation course better To avoid being biased, no

hypothesis was formed (See Appendix 5).

2.1.2 Structure of Interviews with the teachers

The researcher conducted a semi-structured interview consisting of 13 questions asking the 5translation teachers about information about them as well as their translation teaching at

HUBT The sample questions in interviews with the teachers ( See Appendix 6)

2.2 Subjects of the study

They are third-year English major students at the ranging ages of 20-24 with learningexperience ranging from 5 to 14 years They are from the course 12 in the Department ofEnglish., HUBT They were at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year and had just finishedtheir third year They have another half a year to study Most of them are from provinces in thenorth of Vietnam such as Nam Dinh, Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh They werechosen after passing the entrance exam However, the language proficiency is rather lowcompared to students‟ intake from other universities After two years, the students wereequipped with the 4 skills and translation theory was not offered during this period

The five teachers have M.A in English teaching The oldest is in his sixties and has a lot ofexperience both in theory and practice Two of them are in their forties Two are in theirthirties They are trained at Hanoi University and National University, College of ForeignLanguages All of them have positive attitude towards this course

2.3 Data collection procedures

2.3.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was piloted and then distributed to the entire population of the classes 1201

and 1202 The questionnaire (Appendix 5) was administered to 50 third-year majors at HUBT

from 2 classes of English language: 1201 and 1202 during class They were at the end of theacademic year of 2009-2010.The analysis of the questionnaire was based on the content of thequestionnaire There are two types of data: qualitative data obtained from open-endedquestions, and quantitative data from multiple choice ones For multiple choice questions, I

calculated the frequency of each item Data from open-ended questions were first groupedaccording to their contents and then their frequency is calculated if possible The data of eachitem will be analyzed one by one in the following items.

2.3.2 Interviews with the teachers

This was conducted two days after the questionnaire was conducted The researcher wants tohave more detailed information on attitudes of teachers towards the courses and the students,their suggestions to improve the quality of the translation training course

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion

3.1 Questionnaire

3.1.1 Learners’ background

The information is collected from Part 1 of the questionnaire which I distributed to 50 third –year students The result of Part 1 seeking information about the students‟ background showsthat most of the third-year English major students at HUBT (81%) are female aged from 20

to 24 years old coming from districts (65%) and big cities (35%) They have learnt English for about 5 to 14 years Due to the fact that they are from other areas outside Hanoi, their

English is not good This may cause some problems After the first two years, the gap has somewhat been bridged They have reached the intermediate level However, a lot need to be done to improve their linguistic competence as well as other types of knowledge

4 What are the main translation skills or techniques you have learnt?

They say that they are taught how to define the true meaning of original text, translate theoriginal text into new one which bears specific characteristics of the local language,comprehension tactics, the process of reading text, understanding text, and use the syntax, theappropriate word to translate Some others say they should translate meaning, not word byword translation Some complain that a lot of skills are taught but most are abstract, notpractical It is clear that the students have been mostly taught how to deal with texts Theinstructors should include more practical skills such as skills of editing, self-evaluation,marketing oneself, researching in the syllabus for the third year

Item 5

Table 3

This is about the ways how the students translate texts We can see that the students are atleast interested in the readership In other words, they find it necessary to find ways to makethe translation understood by readers This is also a way they learn to become responsibletranslators in future And because the type of text they are exposed to is mainly journalistic,they should be more interested in the content not the form In other words, their translationsare literal not free

Read the whole text 7 14%

Think of the way it is expressed in the target language 39 78%

Item 6

Up to 50% of the questioned are keen on taking extra-curricular activities This indicates thatthere is a demand for more such activities to emphasize that there are opportunities for thestudents to know about the practical world of translators 74% of the students say that theywould like to work in pairs and group works This shows that they are active learners And thiscan be encouraged in the lesson of translations Nearly 50% show their interest in workshops,which means they want to have more time to work in real life situations to practice what theyhave learned in class

Table 4

Taking extra-curricular activities (meeting translation experts…) 25 50%

Item 7

7 Why do you attend this course?

Most of them admit the reasons why they attend the course are to improve English as well ascommunication skills, deal with documents in English; and be able to work as professionaltranslators and interpreters Some say that it is due to their personal interests It means they aremotivated to take this course It is essential that the course includes suitable skills, strategiesfor them to work as would-be translators and interpreters

Item 8

The two main concerns here are the methods and teachers This requires teachers continuouslyreview the way they teach the students, which is more practical and career- oriented Theyshould also do more to motivate the students to work on their own under the instruction of theteachers The teachers may be the one who both teach translation and professional translators.

If possible, the department can invite some professional translators to teach translation andshare their experience with them

Item 10

As the background knowledge of the students‟ is mainly business, up to 48% of them revealsthat business is the main topic they prefer dealing with during the course Besides, they areinterested in news and events which provide them current daily events Besides, they are keen

on finance, banking and law We can see that these are aspects closely related to the students

in HUBT where the students can access a lot of subjects on business during the first two years.Therefore, the topics should be given a focus This is a way for the students to practiceresearch skills as there are a lot of terminology especially on finance, law, banking andbusiness

11 Please give your own definition of translation.

Some say translation can be defined as finding the true meaning of original text and thenchanging it into another language The translated text should contain the specificcharacteristics of the language which is translated into (10 students- 20%) 14 students (28%)suggest it is about restating words from one language into another Another 13 students (26%)mean it as a process of changing something that is written or spoken texts into another

language 13 students (26%) emphasize that translation is a process of replacing a writtenmessage or statement in one language keeping the same message or statement into anotherone Here the researcher can see that the students have been taught linguistic approaches whichbasically regard translating as a code-switching operation Only 20% of the sample identify theprocess of translating when taking care of the original text and the reader The researcher cansee that the students seem to know the essence of the translation process The important thing

is to give the students more time to practice this knowledge

Item 12

When looking at the result, the researcher sees that the main problem is the reading skill (longand complex sentences - 24%, long texts - 26%) Then in the third year, the 4 skills, especiallythe reading skill should still be given time for practice to store terminology which is animportant task for a professional translator Moreover, the teacher needs to encourage thestudents to spend time on that Cultural factors are another concern The result indicates thatthe students seem not be interested in this factor As a result, some supplementary subjectsshould be taught in this third year rather than the fourth year as the present curriculum

Table 8

What are your problems when you translate a text? Number Percentage

Item 13

The university offers a lot of opportunities to the students The students say they ca get access

to computers and multimedia facilities at the university Therefore the teacher can takeadvantage of the available facilities to teach the students how to use computers effectively fortheir future job

Item 15

This item is aimed at the types of texts which are given during the course The majority of thestudents say they are given a lot of news articles They are taken from newspapers, magazines,journals or downloaded from BBC, CNN These sources are really suitable sources for thestudents However, some students say that they are out-of-date Therefore, to increase thestudents‟ motivation, teachers should try to look for more up-to-date articles Moreimportantly, these articles are related to the topics the students prefer

Item 16

This item is to clarify whether the students like or dislike the course Only 14% say thetranslation class is interesting This means that teachers should do a lot to attract the students

by improving materials, teaching methodology namely offering a lot more activities in classes

as well as outside class in order to make the course more career–oriented and practical totranslator trainees

INTERVIEW FOR TEACHERS

In order to involve the translation teachers in the English Department into the development ofthe syllabus for third-year English majors, we have conducted semi-structured interviews

3.2.1 The teachers’ background

- One of them has obtained official training in translation at Hanoi University

- The others graduated from Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages One of them is experienced in teaching translation

- All of them have got an M.A in English

- They all try to study, attend seminars on language teaching and syllabus design

3.2.2 The teachers’ comments

- On their teaching: they seem not to be convenient with the teaching due to disagreement on

the content of materials and the lack of a detailed syllabus for them to follow

- On their teaching methodology: they try to teach the students to deal with discourse analysis

of the texts in order to make everything clear in the ST before translating in to the TT Different steps

in the translation process are also integrated in their teaching In addition, they encourage the students

to discuss with one another about how to translate a text The researcher sees that they have beeninterested in directing their students in finding the best solutions to produce a translation

- On what is needed in the third year: in their opinions, due to the lack of the students‟

linguistic competence, there is still the need to strengthen the 4 skills especially the reading