English – vietnamese translation of odontology terms in odontology materials used for vietnamese dentists

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THU HẰNG ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF ODONTOLOGY TERMS IN ODONTOLOGY MATERIALS USED F

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THU HẰNG

ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF

ODONTOLOGY TERMS IN ODONTOLOGY MATERIALS

USED FOR VIETNAMESE DENTISTS

(Nghiên cứu dịch thuật Anh – Việt các thuật ngữ Nha khoa trong các tài liệu

Nha khoa sử dụng cho Nha sĩ Việt Nam)

MA THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Ha Noi - 2020

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THU HẰNG

ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF

ODONTOLOGY TERMS IN ODONTOLOGY MATERIALS

USED FOR VIETNAMESE DENTISTS

(Nghiên cứu dịch thuật Anh – Việt các thuật ngữ Nha khoa trong các tài liệu

Nha khoa sử dụng cho Nha sĩ Việt Nam)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my very great gratitude to my esteemed Supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr Le Hung Tien, who has unfailingly given me valuable insights into my thesis, oriented me towards the right direction and encourage me to no end throughout the process

My deep gratefulness is for my husband, as well as my family, who have always been beside me most of the time of the Thesis and given me so much care and help

I would also highly appreciate my colleagues, my husband’s dentist team and my friends for their close and effective cooperation, without which my doing the thesis would have been a much more difficult experience

ABSTRACT

This thesis aimed to investigate the translation procedures of the dental terms in the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” by the Faculty of Odonto-Stomatology, Ho Chi Minh Pharmaceutical – Medical University, 1993; and the book “Dental Terminology”

by Charline M Dofka, published by Delmar, Cengage Learning, 2012, combined with the field notes taken by the researcher The notes included the commonly-used translation procedures for the translator – the researcher - between doctors and patients

or clients, who are the participants in this study in a dental clinic The thesis uses the theoretical framework of translation procedures of Peter Newmark (1995) to classify the translation procedures of those terms and compare with the actual practice of translation The findings of the research reveal that, in some circumstances, many Vietnamese dental terms do not make easy sense to the doctors and patients or clients because they are

mostly academic or professional terms The paraphrased terms the book “Dental terminology” and their synonyms are helpful in making them more easily-understood

The paraphrasing and synonymy procedures by Peter Newmark are also the most effective ones apart from the others which are: literal translation, transference, naturalization, descriptive equivalence, cultural equivalence, shift or transposition and omission The study suggests practical applications of translation procedures in real-life dental translating contexts in Vietnam

(Dental = Odontological / Odontology)

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Scope of the study 1

1.3 Aims of the study 2

1.4 Objectives 2

1.5 Research questions 2

1.6 Significance of the study 2

1.7 Methods of the study 2

1.8 Organization of the thesis 2

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

2.1 An overview on translation 4

2.1.1 Translation procedures 4

2.1.2 Technical translation 9

2.1.2.1 Definition of technical translation 9

2.1.2.2 Varieties of technical styles 9

2.2 An overview on terminology 10

2.2.1 Definition of terminology 10

2.2.2 Dental terminology 10

2.2.2.1 Formation of dental words 10

2.2.2.2 Areas of dental terminology 11

2.2.2.3 Types of dental terms 12

2.3 Summary of the chapter 16

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research questions 18

3.2 Methodology 18

3.3 The researcher 19

3.4 Study participants 19

3.5 Mixed methods procedures 19

3.6 Data analysis 20

3.7 Summary of the chapter 21

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 22

4.1 Translation procedures for technical terms 22

4.1.1 Literal translation 23

4.1.2 Transference or naturalization procedures 24

4.1.3 Translation by cultural equivalence procedure 27

4.1.4 Translation by descriptive equivalence procedure 27

4.1.5 Translation by synonymy 29

4.1.6 Translation by paraphrasing technical terms into commonly-used words 29

4.1.7 Shift or transposition procedures 37

4.1.8 Omission procedure 38

4.1.9 Combination of two or more translation procedures 39

4.1.10 Summary 40

4.2 Translation procedures for descriptive terms 40

4.2.1 Literal translation 41

4.2.2 Shift or transposition procedure 41

4.2.3 Omission procedure 42

4.2.4 Summary 42

4.3 Translation procedures applied in translating dental terminology from English to Vietnamese 43

Procedure 1: Literal translation 43

Procedure 2: Transference or naturalization procedures 43

Procedure 3: Translation by descriptive equivalence procedure 44

Procedure 4: Translation by using shift or transposition procedures 44

Procedure 5: Translation by using procedure of omission 44

Procedure 6: Translation by using synonymy or paraphrasing procedures 44

4.4 Summary of the chapter 44

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 45

5.1 Summary of key findings 45

5.2 Limitations of the study 46

5.3 Implications of the study 47

REFERENCES 50

APPENDIXES I

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

First of all, it is not difficult to realise that the Odontology is growing in momentum in most of the big cities of Vietnam Many dentistry hospitals, dental clinics have been opened everywhere with a very fast speed

Furthermore, one new field has recently appeared and has been more and more paid attention to, that is “Dental Tourism” – it means tourism combines to dentistry, or tourists come to Vietnam and use Vietnam’s dental services It can be said that Dental Tourism will be one of the future key industry of Vietnam, which will contribute a significant part to the development of national tourism

Secondly, English for Odontology is like a bridge between the specialists who are dentists, dental doctors, dental technicians, dental nurses and their customers or patients The specialists are interested in Odontology English to serve their job requirements, such as to read and comprehend foreign documents, listen to and understand the content

in international workshops, do further studies oversea The scholars or researchers pay attention to Odontology English because of their own linguistic purposes The interpreters or translators take interest in Odontology English to help dentists or doctors

in their jobs Ordinary people also need Odontology English to have basic dental vocabulary to communicate with dentists to protect their own oral health

It can be said that, translation of Odontology terms is a very difficult task because most

of the Odontology terms are acedemic and professional ones, which contains their jargon prefixes and suffixes The translator must make them clearer by paraphrasing them into more popularly-used words or phrases

Thus, the author of this thesis has made a decision of studying English–Vietnamese Odontology translation procedures with the hope to provide the readers useful translation procedures what can be applied in their jobs and requirements

2 Scope of the study

Not many Odontology materials or documents are found in Vietnam’s bookstores This research focuses on studying English Odontology terms and their Vietnamese equivalents, mainly from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” by the Faculty of Odonto-Stomatology, Ho Chi Minh Pharmaceutical – Medical University, 1993 and the book “Dental Terminology” by Charline M Dofka, published by Delmar, Cengage Learning, 2012

The research would analyse features of typical English Odontology terms, based on some translation procedures, then find out the most commonly applied translation procedures

Due to the popularity of the terms “dental” or “dentistry”, I will use them instead of the less popular ones: “odontological” or “odontology”

3 Aims of the study

This study is carried out with the aims of making the writer’s job easier when she works

as a translator in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, Hai Phong city Simultaneously, the study is the reference source for the people who are concerned about the dentistry industry

4 Objectives

Based on the aims of the research, some specific objectives would be drawn out Those are:

• To find out the useful translation procedures applied in translation process

• To make some implications and applications for the dental term translation process

5 Research questions

On this ground, the study seeks the answer to these two questions:

Research question 1: What are the translation procedures used in the communication between dentists and patients / clients?

Research question 2: What translation procedures are effective?

6 Significance of the study

Originating from the problems in the translation job of the researcher, in which the listeners sometimes find it difficult to understand the dental terms, I have studied the changes in the translation methods by applying the translation procedures of Newmark (1995) into my job The results show that patients and doctor communicate more effectively, the listeners do not have to ask for the information again and again, the translator does not have to use the online dictionaries during the dialogues

7 Methods of the study

A mixed method which is the mixture of both quantitative and qualitative methods is applied in the thesis The participants are the doctors, patients or clients and the translator – also the researcher – working in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, Hai Phong city

8 Organization of the thesis

The paper is divided into 5 chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter provides readers an overview of the study including reason for choosing the topic, scope, aims, objectives and its organization

Chapter 2: Theoretical background

Theoretical background in the light of which the research matters is discussed in this chapter

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter provides the main methodology and procedures of data collection

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

This chapter presents, analyzes and discusses the results what the researcher found out from the collected data It also gives answer to the research questions

Chapter 5: Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the overall study and suggests some forms of further studies

on the field

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 An overview on translation

2.1.1 Translation procedures

Many linguists have mentioned the concept of “translation procedure” up to now However, they have different expressions for the similar terms Some linguists use the term “procedure”, some others prefer “procedure”, the rest choose “method” Clarifying the distinction among translation procedures, procedures, and mothods is a challenging task Krings (1986:18) sees translation procedure as “translator’s potentially conscious plans for solving concrete translation problems in the framework of a concrete translation task” Similarly, Loescher (1991:8) defines translation procedure as “a potentially conscious procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text or any segment of it” Besides, Newmark (1995: 68) clearly distinguishes translation methods with translation procedures: “while translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language”

In brief, translation procedure can be basically understood as ways of choosing appropriate translation methods and procedures applied in particular cases

I myself choose the theory framework about translation procedures by Newmark (1995)

to apply in the thesis In the book “A text book of translation” by Peter Newmark (1995: 68-91), he classified the translation procedures into twelve types as follows:

2.1.1.1 Literal translation

Literal translation is the most important of the procedures, so he discussed it in a separate chapter According to Newmark (1995: 69), literal translation ranges from one word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, to sentence to sentence; the longer the unit, the rarer the one-to-one This also means “above the word level, literal translation becomes increasingly difficult” He (1995: 70) also added “normally, the more specific or technical a word, the less it is likely to be affected by context” and

“the more likely a literal translation” Further, “a common object will usually have to-one litetal translation if there is a cultural overlap, though most languages have strange lexical gaps” and “a term for a common object sometimes has other common senses”

one-Specific features: This type of procedure is mostly used when translating SL words / phrases / text with available meanings presented in the dictionary into TL words / phrases / text

For instance: the English words “tooth”, “gum”, “lip” has just only one Vietnamese meaning in the dictionary as “răng”, “lợi”, “môi”, respectively, therefore the translator has to use their available meanings

“geographical and topographical names including newly independent countries such as (le) Zaire, Malawi, unless they already have recognized translations”; “names of periodicals and newspapers; title of as yet untranslated literary works, plays, films; names of private companies and institutions; names of public or nationalized institutions, unless they have recognized translation; street names, addresses, etc” Until now, there have been always arguments about transference procedure, “the argument in favour of transference is that it shows respect for the SL country’s culture The argument against it is that the translator’s job to translate, to explain” (Newmark, 1995: 82)

Specific features: This procedure is applied usefully in translation the materials and chemicals that have in the TL words the similar pronunciation or transcription as the SL words

For instance: the English substance “alginate” used in moulding the tooth shapes has the Vietnamese equivalent in the dictionary as “al-gi-nat”, which has the similar

pronunciation as the original English word

2.1.1.3 Naturalization

Another type of procedure is the naturalization translation In his book, Newmark (1995: 82) said: “The procedure succeeds transference and adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal morphology of the TL” It means the SL and the TL words or phrases have the similar way of pronouncing and their word-forms Specific features: This procedure has a similar feature as the transference one in the way

it transfers the similar pronunciation or morphology of the SL words into the TL words For instance: the English word “abscess” in the SL has the similar pronunciation in the

TL as “áp-xe”, therefore its equivalent in the dictionary is “áp-xe” as well

2.1.1.4 Cultural equivalent

Every context has its own cultural aspects The translator needs to consider the cultural equivalents to produce more appropriate TL

Newmark (1995: 82) also said that the procedure is “an approximate translation where

a SL cultural word is translated by TL cultural words” He clearly points out that “the main purpose of the procedure is to support or supplement another translation procedure

in a couplet”

Specific features: This procedure has its advantage when the TL words need a cultural factor translation

For instance: For the English word “gum”, if it is translated as “lợi”, it just makes sense

in the North of Vietnam whereas if it is translated as “nướu”, it will make more sense in the South of Vietnam However, in the case that the listener masters both dialects, they

do not differentiate

2.1.1.5 Functional equivalent

As it is stated by Newmark (1995: 83), the procedure is usually applied to cultural words,

“it requires the use of a culture-free word, sometimes with a new specific term” Therefore, it generalizes or neutralizes the SL word This procedure is “the most accurate way of translating i.e decentralizing a cultural word”

Specific features: This procedure is opposite to the cultural one mentioned above when

it is used for “decentralizing a cultural word” However, this procedure is rarely used as

a single one, it is usually combined with another procedure, such as transference procedure, to make a “couplet’ in translation - Newmark (1995: 83)

2.1.1.6 Descriptive equivalent

According to Newmark (1995: 83-84), “in translation, description sometimes has to be weighted against function” Moreover, functional procedure and descriptive one can be simultaneously used in translation It is reasonable when he says “description and function are essential elements in explanation and therefore in translation” and “in translation discussion, functions used to be neglected; now it tends to be overplayed” For instance: “Samurai” is described as “the Japanese aristocracy fro the eleventh to the nineteenth century” The TL text tends to add more information to the SL text to make

it clearer to the listeners

2.1.1.7 Synonymy

Newmark (1995: 84) uses “the word “synonym” in the sense of a near TL equivalent to

an SL word in a context, where a precise equivalent may or may not exist” “This

procedure is used for a SL word where there is no clear one-to-one equivalent, and the word is not important in the text, in particular for adjectives or adverbs of quality” The procedure is only appropriate where literal translation is not possible and because the word is not important enough for componential analysis “Here, economy preceeds accuracy.”

We can see this procedure in many examples around us every day For instance: the English word “tartar” can be synonymized as “calculus” to make it more easily understood before it is translated into Vietnamese equivalent as “cao răng”

2.1.1.8 Through-translation

Newmark (1995: 84) also says that the literal translation of common collocations, names

of organizations, the components of compounds and perhaps phrases, is known as calque

or loan translation or “translation” “The most obvious examples of translation are the names of international organizations which often consist of universal words which may be transparent for English and Romance languages, and semantically motivated for Germanica and Slavonic” In addition, “international organizations are often known by their acronyms”

through-For instance: “WHO” is translated as “World Health Organization” (Tổ chức Y tế Thế giới); MPD (maximum permissible dose): liều tối đa cho phép

2.1.1.9 Shifts or transpositions

According to Newmark (1995: 85-86), “shift” or “transposition” is a translation procedure involving a change in the grammar from SL to TL There are four main types The first type is the change from singular to plural of in the position of adjectives, nouns, adverbs The second type is used when a SL grammatical structure does not exist in the

TL The third one is required when literal translation is grammatically possible but may not accord with natural usage in the TL The fourth type of transposition is the replacement of a vertical lexical gap by a grammatical structure

As it is also stated by Newmark (1995: 88), transposition is the only translation procedure concerned with grammar, and most translators make transpositions intuitively”

For instance: The transposition translation is needed when translate “the white house” from English to “ngôi nhà màu trắng” to Vietnamese, because of the position of the adjective The shift is required when an SL grammatical structure does not exist in the

TL, in the example: “It is interesting that ….” from English is translated as “… thật là thú vị”

“concrete translation procedure which can be applied in principle to any action (verb)

or quality (adjective or adverb)”

However, it is reasonable when Newmark (1995: 88) thoroughly states “in theory negative is not as forceful as the positive; in fact, the force of the double negative depends on the tone of voice, and therefore the appropriateness of this modulation must depend on its formulation and the context”

Vinay and Darbelnet (1965) give several types of modulation Some examples are: abstract for concrete, cause for effect, one part for another, reversal of terms, active for passive, space for time, intervals and limits, change of symbols

For instance: the English word “loan” is alternatively translated as “claim” or “credit”

or “debt” depending on the point of view at the time of translation

2.1.1.11 Paraphrase

One more procedure that was mentioned in the book “A textbook of translation” by Peter Newmark is the paraphrase This procedure was said to be “an amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the text It is used in an “anonymous” text when it is poorly written, or has important implications and omissions” (Newmark, 1995: 90)

However, as far as I know, in translating technical terms, this procedure is adequately used (Chapter 4, this thesis)

2.1.1.12 Translation label

Newmark (1995: 90) regards translation label as “a provisional translation, usually of a new institutional term, which should be made in inverted commas, which can later be discreetly withdrawn”

In addition, there are other procedures such as compensation, componential analysis, reduction and expansion, and so on Writing notes or additional information in translation at bottom of page, at end of chapter or book is a useful way to support and

clarify the meaning of target language terms Normally, in the translation of terms in diagrams, maps, or models, notes are written under them or at bottom of page

In general, the translation procedures are useful to the translator The translator may apply the flexibly in particular context and he may combine two, three or four

procedures (couplets, triplets, quadruplets) to deal with a single problem

2.1.2 Technical translation

2.1.2.1 Definition of technical translation

It is necessary to mention technical translation in this part, because, it is, to some extent, directly or indirectly related to its branch: medical terminology In the same way, dental terminology belongs to its mother category “medical terminology”

According to Peter Newmark (1995: 151) “Technical translation is one part of specialised translation, institutional translation” and “technical translation is potentially (but far from actual) non-cultural, therefore, universal” Mark asserts that “Technical translation is primarily distinguished from other forms of translation by terminology, although terminology usually makes up about 5 – 10% of a text”

2.1.2.2 Varieties of technical style

Newmark (1995: 152) states that there are four varieties of technical language: (1) scientific, (2) workshop level, (3) everyday usage level and (4) publicity/sales However,

a scale is likely to be valid only for one or two terms in a new field Based on medical vocabulary, he suggests the three following levels:

• Academic: This includes transferred Latin and Greek words associated with academic papers

• Professional: Formal terms used by experts

• Popular: Layman vocabulary which may include familiar alternative terms

In cases where there is a TL technical equivalent, the translator may translate a SL descriptive term by a TL technical term This shows out the translator’s knowledge and acclimatizes the professional reader Conversely, in cases where the translator does not find TL equivalent for a SL technical term, he should use a descriptive term

One of the most important requirements for a translator to become a competent technical translator is that he has to have much knowledge of linguistics and background

knowledge of the specific field (a particular technical field)

2.2 An overview on terminology

2.2.1 Definition of terminology

Valeontis and Mantzari (2006: 01) described “terminology has a two fold meaning: (1)

it is the discipline concerned with the principles and methods governing the study of concepts and their designations (terms, names, symbols) in any subject field, and the job

of collecting, processing, and managing relevant data and (2) the set of terms belonging

to the special language of an individual subject field” In another word, a term, or terminology unit, is the name or designation of a concept in a particular subject field Backer (1998: 261) pointed out the differences between words and terms that “Terms differ from words in that they are endowed with a special form of reference, namely that they refer to discrete conceptual entities, properties, activities or relations which constitute the knowledge space of a particular subject field.” In Vietnam, a lot of research on vocabulary as well as terminology have been made by famous linguists such

as Nguyen Van Tu, Do Huu Chau, and Nguyen Thien Giap Nguyen Van Tu (1968) stated that terminology consists of fixed words or phrases which denote concepts of sciences, manufacturing fields, or culture and so on Similarly, Do Huu Chau (1998) said that terminology includes specialist words used within a scientific field, a profession or any technological field Besides, Nguyen Thien Giap (1999) defined it as a part of special lexis of a language It consists of fixed words or groups of words which accurately name concepts and subjects belonging to different specialized fields of human beings From the above-mentioned definitions, terminology can be considered fixed words

or phrases which accurately denote concepts of particular subject fields

More specifically, she represents “In medical terminology, many words refer to the proximity or nearness to anatomical structures Many dental terms originate from the names of bones or structures, but more often, from the names of dental procedures”

2.2.2.1 Formation of the dental words

Also, in the same part, she writes “Dental terms are usually formed by a combination of small words or syllables linked in a “building block” or word chain”

When analysing the structure of a dental word, some considerations to observe include the following:

• A prefix: qualifies the word by indicating such things as the quantity, color, size, condition or location A word may or may not have a prefix

• A root: provides the basic foundation for the word A dental term may have more than one root When two roots are combined, a combining vowel (usually “o”) is used to connect them

• A suffix: is sometimes added to a root (s) to qualify or describe the meaning The combining vowel (o) placed after the root is not used when the suffix itself begins with a vowel

• A word may be easier to analyse by beginning with the suffix and working toward the beginning of the word

• Many word structures have multiple meanings, either from Greek, Latin, or French languages

2.2.2.2 Areas of dental terminology

Charline M Dolfka (2012:3), in the book “Dental terminology” divides Dental terminology into areas of interest like the following:

(1) Operative dentistry: general information about the working dentistry industry (2) Practice and facilities setups: Updating of duties, services, and employment concerns as well as new instrument information

(3) Emergency care: new guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use

of automated external defibrillation

(4) Examination and prevention: the importance of proper and thorough patient health information data and examination concerns as well as diagnostic testing (5) Pain management and pharmacology: descriptions of anxiety abatement controls as a method of pain reduction

(6) Radiography: digital radiography, biological effects and safety

(7) Cosmetic dentistry: tooth reconstruction, gingival reductions and augmentation, implant placement and other cosmetic procedures

(8) Prosthodontics: material combination, makeup and uses of the requirements for practice

(9) Endodontics: charting and diagnosis of pulpal conditions as well as new instruments such as flowmeters, loupes, microscopic surgical instruments and methods

(10) Oral and maxillofacial surgery: various surgical procedures for maxillofacial treatment, bone reconstruction, implant placement as well as surgical participation in esthetic dentistry

(11) Orthodontics: direct or indirect banding or brackets, lingual or invisalign braces, anchor devices

(12) Periodontics: periodontic treatment in cosmetic dentistry,

(13) Pediatric dentistry: development and growth concerns of the child patients as well as control and sedation of the child

(14) Dental laboratory procedures: computer-assisted systems in the area of dental restoration and appliances

(15) Implantology: system of the methods of implanting a total false tooth (including both crown and root) in to the clients’ alveolar bone

Each area has its own and specific content related to its functions and missions in the general dental terminology system, which are presented in the book “Dental terminology” mentioned in this thesis

2.2.2.3 Types of dental terms

Each field of research has its technical terms and descriptive terms These types of terms are not the same in both form and usage

The sources of data are taken from the two materials: one is the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” by the Faculty of Odonto-Stomatology, Ho Chi Minh Pharmaceutical – Medical University, 1993 and the other is the book “Dental Terminology” by Charline

M Dofka, published by Delmar, Cengage Learning, 2012 For the later book, I have used it to compare and contrast the English meanings of the terms in order to understand the nature of them

In the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt”, I have collected about 450 terms which are used in my every day job as a translator They are divided into technical terms and descriptive terms (Newmark, 1995: 153)

About 250 words / phrases of all are the technical terms, which occupies approximately 55%, and the rest of words / phrases are the descriptive terms, which occupies 45%

a Technical terms

In the book “Writing That Works, Walter E Oliu, Charles T B & Geraid J A, 1998), technical terms were defined as “words which are meaningful only in a certain specialised industry Outside this specialised industry, these words cannot be understood”

As mentioned above, these 250 technical terms are of academic and professional styles, and the rest 200 descriptive terms are of popular style

* Prefix added terms

It is found that, many terms in the dental field are added with prefixes to create different meaning derivative words A prefix alters the word’s meaning by indicating number, color, size, location or condition (Charline M Dofka, 2012, 4-5-6) The prefix added terms are taken from the book “Dental terminology, 2012” and their meanings are looked up in the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt, 1993”

The examples are in the table below:

Prefix added words

(Dental terminology, 2012)

Word meanings (Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt, 1993)

: cấy ghép : nghiến hàm trong : ở khe răng

: (thuộc) nội nha : (thuộc) nha chu : khớp cắn lệch : sự không mọc được răng : tiền hàm

* Suffix added terms

Charline M Dofka in her book (Dental terminology, 2012, 11) says that “An element added to the end of the root word or combining form to describe or quality the word meaning is a suffix A suffix cannot stand alone and is usually united with a root element

by inserting a combining vowel (“o”) unless the suffix begins with a vowel In that case, the combining form or vowel is dropped.”

For instance, the surgical removal of gum tissue is the meaning of “gingivectomy” from the root word “gingivo” (gum) and suffix “ectomy” (surgical excision) Dropping the ending vowel in “gingivo” and adding “ectomy” to make “gingivectomy” unites these

two-word elements

Suffixes used as adjectives are word endings that describe or show a relationship Suffixes have the ability to transform a noun or verb into an adjective, or verbs into nouns, by the addition of a word ending The specific examples are taken from the two materials mentioned above and listed below:

Suffix-added words

(Dental terminology, 2012)

Word meanings (Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt, 1993)

: nha sĩ, bác sĩ chỉnh nha : bác sĩ, người hiến tặng

Some suffixes are added to root elements to show processes, uses or healing When analyzing a long dental word, starting at the suffix may indicate something happening

to the root element, such as “-ectomy” (surgical removal) or “-trophy” (development) Other suffixes are added to indicate pain (-algia) and so on Here are some examples:

Suffix-added words

(Dental terminology, 2012)

Meanings (Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt, 1993)

those terms are not very popular in daily used context

* Letter-contained terms

Some dental terms contain letters in their combination, thus, there are no translation

equivalents for them For instance, the term “X-ray tube” contains the letter “X”, it is translated in the way that the equivalent contains the letter “X” (ống tia X-quang) In

another example, “T-strips”, the English term contains the letter “T”, and the Vietnamese translation also consists of that letter (nút buộc chữ T) The term “X-bite”

is in the same case: we have to translate it “cắn chéo chữ X”

b Descriptive terms

Different from technical terms, when we meet a descriptive term in the dentistry field,

or in other text, we can still understand its meaning Because descriptive terms’ meanings are always the same in every context Here I arrange them in the field of dentistry whereas they can appear in other fields because their meanings are also related

to the dentistry field They are considered as “words whose meanings belong to a specialised industry, but they are still broadly meaningful in other industry” (Newmark, 1995)

As far as I know, descriptive terms are of root word terms, which are usually verbs, nouns or adjectives as in the examples below:

Verbs: intrude (thụt vào), incline (nghiêng), masticate (nhai), grind (mài), irritate (kích ứng), bite (cắn)

Nouns: pulp (tủy), punch (kìm bấm), saliva (nước bọt), sac (túi, nang), broach (cái châm dùng để thăm dò ống tủy)

Adjectives: oral (thuộc răng miệng), manual (bằng tay), fixed (cố định)

(Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt, 1993) They are phrases as well, such as: cemental resorption (sự tiêu xê-măng), rest bar (thanh

tì / thanh ngáng), incisal rest (tựa bờ răng cửa), retaining wire (dây cố vị), gingival retraction (sự co nướu / lợi), sensitive teeth (răng nhạy cảm), dental laboratory technician (kỹ thuật viên phục hình răng)

(Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt, 1993)

2.3 Summary of the chapter

In this chapter, the theory on translation procedures by Newmark (1995) as well as technical translation with varieties of technical styles is stated The field of dental terminology is also presented here with the three sub parts The first is the formation of the dental terms in which prefixes, suffixes or roots are usually taken into consideration The chapter also mentions the dental areas of interests (Charline M Dofka, 2012) which are: Operative dentistry, practice facilities setups, emergency care, examination and prevention, pain management, radiography, cosmetic dentistry, prosthodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, periodontics, periatric dentistry, dental laboratory procedures and implantology

The last but not least is the types of dental terms which are divided into technical terms

and descriptive terms, based on the theory of Newmark (1995)

The next chapter appears to deal with the research methodology of the thesis

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the methodology for the research based on Newmark’s (1995) framework of translation procedures, which will be brought to apply for translation process of Dental terms from English to Vietnamese This approach is allowed for an in-depth understanding of the daily communication between doctors and patients or clients in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, Hai Phong city

A mixed method, which is the mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods, is selected to fulfil the study The research plan includes the methodology, study participants, procedures, analysis method, which are also the primary components of this chapter

3.1 Research questions

This study sought to build a theory in answer to the following research questions: Research question 1: What are the translation procedures used in the communication between dentists and patients / clients?

Research question 2: What translation procedures are effective?

3.2 Methodology

A mixed method study is appropriate when the goal of the research is not only collecting the data from reliable sources of materials and classifying them but also explaining the theory and analysing the theoretical aspects applied According to Creswell, J W, and Plano Clark, V L (2011), “a mixed method focuses on collecting, analyzing and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or series of studies Its central premise is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches, in combination, provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone” When to use mixed methods study, Creswell, J (2008) presented that “When both quantitative and qualitative data together provide a better understanding of the research problem than either type by itself” and “When one type of research (qualitative or quantitative) is not enough to address the research problem or answer the research questions”

In the research field, after the data are collected and classified, they are described and analyzed basing on the translation procedures theory of Newmark (1995), then generalized into the useful translation procedures As appeared in chapter two of the thesis, twelve translation procedures are examined to find out the useful procedures to translate dental terms from English to Vietnamese

3.3 The researcher

I am myself the researcher as well as the translator / interpreter in the communicative cases between dentists (dental doctors) and patients or clients in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, Hai Phong city

Before carrying out this thesis, most of the translation methods I have used are of literal translation However, for the technical terms, the listeners have found it difficult to get the message I had sometimes to use the “google translation” to gain the effect of the communication

This thesis has helped to provide more procedures in translation that I can apply in the process of doing my real job as a translator

3.4 Study participants

The participants in the thesis are the doctor and patients or clients who directly took part

in about 20 dialogues in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, Hai Phong city The doctor is Dr Tuan Vu, and five typical patients and clients, named Tarzan (p/c 1), Johnson (p/c 2), Rui (p/c 3), Saiful (p/c 4) and Rum (p/c 5) The patients or clients are from some countries, such as Malaysia, England and Singapore I have to mention that the dental treatment process usually consists of four or five times of appointment between the doctor and the patients or clients, such as, examining, main dental treatment, prescription, post dental treatment and hygiene

3.5 Mixed method procedures

3.5.1 Quantitative data

a Sources of quantitative data

There are two main sources of data in the thesis: one has been verified and published and the other is subjective and has not been verified

The verified source is from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) and the book “Dental Terminology” (2012)

The other source is from the direct dialogues between the doctor and patients or clients

in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, which are recorded into a memo book, and the indiect consulting conversations via social media (zalo, messenger, viber) between the fanpage Nha Khoa Hoan Kiem Hai Phong and the clients

Moreover, proceeding from the reality of being a translator or a medium consultant between the doctor and patients or clients and using mostly one translation procedure: Literal translation, I decided to carry out this thesis to study the overall translation procedures with the references of the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993)

b Data collection process

From all the quantitative data sources, I have collected 450 words / phrases altogether, which are the most commonly used in my every day job Among them, there are 250 technical terms, which occupies 55%, and there are 200 descriptive terms, which occupies 45 % of all

For the 250 technical terms, there are 50 terms from direct dialogues (20%), 50 terms from indirect conversations (20%), 100 terms from the book “Dental terminology”, 2012 (40%) and 50 terms from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) (20%) For the other 200 desctiptive terms, there are 100 terms from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt”, 1993 (50%), 50 terms from direct dialogues (25%) and 50 terms from indiect conversations (25%) No descriptive terms have been found in the book “Dental terminology” (2012) (0%)

3.5.2 Qualitative data

These qualitative data mentioned here refer to a questionnaire used to survey the satisfaction of the foreign patients / clients about the translator at the end of the whole dental treatment The questionnaire results have shown four levels: Satisfied – Dissatisfied – Indifferent – Other ideas

3.5.3 Study instruments

In this significantly integrating and developing society, the study instruments or tools are abundant They vary not only of direct communicating methods, but also via social media, specifically via zalo, messenger, facebook comments or viber

One more useful instrument / tool is the researcher’s memo book, in which I have taken all the necessary notes from the advantages and disadvantages of my job

Phone, mails, forums or other online means are not used in this thesis

3.6 Data analysis

3.6.1 Quantitative data analysis

The first stage of quantitative data analysis and interpretation is data preparation, where raw data is converted into something meaningful and readable In this thesis, because the sources of data are pretty wide and contain so many unpopular words / phrases, the researcher has to narrow them into a list of 450 words / phrases that are commonly used

in my communication between doctors and patients / clients The data then are classified into two groups: technical terms and descriptive terms After that, I devide the technical terms into four sub-typed, based on the formation of the words/phrases, those are prefix-

added terms, suffix-added terms, eponyms, abbreviation or acronyms and consisted terms

letter-After completing the first stage, the data are ready for analysis, a descriptive statistical method and the inferential statistical method are used Based on the theory framework

of Newmark (1995) about translation procedures, I apply those translation procedures into translating each type of terms, mainly the technical terms Of all the twelve translation procedures by Newmark (1995) mentioned in chapter 2, there are nine procedures which are applied in translating technical terms, whereas only two procedures are applied in translating descriptive terms Similarities, differences, as well

as advantages and disadvantages are brought to consider in this thesis

3.6.2 Qualitative data analysis

Qualitative data analysis is the process of moving from the qualitative data collected into some form of explanation or interpretation of the subject under investigation Here in this thesis, the questionnaire results are collected and organized with the purpose

of showing the satisfaction of the patients / clients about the translating job effect in Hoan Kiem dental clinic, Hai Phong city

3.7 Summary of the chapter

The goal of this chapter is to outline the research methods used to answer the research questions A mixed method study is relevant in this study in which a discussion of the procedure, study participants, data collection and the procedures of analysis outlines the specifics of how the study has been conducted A translation theory on translation procedures by Peter Newmark (1995) has been used to help analyse the quantitative and qualitative data All of those procedures have contributed to this study to produce usedul translation procedures of dental terms from English to Vietnamese so that the interpreters, doctors, and patients or clients can make use of it The purpose of the next chapter is to provide results and demonstrate that the methodology described in chapter

3 was followed

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The findings of the mixed method research are the combined results of the two methodologies: quantitative and qualitative studies Stemming from the classification into the two types of dental terms: technical terms and descriptive terms of the quantitative data,

as well as the analysis of the qualitative data results, the researcher uses the theory framework about translation procedures by Newmark (1995) to find out the commonly used ones for each type of dental terms

I have collected about 20 questionnaire results of the foreign patients / clients, in which,

12 results show the satisfaction (60%), 3 results express the dissatisfaction (15%), 2 results present the indifference (10%), and 3 last results give other ideas (15%)

The findings of the thesis show that: six useful translation procedures are drawn out, in which the procedures of paraphrasing and synonymizing are more used for technical terms, whereas the procedures of literal translation or cultural and functional equivalence are prefered for descriptive terms

From the results of the research, the two research questions are adequately answered Some implications and applications are extracted despite some limitations of the study that are all mentioned in chapter five of the thesis After this study, some further projects are suggested to develop the research upto a higher level

Admittedly, translating dental terms is not as simply as translating a daily life article or

a normal communicative segment The most difficult matter is to deal with technical terms, which include many types of technical prefixes, suffixes and different roots as classified in chapter two So as in chapter two, twelve translation procedures based on Newmark (1995)’s theory were discussed However, the frequency of using those procedures varies due to the reality of communication between the doctors and foreign patients in the place of research – Hoan Kiem Dental clinic, Hai Phong city

In this chapter, I divided the investigation into two main parts: Translation procedures for dental technical terms and translation procedures for dental descriptive terms and how I have applied the procedures of Newmark (1995) to translate them

4.1 Translation procedures for dental technical terms

Figure 1 below shows the proportions of technical terms compared two descriptive terms

in the total of 450 words / phrases to study

Figure 2 shows the proportions of applying the translation procedures

Figure 1: The number of dental technical terms compared to dental descriptive terms

Figure 2: Proportions of applying the translation procedures

4.1.1 Literal translation

Newmark (1995) presented that “literal translation is the basic translation procedure, both in communicative and semantic translation, in which translation starts from there” Literal translation has also been the first procedure that I applied in translating dental terms in both technical terms and descriptive terms However, I used it less for technical terms than for descriptive terms, which I would state in part 4.2 of this chapter

I just applied literal translation for short and few meanings terms They are almost nouns, verbs and adjectives, which are listed below:

Dental terms

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Translation procedures for technical terms

(“Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) 4.1.2 Transference or naturalization procedures

The first translation procedure to study in this part is the transference or naturalization

I have found there is almost no gap between the two procedures because the terms in the

SL are either transferred the whole words and the transciption of the words in the case

of transference procedure, or to naturalize the pronunciation and morphology of the words to the TL

Newmark (1995: 81) stated that “loan word is an SL word which is directly taken into the TL text with no translation” The procedure is becoming more and more popular in the translation of terms which are not lexicalized in the TL Because of the cultural non-equivalence, it is very hard and challenging to create a new name of the new concept Therefore, many loan words are transferred to the TL with their pronunciation transcripts

a Translating loan words as the chemicals or materials

Actually, a number of names of chemicals and materials are very popular and accepted

to use as an international language They are derived from Latin or Greek and normally fixed in any text, both in Vietnamese and English

Below is the table of loan words and their Vietnamese equivalents taken from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993)

English terms Vietnamese terms

: a-mal-gam (chất hàn) : chất kháng his-ta-min : ba-zơ

: cooc-ti-cô-it : áp-xe

: f-lo The application and effectiveness of the procedure: To translate the chemicals or materials in dental field, the translator can use the transferred pronunciation or morphology in the TL

b Translating eponyms

Eponyms in dental terms are not as many as other types of technical term However, in order to translate this type of terms, the translator need to have the background knowledge of dentistry field to add more descriptions to the terms so as that they can make sense to the listeners

The table below contains the English eponyms taken from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) and their Vietnamese meanings However, in fact, I had to add more information to the terms to explain them to the patients / clients in the clinic

Kennedy’s classification : phân loại Kennedy (phân loại mất răng) Angle’s classification : phân loại Angle (phân loại khớp cắn)

Frankfort plane : mặt phẳng nằm ngang Frankfort

Hutchinson triad : tam chứng Hutchinson

Ivy loop wiring : buộc vòng Ivy / nút buộc Ivy

Buccal sheft : thềm (của xương hàm dưới) phía má

Rubber dam clamp : cặp đê cao su (để điều trị tủy)

California bridge : Cầu California

Frankfort mandibular incisor angle : góc răng dưới mặt phẳng Frankfort

c Translating abbreviations or acronyms

Translating abbreviations or acronyms is similar to translating eponyms because it also needs the explanation after their main meanings used

In this illustrative table below, the acronyms are taken from the book “Dental terminology” (2012) and their meanings are in the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993)

BID (bis in die)

BUN (blood urea nitrogen)

TMJ (temporomandibular junction)

MGJ (muco-gingival junction)

: hai lần một ngày : u-rê huyết

: khớp thái dương : đường nối lợi dính

Some more examples are mentioned, such as, MPD (maximum permissible dose): liều tối đa cho phép; MOD (mesioclusion distal): khớp cắn xa giữa / khớp cắn ngoại biên; DMD (Doctor of medical dentistry): bác sĩ nha khoa; MGJ (mucogingival junction): đường nối lợi dính Source: “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993)

However, those terms are not very popular in daily used context

d Translating letter-contained terms

In the total of studied terms, there are some terms that contain one or more letters in its formation I arrange them in this part However, when translating them, there are no equivalents for those letters, I had to keep the original letters in the TL equivalents

For instance: the term “X-ray tube” contains the letter “X”, it is translated in the way that the equivalent contains the letter “X” (ống tia X-quang) In another example, “T- strips”, the English term contains the letter “T”, and the Vietnamese translation also consists of that letter (nút buộc chữ T) The term “X-bite” is in the same case: we have

to translate it “cắn chéo chữ X” Source: “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993)

4.1.3 Translation by cultural equivalence procedure

Most of the terminology fields are influenced by the cultural elements, and the dental terminology is not the exception In TL’s area (Vietnam), the country is divided into three regions: The North, the Middle and the South Along with the regional characteristics are the differences in the language uses Although there are not many words of the cultural aspect, the thesis takes some examples to illustrate the procedure mentioned

For instance: The term “gum / gingiva” in the SL is translated into two SL words of the two regions in Vietnam as “lợi (the North’s use)” and “nướu (the South’s use)” The

term “crown” is of the same case The TL meaning used in the North is “chụp răng”

whereas in the South is “mão răng” Source: “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) 4.1.4 Translation by descriptive equivalence procedure

Due to the special features, some of the dental terms are translated by explaining to be more easily understood In my job, I had to add more information to explain the cases

to the listeners For instance: When the doctor appointed to make a false tooth to the

client, he used the word “tooth crown” However, when I conveyed the doctor’s direction, I had to explain the word “tooth crown” as “a false tooth that is made of porlain in the shape of a crown to put on the real tooth which has been ground smaller”

In the illustrative table below is a list of some English terms that I explained to the listeners when I did my translation job, with the references from Dr Tuan Vu After that I translated the references into English to foreign patients / clients

English terms Vietnames descriptive equivalents (with the references

from Dr Tuan Vu in the clinic)

Cartridge Ca-trít (ngăn cách các răng để hàn)

Interocclusal Khoảng hở sinh lý (giữa hai hàm)

Crown (1) thân răng (răng thật); (2) mão, chụp, mão thay thế

(răng giả)

Rest

Sự nghỉ (của hai hàm) Khi hàm không làm gì cả (không nhai, ko nói, ko vận động) thì hàm được gọi là ở tư thế nghỉ

Dislocation

Trật khớp (hàm) Trong những trường hợp như bị chấn thương hoặc tự làm chấn thương do ngáp chẳng hạn, thì hai hàm có khả năng bị trật khớp

Alveoclasia

Tiêu hủy ổ răng Thực chất là tiêu xương ổ răng Khi cơ thể không có khả năng bù canxi để phát triển xương ổ răng, thì xương ổ răng sẽ tiêu dần đi, dẫn đến tình trạng tiêu xương ổ răng Trường hợp này cũng thường xảy ra với răng sữa Chân răng sẽ tự tiêu hủy đi khi có răng khôn mọc trồi lên từ dưới

Anaraxia Tật răng không chạm nhau Còn gọi là khớp cắn hở

Ankylocheilia Tật dính môi Còn gọi là phanh môi bám thấp

Ankyloglossia Tật dính lưỡi Còn gọi là phanh lưỡi bám thấp

Cone Côn, nón, chóp Thực chất là ống tủy nhân tạo

Bite wing film Phim cắn cánh Còn gọi là phim X-quang răng

Idiopathic erosion Tiêu thân răng hình nêm Còn gọi là mòn cổ răng

Posterior palatal seal Đê khẩu cái sau Để làm hàm tháo lắp

4.1.5 Translation by synonymy

In some cases, the listener did not understand the first TL term I translated, then I had

to use another term, usually its synonym to make it clear Therefore, the prefered procedure for these cases is the synonymy

For instance: When the doctor or technician gave the instruction to the client of “vệ sinh răng miệng bằng lấy cao răng”, then I had to translate into English as “do the hygiene

by taking out the tartar” However, sometimes, the foreign client did not understand the term “tartar” At that time, I had to use its synonyms as “calculus” to help him understand it

Below is the data of some English terms and their synonyms taken from the book

“Dental terminology” (2012) with the references of Vietnamese meanings from the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) to illustrate this procedure

Cast Mould / mold / impression khuôn đúc

4.1.6 Translation by paraphrasing technical terms into commonly-used words

Apparently, this study has shown that the procedure of paraphrasing has been used the most and the most effectively in the process of being a translator In the total of studied words/phrases, the large number are technical terms and of “the academic and professional styles” (Newmark, 1995) Therefore, when I used exactly those terms in communicating, most of the patients or clients did not get the messages However, when

I paraphrased them into the more popular or descriptive ones, they got the ideas

In this thesis, due to studying the dictionary “Thuật ngữ Răng Hàm Mặt” (1993) and the book “Dental terminology” (2012), I have drawn out lists of root words, prefixes or suffixes that are paraphrased as follows: