Phương thức dịch áp dụng trong dịch thuật ngữ kinh tế quốc tế

In the current context of globalization, international trade exerts great importance on the development of every economy. As a result, mutual understanding between international business partners must be enhanced in order to ensure the success of any business deal. Hence, translation of economic terms in business documents plays a significant role as a linguistic bridge between domestic enterprises and their oversea partners. In view of that, this study entitled “Translation Procedures Applied in Translating Economic Terms Related to International Trade” has been conducted with the purpose of investigating the procedures applied in translating international economic terms. First, the researcher aims at listing out the commonlyused translation procedures. In addition, this paper finds out the most dominant type of procedures applied in the translation of international trade terms. To achieve these objectives, the researcher collected and analyzed data from the text book “International Economics: Theory and Policy” (ninth edition) by Krugman Obstfeld Melitz and its translated version published by National Political Publishing House. Qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were employed to interpret the collected data. The results of this study suggested that among nine prominent translation procedures by Peter Newmark, through translation was the most frequentlyused due to its accuracy. Following the common translation procedures, recommendations for appropriate translation procedures to deal with economic documents were also offered.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

TRANSLATION PROCEDURES APPLIED IN

TRANSLATING ECONOMIC TERMS

RELATED TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI THANH VAN (M.A.) STUDENT: PHUONG MINH HANG

YEAR OF ENROLMENT: QH2010

Hanoi, May 2014

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

TÊN ĐỀ TÀI

PHƯƠNG THỨC DỊCH ÁP DỤNG TRONG DỊCH THUẬT NGỮ KINH TẾ QUỐC TẾ

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I: Phuong Minh Hang, class QH2010.F.1.E21, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited

in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan

or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Phuong Minh Hang

May, 2014

In addition, I wish to acknowledge the assistance given by the staff of the University of Languages and International Studies’ library for their willingness to offer appropriate sources of information and materials for my the sis

Last but not least, I would like to offer my special thanks to my family and friends for their support, encouragement, love and care during the completion of this paper

ABSTRACT

In the current context of globalization, international trade exerts gre at importance on the development of every economy As a result, mutual understanding between international business partners must be enhanced in order to ensure the success of any business deal Hence, translation of economic terms in business documents plays a significant role as a linguistic bridge between domestic enterprises and their oversea partners

In view of that, this study entitled “Translation Procedures Applied in

Translating Economic Terms Related to International Trade” has been conducted

with the purpose of investigating the procedures applied in translating international economic terms First, the researcher aims at listing out the commonly-used translation procedures In addition, this paper finds out the most dominant type of procedures applied in the translation of international trade terms To achieve these objectives, the researcher collected and analyzed data from the text book

“International Economics: Theory and Policy” (ninth edition) by Krugman Obstfeld Melitz and its translated version published by National Political Publishing House Qualitative and quantitative analysis methods were employed to interpret the collected data

The results of this study suggested that among nine prominent translation procedures by Peter Newmark, through translation was the most frequently-used due to its accuracy Following the common translation procedures, recommendations for appropriate translation procedures to deal with economic documents were also offered

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

AB STRACT v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

LIST OF TAB LES, F IGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS ix

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of problem and rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims and research questions 2

1.3 Significance of the study 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Thesis structure 4

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAP TER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Translation Theory 5

1.1.1 Definition of translation 5

1.1.2 Translation procedures 6

1.1.2.1 Transference 7

1.1.2.2 Naturalization 7

1.1.2.3 Through translation 7

1.1.2.4 Shift or transposition 8

1.1.2.5 Modulation 8

1.1.2.6 Cultural equivalent 8

1.1.2.7 Functional equivalent 8

1.1.2.8 Descriptive equivalent 9

1.1.2.9 Couplets 9

1.2 Overview of terminology 9

1.2.1 Definition of terminology 9

1.2.2 Characteristics of terminology 10

1.2.2.1 Accuracy 11

1.2.2.2 Systematism 11

1.2.2.3 Internationalism 12

1.2.2.4 Nationalism 12

1.2.2.5 Popularity 12

1.2.3 Classification of terminology 13

1.2.3.1 Simple terms 13

1.2.3.2 Above-word- level terms 13

1.2.3.3 Acronyms 14

1.3 Economic terms 15

1.3.1 International economics 15

1.3.2 Main characteristics and classification of international trade terms 16

CHAP TER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOG Y 18

2.1 Selection of subjects 18

2.2 Data collection instrument 18

2.3 Data collection procedures 18

2.4 Data analysis procedures 19

CHAP TER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21

3.1 Data analysis 21

3.1.1 Through translation 21

3.1.2 Shift translation 26

3.1.3 Modulation 29

3.1.4 Couplets 31

3.1.5 Cultural equivalent 33

3.1.6 Descriptive equivalent 33

3.2 Findings 34

3.2.1 Research question 1 34

3.2.2 Research question 2 35

3.3 Discussion 37

3.3.1 Through translation 37

3.3.2 Shift translation 38

3.3.3 Modulation and Couplets 38

3.3.4 Descriptive equivalent and cultural equivalent 39

3.3.5 Suggestion 39

PART 3: CONCLUSION 41

3.1 Recapitulation of the study 41

3.2 Limitations of the study 41

3.2 Suggestions for further study 42

REFERENCES 43

APPENDIX 45

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS

List of tables

Table 1.2.1: Examples of economic terms

Table 1.2.3.2: Examples of mixed – compound terms

Table 1.3.2.1: Examples of one-word-level terms

Table 1.3.2.2: Examples of above-word-level terms

Table 1.3.2.3: Examples of economic acronyms

Table 3.1.1: Analysis of cases applying through translation procedure

Table 3.1.1: Analysis of cases applying through translation procedure

Table 3.1.2: Analysis of cases applying shift translation procedure

Table 3.1.3: Analysis of cases applying modulation translation procedure

Table 3.1.4: Analysis of cases applying couplet procedure

Table 3.1.5: Analysis of cases applying cultural equivalent procedure

Table 3.1.6: Analysis of cases applying descriptive equivalent procedure

Table 3.2.1: Frequency and percentage of translation procedures

List of figures

Figure 3.2.2: The percentage of translation procedures applied in the Vietnamese translation of international economic terms in the book “International Economics: Theory and Policy” by Krugman Obstfield Melitz

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of problem and rationale of the study

After 6 years joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vietnam has increasingly strengthened its power and position worldwide through international economic integration Such achievements owe much to translators who deal with the linguistic aspects of all business contracts and transactions in order to raise mutual understanding between domestic enterprises and their international business partners

The main reason is that currently, “economists have become increasingly aware of the importance of paying attention to their language” (Pedro, 2011) Also, every business document contains a number of economic terms, and nothing other than sufficient knowledge of such terms can ensure the success of a business deal Thus, in the current context of globalization, the translation of economic terms is of vital importance for anyone who would like to do business globally

Addressing the need to investigate economic translation, many researches to date have been conducted on a number of sub-areas A typical study was conducted

by Andreea-Rosalia Olteanu on “Errors and Difficulties in Translating Economic Texts” This study pointed out all the common errors in translating economic documents from a source language into a target language and gave recommendations for improvement based on difficulties during the translation process Another study with the title “Metaphor and Translation: A Case Study in the Field of Economics” conducted by Professor Pedro A Fuertes Olivera from University of Valladolid also raised great concern about the translation of economic documents at sentence and discourse level Both of these aforementioned studies have focused on economic translation in a broad and general scale, but ignored typical features of different languages all over the world In Vietnam, studies on economic translation have also been widely discussed including the studies by Phung (2013), Bui (2013), Bui (2011), Hoang (2005) However, none of these investigations have been made in the area of international trade terminologies All

“Translation Procedures Applied in Translating Economic Terms Related to International Trade”

This study is an attempt to find out the translation procedures commonly used in translating terminologies of international trade In addition, the researcher will make a statistical calculation according to the frequency of each type of translation procedures so as to point out the most dominant one Such understanding will provide a solid foundation for the researcher’s suggestions on how to apply appropriate procedures in translating international trade terms Besides, offering an insightful knowledge of English-Vietnamese translation of economic terms related

to international trade, the researcher expects that this paper will form a basis for ones who take interest in this topic

1.2 Aims and research questions

This study is specially targeted at identifying the procedures of translation applied in translating international trade terms in the book “International Economics: Theory and Policy” by Krugman Obstfeld Melitz Not merely listing out all translation procedures, the researcher also analyzes and generalizes the collected data so as to find out the most common type of procedures used in the translation of international trade terms Then, the most dominant procedure is pointed out to help translators produce high-quality translations by applying appropriate strategies This can save time as well as energy for translators during their working process

Research questions

Specifically, the aims and objectives of the research are to answer the two following research questions:

1 What are translation procedures applied in translating economic terms

related to international trade in part 1 and part 2 of the book “International Economics: Theory and Policy”?

2 What is the most dominant translation procedure applied in translating these economic terms from English to Vietnamese?

1.3 Significance of the study

As one of comprehensive studies on translation procedures applied in translating economic terms, this study is expected to be of great benefits for students majoring in translation and interpreting, professional translators and other researchers interested in the topic

Firstly, the research provides learners of translation and interpreting with a bank of economic terms related to international trade with a highly-accurate translated version As the results, the learners can use this bank of glossary to facilitate their translation practice, especially when they have to deal with economic documents Also, the findings of the research will make the students aware of the effectiveness as well as the prevalence of each translation procedure in translating economic terms so that they can choose an appropriate procedure to produce a high-quality translation with less time and effort

As for the professional translators, they can base themselves on the results of the paper to make a suitable choice of translation procedures when translating economic terms In addition, the available source of economic terms and its translation presented by the research will help enrich their specialized vocabulary, which will greatly benefit their working process

Regarding the researchers who share the same interests, this study can be exploited as a useful primary source for references Also, in this study, the researcher investigates the translation of economic materials at word level Thus, the study can be effectively used as a foundation for any researcher who would like

to conduct a research on this topic at sentence and discourse levels

1.4 Scope of the study

The given research problem is about translation of terms related to international trade, which is such a broad and extensive economic field Conducting

a research in a large scale would require an in-depth knowledge about economics in general and international trade in particular, which is a challenging and ambitious objective for a linguistic learner like the researcher

Hence, the researcher only focuses on investigating translation procedures applied in translating international trade terms from part 1 and part 2 of the book

“International Economics: Theory and Policy” (ninth edition) by Krugman Obstfeld Melitz The translated terms are collected from the translation version published by National Political Publishing House

1.5 Thesis structure

Overall, the paper is comprised of three following parts, each of which would be divided into some chapters:

Part 1 – Introduction: provides a comprehensive overview of the study including

the rationale, aims, research questions, the significance, the scope and the structure

of the research

Part 2 – Development

Chapter 1 (Literature review) introduces the theoretical background for the

whole paper Definitions of key concepts, such as translation procedures and

terminologies would be provided in the light of the researcher’s critical review

of studies relating to the research problem

Chapter 2 (Methodology) describes the research instruments, the sampling method, and the procedure of collecting and analyzing data

Chapter 3 (Findings and Discussions) presents and analyzes all the collecte d data in order to give satisfactory answers to the two research questions

Part 3 – Conclusion: summarizes the main points discussed in the research and

points out the limitation of the study as well as suggestions for further study

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Translation Theory

1.1.1 Definition of translation

With the general growth in the need for mutual understanding between people of different languages, translation has become a subject of great concern Linguists along with linguistic researchers all over the world have contributed their time and effort in order to offer the most precise definition of translation Until now, there have been various ways to define the term “translation”

Etymologically, translation originates from the Latin word translatio (to

carry across or to bring across) According to Oxford Advanced Learners’

Dictionary Sixth Edition (2000), translation is “the process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language” This definition is quite simple, which fails to point out the specific features of translation

Thus, it is of great importance to consider Newmark’s idea Newmark (1998) asserts that “Translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.” In this definition, Newmark mentions the significant role of the author to the process of producing translation but neglects all other factors, such as the readership and stylistic features of the translated version Catford (1965) produces a more sufficient definition, in which he emphasizes the equivalence of translation According to this linguist, translation is defined as “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material

in another language (TL).” Clearly, the process of translating something is not restricted by the author’s intention but depends much on the equivalence of the languages However, in fact, it is quite common when translators fail to find the equivalence of a word in the target language to express the source language Hence, the definition provided by Catford still needs some modifications

Apart from these aforementioned definitions of translation, there is also a detailed discussion of Larson Larson (1984, p.3) states that:

Translation consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation, and cultural context of the source language text, analyzing it in order to determine its meaning, and then reconstructing this same meaning using lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the receptor language and its cultural context

Three vital factors including lexical aspect, grammatical aspect and context are clearly pointed out in Larson’s definition It means that translation is not simply a process of language transference In an attempt to produce a quality translation, translators must pay attention to the analytic stages to explore all the linguistic aspects of the source text

From the researcher’s perspective, the definition offered by Larson (1984) covers almost all features of translation Thus, the researcher decides to use this definition as a basic theoretical background for this thesis paper

1.1.2 Translation procedures

Translation procedures are applied in translating small linguistic units of a text such as words or sentences Numerous theories on translations procedures have been introduced throughout the time, including those of Nida (1964), Vinay and

Darbelnet (1957) and Newmark (1988) In his work “Towards a science of

translation, with special reference to principles and procedures involved in Bible translating.” Nida (1964) divides translation procedures into two categories:

technical and organizational The technical procedures consist of the text analysis, including three phrases: phases: (i) analysis of the respective SL and TL; (ii) careful study of the SL text, and (iii) determination of the appropriate equivalents (Nida

1964, p 241) The other procedure focuses on checking and evaluating the translated text

Unlike Nida, Vinay and Darbelnet (1957) cited in Munday (2001) present seven translation procedures, namely: (1) loan, (2) calque, (3) literal, (4) transposition, (5) modulation, (6) total syntagmatic change, (7) adaptation

Among the mentioned classifications, the translation procedures provided by Peter Newmark have become the most popular, which are widely accepted by professional translators all over the word due to their usefulness and effectiveness Hence, the researcher exploits the theory provided by Newmark for analyzing the translation of economic terms in this paper Regarding 17 translation procedures by Peter Newmark, the researcher only focuses on 9 prominent procedures which are often employed in the translation of terminology They are:

1.1.2.1 Transference

A SL word is directly taken into a TL text with no translation in terms of word form in order to create certain stylistic effect Transference is often used in translating proper names, such as: names of newspapers, geographical names, street names or new technical terms that do not have equivalence in the source language, such as: blog, web, Internet

of organizations, common collocations

e.g.: WTO: World Trade Organization: Tổ chức thương mại thế giới

ASEAN: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Hiệp hội các quốc gia Đông Nam Á

MOET: The Ministry of Education and Training: Bộ giáo dục đào tạo

1.1.2.4 Shift or transposition

Shift or transposition involves a change in the grammar/ part of speech from

SL to TL

e.g: After her return: Sau khi cô ấy trở về nhà

He is thought to have left: Người ta cho rằng anh ta đã đi

1.1.2.5 Modulation

Modulation means the variation in the message when it is translated into the

TL due to change in the point of view, including:

+ One part ↔ another

I grew up here; I know the place like the back of my hand

Tôi đã lớn lên tại đây; vậy nên, tôi rõ nơi này như lòng bàn tay

e.g: A quarter mile down the road he stopped and looked back

Đi khoảng 400 mét, anh ngoảnh lại

He graduated after obtaining a degree with high distinction

Anh ta tốt nghiệp loại xuất sắc

1.1.2.7 Functional equivalent

This procedure uses a cultural-free word/ expression in a translation for a cultural word/ expression in the source text

e.g.: Will the Pentagon decide to terminate the program?

Liệu Bộ Quốc Phòng Mỹ có quyết định ngừng chương trình này không?

1.1.2.8 Descriptive equivalent

This means the meaning of the original word is explained in several words It

is often used with transference to translate a cultural word/ expression

e.g: To attend the barbecue, you must have a student ID

Để được dự tiệc barbecue (bữa tiệc ngoài trời, đồ ăn được nướng trên bếp cũng đặt ngoài trời), anh phải mang theo thẻ sinh viên

1.1.2.9 Couplets

This combines two or more translation procedures for dealing with a single problem This type of translation procedures is particularly common for cultural words, where transference may be combined with a functional or cultural equivalent

e.g: He bought old coins on Ebay

Anh ta mua những đồng xu cổ trên trang mạng đấu giá trực tuyến Ebay

There have been numerous ways to define terminology According to Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary Sixth Edition (2000), terminology means “the set of technical words or expressions used in a particular subject” or “words used with particular meanings” This basic definition highlights the most distinctive feature of

terms, which are words used within a particular area of knowledge, such as computing technology, science, and commerce People working in each field will gradually become familiar with their professional terms and make use of this vocabulary in their working process In agreement with this feature, Nguyen (1960) also states that terminology consists of “words and fixed expressions” used in

“specialized areas” Similarly, according to Nguyen (1981) cited in Hoang (2005),

“Terminology is a section of special lexis of a language It consists of fixed words and groups of words which are accurate names of concepts and subjects belonging

to different specialized fields of human beings”

Obviously, linguists have numerous different ways of defining terminology However, the common idea is that terminology is a set of technical terms used in particular professional field A comprehensive understanding of terminology contributes to a high-quality translation

The table below shows some clear examples of economic terms:

Table 1.2.1: Examples of economic terms

Specific factor model Mô hình các yếu tố sản xuất chuyên biệt

1.2.2 Characteristics of terminology

Baker (1998) claims 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.” It is clear that terms are distinguished from ordinary words

in terms of its specialized purposes People of particular working fields will have their own specialized terms Unlike terminology, words are commonly used in daily life requiring no special knowledge to be understood In addition to Baker’s

argument, there are several characteristics that can distinguish terminology from ordinary words

According to Hoang (2005), terminology has six qualities: (1) accuracy, (2) systematism, (3) internationalism, (4) nationalism, (5) practicality and (6) popularity Unlike Hoang (2005), Nguyen (1985) and Do (1981) cited in Bui (2013) argue that there are only three features of terminology, including (1) accuracy, (2) internationality, and (3) systematicality In fact, the theory provided by Hoang (2005) is a development from that of Nguyen (1985) and Do (1981) Hoang (2005) offers more detailed and comprehensive theoretical background on terminology than the others Hence, in this paper, the researcher decides to follow the opinion of Hoang (2005)

1.2.2.1 Accuracy

As mentioned above, there are 7 features of terminology The first and foremost is accuracy Nguyen (2005) claims that “accuracy is the most prominent feature of terminology A good term should be used to denote only one concept in a particular area” Similarly, Luu (1977) states that “each linguistic signal poses one basic nuclear meaning and vice versa a concept also has a typical linguistic signal in

a concrete situation” Terminology must express a concept of particular fields, such

as education, sports, business, technology precisely It is vital that misunderstanding between different concepts should be avoided Each technical term denotes only one concept in an area and it has capacity to direct readers to the specific knowledge that it refers to To sum up, this characteristic emphasizes the model of” one-to- one equivalent” between a concept and a term in the translation of terminology in order

to avoid misunderstanding (Hoang, 2005)

1.2.2.2 Systematism

According to Nguyen (2002) cited in Bui (2013), “each term occupies a given position in a whole definition system and belongs to a terminology system” It means that the value of a term depends on its relationship with other terms within

its terminological system Once put separately, the term will beco me meaningless Hoang (2005) has provided a clear example to illustrate the systematic feature of

terminology In the system of economic terms suffixes –er, -or, -ee are used to

indicate people, such as employer, employee, creditor

1.2.2.3 International ism

A wide range of economic acronyms used globally is a strong evidence for the international characteristic of terminology The researcher can name some of worldwide economic acronyms as WTO (World Trade Organization), BOT (Balance of Trade), GNP (Gross National Product) These terms have fixed references regardless of differences in language or geographical location In the current context of globalization, terms in general and economic terms in particular have been increasingly internationalized

1.2.2.4 Nationalism

The national feature of terminology means that terms must be appropriate to people domestically both in grammatical and lexical aspects Hoang (2005) claims that “Clearly, terms belong to national language” For example, terminologies in Vietnamese have to follow Vietnamese grammatical rule as well as Vietnamese culture

1.2.2.5 Popularity

Terms must be rooted from common knowledge shared between people of the same professional fields Therefore, terms are understandable to a particular group of people However, in an attempt to bring scientific and technological advancements to all people in the society, terms should be comprehensible for everyone Terms are classified into two types: one is for common communication and understanding in order to support daily activities and the other is used for specialized work

1.2.3 Classification of terminology

According to Nguyen (2005) cited in Bui (2013) and Hoang (2005), there are three main types of terminology, including simple terms, above-word-level terms and acronyms Within the limitation of this research, in an attempt to study the English – Vietnamese translation of economic terms, the researcher only focuses on the categories of Vietnamese terms Vietnamese terminology is made up of three kinds of components: Pure – Vietnamese (V), Sino-Vietnamese (H) and Indo-European (A) words (Tu, 1968 cited in Bui, 2013)

1.2.3.1 Simple terms

Simple terms or one-word terms are terms formed of only one word regardless of the SL text that words come from (Bui, 2013) Simple terms consist of three subtypes, namely Pure-Vietnamese, Sino-Vietnamese and Indo-European Term

A Pure-Vietnamese term is formed by a single pure Vietnamese word This type of terminology expresses basic and familiar objects, phenomena, such as “tiền” (money), “bán” (sell), “hàng” (goods) Unlike pure – Vietnamese terms, Sino – Vietnamese terms are Vietnamese words derived from Chinese Sino – Vietnamese words are commonly used in daily communication in both written and spoken forms For example: “lãi suất tối thiểu” (minimum interest rate), khấu hao (discount) The last one, Indo – European terms are formed by word borrowed from other languages which belong to Indo-European family, such as French and English For example: “oxy” (oxygen), “ghi-ta” (guitar), “radio” (radio)

1.2.3.2 Above-word- level terms

In this category, the researcher only mentions the main type of above level terms, which will be applied in this study Among above-word- level terms, compound terms are the most important and the most common Compound terms are divided into two subtypes, including pure – compound terms and mixed – compound terms (Bui, 2013)

-word-Pure – compound terms are formed by two components from the same language This type of terms consists of V-V terms, H-H terms and A-A terms V-V

terms are made up of two pure – Vietnamese components, such as cho vay (loan), mua bán (trade) Similarly, H-H terms contain two Sino – Vietnamese components, such as khuyến mãi (sale off), thương mại (commerce), mậu dịch (trade) A-A terms are formed by the combination of two Indo – European components, such as “ga-ra” (garage), pe-dan (pedal)

Mixed – compound terms are the combination of more than two different original languages There are 8 sub-types of mixed – compound terms, including V-

A terms, H-A terms, H-V terms, A-V terms, A-H terms, V-H terms, H/V-A-A/V terms, and A-V/H-A terms Nguyen (2005) cited in Bui (2013) offers examples of mixed – compound terms as below:

Table 1.2.3.2: Examples of of mixed – compound terms

1.2.3.3 Acronyms

An acronym is “a word formed from the first letters of the words that make up the name of something” (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary Sixth Edition (2000) Newmark (1995) defines acronyms as “the initial letters of words that form a group of words used (vertiginously) for denoting an object, inst itution or procedure” Newmark has provided a sufficient definition of acronyms with all detailed features, such as “initial letters of words”, “denoting an object” Acronyms are often transferred when they stand for proper names For example: WTO (World

Trade Organization), LC (letter of credit), WB (World Bank) When dealing with acronyms in the text, translators often keep the abbreviations with no change

1.3 Economic terms

1.3.1 International economics

In the current context of globalization, every nation all over the world has

to join hands in order to build up a strong global economy The world economy includes economies of all countries and territories worldwide Regarding economic relations, all nations are interdependent and interact with each other on a basis of

“labor division” and “mutual benefits” (Krugman, Obstfeld & Melitz, 2011)

International economics studies the economic interactions of nations and how international issues affect world economic activities (Hall, 2010) This subject has three main sub-branches, including international trade, international investment and international finance Seven core matters that international economics deals with are (1) the gains from trade, (2) the pattern of trade, (3) protectionism, (4) the balance of payments, (5) exchange rate determination, (6) international policy coordination, and (7) the international capital market

(1) The gains from trade: mutual benefits each country gains by selling goods and services for each other

(2) The pattern of trade: the problem of who sells what to whom To be clearer, the pattern of trade answers for the question “what commodities are traded and which commodities are exported and imported by each nation?” (Salvatore, 2007)

(3) Protectionism: policies to reduce imported goods, and at the same time subsidize export in order to protect domestic industries from fierce international competition

(4) The balance of payments: a summary statement in which, in principle, all the transactions of the residents of a nation with the residents of all other nations are recorded during a particular period of time (Salvatore, 2007 )

(5) Exchange rate determination: the exchange rate between the domestic and foreign currency is equal to the number of units of domestic currency needed

to purchase one unit of foreign currency The matter of exchange rate determination is closely related to the depreciation and appreciation of a currency Depreciation refers to an increase in the domestic price of the foreign currency Appreciation refers to a decline in the domestic price of the foreign currency

(6) International policy coordination: in an integrated economic world, the policies of all countries will affect each other Different goals among countries cause conflicts of benefits Thus, one of the core is sues that international economics has to solve is determining how to create acceptable agreement between countries to foster economic integration globally

(7) The international capital market: international economics studies the way to combine capital markets of individual countries into international market Within the limitation of this paper, among three branches of international economics, the research chooses “international trade” as the research subject

1.3.2 Main characteristics and classification of international trade terms

Based on the theoretical backgrounds about features of terms, international trade terms in Vietnamese translation are also formed of three kinds of components: Pure- Vietnamese (V), Sino-Vietnamese (H), and Indo-European (A)

Regarding their classification, international trade terms are divided into simple terms (one-word-level terms), above-word-level terms and acronyms One-word terms can be in the form of verbs or nouns and the majority of them are made

up of Pure- Vietnamese (V)

Table 1.3.2.1: Examples of one-word-level terms

Above-word-level terms are mainly translated by using Sino-Vietnamese words In English, above-word-level terms often appear in the form of nominal group For example:

Table 1.3.2.2: Examples of above-word-level terms

1 Balance of payments Cán cân thanh toán

2 International market Thị trường quốc tế

3 Opportunity cost theory Lý thuyết chi phí cơ hội

4 Incomplete specialization Chuyên môn hóa không hoàn toàn

Economic acronyms can be divided into two categories The first one includes acronyms for proper names of international institutions and organizations The other consists of acronyms that create terms or specialized concepts For example:

Table 1.3.2.3: Examples of economic acronyms

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOG Y 2.1 Selection of subjects

The research was conducted on 222 international trade terminologies c ollected from the first two parts of the book “International Economics” by Krugman Obstfield Melitz While the rest of the book discussed issues related to international finance which was not of concern to the researcher, the first two parts focused on international trade theory and policy, including these 12 chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: World Trade: An Overview

Chapter 3: Labor Productivity and Comparative Advantage: The Ricardian Model Chapter 4: Specific Factors and Income Distribution

Chapter 5: Resources and Trades: The Heckscher – Ohlin Model

Chapter 6: The Standard Trade Model

Chapter 7: External Economies of Scale and the International Location of Production

Chapter 8: Firms in the Global Economy: Export Decisions, Outsourcing, and

Multinational Enterprises

Chapter 9: The Instruments of Trade Policy

Chapter 10: The Political Economy of Trade Policy

Chapter 11: Trade Policy in Developing Countries

Chapter 12: Controversies in Trade Policy

Vietnamese translated versions of collected terms were exploited from the translation of the book published by National Political Publishing House

2.2 Data collection instrument

The data for the study was obtained through the observation of the document The researcher studied part 1 and part 2 of the book “International Economics: Theory and Policy” and its translated version thoroughly in order to select out key terms for analyzing process

2.3 Data collection procedures

The data collection was carried out in two following steps:

Step 1: The very first task was to study the chosen materials carefully and then, gather all key terms to create a bank of international trade terms

Step 2: The researcher arranged the collected terms in the alphabet order

2.4 Data analysis procedures

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were fully employed in processing the data The qualitative method was used to sort out the translation procedure applied in English-Vietnamese translation of each collected term The second one was adopted to figure out the percentage of the most dominant types of translation procedures

To be clearer, there were three steps of analyzing the collected data:

Step 1: Basing on the translation procedure theory of Peter Newmark, the researcher studied the data to find out the translation procedure applied in translating each collected term

Step 2: Classification tables were made use of to sort out the chosen terms based on each procedure Specifically, all of the terms translated by the same procedure were

in a table as followed:

Table No…: International trade terms translated by …………(translation procedures)

English Terms Vietnamese translated version Analysis

The results gathered from this step helped to answer the first question of the

research “What are translation procedures applied in translating economic terms

related to international trade in part 1 and part 2 of the book “International Economics: Theory and Policy”?

Step 3: The researcher calculated the prevalence of each translation procedure so as to find out the most commonly used one Fo r the accomplishment

of this purpose, the following formula was applied:

Y= (X/N) x 100%

Where

Y: percentage of each type of translation procedure in the data

X: number of data in specified type of translation procedure

N: total number of international trade terms

The result would be the answer for the second research question “What is the most dominant translation procedure applied in translating these economic terms from English to Vietnamese?”

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Data analysis

After the process of data collection, the researcher employed the qualitative approach in analyzing 222 international trade terms from the book “International Economics: Theory and Policy” by Krugman Obstfield Melitz Analysis was based

on the research literature review about nine translation procedures of Peter Newmark, including transference, naturalization, through translation, transposition, modulation, cultural equivalent, functional equivalent and couplets

Below is the researcher’s detailed analysis of translation procedures applied in translating economic terms Within the limitation of this research, only common terms with outstanding features of each type of translation procedures are presented

in this session Other terms can be found in the Appendix at the end of this paper

English terms Vietnamese

Absolute advantage Lợi thế tuyệt đối “Absolute advantage” is a

compound noun formed from two single words “absolute” and

components are literally translated from SL to TL Specifically, “absolute” is defined

as “complete or total”, which is

English terms Vietnamese

equivalent to “hoàn toàn, tuyệt đối”; and the definition of advantage” is “something that helps you to be more successful than others, or the state of having this”, which means “lợi thế” Thus, “lợi thế tuyệt đối” is exactly a literal translation of the term “absolute advantage” “Lợi thế tuyệt đối” is a Sino-Vietnamese phrase

Average cost Chi phí trung bình “Average” means “the amount

you get when you add together several quantities and divide this

by the total number of quantities”, which is equivalent to

“trung bình”; “cost” is defined as

“the amount of money that you have to pay in order to buy, do, or produce something” equivalent to

“chi phí” Hence, the term

“average cost” is literally translated as “chi phí trung bình”, and this is a Sino-Vietnamese phrase

English terms Vietnamese

“social welfare” means “phúc lợi

xã hội” “Conservative” is “not liking changes or new ideas”, which refers to “bảo thủ” Therefore, “phúc lợi xã hội bảo thủ” is exactly the literal

translation of the given term

Diminishing return Lợi tức giảm dần “Return” in this case is “the

amount of profit that you get from something” and “lợi tức” is its Vietnamese equivalent, whereas “diminishing” means

“decreasing”, which is equivalent

to “giảm dần” Clearly “lợi tức giảm dần” is literally translated from the original one This is a H-

V term formed by a Vietnamese word “lợi tức” and a pure – Vietnamese one “giảm dần”

Sino-Domestic capital

market

Thị trường vốn nội địa In the Vietnamese equivalent,

“thị trường”, “vốn”, “nội địa” signify “market”, “capital”,

“domestic” respectively, which proves that through translation is applied here

Export supply curve Đường cung xuất khẩu “Curve” is “a line on a graph

that gradually bends and