Strategies applied in vietnames english translation of proper names in số đỏ dumb luck by vu trong phung

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER STRATEGIES APPLIED IN VIETNAMES -ENGL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

STRATEGIES APPLIED IN VIETNAMES -ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF PROPER NAMES IN "SỐ ĐỎ"

(DUMB LUCK) BY VU TRONG PHUNG

Supervisor : Nguyễn Thành Vân (M.A) Student : Bùi Thu Hương

QH2010.F E21

Hà Nội, 2014

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC ÁP DỤNG TRONG VIỆC DỊCH CÁC TÊN RIÊNG TỪ TIẾNG VIỆT SANG TIẾNG ANH TRONG TÁC PHẨM “SỐ ĐỎ”

DECLARATION

I hereby state that I : Bui Thu Huong, QH2010.F1.E21, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirement 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 origins of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of the study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan and the reproduction of the paper

Hanoi, 2014

Bui Thu Huong

I am also grateful to my classmates for their helpful comments, wholehearted encouragement throughout the process of this paper

Finally, I appreciate the support and care from my family and my friends from the beginning to the end of the research

ABSTRACT

Contrary to popular view, proper names translation is a non-trivial question Many scholars and translators claim that proper names do not need to be translated, especially names of literary characters However, proper names are not non-informative; they include a lot of useful information and help to provide some simple information for audiences In fact, translation of proper names has not been accorded the appropriate attention These factors encourage the researcher to carry out this study with the objectives of having a look at translation strategies applied in proper names of literary characters The novel “Số đỏ” and its translated version “Dumb Luck” were chosen as the object of this study and document analysis along with the general interview guide approach were adopted as research methods 25 proper names selected after purposive sampling process Regarding translation strategies, the most dominant

strategy in translating proper names from Vietnamese to English was literal translation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and objectives 2

3 Significance of the study 3

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Organization of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 1

2.1 Translation theory 1

2.1.1 Definition of translation 1

2.1.2 Translation procedures 2

2.2 Proper names 7

2.2.1 Definition of proper names 7

2.2.2 Types of proper names 8

2.2.3 Proper names translation 10

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 12

3.1 The research approach 12

3.2 Design of the study 12

3.3 Phase one 13

3.3.1 Sampling 13

3.3.2 Data collection method 13

3.3.3 Data collection procedures 14

3.3.4 Data analysis procedures 15

3.4 Phase two 15

3.4.1 Sampling 15

3.4.2 Data collection method 15

3.4.3 Data collection procedures 16

3.4.4 Data analysis procedures 17

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19

4.1 Research question 1: What are the satirical meanings behind the proper names in “Số đỏ”? 19

4.1.1 Social context in “Số đỏ” 19

4.1.2 Main characters in the novel 19

4.1.3 The satirical meanings behind some names of characters in 22

“Số đỏ” 22

4.2 Research question 2: Which strategies applied by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman in translating proper names from Vietnamese to English in “Số đỏ”? ……… 24

4.2.1 Document analysis 24

4.2.2 Interview analysis 28

4.2.3 Summary 29

4.3 Critical discussion……… ………29

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 31

5.1 An overview about the research and its findings 31

5.2 Limitation of the study and possible areas for future research 31

5.3 Contribution and significance of the research 32

REFERENCES 33

APPENDIX 36

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

SL: Source language

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 4.1 The satirical meaning behind some proper names

of the characters in “Số đỏ”……….…20 Table 4.2 The use of translation procedures in

Vietnamese-English translation

of proper names in “Số đỏ”……… 24 Table 4.3 Proper names translated by literal……….25 Table 4.4 Proper names translated by couplet……… 25 Table 4.5 Types of combination couplet translation procedure…26 Table 4.6 Proper names translated by transference……… 27 Table 4.7 Proper names translated by cultural equivalent……….27 Figure 4.2 The use of translation procedures in

Vietnamese-English translation of proper names in”Số đỏ”……….….24

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Translation is not a new term to human It has such a long history – since the early dates of civilization In fact, no one can deny the inevitable role of translation in societies Thanks to this activity, communication between people coming from different countries becomes easier It also brings nations and cultures to come closer together Since translation‟s momentous contributions, a lot of experts and scholars were and are attempting to establish theories and principles to enhance the quality of translation They try to find equivalence between the source and target language; in other words, they wish to convey without distorting the meaning of the source language into the target language More details, factors and features appearing in the source text will be thoroughly focused on, to make sure that target language text can maintain the spirit, the meaning of the original version However, it is commonly known that when facing proper names, many translators accept to ignore proper names because they believe that translating proper names is not important and necessary Vendler (1975) even emphasized that “proper names lack meaning, they are not

translated, but simply carried over to language translation.” (p 175)

However, the translation of proper names is considered one of the most challenging parts in the translation given that translators are not able to look them up in the dictionary Moreover, proper names also indicate “racial, ethnic, national, and religious ijhjhhhfhfđgfgyhhk;llk;dentity” (Tymoczko, 1999, p 223) In the same manner, Aixela (1996) indicates that proper names “account for the greatest percentage

of the culturally specific items in a text” (p 86) Therefore, it is essential to pay more attention to an important factor like a proper name, since it has not been accorded

sufficient attention by scholars and translators

In Vietnam, there have been several official theses or discussions about proper names from English to Vietnamese and there seems not yet any official thesis about names from Vietnamese to English This gap motivates me as a researcher to carry out

a study on strategies applied in translating proper names Nevertheless, due to the limited time frame and capable of the researcher, this study only focuses on the case study of translation strategies applied by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman in

translating proper names from Vietnamese to English in “Số đỏ” by Vu Trong Phung

The researcher chooses this writing given that Vu Trong Phung is an outstanding and prolific satirist who has been compared to Balzac and lauded as arguably the greatest Vietnamese writer of this rich literary period, and whose works have been published in English Vu Trong Phung died in 1939 at a very young age, at

27 years old However, he left a huge number of works of Vietnamese literature “eight novels, seven plays, several dozen short stories, five book-length works of nonfiction reportage, and hundreds of reviews, essays and articles” (Zinoman, 2002, p 8) Among his works, “Số đỏ” is considered a masterpiece in Vu Trong Phung‟s career and Vietnamese literature as well, which first appeared in serialized form in a Hanoi newspaper in 1936

From the above reasons, the researcher decided to conduct a study titled

“Strategies applied in Vietnamese - English translation of proper names in "Số đỏ"

by Vu Trong Phung

2 Aims and objectives

The aim of this paper is to identify how well the English translated version of

“Số đỏ” conveys the source texts in terms of style, sense and meaning and the focus is

proper names

In brief, this objective could be fulfilled by answering the two following research questions:

1 What are the satirical meanings behind proper names in “Số đỏ”?

2 Which strategies are applied by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman in translating proper names from Vietnamese to English in “Số đỏ”?

3 Significance of the study

Upon completion, the study is expected to be beneficial for students and teachers who have to translate proper names They will, to a certain extent, be aware of translation procedures applied to translate proper names Then they may choose the most appropriate one in order to produce the well translated version

Besides, this study is also expected to serve as a preliminary work for further investigation on the issue The researcher hopes these pieces of information could provide in-depth understanding on the issue It means that this study could provide the foundation for future further study on proper names translation in general, and Vietnamese - English proper name translation in particular

4 Scope of the study

“Số đỏ” and its translation might be related to a lot of issues in the translation field such as translation of satire, humor, word plays, etc However, as the time and the capability of the researcher are limited, this study‟s focus is placed on strategies that Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman used to translate proper names in “Số đỏ”

5 Organization of the study

The study includes 5 chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter will provide readers an overview of the study, including the rationales, aims, scope, significance and the methodology used to conduct the research

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Theoretical background knowledge which has influence on the entire orientation

of the research will be discussed in this chapter First, an overview of translation and translation procedure are provided Then an overview on proper names and proper name translation will be presented The purpose of this chapter is to build the researcher‟s understanding, background and expertise in the translation in general and the proper name translation in particular Besides, this chapter will bring the readers up

to date; let them know the key concepts, go over all ideas of the past scholars and researchers

Chapter 3: Methodology

Methods which were applied to conduct the research will be presented in this chapter In this chapter, the reader will be informed how the researcher approaches the research, why the researcher uses the methods the researcher is using instead of others Then, the researcher will give a completely accurate description of the procedures of data collection and procedures of data analysis

Chapter 4: Results and discussion

In this chapter, necessary comparison and analysis will be made to sort out types

of strategies applied in translating proper names in from Vietnamese to English “Số đỏ” This chapter also contains a critical discussion of the findings and their linkages to the existing literature and research in order to ascertain whether these translation strategies applied by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman can retain the implication of author in the source text

Chapter 5: Conclusions

This chapter presents addresses the results delivered from the thesis and draws a conclusion on the work of the researcher It also suggests the possibility of further research in the future This chapter ends with a sum-up of the thesis‟s contribution and

significance to translation

Chapter 6: References and appendixes

A reference list includes books, articles, and web pages, etc that are cited in the study The list is arranged alphabetically by authors

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides background knowledge used to analyze data in the next chapter, which includes definition of translation in general, proper names in particular and proper name‟s translation as well

by the same message and/or statement in another language"

Along the same line, Hartman and Stork (1972, p 713) also consider

“translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language.”

Although, each of the above authors uses different words to express the term

“translation”, all of them share the same perspective that the basis of translation is finding and transferring successfully the equivalence between two languages

According to Larson, translation process includes three phases: the first is studying the source language text including factors such as the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation, and cultural context; then analyzing it in the purpose of establishing its meaning; finally, reconstructing this same meaning using the lexicons and grammatical structures which are appropriate in the receptor language and its cultural context

The most important responsibility of a translator is to convey without distorting the meaning of the source language into the target language, while still maintaining the author‟s purposes and implications between the words of the text in target language Newmark (1995, p.5) also emphasizes that “often, though not by any means always, it

is rendering the meaning of text into another language in the way that the author intended the text.”

Apparently, translation plays a crucial part in communication and culture Thanks to translation, people are able to overcome language and cultural obstacles; they can easily connect together despite having differences in their mother languages

2.1.2 Translation procedures

Some authors use the term “procedures” while some others prefer the term

“techniques” or “strategies” Although word choices are different, “Translation procedures are methods applied by translators when they formulate equivalence for the purpose of transferring elements of meaning from the Source Text (ST) to the Target Text (TT) (Delisle, 1999)

In order to evaluate the translation of proper names, a language unit that smaller than sentences, the research utilizes theories on translation procedures by Newmark (1988), in which he maintained a considerably different standpoint from other theorists that literal translation is a translation procedure

16 translation procedures proposed by Newmark in his book “A textbook of translation” (1995) as follows:

 International Monetary Fund

→ Quỹ tiền tệ quốc tế

2 Transference

Transference procedure is utilized when translator attempt to preserve the original text in the source language The words which are often preserved may be the names of newspaper, geographical names etc All these words have the same characters because they do not have an equivalent in the target language

E.g Santiago, New Zealand

3 Naturalization

This type of translation procedure comes after transference in that when a normal pronunciation is adapted first by the SL word, it is then followed by the normal morphology of the target language

culture, idioms and currencies are translated differently

E.g Muttons dressed as lamb

→ Cưa sừng làm nghé

5 Functional equivalent

Newmark (1988, p 83) said that the procedure is normally applied to cultural

SL words; TL words can be unrelated to culture Sometimes, new term can be invented Hence, this generalizes or removes the cultural influence in the SL words He also defines that this method is “the most accurate way of translating i.e deculturalizing a cultural word” (Newmark, 1988, p 83)

E.g

 Shadow Cabinet

→ Nội Các Đối Lập

 Red Nose Day

→ Ngày quyên tiền cho công cuộc nghiên cứu hiện tượng trẻ em chết trong nôi

6 Descriptive equivalent

The meaning of the original word is explained in several words This procedure

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

1988, p.84)

9 Shifts or transpositions

The translation procedure of shift or transpositions involves a change in grammar or part of speech from SL to TL, including four main types: the change in number (singular-plural) of nouns, the position of adjectives or grammatical structure

E.g: With good nutrition, medical care, education and skill training

→ Do được ăn uống đầy đủ, chăm sóc sức khỏe đều đặn và được giáo dục, đào tạo kỹ năng tốt

10 Modulation

This translation procedure involves a variation in the message when it is translated into a TL due to a change in the point of view There are three types of modulation:

a One part - Another

E.g She cleared her throat

→ Cô ta hắng giọng

b Passive – active:

E.g I was not prepared for …

→ Tôi đã không hề biết rằng…

c Possitive – Double Negative

E.g It isn‟t impossible to …

13 Paraphrase

This translation procedure is sometimes called periphrasis, it is a translation procedure whereby the translator replaces a word in the source text by a group of words or an expression in the target text

14 Couplets

This translation procedure combines two or more translation procedures to deal with a single problem This procedure is particularly common for cultural words, where transference may be combined with a functional or cultural equivalence

E.g To attend the barbecue you must have a student ID

→ Để có thể tham gia bữa tiệc barbecue (tiệc nướng ngoài trời) anh phải mang theo thẻ sinh viên

15 Reduction and Expansion

Reduction implies “omission of a word from an expression” which “is not

essential for understanding” (Newmark, 1988, p 90)

E.g Linguistics

→ Khoa học ngôn ngữ

2.2 Proper names

2.2.1 Definition of proper names

Generally, proper names cover several categories: names of people, places, animals, signs, festivals, etc Although many scholars provide their own definitions of proper names, this study focuses on the definition mentioned in The Oxford Concise English Dictionary (2001, p.1146) A proper name is “a name for an individual person, place, or organization having an initial capital letter”

According to Nord (2003, p.183), “if we are familiar with the culture in question, a proper name can tell us whether the referent is a female or a male person , maybe even about their age or their geographical origin within the same language community” For example, many children were named after a soccer player, film star

of a film which was shown on the television as the same year as they were born

Furthermore, many translation theorists such as Javier Franco Aixelá, Irma Hagfors, Eirlys E Davies, Katrine Brøndsted and Cay Dollerup acknowledge that proper names may also have certain connotations, and then they treat proper names as belonging to certain culture and often call them culture-specific items

In the same manner, Garcéc (2003, p 122) emphasized that “proper names are used “not only to reinforce characterization […], but in some cases to anticipate the drawing of a character or even make it unnecessary”

In short, proper names are not non-informative; it includes a lot of useful information and helps to provide some simple information for audiences

2.2.2 Types of proper names

As mentioned above, proper names cover several categories such as: names of people, places, animals, signs, festivals, etc According to Marshall (2010), proper names can be classified as below:

Table 3.1 Types of proper names

- Child Fund International

- Dockers

12 Possessive proper nouns - Mary‟s coat

- Kansas‟s prairie lands

Table 3.1 Types of proper names

However, in the framework of this study, the researcher limits the study‟s scope

to the analysis of translating proper names given to the literary characters With her own observations and experiences in the field of linguistic study, Bertills (2003) categorizes proper names in literary works into the following groups:

“1) Conventional personal names including first names and/or family names that belong to the general anthroponomy This category includes only names that are found

as such in the general name register and which cannot be defined as suggesting any characteristic traits of the name-bearer

2) Invented names or coined names which are, to use Hermans (1988) term,

“semantically loaded” and are formed or invented for the purpose of a certain narrative context Most of these names are transparently or opaquely semantically loaded, or have a clearly discernable origin For instance, Raivo (2001, p.9) distinguishes between invented or names derived from other words and imaginary names (Bertills, 2003) refers to these names in terms of poetic names The term imaginary names with reference to names that have no transparent semantic content, that is, they do not include already existing word forms They are still coined for a specific narrative context

3) Classic names (also historical, universal or literary names) contain a

“universal” content, that is, the name is associated with certain characteristics independently of cultural or linguistic context For instance, the classic names of literary characters “Hamlet”, historical names “Caesar” These are not conventional and do not have any discernable meaning.” (p.53)

2.2.3 Proper names translation

Gergana Apostolova presents a variety of aspects to consider while translating proper names

“The transformation of names in translation […] is rooted deeply in the cultural background of the translator which includes phonetic and phonological competence, morphological competence, complete understanding of the context, a correct attitude to the message, respect for tradition, compliance with the current state of cross-cultural interference of languages, respect for the cultural values and the responsibilities of the translator The process reaches from an ear for aesthetic sounding to the philosophical motivation of re-naming.”

(2004, p.14) Therefore, Jaleniauskiene (2009) concludes that “for a translator to translate efficiently it is not enough to be well linguistically educated Cultural education is also very important Moreover, a translator has to consider the intended audience and its age, as different audiences require different translation strategies to be used.”

According to Nguyen (2013), to deal with proper names, translators employ six translation procedures as defined by Peter Newmark to translate proper names Furthermore, transference is the procedure used the most

transpositions, Modulation, Recognized translation, Compensation, Paraphrase, Couplets, Reduction and Expansion

Secondly, this chapter provides an overview on proper names and proper names translation In the dictionary, the term “proper name” is demonstrated as “a word that is the name of a person, a place, an institution, etc and is written with a capital letter” Depending on the meaning, proper names can categorized into 12 types which are (1) holidays, (2) geographical areas, (3) people and pets, (4) books, newspaper, magazines, (5) companies and organizations, (6) religious terms, (7) places, (8) tittles, (9) languages, (10) brand names, (11) languages, (12) possessive proper nouns However, this study limits itself to the analysis of translating proper names given to the literary characters Therefore, proper names of literary characters can be sort out into 3 groups which are (1) conventional personal names, (2) invented names or coined names, and (3) classic names