An overview of translation theories and its implications for the translation of english vs vietnamese legal texts

31 4.2 Illustration of how translation theories applied in translating specific International Sales Contracts.. Like any other types of translation work, translating English sales contra

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF LAW

GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH

Major: Legal English

AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION THEORIES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH VS VIETNAMESE LEGAL TEXTS

Ho Chi Minh City, 2020

HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF LAW

FACULTY OF LEGAL LANGUAGES

Major: Legal English

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Independence – Freedom - Happiness

COMMENTS OF SUPERVISOR Student: DANG THI NGOC MUOI

Student ID: 1652202010035

Class: LE41

Thesis title: AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION THEORIES AND ITS

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH VS VIETNAMESE

LEGAL TEXTS

1 Thesis objectives:

2 Submission date of thesis:

3 Supervisor:

4 Comments of Supervisor:

5 Score of thesis evaluated by Supervisor:

Contents and objectives of thesis were passed through the Supervisor and

Department

Date … Month … Year 2020 SUPERVISOR’S SIGNATURE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

During the process of fulfilling this graduation paper, I have received a great deal

of invaluable support, guidance and timely encouragement from my teachers, family and friends It would be necessary for me to devote this opening page to show my gracefulness towards these beloved people

First and foremost, I would like to express my grateful thanks to my research supervisor, Ms Pham Thi Thuy Dung, for her unfailing encouragement, constant support and supervision during all stages of this study Her detailed comments and valuable advice have tremendously helped me shape my ideas and realize my aims She has also provided me with a lot of materials as well as created favorable conditions for me to complete this research Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that my paper would have never been accomplished without her dedicated assistance

Secondly, I am greatly indebted to Ms Pham Thi Phuong Anh and Mr Luong Minh Hieu (lecturers in Department of Legal English) for spending time answering my questions, for being so kind to show interest in my research and for giving precious advices Besides, I want to show my genuine appreciation towards all lecturers whom I have had the opportunity to collaborate with during my four years in HCMC University of Law Thanks to their wonderful lectures, I have been enriched the academic knowledge of my major – Legal English and had a good background to do this graduation paper Moreover, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my head teacher, Ms Le Thi Xuan Thu for her support and inspirations from the very first days of my university life

In addition, I am extremely grateful to my friends for their encouragement and precious assistance throughout my dissertation Their spiritual support is an important driving-force for me during this difficult time Especially, I wish to thank my classmates in LE41 class for their enthusiastic and effective cooperation in the pre-research interview

Finally, I take this opportunity to express deepest gratitude to my dear family, specially my parents for the unceasing encouragement, support and attention during

my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Functional characteristics of text types to translation methods 28 Table 2 Analyzing lexical features of International Sales Contract 1 35 Table 3 Analyzing syntactic features of International Sales Contract 1 36 Table 4 Analyzing lexical and syntactic features of International Sales Contract 2 45

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Conceptual Framework of the study 23 Figure 2 An overview of translation theories 25

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5

LIST OF TABLES 6

LIST OF FIGURES 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS 8

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 10

1.1 Background to the study 10

1.2 Aim of the study 11

1.3 Research questions 11

1.4 Significance of the study 12

1.5 Scopes of the research 12

1.6 Outline of the thesis 12

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 14

2.1 Definition of the key terms 14

2.1.1 Translation – Translation theories 14

2.1.1.1 Translation 14

2.1.1.2 Translation theories 15

2.1.2 Legal translation 16

2.1.3 International Sales Contract 18

2.2 Previous studies 19

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Research questions 21

3.2 Context and design of the study 21

3.3 Research instruments 22

3.4 Conceptual framework 23

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 25

4.1 An overview of translation theories 25

4.1.1 Linguistic Theories 26

4.1.2 Philological Theories 26

4.1.3 Functional Theories 27

4.1.3.1 Text-type Theory 27

4.1.3.2 Translational Action Theory 29

4.1.3.3 Skopos Theory 29

4.1.4 Sociolinguistic Theories 30

4.1.5 Relevance Theory 31

4.2 Illustration of how translation theories applied in translating specific International Sales Contracts 31

4.2.1 International Sales Contract 1 32

4.2.1.1 Linguistic Theories 35

4.2.1.2 Philological Theories 37

4.2.1.3 Functional Theories 38

4.2.1.4 Sociolinguistic Theories 40

4.2.1.5 Relevance Theory 40

4.2.2 International Sales Contract 2 42

4.3 Translation theories‟ implications for translating International Sales Contracts 47 4.3.1 Linguistic Theories 47

4.3.2 Functional Theories 47

4.3.3 The remaining theories 48

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 49

5.1 Conclusion 49

5.2 Limitations of the study 49

5.3 Recommendations for further study 50

REFERENCES 51

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

Nowadays, although English is not an official language in many countries, it is the language most often taught as a foreign or a second language Around the world, there are an estimated 1.5 billion people learning English1 There are many reasons why learning English has seen an exponential growth in recent years, it all boils down to the fact that English has become the “global language” of business, politics, international relations, culture, and entertainment2 As a result, the necessity of translation service from English to other languages and vice versa is dramatically important in modern world Not only do people depend on it to bridge communication gap, but it also accommodates human access to the wealth of many global aspects Due to the development of the demands of translation, throughout the time, there are a lot of scholars around the world trying to investigate and analyze translation theories in order to find ways to deal with the issues of translation It is unquestionable that translation theories have an important role not only in determining the suitable translation methods but also providing a background for problem solving Besides, it is noticeable that there are different co-existing theories, each directed toward the same object of study but with a different approach and focus From these things, the question of “Which theory should be applied to produce a good translation, especially

in the legal field?” is raised

With open-door policies for all countries in the world and in the integration process of the globalization, there have been more and more foreign investors to Vietnam This creates chances for economic development Therefore, the translation of Vietnamese legal documents into the “global language” - English and vice versa is crucially essential As a student majoring in Legal English, in my university curriculum, I realize that many of my classmates are found getting into difficulties with the “Legal Translation” subject From that fact, with the aim of finding out which type of legal documents they struggle the most, a small interview had been adopted for

this study The interview has been conducted to a group of 10 students from LE41 Class of HCMC University of Law These students have been invited randomly among volunteers Surprisingly, the result that I got is eight out of ten interviewees giving the same answer: International Sales Contracts Like any other types of translation work, translating English sales contract is certainly a huge challenge for translators since they have to deal with non-equivalence as well as accumulate both linguistic and cultural knowledge in the native language and foreign languages

For the reasons above, I choose “An overview of translation theories and its implications for the translation of English vs Vietnamese legal texts” with the

focus put on the International Sales Contracts

1.2 Aims of the study

With the rationale presented in the previous part, the two purposes of this study are

as follows:

Firstly, the study aims to clearly summarize the major strands of translation theories, as well as, figure out the characteristics of these Interestingly, translation theory is still a controversy topic when a group of researchers has given various perspectives about it, which provides us many useful ideas and viewpoints taken from different lens

Secondly, two specific examples of International Sales Contract would be illustrated to find out how the mentioned translation theories are applied As a consequence, the study will suggest applying certain types of translation theories to translate English – Vietnamese International Sales Contract

1.3 Research questions

This study is expected to give the answers to two main research questions: the first one is “What are the common translation theories?”, and the other is “How are those mentioned translation theories applied in translating English - Vietnamese International Sales Contracts?” Thanks to the answers to these questions, the primary aim of this paper could be attained that is finding out translation theories‟ implications for the translation of International Sales Contracts

1.4 Significance of the study

This study provides useful information about translation theories which are unintentionally ignored by students studying “Legal Translation” subject as well as by the translators when performing the work of translation In addition, the interviewed group, as mentioned in the first part of this Chapter – Background to the study (LE41 students), makes my study distinguished and practical compared to others since it concentrates the appropriate object for the legal context that is legal students In other words, my paper seeks to bring helpful results for students who have major in language and law in general and for LE41-ers in particular Moreover, serving as a good source of accurate and useful information, the findings which this thesis will reveal may benefit future researchers for conducting new researches or testing the validity of other related findings

1.5 Scopes of the research

There is a vast number of translation theories existed, and each theory is used in different translation aims Remarkably, on the basis of purpose, there are two categories of theories in translation

In the first one, the predominant purpose is to express as exactly as possible the full force and meaning of every single word and turn of phrase in the original

In the second one, the predominant purpose is to emphasize on the understanding that different languages encode meaning in differing forms, accordingly guides translators to find appropriate ways of preserving meaning, while using the most appropriate forms of each language

This study points out five typical theories of the two categories above Furthermore, as the result of the interview mentioned before, this study focuses on the translation of English – Vietnamese International Sales Contracts

1.6 Outline of the thesis

This paper comprises of five chapters put in the following order First, some general issues (the background, the aim, research questions, the significance, the scope

of the study) are mentioned in the chapter of Introduction Then, key terms are defined

in the Chapter 2 - Literature review Besides, in this chapter, I also examine some previous studies that already have been completed in my topic area Working on all of

the related theories, the issue concerning the way to conduct the study is covered in Chapter 3 – Methodology In addition, the conceptual framework of the study is also established in this chapter Chapter 4 also known as “the body” of the thesis consists of the findings and discussion of results; in other words, this chapter is considered as the answer for the research questions Finally, I come up with my conclusion in the last chapter – Chapter 5 There could be some limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research

Keywords: translation, translation theories, legal translation, International Sales

Contract

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of the key terms

2.1.1 Translation – Translation theories

2.1.1.1 Translation

Translation typically has been used to transfer from written or spoken SL texts

to equivalent written or spoken TL texts In general, the purpose of translation is to reproduce various kinds of texts including religious, literary, scientific, and philosophical texts in another language and thus making them available to wider readers1 Translation has existed in every corner of our life It is considered as an indispensable part in the fields of not only literature, culture and religion but also commercial advertisement, popular entertainment, public administration, international diplomacy, scientific research and publication, judiciary procedure, immigration, and education2,…Hence, the definition of translation is numerous From different perspectives, theorists state various definitions for translation Most dominant viewpoints regard translation as interlingual translation, a process or a form of cross-cultural communication

Most definitions on translation center on interlingual translation – translation from one language to another Typically, Foster (1958: 1)3 views translation to be the act of transferring via which the content of a text is transferred from the source language (SL) into the target language (TL) Sharing the same point, Catford (1965: 20)4 points out that translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL) In this definition, the most important thing is equivalent textual material Nonetheless, it is still vague in terms of the type of equivalence Similar to the Catford‟s definition is that by Savory (1969)5 who contends that translation is made possible by an equivalent of thought that lies behind its different verbal expressions

Catford, J.C (1965/1978) A Linguistic Theory of Translation London: Oxford University Press

5 Savory, T (1969) The Art of Translation London: Jonathan Cape Ltd

Considering translation as a process, Finlay (1971: 17)1 defines translation as

“a bilingual mediated process of communication which ordinarily aims at the production of a TL text that is functionally equivalent to a SL text” In a similar vein, Pinchuck (1977: 38)2 states that translation is “a process of finding a TL equivalent for

an SL utterance.” Besides, Wilss (1982: 3)3 points out that translation is a transfer process, which aims at the transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of SL

Viewing translation as a form of cross-cultural communication, Tianmin (2000: 1)4 alleges that “translation is simultaneous de-contextualization and re-contextualization, hence is productive rather than reproductive.” A similar idea is echoed by Hatim and Mason (1997: 1)5, who consider translation as “an act of communication which attempts to relay, across cultural and linguistic boundaries, another act of communication.”

In conclusion, although these definitions are different in expression, they share common features that they all emphasize the importance of finding the closest equivalence in meaning by the choice of appropriate target language's lexical and grammatical structures, communication situation and cultural context

2.1.1.2 Translation theories

There are different views on translation theory put forward by linguists and translation theorists Catford (1965: 20)6 argues that “the theory of translation is concerned with a certain type of relation between languages and is consequently a branch of Comparative Linguistics” Thus, translating is defined as the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)

According to Newmark (1981: 19)7, translation theory is concerned mainly with determining appropriate translation methods for the widest possible range of texts

1 Finlay, I.F (1971) Translating Edinburgh: The English University Press

2 Pinchuck, I (1997) Scientific and Technical Translation Andre Deutsch

3

Wilss, W (1982) The Science of Translation Stutgart: Gunter Narr verlag Tubingen

4 Tianmin, S.J (2000) Translation in context Retrieved from http://accurapid.com/journal/36context.htm

5 Hatim, B & Mason, I (1997) Translator as communicator London and New York: Routledge

6

Catford, J.C (1965) A Linguistic Theory of Translation London: Oxford University Press

7 Newmark, P (1981) Approaches to Translation Oxford: Pergamon Press Ltd

or text-categories It also provides a framework of principles, restricted rules and hints for translating texts and criticizing translations, a background for problem solving

Analogous to Newmark, Graham (in Ross, 1981: 23-24 and 26)1 asserts that any substantial theory of translation assumes some formal inquiry concerning the general principles of accomplishment, the very principles which define an object and specify a method of study A rigorous theory of translation would also include something like a practical evaluation procedure with specific criteria

In brief, translation theories demonstrate that translating is not simply about the transmission of codes based solely on semantic and formal linguistic elements but rather concerns the rendering for communication purpose and therefore is inevitably concerned with pragmatic features of language Additionally, translation theory includes principles for translating figurative language, dealing with lexical mismatches, rhetorical questions, inclusion of cohesion markers, and many other topics crucial to conduct a good translation2

2.1.2 Legal translation

Basically, based on the translation platform, legal translation means taking a legal text in one language then producing it in another language However, legal translation is dissimilar to other type of translation work because law is culture-dependent Therefore, it is considered as one of document translation‟s most complex forms Legal translation requires a very high degree of accuracy, which cannot be delivered by machine translation Several viewpoints about legal translation are stated

as follows

According to Wikipedia, legal translation is the translation of language used in legal settings and for legal purposes Legal translation may also imply that it is a specific type of translation only used in law, which is not always the case As law is a culture-dependent subject field, legal translation is not necessarily linguistically transparent Intransparency in translation can be avoided somewhat by use of Latin legal terminology, where possible3

1 Graham, Joseph F (1981) Theory for Translation in Rose (ed) below

2 Vallejo, J D (n.d.) Translation Theory TranslationDirectory.com Retrieved from

https://www.translationdirectory.com/article414.htm

3 Wikipedia (n.d.) Legal translation Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_translation

According to Šarčević (1997: 13)1

, legal translation is not merely translating from the source language into the target language but is also “a translation from one

legal system into another – from the source legal system into the target legal system.”

From another viewpoint, Cao (2007)2 considers legal translation is a type of specialist or technical translation, a translational activity that involves language of and related to law and legal process Legal translation refers to the rendering of legal texts from the Source Language (SL) into the Target Language (TL) It is also important to mention his classification of legal translation according to different criteria

First, legal translation has been categorized according to the subject matter

of the SL texts into the following categories: (a) translating domestic statutes and international treaties; (b) translating private legal documents; (c) translating legal scholarly works; and (d) translating case law

Second, legal translation can also be categorized according to the status of the SL texts: (a) translating enforceable law, e.g., statutes; and (b) translating non-enforceable law, e.g., legal scholarly works

Third, legal translation can be classified according to the functions of legal texts in the SL: (a) primarily prescriptive, e.g., laws, regulations, codes, contracts, treaties, and conventions; (b) primarily descriptive and also prescriptive, e.g., judicial decisions and legal instruments that are used to carry out judicial and administrative proceedings such as actions, pleadings, briefs, appeals, requests, petitions, etc.; and (c) purely descriptive, e.g., scholarly works written by legal scholars, such as legal opinions, law textbooks, and articles, the authority of which varies in different legal systems

Fourth, legal translation can also be classified in the light of the purposes of the TL texts: (a) normative purpose, i.e., the production of equally authentic legal texts

in bilingual and multilingual jurisdictions of domestic laws and international legal instruments and other laws; (b) informative purpose, e.g., the translation of statutes, court decisions, scholarly works and other types of legal documents if the purpose of

the translation is to provide information to the target readers; and (c) general legal or judicial purpose In short, legal translation is used as a generic term to cover both the translation of law and other communications in legal settings

Furthermore, legal translation is not regarded as simple It is considered as a highly skilled task which has even been described as the “ultimate linguistic challenge” (Harvey 2002: 177)1

2.1.3 International Sales Contract

As being a sub-type of international contract, it is important to mention the definition of international contract before pointing out what an International Sales Contract is

International contract refers to a legally binding agreement between parties, based in different countries, in which they are obligated to do or not do certain things International contracts may be written in a formal way Most businesses create contracts in writing to make the terms of agreement clear, often seeking legal counsel when drawing important contracts2 Contracts can cover all aspects of international trade, the most commonly used are: International sale contract, International supply contract, International manufacturing contact, International services contract, International franchise contract,…

Bearing the characteristics of an international contract, International Sales Contract is defined as an agreement between a seller and a buyer for the sale of goods The contract should, at a minimum, identify the seller and buyer, the quantity and type

of product, delivery time, price and conditions of payment In addition, a constructed International Sales Contract will reference the governing body of law, the forum where any disputes are to be resolved and the method of dispute resolution, such as arbitration as opposed to litigation3

well-In brief, the above-mentioned information shows that an well-International Sales Contract is an agreement between two parties from different countries on specific goods and it has to state the rights and responsibilities of parties following the law

1

Harvey, M (2002) What‟s so Special about Legal Translation? Meta, 47 (2)

2 Internatiional contracts (n.d.) Dictionary of International Trade Retrieved from

https://www.globalnegotiator.com/international-trade/dictionary/international-contracts/

3

International Sales Contract (n.d.) Dictionary of International Trade Retrieved from

https://www.globalnegotiator.com/international-trade/dictionary/international-sales-contract/

2.2 Previous studies

One of the main challenges of individuals who desire to master in the field of legal translation is that there are little references about the integration between the translation theories and legal translation In fact, I would come up with some studies related to my study Those are two books from scholars who wrote about translation theories and the research by Ms Nguyen Hong Phuc which is the closest one to my topic

A case in point is the book “Translation Theories: Strategies and Basic Theoretical Issues” (2011)1

by Prof A B As-Safi considers translation as an indispensable activity there emerged diverse theories and theoretical reflections to guide it This diversity stems from the diverse perspectives and approaches to translation with corollary of a plethora of definitions, types and theories scanned in the first three chapters of Part One Historically, translation theories began with the Romans, but they have undergone four periods as proposed by George Steiner and surveyed in Chapter Two Particularly in Chapter Three, it furnishes a plethora of ancient and recent translation theories, from which the students and others specialized or interested

in translation will benefit

For another example, the book “An introduction into translation theories” (2012)2

by Vietnamese author – PhD Luu Trong Tuan is an expedition through translation theories His work revisits diverse views on the nature of translation as well as how the translational act cognitively proceeds Besides, different translation theories which have contributed to the growth of translation discipline are depicted in the book More

to the point, since diverse translation theories is known as what has paved the paths for diverse translation strategies and methods, the readers are also provided a landscape of diverse translation strategies and methods which are contingent on the choice of translation unit Last but not least, different degrees of equivalence are produced depending on the choice of translation unit is highlighted in his book

1 As-Safi, A.B (2011) Translation Theories: Strategies and Basic Theoretical Issues Petra University

2 Luu Trong Tuan (2012) An introduction into translation theories Nhà xuất bản Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố

Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh City National University Publisher)

It would be a big mistake if the graduation thesis of Ms Nguyen Hong Phuc

(2019) which has the same topic with my paper “An overview of translation theories

and its implications for the translation of English vs Vietnamese legal texts” – is not mentioned here The result of her study is very useful since it clearly indicates what measures based on translation theories are appropriate to solve the difficulties when translating legal documents Specifically, her research is conducted to give answers to these following questions: From identifying (1) what are the translation theories to (2) finding the main characteristics of legal translation as well as (3) determining the difficulties when translating legal texts, by doing these, (4) proposing which mentioned translation theories should be applied to deal with the difficulties of the translation of English – Vietnamese legal texts Unfortunately, the researcher only focused on some translation theories among its diversity and only contracts or documents related to contracts collected as the type of legal text are investigated in this case

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions

On the basis of my research goals, the paper was expected to find out what the common translation theories are Due to the limited time and access to resources, this research will focus on five important and useful translation theories which have been mentioned in the previous chapter However, these theories definitely concern with translation strategies adopted to address problems in a complicated text, here is specifically International Sales Contracts Then, the question “How are those mentioned translation theories applied in translating English – Vietnamese International Sales Contracts?” was answered by the illustration on two specific contracts In other words, the translation from SL (English) to TL (Vietnamese) of each contract would be examined to obtain the result for the second research question Thanks to the answers to two previous questions, this paper could come up with the final conclusion which is translation theories‟ implications for the translation of International Sales Contracts

3.2 Context and design of the study

In order to attain the primary aims, the researcher has consulted several ideas from the supervisor and people who fully master this topic All the theories have been carefully selected and gathered through reference books and documents in the Internet Websites as well In addition, since this study aims at two specific objects that are legal students and legal context, an interview was conducted at LE41 Class of HCMC University of Law concerning on the legal students‟ attitudes and evaluations about the matters and difficulties that they have to cope with when studying Legal Translation subject

In spite of having two main methods to collect and analyze data: qualitative research and quantitative research, the first should be taken for this paper due to the purpose of this study In order to identify common translation theories and understand how these are applied by examining samples of translation, it is designed as a single qualitative case study, particularly library research In fact, library research refers to any study aiming to get an overview of existing works In other words, the research question is literature-based and involves only a methodology of theoretical analysis

requiring selection and discussion of descriptive materials as well as a comparative investigation of the targeted theories defining the issue under scrutiny In summary, according to the nature of this study, there is nothing suitable than conducting this research in the design of qualitative research or library research

3.3 Research instruments

There are two separate steps in the process of undertaking this research In the first step, an interview was conducted in order to collect data and identify the issue The second one is to analyze related documents so as to come up with the conclusion This study uses two different research instruments corresponding to two steps mentioned Firstly, a pre-research had been done in the form of an interview A one-to-one interview with ten students was carried out between the researcher and the students It

is noticeable that these participants were invited randomly among students of LE41 Class Each interviewee would be asked two questions:

The first question is “What type of legal documents do you think LE41‟s students struggle the most when studying Legal Translation subject?”, which is used to explore their opinions The second question is “Why do you think so?” requiring them sharing the underlying reasons for the first one

The aim of these interviews is to help the researcher get the participants' thoughts and feelings to elicit which type of documents that the majority is facing difficulties with The interviews were not recorded, instead the interviewer took notes of important points during the interviews then key ideas were summarized by the researcher herself

Secondly, after getting the result thanks to the first research instrument, tons of information, studies related to the thesis topic would be collected, evaluated and analyzed by the researcher in order to achieve the set aims The main sources of information are books, articles, reports, etc found from school libraries or through specialized online tools like Google, Google Scholar Although it is uncertain that what are found could be comprehensive, they are directly and closely related to this paper In fact, using these instruments is not only the easiest and effective way to get access to the variety of sources from a lot of foreign scholars but also they are the least expensive means of gathering information

3.4 Conceptual framework

In order to achieve the goals of this study, the researcher has followed the conceptual framework below It is highlighted that this process is derived from the observation together with the logic of the researcher herself, which means it is not adapted or adopted from others To be more specific, the way that I approach the issue

is using available translation theories then checking how they are applied in concrete translations These materials are familiar with students majoring in Legal English in university curriculum Accordingly, the outcome is expected to benefit those who have the same background with the researcher The findings will be served as a good source

of useful information for the period of study as well as for the future jobs relating to legal translation

Outcome

Translation theories’ implications for the translation of International Sales Contracts

International Sales Contract 1

Figure 1 Conceptual Framework of the study

From this process, it can be seen that there are three main steps, beginning with doing research on some translation theories and ending with identifying translation theories which could be applied in translating English – Vietnamese International Sales Contracts At the first step, the translation theories are analyzed including Linguistic Theories, Philological Theories, Functional Theories, Sociolinguistic Theories and Relevance Theory In the subsequent step, two examples of International Sales Contracts are presented It is noticeable that each contract includes SL version (English) and TL version (Vietnamese) Based on the TL one, the translation theories which put in are indicated and explained In other words, in this step, the two International Sales Contracts would be illustrated to find out how the mentioned translation theories are applied Last but not least, in the final stage, the research findings and recommendations could be adopted and implemented to benefit the area

of translating English – Vietnamese sales contracts

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 An overview of translation theories

In reality, the processes of translating can be viewed from so many different perspectives such as stylistics, author's intent, diversity of languages, differences of corresponding cultures, problems of interpersonal communication, changes in literary fashion, distinct kinds of content (e.g mathematical theory and lyric poetry), and the circumstances in which translations are to be used As a result, it leads to the great variety of translation theories and sub-theories1 After researching and analyzing a large number of translation theories existed, as introduced, this paper will focus on five translation theories On the basis of the restraint of the source language, these mentioned theories are put down into two categories: “Theories within the restraint of the source language” and “Theories beyond the restraint of the source language” The first includes theories pointing out that the fundamental units that are the word, the syntax and the sentence of the source language would be translated as exactly as possible The latter indicates that the rendering could be affected by specific factors beyond language such as social, context, function, etc

The Figure 2 below briefly summarizes two categories of translation theories mentioned above:

Figure 2 An overview of translation theories

Linguistic Theories

Theories without the restraint of the source language

Philological Theories

Functional Theories

Text-type Theory

Translational Action Theory

Skopos Theory

Sociolinguistic Theories

Relevance Theory

4.1.1 Linguistic Theories

Linguistic theories of translation, according to Nida (1976:69)1, are based on a comparison of the Linguistic structures of the STs and TTs, rather than a comparison

of literary genres and stylistic features of the philological theories

According to Nida and Taber (1969:134)2, it is only a linguistic translation that can be considered „faithful‟, because it “is one which only contains elements which can be directly derived from the ST wording, avoiding any kind of explanatory interpolation or cultural adjustment which can be justified on this basis.” Nida (1976:75)3 suggests a three-stage model of the translation process In this model, ST surface elements (grammar, meaning, connotations) are analyzed as linguistic kernel structures that can be transferred to the TL and restructured to form TL surface elements

Pertinent to linguistic theories is Newmark‟s binary classification of translation into semantic and communicative, which somehow resembles Nida‟s formal and dynamic equivalence “Communicative translation,” Newmark (1981:39)4

states,

“attempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on the original Semantic translation attempts to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original”

4.1.2 Philological theories

Philological theories rely upon „philology‟ as the study of the development of language, and the classical literary studies They are mainly concerned with the comparison of structures in the native and foreign languages, especially the functional correspondence and the literary genres in addition to stylistics and rhetoric

1 Nida, Eugene A (1976) A Framework for the Analysis and Evaluation of Theories of Translation In R.W Brislin (ed)

2 Nida, E and Taber, C (1969) The Theory and Practice of Translation Leiden: E.J Brill

3 Nida, Eugene A (1976) A Framework for the Analysis and Evaluation of Theories of Translation In R.W Brislin (ed)

4 Newmark, P (1981) Approaches to Translation Oxford: Pergamon Press Ltd