Vietnamese english translation errors by the fourth year english majors at bac lieu university

PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF BINH DUONG PROVINCETHU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY --- TA THI KIM OANH VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION ERRORS BY THE FOURTH-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY M

PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF BINH DUONG PROVINCE

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

-

TA THI KIM OANH

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION ERRORS

BY THE FOURTH-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS

AT BAC LIEU UNIVERSITY

MASTER THESIS

Major: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr HOANG QUOC

BINH DUONG, December 2018

Tạ Thị Kim Oanh December, 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest and heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, my teacher Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Quoc who gave me invaluable inspiration, support, devotion, and careful guidance as well as patience through the whole course of my research He is very enthusiastic, responsible and principled supervisor Before I had begun to do the research, he offered me a schedule to follow He devoted his precious time to read and give me perceptive feedback as well as comments and suggestions on the previous drafts of each chapter Without him, the current study could not have seen the light

Secondly, I am deeply indebted to my teacher Dr Nguyen Hoang Tuan for his initial ideas of the research topic, invaluable advice and great help

My sincere thanks will be surely dedicated to all my lecturers of the Master program for their profound knowledge, whole-hearted instructions and great enthusiasms

I cannot complete the research without support from my fellow friends in the MA‘s program at Thu Dau Mot University Therefore, I would like to thank them for their comments and suggestions which contributed to the improvement of the paper

My thanks are due to my beloved students in the English Linguistic class 8DTA at Bac Lieu University (BLU), who involved in my experiment Without their assistance, my study could not have been conducted I am also grateful to my colleagues at the English Division, BLU, who gave me good conditions during the time I followed the M.A course All of their help meaningfully contributed to the completion of my study in the master program

Finally, I would like to thank my family, especially my husband, who was always by my side when I was in difficulties and gave me mental support as well as great encouragement and motivation during my M.A program

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore the translation errors made by the English majors in translating Vietnamese into English To analyze the data, the researcher used both descriptive qualitative and quantitative research method and used error analysis procedure The participants of this study consist of 4 English teachers and 40 English majors from the fourth-year in the academic year of 2017/2018 The main goal of this research is to find out common errors in Vietnamese-English translation made by students of Bac Lieu University, the teachers‘ perception as well as students‘ perception towards the causes of these translation errors The results from the study indicates that the students make grammatical errors, lexical errors, and spelling errors Based on the findings and discussion of the result, the researcher concludes that the students still face difficulties in using vocabulary and grammar

Key Words: Translation, translation error, grammar error

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III ABSTRACT IV TABLE OF CONTENTS V LIST OF TABLES VIII LIST OF CHARTS IX

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Limitation of the study 3

1.4 Significance of the study 3

1.5 Research questions 3

1.6 The organization of the research 4

1.7 Chapter summary 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Theory of translation 5

2.1.1 Definition of translation 5

2.1.2 Translation equivalence 7

2.1.3 Translation methods 7

2.1.4 Translation strategies 8

2.2 Factors affecting translation process 15

2.2.1 Cultural factor 15

2.2.2 Mother tongue factor 16

2.3 Errors in foreign language learning 17

2.3.1 Definition of error 17

2.3.2 Translation errors 18

2.3.3 Classification of errors 18

2.3.4 Errors and mistakes 22

2.3.5 Definition of error analysis 22

2.4 Common errors in translation 22

2.4.1 Grammatical error 22

2.4.2 Vocabulary errors 23

2.5 Review of related research 25

2.6 Chapter summary 27

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 28

3.1 Research design 28

3.2 Research participants 28

3.2.1 Teacher participants 28

3.2.2 Student participants 28

3.3 Population and sample 29

3.4 Instruments and procedures 29

3.5 Technique of data analysis 31

3.5.1 Collection of samples 32

3.5.2 Identification of errors 32

3.5.3 Classification of errors 32

3.5.4 Explanation of errors 32

3.5.5 Evaluation of errors 32

3.6 Validity and reliability 33

3.6.1 Validity 33

3.6.2 Reliability 33

3.7 Chapter summary 33

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 34

4.1 Findings 34

4.1.1 Results from the questionnaire 34

4.1.2 Results from the interview to the teachers 46

4.1.3 Results collected from the assignment and test papers 48

4.2 Discussion of result 62

4.3 Summary of major findings 65

4.4 Chapter summary 66

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 68

5.1 Conclusions 68

5.2 Suggestions 70

5.1.1 Suggestions for Teachers 70

5.1.2 Suggestions for the students 71

5.1.3 Suggestions for further research 72

5.3 Chapter Summary 72 REFERENCES 73 APPENDICES 76

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 The students‘ attitude towards translation subject 34

Table 4.2.Students‘ feeling of learning translation 35

Table 4.3 Translation subject supports their language learning 36

Table 4.4 Difficult type of translation texts 37

Table 4.5 The difficulties of the English translation skill 37

Table 4.6 The students‘ difficulties in translating Vietnamese-into-English texts 38

Table 4.7 The students‘ mistakes in translating Vietnamese-into-English texts 39

Table 4.8 The students‘ thought of choosing texts to translate by themselves whether effective or not 39

Table 4.9 The students‘ learning grammar points 41

Table 4.10 The amount of self-study time per week 41

Table 4.11 The amount of self-study time per day 42

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1 Topic of translation texts which the students are interested in 40

Chart 4.2 Type of translation texts 43

Chart 4.3 How to solve problems 44

Chart 4.4 What to do to improve translating skill 44

Chart 4.5 The students‘ frequency of using reference books 45

Chart 4.6 The students‘ thought of the factors which help their translating Vietnamese-to-English texts 46

Chart 4.7 Types of translation errors 49

Chart 4.8 Types of grammatical errors 50

Chart 4.9 Distribution of lexical error types 60

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

BLU: Bac Lieu University

SL: Source Language

TL: Target language

L1: The first language

L2: The second language

L3: The third language

L4: The fourth language

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists of the background to the study and the aims of the study The limitation of the study and significance of the study are provided followed by the research questions The organization and chapter summary of the research are presented in the end

1.1 Background to the study

In the world of globalization, English is an important language to make the communication process easier It has become an international language It is used in the educational books, international meeting, international schools, etc that use English as a medium of language Therefore, many countries engage this language

in the curriculum In Vietnam, English is taught as one of the foreign languages Kenji (2000) confirms that ―English is used not only for communication between native speakers and nonnative speakers of English but also between nonnative speakers, and it is the most widely used language in the world, and it will be used

by more people in the future‖

Both English and Vietnamese have some different systems of conventions in arranging the elements of language, so countries are able to have mutual understanding and a sense of global citizenship in this multilingual world, people have to thanks to their English translated versions It is considered as an effective means to learn how to appreciate different countries‘ beauty of cultural values Moreover, English translation makes people understand each other more in the process of diplomatic relations and economic cooperation and other fields in today‘s era when countries tend to integrate for the whole development Therefore, English translation has gradually become an indispensable and pressing tool which set the path for the global success of individuals, organizations, and even businesses in the modern time when society is more developing and competition is relentless To get the ideal future jobs, Vietnamese students have to have expert translation skill in order to meet the demand of integration into the world economy and culture exchange with other countries

It has been widely thought that translation is a process of substituting words

of one language with that of another, followed by adjusting word order and grammatical forms Some students know the vocabulary, but they do not know how

to put them into sentences Translation is one of the causes of errors It happens because a student translates his first language sentence or idiomatic expression into the target language word by word Therefore, translation is one of the important skills in studying a language Translation is the one of the ways to acquire language

as a second or foreign language so that translation skill is much needed in learning English as a second or foreign language

According to Husain (1996), translation can be applied as an effective means

of promoting learners‘ language learning since using learners‘ mother tongue in language learning process can intensify learners‘ confidence and also give them positive feeling of relaxation

To produce a good translation, the translator has to know almost perfectly the language translate from the language to be translated into There has to be no mystery for the translator in the original text and the translator has to understand every nuance so that he/she does not lose pieces of important information In other words, translation is not merely the transfer of words in source language (SL) into those target language (TL) or vice versa

In reality, Vietnamese-English translation skill is not easy for Vietnamese students to master, so learners cannot often avoid mistakes in their translating practice Perhaps, because of the influence of the mother tongue, the differences of syntax, phonology, semantic and cultures or their own limited language ability, Vietnamese students of English in general still have errors in translating Vietnamese texts into English

Bac Lieu province is the part of the Ca Mau Peninsula and Me Kong Delta as well where the economic, social conditions have not yet developed Bac Lieu University has experienced ten years of establishment and development It is essential for training human resource for hometown and the Ca Mau Peninsula Therefore, one of the main task of the school is training and fostering teachers and staffs with professional skill at all educational levels and highly qualified personnel

in other areas such as Ca Mau, Soc Trang in order to contribute to the development

of hometown and the Ca Mau Peninsula

In the integrated period, the schools also show special concern for training English majors who have expert translation skill as well as other skills of English so that they are able to contribute their own real linguist abilities to the society‘s development However, it is not easy for Vietnamese students who have never traveled overseas to have a great command of English Translation may be a difficult task, especially for those who have a little knowledge of English and foreign cultures or a specific industry related topic To complete this task, understanding the difficulties of Vietnamese students when practicing translation, Vietnamese-English translation is considered as a significant class for Vietnamese students of English major by Bac Lieu University Therefore, this research that

entitle ―Vietnamese-English translation errors by the fourth-year English majors at Bac Lieu University‖ is purposed to analyze the errors in translation made by

students of English majors at Bac Lieu University It is expected that the research will be a useful reference helping improve translation skill for not only the students majoring in English of Bac Lieu University but also all Vietnamese people who are interested in translation work and really want to become expert translators

1.2 Aims of the study

The primary aim of the thesis is to identify the English majors‘ errors in translating Vietnamese texts into English The study also aims at finding causes of these problems and then suggesting some possible strategies to overcome the problems The targeted subject of this thesis are mainly students; besides, all people who are interested in translation work can consider it as a useful reference for improving their translating skills as well

1.3 Scope of the study

This research only observed the errors in the translation text Base on superficial basis of error classifications from Corder (1981: 36) which are errors of omission, error of addition, error of selection, and error of ordering in translation texts of the English majors of Bac Lieu University in the academic year of 2017/2018 This research only used the translation texts of the English Department students of Bac Lieu University in the academic year of 2017/2018 as object of the research The participants are 40 English students from one English major class and

4 English teachers Two translation tests, a questionnaire and an interview were used to collect data and they were done in class and outside with limited time Therefore, the result might not reflect completely the students‘ ability in translation

1.4 Significance of the study

The significance of this study can be classified into:

For the teacher

The result of the research can show the students‘ progress in learning translation, so it can be used as a reference for the teacher about what technique or strategy that should be applied in teaching English to improve the student‘s ability

For the students

The result of the research can show to the students about the errors they made, so by reading the analysis they can know their fault and know the right pattern of translation The researcher hopes it can give insight view of errors in translation texts of English majors at Bac Lieu University

For the researcher

The result of the research provides evidence of how language is learned or acquired and the strategies or procedures that used by students By analyzing the study, the researcher can improve the knowledge about the average of students‘ ability in mastering English, so the researcher can find the best way to teach translation in the future This research is also expected to contribute knowledge about the study of grammar in translation text

1.5 Research questions

To obtain the above stated purposes, the research has to answer the following questions:

1 What are the common errors found in translation texts of English majors of Bac Lieu University in the academic year of 2017/2018?

2 What can be recommended to avoid such errors in order to make English translation more effective?

Vietnamese-1.6 The organization of the research

The research has five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methodology, Results and Findings, and Discussions

Chapter 1 introduces the background of the research, research aims, research limitation, research significance, and research questions

Chapter 2 provides the theory of translation, theory of errors, factors affecting translation process It also review the previous study relating to errors in translation

Chapter 3, methodology, presents the research methodology used in this study

Chapter 4 is to find out common errors in Vietnamese-English translation made by students of Bac Lieu University, the teachers‘ perception as well as students‘ perception towards the causes of these translation errors

Chapter 5 discusses the connections among results found based on theoretical background, the study limitations as well as the suggestions for further studies

1.7 Chapter summary

This chapter provides the background of the study and presents the rationale for investigation into students‘ Vietnamese-English translation errors on the basic of which the research questions were established

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter introduces theory of translation in which definition of translation, translation equivalence, translation methods will be presented In addition, some factors affecting translation process including cultural factor and mother tongue factor will be provided Besides, theory of errors in language learning including definitions of errors, translation of errors, classification of errors, errors and mistakes, definitions of error are presented Moreover, common errors in translation such as grammatical errors, vocabulary errors will be shown Finally, some related concepts in translation theory including definitions of translation, kinds of translation, translation strategies and factors affecting

translation process, previous relevant studies and chapter summary are covered

2.1 Theory of translation

2.1.1 Definition of translation

In order to comprehend the current research precisely, the term ―translation‖ must initially be defined In fact, the term has been variously defined by lots of linguistics and language experts The following definitions are selected because they relate to my research

Newmark (1989:7) describes that translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language In addition, Nida & Taber (1982: 12) explain that translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly

in terms of style Bell (1991:5) also states that translation is the expression in another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another (source language), preserving semantic and stylistic equivalencies

According to Bell (1991: 6), translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a

second language For example, the Vietnamese sentence “Người bắt đầu học ngoại ngữ luôn luôn gặp khó khăn ngay từ bước đầu.” can be translated into the English sentence “Beginners of foreign language always face difficulties from the outset.”

(Tran Van Diem, 1998) The author continues, and makes the problems of equivalence very plain: ―Texts in different languages can be equivalent in different degrees (fully or partially different), in respect of different levels of presentation (in respect of context, of semantics, of grammar, of lexis) and at different ranks (word-for-word, phrase-for-phrase, sentence-for-sentence)‖

Tu Anh (2005:10, 16) defines ―Translation is the transmission of a thought expressed in one language by means of another language The language used to

express the thought directly is called the source language, and the language used to translate that thought is called the target language‖

In Vietnamese-into-English translation, the Vietnamese is the source language and the English is the target language as in the following example: The

source language: Dịch thuật là môn học bắt buộc đối với sinh viên chuyên Anh ngữ The target language: Translation is a compulsory subject for students of English major Bui Tien Bao and Dang Xuan Thu (1997:3) state translation is rendering a

written text into another language in the way that the author intended the text Translators are concerned with the written word They render written texts from one language into another Translators are required to undertake assignments, which range from simple items, such as birth certificates and driving licenses, to more complex written materials, such as articles in specialized professional journals, business contracts and legal documents

According to the theorists above, it can be concluded that translation is a process of transferring a text from one language (source) into another (target) with

an aim of keeping the meaning and style of the two texts equivalent Therefore, the translator is required to be good in not only linguistic performance but also in the subject knowledge However, keeping the meaning and style of the source text equivalent to the target one is a difficult task because the translator needs to master both languages And translation itself poses many problems because of inherent linguistic and nonlinguistic factors

Vietnamese students have difficulties translating Vietnamese to English and vice versa because they do not achieve a good level of language knowledge and cannot apprehend the linguistic differences between English and Vietnamese Bui Tien Bao and Dang Xuan Thu (1997) explain about language that in syntax, there are rules, which tell us how to put the words together, their sequence I can say in English: I have a red book, but the Vietnamese would say: I have a book red Every language has its own order of words in the sentence and we must respect that Once

we know a language, we can use the rules; we can make new sentences and phrases

In addition, regional variations of a language are called dialects New Zealand, Australian and US English can be considered dialects of English It is very difficult, however, to define a dialect as such, i.e to decide when two tongues are to be classified as separate languages instead of one being a dialect of the other There is

a rule of thumb, which states that two dialects become different languages when they are mutually unintelligible, when people of one language group can no longer understand members of the other group Besides, the translators have to master words, idiolect, slang, idioms

In conclusion, translation is the replacement of a source language text by a target language equivalent text in which the meaning of the text and author‘s intention is preserved

2.1.2 Translation equivalence

According to Peter Newmark (1989), translation equivalence is an unwritten rule about translation which people know and which influences the form of translating exchange Catford (1965) states that the central problem of translation is that of finding target language equivalence In trying to solve the problem of translation equivalence, Newbert (1985) claims that translation equivalence must be considered a semiotic category consisting of the components (syntactic, semantic and pragmatic) These components are arranged in a hierarchical relationship, where semantic equivalence takes priority over syntactic equivalence and pragmatic equivalence conditions and modifies both the other elements Equivalence overall results from the relation between signs themselves, the relationship between signs what they stand for and those who use them In other word, translation equivalence

is the similarity between a word or expression in one language and its translation in another In general, to achieve translation equivalence requires translators to produce the same effect (or one as close as possible) on the readership of the translation as was obtained on the readership of the original The translation equivalence is showed in some rules and principles which are very useful for the translators

2.1.3 Translation methods

In ―A textbook of translation‖, Newmark (1989: 45) put the translation methods in the form of a flattened V diagram:

Word-for-word translation Adaptation

Literal translation Free translation

Faithful translation Idiomatic translation

Semantic translation Communicative translation

2.1.3.1 Word-for-word translation

This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with The TL immediately below the SL words The SL word-order is preserved and the words translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context Cultural words are translated literally The main use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language or [o construe a difficult text as a pre-t ran slat ion process

2.1.3.2 Literal translation

The SL grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TL equivalents but the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context As a pre-translation process, this indicates the problems to be solved

2.1.3.3 Faithful translation

A faithful Translation attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning

of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures It ―transfers‖

cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical 'abnormality' (deviation from SL norms) in the translation It attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the text-realisation of the SL writer

2.1.3.4 Semantic translation

Semantic translation differs from 'faithful translation' only in as far as it must take more account of the aesthetic value (that is, the beautiful and natural sounds of the SL text, compromising on 'meaning' where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play or repetition jars in the finished version Further, it may translate less important cultural words by culturally neutral third or functional terms but not by

cultural equivalents - une nonne repassant un corporal may become ―a nun ironing

a corporal cloth‖ - and it may make other small concessions to the readership The distinction between ―faithful‖ and ―semantic‖ translation is that the first is uncompromising and dogmatic, while the second is more flexible, admits the creative exception to 100% fidelity and allows for the translator's intuitive empathy with the original

2.1.3.6 Free translation

Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so-called ―intralingual translation‖, often prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all

2.1.3.7 Idiomatic translation

Idiomatic translation reproduces the 'message' of the original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in the original

2.1.3.8 Communicative translation

Communicative translation attempts to render the exact contextual meaning

of the original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership

2.1.4 Translation strategies

According to Bui Tien Bao and Dang Xuan Thu (1997), the following strategies have been suggested by translators, commissioners of translations, and others involved in translating as ways to approach difficulties in translation from English to Vietnamese This list reflects only the main issues

2.1.4.1 Strategy 1: How to deal with non-equivalence at word level

It is often the case that no direct equivalents can be found in Vietnamese for English words It may be that the concept or idea is new to Vietnam, as is the case with "gender", which is in fact a relatively new concept in general, and a difficult one to understand and explain in many languages Or, it may be that the concept is known or readily understood but there is no specific word in Vietnamese to express

it Another difficulty is that, in addition to their concrete meaning, some words have special connotations that are not conveyed by the Vietnamese word for the same thing The strategies listed below can be used to handle cases of non-equivalence

Translation by more specific word

In some cases, it may be appropriate or necessary to use a more specific word to translate an English word into Vietnamese This usually involves choosing among several different words, as there may be many Vietnamese words that correspond to the general category or meaning expressed by the English term For example, Vietnamese has many words that mean "to carry" with distinctions being made depending on the size and shape of the object; its animacy (e.g a child as opposed to a box); and how it is carried (e.g in the hand, in both arms, etc.) Similarly, the English word "rice" can be translated by many different Vietnamese words, depending on whether one is planting it, harvesting it, cooking it, or eating

it In these cases, the English word alone is not enough to determine the appropriate Vietnamese translation, and it is necessary to examine the English context in deciding which Vietnamese word is to be used

Translation by more general word

In other cases, it may be appropriate to use a more general word to translate

an English word with no specific Vietnamese equivalent For instance, English makes distinctions among mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles, the latter having larger wheels and engines than both mopeds and scooters; Vietnamese, on the other hand, refers to all two-wheel, motorized vehicles as "xe máy" Similarly, the English "paw", "foot", and "leg" may all be translated by the Vietnamese "chân", which does not present problems of comprehension in Vietnamese, as it should be clear from the context which of these words is meant Another example can be found in a manual on community development, which translates "matrix" by the Vietnamese "ma trận" However, in Vietnamese, "ma trận" has a specific use in mathematics only, and does not have the additional sense of a model or plan according to which something is developed In this instance, "matrix" is better translated as "bảng", which is a more general word used to classify a written plan or formula

Translation by culture substitution

This strategy involves replacing a culture-specific item or expression with one of different meaning but similar impact in the translated text Because of their self-described "respect" for the original text, most Vietnamese translators object to

this strategy and tend to translate directly, even when it may be highly inappropriate For example, a farmers' manual that has been translated into Vietnamese suggests the planting of different types of fruit and fuel trees that are not even grown in Vietnam The original manual, which was developed in other parts of Asia, was not modified at all for the Vietnamese context Though some translators argue that it is not the responsibility of the translator to change the text in this way, the translator is in fact an important role here Translators should be encouraged to question the appropriateness of the documents they are translating and suggest changes to make them more culturally appropriate However, this is not only the burden of the translator, but also of the commissioner of the translation and the editor In addition, field testing of documents will elicit useful feedback on cultural appropriateness

Translation using a loan word plus explanation

There is some resistance to this strategy in Vietnam, as many translators prefer to create new Vietnamese words rather than borrow English words However, this strategy can be useful when dealing with concepts or ideas that are new to Vietnam, cultural specific items, and proper names of diseases or medicines that are widely known by their English names For example, HIV and AIDS are two loan words that are frequently used in Vietnamese, as they are referred to by their English names in most of the world Because these words have been in common use

in Vietnam for some time now, they are often used without any accompanying explanation, which is not advisable Whenever a loan word is used, it is best to offer

an explanation either in parentheses or a footnote Another example is the acronym for oral dehydration salts, or ORS, which is printed on every package; and hence easily recognized; this is usually written in its English form with an explanation in parentheses as follows: ORS (muối bù mất nước)

Translation by paraphrase

This strategy can be used when translating an English word or concept that does not exist in Vietnamese, or when the Vietnamese term for it does not include all the meanings conveyed by the English term for the same concept For example,

in the sentence "pregnant women should avoid alcohol," the English word includes all alcoholic beverages in its meaning The Vietnamese word for alcohol, ―rượu", does not include beer in its definition, so the Vietnamese translation should add the word ―beer‖ to reflect the full meaning of the source language sentence ―Phụ nữ mang thai nên tránh uống rượu, bia‖ To cite another example, the English term

"abuse" and "neglect" signify a whole range of behaviors, some of which are not conveyed by the Vietnamese terms alone Therefore, the sentence, "Children shall

be protected from abuse and neglected‖ cannot be translated simply as "Trẻ em phải được bảo vệ khỏi sự lạm dụng và lơ là‖ as was suggested by one translator This does not account for their full meanings, which must be unpacked for better

understanding This can be done by paraphrasing, as another translator has attempted in the following translation: "Trẻ em cần được bảo vệ chống lại mọi hình thức bạo lực, gây tổn thương hay xúc phạm, bỏ mặc hoặc sao nhãng trong việc chăm sóc" Back translated roughly into English, this sentence reads, ―Children must be protected from all forms of violence causing harm or offense, and from abandonment and negligence in their case."

Translation by omission

Though some translators may reject this strategy as too drastic, it is sometimes appropriate to omit words or phrases that are not essential to the meaning or impact of the text This is especially true for words that would need lengthy explanations, awkward paraphrases, or literal and unnatural translations, which would interrupt the flow of the text and could distract the reader from the overall meaning For example, the sentence, "Much can be done even without being physically present in the meeting " is best translated into Vietnamese by, "Nhiều việc có thể làm ngay cả khi không có mặt tại cuộc họp " which omits the word

"physically‖ in the translation The difference in meaning between "being physically present" and "being present" is so minimal that it does not justify translation into Vietnamese, which cannot easily express the slight emphasis implied here by the author, and would not do so by emphasizing the physicality of a person‘s presence

2.1.4.2 Strategy 2: How to deal with idioms and fixed expressions

According to McCarthy and O‘Dell (2004), idioms are expressions which have a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words For example, the idioms ―Drive somebody round the bend‖ means ―Make somebody angry or frustrated, but we cannot know this just by looking at the words In addition, Manser (2006) defines idioms are fairly phrases that consist of more than one word, with a meaning that cannot be understood from putting together the meaning of the individual words Idioms and fixed expressions can be dealt with in ways similar to those discussed above With idioms, however, there is the added difficulty that the translator may not realize that he/she is dealing with an idiomatic expression, since more idioms may make sense when translated literally

Using an idiom or fixed expression of similar meaning and form

It is sometimes possible to find a Vietnamese idiom or examples with a similar meaning to an English idiom or expression, and which is expressed in the same way One example is the idiom ―to fight like cats and dogs‖, which is expressed using the same words in Vietnamese ―cãi nhau như chó với mèo‖; another is "better late than never", which translates as ―thà muộn còn hơn không bao giờ‖ It is ideal if such a match can be found, but this kind of correspondence is not common, and it is usually necessary to use other strategies in dealing with idioms and fixed expressions

Using an idiom or fixed expression of similar meaning but dissimilar form

It is also possible, and usually easier to find a Vietnamese idiom with a similar meaning to an English idiom, but which is expressed differently A good example is the translation for ―to carry coals to Newcastle‖: ―chở củi về rừng‖, which translates as ―to carry firewood to the forest‖ The meaning here is clearly the same in both idioms - to bring something to a place that already has abundance of that thing - but the way in which each language expresses it is bound to the culture

of that language It would be far more cumbersome to translate this idiom word into Vietnamese with an explanation that Newcastle is a well-known coal-producing city in England (as was suggested by some Vietnamese translators), which would unduly interrupt the flow the text and greatly diminish the idiom's impact By substituting similar Vietnamese idiom, then, the flow and the impact of the original text are retained in the translation

word-for-Translation by paraphrase

When Vietnamese equivalents cannot be found, paraphrasing may be the best way to deal with an idiom or fixed expression A good example can be found in an article on maternal mortality, which includes the sentence, ―But before the new estimates replace the old as a way of packaging up the problem, it should be said that a mistake has been made in allowing statistics such as these to slip into easy language.‖ The expression ―packaging up the problem‖ presented problems in translation, as it was misinterpreted to mean ―assembling‖ or ―gathering together‖ However, even if this phrase were clearly understood, it would be difficult to find a correct equivalent in Vietnamese; in fact, it would be difficult to re-state concisely

in English This phrase is best dealt with by paraphrasing, which in English should read something like, ―summing up the problem by referring to it simply as a number, which does not reflect its true magnitude or impact‖ The expression ―to slip into easy usage‖ is problematic for the same reasons, and is also best dealt with

by paraphrasing, as a direct translation into Vietnamese would be nonsensical

Translation by omission

As with single words, whole phrases may be omitted if they are not essential

to the meaning or impact of the text This may be done with phrases that would require lengthy explanations, awkward paraphrases, or literal and unnatural translations This may also be done when a phrase has two meanings, and one of the meanings must be sacrificed for the other For instance, a book entitled, ―Being Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS‖ presents problems in translation because of the double meaning of ―being positive‖ Here, the meaning is both that a person is HIV positive and, more idiomatically, that s/he should have an optimistic outlook on life This may be clear to a translator, who may interpret the phrase to mean simply that this book is for and about people who are HIV positive However, the double meaning should be made clear through collaboration with the commissioner, after

which a choice must be made between the two meanings, for it would not be possible to translate both meanings by one Vietnamese phrase As the emphasis is

on a positive outlook towards life and not on the fact of being HIV positive, one translator has suggested the following translation: ―Sống một cách tích cực‖ This expresses the notion of being positive about life without mentioning anything about HIV status, which will be made clear in the rest of the title and in the content of the book

2.1.4.3 Strategy 3: How to deal with voice, number and person

VOICE: The passive voice is used very frequently in English and poses

some problems for translation into Vietnamese Passive voice can be translated from English into Vietnamese in the following ways:

- English: A to be done (by B)

- Vietnamese: (i) A được + động từ + (bởi B) positive meaning

A được/do + B + động từ

(ii) A bị + dộng từ (bởi B) negative meaning

A bị + (B) + động từ

Example:

- This house was built by Frank in 1930

(Ngôi nhà này do Frank xây năm 1930.)

- Tom is given a present by Mary

(Tom được Mary tặng một món quà.)

- Tom was attacked by a stranger last night

(Tom bị một kẻ lạ mặt tấn công tối hôm qua.)

- English: A to be done

- Vietnamese: - A được + động từ (positive meaning)

- A bị + động từ (negative meaning)

- Người ta/ai đó + động từ + A Example:

- Tom has been promoted recently

(Tom mới được đề bạt gần đây.)

- The CD has been broken

(Chiếc đĩa CD đã bị vỡ/ Ai đó đã làm vỡ chiếc đĩa CD rồi.)

The positive and negative connotation is not often conveyed in English, it can be difficult to know which verb to use in the Vietnamese

Example:

English: The children were given injections

Vietnamese: (Các cháu đuợc tiêm/ Các cháu bị tiêm.)

Depending on whether receiving shots was considered a positive or negative experience On the other hand, when the positive or negative connotation of the sentence is clear, it is more appropriate to retain the passive voice in the Vietnamese

Note: In Vietnamese, there are some cases where you see the word bị/ được, but

they are not passive sentences in English at all

Example:

- Anh ấy bị ngã (He falls.)

- Chị Lan bị ho (Lan has a cough.)

- Hôm nay chúng ta được đánh chén no nê

(We have an enormous and fantastic meal today.)

NUMBER: Though both languages have similar notions of number and

countability, each language expresses this in very different ways In Vietnamese, number is often not expressed at all In English, number is expressed as a grammatical category, that is, there are different grammatical forms for the singular and plural nouns In Vietnamese, however, no such distinction is made grammatically

Example: Phụ nữ = can mean either woman or women

In Vietnamese, some plural markers such as ―các‖, ―những‖, ―tất cả‖, ―mọi‖,

―mỗi‖ can be used in addition to the noun ―Các‖ generally means all of a given category of things, whereas ―những‖ refers to some of the total number of the things being discussed ―Mỗi‖ emphasizes the identity of the individual members of the category without connoting anything of their totality, while ―mọi‖ expresses both the individuality of the items and the totality of the category If it is clear from the

English context which of these plural markers should be used in the Vietnamese, then the translator should choose accordingly

Note: Some words that can be countable in Vietnamese but are uncountable in English For example: information, equipment, furniture, potential, advice

PERSON: Participants roles and forms of address are expressed in

Vietnamese through a very complicated system of personal pronouns based largely

on kinship (mối quan hệ họ hàng) terms Unlike their English counterparts, Vietnamese pronouns convey many different distinctions, depending on relationship within the family, familiarity, social status, and even one's particular mood or attitude in a given situation These distinctions are not always clear in English and can usually be determined by the context, if at all If it is not possible to determine the distinctions of the English pronouns, the decision should be based on consideration of tone and overall purpose of the document

Example: a manual on health care contains sections written specifically for children and adults In the section for children, ―you‖ is translated as ―em‖ or ―các em‖ In the section for adults, ―you‖ should be translated as ―chúng ta‖, which is the inclusive ―we‖ - that is, the speaker is including the listener in a group with him/herself And in different contexts, ―we‖ can be translated as ―chúng tôi‖ meaning ―other people and I, but not you‖ or ―chúng ta‖ meaning ―you and I‖

Note: In English, age is often not important in the addressing system And there is

no distinction between the relatives of mother's side or father‘s side

- Hai anh em = two brother

- Hai chị em = two sisters

- Chú, cậu, các = uncle

- Cô, dì, bác gái = aunt

2.2 Factors affecting translation process

2.2.1 Cultural factor

Culture is considered as a vital factor affecting translation process because translation is not only a linguistic transformation of texts but also a rendering of culture concepts from one language to another Translating, which involves two languages, is unavoidably influenced by two cultures, the source culture (SC) and the target culture (TC) Sapir (1956:69) claims that ―no two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same worlds with different labels attached‖ Hatim and Mason's theory on translation is focused on the decisive relevance of cultural context: ―Translating is a communicative process which takes place within a social context‖ Hatim and Mason (1990) consider translation as a communication process which goes through linguistic and cultural barriers According to them, the translator may face problems within or outside the language concept Lotman (cited in Bassnett 1992: 14)

declares that: ―No language can exist unless it is steeped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its centre, the structure of natural language.‖ Nida expresses the same idea in another way (1993)

The role of language within a culture and the influence of the culture on the meanings of words and idioms are so pervasive that scarcely any text can be adequately understood without careful consideration of its cultural background According to Dongfeng Wong and Dan Shen (1999), it is true that different peoples live on the same planet in relatively similar material surroundings and that each language contains expressions to describe this material world—sun, river, rain, mountain, father, etc But through long and unique evolution, each culture develops distinct conceptions about the world As well as the common core expressions which are mostly conceptual or denotative, each language has myriad of culturally-specific expressions that are full of associations for that people

Thus the same object can be conceptualized or symbolized with different cultural ―colours‖ or ―flavours.‖ For example, in the eye of Western people, ―the pale white band of stars and clouds of gas that can be seen across the sky at night‖

is Milky Way, while to Chinese people it is yinhe (silver river) The two phrases refer to the same object, but they have different associations arising from distinct cultural identities When Western people pray for another person‘s luck or fortune, they will say God bless you, while old Chinese people tend to say Pusa baoyou (Buddha bless) Here the meaning the speaker wants to express is the same, but different cultures will resort to different means of expression

Nguyen Thi Thien (2011) claims that when comparing Vietnamese and English, it is quite easy to figure out many cultural terms that are absent in the other The culture difference between Western and Oriental society and among nations as the root of linguistic untranslatability Tropical monsoon climate, complex geographical position, and long traditional water rice agriculture are the elements creating in Vietnamese culture There for, word related to rice processing (gieo mạ, làm cỏ, gầu giai, gầu sòng, bón thúc, bón lót đòng, xay, giã, giần, sàng, thúng, mủng, nong, nia, sọt gạo tẻ, nếp cẩm, tám xoan, tấm, cám, trấu; bánh đa, bánh đúc, bánh chưng, bánh dầy, bánh giò, bánh khúc, bánh cốm,…); marriage procedure (dạm ngõ, ăn hỏi, thách cưới, nộp cheo,…), beliefs and religions (đình, chùa, miếu, am, phủ, điện thờ, bàn thờ, ngai, bài vị, mẫu thoải, chúa thượng ngàn,…) are very popular to Vietnamese but quite exotic to foreigners

2.2.2 Mother tongue factor

Students usually have difficulties in translation because of interference of mother tongue that was used in long time A mother tongue can be referred to as the language that a child grows up speaking and starts meaningful communication with his parents and other close relatives Differences of the sound system (phonology)

and the grammar of the first language made students do mistake in use of grammatical pattern and occasionally to the wrong choice of vocabulary

In fact, each language has its own different classes and subclasses Therefore, it may not always possible to translate a source language noun with a noun in the target language Le Phuong Lan (2006) states that English grammar is very inflexible compared to other language English goes by very strict structures while Vietnamese language is much more flexible She also claims that the Vietnamese language does not always use articles and the rules are not as clear as those of the English language Besides, some English vocabularies peculiar A word

in English may mean many other words in other languages For example, the word

―problem‖ may be translated into ―vấn đề, khó khăn, lỗi, vấn nạn‖, depending on the context According to Richards (1974: 124), ―the sources of errors in studying a language might be derived from the interference of the learners‘ mother tongue and the general characteristics of the rule learning The errors that are caused by the general characteristics of the rule learning are also called the intralanguage errors And the errors caused by the interference of the learners‘ mother tongue are called the interlanguage errors.‖

2.3 Errors in foreign language learning

2.3.1 Definition of error

In language learning, errors are defined by many experts According to Corder (1973:257), errors are breaking the rule, due to lack of competence such as knowledge of the language, which may or may not be conscious As they are due to lack of competence they tend to be not correctable Dulay and Burt (1982) states that errors as ―the flawed side of learner speech or writing‖, which ―deviates from some selected norm of mature language performance‖ They further discussed that errors may be distinguished based on the causes: errors caused by factors such as fatigue and inattention are ―performance errors‖, and those caused by lack of knowledge of the rules of the language are called ―competence errors James (1998) defines error is failure of competence which is systematic violation from rules to which the learners have been exposed; error also tells us something about the learner‘s current knowledge of the language that he has learned Besides, Brown (1987) defines error is also an idiosyncrasy in the interlanguage of the learner which

is direct manifestation of a system within which a learner is operating He further states that an error is noticeable deviation from the grammar of native speaker that reflects the interlanguage competence of the learners According to Lennon (1991),

an error is considered as a linguistic form which would not be produced by the native speaker in the same context and under similar conditions of production James (1998) states error also refers to systematic error of the learners underlying knowledge of the language

Although there have been various definition of error, this research only studies the error in terms of using language that is not correct with the grammar rule and not suitable in the specific context in comparison with using language of the

native speaker

2.3.2 Translation errors

These errors happen when the students show the inability to render the original meaning of the source text into the target text In other words, a sentence is considered to have ―translation error‖ when it shows traces of distortions of the source text, although the sentence may be grammatically correct

Neubert & Shreve (1995:415) describe a translation error in the following statement:

What rightly appears to be linguistically equivalent may very frequently qualify as ―translationally‖ nonequivalent And this is so because the complex demands on adequacy in translation involve subject factors and transfer conventions that typically run counter to considerations about :surface‖ linguistic equivalence

This statement partially describes the complication and difficulty in defining and identifying translation errors Translation errors are different from errors that would occur in spontaneous native language production In translation, working with a source text induces errors under the influence of source language morphology, whereas in spontaneous second language production, native morphological system of language learner tends to interfere with knowledge of the second language system In the case of second language learners, identifying translation errors is tricky as translation errors may be mixed up with linguistic errors

2.3.3 Classification of errors

Language errors can be classified into different types according to linguistic levels (i.e., grammar, vocabulary, and style), form (e.g., omission, insertion and substitution), type (systematic errors or errors in competence, and occasional errors

or errors in performance) and causes (e.g., interference, interlanguage) In this section, the classification of errors will be presented in detail

Corder (1973) classifies the errors in terms of the difference between the learners‟ utterance and the reconstructed version In this way, errors fall into four

categories: omission of some required element, addition of some unnecessary or incorrect element, selection of an incorrect element, and misordering of the

(2) Intralingual errors: they originate within the structure of English itself They can be subdivided into three types, including overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restrictions and incomplete application of rules

(3) Development errors: they reflect the strategies by which the learners acquire language They also present their attempt to build up hypothesis about the English language from their limited experiences

The interlingual and intralingual errors are easier to recognize Both interlingual and intralingual errors are easy to detect if the researcher masters both the native language as well as the target language, and if the errors are explicitly, which means that it could be easily traced according to the rules of both languages Unlike Corder‘s classification, Burt (1975) classifies errors into two categories: global errors and local errors Global errors refer to errors that significantly hinder communication and ―those that affect overall sentence organization, such as wrong word order, missing, wrong, or misplaced sentence connectors‖ (p.56) Local errors affect single elements in a sentence but do not usually hinder communication significantly such as errors in noun and verb inflections, articles, and auxiliaries‖ (p.57)

According to Brown (1980) and James (1998), there are four types of errors that are also classified according to the causes of errors: (1) interlingual transfer, (2) intralingual transfer, (3) context of learning, and (4) various communication strategies the learners use

(1) Interlingual transfer, i.e mother-tongue influence, causes of interlingual errors, which appears frequently at the initial stages of L2 learning because the L1 is the only language system that the learners know and can draw on (Brown, 1980)

He also argues that when the learners are learning L3, L4, etc., transfer takes place from all the previously learned languages but the degree of transfer is variable (1980)

(2) Intralingual negative transfer of inference is the source of intralingual errors (Brown, 1980) Brown gives only overgeneralization as representation of negative interlingual transfer, but James (1998) goes into more details He refers to intralingual errors as learning-strategy based errors and lists of seven types of them: false analogy, misanalysis, incomplete rule application, exploiting redundancy, overgeneralization, hypercorrection, and overlooking co-occurrence restrictions

(3) Context of learning refers to setting where a language is learnt, e.g., a classroom or a social situation It also includes the teachers and materials used in the lessons

(4) Communication strategies are the strategies that the learners use to communicate or get a message from the speakers, including verbal and nonverbal There are some communication strategies used by the learners such as: avoidance,

prefabricated patterns, cognitive and personality styles, appeal to authority and language switch

According to Dulay et al (1982), errors are divided into four categories, which are commonly used for the descriptive classification of errors They are error types based on linguistic category taxonomy, surface strategy taxonomy, comparative taxonomy and communicative effect taxonomy Each classification will be classified below:

(1) Communicative effect taxonomy: This taxonomy focuses on the effect that the errors have on the listener or reader, including two sub-categories:

(a) Global errors: they are errors that affect an overall organization of the sentence and prevent significantly a successful communication in the sense that errors cause the listeners or readers to misunderstand the message or not understand what the speaker or writer wants to say On the global level, they include ―(i) wrong order of major constituents, (ii) missing, wrong or misplaced sentence connectors, (iii) missing cues to signal obligator exceptions to pervasive syntactic rules, (iv) regularization of pervasive syntactic rules to exceptions, (v) wrong psychological predicate constructions (i.e predicated describing how a person feels), (vi) improper selection of complement types (i.e subordinate clauses)‖

(b) Local errors: they are errors that affect a single segment (constituents) in

a sentence and that they do not usually hinder communication significantly The reader or the listener can understand what the speaker or writer wants to say although the statement is not correct The errors include errors in noun and verb inflection, articles, auxiliaries, formation of quantifiers, etc

(2) The comparative taxonomy: this type classifies errors based on comparison between the structures of L2 errors and certain other types of construction Second language errors have frequently been compared with errors made by a learning first language and with equivalent phrases or sentences in the learner‘s mother tongue In this taxonomy, errors are classified into four types: developmental errors, interlingual errors, ambiguous errors, and other errors

(3) Surface strategy taxonomy: This taxonomy divides errors into the following categories: (a) omission, (b) addition, (c) misformation, and (d) misordering Omission is typically in the early stages of L2 acquisition, while addition, misformation and misordering are much more common in the intermediate stages

(a) Omission errors are characterized by ―the absence of an item that must

appear in a well-formed utterance‖ It may the omission of nouns, verbs, adjectives,

or adverbs in a sentence There is evidence that grammatical morphemes (e.g noun and verb inflections, articles, prepositions) are omitted more often that content morphemes which carry the meaning For example:

1 Susan is good student (―a‖ is omitted)

2 Jack is best student in his class (―the‖ is omitted)

(b) Addition errors are characterized by ―the presence of an item which must

not appear in a well-formed utterance‖ These errors usually occur when the learner has already finished acquiring some rules of the target language They are divided into three categories:

(i) Double markings are described as the failure to delete certain items which

are required in some linguistic contractions but not in others, as in examples:

1 The girl does not dresses up appropriately

2 The teacher did not arrived on time

(ii) Regularization refers to the marker that is typically added to exceptional

items of the given class that do not take a marker, e.g mans, buyed, childs

(iii) Simple addition refers to the addition of one element to the correct

utterance For examples:

1 I am is a student

2 You can to swim in the swimming pool anytime

(c) Misformation errors refer to ―the use of the wrong form of the morpheme

or structure‖ There are three types:

(i) Regularization is that an irregular marker is replaced by a regular one, e.g

―runned‖ or ―sheeps‖

(ii) Archi-forms refer to the use of one member of a class of forms instead of

using all the members; for example, ―that tables‖ or ―these book‖ In these two examples, ―that‖ should be followed by singular form, while ―these‖ should be followed by plural form

(iii) Alternating forms are presented by ―free alternation of various members

of a class with each other‖, as in following examples:

1 I seen her yesterday

2 He would have saw them

(d) Misordering errors refer to incorrect placement of a morpheme or a

group of morphemes in an utterance as in the example:

1 Do you know who is she?

2 What you are thinking about?

(4) Linguistic category taxonomy: Errors are classified according to the language component or linguistic constituent or both of them which is affected by the error Linguistic components include phonology (pronunciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantic and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style), but linguistic constituents include the elements that comprise each language component

In the current study, translation errors will be divided into five types: misuse, omission, addition, inappropriate choice and misplacement of a language item Although making error has a significant role in foreign language learning, causes of

errors should be indicated so that the teachers and the learners can find out the solutions for the errors

2.3.4 Errors and mistakes

The different system of language could make learners to make errors and mistakes In order to analyze learners‘ errors in learning a foreign language, it is too crucial to make a distinction between mistake and errors

Brown (1980: 165) states ―An error is noticeable grammar from the adult grammar of native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learners‖

According to Corder (1974: 29), errors are typically produced by people who

do not yet fully command some institutionalized language system

Brown (1980: 165) defines that mistake is different with error A mistake refers to a performance error that is either random or a slip of the tongue, in that it is failure to utilize a known system correctly A mistake refers to performance errors that are a random guess or a slip, in that it is failure

From the linguists‘ opinion above, It would be concluded that mistake refers

to the failures to use the language system correctly caused by some factors such as carelessness, memory lapses, and physical condition While error, refers to the failure to use the system correctly caused by the lack of the learners‘ competence

2.3.5 Definition of error analysis

Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make Ellis in Said (2014: 28) stated that error analysis involves a set of procedures for identifying, describing and explaining the error in learner language Error Analysis, a branch of Applied Linguistics emerged in the sixties to reveal that learner errors were not only because of the learner‘s native language but also they reflected some universal strategies Similarity, Bena (2010) defines error analysis as

a study of students‘ errors covering collecting samples, identifying, describing, classifying, and evaluating

In general, error analysis is as a source of information for the teacher By the information it can help the teacher, classify and interpreted or describe the errors made by the students in speaking or in writing and to correct students‘ error and also to improve the effectiveness of their teaching

2.4 Common errors in translation

2.4.1 Grammatical error

2.4.1.1 Definition of grammatical error

Leacock (2010: 1) states that grammatical errors is not only classified in the grammar, but also is classified in usage or mechanic and subset of spelling errors Mechanical errors include obvious typographical error and some abuse of punctuation Typographical error is like ―a the gun‖ and abuse of punctuation is like commas in ―the girl standing there Jane is smiling‖ Commas are important to make

the sentence accurately meaningful and avoid the ambiguity, as there are two subjects in that sentence, ―Jane and the girl standing there‖

Errors and mistakes are a natural process for language learners in foreign language learning Language learning process becomes difficult when the foreign language has different system from the mother language

2.4.1.2 Kinds of grammatical error

According to Corder (1981:36), the grammatical are divided into four classifications: error of omission, error of addition, error of selection, and error of ordering

Error of omission is omitting some elements that should be presented as in the example: ―The boy play a ball‖ ―Play‖ in that sentence is wrong The ―s‖ is omitted right behind ―y‖ letter in ―play‖

Error of addition is adding some elements that should not be presented as in the example:

―The mens are the football players‖ The addition ―s‖ in ―mens‖ should not

be presented since ―men‖ is a plural form of man

Error of selection is choosing the wrong item in place of the right one Example: ―That dirty car must be wash‖ The verb ―wash‖ is correct when it is used

in an active sentence, while in this sentence is passive that should use past participle, ―washed‖

Error of ordering is wrongly sequencing of presenting correct elements Example: ―He breaks my chair red‖ The word ―red‖ is an adjective that modifies a nouns ―chair‖ In a noun phrase, the position of adjective ―red‖ should be in front of the noun ―chair‖

2.4.2 Vocabulary errors

2.4.2.1 Word collocation

According to Huynh Thanh Thuy (2012), word collocation is defined as a sequence of twords or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance Each of language has its own principle on word collocation For instance, the word ―beautiful‖ is often used for girls and women while the word ―handsome‖ often goes with boys or men However, some translators do not realize this, which leads to wrong and funny collocation For example, the word ―uống‖ in Vietnamese (which can be translated as ―drink‖ in English) can go with many diferent kinds of liquid including water, beer, alcohol, medicine and even poison (uống nước, uống bia, uống rượu, uống thuốc, uống thuốc độc) Yet, it is incorrect to say ―drink medicine‖ or ―drink poison‖ in English There are clear distinctions as follows: Drink beer/water/wine/coffee However, it should be ―Take medicine/poison‖ Another example indicates that in Vietnamese the word ―nói‖ (say) can be collocated with ―dối‖, ―sự thật‖, ―ngôn ngữ‖ (English, French, Vietnamese, etc.) However, in English it is incorrect to combine ―say lie‖, ―say the truth‖, and ―say

English / French/Vietnamese‖ In Vietnamese-English transition, the phrase must be corrected as ―tell the truth, tell lie, speak French, and speak Vietnamese‖

2.4.2.2 Misuse of synonyms

It can be seen that a word can have many meanings; and vice versa, one meaning can be expressed by many other words The misuse of synonyms is unavoidable Some translators depend largely on the meaning in dictionary picking out the synonyms without paying much attention to context In fact, the pairs of synonyms share at least one sense in common but they do not share all their senses

To some extent, these synonyms can hardly substitute for each other For example,

some translators translate the Vietnamese sentence ―Con sông này sâu lắm‖ into

―This River is very profound‖ in English The English sentence ―This River is very

profound‖ is unacceptable in English ―Profound‖ means ―showing great knowledge

or understanding‖, so it cannot be used to describe the depth of the river The

sentence should be translated into ―This river is very deep‖

The following example also indicates misuse of synonyms Some translators

translate the Vietnamese sentence ―Mai là một cô gái đẹp‖ into ―Mai is a handsome girl‖ in English The English sentence is incorrect since ―handsome‖ here is used

for a boy or man, not a girl Therefore, it is unacceptable to use the word

―handsome‖ in this sentence Instead, the adjective ―beautiful‖ or ―pretty‖ is

suggested to be used The sentence ―Mai is a handsome girl‖ must be corrected as

―Mai is a beautiful girl‖ or ―Mai is a pretty girl‖

As can be seen above, most of the synonyms have the same meaning in certain context If a translator uses synonyms without referring to the context, he can make wrong and funny translation products for the readers

All in all, some inexperienced translators committed the vocabulary errors mentioned above including those of word collocation, and misuse of synonyms

2.4.2.3 Cultural errors

According to Richards et al (1993), culture is defined as ―the total set of beliefs, attitudes, customs, behavior and social habits of the members of a particular society‖ Under cultural perspective, translators have to convey a message from one language to another However, confusion as well as misunderstanding may occur if the messages are transferred in unnatural way It is really difficult for translators to translate something related to culture since culture is considered as a notion too broad and sophisticated to be fully grasped The problem is that, some languages convey cultural items and fixed expressions which are considered as cultural specific It is not easy to translate the cultural specific expressions since the cultural context is too vague Moreover, these expressions represent views of a specific society, beliefs, emotions and values Societies of different cultures tend to have various beliefs In other words, a belief which seems to be quite positive in some cultures could be neutral or even negative in other cultures Consequently, culture is

also an obstacle in translation Misunderstanding of culture can lead to bad translation product and sometimes makes in funny and even insulting to readers of the target language For example ―áo dài‖- the traditional costume of Vietnamese woman can be considered as a good example for this kind of error It is commonly known that ―áo dài‖ is a traditional costume of Vietnamese women and we can never find any equivalent word in English to translate ―áo dài‖ However, some translators translate it mechanically into ―a dress‖, which leads to misunderstand the symbol of a costume which has two long flaps and have to be worn combining with

a long trousers In this case, the Vietnamese word ―áo dài‖ must be unchanged when being translated into English version For example, the Vietnamese sentence

―Trang phục truyền thống của người phụ nữ Việt Nam là chiếc áo dài, tượng trưng cho sự duyên dáng‖ should be translated into English version as ―The traditional costume of the Vietnamese women is ―ao dai‖ which symbolized the grace.‖

2.5 Review of related research

The following related research could be categorized into four groups The first group is the investigation into the English translation The second group is the study on common errors in writing The third group is the study on common errors

in translation and the last one is the textbook of translation

First of all, the investigation into translation consisted of the thesis of investigation into English-Vietnamese translation of euphemism by Phan Thi Thu Thuy (2011) This thesis has been done in an effort to investigate how euphemism

is translated from English into Vietnamese in translated works as well as to find out what are the main approaches taken by translators in translating euphemism from English into Vietnamese A collection of samples taken from literary works written

in English and their Vietnamese versions have been analyzed to explore ways in which euphemisms are transferred The research has investigated the reality and practice of translating euphemism from English into Vietnamese as manifested in published translated works It has shown the importance of culture in translating euphemism so that both teachers and students can recognize it is necessary to teach and learn not only linguistics but also non-linguistics or socio-cultural factors Najla Abdul-Aziz Al-Fadda (2010) conducted the study on the translation of rhetorical questions in Hadith Arabic into English The study attempted to investigate the possibility of achieving functional equivalence when translating rhetorical questions

in Hadith from Arabic into English The data analyzed consisted of seventeen rhetorical questions representing seventeen rhetorical meanings The analysis of these rhetorical questions followed a linguistic approach which was based on Mousa‘s levels of rhetorical questions (1995): the syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and aesthetic levels Each translation of a rhetorical question was examined in terms

of these levels and in comparison with the original rhetorical question To get objective results and to validate the discussion, the readers‘ responses to the

translations were examined The research attempts to find out whether translators of Hadith are capable of conveying the illocutionary force of Arabic rhetorical questions when translating them into English and discussing the strategies used to

do so the and it also evaluates the degree of adequacy in the translation of selected rhetorical questions by four translators The quality of translation is measured by the success or failure of the translators to convey the functions of Arabic rhetorical questions into English

Second, Said and Syams (2016) studied on error analysis of word order used

in writing recount text made by students‘ at SMK Negeri 1 Pinrang The objective

of this research was to find out the kind of errors that often occurred in the use of the word order in recount text made by student at SMKN 1 Pinrang The result of the study shows that the most mistake make by students are verb tenses, word order, noun phrase, to be… Errors in teaching learning process in Word Order are something unavoidable Although it seems natural, students should learn more about grammar to enhance their knowledge and decreased their errors in word order Also, the key factors that cause the error committed by respondent come from the internal of individual him/ herself So, it is important for the teachers to pay more attention about the ability and interest of students when learning English in order for the students could improve their knowledge and they could use English better Fitriyani (2013) studies on error of word order used in recount text The purpose of the research is to analyze the kinds of word order error in sentence and phrase made by students and the factors that cause this error The research shows that word order holds an important role in creating sentence If the words in a sentence are in wrong order, the sentence won‘t make sense The result of the study reveals some word order errors committed by students either in constructing the element of sentence, omission the component of sentence or distributing of word in noun phrase In addition, this study also indicates some factors that cause the errors Beside the errors was produced, it is also important to know the causes that made students commit with word order error in creating recount text It becomes the important thing to know in order to both the teacher and respondents can evaluate their ability and they can look for the effective way to elevate their knowledge Third, Tandikombong, Atmowardoyo & Weda (2016) studied on grammatical errors in the English translation This research is aimed at describing the grammatical errors made by the students in translating Indonesian into English Four objectives are to find out the types of errors that the students make in translating sentences from Indonesian into English; to find out the most frequent errors made by the students of UKI Toraja; to find out the source of error that the students make in translating Indonesian text into English text and; to find out the differences in number of grammatical errors made the students of different levels of UKI Toraja Based on the result of analysis, the types of error made by the students

in translating are varied such as verb, noun, conjunction, pronoun, adjective, adverb, article, and preposition The results of this research will provide EFL learners with some helpful guidance in order to minimize the number of errors in second or foreign language production Le Phuong Lan (2006) studied on unnaturalness in English - Vietnamese translation: causes and cures The purpose of this graduation thesis has primarily been to define and describe mistakes - the translation

unnaturalness - frequently seen in English – Vietnamese translation which, does not

completely ruin the whole work though, may confuse or puzzle readers of the target language The unnaturalness in English - Vietnamese translations can be considered

a classification of common mistakes that may make the translations seem unnatural

to Vietnamese (target language) readers The mistakes can be in the realm of linguistics or culture Specific examples are taken from personal communication and from previously published books By the classification and examples cited, the writer attempted to help readers of this thesis, especially would be translators and inexperienced ones to be fully aware of what mistakes they may easily make before seeking ways to avoid them

Lastly, the textbooks relating translation are used as theory as well as methodology in the process of making this research such as a textbook of translation by Peter Newmark (1998), approaches to translation by Peter Newmark (1998), a linguistic theory of translation by Catford (1965), error analysis and interlanguage by Corder (1981) and other books relating to the research

The present study would have two aspects that were different from these above researches First, the study investigated common error in Vietnamese-English translation by the English majors and how to avoid the errors in order to make Vietnamese-English translating be smoother and more fluent Second, the participants of the study were the fourth year English majors and the translation-teaching teachers at Bac Lieu University

2.6 Chapter summary

This chapter provides fundamental theories to translation, factors affecting translation process Related theory of errors, translation and common errors in translation are mentioned and discussed Then, the previous relevant studies are also covered

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Method of research is needed for the researcher in compounding a research

It is essential to make the research well orderly This research was aimed at investigating translation errors in Vietnamese to English translation by English majors of Bac Lieu University The research looked specifically at the errors of language structure and meaning and try to provide plausible explanations of those errors to improve students’ English ability The aim of this study was to explain the methodology followed in conducting the present research This chapter described research design, research context, and research participants Population and sample, instruments and procedures, technique of data analysis, validity and reliability was presented then Finally, summary chapter was the end

3.1 Research design

The researcher found out the common errors in Vietnamese-English translation by fourth-year English majors at Bac Lieu University In addition, exploring the way to avoid the errors in order to make Vietnamese-English translating be smoother and more fluent According to Seliger & Shohamy (2000), descriptive method utilized to gather necessary data since descriptive research provide descriptions of phenomena that occur naturally without intervention of an experiment or treatment

It took about eight months to carry out the research The researcher chose the topic, collected the related previous study studies and materials from the internet and reference books Besides, the questionnaire and the test papers in Vietnamese-English translation were designed and taken by 40 fourth-year English majors at Bac Lieu University Then, the interview to teacher participants was conducted to identify the teachers‘ perception towards the causes of students‘ errors in Vietnamese-English translation Finally, the study was implemented to find out students‘ common errors in Vietnamese-English translation made by the fourth-year English majors at Bac Lieu University, the way to avoid these errors and some suggested solutions were given as well

3.2 Research participants

3.2.1 Teacher participants

Among 17 English teachers of English division of Bac Lieu University, there were 4 teachers who were in charge of teaching translation Therefore, these 4 teachers were invited to participate in the study They were 2 males and 2 females They were from 40 to 48 years old and they were experienced in translation many years

3.2.2 Student participants

At the time the research took place, there was one major English class (8DTA) with the total number of 40 students studying translation subject Therefore, the participants of the study consisted of 40 students who were in their

fourth year, aged between 21 to 22 years They are all English major of Bac Lieu University The participants studied theory of translation subject in the sixth semester which consists of sixty periods

The course description of translation subject consists of the contents of theory of translation and text translation The main textbook used by the teacher was ―In Other Words‖, a coursebook on translation (Baker, 1992) The course contents were divided into seven parts covering introduction, equivalence at word level, equivalence above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual equivalence: thematic and information structures, textual equivalence: cohesion, pragmatic equivalence In addition, the students will be given ample opportunity to practice translating text from Vietnamese into English and vice versa The level of translation practice will include idioms, sentences and paragraphs from various publications such as magazines, newspapers, and short stories

3.3 Population and sample

According to Sukandarrumidi (2004:47-48) cited in Utomo (2016), population is all object of studies that may consist of real object, abstract object, events or phenomena It is defined two kinds of population based on the units formed data They are homogenous and heterogeneous populations

Population in this research was all translation texts of the English majors of Bac Lieu University in the academic year of 2017/2018, or 80 texts in total number Nasution (2006:105) in Utomo (2016) defines sample is number of data obtained from population that must be representative It means that sample which is taken from population can represent population in order to take a conclusion

Arikunto (2007:95-98) in Utomo (2016) classifies sampling technique in seven kinds There are random sampling, cluster sampling, stratified sampling, purposive sampling, area sampling, double sampling, and proportional sampling In this research, the researcher did not analyze all of the populations because of the time limit The researcher use purposive sampling as the method to present more varied and representative result This method was used to get characteristics samples which was specified based on grammatical errors only

3.4 Instruments and procedures

In this research, the researcher used both quantitative and qualitative methods According to Wyse (2011), quantitative research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population She also stated that qualitative research is primarily exploratory research which is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential

quantitative research That is the reason why the researcher decided to use mixed methods to conduct this study

Arikunto (2005:101) explains that questionnaire is a list of written questions that are proposed to respondent and it must be answered in writing The question type of questionnaire that appropriate in qualitative study is open-ended questions

In this question, respondent can supplies their own answer without being constrained by a fixed set of possible responses, so the result of data can be used to analyze in qualitative study

The qualitative data was the interview questions (appendix A) which were designed to get more information about the teacher‘s remarks on the students‘ common errors in Vietnamese-English translating The researcher interviewed the teachers who are responsible for teaching translation subject to the students in this academic year as well as who have taught translation and have many experiences in teaching translation subject

Question (1) was to find out kinds of errors which the students usually make in Vietnamese-English translation texts

Question (2) was used to find out the possible reasons why the students often make the above mistakes

Question (3) was designed to ask about the teachers‘ advices to help the students avoid errors in Vietnamese-English translation

The quantitative data is the researcher asked the students translate the Vietnamese-English texts (Appendix B) which were collected from newspapers, magazines, short stories, etc Then the researcher distributed the test papers to all students When the students finished their translation, the papers were collected and then the researcher underlined the common errors and then calculated them

Beside the Vietnamese-English translation tests is the questionnaire (appendix C) which is considered a very common mean or instrument used to collect data on phenomena, which are not easily observed such as attitude, motivation and self-conceptions, or in other words, those in social science Therefore, to seek for information about the students‘ views on Vietnamese-English translation course, their recognition of difficulties, errors in translating Vietnamese texts into English

as well as the ways they improve their translation skills, the researcher used the questionnaire to investigate the students The questionnaire, in some extent, can help to find out necessary information for the study and suggest appropriate solutions as well

A 4-point Likert scale was utilized by circling the relevant response

including Never, Seldom, Sometimes, Usually, Always with the point from 0 to 4

Time allocated for this questionnaire was 30 minutes In the research, the questionnaire consists of 27 questions The forty copies of questionnaire in English