Translation strategies from vietnamese to english for names of vietnamese dishes = chiến lược dịch tên món ăn việt nam từ tiếng việt sang tiếng anh

Accordingly, this study was conducted in order to investigate translation procedures/translation strategies used in translating Vietnamese dish name into English and their effectiveness.

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

GRADUATION PAPER

TRANSLATION STRATEGIES FROM VIETNAMESE TO ENGLISH FOR NAMES

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

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

CHIẾN LƯỢC DỊCH TÊN MÓN ĂN VIỆT NAM

TỪ TIẾNG VIỆT SANG TIẾNG ANH

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: ThS Nguyễn Thị Hải Hà Sinh viên: Lương Ánh Vân

Khóa: QH2017.F1.E22.PDCLC

HÀ NỘI, 2021

ACCEPTANCE PAGE

I hereby state that I: Lương Ánh Vân, class QH.2017.F1.E22.PDCLC, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

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

Signature

Date: 29/04/2021

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I am extremely grateful to my supervisor, Ms Nguyễn Thị Hải Hà (MA) for her invaluable advice, continuous support, and patience during my paper Her immense knowledge and plentiful experience have encouraged me in all the time of my academic research and daily life I would also like to thank Ms Vương Thị Thanh Nhàn (MA) for her support on my study

Besides, I want to give thanks to all participants of questionnaire and interview for their cooperation Their passionate participation in the questionnaires and interviews played a crucial part in our research

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents and friends, especially class QH2017F1.E22.PDCLC Without their tremendous understanding and encouragement in the past few months, it would be impossible for me to complete my study

ABSTRACT

In the era of intensive and extensive globalization and international integration, Vietnam has proved its position as a rising star of tourism in general and gastronomic tourism in particular This context has accented the needs of food translation Accordingly, this study was conducted in order to investigate translation procedures/translation strategies used in translating Vietnamese dish name into English and their effectiveness Data collected from questionnaire and semi-structured interview showed that despite the dominant used to couplet and transference/foreignization, cultural equivalent/domestication is deemed more effective

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 11

1.1 Research problem and rationale for the study 11

1.2 Aims and objectives 12

1.3 Significance of the study 13

1.4 Scope of the study 13

1.5 Design of the study 13

1.6 Organization 14

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 15

2.1 Translation 15

2.2 Translation procedures 16

2.3 Translation strategies 18

2.4 Foreignization and domestication 18

2.5 Skopos theory 19

2.6 Culture in translation 20

2.7 Cultural specified items (CSIs) 21

2.8 Translation strategies for CSIs 22

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research design 24

3.2 Sampling method 24

3.3 Participants 25

3.4 Data collection instruments 25

3.4.1 Questionnaire 25

3.4.2 Interview 26

3.5 Procedures of data collection 27

3.6 Data analysis method 28

3.7 Procedures of data analysis 28

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

4.1 Findings 30

4.1.1 Question 1 30

4.1.2 Question 2 31

4.2 Discussion 53

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION 55

5.1 Summary of the study 55

5.2 Implications of the findings 55

5.3 Limitations of the study 56

5.4 Suggestions for further study 57

REFERENCES 58

APPENDIX A ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF NAMES OF VIETNAMESE DISH 63 APPENDIX B EFFECTIVENESS OF TRANSLATION STRATEGIES WITH VIETNAMESE 73

APPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRE ON "TRANSLATION STRATEGIES FROM VIETNAMESE TO ENGLISH FOR NAMES OF VIETNAMESE DISHES" 89

APPENDIX D INTERVIEW EXTRACTS 101

LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Taxonomies of procedures related to domestication and foreignization strategies 19

Table 4.1 Effectiveness of translation procedures (Informative function) 33 Table 4.2 Effectiveness of translation procedures with foreigners (Informative function) 33 Table 4.3 Effectiveness of couplets (Informative function) 34 Table 4.4 Effectiveness of couplets with foreigners (Informative function) 34 Table 4.5 Effectiveness of literal translation (Informative function) 35 Table 4.6 Effectiveness of literal translation with foreigners (Informative function) 35 Table 4.7 Effectiveness of translation strategies (Informative function) 35 Table 4.8 Effectiveness of translation strategies with foreigners (Informative function) 36 Table 4.9 Effectiveness of translation procedures (Aesthetic function) 37 Table 4.10 Effectiveness of translation procedures with foreigners (Aesthetic function) 38 Table 4.11 Effectiveness of is couplets (Aesthetic function) 39 Table 4.12 Effectiveness of couplets with foreigners (Aesthetic function) 40 Table 4.13 Effectiveness of literal translation (Aesthetic function) 40 Table 4.14 Effectiveness of literal translation with foreigners (Aesthetic function) 41 Table 4.15 Effectiveness of translation strategies (Aesthetic function) 41 Table 4.16 Effectiveness of translation strategies with foreigners (Aesthetic function) 42 Table 4.17 Effectiveness of translation procedures (Commercial function) 43 Table 4.18 Effectiveness of translation procedures with foreigners (Commercial function) 44 Table 4.19 Effectiveness of couplets (Commercial function) 45 Table 4.20 Effectiveness of couplets with foreigners (Commercial function) 45 Table 4.21 Effectiveness of literal translation (Commercial function) 46 Table 4.22 Effectiveness of literal translation with foreigners (Commercial function) 46

Table 4.24 Effectiveness of translation strategies (Commercial function) 47 Table 4.25 Effectiveness of translation procedures (Cultural function) 48 Table 4.26 Effectiveness of translation procedures with foreigners (Cultural function) 49 Table 4.27 Effectiveness of couplets (Cultural function) 50 Table 4.28 Effectiveness of couplets with foreigners (Cultural function) 50 Table 4.29 Effectiveness of literal translation (Cultural function) 51 Table 4.30 Effectiveness of literal translation with foreigners (Cultural function) 51 Table 4.31 Effectiveness of translation strategies (Cultural function) 51 Table 4.32 Effectiveness of translation strategies with foreigners (Cultural function) 52

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 The translation procedures used to translate Vietnamese dish names into English 30 Figure 4.2 The translation strategies used to translate Vietnamese dish names into English 31

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides an overview of the research, which consists of six main points (1) statement of the problem and rationale for the study, (2) aims and objectives, (3) method of the study, (4) significance of the study, (5) scope

of the study and (6) organization of the study

1.1 Research problem and rationale for the study

In the context of globalization and international integration, Vietnam has risen as a popular tourist destination According to the statistics from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in 2019, Vietnam attracted 18 million foreign visitors and 85 million domestic visitors (more than 1:5) In 2020, Vietnam has been named as the Leading Heritage Destination, Leading Cultural Destination and Leading Culinary Destination of Asia at the prestigious World Travel Awards (WTA) 2020 Vietnam has been honored in these three categories in two consecutive years, proving that culture, heritage and cuisine are salient points in Vietnamese tourism (vovworld, 2020) Regarding gastronomic tourism, Vietnam was recognized as “Asia’s Leading Culinary Destination” in two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) and voted as World’s Leading Culinary Destination at the WTA Asia and Oceania Gala Ceremony

2019 (Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, 2020)

It is widely said that culinary is an indispensable part of a nation’s culture and a focus of tourism A myriad of studies (e.g Counihan & Esterik, 2008) stressed the relationship between food, culture, globalization and translation Thus, cultural translation also observes significant strides, especially dish name translation to satisfy the increasing need of cultural exchange and cross-cultural communication However, the Vietnamese cuisine translation is uneven in terms of quality and has no standard to assess

A menu is a text designed for a specific purpose and for specific readers which has a double function Firstly, it should provide the customers with necessary information about the served dishes At the same time, it works as an advertisement of the restaurant’s image and the culture of the home country (Jurate, 2006) The same idea is shared by Zwicky (19780) who examined the informative and advertising functions of the menu Several prior studies suggested the standard for the menu language Wallace (1981) mentioned the criteria of style: simple, informal, personal, reader-friendly, not to mention good uses of descriptive adjectives, verbs, adverbs and nouns in order to make a good impression Ambiguous and erroneous description is believed to be unfair and a factor causing the dissatisfaction in diners (Kotschevar & Withrow, 2007) Consequently, the need of professional translation results from the fact that translating menus and food terms is not as easy a task as one may think The greatest challenge may lie in the cultural gap existing between the source culture and the target culture, which requires a deep sense of localization along with the knowledge of both languages (Al Tanero, 2005) Most of the previous case studies on the translation of menus showed that menu translators were non-professionals who could not fill the cultural gap (Ghafarian et al., 2016)

Considering the aforementioned problems and difficulties, bridging the cultural gap and preventing misunderstanding in cuisine translation is of great importance Thus, taking into account that Vietnam is a tourist attraction famous for the abundance of tasty specialities, this study aimed at working on the English translation of Vietnamese dish names to find their main patterns in translation strategies

1.2 Aims and objectives

The researcher aimed at investigating the translation strategies applied in the English translation of Vietnamese dish names Moreover, through collecting

can be partly revealed These objectives can be achieved by answering two following research questions:

1 What are translation strategies used to translate Vietnamese dish names into English?

2 How do the translation strategies of translating Vietnamese dish names into English fulfill the four functions (informative, aesthetic, cultural and commercial) based on the skopos theory?

1.3 Significance of the study

The researcher expected to gain an overview of common translation strategies used in gastronomic tourism in Vietnam as well as problems with these strategies The final result will be one of helpful sources for interested researchers and translators working in the tourism field In addition, the findings can enhance the awareness about an adequate translation of food names and help improve the translation quality in general

1.4 Scope of the study

In this study, the researcher delineated translation procedures/strategies adopted in the English translation of 150 Vietnamese dish names included in the Food topic on the English website of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Charming Vietnam section on English website of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism In terms of participants, the study consists

of 10 English-speakers (3 natives and 7 non-natives) and 10 Vietnamese students of English (3 of which have translation background)

1.5 Design of the study

The research was implemented under the form of a case study including both qualitative and quantitative approach Collected data from the questionnaire paved the way for researchers to answer the research questions, which in this case related to translation strategies applied in translation

Vietnamese dish name and their functions Data from the interview deepened the understanding on significant unsolved outcomes of the questionnaire

Following these chapters are References and Appendices

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter lays the theoretical foundation for the research by critically reviewing literature about translation, translation procedures, translation strategies of cultural specific items, skospos theory and culture in translation 2.1 Translation

According to Foster (1958), “Translation is a mental activity in which a meaning of given linguistic discourse is rendered from one language to another

It is the act of transferring the linguistic entities from one language into their equivalents i to another language Translation is an act through which the content of a text is transferred from the source language into the target language” In this process, source language (SL) is the original verbal language, and target language (TL) is the language to be arrived at Catford (1965) construed this concept as “the replacement of textual material in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” Larson (1984) and Nababan (2008) agreed thattranslation means converting consistently messages from SL to TL based on the semantic structure so that the accuracy of the messages is assured Concurring with this statement, Newmark (1988) focused on the equivalence where the intention of the author is maintained (1988) Additionally, a French theorist Dubois (1973) offered another definition

by presenting that “translation is the expression in another language (or TL) of what has been expressed in another, SL, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences” (in Bell, 1991) Keeping a similar perspective, Nida and Taber (1982) implied that translation is characterized by the precise equivalence of semantic and stylistic features of the translation

All in all, despite the existing dissimilarities among the aforementioned definitions, academics agree on some features and characteristics of translation: the SL and the TL, and that translation is the process of reproducing the

meaning of the SL text into that of the TL text with equivalents in the two languages

2.2 Translation procedures

Newmark (1988) stated that compared to translation methods, the subject

of translation procedures are sentences and the smaller units of language There exists a variety of theory on types of translation procedures, for instanceVinay and Darbelnet (1989) who proposed seven translation procedures namely borrowing, calque, literal, transposition, modulation, equivalence, adaptation They believed that if literal translation or direct translation was impossible, the translator would have to resort to what they termed oblique translation

In this paper, researcher adopts Newmark (1988)’s model which has proved its reliability and comprehensiveness

 Literal translation: Literal translation occurs when the translator converts the SL grammatical constructions into their nearest TL equivalents, but the lexical words are again translated individually Translation with this procedure can achieve high accuracy when the SL word and the TL meaning refer to the same concept

 Transference (emprunt, loan word, transcription): This is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL text when the translator uses the SL word in TL without any adjustments It also includes transliteration, the act or process of writing words using a different alphabet

 Naturalization: While transference is transferring SL words or phrases into TL without changes, this procedure converts SL words, firstly in terms of pronunciation, then morphology or the word forms to fit the TL rules

 Cultural equivalent: This procedure occurs when a cultural word in the

SL is replaced by a TL one

 Functional equivalent: This means the translator selects a culture-neutral word in TL to convey the meaning of SL word

 Descriptive equivalent: Application of this procedure is when the translation of a certain term goes along with some descriptions

 Synonymy: It refers to the use of a “near TL equivalent” when there is

no clear one-to-one equivalent and the word plays a minor role in the text

 Through translation (calque, loan translation): it is the literal translation

of common collocations, official or institutional names of organizations and components of compounds

 Shift/transposition: This includes a change in the grammar from SL to

TL in some situations, for example (i) change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does not exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SL noun group to

a TL noun and so on

 Modulation: This happens when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, due to the appearance of dissimilarities in terms of perspective

 Reduction and expansion: This refers to vague translation procedures with the intuitive practice of the translator to make some adjustments either by reducing or expanding the translation

 Paraphrase: In this procedure the meaning of the cultural word is explained by a more detailed way compared to descriptive equivalent

 Couplets: The combination of two, three or four procedures is respectively described as couplets, triplets and quadruplets

 Notes, Additions, glosses: Further information under various forms, such

as within the text, notes at bottom of page, notes at end of chapter, notes

or glossary at end of book is considered application of this procedure

 Translation label: It is a temporary translation, usually of a new institutional term, which should be put in inverted commas

 Compensation: This procedure means loss of meaning, sound

or pragmatic effect in one part is compensated in another part

 Recognized translation: This procedure is commonly applied if there is the official or the generally accepted translation of any institutional term

 Componential analysis: It means “comparing an SL word with a TL word which has a similar meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first their common and then their differing sense components” (Newmark, 1988)

2.3 Translation strategies

In general, translation strategies and translation procedures can be used

to refer to the same things (Chesterman, 2005) Lörscher shared the same idea when developing a descriptive definition of this concept as “a potentially conscious procedure for the solution of a problem which an individual is faced with when translating a text segment from one language into another” (1991) 2.4 Foreignization and domestication

Foreignization and domestication are two main translation strategies made by Venuti (1995) Foreignization is a source culture-oriented translation aiming to maintain the exoticness of the SL and culture (Feng, 1993) while domestication refers to the target culture-oriented one in which alien expressions to the target culture are adapted to make the translated text easier to

be understood by the target readers

Table 2.1 Taxonomies of procedures related to domestication and foreignization strategies

Domestication Foreignization Proposed by

Georges L Bastin

Omission, Exoticism, Updating, Situational equivalence

Transcription of the original, Expansion Proposed by

Laviosa-Braithwaite

Simplification, Avoidance of repetition, Explication, Normalization, Discourse transfer, Distinctive distribution of lexical items

Proposed by Vinay

and Darbelnet (as

cited in Munday)

Transposition, Modulation, Equivalence, Adaptation

Borrowing, Calque, Literal translation

Proposed by

Harvey

Functional Equivalence, Descriptive or self-explanatory translation

Formal Equivalence, Transcription

Proposed by

Aixelá

Synonymy, Limited universalization, Absolute universalization, Naturalization, Deletion, Autonomous creation

Repetition, Orthographic adaptation, Linguistic translation, Extratextual gloss, Intratextual gloss

2 5 Skopos theory

“Skopos” is a Greek word which means “purpose” Paul Kussmauldescribed skopos theory as “the functional approach has a great affinity with skopos theory The function of a translation depends on the knowledge, expectations, values and norms of the target readers, who are again influenced by the situation they are in and by the culture These factors

determine whether the function of the source text or passages in the source text can be preserved or have to be modified or even changed” (1997)

Ying (2008) tried to draw a link between the skopos theory and translation of dish names He postulated that a menu translation is expected to achieve four main functions that show the basics of the skopos theory: the informative, aesthetic, commercial and cultural functions To be more specific,

a translated dish name should keep the characteristics and the style of the dish (informative function), be done as a work of art (aesthetic function) Moreover,

it should bridge the cultural gap (cultural function) while being communicative and appealing (commercial function)

The concept of culture is never easy to describe Larson (1984) defined culture as a collection of beliefs, attitudes, values, and rules among a group of people Therefore, he asserted that the translator needs to understand these features of the SL reader in order to adequately understand the source text and translate it for TL audience In 1998, Newmark termed culture in a more general way as “the way of life and its manifestations that are peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression” and highlighted the culturally specific features in different groups

Nida and Taber coined the concept of cultural translation which is “a

receptor culture in some way, and/or in which information is introduced which

is not linguistically implicit in the original” (Nida and Taber, 1969/1982).In

1964, Nida listed four basic factors which make the translation of a message from one language and culture to another possible These are: 1) the similarity

of mental processes of all people, 2) similarity of somatic reactions (similar physical responses to emotional stimulus), 3) the range of common cultural experience, and 4) the capacity for adjustment to the behavioral patterns of others Adding to Nida’s point, Larson (1984) noted that both the meaning of a given text and the response to that text are culturally conditioned Therefore, each society will interpret a message in terms of its own culture That the reason why he came to the conclusion that:

When the cultures are similar, there is less difficulty in translating This

is because both languages will probably have terms that are more or less equivalent for the various aspects of the culture When the cultures are very different, it is often difficult to find equivalent lexical items (pp 95-96)

2.7 Cultural specified items (CSIs)

Harvey (2000) proposed culture-bound terms (CBTs) as the terms which

“refer to concepts, institutions and personnel which are specific to the SL culture”

Sharing some similarities is the term ‘cultural word’ introduced by Newmark in 1988 Baker refers to such cultural words and agreed that the source culture may possess concepts which are totally unknown to the TL readers She concluded that these concepts may be “abstract or concrete, it may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or even a type of food.” Baker called such concepts “culture-specific items” (CSI) (Baker, 1992) In mentioning the same idea, Nord uses the term “cultureme” He conceptualized cultureme as “a cultural phenomenon that is present in culture X but not present

(in the same way) in culture Y” (Nord, 1997) Gambier (2004) also refers to such concepts as ‘culture-specific references’ and states that they connote different aspects of life

Culture-specific references connoting different aspects of everyday life such as education, politics, history, art, institutions, legal systems, units

of measurement, place names, foods and drinks, sports and national pastimes, as experienced in different countries and nations of the world (p 159)

Among those researchers, Newmark (1988) first proposes five domains for classifying foreign cultural words These domains are: 1) Ecology (flora, fauna, winds, plains, hills) 2) Material culture (food, clothes, houses and towns, transport) 3) Social culture (work and leisure) 4) Organizations, customs, activities, procedures, concepts (political and administrative, religious, artistic 5) Gesture and habits

Tomalin and Stempleski decision on these concepts are 1) Ideas: values, beliefs, institutions, 2) Products: customs, habits, food, dress, lifestyles, 3) Behaviors: folklore, music, art, literature

CSIs as proposed by Espindola and Vasconcellos are 1) Toponyms 2) Anthroponyms 3) Forms of entertainment 4) Means of transportation 5) Fictional character 6) Legal system7) Local institution 8) Measuring system 9) Food and drink 10) Scholastic reference 11) Religious celebration 12) Dialect 2.8 Translation strategies for CSIs

Graedler (2000) puts forth some procedures of translating CSIs: Making

up a new word, Explaining the meaning of the SL expression in lieu of translating it, Preserving the SL term intact, Opting for a word in the TL which seems similar to or has the same "relevance" as the SL term

Harvey (2000) puts forward the following four major techniques for

equivalence), Transcription/borrowing (i.e reproducing or, where necessary, transliterating the original term), Descriptive or self-explanatory translation Translation procedures of Newmarks (1988) which are considered common

in translation of CSIs are:

10 Accepted standard translation

11 Paraphrase, gloss, notes, etc

12 Classifier

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY This chapter provides detailed information about the methodological issues including the descriptions and justifications of research design, participants, data collection instruments, data collection and analysis procedures for the research question “Translation strategies from Vietnamese to English for Names of Vietnamese Dishes”

3.1 Research design

The research was implemented under the form of a case study of dish names appearing in the Food topic on the English website of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Charming Vietnam section on English website

of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism In this research, the researcher employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches To answer the first research question, the English translation was analyzed in terms of Newmark’s translation procedures and Venuti’s strategies, then frequency of these procedures and strategies would be counted to have descriptive data The second question will be answered via questionnaire and interview to test the four main functions (informative, aesthetic, commercial and cultural functions) under skopos theory

3.2 Sampling method

In the first stage, the sample is of dish names appearing in the Food topic

on the English website of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Charming Vietnam section on English website of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism These names are collected by purposive sampling

In the second phase, the participants of survey and interview are selected through convenience sampling The questionnaire will be distributed to 10 foreigners and 10 Vietnamese English learners After having gathered statistical data, interviews can be conducted to collect more detailed data about the

3.3 Participants

Regarding Vietnamese learners of English, students who are at B1 or higher level of English proficiency constitute the population of the research Among this group, there are 3 students with translation background Firstly, this helps assure a good understanding of English translations and quality answers Secondly, they are easy to approach, which enables the researchers to conduct the data collection process more effectively Thirdly, the proportion of students with translation background can highlight the potential difference in their perspectives

In terms of foreign English speakers, the population is made up with 7 non-native and 3 native English speakers This group can provide an authentic insight of how translation strategies affect their understanding and impression through the difference in cultural backgrounds and sense of language

The interviewees are 2 students with translation experience Their perceptions can support the analysis of reasons for the choice of translation strategies

3.4 Data collection instruments

3.4.1 Questionnaire

The researcher utilized a questionnaire to effectively collect beliefs and opinions (Griffee, 2012), which provides an overview of how effective the translation strategies are in the eyes of different groups The questionnaire was developed by the researcher after carefully considering the text functions required in the translation and 4 functions under skopos theory

At the beginning of the questionnaire is the researchers’ brief introduction At the end, there is a thank-you note The questionnaire was divided into 2 major sections (A and B) with 19 items 2 question of section A served to obtain some background knowledge about the participants Section B includes 4 parts, investigating four aforementioned functions The first part of

this section contains 10 multiple choice questions to test the ability of each translation to give the proper information about the dish The choices for 7 items in the following parts were based on Likert scale from Strongly disagree

to Strongly agree

Table 3.1 Description of questionnaire items

A Personal information Items 1-2

B Part 1 Informative function Items 3-12

Part 2 Aesthetic function Items 13-15 Part 3 Commercial function Items 16-17 Part 4 Cultural function Items 18-19 3.4.2 Interview

To fulfill the research purpose, the format of semi-structured interviews was implemented According to DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree (2006), they are usually organized around a set of predetermined open-ended questions, with other questions emerging from the conversation between interviewers and interviewees

In the study, the researcher designed a set of 20 open-ended questions, serving the purpose of clarifying and enriching data collected from the questionnaires as well as exploring any undiscovered problem Besides, the information accumulated from the interviews might help the researcher build up the frame for the recommendation section

Most of the time, the researcher and the participants used their mother tongue in order to avoid misunderstanding and save time

The 10 core questions are divided into 2 parts: detailed comments on translation strategies and general comments and suggestions The first section (8 questions) required interviewees to express the perceptions on different

English translation and strategies In the second section (2 questions), they are asked to make their conclusion and suggestions

3.5 Procedures of data collection

The main object of the study is the Vietnamese dish names and their English translations appeared in the articles of the websites Therefore, at the first stage, the task is to gather names and translations After going through all articles of the Food topic on the English website of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Charming Vietnam section on English website of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the researcher made a list of names and English translations There are over 200 translations; however, the study only included 150 names by picking out signature Vietnamese dishes and rejecting similar translations

At the second stage, the procedure to collect data from the questionnaire continued with three main steps as follows

Step 1: The researcher prepared an online questionnaire and got the link Step 2: Before asking the participants to do the questionnaires, the researcher give a brief introduction of the research, guidance on how to complete the questionnaire as well as explanation to confusing words or difficulties to clarify any possible misunderstanding and ambiguity were provided

Step 3: After the participants finished, the researcher expressed appreciation of their support

At the last stage, researcher obtained permission and made appointments from the interviewees, agreeing on time and forms (online or offline) The interviewee also would be informed about the expected subject and length of the interview On the day of the interview, the interviewer was ready (arrived at the place/prepared the facilities) 15 minute before the interview At the beginning, the interviewer briefly introduced the research objective, reassured

confidentiality of collected data and gained consent for recording During the process, the interviewer kept an appropriate attitude to help interviewees relaxed and comfortable After the interview, researchers transcribed the data 3.6 Data analysis method

Measures of frequency were utilized as an analysis method for quantitative data According to Markey & Gass (2005), this method produces the frequency of a particular behavior or phenomenon and by that way, it describes main features of the raw data This type of descriptive statistics matches the aim of the research, giving the researcher an overview of the phenomenon and people’s perceptions, so that relevant comparisons could be made

In order to analyze qualitative data, content analysis method was employed Prasad (2008) believed this method helps researchers to go beyond impressionistic observations and make quantitative expression about the phenomenon

3.7 Procedures of data analysis

To answer the first research question, the dish names and translations are compared to see which translation strategies are applied then put under different groups of respective strategies The number of names in each group would be counted to calculate the frequency of use The most used strategies would be tested for effectiveness in the next stage

At the second stage, the statistical data from the questionnaire was interpreted through frequency analysis of the number of correct answers and choices The higher rate of correct answer and positive choice (Agree and Strongly agree) would be considered more effective

At the last stage, the data from the interview was coded into different themes and the researcher would get the patterns and connection between data

sets and themes After that, the researcher interpreted the data and completed the report

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the results of the study are carefully presented and analyzed, followed by the detailed discussion of the findings Tables and charts are made use of for better presentation and elaboration

Concerning translation strategies, the translators tend to combine both domestication and foreignization by using couplets (transference and descriptive

equivalent or transference or cultural equivalent) Comparing domestication and foreignization, the latter is much more popular (46.7% to 10.7%)

Figure 4.2 The translation strategies used to translate Vietnamese dish names into English

4.1.2 Question 2

From the result of Question 1, Question 2 tested the effectiveness of 5 translation procedures namely couplets, transference, descriptive equivalent, literal translation and cultural equivalent The questionnaire use 8 translations: “banh goi (fried donuts)” (couplets – transference and cultural equivalent), “banh phu the (the conjugal cake)” (couplets – transference and literal translation), “banh tro/banh gio” (transference), “bun moc (meatballs vermicelli soup)” (couplet – transference and descriptive equivalent), “suck cooked with soya cheese” (literal translation), “Pillow cake” (literal translation), “rice spaghetti cooked with grilled chopped fish” (descriptive equivalent) and “Hanoi’s traditional doughnut” (cultural equivalent) 4.1.2.1 Data from questionnaire

a General findings

Cultural equivalent is the most effective, followed by couplets, descriptive equivalents and literal translation However, descriptive equivalent is particularly unfavorable to Vietnamese and transference is not appreciated by foreigners

Concerning combination used in couplets, the couplets with transference and descriptive equivalent works best Between two translation using literal translation, the translation of the name with ingredients (duck cooked with soya cheese) is more effective than the name with the shape (pillow cake)

Domestication gained the most positive result, follow by the mixture of two strategies Foreignization is not as efficient as the other two

Besides, the results in people with and without translation background found no remarkable difference

b Informative function

Overall, cultural equivalent is the most effective in Image, Cooking method and Taste The second and third are couplets and descriptive equivalent Transference has the least desirable effect A sharp distinction can be observed in the effectiveness of literal translation among Vietnamese and foreigners as the rate of correct answers among foreigners is remarkably lower Description equivalent is bad at describing the image of the dish, especially for Vietnamese, while foreigners struggle figuring out transference Transference is also confusing in terms of cooking method Besides transference, all procedures do a good job in Taste

The combination of transference and descriptive equivalent is the most efficient among three uses of couplets Meanwhile, the worst in performance is transference and literal translation Transference and cultural equivalent is ineffective in terms of Image with foreigner Transference and literal translation has poor performance in Cooking method

Regarding translation strategies, domestication is more effective and foreignization is even effective than the combination use A striking gap can be seen

between Vietnamese and foreigners group when using these two strategies The gap in domestication is small Couplets works best with Vietnamese

Broadly speaking, the translations work better with non-native English speakers

Table 4.1 Effectiveness of translation procedures (Informative function)

Table 4.2 Effectiveness of translation procedures with foreigners (Informative function)

transference and literal translation

Vietnamese 60.00% 20.00% 100.00% Foreigners 40.00% 10.00% 80.00% transference and descriptive

equivalent

Vietnamese 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% Foreigners 60.00% 100.00% 100.00% transference and cultural

equivalent

Vietnamese 70.00% 90.00% 100.00% Foreigners 20.00% 70.00% 100.00%

Table 4.4 Effectiveness of couplets with foreigners (Informative function)

Cooking method Taste

transference and literal translation

Non-native 57.14% 0.00% 71.43% Native 0.00% 33.33% 100.00% transference and descriptive

equivalent

Non-native 57.14% 100.00% 100.00% Native 66.67% 100.00% 100.00% transference and cultural

equivalent

Non-native 28.57% 71.43% 100.00% Native 0.00% 66.67% 100.00%

Table 4.5 Effectiveness of literal translation (Informative function)

Cooking method Taste Duck cooked with soya

Table 4.7 Effectiveness of translation strategies (Informative function)

Table 4.8 Effectiveness of translation strategies with foreigners (Informative function)

Among couplets, transference and cultural equivalent is the most efficient, following by transference and descriptive equivalent There is a sharp divergence in the opinion about transference and literal translation of Vietnamese and foreigners Literal translation is the most effective to Vietnamese but the least effective to foreigners

The combination of both strategies is more favored compared to domestication and foreignization To be more specific, domestication is preferred among the foreigner when it is least favored among the Vietnamese Vietnamese consider couplets the most effective Domestication is liked by the native English speakers

Table 4.9 Effectiveness of translation procedures (Aesthetic function)

Strongly disagree Disagree Undecided Agree

Strongly agree

Couplets

The translation uses effective language.

Vietnamese 0.00% 3.33% 16.67% 73.33% 6.67% Foreigners 10.00% 16.67% 16.67% 40.00% 16.67% The translation makes a

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 0.00% 3.33% 23.33% 63.33% 6.67% Foreigners 13.33% 16.67% 13.33% 40.00% 20.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 6.67% 6.67% 73.33% 13.33% Foreigners 10.00% 16.67% 10.00% 40.00% 23.33%

Transference

The translation uses effective language.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 20.00% 60.00% 20.00% Foreigners 0.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% The translation makes a

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 20.00% 70.00% 10.00% Foreigners 0.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 70.00% 30.00% Foreigners 10.00% 0.00% 50.00% 20.00% 20.00%

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 10.00% 10.00% 15.00% 60.00% 5.00% Foreigners 5.00% 10.00% 10.00% 50.00% 25.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 20.00% 10.00% 60.00% 10.00% Foreigners 5.00% 15.00% 5.00% 35.00% 40.00%

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 30.00% 10.00% Foreigners 10.00% 0.00% 10.00% 40.00% 40.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 10.00% 30.00% 20.00% 30.00% 0.00% Foreigners 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 40.00% 30.00%

good choice of words Foreigners 10.00% 0.00% 10.00% 50.00% 30.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 10.00% 30.00% 60.00% 0.00% Foreigners 0.00% 0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 40.00%

Table 4.10 Effectiveness of translation procedures with foreigners (Aesthetic function)

Strongly disagree Disagree Undecided Agree

Strongly agree

Couplets

The translation uses effective language.

Non-native 4.76% 19.05% 19.05% 42.86% 14.29% Native 22.22% 11.11% 11.11% 33.33% 22.22% The translation makes a

good choice of words.

Non-native 4.76% 19.05% 14.29% 52.38% 9.52% Native 22.22% 11.11% 11.11% 11.11% 44.44% The translation sounds good

Strongly agree

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 20.00% 80.00% 0.00% Foreigners 20.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 0.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 80.00% 20.00% Foreigners 10.00% 40.00% 0.00% 30.00% 20.00%

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 30.00% 50.00% 20.00% Foreigners 10.00% 10.00% 0.00% 40.00% 40.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 10.00% 80.00% 10.00% Foreigners 10.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 30.00%

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 70.00% 0.00% Foreigners 10.00% 0.00% 10.00% 60.00% 20.00% The translation sounds

good to my ears.

Vietnamese 0.00% 20.00% 10.00% 60.00% 10.00% Foreigners 10.00% 0.00% 10.00% 60.00% 20.00%

Table 4.12 Effectiveness of couplets with foreigners (Aesthetic function)

Strongly disagree Disagree Undecided Agree

Strongly agree

Strongly agree

good choice of words.

Vietnamese 0.00% 0.00% 30.00% 60.00% 10.00% Foreigners 10.00% 10.00% 0.00% 60.00% 20.00% The translation sounds Vietnamese 0.00% 10.00% 0.00% 80.00% 10.00%