1.

Definition of translation and elements of translation and translation

equivalence.
- Definition of translation: translation involves the rendering of a source language
text into the target text across linguistic and cultural barrier.
- Elements of translation:
+ The source language (SL)
 The source language is the language to which the text to be translated
belongs. In other words, the source language is prior to translation.
+ The source text (SL)
 The source text is the text which has been chosen for translation
+ The translator (T)
 The translator is a human agent who knows tow languages or more and who
can express the message(s) of a text from one language using the system(s)
of the other.
+ The translated text (TT):
 The translated text is the text which results from the translation process.
 The translated text is the actual definite material, which has been produced
by conveying the meaning of a source text in terms of another language and
culture
+ The language of translation (LT)
 The language of translation is an abstraction obtained via a study of
translated texts.
 The language of translation is perceived from the translated text, reflecting
the translator’s interpretations, the translator’s strategies and the translator’s
abilities.
+ The target language (TL)
 The target language is the language into which a text from another language
is translated.
- Translation equivalence: a measure of semantic and structural similarity between
corrected units in the two texts
 Permanent equivalence: a one-to-one correspondence
 Dynamic equivalence: the degree to which the receptors of the message in
the target language respond to it in the same manner as the receptors in the
source language
 Nil equivalence: no TL expression is equivalent to a single SL expression
 One – to many equivalence: more than one TL expressions are equivalent to
a single SL expression.
2. Definition of interpretation. Different types modes of interpretation
* Definition of interpretation: Interpretation is the oral reproduction of a spoken text in
another language (a foreign language or the mother tongue)
* Different types/ modes of interpretation
 Simultaneous interpretation: the interpreter renders the message in the target-
language as quickly as he or she can formulate it from the source language, while
the source-language speaker continuously speaks.
 Consecutive interpretation: the interpreter speaks after the source-language
speaker has finished speaking.
 Liaison interpretation: involves relaying what is spoken to one, between two, or
among many people.

3. Similarities and differences between translation and interpretation

- Similarities: a process to render the message from source language into target
language. This requires language competence and cultural awareness
- Differences between translation and interpretation

Interpretation Translation
Interpretation is spoken Translation is written
Conveying a message speech Transferring a written text,
translation achieves higher level of
accuracy than interpretation

Communication is visible An invisible

Interpreters often working in a team, Translators often spend a long time
are faced with people working on one text
In interpretation, the interpreter plays In translation, the translator plays the
the role of an actor role of an editor
In interpretation, speaking and In translation, reading skills and
listening skills are very important writing skills are very important
Memorizing skills, coping tactics Editing skills are necessary
note taking skills are necessary.

4. Translation methods (based on Jacobson’s and Peter Newmark’s

classification) and similarities and differences between some pairs of
translation methods
* Word-for-word translation: focuses mainly on translating words from the source text
into the target language while the word order of the original is preserved.
Ex: no worries/ no problems (không sao đâu) no star where
* Literal translation (LiT): is featured by the fact that grammatical structures and the
meaning of words are translated almost as closely as those in the target language without
paying attention to the situation or context.
Ex: help yourself : cứ tự nhiên nhé
tôi có tiết học toán ngày hôm qua với Lan => Lan and I had a Math lesson
yesterday. ( If translated literally, it would be I and lan, but we should
translate it as Lan and I)
* Faithful translation (FT):
- To convey the meanings of words and context situations according to the grammar
rules of the target language
- There is some unusuality or unnaturalness in the target language.
Ex: Things go nowhere: Mọi việc đi không đâu. Mọi việc sẽ chẳng đi đến đâu
He is as fast as a kangaroo: anh ta nhanh như một con kanguru
* Semantic translation (SeT):
- Focusing to a great degree on the meaning (semantic content) and form (syntax) of
the original texts of high status such as religious texts, legal texts, literature, or
speeches.
- The meaning conveyed by the words using word order change or word choice
(synonyms/antonyms) so that the true meaning is conveyed.
Ex: Customers are Gods: Khách hàng là thượng đế
Club without u is club: Vắng mợ thì chợ vẫn đông
She has a sunny smile on her face.=> Cô bé có gương mặt với nụ cười tỏa
nắng
* Communicative translation (CT)
- This strategy gives high priority to the message communicated in the text where
the actual form of the original is not closely bound to its intended meaning
- The structure can change to convey the message accurately
Ex: He treats her like a doormat: Anh ấy rất coi thường cô ta/ Cô ta chẳng là cái
gì đối với anh ta cả
Nhà có chó dữ: Beware of the dog.
* Idiomatic translation (IT):
- Translation in which the target text reflects the exact message of the source
text in a manner that is naturally expressed in the target language. The TT can
contain idiomatic expressions aimed to create the message of the ST without using
the idiom of the ST.
- It leads to the distortion of meaning.
Ex: They look exactly the same: Chúng giống nhau như hai giọt nước.
“Một giọt máu đào hơn ao nước lã,”“Blood is thicker than water.”
“Rụng như sung” “To drop like flies”
* Free translation (FrT)
 - Focuses more on content than the form in the target language; as a result,
sometimes the grammar structure or the form of the words in the target language
may change
- The number of words and the sentence length may vary, depending on the
subjectivity of the translator when he/she adds an explanation or comment to make
clear the meaning of the original.
Ex: That guy is as poor as a church mouse. (“Anh ta nghèo như con chuột ở nhà
thờ”) =>Anh ta nghèo rớt mồng tơi
For staff areas (không phận sự miễn vào)
* Adaptation translation (AT): is a highly free type focused on socio-cultural
phenomena or practices that are absent in the target culture, rather than on linguistic units
in order to create an equivalence that has the same socio-cultural value.
Ex: stranger things: cậu bé mất tích
Jack always does weight-lifting and bodybuilding; he’s as strong as an
As strong as an ox: khỏe như bò mộng, khỏe như trâu mộng, khỏe như voi.
* Gist translation (GT):
- Summarizing a long written loral text
- Leaving out supporting details arguments
- Remaining the core message.
Ex: The Scarlet Letter: Nét Chữ Ô Nhục (tên tiểu thuyết)

5. Word combinations (idioms, collocations)

* Collocations: A collocation is two or more words that often go together. these
combinations just automatically appear in chucks or blocks rather than single words.
Ex: high temperature not tall temperature
reach the agreement not get the agreement
* Idioms: An idiom is a group of words that has its own meaning, different from the
meaning of each word put together.
Ex: let the cat out of the bag= to allow a secret to be known, usually without
intending to
kick the bucket= to die
call of nature= the need to use the toilet

6. Cultural words and ways to translate cultural words

- Definition: Cultural words can be defined as culture-specific words and phrases
which are often difficult, if not impossible to translate into another TL.
- Culture words can be translated:
 By the means of transference: the SL word is brought into the target language
text (TLT).
 By cultural equivalent: this is an approximate translation where a SL cultural
word is translated by a TL cultural word.
  By using componential analysis: SL word is replaced with a more general TL
word.
 By using recognized translation: SL word is replaced with the previously
recognized translation of the SL word in the TL.
 By Addition and note: An addition or note is added after the translation of the
TL word or phrase(put in the text in brackets, at the bottom of the page, or at the
end of the text).
Ex : Tokyo: Tokyo ; kim bap: kim bap
Night club: hộp đêm ; nước mắm: fish sauce; Hai phở bò : two pho

7. Proper names and ways to translate proper names

* Proper name: include all proper nouns as well as nouns phrases such as united
kingdom, or north carolina, which is headed by a common noun kingdom (translated) or a
proper noun carolina ( not translated)
* PNs can be treated in several ways in translation:
- They can be imported unchanged from the SL text: Canada: Canada; Cuba:
Cuba
- They can be modified to fit the phonological/graphological system of the TL
using:
 Transliteration: (a name is shifted to conform to the phonic or graphic rules of
the TL): Beijing: Bắc Kinh, Moscow: Maxcơva.
 Transcription: (a name is transcribed in the equivalent characters of the TL to
keep the readability of the TT: Canberra: Can-bơ-rơ, Myanma: My-an-ma.
- They can be expanded with a gloss/note to make up for the TL reader's lack of
world knowledge in the target culture either within the text or at the bottom of the
page.
- Re-creation: In some cases, a newly-created name in the ST is recreated in the TT
so that it reproduces similar effects in the TL such as Mr. Ollivander that is
translated to Sr.Olivares
- Substitution: A TL name replaces the SL name, although they are formally and/or
semantically unrelated.
- On occasion, they might be omitted altogether (perhaps replaced with a
paraphrase) if considered peripheral in terms of the central message of the text or
if retaining them would be more likely to cause the reader to pause in puzzlement.

8. Linguistic transposition in translation

- Linguistic transposition: concerns the grammar, and involves replacing the ST
word or structure with a TT word or structure from a different category. In other
words, transposition is the process where parts of speech or phrase structures in the
sentence, when translated change.
1. Adjectives can be replaced by adverbs, verbs by nouns, possessive adjectives by
personal pronouns,... and vice versa:
 Ex: - He speaks good English. (Cậu ấy nói tiếng Anh rất tốt)
- Cô ấy có gửi giấy phép đây (This is her absence request)
2. A multi-word phrase in English can be rendered as a single-word phrase in
Vietnamese and vice versa:
Ex: - The carpet was badly stained to such an extent that you couldn’t tell its
original colour (Tấm thảm bị làm bẩn tệ hại, đến mức không thể nói được màu
gốc của nó là màu gì)
- Các nhà sinh vật học: Biologist
3. A phase of one kind in English can be rendered as a phrase of another kind and
vice versa:
Ex: I’m a college graduate (Tôi đã tốt nghiệp đại học) - NP<>VP
4. A clause in English can be rendered as a phrase in VNese and vice versa:
Ex: - I do not understand how he did it (Tôi không hiểu cách làm của anh ta)
- Tôi không biết cuốn sách này giá bao nhiêu (I don't know the price of the
book)
5. A finite clause can be rendered as a non-finite clause in English and vice versa:
Ex: - John was very surprised when he heard the news regarding his girlfriend.
(John đã rất ngạc nhiên khi anh nghe được tin tức liên quan đến bạn gái mình)
- Một bà thấy mình khó chịu, nên đã tìm đến bác sĩ. (A woman was
having some trouble with heart, so she went to the doctor).
6. A subordinate clause can be rendered as a main clause in English and vice versa:
Ex: Khi tôi về đến nhà trời bắt đầu đổ mưa ( I got home when it began to rain)
John whose mind was too full of thoughts of his exam to let him sleep.
( Tâm trí của John tràn ngập những ý nghĩ về bài kiểm tra của anh ấy khiến
anh không thể ngủ được)
7. A non-defining clause can be rendered as a defining clause in English and vice
versa:
Ex: The driver, who had heard everything the stories of the two people in the car.
( người lái xe đã nghe hết câu chuyện của hai người trên xe.)
8. A sentence can be translated into a clause:
Ex: Nhưng người lái xe tắc xi không biết, vì thế John đành xuống xe và tới một
phòng đánh điện tín (However, the driver of the taxi did not know. So John got
out and went into a telegraph office)
9. A compound sentence can be rendered as a simple sentence:
Ex: Thanh là người Hải Dương và Phương cũng là người Hải Dương. ( Both
Thanh and Phuong come from Hai Duong)
10. A compound sentence in English can be rendered as a complex sentence in VNese
and vice versa:
Ex:- A man wanted to be nice to his girlfriend on her birthday; so he sent her
lipstick along with a bouquet of flowers. (Một người muốn làm vui lòng bạn gái
trong dịp sinh nhật cô ấy, bèn gửi một thỏi son kèm theo một bó hoa)
- Dạo đó có một bà người to béo đẫy đà, ông chồng lại nhỏ bé, gầy nhom.
(There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband).
 11. Passive in English can be rendered as active in VNese and vice versa:
Ex: - Friday of the next week was suggested, and so was Monday of the week
after. (Có người đề nghị nên tổ chức vào thứ sáu tuần sau, có người lại đề nghị
nên tổ chức vào thứ hai)
- Ngành đường sắt bị thua thiệt nhiều trong công việc kinh doanh vì các
công ty xe buýt. (Railways have lost much of their business to be bus
companies.
12. An interrogative can be sentence in English can be rendered as a request or order
in VNese and vice versa:
Ex: - Sao em không ngồi xuống đi? (Sit down, please!)
- Will you please write the cards while I am cooking the dinner? (Mình hãy
viết thiếp còn em đi ăn bữa tối đây).

9. Modulation and Reformulation in translation

- Modulation consists of using a phrase that is different in the source and target
languages to convey the same idea. The translator generates a change in the point
of view of the message from SL to TL when the context requires without altering
meaning and without generating a sense of awkwardness.
Ex : business is business : công việc là công việc, không xen lẫn tình cảm cá nhân.
get this straight : nói thẳng đi
- Reformulating means formulating differently.
 You can match the primary meaning of certain words in the SL against linguistic,
situational and cultural contexts in TL to find the connoted meaning and then
choose the suitable equivalent expressions in TL
 When a sentence is grammatical but does not appear to make sense even though
the meaning of every word in it is clear.
Ex: Chicken soup for soul: hạt giống tâm hồn.
Frozen; nữ hoàng băng giá
Bãi biển cát trắng phau : a sugar-white beach.

10. Process of translation

* Step 1: Approaching a text
- The first thing to do is a preliminary analysis.
- Examining reasons for choosing the. Make sure that no grammar structures or
spelling mistakes remain before translating.
- When analyzing the text for translation for the first time, the translator needs to
find answers to these questions:
 What? (what is the theme/topic the text is about?).
 Why? (what is the purpose of the text writer: to tell, to entertain, or to persuade
the reader?).
 Who? refers to the reader of the translated text
 How? refers to whether the text is written in a formal or informal way
* Step 2: Interpreting the source text.
- Read the text several times
- Analyze the words (especially keywords), the lexico-grammatical relations within
the sentences.
- When necessary, resolve ambiguity, identify implicit information, interpret
figurative senses.
*Step 3: Formulating the translated text.
- The translator begins drafting the translation piece by piece, section by section by
using the lexis and structures (that would make meaningful sentences
function in a narrow context as elements of a well-structured text in the target
language.)
- All verbalizing must be done in the target language.
- Reformulates the translation according to the grammar rules, word usage,
and cultural norms in the target language
*Step 4: Review and comparison
- Revise it rarely fewer than three times.
- It is at this stage that the translation is measured and compared with the original to
make sure if:
 The message of the translation is equivalent to that of the original
 The form of the translation is easy to read and natural in the RL grammar
and style
 The target context of culture goes well with the related sub contexts of
language and rhetorical tradition in the target language
 The translation meets the audience’s needs or intended text functions.
 There is any place where information has been added, omitted, or
subtracted.
*Step 5: Editing the translated text
- Takes the form of careful last-minute checking and correcting of possible mistakes
or other inaccuracies.
- The translator needs to revise the draft based on the feedback received from those
people who may have suggested many rewordings, changes, additions, or
omissions with the translator.

11. How is a message reproduced in translation? Give an example to illustrate.

Translating must aim primarily at “reproducing the message.”
- to reproduce the message one must make a good many grammatical and lexical
adjustments.
- Translation equivalence is a measure of semantic and structural similarity
between correlated units in the texts (ST and TT).
Ex: - Finger licking good (vị ngon trên từng ngón tay)
- Like father, like son (cha nào con nấy)
12. Why must the translator strive for equivalence rather than identity? Give
an example to illustrate.
- The translator must strive for equivalence rather than identity to emphasize the
reproduction of the message rather than the conservation of the form of the
utterance, but it reinforces the need for a radical alteration of a phrase such as “I
think’’ or “in my opinion” which may be quite meaningless. That equivalence is
considered as a relation between two actual texts and two languages.
Ex: Players are preparing for the match. "players" can be “cầu thủ”, “người
chơi”

13. What is the significance of meaning in translation? Give an example to

illustrate.
- Meaning must be given priority, for it is the content of the message which is of
prime importance in translating.
- The choice of the right word in the receptor language to translate a word in the
source-language text depends more on the context than upon a fixed system of
verbal consistency.
Ex: Vietnam has many sugar-white beaches- bãi biển cát trắng như pha lê

14. What is the importance of culture in translation? Give an example to

illustrate.
- Cultural sensitivity:
+ They have to take into account the culture of the target language
+ To avoid misunderstandings, translators have to look out for the lexical content
and syntax, as well as ideologies, value systems, and ways of life in a given culture
- The name of a company or a product, humor, material culture such as names of
food, the style of the language and the target audience, pictures, symbols, colors,
gestures, habits, traditions as well as cultural references are important cultural
factors.
Ex: He is a snake => Anh ta rất độc ác
hot potato: vấn đề nóng
a cup of tea: thói quen ,sở thích
việt: nghèo như chị Dậu,rớt mồng tơianh: nghèo như chuột trong nhà thờ(As
poor as a church mouse)

15. What is the importance of style in translation? Give an example to

illustrate.
- Though the style is secondary to the content, it is nevertheless important. People
should not translate poetry as though it were prose, nor expository material as
though it were straight narrative.
 - Style not only ensures that there is consistency and flow throughout the document
or project but also with multiple texts or presentations that may be made in the
target language.
- For example, if you have always written your times and dates a certain way, it
could cause major confusion to change the format, especially with an international
audience.
- When you deal with a brand, you don’t want variance in your presentation or
information. A major piece of the branding process is creating a consistent
identity. Disconnects in your literature can hinder or destroy this process.

16. How can parts of speech be transformed in translation? Give an example

to illustrate
- There are 9 parts of speech transformed in translation as follow:
1. Nouns: house, sky, army,..
2. Verbs: sing, talk, dance, fly,...
3. Adjectives: happy, sad, glorious,...
4. Adverbs: well, rapidly, hard, hardly-He hardly works hard
5. Pronouns of various types: personal pronouns: I, he …...; relative pronouns:
who, which, that....; interrogative pronouns: what, who...
6. Articles: a, an, they go to hospital/ go to the hospital
7. Conjunctions: and, because, so, for,...
8. Prepositions: in, on, at, under, near,...
9. Interjections: Oh!, well!, wow!, yes!,...
Ex : He speaks good English (Cậu ấy nói tiếng Anh rất tốt).
She sings beautifully: cô ấy hát rất hay

17. How can phrases be transformed in translation? Give an example to

illustrate.
- A multi-word phrase in English can be rendered as a single-word phrase in
Vietnamese and can be changed in the number of words in the phrase and vice
versa
- Within a verb phrase (VP), verbs can be preceded by auxiliary verbs.
- Within an adjective phrase (AdjP), the adjective as the head of the phrase can be
modified either by an adverb.
- With prepositional phrases (PrepP), the preposition, as the prefix of the word “pre-
position” indicates, is always followed by a noun phrase
- A phrase of one kind in English can be changed in part of speech (noun phrase is
translated as adjective phrase, NP>VP, AdjP>NP, PrepP>NP, PrepP>AdvP )
- On sentence function: a phrase can become a clause.
Ex : Những nhà hoạt động môi trường: environmentalist
Các nhà sinh vật học : biologist
18. How can clauses be transformed in translation?
- A clause is a unit in syntax that is intermediate between a phrase and a sentence.
Based on the presence or absence of the verb used in the sentence, there are finite,
non-finite, and verbless clauses in English
+ A finite clause: Structurally, the clause looks like a sentence in that it has a
subject and a finite verb. It can be rendered as a non-defining clause in English
and vice versa
Ex: Anh ta trở về nhà , rất mệt mỏi : he came home, very tired.
+ A verbless clause: The verbless clause is an elliptic clause that has no verb and
is usually used to function as an adverbial or free subject complement. It can be
rendered as the main clause in English and vice versa
Ex: My friend who is very hard-working, has found a job: Bạn tôi rất chăm chỉ
và anh ấy đã tìm đươc một công việc .
+ A non-defining clause: When in an English sentence there is a finite verb as a
predicate and a subject if another verb is to be used to give information to an
element of the sentence, then the verb must bear a non-finite form: -ed or -ing
ending,…
Ex: Coming back home, he went to sleep: Anh ấy vừa về nhà đã đi ngủ