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ABSTRACT
Translation skill is an extremely necessary skill for us. It plays an important
role in the learning and working process. In particular, for a foreign language
learner, translation skill becomes a necessary and indispensable medium.
According to some surveys, students say that they have difficulties in translating
social English articles into Vietnamese.
This study was conducted to investigate problems in translating social
English articles into Vietnamese which the third-year English majors at
Thuongmai University. Then the researcher wants to find a reason for those
problems and propose solutions so that students can solve them. Fifty people who
are third-year English major students at Thuongmai University participated in
this study.
Therefore, in the hope of improving students' ability to translate with the
enthusiastic help of participants, the researcher hopes this research will be a
useful tool for everyone.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During this graduation paper, I received much necessary help, guidance,
valuable ideas and encouragement from my teachers, my family and friends.
I would like to send my sincere and profound thanks to the teachers of the
Thuongmai University, especially the teachers in the English department during

the time when I just started to come to school. I thank the teachers for always
enabling us to have the opportunity to study in the best and most effective
environment.
With deep gratitude, I would like to thank Ms. Phan Tu Lan for enthusiastic
guidance and encouragement and valuable guidance so that we can complete this
graduation paper.
I’m grateful to third-year English majors at Thuongmai University for their
enthusiastic participation. Their sharing has become the main sources of data in
my research.
Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family, my friends who always
stand by and support and become a great motivation to help me overcome
difficulties in the process of doing this research.
In the course of making this graduation paper, although I have tried hard, it
is difficult to avoid errors, I hope the teachers will understand. At the same time,
due to the limited level of reasoning as well as limited scientific research ability.
I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions for the perfect of
my own graduation paper.
Thank you sincerely!
Hanoi, April 22nd 2020
Student
Nguyen Thi Huyen

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

4


4


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
No
1.
2.
3.
4.

Abbreviation
SL
TL
ASEAN
EU

5.

COVID-19

6.

N

5

Meaning
Source language
Target language

Association of Southeast Asian Nations
European Union
An infectious disease caused by
coronavirus
Noun

5

a


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Charts – Tables
Chart 1
Table 1
Table 2
Chart 2
Chart 3
Table 3
Chart 4
Table 4
Chart 5
Chart 6

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Name
The students’ opinion is about learning translation
The reason why students study translation
The students’ opinions about the usefulness of studying

translation
The amount of time students usually spend on studying
translation social English article into Vietnamese
How often do you have difficulties when translating social
English article into Vietnamese?
The biggest challenge that students have to face when
translating social English article into Vietnamese
How students will do when they encounter a new word in a
translation text
What students will do after they finish their translation
Things have a great influence on students’ interest in
translation
What do students do to improve their translation social
English article into Vietnamese skill?

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1.

Rationale
Nowadays, English has been a common language widely used in all countries of
the world. Nearly 60 countries use English as their primary language, besides their
mother tongue and nearly 100 countries use English as their second language.
However, each country has its own culture and a unique language. These countries that
do not use English, they must know two languages simultaneously to communicate
with international friends. The English translation industry was born to help the
difficulties of those who have difficulty learning or acquiring a second language.
Translators also have increasingly higher requirements when translating. Only

foreign languages cannot become a good translator. Translators need to master the
vocabulary and grammar, know about the social and cultural characteristics of the
country in order to be able to convey to the target language completely.
Recognizing the importance of translation, Thuongmai University has introduced
Translation into the subject. The teachers teach the students how to translate English
into Vietnamese and how to translate Vietnamese into English. The teachers instruct
students how to translate articles such as social, economics- business, culture education, foreign affairs - health care, etc... and specialized articles. However, most
students often find that they have a lot of difficulties in translating the social English Vietnamese article.
In this research, the researcher will investigate the difficulties in translating
social English articles into Vietnamese faced by the third-year English major students
at Thuongmai University and suggest some solutions to this problem. Therefore, the
researcher would like to conduct the study entitled “Difficulties in translating social
English articles into Vietnamese faced by the third-year English major students at
Thuongmai University and some suggested solutions”. The researcher hopes this
study will help them find out their difficulties and provide them some solutions to
improve this skill.

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1.2.

Previous studies
Research topics on issues “the difficulties of learners in English translation”
have been studied by many different researchers around the world in general and in
Viet Nam in particular.

1

In the world:

A study named “Difficulties and some problems in translating legal
documents” by Ivanka Sakareva. The paper aims at revealing the difficulties in
translating legal documents. In order to make a full characteristic of these problems,
Ivanka Sakareva has described the actual process of translating the rules that should be
observed by the translators the translation strategy in translating documents as well as
the importance of the cultural transfer. How does the legal translation differ from the
literal one? Is it an easy task to translate specialized texts?
Another study named “Analysis of Translation Difficulties for the Fourth
Semester Students of English Department of IKIP Gunungsitoli Year 2013/2014”
with the objective of the research is to find out and to describe translation difficulties
for the fourth semester students of English department of IKIP Gunungsitol. The
researcher uses two kinds of research instruments that are questionnaires which consist
of open and close and test as the source of content analysis applied as a part of
qualitative research method.

2

In Vietnam:
A study named “Difficulties in Learning the Translation of Students major in
International Relations”. The purpose of the research is to identify and explain these
difficulties, and to provide some methods for students to be good at translating and
have their own experience in the following working process. The researcher limited
his research subjects to 2 students of TA39A and TA39B classes, English department,
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
There are some previous studies on translation skill of university students.
All these studies show that different aspects of the problem give the reader a
more multidimensional view and to recognize the importance of improving
translation skill. Hope that my research will contribute a little bit to anyone
having difficulties in translating
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The aims of the study

1.3.

When choosing and carrying out this study, the researcher expects to clarify
3 main issues:
•
•

To investigate some factors effect student’s translation skill
To find out some difficulties, and common problems in translating social English
articles into Vietnamese the third-year English major students at Thuongmai

University which must face.
• To suggest some possible solutions to these problems so as to help students have
1.4.

a good translation skill.
Research questions
In order to achieve the aims, this study is seeking answers to the following
questions:
1. What are factors that affect articles translation skill of the third-year English

major students at Thuongmai University?
2. What are some main difficulties in translating social English articles into
Vietnamese of the third-year English major students at Thuongmai University?
3. What are some solutions to improving their social articles translation skill?
1.5.

Significance of this study
The purposes of the study are to find out the difficulties and then propose
some solutions to improve the social articles translation skills. Therefore, this
research is expected to bring significant benefits and become a useful resource for
both students and teachers.
Firstly, for students, through this research, they will find out their
weaknesses when translating and so that they come up with appropriate
solutions and apply it to fix their problems.
Secondly, when this research has been completed, its findings and
suggestions will become one of the most effective tools to help the further and
deeper investigations.
1.6.

Scope of the study
The study focuses on the social articles translation skill of the third-year
English major students at Thuongmai University. There are several types of

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English-Vietnamese translations such as economics-business, culture-education,
foreign affairs-health care.
Because of the limitations of time, information as well as knowledge, this
study cannot cover all of them. It is mainly about the social articles translation
skills. In addition, due to a large number of students in Thuongmai University, the
researcher cannot investigate all of them. These participants are the most suitable
because they are already familiar with translation skills. Therefore, this study only
focuses on the third-year English major students at Thuongmai University.
Research methodology


1.7.

This study is carried out in both qualitative and quantitative method.
Therefore, the researcher conducts the research with some following steps:
-

Firstly, the researcher searches some necessary documents in web sites on
Internet. Besides, the researcher reads some previous studies related to
translation skills. In addition, the researcher borrows books from library to have

-

directions for my study.
Secondly, the study includes survey questionnaires for students who are the thirdyear English at Thuongmai University. The survey investigates 50 students at
Thuongmai University.
After getting results from survey, the researcher will collect and start
analyzing them by using tables and charts.
Organization of the study

1.8.

Except for chapter 1 (introduction) introduced above, the rest of the study
consists of three chapters as below:
-

Chapter 2, the literature review, it has the theoretical background of translation

-

skill which are the basic foundation of data analysis.

Chapter 3, methodology and research findings, present the method used for data
collection and data analysis process. Besides, it will discuss the results of the

-

study.
Chapter 4, the summary of the whole study, suggestions, limitations of the study,
and suggestions for further studies.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Overview of translating
2.1.1. The definition of translating
There are many different ways to define translation as a result of different
research interest as well as how researchers view it. According to Malinowski in
Choliludin (2005:4) says that translation must always be the re-creation of the
original into something profoundly different. On the other hand, it is never
substitution of word but invariably the translation of whole contents. Of this
theory, it is concluded that the translation is a deep meaningful content and it is
not as a substitution SL word by another word into TL.
To achieve a meaningful content, Wills in Noss (1982), cited by Suryawinata
& Hariyanto (2003:16), conversing that translation is a transfer process which
aims at the transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL
text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic
understanding and analytical processing of the SL.
Again purposely Wills in Choliludin (2005:3), talks translation is a procedure
which leads from a written source language text toan optimally equivalent target
language text and requires the syntactic, semantic, stylistic, and text pragmatic

comprehension by the translator of the original text.
According to Larsonalso in Choliludin (1984:3), states, Translation consists
of translating the meaning of the source language into the receptor language. This
is done by going from the form of the first language to the form of a second
language by way of semantic structure. It is meaning which is being transferred
and must be held constant. Only the form changes
According to While Catford (1965:1) in Choliludin (2005:7), declares,
Translation is an operation performed on languages; a process of substituting a
text in one language for a text on another, translation must make use of a theory
of language, general linguistic theory.

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From the above definitions, we know that translation is rendering a written text
into another language in the way that the author intended the text. (Theory of
interpreting and translation, Thuongmai University.)
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 single items, such birth certificates and driving licenses, to more complex
written material, such as articles in specialized professional journals, business
contracts and legal documents.
2.1.2. The significance of translating
The importance of translation in our daily lives is multidimensional.
Translation not only paves the way for global interaction, but also allows
countries to create interactive relationships when it comes to advances in
technology, politics, education, mass media, science and technology, literature,
tourism, religion, commerce and business,
•


Translation connects the global economy, boosts the growth of multinational
companies.
There’s a reason demand for translation services is booming. While English
has been periodically crowned as “the language of global business,” translating
services remain a vital part of doing business around the world.
Translation is especially important for companies and businesses operating
in many countries and often share and receive information from different offices
and global branches around the world. In such cases, the shared information
needs to be translated into a local preferred language. Translation is also helpful
when companies engage with local businesses, or make government proposals.

•

Translation helps foreign affairs easily
Today, international diplomacy is the most important aspect of a country's
foreign affairs. Be it a global summit or a new economic agreement, diplomats and
world leaders always present their ideas and thoughts in the language they are
comfortable. It is very important that these ideas are translated in an expressive,
inaccurate and accurate manner that can lead to important issues between the
diplomatic relations of two or more countries.
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•

Translation makes the cultural exchange conveniently
Music, literature, film and many other forms of art transcend global
boundaries because of the way they are effectively translated to reflect local
language and sentiments. Translated and subtitled movies today make evergreater revenue for the global film industry, with blockbusters seeing China as the
next big market, where the success of films. The translation has made

manufacturers hit the $ 1 billion mark more often than ever. And it's not just the
film industry that benefits from translation, because music and literary
translation allow artists to earn more royalties and international reputations as
an added bonus. Besides, translation of lyrics helps to convey the cultural content
of the original song to a wider audience, connect directly between the two
cultures from the original language of the song and approach more listeners.

•

Translation Boosts in Tourism
Translation can effectively help in solving one of the biggest tourist
dilemmas, that of being short-changed or fleeced by unfamiliar people in foreign
destinations. At the same time, translated tourism materials not only help tourists
feel welcome in an unknown country, but also boosts the country's popularity as a
tourist friendly destination, thereby leading to significant tourism-related
revenues.
2.1.3. Types of translating
There are many ways to classify translation. Here are some types of
translation classified by form.

•

Technical translation
The term “technical translation” can be understood in two ways:
In its broadest sense, it is about translating user manuals, instructions
leaflets, internal notes, medical translation, financial reports, minutes of
proceedings, administrative terms in general, and so forth. These documents
share the distinction of being for a specific and limited target audience and
usually have a limited shelf-life.


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In its most limited sense, technical translation refers to “technical”
documentation such as engineering, it, electronics, mechanics, and industrial
texts in general. Technical translation requires knowledge of the specialized
terminology used in the sector of the source text.
•

Scientific translation
As a sub-group of technical translation, as its name indicates, scientific
translations deal with documents in the domain of science: articles, theses,
papers, congress booklets, conference presentations, study reports etc.

•

Financial translation
Financial or economic translation, of course, deals with documentation
relating to the likes of finance, banking, and stock exchange activity. This includes
company annual accounts, annual reports, financial statements, financial
contracts, financing packages, and so forth.

•

Legal translation
Legal translation covers a wide range of different documents. These may
include legal documents such as summons and warrants; administrative texts
such as registration certificates, corporate statutes and remittance drafts;
technical documents such as expert opinions and texts for judicial purposes; and
a number of other texts in addition to reports and minutes of court proceedings.


•

Judicial translation
Judicial translations, not to be confused with legal or certified translations,
refer to the task of translation undertaken in a court setting. Judicial translators
specialize in translating documents such as letters rogatory, minutes of
proceedings, judgements, expert opinions, deposition, minutes of interrogation
sessions etc.

•

Certified translation
A certified translator or sworn translator may use their signature to
authenticate official translations. These are usually documents which require
legal validation and are thus referred to as “certified” or “sworn”. Certified
translators often work in courtrooms as juridical translators, or act in the capacity
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of a legal expert, as well as providing translations of civil status documentation,
marital agreements, divorce settlements, deceases, and wills, for example.
•

Literary translation
This is probably the hardest of all the different kinds of translation, as
obviously, the translator must first try to render the semantic content of the
original text (as should be the case for the translation of any kind of text), and
then in addition deal with a number of other difficulties.
2.1.4. The approach of translation

There are two approaches to translating:

•

You start translating sentence by sentence, for say the paragraph or chapter, to get
the feel and the feeling tone of the text, and then you deliberately sit back, review

•

the position, and read the rest of the SL text.
You read the whole text two or three times, and find the intention, register, tone,
mark the difficult words and passages and start translating only when you have
taken your bearings.
Which of the two methods you choose may depend on your temperament, or
on whether you trust your intuition (for the first method) or your powers of
analysis (for the second).
Translating process begins with choosing a method of approach. Secondly,
when we are translating, we translate with four levels in mind: the SL text level,
the referential level, the cohesive level, and the level of naturalness.

a. The Textual Level

You transpose the SL grammar (clauses and groups) into their “ready” TL
equivalents and you translate the lexical units into sense that appears
immediately appropriate in the context of the sentence. Your base level when you
translate is the text. This is the level of the literal translation of the source
language into the target language, the level of the translator you have to eliminate,
but it also acts as corrective of paraphrase and the parer-down of synonyms. So a
part of your mind may be on the text level whilst another is elsewhere.
Translation is preeminently the occupation in which you have to be thinking of

several things at the same time.
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b. The Referential Level

Whether a text is technical or literary or institutional, you have to make up
your mind summarily and continuously, what it is about, what it is in aid of, what
the writer's peculiar slant on it is. For each sentence, when it is not clear, when
there is an ambiguity, when the writing is abstract or figurative, you have to ask
yourself: What is actually happening here? And why? For what reason, on what
purpose? Can you see it in your mind? Can you visualize it? If you cannot, you
have to “supplement” the linguistic level, the text level with the referential level,
the factual level with the necessary additional information from this level of
reality, the facts of the matter.
c. The Cohesive Level

This level follows both the structure and the moods of the text, the structure
through the connective words (conjunctions, enumeration, reiterations, definite
article, general words, referential synonyms, punctuation marks) linking the
sentences, usually proceeding from known information (theme) to new
information (rheme). The second factor in the cohesive level is mood moving
between positive and negative, emotive and neutral. For example, you have to spot
the difference between positive and neutral in, say, “passed away” and “died”,
“appreciate” and “evaluate”, between “I would welcome the opportunity of
meeting you in person at a time which is convenient for you” and “I would like to
meet you in person at a time which is convenient for you”.
d. The Level of Naturalness

For the vast majority of texts, you have to ensure: (a) that your translation he

text level makes sense; (b) that it reads naturally, that it is written in ordinary
occupation in language, the common grammar, idioms and words that meet that
kind of e. situation. Normally, you can only do this by temporarily disengaging
yourself from the SL text, by reading your own translation as though no to make
up original existed. You have to ask yourself: Would you ever see this in The
Times, The Economist, in a textbook...? Is it common usage in that kind of hen it is

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not writing? How frequent is it? Check and crosscheck words and expressions in
an up-to-date dictionary. Note any word you are suspicious of.
2.2. Translating English into Vietnamese in social articles
2.2.1. Social articles and translating English into Vietnamese in social
articles
a. Social articles

Social articles often reflect, notify promptly and quickly events, problems
that have just happened, are happening or will happen in daily life. The
phenomena, processes, events or characters mentioned in the social newspaper
are usually single, or collect some typical events for the new, real, updated of the
society.
The following is a social article published on Vi ệt Nam News on March 20,
2020
“ASEAN, EU Strengthen Cooperation Fight Against Covid-19
HÀ NỘI – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ph ạm Bình Minh, in his
capacity as ASEAN 2020 Chair, has affirmed that Việt Nam would continue working
closely with ASEAN member states, partners, the World Health Organisation and the
international community in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
During an ASEAN-EU ministerial teleconference to discuss coping with the

epidemic on Friday, Minh informed participants of ASEAN’s active and timely
response to the outbreak in the spirit of “Cohesive and Responsive” - the theme for
the ASEAN Year 2020.
ASEAN had shown the highest determination to combat the epidemic by
issuing the ASEAN Chair’s Statement, and statements from ministers in charge of
national defence, the economy and tourism on measures to jointly fight COVID-19.
Việt Nam had also chaired a meeting of the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating
Council to oversee the bloc's efforts, he said, adding that active efforts made by the
ASEAN Community had brought about positive results with low rate of deaths
compared to other regions in the world.

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In the near future, ASEAN would continue stepping up actions and cooperating
with partners in this regard, he said.
Minh suggested the EU offer technical assistance and partner in scientific
research on disease control and treatment, thus mitigating its socio-economic
impacts.
ASEAN and EU agreed to enhance the sharing of information and experience
and policy consultation, especially in diagnosis, treatment and vaccine production.
Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the
European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel proposed that
ASEAN countries made it easier for EU citizens travelling in Southeast Asia to return
home.
ASEAN member countries also asked the EU to provide treatment for their
infected citizens living and working in Europe.”
b. Translating English into Vietnamese in social articles

The translation of social articles from English into Vietnamese is the process

of translating information, things and facts so that Vietnamese people can
understand exactly what the article refers to.
The following is the translation of the article “ASEAN, EU Strengthen
Cooperation Fight Against Covid-19”
“Tăng Cường Hợp Tác ASEAN, EU Chống Lại Covid-19
Với vai trị là Chủ tịch ASEAN 2020, Phó Thủ tướng, Bộ tr ưởng Ngo ại giao
Phạm Bình Minh đã khẳng định rằng Việt Nam sẽ ti ếp t ục hợp tác ch ặt chẽ v ới
các quốc gia thành viên ASEAN, các đối tác, Tổ chức Y tế Th ế gi ới và cộng đ ồng
quốc tế trong cuộc chiến chống đại dịch COVID -19.
Trong một cuộc hội nghị trực tuyến cấp Bộ trưởng ASEAN-EU di ễn ra vào
thứ Sáu để thảo luận về việc đối phó với dịch bệnh, Bộ tr ưởng Ngo ại giao Ph ạm
Bình Minh đã thơng báo về nỗ lực ứng phó ch ủ động, k ịp th ời c ủa ASEAN khi d ịch
bệnh bùng phát theo tinh thần “Gắn kết và Ch ủ đ ộng thích ứng” - ch ủ đ ề c ủa
ASEAN năm 2020.

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ASEAN đã thể hiện quyết tâm chish trị ở mức cao nhất để chống lại d ịch
bệnh bằng cách đưa ra Tuyên bố của Chủ tịch ASEAN ở cấp cao, các tuyên b ố c ấp
bộ trưởng chuyên ngành như quốc phòng, kinh t ế và du l ịch, đ ề ra các bi ện pháp
để cùng nhau chống lại COVID-19.
Việt Nam cũng đã chủ trì một cuộc họp Bộ trưởng Hội đồng Đi ều ph ối
ASEAN để điều phối các nỗ lực của khối, ơng nói thêm r ằng nh ững n ỗ l ực tích
cực của Cộng đồng ASEAN đã mang lại kết quả tích c ực với t ỷ l ệ t ử vong th ấp so
với các khu vực khác trên thế giới.
Trong tương lai gần, ASEAN sẽ tiếp tục đẩy mạnh các hành đ ộng c ụ th ể,
thiết thực, tăng cường trao đổi và phối hợp ở các cấp cũng nh ư v ới các đ ối tác
theo hướng này.
Phó Thủ tướng, Bộ trưởng Phạm Bình Minh đề nghị EU cung cấp hỗ tr ợ kỹ

thuật và hợp tác trong nghiên cứu khoa học về kiểm soát và đi ều tr ị b ệnh, do đó
giảm thiểu tác động kinh tế xã hội.
ASEAN và EU đã đồng ý tăng cường chia sẻ thông tin và kinh nghi ệm và t ư
vấn chính sách, đặc biệt là trong chẩn đoán, điều tr ị và s ản xu ất v ắc-xin.
Phó Chủ tịch Ủy ban Châu Âu và Đại diện cao của Liên minh Chính sách đ ối
ngoại và An ninh châu Âu Josep Borrel đề xuất rằng các n ước ASEAN giúp công
dân EU đi du lịch ở Đông Nam Á khi trở về nước dễ dàng hơn.
Các nước thành viên ASEAN cũng yêu cầu EU điều tr ị cho các công dân b ị
nhiễm đang sống và làm việc ở châu Âu.”
2.2.2. The factors influencing English into Vietnamese translation
process in social articles
a. Influence of the mother tongue

During the process of learning a foreign language, our mother tongue has a
big influence on our way of thinking and, to some extent, our use of the target
language (word order, word choice). Thanks to the translation, we understand
better the interference of the mother tongue when learning a foreign language.
We will be able to explore the potential of both languages – their merits and
shortcoming – by using contrastive analysis.
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As we seen in English, an adjective precedes a noun and the same position
for possessive adjective. However, in Vietnamese, an adjective or possessive
adjective follows a noun as in the following formula:
•
•

English: Adjective + N/ possessive Adjective + N
Vietnamese: N + Adjective/ N + possessive Adjective

For example: “Decorated with fascinating photographs, the hotel's lobby is a
great place to pass the time while waiting for someone.”
Therefore, the phrase above is rewritten in Vietnamese as: “Được trang trí
với những bức ảnh hấp dẫn, sảnh của khách sạn là một nơi tuyệt vời để giết thời
gian trong khi chờ đợi.”

b. Context

Language plays a crucial role in conveying information; it is the vehicle of
our ideas, thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of our world. Translation is
considered being a process of carrying the meaning of a text from one language to
another language. This process involves interpretation of the meaning of the
source text and producing the same meaning of this text by mean of another
language. Texts, however, cannot exist out of context. By context, meaning is the
entire environment in which the word or sentence is expressed or stated. Any
word in the text is not presented in isolation but in interaction with other words
in the text and with the whole text at large. This interaction among words
determines their meaning rather than its isolated meaning.
For example:
•
-

The uses of the word “work” in the following sentences:
I work at Ministry of Education and Training..
Kieu story is a famous work.
After graduating, I will look for work.
The “work” in the first example is a normal verb. It means the activity by
which one makes a living. In the second one, “work” means the output of a
creative writer whereas “work” in the last example has another different meaning,
that is a noun relating to a job or an employment.


•
-

The uses of the word “hand” in the following sentences:
Clean your hand before eating.
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-

There are 23 hands employees at this farm.
The word “hand” in the first example means a part of a body which is used to
hold something while “hand” in the later one refers to a people who work as
employees.
Context is really important and necessary in helping us decide which word
should be chosen to obtain the suitable meaning in our translated text. If we
misunderstand the context, it leads to choosing of inappropriate meanings of
words. It, therefore, results in a bad translated text. Context partly contributes to
create a true translated output that is considered the most important
requirement of translation.

c. Characteristics of language

There are certain characteristics of language, which have a very direct
bearing on principles of the translation process.
Firstly, the characteristics of meaning components are referred as a
phenomenon of the differences among languages. Meaning components are
packaged into lexical items, but they are packaged differently from one language
to another one. Almost all languages have a meaning of plurality; for instance, the

final letter “_s” represents plurality in English. It occurs in the grammar as a suffix
of the nouns or verbs or both. However, in Vietnamese, plurality is expressed in an
isolated word “những”, “các” or “vài”, etc. Sometimes, a single word in the source
language – English, will need to be translated by several words into the target
language – Vietnamese, and vice versa.
For example:
-

“One of the important matters now is health issues.”
Translated: “Một trong những vấn đề quan trọng hiện nay là vấn đề sức
khỏe.”

-

“Steps are taken before translation.”
Translated: “ Các bước được thực hiện trước khi dịch thuật.”
Some words that can be countable in Vietnamese but are uncountable in
English. For example: information, equipment, furniture, potential, advice, etc.
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For example:
-

"He provided very useful information."
Translated “Anh ấy đã cung cấp những thơng tin thật hữu ích.”
Secondly, it is the characteristic of languages that the same meaning
components will occur in several surface structure lexical items. Let’s look at the
word “sheep” in English. The word “lamb”, “ram” and “ewe” also include the
meaning “sheep”. They include the additional meaning components of a young

sheep by “lamb”, an adult male sheep by “ram” and an adult female sheep by using
the word “ewe”. Another example is the word “chicken” in English. The word
“rooster”, “hen” and “chick” also include the meaning “chicken”. They include the
additional meaning components of a young chicken by “chick”, an adult chicken
male by “rooster” and an adult female chicken by using the word “hen”.
2.2.3. Difficulties in translating social English articles into Vietnamese
There are lots of difficulties in translating social English articles into
Vietnamese.

a. Culture

Firstly, because of different geography, Vietnamese and England social
culture are generally 180 degrees different. There are some large differences that
we can hardly accept, but there are also features we should understand and know
in order to broaden knowledge and get along easily. The fastest way to integrate
and overcome culture shock is to equip yourself with the necessary knowledge
about culture, society and people of your country.
Culture can partly affects translation process. Translators are permanently
faced with the problem how to treat the cultural aspects implicit in a source text
and of finding the most appropriate technique of successfully conveying these
aspects in the target language. Misunderstanding of culture can lead to bad
translation product and sometimes makes it funny and even insulting to readers
of the target language. Therefore, when Vietnamese translators want to translate
the social English article into Vietnamese, they should understand the culture of

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the two countries deeply. Culture is useful tool to improve the understanding and
knowledge of other nations and their people.

For example, Vietnam is located in the tropical monsoon region, the complex
terrain, the long-standing agriculture, the struggle against foreign invasion, and
heroism ... are the main characteristics of Vietnamese culture. The customs of
marriage, religion, beliefs are very popular with Vietnamese people but extremely
strange to Westerners.
b. Words and choices of word meanings

Words play a crucial role for any language learners to build their own
vocabulary system to get advantages in their language learning. Vocabulary is the
fundamental component of communication. The more vocabulary one has, the
more advantages for us to obtain effective communication. However, translators
often have difficulties in new words, they seem to fail translating. Most of English
words have many meanings. There will be a primary meaning – the meaning
which usually comes to mind when the word is said in isolation, and the
contextual meaning (or secondary meaning) – the additional meanings which a
word has in other specific contexts with other supporting words in certain orders.
For example, The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary give 33 meanings of the
verb “run” such as “chạy”, “ vận hành”, “ lướt đi”, “xoay quanh”, “ ứng cử”, “ đuổi
theo”, “ chỉ huy”, etc.
When we say “the boy runs”, it comes to our mind that “the boy moves fast”.
However, in the sentences:
“Mr. John ran for governor so he was a fair game for the press. The reporters
dug back into his past and printed things about him that happened way back in
childhood. But they found nothing that looked too bad and he did get elected”.
The word “ran” is the past and past participle of “run”. If the meaning of
these words is not selected carefully and appropriately, the translator will have a
bad translated text in consequence like in the following translation:
“Ông John chạy trốn Thống đốc vì thế ơng là m ục tiêu đáng chú ý cho báo
giới soi mói. Các phóng viên đã quay lại bới móc cái q kh ứ c ủa ơng và đăng ra
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những gì đã xảy ra trong thời thơ ấu. Nhưng họ khơng tìm thấy được cái gì q
xấu và ơng đã đắc cử”.
Suggested version: “Ông John ra tranh cử vào chức vụ thống đốc, vì thế các
phóng viên đã quay lại khơi dậy lại quá khứ của ông. Tuy nhiên, h ọ khơng tìm th ấy
được điều gì q tệ về ông và ông đã đắc cử”.
c. Grammatical structures

Vocabulary is really important but it is not enough for translation. Grammar
or grammatical structure is another special mean to make translating meaningful.
Insufficient knowledge on either of the two areas may lead to poor quality of
translation. For example, one interesting thing is Vietnamese tend to use active
sentences in their speech, but the passive voice is used very frequently in English,
therefore, it sometimes poses some problems for translators who translate from
English to Vietnamese.
-

English: A to be done ( by B)
Vietnamese:
+ Positive meaning: A được + động từ + (bởi B) or A được/ do + B + động từ
+ Negative meaning: A bị + động từ + (bởi B) or A bị + B + động từ
For example:





This house was built by Frank in 1880 = Ngôi nhà này do Frank xây năm 1880
Tom is given a prensent by Mary. = Tom được Mary tặng một món quà.

John was attacked by a stranger last night. = John bị một k ẻ l ạ m ặt tấn công t ối
hôm qua.
- English: A + to be done = A + be V3/ed or A + has/have been + V3/ed
-Vietnamese: A được + động từ (Positive meaning) or A bị + động từ
(Negative meaning) or Người ta/ ai đó + động từ + A
For example:



The contract has been stolen. = Bản hợp đồng đã bị đánh cắp r ồi. / Ai đó đã đánh
cắp bản hợp đồng rồi.
The positive and negative connotation is often conveyed in English, and it is
difficult to know how to use suitable Vietnamese word.

d. Lack of social knowledge

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Social knowledge is an important factor when translating social English
social into Vietnamese. Social articles often reflect, notify promptly and quickly
events, problems that have just happened, are happening or will happen in daily
life. Therefore, without social knowledge, it will be difficult for translators to
successfully translate articles. For example, an important issue that is of global
concern is the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is taking place very complex in over
200 countries. The number of infections and deaths in the world is constantly
being updated. If the translator does not update the information hourly and daily,
it will be difficult to translate it correctly.
e. Difficulty translating the headline


The headline has some characteristics so if translators don't obey, it is
difficult to translate. Some main characteristics of newspaper headlines:
-

Present tense = past tense
Present participle = event in progress
To + infinitive = future events
Past participle = passive voice
Nouns
Verb + Noun
For example:

-

Chinese Professors Turn To Business ( Các giáo sư Trung Qu ốc chuy ển sang kinh

-

doanh)
US Secretary To State Visiting Vietnam ( Ngoại trưởng Mỹ sang tham Vi ệt Nam)
Oil Price To Rise? ( Giá dầu sẽ tăng?)
Three More Investment Projects Licensed This Year ( Thêm ba d ự án đ ầu t ư n ữa

được cấp phép trong năm nay)
- Invesment Boom ( Bùng nổ đầu tư)
- See You In Court ( Hẹn gặp tại tòa)
f. Difficulty translating the proper names
• Geographical terms: Geographical terms can be either translated into another
language in Vietnamese or translated phonologically (“s” becomes “x”) or
-


remained unchanged. For examples:
Beijing = Bắc Kinh
Singapore = Singapore or Xin-ga-po
Commonweath = Liên bang, Liên hiệp, Khối thịnh vượng
Australia = Úc or Ôxtrâylia
Socialist = Xã hội chủ nghĩa
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