ABSTRACT
In the 21st century, the countries in the world all implement extensive
cooperation policies. Economic integration brings many benefits to developing
countries such as attracting foreign investment, learning and applying scientific and
technical achievements, and enhancing the quality workforce. In order for the
economy as well as the country to develop, so the English language development is an
inevitable requirement. English is widely used in communication and on the business
negotiation table. However, not everyone can speak English and can use English
fluently. Therefore, the profession of translation was born to become a bridge between
English users and non-English users.
Vietnam is also a very active country in cooperation and integration with the
world economy, so the Vietnamese government has introduced many policies to create
opportunities for foreign businesses to invest in Vietnam. Nowadays, we can see the
presence of many foreign enterprises in our country. Therefore, the demand for
compiling is also increasing.
Thuongmai University, which is one of the major economics universities, has
been major in training business English and teaching English translation. This is really
a great opportunity for those who love economics and want to become a translator. In
recent years, the English department is teaching translation very well and creating a lot
of excellent business English translators. Therefore, the researcher has done a study on
"the situation of translation skill of 3rd year students of English Department,
Thuongmai University so that we can present the pros and cons of the translation skill
of the students.
I am really grateful to my dear teacher, Ms. Nguyen Thuy Linh, for giving me a
lot of valuable advice regarding the content and format of this study, so that I can
complete my graduation paper. However, I know that my knowledge as well as my
ability are limited, so this study still has many errors in content and form. Therefore, I
hope to receive the help and comments from the teachers and readers to make this
study more complete.

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Topic “the situation of translation skill of 3rd year students of English Faculty,
Thuongmai University” is the content which I choose to study as well as graduate
thesis after I complete study program of English Faculty, Thuongmai University.
I would love to express my deepest gratefulness for people that helped and
supported me to fulfill this graduation paper successfully.
First and foremost, I want to send my sincere thank to Ms. Nguyen Thuy Linh
who plays a very important role for me so that I can do this graduation paper.
Completing this thesis is the difficult process if I do not get her valuable guidance and
her help. I know that she is very busy, but she also spends time to check my thesis and
give extremely useful advice for me. Once again, I appreciate her assistance very
much and wish her good health.
In addition, all the teachers of English Faculty at Thuongmai University equipped
and provided me a lot of knowledge relating to translation in order that I can do the
graduation paper easier. The teachers are always ready to answer all my questions as
well as give me the best advice for me to be on the right track.
Furthermore, I owe earnest thankfulness to 3 rd year students of English Faculty,
Thuongmai University, thanks to them I can complete the survey in the best way. They
spent their precious time doing the conveying questions and translating some English
Vietnamese texts.
Last but not least, I would like to show my gratitude to my family and friends
who have always been by my side encouraging and assisting me in times of difficulty.
Thanks for all!
Student
Nguyen Minh Hang

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..........................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.....................................................................................iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES............................................................................v
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY....................................................................1
1.1 Rationale................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Previous studies......................................................................................................2
1.3 Aims of the study....................................................................................................5
1.4 Research subject....................................................................................................6
1.5 Scope of the study..................................................................................................6
1.6 Research methodology...........................................................................................6
1.6.1 Research questions..............................................................................................6
1.6.2 Research setting and participants........................................................................7
1.7 Organization of the study......................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................8
2.1 Definition of translation........................................................................................8
2.2 Translation methods..............................................................................................9
2.3 Translation strategies...........................................................................................14
2.4 The factors influencing the process of translation.............................................16
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS..................................................................21
3.1 Results................................................................................................................... 21
3.1.1 Results collected from questionnaire.................................................................21
3.1.2 Result from interview questions.........................................................................32
3.2 Discussion.............................................................................................................34
CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTION................................36
4.1 Suggestions in general on improving translation skill.......................................36
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................40

REFERENCE............................................................................................................. 41
APPENDIX................................................................................................................. 42

iii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations
SL
TL
USA
UK
B.A

Meaning
Source language
Target language
United State America
The United Kingdom
Bachelor of Art

iv


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: The basic understanding of compilation knowledge......................................21
Table 2: Influences on the translation process of 3rd year students...............................22
Table 3: Common areas of translation..........................................................................23
Table 4: Causes make difficulties in translation process..............................................28

Table 5: English translations........................................................................................31
Figure 1: Translation Methods.....................................................................................13
Figure 2: Documents of the fields the student wants to practice..................................24
Figure 3: The time students spend translating a short passage.....................................24
Figure 4: Students do things to improve their translation skill.....................................25
Figure 5: Score of the mid term translation tests..........................................................26
Figure 6: Score of the midterm advanced translation tests...........................................26
Figure 7: Difficulties in translation skill......................................................................28
Figure 8: Vietnamese translations................................................................................29

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY
1.1 Rationale
On the Earth, there are more than two hundred countries, every country has it
own language. Language helps people to understand each other better and it makes the
culture in each country more unique and interesting. We are living in the 21 st century,
when countries all over the world cooperate with each other more. Therefore, we need
a language so that people can communicate more easily and we find that English
becomes a language which is used in many nations such as USA, Australia, UK and so
on. In Vietnam, everyone is very enthusiastic about learning English.
As far as I find out, David Crystal, who is a famous British linguist in the field
of Internet linguistics, said that if there are 360 people, about 330 people use English
as their mother tongue. What about people who speak English as a second language?
Estimates for various results range from 470 million to over 1 billion people. Thus,
many people wonder why English is so widely used. We want to answer for this
question, we need find out the past. It is often said that the sun never sets over
England. The UK had too many colonies around the world in the past, when the Sun
goes down in one colony, the sun is rising in another. The British Empire annexed,

invaded, ruled and influenced in many countries around the world. As the result, the
culture and language of UK greatly influenced its colonies. In the former colonies of
the British Empire, people still speak English language as their second language,
typically some regions like Philippines, India, HongKong and South Africa.
Especially when America was discovered by a explorer named Christopher
Columbus and fierce conflicts occurred in British society, there were many British
who decided to move to America. At that time, not only British people but also many
people from other European countries migrated to America. Finally, they chosen
English to become common language of people. In fact, English is the easiest language
to learn compared to other languages, especially Vietnamese.
Nowadays, we see that there are documents that are written by English. It is
estimated that over half the online information is written in English. Additionally, the
global dominance of Hollywood blockbusters and music have added to the appeal of
English. English songs with catchy melodies, American movies with new details have
attracted everyone around the globe and people started to love English. These things
contribute to the popularity of English language around the world.
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English language is more and more popular, it is said that only if we are fluent
in English can we get a good job. However, not everyone learning English can use
English fluently. Basic communication is quite simple, but we need study and practice
more to be able to communicate in English most fluently. We all know that language
and culture are often closely linked, we are taught that a word regularly does not have
a fixed meaning and that word may be translated into different meanings in different
cultures and contexts. For example, “mother” is translated into “mẹ, má, bầm or bu” in
Vietnam because in each regions in Vietnam, the calling of a mother is also different.
Therefore, translators are people who understand both the culture of the source
language and the culture of the target language in order that they can translate
correctly.

Therefore, there are many people who choose to learn English translation, they
would like to become a professional translator. English major students at Thuongmai
University are learned translation very methodically. In particularly, third year English
students are taught from basic lesson to advanced lessons in translation skills. Yet, the
situation of translation skill of third year students of English Faculty contains pros and
cons that need to be studied and if there are several problems, we need have some
solutions so that the problems are no longer a hindrance in our compilation. Hence,
the researcher determined to do research on this topic “the situation of translation of 3 rd
year English students, Thuongmai University”.
1.2 Previous studies
Translation is always an interesting and attractive topic for researchers in
applied linguistics. Everybody often thinks that translation is not difficult, we only
need have wide vocabulary. However, English translation is not the same as other
English skills, we have to put the translation on paper, so it must be elaborate in every
word. Thus, there are lots of books published and researches conducted in the world.
Those books and studies have provided useful translation theories as well as assist to
improve translation skills.
First of all, translation is difficult with English learners. It demands students to
master a lot of grammar, sentence structure and types of words. Besides, students have
to read a lot to know penmanship of English people which is often used. Another point
that is difficult to translate in English is idioms, when translating, we must look for
equivalent words in Vietnamese. For example: “As strong as a horse” has an idiom in
Vietnamese that has equivalent meaning “khoe nhu trau”, though we see that a horse
2


means “mot con ngua”, but there are no idioms in Vietnamese that mean “khoe nhu
ngua”. Therefore, the book “English Vietnamese Translation Methods” is published by
Thoi Dai publishing company, it gives students translation methods and practices to
help them know the basic of translation. Next, that is translation exercises including

many different fields, students will become familiar with the terminology in each field.
However, this book focuses too much on the practice of translation and translation
methods, so relevant and extensive knowledge such as translation strategies or factors
influencing in translation process is not interested. As I have learned, the translation
strategies come with certain translation methods, which will help the translator
translate the article more effectively. Although the book gives many exercises that
have different topic, those exercises are only basic level but not advanced. Thus, if we
want to practice advanced translation, we should look for more lessons from other
sources.
Secondly, if we want our translation to be perfect, the context plays a very
important role. Therefore, the book “Contexts in Translating” is designed to provide
knowledge for readers so that they can translate more simply. “Contexts in
Translating” is designed to help translators grasp the varieties of contexts and its
importance to understand clearly a text and reproduce the meaning in another
language. The contexts include the historical setting of writing a text, the cultural
factors that make a perfect text. The types of audiences for which the translation is
intended, and the most efficient and effective ways of producing a satisfactory
representation of the source-language text. The structural levels of language are
described, and the principal features of text organization are also explained. In
addition, the main features of other books such as language and cultural features on
translation also are outlined, and a chapter on basic theories of translation is followed
by a selective bibliography. In this book, Nida, who is author of the book, provides not
only definition about translation, but also valuable information that relates in
translation as translating versus interpreting so that readers can be more deeply aware
of translation. Besides, he also dedicates a whole section to write about words in
context that plays an important role in translating and a lot of other information to help
us improve our translation skills. However, This book is suitable for those who have a
certain background in translation, because it has a lot of in-depth knowledge of
translation so it will be difficult to understand for some people start to translation.
3



Finally, after we have a firm foundation of translation, we have to practice
translation a lot. When we learn translation, we can get some troubles that we do not
know how to deal with it. Thus, translation practice is the best way in order to improve
translation skill and find solutions for difficulties. The book “Effective Translation
Practice” written by

Nguyen Manh Thao. This book supplies effective methods

derived from the study of translation theory, and especially the author's experience in
teaching and translating. This book focuses on translation practice, so theory is not
discussed. It presents translation practice techniques from simple to complex, grammar
in translation. Readers have an opportunity to translate because it gives short texts and
long texts. This is a great book to practice and improve your translation skills through
a series of exercises but the downside of this book is that it does not offer solutions to
the mistakes made by translators. Therefore, translators may feel confused about
whether their translation is good or not.
Additionally, students at universities perform studies of translation. Those
researches are presented and analyzed quite meticulously, so we ourselves refer to
several research papers to enhance our translation skill.
For instance, “A study on techniques to deal with non equivalence in translating
English idioms into Vietnamese”, Pham Thi Luong Giang, 2010. This research was
done to show the reader techniques for handling incompatibility while translating
English idioms into Vietnamese. Besides providing background knowledge, she also
pointed out the difficulties that translators often face in translating idioms. Translating
an English idiom into Vietnamese is really not easy. We have to understand that
English idiom is used in a certain situation so that we can find an equivalent idiom in
Vietnamese. This requires the translator to have a good understanding of British and
Vietnamese cultures. However, incompatibilities in translating English idioms into

Vietnamese are still present, so this study is inevitable. Although the study give
necessary information that is relevant in non equivalence in translating English idioms
into Vietnamese, it has not yet indicated the causes of the difficulties and specific
measures to deal with those difficulties.
The next study is also associated with improving translation skill, “Common
mistakes in learning translation subject by the second-year English majors at Dong
Thap University” (The B.A thesis), Duong Thi Thuy Hang and Nguyen Thi Cam
Xuyen, 2010. They performed this thesis to find out difficulties as well as the reality of
4


translation skill of students. They gave recommendations for students so that students
can overwhelm these obstacles in this course. Additionally, this study targeted
solutions in learning and teaching translation. This helped students to feel excited in
learning as well as to be creative in their way of learning. Moreover, teachers will
consider students to be in the center during the lessons and from there they will be
more active in learning. This study has many advantages, but it also has disadvantages
owing to the lack of explaining translation theory and listing many examples but not
analyzing carefully. Therefore, it makes the reader feel confused.
1.3 Aims of the study
The main intention of the research expresses the reality of translation skill of
third year English students, Thuongmai university. Additionally, this research is
intended to determine difficulties in translating skill and it also gives some solution to
develop the reality as well as go through difficulties. However, researching on the
current state of translation skill is the most important part in this thesis. Hence, the
objects of the study are summarized below:
To catch on the reality of translation skill of third year students in English
Faculty. This thesis points out the translating ability of third year students, their
translation skill is good, fair or poor.
If the reality is good and fair, we will have to learn and develop our strengths.

Yet, if the reality is poor, this study learns some reasons of this poor situation.
Usually, a bad situation comes with difficulties, so I have to ascertain some problems
of third year students of English department come across translating English into
Vietnam and vice versa.
To suggest strategies and possible solutions, which can be applied to stimulate
students in improving translation skill of third year students in English Department,
Thuongmai University.
1.4 Research subject
This graduation paper concentrates on the situation of translation skill of third
year students of English Faculty, Thuongmai University. When we understand the
current state of translation skills, we will recognize the good and the weaknesses to
promote the weak points and improve the weakness.
1.5 Scope of the study
The study focuses on the situation of translation skill of the third year students of
English department. The research is implemented at class of 3 rd year students of
English department at the Vietnam Commercial University. With this topic, the
5


research focuses on third year student of English Faculty, Thuongmai University. It
takes about 8 weeks to perform the research.
1.6 Research methodology
The methodology of this study includes the qualitative study and the quantitative
study, but the most principal one is the quantitative study. The researcher use the
qualitative study to aim to observe translating ability of participants. The researcher
implements some interview to check and exchange information with interviewees and
then the data will be analyzed. Next, the quantitative study comprises questionnaires
applied to third years students to measure their translating ability, then to find out the
answer for the research question. The quantitative study also supplies crucial
information to discuss other aspects of the research questions. The quantitative study

utilized a survey by using questionnaires, to collect essential information about their
opinion towards the important of translation skill in these days. Finally, the data is
collected through quantitative instruments were analyzed so that we can know about
the situation of translation skill of third year students in English department.
1.6.1 Research questions
To determine the reality of translation skill, I have to find answers for those
questions:
- How is the student's translation ability like?
- What do difficulties students have to face with when they translate from
English into Vietnamese and versa vice?
- What solution can deal with problems?

6


1.6.2 Research setting and participants
a. Research setting
The research is conducted in English faculty, Thuongmai University. English
department specializes in training the business English for students who are passionate
with economy and English language. Students are equipped with wide and deep
knowledge that is necessary for their future job. There are six classes and about 250
the third year students in English department.
b, Research participants
Participants in this study include third year students of English department at
Thuongmai University. The researcher directly interviews about 20 of these students
and there are 80 questionnaires. These questionnaires are handed out the respective
number of students. These students are 3rd year students in the English department, all
of whom have learned the basics of translation and they are qualified to answer the
questions the researcher asks.
1.7 Organization of the study

The study includes four chapters:
Chapter 1: Overview of the study
Chapter 2: Literature review
Chapter 3: Research findings
Chapter 4: Recommendations and conclusion

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition of translation
Translation is a term in the linguistic field, however, people often simply
understand that translation is the conversion of one language into another language.
For example, an English text is translated into Vietnamese. This understanding is
considered to be the simplest way of understanding for most people who learn English
or use English to communicate since linguistic terms are often difficult for people to
know. As for experts or professors that specialize in language studies, they give
different definitions of translation.
Translation is rendering a written text into another language in the way that the
author intended the text. In addition, translators are concerned with the written word.
They render written texts from one language into another. Translators are required to
undertake assignments which range from simple items, such birth certificates and
driving licenses, to more complex written material, such as articles in specialized
professional journal, business contracts and legal documents. This is the definition that
I am learned from the book “Theory of Interpreting and Translation”.
The next definition of translation, Newmark (1981) indicated that translation is
“rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author
intended the text” or “a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message
and/or a statement in one language by the same message and or statement in another
language”. The noun craft does not mean the act of someone to make something such

as table, chair and so on. In this definition, Newmark implied that translators are like
craftsmen. Craftsmen turn one thing into another that suits people’s different needs, so
do translators, they transfer foreign language to native language so that people who
don’t know foreign language can comprehend the content of certain documents.
According to the book “A Textbook of Translation – a Translator” of Newmark,
translation is included four levels: translation is first a science, which entails the
knowledge, can be identified; secondly, it is a skill, which calls for appropriate
language and acceptable usage; thirdly, an art, which distinguishes good from
undistinguished writing and is the creative, the intuitive, sometimes the inspired, level
of the translation; lastly, a matter of taste.
On the other hand, Nida and Taber (1982) were linguists who developed the
dynamic-equivalence Bible-translation theory and the founders of the modern
8


discipline of translation studies. They stated that translation consists in reproducing in
the receptor language the closet natural equivalent of the source language message.
Nida and Taber emphasized in equivalence of the translation process. Equivalence
consists of the concept of sameness and similarity; it has the same or a similar effect or
meaning in translation. There are types of equivalence defined by Nida, which are also
called two basic orientations of translation, they are formal correspondence and
dynamic equivalence.
Therefore, the translation process comprises studying the lexis, grammatical
structure, communication situation, and cultural context of the source language text;
all these are analyzed in order to determine its meaning. This same meaning is then
reconstructed using the lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the
target language and its cultural context.
2.2 Translation methods
English language is an indispensable part of personal development and
improvement now. When we learn English, in addition to basic skills such as listening,

speaking, reading and writing, translation is also a skill that needs to be focused on.
We all know that most of valuable information is written by English language. If our
translation skills are excellent, we can learn a lot of new knowledge from documents
written in English while Vietnamese documents cannot meet our needs. When we want
to translate well, we need know about methods of translation.
According to Peter Newmark, translation is divided to two translation types as
SL emphasis and TL emphasis. Besides these two types of translation, there are 8
translation methods that we need to consider. In this part, some of methods are
presented based on data that the researcher find out and refer from different sources.
Semantic translation:
Newmark remarks: “Semantic translation attempts to recreate the precise
flavour and tone of the original: the words are “sarced”, not because they are more
important than the content, but because content and form are one”.
It is said that semantic and faithful translation are two extremes, semantic
translation differs from “faithful translation” only in as far as it must take more
account of the aesthetic value (that is, the beautiful and natural sound) of the SL text.
As defined by Newmark, we will omit some unnecessary words so that the translation
becomes more relevant to the culture of the TL and closer to the type of the SL. The
distinction between “faithful” and “semantic” translation is that the first is
uncompromising and dogmatic, while the second one is more flexible, admits the
9


creative exception to 100% fidelity and allows for the translator’s intuitive empathy
with the original. For semantic translation, translators are permitted to be creative
languages but still retains the spirit of the original. The compilers do not necessarily
have to follow a rigid pattern. There are some examples of semantic translation as “she
has a sunny smile on her face” which translated into Vietnamese “Cơ gái có gương mặt
với nụ cười tỏa nắng”. In this example, we see that Vietnamese translation feels close
and familiar, the translation is not rigid and difficult to understand, but it is still very

close to the original. A follow-up example is "Right in the Hanoi, Hoan Kiem is an
enchanting body of water, a peaceful oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the city"
which in Vietnamese means "Nằm ngay giữa trái tim Hà Nội, hồ Hoàn Kiếm là một hồ
nước đẹp mê hồn, một ốc đảo bình yên tách biệt với sự hối hả bận rộn của thành phố”.
The semantic translation method makes words in sentence more vivid and creative,
when we read the translation of the semantic translation method we would like to go to
Hanoi immediately.
Word – for – word translation:
The source language word order is preserved and the words translated singly by
their most common meanings, out of context. Cultural words are translated literally.
The main use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechanics of the
source language or to construe a difficult text as presentation process. For examples:
she is an American -> Cô ta là một người Mỹ or “anh ta chơi cầu lông rất giỏi” that
translated into English “he plays badminton very well”. Looking at these two
examples we immediately see the characteristics of the word for word translation
method, the position of the words is not changed and these words also have the most
common meaning.
Literal translation:
A word – for – word translation closely following the form of the short language
is called a literal translation. Munday said that according to Vinay and Darbelnet,
literal translation is the writer’s prescription for good translation: “literalness should
only be sacrificed because of the structural and metalinguistic requirement and only
after checking that the meaning is fully preserved”. Alternatively, we can understand
that literal translation is the replacement of the syntactic structure of the original
language, usually a sentence or a clause, with a similar or nearly identical syntax. The
translator does not need to make the changes except for the changes required by the
grammar of the translation language itself. I will give several examples to give us a
10



better understanding of literal translation method such as “I tried for a moment to see
the situation through her eyes” (Deignan, 1998), which translates as “Tơi đã thử một
lần nhìn nhận tình huống thơng qua đơi mắt của cơ ấy”; another is “Mời bạn về nhà tôi
chơi” which is expressed in English “Invite friend about my house play”. From these
examples, literal translation is difficult to understand and seemingly meaningless, it
has no value in communication. Therefore, literal translation can be considered as a
very low level of translation.
Faithful translation:
The translation is still relatively close to the original in terms of grammatical
structure form to text structure. Translators try to accurately reproduce the meaning of
the context within the constraints and limitations of linguistic grammatical structures.
Cultural words have been transferred intact into translation. For example: “the strategy
is done by him” -> “chiến dịch này được thực hiện bởi anh ta” and “Fed is trying to
lose a few pounds. He goes jogging for an hour every evening but when he comes
home, he eats like a horse” (Seidl & Mc Movdie, 1988) -> Fed đang cố gắng giảm vài
pound. Mỗi đêm anh ta chạy một tiếng nhưng khi anh ta về nhà, anh ta lại ăn như một
con lợn. The translations in these examples all are retained the grammatical structure
of the original, but words are still communicated flexibly based on its context and
consistent with the culture of the source language.
Communicative translation
Newmark defines communicative translation as a mode aiming to produce the
same effect on the TL readers as was produced by the original on the SL readers. In
other words, communicative translation allows the translator to transmit the SL into
the TL by readily acceptable and comprehensible ways to the readership. For instance,
“Thân em vừa trắng, lại vừa tròn/Bảy nổi ba chìm với nước non…” (Ho Xuan Huong)
is best translated into English by, “My body is powdery white and round/I sink and
bob like a mountain in a pond”. This example is the two lines of the famous poem
"Banh Troi Nuoc" by Ho Xuan Huong, which is often difficult to translate poetry
because it has its own characteristics. Therefore, when we translate into English, we
are not interested in the word, but we need only care the message in the text and effort

to reinterpret that message in the target language so that its reader understands and
accepts the message of poem.
Free translation:

11


Newmark states as free translation types includes imitating the issue without the
manner, or the content without the original form. It generally interprets the text longer
than the original. Namely, the same content is conveyed in the target text but with
quite different grammatical structure. Sometimes, free translation is called
paraphrases. For example, “the film is beyond any words” which is expressed into
Vietnamese “bộ phim này không thể chê vào đâu được”, another example is “Theo
Fox News, Georgia hiện đã kiểm đếm 99% phiếu bầu. Mơ hình dự đốn của hãng tin
nãy cho biết ông Biden hiện đã có 264 phiếu đại cử tri, thiếu 6 phiếu nữa để giành
chiến thắng chung cuộc”, which is translated as “According to Fox New, Georgia has
now counted 99% of the votes. Voting is a process of making people's decisions to
choose an individual to hold government positions. This is the common mechanism
that democracies now use to allocate office within the legislature, sometimes in the
executive, judiciary, and local government. Model predictions of the news agency
earlier showed that Mr. Biden has 264 electoral votes, missing 6 more votes to win the
final”, which is paraphrase more than the content of the original, the paraphrase aims
to explain more clearly information that readers may not know.
Adaptation:
This is the “freest” form of translation. It is used mainly for plays and poetry;
the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture converted to the TL
culture and the text rewritten. The adaptation method is a special equivalence and
special situation. Literary works are used the adaptation methods when translators
translate them from SL to TL, translators make the translations to understand easily
and readers does not feel alienation when reading the translation. However, this

method is inflexible, adaptation only matches with translating long texts, novels and so
on.
Idiomatic translation:
Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original but tends to
distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialism and idioms where there do not
exist in the original. The essence of the idiomatic method is no idiom in the original,
but when we translate, we adds idioms to make nuance of meaning or expressiveness
to the text more.
For those who are just starting to learn translation, idiom translation will be a big
obstacle for them. One of the reasons for this difficulty may be their limited cultural
understanding of the target language. When translating an idiom, we cannot literally
12


translate it because it can be confusing to the reader, so we need to find an equivalent
idiom in the target language. For example, “he works as if he hangs out” which is
expressed into Vietnamese “anh ta đúng là cưỡi ngựa xem hoa”. In the original, the
writer does not use any idiom, but when it is translated into Vietnamese, an idioms is
used. We see that the sentence becomes better and more beautiful.
Word-for-word translation

Adaptation

Literal translation

Faithful translation

Free translation

Translation

Methods
Figure 1: Translation Methods

Communicative
translation

Idiomatic
translation
Semantic translation

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2.3 Translation strategies
Here are some of the translation strategies that I know, these strategies are all
suggested by translators, commissioners of translation and others. Based on these
translation strategies, difficulties in translation can be approached more simply.
Strategy 1: How to deal with non equivalence at word level
Newmark defines “it is impossible to expect perfect translation equivalence
between SL word and its TL correspondent”. According to Newmark, he said that
between two words that are supposed to be equivalent, there is always one word that
always includes many other meanings, and this leads to the problem of nonequivalence at the word level. There are still exceptions such as new concepts or ideas
to Vietnamese, as is the case with “gender”, which is in fact a relatively new concept
in general, and a difficult one to understand and explain in many languages.
The methods that are listed below can be used to handle cases of nonequivalence. In addition to the methods listed above, there are several translation
methods that are suitable for this strategy. Those are methods like translation by a
more general word, translation by omission, translation by paraphrase and so on. For
example relating to translation by a more general word, English makes distinctions
among desk, bench, table, board, in which, the board is the table that is used when we
eat and the desk is the table that students use. Vietnamese, on the other hand, refers to

objects that are usually made of wood and that come with chairs as “bàn”. Another
instance of translation by omission, the sentence, “Seasons of rain and snow had
turned the iron gate rusty and left the cemetery’s low white stone walls in decay” is
best translated into Vietnamese by, “mưa và tuyết đã biến cánh cổng sắt bị hoen gỉ và
để lại những bia mộ đá trắng của nghĩa trang trong tình trạng hư hại” which omits the
word “seasons” in the translation. The difference in meaning between “seasons of rain
and snow” and “rain and snow” is very negligible. Therefore, we can omit that word.
Finally, this is an example of translation by paraphrase. The sentence, “save Earth. We
have nowhere else to go” cannot be expressed simply as “cứu lấy Trái đất. Chúng tơi
khơng có nơi nào khác để đi” as was recommended by someone. This does not
account for their full meanings, so we need paraphrase in the following translation:
“Cứu lấy Trái đất chính là bảo vệ mơi trường, hạn chế sử dụng túi nilon, có những biện
pháp thiết thực trong xử lý các chất thải, trông thêm nhiều cây xanh và có những hình
phát thích đáng đối với lâm tặc. Trái đất là nhà của chúng ta, Trái đất bị hủy hoại

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chúng ta khơng cịn nhà và khơng có một nơi nào để đi”. Therefore, readers understand
the full meaning of this slogan.
Strategy 2: How to deal with idioms and fixed expressions
Idioms and fixed expressions can be dealt with in ways similar to those discussed
above, particularly translation by paraphrase and translation by omission. Besides,
translating idioms and fixed expressions can use idioms or fixed expressions of similar
meaning and form in TL. We can sometimes see a Vietnamese idiom with the same
meaning as an English idiom, for example “Speak one way and act another” which is
expressed using the same words in Vietnamese “nói một đường làm một nẻo”, another
is “slow but sure” that translates as “chậm mà chắc” or an English idiom as “The
empty vessel makes greatest sound” which translates as “Thùng rỗng kêu to”. It is
great if such a match can be found, but this kind of correspondence is not common,

and it is usually necessary to use other strategies in dealing with idioms and fixed
expressions. In other words, it is possible to use an idiom or fixed expression of
similar meaning but dissimilar form. We will encounter this situation a lot while
translating English, between English and Vietnamese there are many similar idioms in
meaning but different words. Good examples are the translation for “As black as coal”
which translates as “Đen như mực”, the meaning here is clearly the same I both idioms
- to compare as black as something - but the way in which each language expresses it
is bound to the culture of the language. “Coal” means “than” in Vietnamese, however,
similar idioms in Vietnamese use the word "ink" to compare. Although the two objects
are of different nature, they are both black Another is “so many men, so many minds”
that is expressed as “chín người mười ý”.
Next, the third strategy is how to deal with voice, number and person. For this
strategy, translators have to rely on the context of the text. The passive voice is used
very frequently in English and poses some problems for translation into Vietnam. The
passive English sentence emphasizes the subject as the object, whereas in Vietnamese,
it is often used an active sentence to emphasize the subject is human. In Vietnamese
language, people will use word “được” if the sentence has a positive meaning and the
word “bị” if the sentence has a negative one. For example, “Anna will be given a ride
to school by Tom tomorrow” that means as “Anna sẽ được Tom đưa đi học bằng xe
đạp vào ngày mai” or “Anna sẽ bị Tom đưa đi học bằng xe đạp vào ngày mai”. In
order to come up with the most suitable and perfect translation, the translator will
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consider whether it was a positive or negative experience for Anna. Each situation uses
different words to represent number and person. For example, “women will eat lunch
at our restaurant” which is expressed in Vietnamese “những người phụ nữ này sẽ ăn
trưa tại nhà hàng của chúng ta”. This example illustrates for translating number,
“women” means “những người phụ nữ”. Another example relating to translating
person, mother tell her son: “you should clean up your room right now” -> người mẹ

nói với con trai của cơ ấy: “con nên dọn phịng của con ngay lập tức”. In this case,
“you” is translated as “con” because in the context, we know that this is a talk bet
between mother and child. However, in different context, “you” can be translated as
“bạn, em, anh,….”.
The last strategies are how to deal with proper names, how to deal with non –
subject sentences and how to deal with newspaper headlines. Translating the proper
name from English to Vietnamese, we need to pay attention to groups of words such as
geographic words, organization name and medical texts because these groups of words
are unique and specific. For example, “Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo” is translated as
“Ministry of Education and Training, or another is “Malaysia” that translates as “Malay-xi-a”. In Vietnamese language, some non – subject sentences are often come
across. In this case, the techniques of translation can be used, such as passive voice,
dummy subject,..... This is an example of translating non-subject sentences, “cần áp
dụng những thành tựu khoa học, kỹ thuật vào sản xuất” -> “it is crucial to apply
cientific and technical achievements to production”. Finally, dealing with newspaper
headlines, we have to know some rules like present tense = past tense; present
participle = event in progress and so on. Those are some strategies needed to do a good
job of the compilation. For instance, “Can Tho to build VND 3.8 trillion western belt
road” -> Cần Thơ xây dựng đường vành đai phía Tây 3,8 nghìn tỷ đồng
2.4 The factors influencing the process of translation
In the process of translation, there are many factors that influence the quality of
the translation. One of the things that contributes to the success of the translation is the
harmonious combination of different elements. However, not everyone is aware of
this. Each element has a certain degree of contribution to help us focus on improving
our translation skills. Here are some of the basic factors influencing the translation
process.
Firstly, grammatical structure and vocabulary are the first factors that deeply
affect the translation process and these factors are crucial. In order for the translation
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process to be done smoothly, we need to have a firm grasp of the grammatical and
lexical structure of both the source and target languages. In Vietnamese, there are
grammatical structures that English does not have or the habit of using grammar
structures in the two countries is also different. For example, Vietnamese people often
use non-subject sentences or prefer to use active sentences over passive sentences.
There are also differences in the order of words in sentences between English and
Vietnamese, an example is “bạn mua quyển sách này ở đâu?”, in English this sentence
is expressed as follows “where did you buy this book?”. Besides, an object will have
many words to denote because of the profound influence of the dialect, it creates a
diverse vocabulary system in Vietnamese language, but English language is not like
that, for instance, “pineapple” is translated into “dứa, thơm or khóm” in Vietnamese.
Secondly, that is the difference in style between the two languages. This
difference includes differences in the use of words, accents and especially differences
in culture between countries. For successful translation, being familiar with two
cultures is more important than having a good knowledge of two languages. This
requires us to understand the two languages as well as the customs between the two
countries in order to use words appropriately. In other words, although words, phrases
or sentences in English language seem easy to understand it is difficult to translate
feasibly. Just like in Vietnamese, one of the top notes that is always mentioned when
translating English documents into Vietnamese is "pure Vietnamese" translation. If a
translator does not care about the cultural context, he or she can commit some errors in
the translation. The existence of a cultural gap can make effect on the process of
translating, create the translation away from the culture of the target language and
become a translation no one wants to read.
Next, translators need have experience and knowledge so as to compile more
perfect. The experience contains life experience and translation experience. Simply,
when we do not have experience relating to certain issues we will be difficult to solve
those problems, let alone translate a text into another language properly. It is
understanding that will help you to handle situations more easily. When we have
experience translating many different types of documents we come across a type of

writing that we already have experience with. It will be very easy for you to translate
that text. In addition to experience, we must have basic and in – depth knowledge. If
we only have the basic, we won't be able to deal with fields that require specialized
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knowledge easily. Therefore, we need to try to cultivate our knowledge to always take
the initiative in all situations.
The next factor is ethical influence. Ethics is a system of social rules, standards
and norms through which people voluntarily adjust their behavior to suit the interests
of the community and society. Every society has an inherited ethical system that
guides people’s behavior and shapes their moral standards. A good translator is
someone who can convert the SL text into the TL but he or she still keeps the
harmony between the cultural and ethical values of both the source and target
language. The translation is consistent with the ethical system of the TL, but the spirit
in text of the SL is not lost.
Additionally, there are many other important factors that also affect the
translation process such as influence of the mother tongue, the knowledge
development of the translation domain, the ability of translators to acquire language
and language production, the purpose of translation, etc.
The influence of the mother tongue is enormous when we translate any foreign
text. All language learners use a language called their native language. You and I are
Vietnamese. Our native language is Vietnamese. Since we were born, everyone around
us has been speaking Vietnamese, writing in Vietnamese and that is the first language
that we come into contact with. Therefore, we have been exposed to Vietnamese for a
long time before we learn another foreign language such as English. For example,
nowadays the number of Vietnamese children learn English when they are in 3rd
grade. From this example we see that we have been speaking Vietnamese alone for 8
years. Hence, Vietnamese affects our ability to think language a lot. If we were in a
country whose mother tongue was English, we would have considered English as our

native language. Because we are exposed to Vietnamese more often than English,
when translating English documents into Vietnamese we are still more or less
influenced by our native language. If we know the balance between Vietnamese and
English, our translation will be excellent and vice versa, the translation will have many
errors such as structure error, vocabulary error.
The language production of translator also influences the translation process. In
the early days of learning English, teachers mainly focused on developing reading comprehension skills, vocabulary memorization, text translation, composition and
language analysis. This method gives us a rich English vocabulary and is a premise for
us to later compile long texts or texts with in-depth content in a certain field. A large
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vocabulary helps us to react quickly when we compile. Therefore, the ability of
translators to produce language is one of the central factors that we need to consider.
When translators have good language production ability, the process of translation is
easier. The translation also brings positive feedback from readers. Moreover,
translators will not make lexical mistakes. There are many people when they start to
translate because of poor language production, they have difficulty in translating and
their translations are not highly rated members.

In order to increase language

production, we can read many different texts to buildup our vocabulary. Besides, we
need practice writing and translating more usually so that our ability to reflect on
language also is developed.
Translating English is really not an easy job. Therefore, good translators are often
people with many years of experience in the profession and never stop learning and
improving their skills. In particular, the translator needs to consider the purpose of the
translation itself and this is also a factor affecting the translation process. Translators
always have to ask themselves what this translation is for. Each translation has

different purposes when it is translated. For example, the same medical document that
is translated is aimed at the target audience of masters, doctors in medicine who have
extensive specialized knowledge, they will have higher translation requirements. As
for medical students who do not have much experience, a simple and easy to
understand translation is required. Besides, the translation process is more convenient
and the purpose of translation is achieved. Translators should check the specialized
documentation of the translation. Especially, the professions need to ensure high
accuracy such as medicine, engineering, law ... the translator cannot translate slightly
or superficially. Therefore, the purpose of translation has a great impact on the
translation process and the translator's mindset.
In conclusion, these basic elements influence the translation process. The
difference in characteristics between English language and Vietnamese language as
well as the difference in culture of the two countries leads to troubles for translators.
Therefore, the translation can be incorrect or unsatisfactory. Thus, we need to be aware
of the factors affecting the process of the translation, those factors are researched and
summarized by experts working in the field of translation.

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