A STUDY ON THE ENGLISH VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF TERMS IN THE MATERIALS FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................i

ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................................ii

PART A: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................3

1. Rationale..............................................................................................................3

2. Scope of the study................................................................................................4

3. Aims of the study.................................................................................................4

4. Method of the study.............................................................................................5

5. Design of the study..............................................................................................5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT............................................................................................7

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND......................................................7

1. Terminology........................................................................................................7

1.1. Definition of terminology.............................................................................7

1.2. General features of terminology...................................................................8

1.3. Formation of terminology............................................................................9

1.4. Words and neologisms...............................................................................11

2. Translation theory..............................................................................................11

2.1. Definition of translation.............................................................................11

2.2. Translation methods...................................................................................12

2.3. Translation equivalence..............................................................................13

2.4. Translation procedures...............................................................................15

2.5. Technical term translation..........................................................................19

CHAPTER II: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TERM TRANSLATION............20

1. Structural features of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms.....................20

1.1. Simple terms...............................................................................................20

1.2. Complex terms...........................................................................................20

2. Structural features of English mechanical engineering terms...........................22

2.1. Simple terms...............................................................................................22

2.2. Complex terms...........................................................................................23

3. English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms....................24

3.1. English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering simple terms.24

3.2. English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering complex terms

.................................................................................................................................30

PART C: CONCLUSION..............................................................................................39

REFERENCES...............................................................................................................43

DATA SOURCES..........................................................................................................44

APPENDIXES

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale

In the trend of globalization and dramatic development of science and technology,

translation in general and technical translation in particular have become extremely

necessary and attracted very much attention from translation theorists and researchers.

Like many developing countries in the world, in national industrialization and

modernization, Vietnam needs continuously develop its mechanical engineering, one of the

most important fields of science and engineering. This means it is necessary for Vietnam to

improve international cooperation, translation studies and applications in mechanical

engineering.

More and more inventions as well as products of mechanical engineering are made in

the world. More and more new information and valuable experience in the field of

mechanical engineering should be shared and exchanged in order to constantly update

knowledge of such an essential field. Meanwhile, English is an international language; it is

used in almost fields, in many materials, and on various media. Therefore, the English￾Vietnamese translation particularly mechanical engineering term translation plays a very

important role in the development of mechanical engineering.

In practice, very few English-Vietnamese Mechanical dictionaries are published in

Vietnam. These dictionaries sometimes provide Vietnamese different meanings of the

same English term and they can not cover all the meanings of mechanical engineering

terms. This causes some difficulties for dictionary users to choose the most suitable terms.

Besides, translators and researchers sometimes find it difficult to translate a number of

English mechanical engineering terms into Vietnamese equivalents. The main reasons are

that they do not have enough knowledge of mechanical engineering and that Vietnamese

language has not had words that can express or present the meaning of some English terms

exactly. In this case, they need study and choose suitable translation strategies to carry out

the English-Vietnamese translation of terms in materials for mechanical engineering

effectively.

In addition, translation studies and applications are also important in English language

teaching. Translation is really useful for teachers who teach English for mechanical

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engineering. They can save time and sometimes help their students understand English

lessons more profoundly when they translate some English mechanical terms into

Vietnamese equivalents. In this case, they do not need analyse or explain English terms by

using other English words, which may cause confusion, waste much time, and make their

lectures more difficult. Moreover, teachers, students and engineers can understand and

translate English materials into Vietnamese more exactly and easily when they apply

appropriate translation strategies. It is better when they have the knowledge of English and

Vietnamese languages, translation theories as well as mechanical engineering to deal with

difficult mechanical engineering terms in English and Vietnamese languages.

It can be said that technical term translation in general and mechanical engineering

term translation in particular represent one of the most difficult tasks for everyone. In fact,

in Vietnam there are not many studies on English-Vietnamese translation of terms in

science and technology especially mechanical engineering and the need for and important

role of studies on the English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms are

increasing.

Therefore, the author decides to carry out a study on the English-Vietnamese

translation of terms in the materials for mechanical engineering. Hopefully, the thesis

would bring concrete benefits to translators/interpreters, researchers, engineers, teachers,

students and so on.

2. Scope of the study

There are innumerable English and Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms in many

materials for mechanical engineering. The study concentrates on typical English terms and

their Vietnamese equivalents in some materials for mechanical engineering. The materials

are derived from some books, dictionaries, and the Internet. The study will analyse typical

English mechanical engineering terms’ structural features, compare them with Vietnamese

equivalents, and then find out common translation strategies that can be applied in the

English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms.

3. Aims of the study

The study is ultimately aimed at:

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