An investigation into common errors in Vietnames English translation made by third year English major students at Thu Dau Mot University

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

AN INVESTIGATION INTO COMMON ERRORS IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH

TRANSLATION MADE BY THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT

THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Submitted by NGUYEN NGOC TRAN

Supervisor: Dr. NGUYEN HOANG TUAN

HO CHI MINH City, May 2016

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I declare this thesis entitled “AN INVESTIGATION INTO COMMON ERRORS

IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION MADE BY THIRD-YEAR

ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY” is the result

of my own work except as cited in the reference.

The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and it is not currently submitted in

candidature of any other degree.

Ho Chi Minh City, May 2016

Nguyen Ngoc Tran

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan, for his guidance and encouragement during my study. I‟m

very grateful for being accepted as his student in this MA program and I really

appreciate all his help and suggestions on various drafts of this thesis. Without his

valuable advice and support, this thesis could not have been completed on schedule.

I would also like to express my full appreciation to all teachers at the Foreign

Language Faculty of Thu Dau Mot University who helped me so much in my data

collection. My special thanks also go to 82 third-year English major students at the

faculty who agreed to participate in the study.

Additionally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my dear friends for their

help and warm encouragement throughout my hard times carrying out the study.

Without them, I could not have overcome such times and concentrated on my study.

Finally, I am greatly indebted to my family, especially my loving parents for their

continuous support during my study. Their love and encouragement helped me

overcome the difficult times during the study. I could not have been able to

complete this project without their intense devotion.

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate students‟ common errors in Vietnamese-English

translation and the causes leading to those errors. For the objectives, 82 third-year

English major students (69 female, 13 male) and 6 teachers (2 female, 4 male) at the

Foreign Language Faculty, Thu Dau Mot University, were invited to participate in

this study. To identify students‟ errors in Vietnamese-English translation, the

student participants were asked to take five weekly assignments and one translation

test. The results revealed that students made grammatical errors, lexical errors, and

spelling errors in Vietnamese-English translation. The causes of these observed

errors were also indicated. They were the difference between English and

Vietnamese, inadequate culture background, students‟ insufficient linguistic

competence in the English language and the Vietnamese language, lack of cultural

background knowledge, students‟ inappropriate translation strategies, interference

of Vietnamese, misunderstanding, and students‟ carelessness. In addition, some

suggestions were offered in the light of the findings identified in the study. The

suggestions for teachers and students were specifically made to help improve

translation learning and teaching at the University.

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

1. L1: The first Language

2. L2: The second Language

3. L3: The third language

4. L4: The fourth language

5. EFL: English as a Foreign Language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No

Statement of authorship.......................................................................................... i

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... ii

Abstract.................................................................................................................iii

List of abbreviation............................................................................................... iv

Table of contents ................................................................................................... v

List of tables .......................................................................................................viii

List of figures........................................................................................................ ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the study................................................................................. 1

1.2. Aims of the study............................................................................................ 3

1.3. Research questions ......................................................................................... 4

1.4. Significance of the study ................................................................................ 4

1.5. Delimitation of the study................................................................................ 5

1.6. Organization of the study ............................................................................... 5

1.7. Chapter summary............................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Errors in foreign Language Learning ............................................................. 7

2.1.1. Definitions of errors .................................................................................... 7

2.1.2. Classification of errors ................................................................................ 8

2.2. Error Analysis............................................................................................... 15

2.2.1. Definitions of error analysis...................................................................... 15

2.2.2. Significance of error analysis.................................................................... 16

2.2.3. Error analysis procedure............................................................................ 19

2.3. Related concepts in translation theory.......................................................... 21

2.3.1. Definitions of translation........................................................................... 21

2.3.2. Translation Equivalence ........................................................................... 22

2.3.3. Kinds of translation .................................................................................. 22

2.3.4. Translation strategies................................................................................. 25

2.3.5. Factors affecting translation process......................................................... 31

2.3.6. Common errors in translation.................................................................... 35

2.4. Previous studies related to the present research ........................................... 43

2.5. Chapter summary.......................................................................................... 47

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research design ............................................................................................ 48

3.2. Scope of the research.................................................................................... 49

3.3. Participants of the study ............................................................................... 51

3.4. Instruments ................................................................................................... 53

3.4.1. The weekly assignments............................................................................ 54

3.4.2. The translation test .................................................................................... 56

3.4.3. The interview to teachers........................................................................... 58

3.5. Data collection procedure............................................................................. 59

3.6. Data analysis procedure................................................................................ 60

3.7. Chapter summary.......................................................................................... 61

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1. Analysis of Data ........................................................................................... 62

4.1.1. Framework of Analysis ............................................................................. 62

4.1.2. Results of the weekly assignment and the translation test ........................ 63

4.1.3. Results of the interview to teachers........................................................... 84

4.2. Discussion of results..................................................................................... 87

4.3. Summary of major findings.......................................................................... 96

4.4. Chapter summary.......................................................................................... 98

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Conclusions ................................................................................................ 100

5.2. Suggestions................................................................................................. 102

5.2.1. Suggestions for teachers.......................................................................... 102

5.2.2. Suggestions for students.......................................................................... 104

5.3. Recommendations for further study ........................................................... 105

5.4. Chapter Summary....................................................................................... 106

REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 107

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: Weekly assignments............................................................... 115

APPENDIX B: The translation test.................................................................. 120

APPENDIX C: The letter to teacher respondents............................................ 125

APPENDIX D: The interview questions to teacher respondents..................... 126

LIST OF TABLES

Pages

Table 3.1 Description of teacher participants..................................................... 52

Table 3.2 Distribution of items in the weekly assignment ................................. 54

Table 3.2 Distribution of items in the translation test ........................................ 57

LIST OF FIGURES

Pages

Chart 3.1 Distribution of student participants by age ........................................ 53

Chart 3.2 Distribution of student participants by gender................................... 53

Chart 4.1 Framework of data analysis of the study............................................ 63

Chart 4.2 Distribution of translation error types................................................ 64

Chart 4.3 Distribution of grammatical error types............................................. 65

Chart 4.4 Distribution of lexical errors.............................................................. 78

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the general background and the purposes of the study. The

research questions are also presented followed by the significance of the study. The

delimitation, organization, and summary of the study are provided in the end.

1.1. Background to the Study

According to the latest research, translation has played a prominent part in

globalization, and international integration in recent years. Xuelian (2012) believes

that translation has greatly contributed to the information exchange across cultural

boundaries. With the help of translation, a minor community can reach out the

world and show its unique culture, which implies that through translation people

can learn how to appreciate different cultures, communities and countries (Serdihun

& Sivasish, 2012). In addition, translation can be applied as an effective means of

promoting learners‟ language learning since using learners‟ mother tongue in

language learning process can intensify learners‟ confidence and also give them

positive feeling of relaxation (Husain,1996; Sayuki, 2011). Sayuki (2011) also

agrees with Long (1991) and Dougty & Williams (1998) that translation can

encourage learners‟ awareness of form as well as meaning in context and improve

their reading and writing skills.

In spite of the crucial importance of translation in intercultural

communication and learners‟ language learning, the results from previous studies

show that the translator or the learner often has problems in translation like un￾equivalence or unnaturalness in translation from mother tongue into foreign

language (Khodabandeh, 2007; Aleksandra, 2009; Ahmad, 2010; Abbasi and

Karimnia, 2011; Hambali, 2011; Batoul, 2012; Diana and Mihaela, 2013).

In Vietnam, it is known that there have been many studies done on teaching

and learning translation recently, for instance errors in the translation of topic￾comment structures of Vietnamese into English (Pham Phu Quynh Na, 2005),

common mistakes in learning translation subject by the second-year English majors

(Duong Thi Thuy Hang and Nguyen Thi Cam Xuyen, 2010), and an analysis of

common errors on verb tenses and word choices in Vietnamese-English translation

made by the second-year English majors (Huynh Thanh Thuy, 2012). However,

none of them have concentrated on the context of University of Thu Dau Mot.

In the context of Thu Dau Mot University, translation is one of the

compulsory subjects. However, the majority of the students do not have good

results in the subject, which can be proved through the students‟ final exam results

at the end of the last semester (March, 2015). In addition, from the classroom

observation during translation course in academic year 2013-2014, the researcher

found that the students encounter many problems and difficulties.

To improve translation teaching and learning at Thu Dau Mot University, it

is necessary to identify students‟ common errors in translation as well as the causes

of these errors. Moreover, both the teacher and students need to find out suitable

solutions to improve students‟ translation performance and the teacher‟s translation