Common translation errors (Vietnamese - English) committed by the third - year English majors - A case at Dong Nai technology university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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COMMON TRANSLATION ERRORS (VIETNAMESE – ENGLISH)

COMMITTED BY THE THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS:

A CASE AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by TRAN THI HOAI NAM, BA

Supervisor

NGUYEN HOANG TUAN, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2016

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis, entitled “Common translation errors (Vietnamese –English)

committed by the third-year English majors: A case at Dong Nai Technology

University”, is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, it does not contain material

published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have

qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main

text of this thesis.

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other tertiary institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2016

TRAN THI HOAI NAM

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply indebted to a number of people for helping me to make this thesis

possible. First and foremost, my deepest gratitude is to my wholehearted supervisor,

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan for providing me with the initial inspiration to start the

study as well as giving all of his thoughtful and insightful comments and his

invaluable encouragement during the process of writing the thesis. His excellent

academic guidance and continuous support helped me in all the time of my study.

Furthermore, my most sincere gratefulness also goes to Dr. Luu Trong Tuan for his

kindly assistance given to me in difficulties.

I would like to gratefully thank my TESOL 08 classmates for the happiness and

difficulties we share throughout the course, which would be an unforgettable

memory in my life. Particularly, I would like to give my special thanks to Mr.

Nguyen Tri Tuc and Mr. Luong Minh Tin for helping me with the analysis of the

translation tests of the students.

My profound thanks are also reserved for the managing boards, the English

lecturers, and the third-year English majors in the academic year of 2015 – 2016 at

Dong Nai Technology University, who gave me best possible conditions to conduct

the study.

And last, but by no means least, I am extremely appreciated the endless love of my

family who are always by my side. I will never forget day and night supports of my

parents, my sisters to overcome all challenges in my life.

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ABSTRACT

Nowadays, with the trend of globalization in Vietnam, English as an international

language is necessary to bring the country‟s image to the world via the articles,

journals, research about Vietnamese people and culture. Therefore, translation

should have been paid much attention to. However, majority of the third-year

English majors at Dong Nai Technology University (DNTU) find a common

problem that they feel difficult to translate from Vietnamese into English and they

commit many errors in translation. Moreover, there is no study on this case at

DNTU. Hence, the research was conducted with two main objectives: first, to

investigate the common errors in translation from Vietnamese into English made by

the third-year English majors at Dong Nai Technology University and second, to

find out possible causes of those errors. In order to serve the aims of the study, six

translation tests were used for thirty third-year English majors. Interviews were also

carried out with ten students and one teacher of the translation subject. The findings

revealed that there were a large number of micro and macro-level translation errors,

especially errors of word choice, prepositions, articles and tenses made by the

students. More critically, the causes of those errors included both subjective and

objective reasons according to the data collected. Subjective causes concerned the

lack of knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, culture, text type, and text style, the

ability to overcome the negative influence of the mother tongue in language

learning, the concentration and motivation in the translation process and the

inappropriate use of translation method while objective ones included the

differences between English and Vietnamese, the influence of the mother tongue

and inappropriate teaching documents and methods. Based on the findings of the

study, some important conclusions as well as recommendations were drawn, hoping

to improve translation teaching and learning at Dong Nai Technology University.

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ABBREVIATIONS

DNTU Dong Nai Technology University

FFL Faculty of Foreign Languages

SL Source language

TL Target language

ATA American Translators Association

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .......................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS.........................................................................................ii

ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................iii

ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................. iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 1

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

1.2 Rationale for the study...................................................................................... 2

1.3 Research objectives........................................................................................... 3

1.4 Research questions............................................................................................ 3

1.5 Significance of the research.............................................................................. 4

1.6 The scope and limitation of the study............................................................... 4

1.7 Definitions of terms.......................................................................................... 5

1.8 Overview of thesis chapters.............................................................................. 5

1.9 Chapter summary.............................................................................................. 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................ 7

2.1 Definitions of translation .................................................................................. 7

2.2 Equivalence in translation............................................................................... 12

2.2.1 Definitions of equivalence in translation ................................................ 12

2.2.2 Types of equivalence in translation......................................................... 14

2.3 The translation process ................................................................................... 14

2.4 Translation approaches................................................................................... 16

2.4.1 Text-type oriented translation ................................................................. 16

2.4.2 Text linguistics ........................................................................................ 18

2.5 Translation methods........................................................................................ 18

2.5.1 Word-for-word translation ...................................................................... 19

2.5.2 Literal translation .................................................................................... 19

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2.5.3. Faithful translation ................................................................................. 20

2.5.4 Semantic translation ................................................................................ 20

2.5.5 Free translation ........................................................................................ 20

2.5.6 Idiomatic translation................................................................................ 21

2.5.7 Adaption .................................................................................................. 21

2.5.8 Communicative translation...................................................................... 21

2.6. Errors in translation ....................................................................................... 22

2.6.1 Definitions of errors in translation .......................................................... 22

2.6.2 Classification and description of errors in translation............................. 23

2.6.2.1 Micro-level translation errors ............................................................ 25

2.6.2.2 Macro-level translation errors............................................................ 31

2.6.3 Stages of error analysis............................................................................ 33

2.6.4 Criteria for translation quality assessment .............................................. 33

2.7 Review of previous studies and the research gap ........................................... 35

2.8 Chapter summary............................................................................................ 40

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY......................................................................... 41

3.1 Research site ................................................................................................... 41

3.2 Participants and sampling ............................................................................... 42

3.2.1 Translation test participants......................................................................... 42

3.2.2 Interview participants .................................................................................. 43

3.2.2.1 Student participants.............................................................................. 43

3.2.2.2 Teacher participants ............................................................................. 43

3.3 Methods of data collection.............................................................................. 43

3.4 Data collection instruments ............................................................................ 44

3.4.1 Translation tests....................................................................................... 44

3.4.2 Interviews................................................................................................ 45

3.5 Data collection procedures ............................................................................. 46

3.5.1 Piloting the translation tests and interview questions ............................. 47

3.5.2 Data collection procedures...................................................................... 47

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3.5.2.1 Translation tests.................................................................................... 47

3.5.2.2 Student interviews................................................................................ 48

3.5.2.3 Teacher interview................................................................................. 48

3.6 Analytical framework ..................................................................................... 49

3.7 Ethical issues................................................................................................... 55

3.8 Chapter summary............................................................................................ 55

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................................... 56

4.1 Results and Discussion ................................................................................... 56

4.1.1 From translation tests ............................................................................. 56

4.1.1.1 Micro-level translation errors ............................................................ 57

4.1.1.2 Macro-level translation errors............................................................ 72

4.1.2 DNTU students‟ responses to the interview and interview analysis...... 78

4.1.3 DNTU teacher‟ responses to the interview and interview analysis ....... 82

4.1.3.1 Question 01 ...................................................................................... 82

4.1.3.2 Question 02 ...................................................................................... 83

4.1.3.3 Question 03 ...................................................................................... 85

4.2 The summary of main findings....................................................................... 85

4.2.1 Research question 01 .......................................................................... 85

4.2.2 Research question 02 .......................................................................................86

4.3 Chapter summary............................................................................................ 87

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ................................... 89

5.1 Conclusions..................................................................................................... 89

5.2 Implications .................................................................................................... 91

5.2.1 Recommendations for students ............................................................... 91

5.2.2 Recommendations for teachers ............................................................... 93

5.2.3 Recommendations for The Executive Board of FFL .............................. 97

5.2.3.1 Textbooks........................................................................................... 97

5.2.3.2 Using Billingual Corpus..................................................................... 98

5.2.3.3 Teaching Grammar modules.............................................................. 98

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5.2.3.4 Increasing the credits for each module and setting class-size limits . 99

5.3 Suggestions for further research ..................................................................... 99

5.4 Chapter summary.......................................................................................... 100

REFERENCES...................................................................................................... 101

APPENDIX 1: TRANSATION TEST 1 .......................................................... 113

APPENDIX 2: TRANSATION TEST 2 .......................................................... 114

APPENDIX 3: TRANSATION TEST 3 .......................................................... 115

APPENDIX 4: TRANSATION TEST 4 .......................................................... 116

APPENDIX 5: TRANSATION TEST 5 .......................................................... 117

APPENDIX 6: TRANSATION TEST 6 .......................................................... 118

APPENDIX 7: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS....................... 119

APPENDIX 8: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE TEACHER............... 120

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Definition of translation......................................................................11

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LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 4.1 Proportion of translation error types ..............................................................56

Table 4.1 Average errors per texts per category..............................................................58

Chart 4.2 Proportion of micro-level translation errors...................................................59

Chart 4.3 Incorrect vocabulary .........................................................................................61

Chart 4.4 Inappropriate vocabulary.................................................................................65

Chart 4.5 Proportion of incorrect grammar ...................................................................67

Chart 4.6 Proportion of inappropriate grammar ............................................................70

Chart 4.7 Proportion of macro-level translation errors..................................................73

Chart 4.8 Average errors per texts...................................................................................78

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3. 1 The coding scheme to analyze students’ data from translation

tests. .................................................................................................................50

Table 4. 1 Average errors per texts per category....................................... 58

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This chapter begins by presenting the background and rationale for the study.

It will then go on to the objectives, the research questions, the significance, the

scope and limitation of the study. Finally, definitions of terms, which are used in the

research, are also provided.

1.1 Background to the study

Translation errors can be found easily in those backgrounds where English is

not the mother tongue. In Vietnam, English is quite common though it is still

positioned as a foreign language. For Vietnamese students and teachers, translating

a text from Vietnamese into English and vice versa has been long proved to be

convenient for both learning and teaching. Consequently, from elementary schools

to universities, translation has been fully exploited and different ways of translation

are used in distinctive levels. Nonetheless, there are an abundance of obstacles to

deal with in the translation process. One of those problems takes the researcher to

the job of analyzing errors that student translators might have.

In language teaching and learning, error analysis is considered as one of the

most significant tools. Hartmann and Stork (1972) emphasize that it is possible for

language learners to make errors. Learning how to translate a text from Vietnamese

into English is also included in the process of learning English; for that reason,

students are expected to make errors during their study. But when looking at the

bright side of the problem, we see that frequently made errors in translation, once

carefully analyzed, can help us to easily understand the way or strategies students

often adopt for their learning language (Richards, 1971). With this understanding,

teachers can eventually correct students and help them to self-correct and then just

move on. In order to analyze students‟ errors, it is advised to take into consideration

what Ellis (1994) suggests that the process of analyzing errors including those made

in the course of translation which consists of several steps such as collecting