Translation

Nguyễn Tiến Hạnh– CQ503700– Business English 50B

INTRODUCTION

Background

Translation, admitted as the most difficult skill, has been launched into the

curriculum of students from the faculty of foreign languages since the fifth semester.

Accordingly, students learn how to translate an English exact and smooth passage into

Vietnamese and vice versa. A good translation must be well-written, accurate and

purpose-appropriate. Translation is not simply to encode words into the correct grammar

and meaning but like putting some pieces into an unfinished puzzle. The existing in the

puzzle is what the translator understands basically, the missing parts are what the

translator needs to find out more because they adhere to some socio-economic aspects.

However, translation courses at NEU still own some shortcomings. Despite

inclining to business, those courses seem too general as not giving students specific skills

and specialist words belonging to business applications like translating economic

contracts, or translating news of business. When students start working in one of those,

they must almost study from the beginning. Each business application has its own

requirements for the translation skill while students’ knowledge seems quite vague and

unspecific.

In this study, the writer would like to instruct readers to approach an application

of translation which needs both knowledge in business and translation skill. It is the

business briefs compilation.

To support this study, the writer will collect information from Vietnam news

(VNS), the sole English press agency of Vietnam. Obviously, main rules and style

mentioned in this study are also from this newspaper.

Business briefs are small pieces of business information placed at the left column

of the business sector. They account for 10 per cent in the total area of Vietnam news.

When Viet Nam News first hit the news-stands in 1991, it was a modest four-page

newspaper whose stories were written, edited and proofed by hand.

Since then, Viet Nam's major English language daily, published seven days a

week, has kept pace with the rapid strides taken by the country in its economic

renovation and its integration with the regional and world economies.

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Nguyễn Tiến Hạnh– CQ503700– Business English 50B

It has been upped its size from 28 to 32 pages a day, providing comprehensive

coverage of the latest domestic and international developments in all areas including

politics, economics, business, social affairs and sports. Special pages carry comment,

analysis, and reports on the environment, science and technology, lifestyle and key social

issues.

Rationales

Stepping in journalism, students from the faculty of foreign languages may meet

some troubles. Firstly, their vocabulary is limited. In English courses, students have a

chance to approach many areas of business like the international business management,

banking and finance. However, specialist words in each area seem quite modest. The

vocabulary which students gain is a mixture of new words belonging to different fields.

They know every area of business, but then they do not deepen in any. This fact leads

students to run into serious difficulties as translating difficult economic terms pertaining

to specific areas. Secondly, a good translation in journalism is not simply a good change

from source languages into target ones but a passage dealing with full questions like

What? How? When? Where? Who? In source languages, there is not always information

to answer above questions. If students are unaware of this, they can commit mistakes for

not providing enough information and do not know how to find more information to

compile qualified business briefs. Lastly, when students are assigned sources to condense

into briefs, those could be launched already in the other part of the newspaper. If the

translator is not careful, the repetition can occur in a newspaper.

To avoid as well as to deal with above problems, the writer would like to supply

you with full and enough knowledge about tools for looking up new words and

information; format; content and tips of compiling qualified business briefs. Catching all

ideas from the research, you can gain much improvement in this area.

Research questions

Deepening in writing, many unexpected problems may appear if you are not good

at processing what you gain. To make the study debut smoothly, the writer also orients

readers through three questions as follows:

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Nguyễn Tiến Hạnh– CQ503700– Business English 50B

a. What is an overview of business briefs?

b. What are characteristics of business briefs and how to compile exact business briefs?

c. How to offer smooth business briefs?

Scope of the study

Within the study, the writer aims to map out an overview in business briefs

including definition; format of a business briefs; steps of compiling business briefs, tools

used for seeking information and looking up news words and a deep analysis

accommodating readers with requirements in briefs' content and some tips of compiling

business briefs.

To collect sources for this research, the writer decides to deepen in 100 sample

briefs of Vietnam news. Notably, they are only business briefs but not life-style or sport

ones.

Methodology

Interview

Main rules for writing business briefs appear very little on internet and depend on

the style of each newspaper. To get information for doing research about requirements in

format and content of business briefs, the writer carries out interviewing 12 people who

are reporters and chief editors majoring in business.

Observation

Clearly, the interview can not reveal totally information to support this study.

Apart from interviewing reporters, the writer will observe 100 collected business briefs

to give her conclusion in writing briefs’ content as well as her instructions in giving

exact and smooth business briefs.

Literature Review

Small parts make up general things. Launching a newspaper to public requires

efforts of many people from different sectors. Up to now, there have been no books or

official studies working on small parts building up a complete newspaper like briefs. If

had, there are only sources that indirectly help readers write briefs. They give

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