Difficulties in translating from Vietnamese to English of thirdyear students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGLISH
------

GRADUATION PAPER
TOPIC: DIFFICULTIES IN TRANSLATING FROM VIETNAMESE
TO ENGLISH OF THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS IN FACULTY OF
ENGLISH AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY

Student: Tran Thi TuyenStudent’s code: 16D170329Class :
K52N5Supervisor: Pham Thi Phuong Lien, M.A

HANOI – 2020

HÀ NỘI - 2018


TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.....................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................iv
LIST OF DIAGRAM...............................................................................................v
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY......................................................1
1.1. Rationale............................................................................................................1
1.2. Previous study...................................................................................................2
1.3. Aims of the study...............................................................................................4
1.4. Research subjects..............................................................................................4
1.5. Scope of the study..............................................................................................5
1.6. Research methodology......................................................................................5
1.7. Organization of the study.................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................7

2.1. Translation........................................................................................................7
2.1.1. Concepts of translation...................................................................................7
2.1.2. The importance of translation........................................................................9
2.1.3. Translation methods.......................................................................................9
2.1.4. Criteria of a good translation.......................................................................12
2.1.5. The factors influencing translation process.................................................16
2.2. Difficulties in translation process..................................................................19
2.2.1. Definition......................................................................................................19
2.2.2. Classification of translation errors...............................................................20
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION....................................................22
3.1. Results collected from the questionnaire......................................................22
3.1.1. The students’ attitude towards translation subject......................................22
3.1.2. Difficulties in learning translation of juniors at TMU................................23
3.1.3. The methods students study translation subject...........................................25
3.2. Results collected from test papers.................................................................26
3.2.1. Grammatical errors......................................................................................27
3.2.2. Lexical errors................................................................................................33

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3.3. Discussion........................................................................................................37
3.3.1. Different characteristics of Vietnamese and English...................................37
3.3.2. Lack of background knowledge....................................................................38
3.3.3. Poor language competence...........................................................................38
3.3.4. Time pressure................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS........................40
4.1. Suggestions for teachers.................................................................................40
4.2. Suggestions for students.................................................................................40
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................43

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE
APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
REFERENCES

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor,
Mrs. Pham Thi Phuong Lien, for her guidance and encouragement during my study.
Her deep understanding of science as well as her experience are the prerequisites for
completing my thesis. Without her valuable advice and support, this thesis could not
have been completed on schedule.
Moreover, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the teachers of English
faculty, Thuongmai University for their dedication to imparting knowledge during
the four years of study. The knowledge gained in the learning process is not only the
basis for the thesis research process but also valuable asset for me to enter the life in
a firm and confident way.
Besides, I would like to thank all the teachers and the students who spent their
time answering my interview questions to help me in my data collection.
Additionally, I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the
books, magazines, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas
that have been reflected and developed in the study.
Especially, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my parents and my
family for nurturing and teaching me to be a good person as well as giving me good
conditions to study and develop. They are always my motivation that help me
overcome all difficulties and challenges in life. With limited knowledge and
implementation time, it is inevitable shortcomings. I look forward to receiving the
comments and suggestions of teachers, which will help me perfect my knowledge
later. Sincerely thanks!

March 6th, 2020
Student
Tran Thi Tuyen

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
No
1
2
3
4

Abbreviated words
TMU
EFL
SL
TL

Full phrase
Thuongmai University
English as a foreign language
Source language
Target language

iv


LIST OF DIAGRAM

Diagram 1: Translation method V-Diagram.............................................................10
Table 1: The reason why students study translation.................................................22
Table 2: The benefit of studying translation............................................................23
Table 3: Kind of text that students feel difficult to translate....................................23
Table 4: The biggest difficulty students have to face during translating Vietnamese
into English.............................................................................................................24
Table 5: The amount of time students usually spend on studying translation..........25
Table 6: The ways students apply to improve their translation................................25
Table 7: Common errors in Vietnamese-English translation....................................26
Chart 1: Common grammatical errors in Vietnamese-English translation...............27
Chart 2: Common lexical errors in Vietnamese-English translation........................33

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1. Rationale
In today’s globalization and internationalization, it cannot be denied the
importance of English in our life and social development. English is one of the most
widely used languages worldwide when being used by over 60% the world
population. It is used for communication and discussion in different aspects of life,
such as in business, political, cultural relation and education, and so on. No English
means no communication. There are no way to express our feelings, our emotions,
… without communication. Moreover, the business among countries cannot carry
out, so how can the countries as well as the whole world’s economy develop.
Without English, people cannot understand each other more in the process of
diplomatic relation and economic cooperation and many other fields in today’s era
when the country tend to integrate for the whole development. English is the second
language in most of countries in the world. Nowadays, most of companies require
English proficiency when recruiting new staffs. Every trading contracts, emails,

news, etc. are written in English along with their mother languages. The need for
communication and information exchange among countries and people is more and
more increasing. From that we can see the importance of translation that can help
break the language barrier, update new information and technologies and integrate
into global economy. As Newmark (2003, p. 55) claims, there will be “no global
communication without translation”. In fact, it is true that translation also plays an
irreplaceable role in the process of cultural and information exchange among
countries. It is considered as an effective means to learn how to appreciate different
countries’ cultures, communities and people.
Thanks to translation, countries are able to have mutual understanding and a
sense of global citizenship in this multilingual world. However, VietnameseEnglish translation is not an easy task to do as it is not simply the substitution of
words in one language into another language, so not almost all learners can avoid
mistakes in translating practice. Perhaps, because of some influence on the
differences about cultures or our mother tongue, etc, Vietnamese students of English
in genera`l and the third-year students in English faculty at TMU in particular still
have mistakes on grammar, word choices and so on in translating Vietnamese texts

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into English. As a learner, I have an awareness of the important of translation
nowadays and understand errors when studying Vietnamese-English translation.
For those reasons, I made a decision to choose the study “Difficulties in
translating from Vietnamese to English of third-year students in Faculty of English
at Thuongmai University.” This study is carried out with the hope that it will be a
useful reference helping improve Vietnamese- English translation skill better for
students. From that, it can contribute to help students have a suitable learning
method to get the best result.
1.2. Previous study
Seeing that translation plays a vital role in meeting the demand of integration

into the world economy and exchanging of culture with other countries but in fact,
there are many students who make some common errors in translation process.
Therefore, many studies have been carried out to help them recognize their common
errors and give them some useful solutions to find out effective ways in leaning in
order to improve their translation skill. These studies also are made by experienced
students with the detailed number and data. Thus, I would like to depend on these
studies as references materials for my graduation paper.
The first study was made by Bui Thi Kim Phung at Duy Tan University. Her
title was “Common structural errors in Vietnamese – English translation made by
English majored students at Duy Tan University.” The aim of this study was to find
out common errors that Vietnamese students often make in the process of
translating Vietnamese sentence structures into English. The analysis focused on the
types and frequency of errors in translating Vietnamese structures into the English
language such as sentences with elliptical subjects, passive sentences, subordinate
clauses in complex sentences, and negative sentences. The subjects of the
investigation were 150 English -majored students in four Translation 1 classes of
the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Duy Tan University. Translation 1 was one of
the compulsory courses in the teaching curriculum for English-majored students at
Duy Tan University. This course was applied for sophomore and junior students
who have already finished the courses of Translation Theory and Advanced English
Grammar. The analysis of the translations showed six frequent types of errors:
omission of subject, inappropriate choice of negative form, inappropriate choice of

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predicate, inappropriate choice of subject, inappropriate usage of passive form, and
lack of main clause. From the study, she showed some main reasons for errors vary
from student to student:
Firstly, the main possible cause of students’ errors is the inability to

overcome the negative influence of the mother tongue in language learning.
Secondly, it is necessary to be aware that in Vietnamese sentences the
subject is often dropped, but not in English.
Thirdly, because of “poor language competence”, sometimes students
feel “extremely embarrassed” if they cannot find out any equivalent structure in
English to match to the source language which is Vietnamese.
From the reasons above, some suggestions were made to improve students’
translation skills and to reduce translation errors.
The second one is from Pham Thi Thu Cuc with title “An Analysis of
Translation Errors: A Case Study of Vietnamese EFL Students”. The study aimed to
analyze the translation errors committed by Vietnamese EFL students, and identify
the source of errors, then inform some implications of pedagogy to improve the
translation ability of the students. The investigation were collected the data from 36
Vietnamese students, who at the time of the study were studying English as their
major, were subjected to a Vietnamese-English translation test. Translation errors
were analyzed using a threefold perspective proposed by Popescu (2012) including
linguistic errors, comprehension errors, and translation errors. Findings showed that
translation errors and linguistic errors are the most common errors, of which errors
related to lexical choice, syntax and collocations are the most frequently committed
by the students. Results were discussed and implications for the improvements of
translation ability and recommendations for future research were presented.
Another one is about “Vietnamese – English Translation Errors Made by
Second Year Translation-Major Students: An Initial Step towards Enhancing
Translation Standards” made by Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Trieu Thu Hang. This
study was to identify common Vietnamese – English translation errors made by 2nd
year students majoring in Translation and Interpreting and proposing suggestions
for the improvement of the current practice. The major instruments utilized in the
study included document observations, questionnaires and interviews. The
combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods enabled the researchers to

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triangulate the data in order to attain the most reliable findings. 81 VietnameseEnglish translations by 2nd-year translation and interpreting major students were
collected for analysis of errors. According to the results of the study, the most
common errors students made was lexical choice, accounting for 24.85% of all
errors identified. The researcher pointed out that the largest number of students,
87.5% made errors due to the lack of accessibility to translation theories and above
50% of students regarded poor command of vocabulary and a lack of translation
skills. Some suggestions were presented to overcome common errors for both
teachers and students.
In conclusion, through these studies above, during translation process we will
make some common errors such as structural errors, vocabulary, grammar, lexical
choice,… Hopefully, after this study, students can find out the suitable ways to
improve translation skills.
1.3. Aims of the study
The primary aim of the thesis is to find out the specific difficulties of
translation from Vietnamese to English to have a good manner of studying. The
study also aims at understanding the students’ expectation in translation, analyzing
the current situation of translation skills and then suggesting some possible
solutions to overcome difficulties as well as satisfy their expectations to improve
the quality of translation.
1.4. Research subjects
Some questions:

For students:
Why do you study translation?
In your opinion, what are the benefits which translation brings you?
In your opinion, which kind of text is difficult to translate?
What is the biggest challenge you have to face when translating from

Vietnamese to English?
How much time do you usually spend on studying translation?
What do you do to improve your translation skill?

For teachers:
-

What kinds of errors in Vietnamese-English translation do your students

often make?
-

Could you tell me the reasons why the students often make the above

errors? What are they?

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-

Could you give some advice for students to overcome difficulties in

Vietnamese-English translation process?
This study emphasizes the difficulties in Vietnamese-English translation
including common errors which juniors make. Then, the study provides some useful
advice for students.
1.5. Scope of the study
At Thuongmai University, translation course is one of obligatory subjects that
juniors in Faculty of English are required to study. In this course, they have to study

both English-Vietnamese translation and Vietnamese-English translation. This
thesis, however, just focuses on studying the difficulties in Vietnamese-English
translation process made by third-year students in TMU.
1.6. Research methodology
In the course of scientific research, research methodology is one of the vital
factors determining the success of a research paper. In today's era of information
technology, many sources of materials such as books, newspapers, and especially
the Internet are made use of. To study students’ errors in translation of Vietnamese
into English, this study was used two research methods: quantitative and qualitative.
To have the most accurate results of the research, I conducted a survey
questionnaire for 30 third – year students randomly to compile data in rapid period
of time and three teachers of English faculty who directly teach translation course at
TMU were interviewed. Besides, test papers were collected in order to identify
common errors.
Then, the quantitative method would be used to gather the data to analyze the
frequent errors through showing rates and numbers. This aims to find the difficulties
in translation process of student and give suggestions for Vietnamese-English
translation teaching and learning at TMU.
All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the
study were based on the data analysis of the study.
1.7. Organization of the study
This study consists of four main following chapters.
 The first chapter is Overview of the study. This chapter is a short
description of the study that provides general information about the study. It
includes seven parts: rationale, previous studies, aims of the study, research

5


subjects, and scope of the study, research methodology and organization of the

study. It helps us have a plain overview of translation skills.
 The second chapter is Literature review, it is divided into two main parts.
The first part is the concepts related to the term “translation”, it includes some
different definitions of different authors, theories related to the theoretical
background and the second one is the difficulties in Vietnamese-English translation
process and classification of translation errors.
 The third part is called “Research findings and Discussion”. This chapter
provides data analysis, results and discussion.
 The last one is called “Recommendations and suggestion”. In this
chapter, some suggestions were given to help teachers and students have effective
methods in teaching and learning to improve the quality of Vietnamese-English
translation skills.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Translation.
2.1.1. Concepts of translation
Different writers defined translation in many ways, it depends on how they
view language and translation. There are so many concepts of translation and the
following definitions have been selected because of being really typical in some
sense.
According to Wikipedia, translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text
and the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise called a "translation,"
that communicates the same message in another language. The text to be translated
is called the "source text," and the language that it is to be translated into is called
the "target language"; the final product is sometimes called the "target text."

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Peter Newmark (1981:7) indicates that "Translation is a craft consisting in the

attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same
message and/or statement in another language."
Wills (1982: 3) defines translation is a transfer process which aims at the
transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which
requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical
processing of the SL. Part of the difficulty in translation arises due to the lexical gap
and syntactical, semantic and pragmatic differences between the source language
and the target language, especially between two languages belonging to different
language families. Therefore, Wills focuses on not only the process of transferring
the written text but also the optimal equivalence about the syntactic, semantic and
pragmatic understanding and analytical processing between source language and
target language.
McGuire (1980: 2) denotes that "Translation involves the rendering of a
source language (SL) text into the target language (TL) so as to ensure that (1) the
surface meaning of the two will be approximately similar and (2) the structure of
the SL will be preserved as closely as possible, but not so closely that the TL
structure will be seriously distorted.” He emphasizes on keeping the closet meaning
when translating from the SL to TL.
In Translation: Applications and Research, Brislin (1976: 1) defines
translation as: "the general term referring to the transfer of thoughts and ideas from
one language (source) to another (target), whether the languages are in written or
oral form; whether the languages have established orthographies or do not have
such standardization or whether one or both languages is based on signs, as with
sign languages of the deaf."
Roger Thomas Bell (1991) says that translation is the expression in another
language (target language) of what has been expressed in one language (source
language), preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences. Translation is the
replacement of a presentation of a text in one language by a representation of an
equivalent text in a second language. He focuses on the expression what has been
expressed in the written text such as thoughts or feelings of the author that

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translators have to take responsibility to preserve semantic and stylistic
equivalencies.
For instance, the Vietnamese sentence “Chỉ khi nào bố mẹ cho phép thì con cái
mới được ra ngồi sau 9 giờ tối.” can be translated into English as “Only if parents
have given permission are children allowed to go out after 9 p.m.”
In short, these definitions of translation mentioned above have three main
similar ideas. First of all, translation is a process of rendering meaning, ideas or
messages of a text from one language to other language (from source language to
target language). The aim of translation is to find the equivalent meaning of the
source language expression in the target language. Thus, the meaning of translation
is very important and it must be held constant. Secondly, the meaning of the written
text that the author intended the text has to be remained. The last one is that
translators have to preserve the equivalencies between two languages. These
definitions of translation can help us understand the concept of translation to obtain
an overall picture of the translation process. Translation consists of studying the
lexis, grammatical structure, communication situation and cultural context of the
source language.

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2.1.2. The importance of translation
Nowadays, English has been used as the universal language all over the world.
As countries expand international cooperation, it is necessary to have a common
language. Therefore, English has become an indispensable tool in communication
as well as business. To overcome the language barrier, translation is considered as

the most useful method. It is true that translation is necessary for the spread of
information, knowledge, and ideas. It is absolutely necessary for effective and
empathetic communication between different cultures. Translation, therefore, is
critical for social harmony and peace.
For example, when you come to another country, you must know their
language so that you can understand what they say as well as how their culture is.
Translation is also the only means for everyone to know the various jobs that
expand their knowledge. Translation enables effective communication between
people around the world. It is a courier for the transmission of knowledge, a
protector of cultural heritage, and essential to the development of a global economy.
Stuart considered translation as the product of language learning projected
onto an interlanguage framework. Therefore, translation skills should be evaluated
according to the state of learners‟ interlanguage in any state of its development.
(Stuart Campbell, 1980).
Translation is a practical, natural and necessary activity in a global
environment. Many learners live in their own country or a newcomer needs to
translate language on daily basis both formal and informal. This is even more
important with the growing importance of online information.
According to Stuart, Campell, 1980, translation can support for the writing
process, especially at lower levels. Research has shown that learners seem able to
access more information in their own language, which they can then translate.
2.1.3. Translation methods
Some of the methods mentioned by Peter Newmark, in his “A Textbook of
Translation” are given below:

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SL emphasis
Word-for-word translation

TL emphasis
Adaptation

Literal translation
Faithful translation
Semantic translation

Free translation
Idiomatic translation
Communicative translation

Diagram 1: Translation method V-Diagram
2.1.3.1. Word-for-word translation
Word-for-word translation is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with
the target language immediately the source language words. 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 pre – translation process.
E.g: She is a big liar.
Cơ ấy là một lời nói dối lớn.
Or: Tôi đến nhà bạn chơi.
I go your house play.
2.1.3.2. Literal translation
The SL grammatical constructions are translated to their nearest language
(TL). A literal translation sounds like nonsense and has little communicative values.
The lexical words are again translated singly, out of context. The literal translation
used for pre-translation process to identify problems and basis of poetry translation
for poet who does not understand SL.

E.g: She is a big liar
Cô ấy là một kẻ nói dối lớn.
2.1.3.3. Faithful translation
A faithful translation tries to reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the
original within the constraints of the target language grammatical structures. It
“transfers” cultural words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical
'abnormality (deviation from the source language norms) in the translation. It

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attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and the text realization of the
source language writer. This kind of translation used for literary translation,
authoritative texts, drafts.
E.g: It is as slow as a tortoise.
Nó chậm như rùa.
Or: As quiet as a church mouse
Im như thóc.
2.1.3.4. Semantic translation
Semantic translation must take more account of the aesthetic value (the
beautiful and natural sound) of the SL text.
The following are the characteristics of this approach:


More flexible than faithful translation



Naturalize a bit while faithful translation is uncompromising (but in

order to achieve aesthetic effect), for instance, it may translate cultural words with
neutral or functional items.


Great focus on aesthetic features of source text (at expense of meaning if

necessary).
This kind of translation used for texts that have high status (religion texts,
legal texts, politicians’ speeches), expressive texts (literature)
E.g: “May what come, you will always be in my mind.”
“Cho dù điều gì xảy ra, em vẫn mãi ở trong tim anh.”
2.1.3.5. Adaptation
Adaptation is used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry; the themes,
characters and plots are usually preserved, the source language culture converted to
the target language culture and the text is rewritten. The deplorable practice of
having a play or a poem literally translated and then rewritten by an established
dramatist or poet has produced many poor adaptations, but other adaptations have
'rescued' period plays.

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2.1.3.6. Free translation
Free translation produces the matter without the manner, or the content
without the fonn of the original. Usually it is a paraphrase much longer than the
original. Free translation focuses on the content of the target text rather than the
form, which means that the same content is expressed in the target text but with
very different grammatical structures if need be.
E.g: Business is business.
Cơng việc và tình cảm khơng thể lẫn lộn được.

2.1.3.7. Idiomatic translation
Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original but tends to
distort nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and idioms. Idiomatic
translation makes use of idioms and colloquialisms that do not exist in the source
text.
E.g: He is really like his father.
Cha nào con nấy.
2.1.3.8. Communicative translation
Communicative translation tries to render the exact contextual meaning of the
original in such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and
comprehensible to the readership. It focuses on factors such as readability and
naturalness. This kind of translation used for informative texts.
E.g: Fly with kite, not with ice.
Nói khơng với ma túy.
2.1.4. Criteria of a good translation.
Translation is an intricate and often subjective process that goes far beyond a
simplistic word-for-word exchange. A good translation needs to carry the meaning
and the tone of the original text, while still remaining culturally sensitive and
appropriate to the target audience. So, what are the qualities that go into making a
good translation?
A good translation must convey all the ideas as well as the structural and
cultural characteristics of the original text. Massoud (1988) put forward the
following criteria to determine a good translation:

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

A good translation is easily comprehensible.



A good translation is concise and coherent.



A good translation uses common expressions or idioms.



A good translation conveys, to a certain extent, the subtlety of the

original.


A good translation is able to distinguish between metaphorical

expressions and literary language.


A good translation renders the cultural/historical context of the original.



A good translation clearly translates acronyms, indefinite words and

phrases, songs, and rhymes.


A good translation communicates as much as possible the meaning of the

original text.
El Shafey, another linguist, suggested a different set of criteria for a good
translation, including 3 key principles:


The knowledge of the source language grammar, vocabulary knowledge,

and a good understanding of the original text.


The ability of the translator to render the text required translation (the

source language text) into the target language.


The translation should capture the style or manner of the original text,

and deliver the message of such text.
According to David Colmer, a good translation goes further and achieves the
self-evidence and urgency of the original. It sings, whispers, hums in the ear and
swears like the original text and leaves the reader thrilled, disturbed and amused in
the same way as the original text. A good translation does not have to be impeccably
starched and ironed, but dares to be ragged and frantic when appropriate. The voice
of a good translation is as distinctive in English as the author’s voice in the original
language.
Alex Zucker says that a good translation respects and, therefore, reflects the
author’s style and vocabulary and is sensitive to the meaning, effect and intent of
the original text, but also the best ways to render them in the target language.

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From Ros Schwartz’s view, the spirit of a text is captured by a good translation
without slavishly following it to the letter. The energy and texture and voice of the
source text are captured and are replicated in the translation, drawing on all the
resources of the target language. A good translation conveys what is written
between the lines. A good translation perfectly resolves the tension between
meaning and music, and that of being source-text oriented and target-reader
oriented.
According to Larson (1984) suggest the ways in assessing translation quality
are as follows:


Accuracy: The meaning of target text is similar with the source text.



Readability: Readability intended to ensure whether the meaning of

translated text can be understood.


Naturalness: The aim of naturalness is to confirm whether the form of

translated text is natural and equivalent with the target language.
In brief, translation must meet several criteria in order to be considered as a
good translation.
2.1.4.1. Accuracy.

In translation, accuracy consists of studying the lexicon, grammatical
structure, communication situation and cultural context of the source language text,
analyzing it in order to determine its meaning and then reconstructing this same
meaning using the lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the
receptor language and its cultural context (Larson, 1998:3).
Accuracy is one of the most significant criterion of a good translation.
Accuracy of translation means that a translated piece communicates the same
meaning as the source language. An accurate translation is one that conveys exactly
the same meaning as the original, or at least it tries to get as close as possible to the
intended meaning whilst being effective and appropriate in the target language. In
fact, there is nothing more important than the accuracy of the translator’s work. The
importance of accuracy goes into the business world as well. Whenever someone
hires a translator, they do with full confidence that the end result will be an
accurate. The client depends on these translation in order to go to court, close a

14


business deal, or launch a new business abroad, therefore, any mistake could have
catastrophic consequences. According to the Financial Times, more than 40 per cent
of all deals across the globe (worth approximately $900 billion per year) are carried
out cross border. In many of these deals, translation will be important in making
sure that they can be finalised, so it's important on a global economic scale that
accuracy in translation allows barriers to be broken down between companies and
decision makers. Although companies and translators have different tasks and
scopes on projects, in the end they both depend on accuracy in order to have a
mutually successful relationship.
2.1.4.2. Clarity.
Larson (2001: 49) defines clearness as following: "clearness in translation
means that the translated piece can communicate to the people (target audience)

who are to use it". He adds that "in clear translation the forms of the language used
should be those which make the message of the source text as easy to understand as
the source text itself was to understand" (Larson, 2001: 48).
Clarity is considered as an essential factor in translation process. A translation
must be understandable and well written, regardless of how poor the original may
be. A translation needs to be short, concise and has the same meaning as the
original. A translation needs to be clear because the purpose of the translation is to
help the reader fully understand the content of the translation. Therefore, clarity is a
necessary element for every translation. No matter how good the translation is,
should it make sure that the content is well-intentioned and proper. Some common
factors can confuse translators as well as the readers come from sentences that are
too long. Translators should use simple and direct words and phrases that readers
will understand.
2.1.4.3. Naturalness.
Naturalness as well as accuracy and clearness is one of the main features of
evaluating translation of literary books. One of the main requirements in any
translation work is that the translation (the finished product) must sound natural.
Naturalness of the translation is the key factor in helping to prevent a translation
from sounding like one. The naturalness in target language should be achieved in

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order to make the readers of the translated version do not realize that they are
reading a translation product. Naturalness depends on the relationship between the
writer and the readership and the topic or situation. To make a natural translation, a
translator has to master the message in the original text up to the details, then a
translator must be free in adding to or retrenching from the original text when it is
being rendered into a target language. Translator makes sure that translation reads
smoothly and sounds as if it were originally written in the target language.

2.1.4.4. Cultural appropriateness for the target readers.
Besides, a translation needs to be culturally appropriate for the target audience
because cultural norms, beliefs, values and expectations are not the same for
different countries. Cultural appropriateness can help the translation get the last
goal. Some references to religious figures, sports or country–specific items need to
be chosen before translation begins, or be culturally readapted into the target
language. This help the readers understand what the author intended the original
text. For example, when we translate Vietnamese into English, we will meet many
Vietnamese words, phrases or idioms that do not have the equivalent one in English.
As the result, in this case, translators need to make a translation being culturally
appropriate for the target readers.
For instance:
“Mưa tầm tã” can be translated as “Rain cats and dogs”
“Tẩm ngẩm tầm ngầm mà đấm chết voi” can be translated as “Still waters run
deep”
“Có tiền mua tiên cũng được” can be translated as “Money makes the mare
go”
2.1.5. The factors influencing translation process
In fact, there are many factors affecting directly in translation process, and the
following elements are universal.
2.1.5.1. Influence of the mother tongue
In the process of learning a foreign language, our mother tongue has a big
effect on the way of thinking as well as our use of the target language (word order,
word choice). Thanks to the translation, we can understand the interference with the

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mother language when learning a foreign language. We will be able to discover the
potential of both languages - their advantages and disadvantages - by using contrast

analysis.
We will analysis the below example to recognize the differences between word
orders in Vietnamese and English:
“Cô gái ấy là một giáo viên tốt. Tên của cô ấy là Thanh Trúc.”
In the first underline phrase, “giáo viên” is a noun, “tốt” is an adjective. In the
later,
“Tên” is a noun, and “của cô ấy” is possessive adjective.
From the instance above, we see that in Vietnamese, an adjective or possessive
adjective follows a noun. So, what about in English? The phrases above will be
translated into English to have more detailed proof:
“She is a good teacher. Her name is Thanh Truc.”
As we can see, in this sentence, “good” is an adjective, “teacher” is a noun,
“her” is possessive adjective, and “name” is a noun. From Vietnamese and English
example, we realize the specific word orders:


Vietnamese: N + Adjective/ N + possessive Adjective



English: Adjective + N/ possessive Adjective + N

2.1.5.2. Grammatical structure
Translation requires not only vocabulary but also grammatical structure to
make sentences meaningful. If you do not have enough knowledge on either of the
two areas, your translation will be led to poor quality. Compared to other language,
English is a very flexible language. In English, there are many tenses being used
with a particular structure. In case, an untrue tense is used, readers cannot
understand or misunderstand its meaning.
For example:

In Vietnamese:
“Tôi đã sống ở đây được 20 năm rồi”
In English:
“I have lived here for 20 years”

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In the English sentence above, the tense of the verb is the present perfect
tense, it shows an action which happened in the past and up to now or in the future.
However, in Vietnamese, there are no rules of the using of the different verb forms
to express the time when an action happens.
In general, grammatical structure in English is rather complicated, it requires
us have to find the suitable way of learning as well as practice every single day so
that we can master it.
2.1.5.3. Context
A language is one of the best ways to see and understand the world. It is the
vehicle of our ideas, thoughts and perspectives of our world. This process involves
in explaining the meaning of the source text and creating the same meaning in
another language. However, the text cannot exist outside of context. It is a clear
illustration of how context is important when translating. For good translation, it is
important to always let your translators know the context of the text you have
provided. The context influences the meaning of a phrase or sentence. It is linked to
the environment in which the communication takes place. In translation, the context
is very important: one word may mean a different thing depending the context in
which it is used.
For example:
The uses of the word “book” in the following sentences:


I put a book on the table.



I want to book a table for three at this restaurant.

The “book” in the first example is a noun, it is a written text that can be
published in printed or electronic form. In the second one, “book” is a normal verb,
it means the arrangement to have a seat, room, performer, etc. at a particular time in
the future.
In short, depending on the aim of translator and on context, the meaning of
word will be different. If we misunderstand the context, it leads to choosing of
inappropriate meanings of words. Therefore, the readers cannot understand what we
want to convey. Context partly contributes to create a true translated output that is
considered the most important requirement of translation.

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2.2. Difficulties in translation process
2.2.1. Definition
Difficulties in translation process include some errors which students often
face. Errors have long been the obsession of teaching and learning language.
Therefore, there are many studies about errors in translation. In the teaching and
learning of translation, errors play a crucial role as they “form part of the student’s
learning experience, suggesting that they are actively trying out and experimenting
with linguistic structures in the foreign language” (Dodds, 1999, p. 58). The more
errors the students commit in translation, the worse their translation product is (Na
Pham, 2005). Lennon (1991, p. 182) considers an error as “a linguistic form or
combination of forms which, in the same context and under similar conditions of

production, would, in all likelihood, not be produced by the speakers’ native speaker
counterparts”.
Mossop describes translation errors as a given rendering will be deemed to be
non-translation if it fails to conform to the concept of translation predominant in the
target culture. He identifies translation errors in terms of cultural norm and formal
equivalence. It means that the definition of translation error by Mossop includes the
achievement of formal equivalence but excludes other critical factors such as
smoothness, readability and consistency in translational product.
Viewed from a functionalistic approach, Seguinot (1990, p. 172) defines
translation errors as “an offence against: the function of the translation, the
coherence of the text, the text type or text form, linguistic conventions, culture- and
situation-specific conventions and conditions, the language system”. According to
Brown (1987: 125), he states that an error is a noticeable deviation from the adult
grammar of native speaker, reflecting the inter language competence of the learner.
Besides, formal equivalence, as defined by Nida and Taber, is a method of
translating literally and protecting rhythm, special stylistic forms, expression in
syntax and lexis, metaphor, word play and so on; therefore, formal equivalence is
mainly used in translating poems and songs, not all kinds of texts.
A more thorough notion of error is proposed by Pym. This scholar supposes
that translation errors may be attributed to lack of comprehension, misuse of time,

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