Internship report báo cáo thực tập tiếng Anh

HA NOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
Center for E-Learning

CODE

ASSIGNMENT FOR TRANSLATION
HOW TO BE A GOOD ENGLISH TEACHING ASSISTANT FOR
KIDS AND TEENAGERS
IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL (DONG DO ELS)

Supervisor:
Student:
Date of birth:
Course:

Ha Noi - 2018


TABLE OF CONTENTS



INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale

Nowadays, every sector is using English, such as engineering,
economics, education, health, and social life. So, it is very important to learn
English, so we can communicate and get a lot of knowledge from there. As a
global language, English is used to communicate with other people from the
other countries, either friend or business client. And also, many books and
information are written in English now. The special phenomenon is that

English is spoken all over the world and is not only restricted to one area, as
is Chinese.
Moreover, teaching assistant by translation and interpretation for native
English Teachers is crucial job which occupy an important role in some
English centers. It smartens communication by imparting information reliably
from one language to another in different nations across the world. The
translation and interpreting provide different services. Interpreters deal with
verbal communication while translators deal with written communication.
Role of interpreting and translation in english center is very helful for english
learners. In this position, the learner will be expected to be trained the insand-outs of our daily routines and procedures. The learner will focus on
learning how our organization runs, and can be expected to gain valuable
insight that can further their interest in the chosen career field. In addition to
office duties, the intern will have the opportunity to meet managers,
executives, and members of the team. More than that, the student will have an
opportunity to get to know all the native speakers as well as their culture. The
student also have a chance to attend to all the working process such as
customer service, teacher consulting for native teachers, as well as getting
experiences in teaching and translation methods.


That is the crucial reason that “How to Be a Good English Teaching
Assistant for Kids and Teenagers in Dong Do ELS” is chosen to study.
2. Aims and Purposes of the Assignment

Aim: the report aims to explore translation and interpretation, as well as
teaching process in Dong Do ELS.
Purposes: the purposes are to help the learners’ practice of English
skills, especially translation and interpretation, as well as finding out the
limitation of learners’ english skills to give out suggestions for them.
3. Design of the assignment

In chapter 1, the report presents general information of Dong Do ELS
in which Dong Do ELS establishment and development are introduced first.
Then the reporter also presents their vision, mission, core value and approach.
At last, thier structural orangization is showed.
In chapter 2, the reporter studies about theoretical basis including
translation and interpretation.
In chapter 3, the reporter show intership works in detail during intership
time. Then, the stranslation in teaching assistance for native teachers is
reported clearly. By the way, the reporter also represent the issues when
translating from English into Vietnamese.
In chapter 4, the reporter make clear conclusion and suggestion during
intership time. The problems that happened during the intership, then the
solution for these issues are presented too. By the way, the reporter also
mentions about skills and knowledge learnt from the intership.


CHAPTER 1 :
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT
DONG DO ELS
1.1 Introducing about Dong Do ELS
Binh Tan is an urban district in Ho Chi Minh City but there were not many
English Schools within the local area a few years ago. Foundation of Dong Do
English Language School (Dong Do ELS) has created favourable conditions for the
local students to be exposed to a dynamic English learning environment that
promotes development of English skills.
Dong Do ELS was firstly opened on 20th March, 2015 at the main campus at
1014, Road 2, Binh Tri Dong A Ward, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City. It is
owned and operated by Dong Do Energy and Education Corporation.
Just two years and a half after the openning date, Dong Do ELS has developed

three more campuses in the same district - the second opened in April 2016, the
third in January and the fourth in May 2017- and thus raised the total quantity of
students from 800 in 2015 up to 4,415 in 2017 over the four campuses. This fast
enlargement of Dong Do ESL has marked it as the biggest English Language
School System in Binh Tan District in Ho Chi Minh City till this moment.
Besides, Dong Do Energy and Education Company is a co-owner of Tay Do
English Language School, Nam Do English Language School, and Nam Sao
English Language School. Tay Do ELS currently has 1,678 students while the total
student of Nam Do and Nam Sao is more than 1,250.

1.2 Vision and mission
1.2.1 Vision
Dong Do ELS leads our students to achieve measurable progress in
communicative competence and provides an interactive and stimulating
learning environment based on the use of communicative approaches, creative


instructional practices, technology-related resources, and goals aligned with
students’ linguistic, cultural and academic growth.
Dong Do ELS fosters an international English learning environment for
students. Dong Do ELS embraces this vision through partnership with other
advanced English schools abroad and send our students to those for cultural
exchanges and study experience in an English-speaking environment.
Dong Do ELS will recruit and train TESOL teachers for enhancing quality of
teaching English at the school as well as promoting professional development for
the community. Since 2018, Dong Do ELS will promote partnerships with reputable
foreign education providers to organize internationally English learning courses for
the students.

1.2.2 Mission

Provide quality programs for learners with general or specialized English
needs and goals;
Develop and conduct high quality English proficiency assessment;
Empower students to become full paticipants in the school through excellent
instruction in language, study skills and cultural awareness;
Contribute to the advancement of TESOL profession;
Serve the local people, helping them improve their English skills to gain their
future goals;
Assist students with their academic and non-academic needs and connect
them to other resources of Dong Do ELS.
Prepare and equip students with academic knowledge as well as essential soft
skills so that students can satisfy education providers’ requirements and quickly fit
in international environment.
Be students’ companion during their study life from the very first step of
preparation to the end of their courses.
Guarantee to create greatest values for Dong Do ELS partners.
1.2.3 Core Values


Respect: Respect maintains all kinds of relationships. We value and respect
each other and everyone we come into contact with.
Learning: We are committed to life-long learning. We provide opportunity
for growth in a caring, motivational and professional environment.
Achievement: Success requires hard work and courage. We acknowledge the
factors impacting achievement; we recruit professional staff, invest in up-to-date
technologies and actively engage our students in learning.
1.2.4 Approach
Dong Do has focused on the learner-centred approach because of the
following reasons:


Learner-centered teaching indicates explicit skill instruction.

Learner-centered teachers guide students how to think, solve problems,
evaluate evidence, analyze arguments, generate hypotheses—all those learning
skills essential to mastering material in the discipline. Research consistently
confirms that learning skills develop faster if they are taught explicitly along with
the content.


Learner-centered teaching encourages students to reflect on what they
are learning and how they are learning it.

Learner-centered teachers talk about learning. In casual conversations, they
ask students what they are learning. In class they may talk about their own learning.
They challenge student assumptions about learning and encourage them to accept
responsibility for decisions they make about learning. The goal is to make students
aware of themselves as learners and to make learning skills something students
want to develop.


Learner-centered teaching encourages collaboration.

It sees online or face-to-face classrooms as communities of learners. Learnercentered teachers recognize that students can learn from and with each other.
Certainly the teacher has the expertise and an obligation to share it, but teachers can


learn from students as well. Learner-centered teachers work to develop structures
that promote shared commitments to learning. They see learning individually and
collectively as the most important goal of any educational experience.

1.3 Structural organization

Chairman and General Director
Do Dinh Quach

Executive Director
Chan Ngoc Do

Campus
1

Campus 1

Campus 1

Academic Director
Thy Ngoc Truong Nguyen

Campus 1

TEACHERS


CHAPTER 2 :
THEORETICAL BASIS

2.1 Definition of Translation
Translation typically has been used to transfer written or spoken source
language (SL) texts to equivalent written or spoken target language (TL) texts. In

general, the purpose of translation is to reproduce various kinds of texts—including
religious, literary, scientific, and philosophical texts—in another language and thus
making them available to wider readers. (Ordudari, 2007).
The difference between an SL and a TL and the variation in their cultures
make the process of translating a real challenge. Among the problematic factors
involved in translation such as form, meaning, style, proverbs, idioms, etc., the
present paper is going to concentrate mainly on the procedures of translating CSCs
in general and on the strategies of rendering allusions in particular.

2.2 Translation Procedures, Strategies and Methods
2.2.1 Translation Procedures
The translating procedures depicted by Nida (1964) including Technical
procedures and Organizational procedures.
Technical procedures consist of analysising of the source and target
languages; a through study of the source language text before making attempts
translate it; Making judgments of the semantic and syntactic approximations.
Organizational procedures encompass constant reevaluation of the attempt
made; contrasting it with the existing available translations of the same text done by
other translators, and checking the text's communicative effectiveness by asking the
target language readers to evaluate its accuracy and effectiveness and studying their
reactions.
2.2.2 Translation Strategy


According to Krings (1986), translation strategy is that translator makes
conscious plans to solve material translation problems in the framework of a
material translation task.
According to Seguinot (1989), there are at least three global strategies
deployed by the translators:
translating without interruption for as long as possible;

(ii) correcting surface errors immediately;
(iii) leaving the monitoring for qualitative or stylistic errors in the text

(i)
(ii)
(iii)

to the revision stage.
According to Loescher (1991), translation strategy as "a potentially
conscious procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any
segment of it." As it is stated in this definition, the notion of consciousness is
significant in distinguishing strategies which are used by the learners or translators.
In this regard, Bell (1998) states that "the element of consciousness is what
distinguishes strategies from these processes that are not strategic."

2.2.3 Translation methods
There are some methods of translation such as:


Firstly, it is word-for-word translation in which the SL word order is
preserved and the words translated singly by their most common

meanings, out of context.
 Secondly, it is literal translation in which the SL grammatical
constructions are converted to their nearest TL equivalents, but the
lexical words are again translated singly, out of context.
 Thirdly, it is faithful translation in which it attempts to produce the
precise contextual meaning of the original within the constraints of


the TL grammatical structures.
Fourthly, it is semantic translation in which differs from 'faithful
translation' only in as far as it must take more account of the aesthetic
value of the SL text.




Fifthly, it is adaptation in which is the freest form of translation, and is
used mainly for plays (comedies) and poetry; the themes, characters,
plots are usually preserved, the SL culture is converted to the TL

culture and the text is rewritten.
 Sixthly, it is free translation in which it produces the TL text without
the style, form, or content of the original.
 Seventhly, it is idiomatic translation in which it reproduces the
'message' of the original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by
preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in the


original.
Eighthly it is communicative translation in which it attempts 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

2.3 Interpreting Skills
Translation and interpretation are terms often misunderstood by many people
in which translation is a written while interpretation is an oral transfer from source
language to target language. There are two kind of interpretation including

consecutive and simultaneous interpretation.
Consecutive interpreting involves listening to chunks of speech and
rendering them chunk by chunk in the target language in order to transfer the
message as faithfully and accurately as possible, While simultaneous interpretation
means the immediate transfer of the message at the time of the speech, with the
focus on passing on the main ideas.
There is the difference between simultaneous and consecutive interpreting
and to choose the best option for international meetings. If VNG organise one-toone conversations, intimate gatherings, HR meetings, consultations, consecutive
interpreting is chosen as the importance is having a faithful and accurate rendition
of the speech.


Besides, simultaneous interpreting requires use of headsets, microphones and
booths to transmit a message to a large audience, and it is more like a free rendition
than a typically literal one.
Interpreting skills


Have active listening skills and strive to improve them through self-




training
Have good memory retention skills
Be able to take notes during the interpretation assignment to ensure

accuracy of the information given
 Be able to mentally transpose and verbalize into the target language
Interpersonal skills



Have strong communication skills; Be polite, respectful and tactful;

Be able to relate well to people
 Have good judgment; Must be punctual; Must be able to work with
limited supervision; Must be able to remain neutral before, during and
after every interpretation assignment; Must be organized; Must be
articulate
 Must be assertive in his/her work without being overconfident; Must
be able to cope with stress during and after the assignment; Must be a
dedicated professional.


CHAPTER 3 :
INTERNSHIP PROCESS AT DONG
DO ENGLISH SCHOOL
3.1 Work assignments
Teaching Assistant’s work:
•

Helping Vietnamese and native teachers make plans for lessons.

•

Assisting the students to translate Vietnamese - English bilingual articles for
their Pre-IELTS test.

•

Arrange and making sure that needed teaching facilities do work.

•

Controlling classroom and taking attendance.

•

Helping Native teachers interpret and communicate with students.

•

Translating other document for Dong Do ELS.

Doing decoration works :
•

Making decoration items with various topics such as places, jobs, feelings,…
by papers and fabric.

•

Decorating classroom to provide students with active environment.

•

Helping teachers prepare the festival celebration.

•

Tiding up the storage room.

3.2 Translate Vietnamese - Englidsh Bilingual Articles
To assist the students for their Pre- IELTS, Dong Do set up translation
program that helps students tanslate from English into Vietnamese and reverse.
There 4 topics that reporter helps the students to translate in the intership.
3.2.1 Translation from Vietnamese into English
Topic 1: Tại sao học tiếng Anh có thể thay đổi cuộc sống của bạn - Why Learning
English Can Change Your Life!
Picture 3. 1: Topic 1 – Part 1


In the title of this topic is that “Tại sao học tiếng Anh có thể thay đổi cuộc
sống của bạn - Why Learning English Can Change Your Life!” is affirmative
sentence, not a question, thus we no need to put “can” before subject as usual. An
easy way to form any question in English is to move auxilary before the subject.
Sentence

E.g
.1

Vietnamese
Học tiếng
Anh nghe
có vẻ giống
như một
nhiệm
vụ thật sự
khó khăn

English
Learning
English
might sound
like a really
difficult task

Subject
Vietna
mese
English

Học
tiếng
Anh

Learning
English

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
Vietnamese

có vẻ giống

Englis
h

Complement
Vietnames Englis

e
h

might
sound

giống như
một nhiệm
vụ thật sự
khó khăn

like a
really
difficul
t task

Understanding the language in the translation text, including the source and
target languages, is a prerequisite for having an accurate translation. Vietnamese
and English have many similarities with the Latin alphabet, both vocabulary and
grammar, and so on. But at the same time, these two languages are completely
different. , especially in grammatical structure and usage style. Only when we


understand the two languages, can we translate the meaning of English and express
it in line with the thinking of Vietnamese people.
In the first sentence: “Học tiếng Anh nghe có vẻ giống như một nhiệm vụ
thật sự khó khăn - nhưng nó cũng rất đáng làm nữa”. When we translate into
English, we have to recognize the subject, verbs or verb phrase and complement or
objects.
The subject is “Học tiếng Anh” we can understand in English “Việc học tiếng

Anh - Learning English”, “Learning” in this case consider “Gerund (a noun)”, not
the verb as “học” in Vietnamese. If the translators do not recognize this grammar,
they can use the verb “learn”, it is a big mistake in translation.
The verb phrase is “nghe có vẻ giống như” translated into “might sound
like”. In this verb pharse, we have auxilary is “might”, thus, the main verb “sound”
is bare infinitive, and the adjective “like” modify for the intransitive verb “sound”
in stead of adverb.
Sentence
Vietnamese

E.g
.2

Từ việc
giúp bạn
khám phá
thế giới,
tạo ra cơ
hội mới
trong sự
nghiệp của
bạn, học
tiếng Anh
thực sự có
thể mở ra
cánh cửa
mới
cho bạn.

English

From
helping you
to see the
world, to
making
new
opportunities
in your
career,
making
new
opportunities
in your
career,
learning
English can
really open
new doors
for you

Subject
Vietna
mese
English

Học
tiếng
Anh

Learning

English

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
Vietnamese

thực sự có
thể mở ra

Englis
h

Object
Vietnames Englis
e
h

can
really
open

cánh cửa
mới
cho bạn

new
doors
for you

There two clauses in the sentence, however the sujbect of the first clause

“From helping you to see the world, to making new opportunities in your career,


making new opportunities in your career” is removed because it is “learning
english” the same to the second clause.
Sentence
Vietnamese

E.g
.3

Bạn vẫn
chưa thấy
thuyết
phục?

English

Subject
Vietna
mese
English

Still not
convinced?
Bạn

Hãy tiếp tục
đọc để tìm
hiểu lý do

tại sao chỉ
cần học
tiếng
Anh sẽ tạo
ra sự khác
biệt trong
đời của bạn
Khám phá
thế giới.

Then read on
to learn just
why
studying
English will
make a
difference in
your life.

/

/

/

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
Vietnamese

vẫn chưa

thấy thuyết
phục

Hãy tiếp tục
đọc để tìm
hiểu

Englis
h

Object
Vietnames
e
English

Still
not
convin
ced

/

/

lý do tại
sao chỉ cần
học tiếng
Anh sẽ tạo
ra sự khác
biệt trong

đời của
bạn
Khám phá
thế giới.

just
why
studying
English
will
make a
differenc
e in
your life.

In vietnamese, the subject is “bạn – You” is removed when translating into
English. Then “Bạn” indicates the reader, so this is special sentence in English, We
can remove the subject “You” in case we want to mention the reader.
Topic 2: Trẻ em thích học các lớp học ngồi trời - Kids enjoy learning in
outdoor classes.
Picture 3. 2: TOPIC 2


To this topic, we mention more the compound in english, this is one of the
most important fact when translating.

Sentence

E.g
.1

Vietnamese

English

Nếu trời
không mưa

If it does not
rain

Subject
Vietna
mese
English

trời
thì các lớp
học ngồi
trời ở
trong vườn
trường sẽ
được tổ
chức mỗi
ngày ở
trường mẫu
giáo Hoa
Mai thuộc
tỉnh Hậu
Giang

outdoor
classes in the
school’s
garden are
held
everyday at
the Hoa
Mai
Kindergarten
in Hau
Giang
Province.

các lớp
học
ngồi
trời ở
trong
vườn
trường

It

outdoor
classes
in the
school’s
garden

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
Vietnamese

khơng mưa

trường sẽ
được tổ chức

Englis
h

Object
Vietnames
e
English

does
not rain

/

/

mỗi ngày ở
trường
mẫu giáo
Hoa Mai
thuộc tỉnh
Hậu Giang

everyday
at the
Hoa
Mai
Kinderga
rten in
Hau
Giang
Province.

are
held

This is the “if clasue” sentence with two clauses consisting of if clause and
main clause. In main clause the subject “outdoor classes in the school’s garden”


includes two components that is the noun “outdoor classes” and preposition phrase
“in the school’s garden”.
In Vietnamese the compound “các lớp học ngoài trời”, “các lớp học” stand
before “Ngoài trời”, however in English “Ngoài trời – Outdoor” stands before “Cá
lớp học – Classes” because “outdoor” is pre-modifier for the head noun “classes”.
There is a different between Vietnamese and English in translation, especially the
way to form the compounds.
Moreover, in Vietnamese the time “Sẽ” seems to be future, however in
English the translation is simple present “are held” because this is the schedule with
the adverb “everyday”. So we cannot not use simple future “will” here.
Sentence

E.g
.2

Vietnamese
Trong hơn 4
năm qua,
nhà trường
đã dùng hơn
70 m2 như
một vườn
dành cho
học sinh để
trồng rau và
hoa

Hiệu trưởng
Nguyễn Thị
Hồng
Thắm nói.

English
For over last
four years
now, the
school has
used more
than 70sq.m
as a garden
for kids
to grow

vegetables
and flowers,
said school
principal
Nguyen Thi
Hong Tham.

Subject
Vietna
mese
English

nhà
trường
Hiệu
trưởng
Nguyễn
Thị
Hồng
Thắm

the
school
school
principal
Nguyen
Thi
Hong
Tham

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
Vietnamese

Englis
h

đã dùng

Has
used

nói

said

Object
Vietnames
e
English

hơn
70 m2 như
một vườn
dành cho
học sinh để
trồng rau
và hoa

/

more
than
70sq.m
as a
garden
for kids
to grow
vegetable
s and
flowers

/

The phrase “Trong hơn 4 năm qua - For over last four years now” is the
adverb indicating time in the sentence. And the tense used is present perfect because
“đã” indicate unspecific time in the past.
On the other hand, the compound “Hiệu trưởng Nguyễn Thị Hồng
Thắm” translated “school principal Nguyen Thi Hong Tham” are the same in
English. It presents that there are some equivalent between English and Vietnamese.


However, the verb “said” stand before the subject “school principal Nguyen
Thi Hong Tham”, this is the habit when native speaker cite a speech if speakers
want to emphasize their idea.
Sentence

E.g
.3

Vietnamese
" Học sinh
u vườn và
các em học
nhiều từ
nó,"

Cơ chia sẻ.

Subject
Vietna
mese
English

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
Vietnamese

Englis
h

English
“Kids love
the garden
and they
learn a lot
from
it,”

Học

sinh/
các em

Kids/the
y

u/ học

Love/le
arn

she said.

Cơ

she

nói

said

Object
Vietnames
e
English

Vườn/
nhiều từ nó

Garden/

a lot
from it

/

/

In this case the subject “she” stands before the verb “said” because the
speaker do not emphasize his idea.
3.2.2 Translation from English into Vietnamese
In fact, many people are very good at English, they can understand the
original text, but the translation does not translate correctly, fluently, and extracts.
Therefore, to improving English translation, improving the ability to express
Vietnamese is necessary. To achieve this in the field of international research, the
translator should read as many Vietnamese materials as possible. This not only
helps you get familiar with the ideas and concepts in translation, but also helps the
translator to learn the right way of expressing ideas from English into Vietnamese.
Topic 3: Dạy con qua các câu chuyện ngụ ngơn liệu có lỗi thời? - Whether
Educating Children Through Fables is anachronistic
Picture 3. 3: TOPIC 3:


Sentence
English

E.g
.1

Fables are
the simplest

tools for
conveying
the
good things
to your
childhood

Vietnamese
Những câu
chuyện ngụ
ngôn đã là
một công
cụ nhẹ
nhàng để
truyền đạt
những điều
tốt
đẹp đến với
tuổi thơ

Subject
Englis Vietnam
h
ese

Fables

Những
câu
chuyện

ngụ
ngôn

Verbs/ Verb
phrase
English

Vietna
mese

Object
Vietnam
English
ese
the
simplest
tools for
conveying
the
good
things to
your
childhood

are

đã là

một công
cụ nhẹ

nhàng để
truyền
đạt
những
điều tốt
đẹp đến
với tuổi
thơ

The translation subject “Fables” – “Những câu chuyện ngụ ngôn” is correct.
With the noun “Fable” plus “s” means plural, then when translating, we also say
“những” or “các”.


However, the translation main verb “are” – “đã từng” is not totally correct
because “đã” mean “time inpast”, tobe “are” is present, not past. Moreover, the
original “the simplest tools” is superlative, however, the vietnamese translation is
“một công cụ nhẹ nhàng” meaning “the simple tool”, not the superlative “the
simplest tools”.
Sentence
English

You can
even
forget
these
stories as
E.g growing
. 2 up;

Vietnamese

Subject
Englis Vietnam
h
ese

Khi lớn
lên bạn có
thể thể
lãng quên
những
câu
chuyện
đó
You

Bạn

Verbs/ Verb phrase
Vietna
English
mese

can even
forget

Object
Vietnam
English

ese

có thể
thể
lãng
these
quên stories

những
câu
chuyện
đó

There are two clauses in the sentence, the second clause “as growing up” is
translated into Vietnamese first in stead of later as its position in the sentence. And
the subject “you” is removed because it is the same in the first clause “You can even
forget these stories”. However, the vietnamese translation “có thể lãng quên” lacks
of “even - cũng”. In addition, the demonstrative pronoun “these” mean “này”, but
the translation is “đó”.
Sentence
English

However,
society
has been
much
E.g changed

Vietnamese

Tuy
nhiên, xã
hội
đã có
nhiều
thay đổi

.3

so that
storytelli
ng habits
were not
popular
anymore

và thói
quen kể
chuyện
ngụ ngơn
đã khơng
phổ biến
nữa

Subject
Englis Vietnam
h
ese

societ

y

storyt
elling
habits

xã hội
thói
quen
kể
chuyệ
n
ngụ
ngơn

Verbs/ Verb phrase
Vietna
English
mese

Complement
Vietnam
English
ese

has been
much
changed

đã có

nhiều
thay
đổi

/

/

were no

đã
khơn
g

popular
anymor
e

phổ
biến
nữa


The translation is not correct enough when “so that” translate “và”. The
structure “so that” means “nhiều....đến mức” to emphasize the idea.
In the compound “storytelling habits” include close compound “storytelling”
playing as pre-modifier for the the head “habits”. Thus, the translation usually starts
with the head “habits-thói quen” and the pre-modifier is translated later
“storytelling – kể chuyện ngụ ngôn”.
Passive voice is used in the sentence because the subject “Society” cannot

change itself. Actually, people make it change.
Topic 4: Embrace the change - Hãy bắt lấy sự thay đổi
Translating poems and other literary works in general is difficult. This is true
relative to the difficulty in translating other types of texts. Specifically, poems are
even harder to translate for so many reasons. There are a lot of factors to be
considered including the choices of words, figurative languages used and
metaphors. At the same time, the translator must also be able to transfer the
emotions and thoughts of the poet.
To add up more to the difficulty of translating poems, there are other
characteristics that are unique to a poem such as rhymes, meter, rhythm and
expressions that are not found in other literary pieces. Most words are not even used
in daily conversations. Hence, this poses an even bigger challenge to anyone who
dares to translate poems.

Picture 3. 4: topic 4


Sentence
English

Spring all
came
E.g around
1

Vietnamese

Subject
Englis Vietnam
h

ese

Đây cả
mùa xuân
đã đến rồi

Sprin
g all

Đây cả
mùa
xuân

/

Từng
nhà

Lassie
s

Từng
cô em
bé

Doors
opened
E.g and
2 greeted

Từng nhà
mở cửa
đón vui
tươi.

Lassies in
E.g new
3 clothes

Từng cơ
em bé so
màu áo

Pink
cheeks,
E.g joyful
4 smiles

Đơi má
hồng lên,
nhí nhảnh
cười.

Pink
cheek
s

Đơi
má

Verbs/ Verb phrase
Vietna
English
mese

Object/complement
Vietnam
English
ese

came
around

đã
đến
rồi

/

/

Opened/
greeted

Mở/
đón

Doors

Cửa

in new
clothes

so màu
áo

/ joyful
smiles

hồng
lên/
nhí
nhản
h cười /

/


In E.g. 1, the translation is easy to understand for foreign learners that follow
subject and and verb phrase.
In E.g. 2, the subject is “từng nhà”, however in english the subject is remove
by using passive voice. The passive voice is used to show interest in the person or
object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the
action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of
the sentence.
In E.g 3, the original “Lassies in new clothes” without verb, it is just a
phrase. However, the translator has translated “Từng cô em bé so màu áo” nwith the
verb “so” to show the emotion by Nguyen Binh.
In E.g. 4, there are two noun phrases without verbs, or completment, or

object. However, to keep Nguuyen Binh’s feeling, the translation is made anormal.
When translating certain words from one language to another, there might be
some issues with regards to the appropriate words to be used. In some cases, there
are words that have no literal translation to another language. There are even some
languages in which one short word in English is equivalent to 3 or more words in
another language. It could be the other way around. An entire verse in an English
poem could be just a single word in another language. The differences in the choice
of words not only make it difficult for the poem to be translated, it could also
destroy the other elements in a poem.

3.3 Translation in Teaching Assistant
3.3.1 Family in Western Culture.
The lesson for Native teacher today is Family in Solutions 2nd Ed Elementary – Student Book. Thus he needs translating into vietnamese for the
teenagers
In English language, “Grand” used to form nouns indicating that someone is
two generations away, for instance, grand-mother, grand-father, grand-parents,
grand-son, grand-nephew, grand-aunt. Actually the “Grand” means “to, lớn”, thus,
when it connect to mother to make “Grand-mother”, we have the meaning is “Bà