Strategies Applied In The English-Vietnamese Translation Of Poems In The Poetry Collection “Love & Misadventure” By Lang Leav 6185110.Pdf

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

STRATEGIES APPLIED IN THE
ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF
POEMS IN THE POETRY COLLECTION
“LOVE & MISADVENTURE” BY LANG LEAV

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thuý, M.A
Student: Nguyễn Hoàng Anh Phương
Course: QH2013.F1.E16

HÀ NỘI – 2017


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC ÁP DỤNG TRONG DỊCH
ANH-VIỆT CÁC BÀI THƠ TRONG TUYỂN TẬP
THƠ "YÊU LÀ THƯƠNG HAY VẬN RỦI"
CỦA TÁC GIẢ LANG LEAV

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Th.S Nguyễn Thị Diệu Thuý
Sinh viên: Nguyễn Hoàng Anh Phương

Khóa: QH2013.F1.E16

HÀ NỘI – 2017


I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Hoàng Anh Phương, QH2013.E16, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (English Language) accept the
requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s
Graduation Paper deposited in the library.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care,
loan or reproduction of the paper.

Signature

Date


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I want to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Diệu
Thuý, M.A – Lecturer of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education. Had it not
been for her helpful guidance and active encouragement over the last months, this
graduation paper could not have been successfully completed. Her insights and
expertise in translation studies and research methodology have greatly assisted me
upon carrying out the study.
I am also deeply indebted to my family and friends for their solid support
during the process of my research. Without their mental and financial assistance, I
would not have mustered enough motivation to finalise this study.

I am heartily thankful to my classmates for their enthusiastic support and
valuable suggestions on my thesis. A special thank goes to Ms. Phạm Hồng Anh for
providing me with a source of inspiration, so that I could decide on the topic of this
research. I am also truly grateful to Ms. Nguyễn Thu Nhàn who has wholeheartedly
accompanied and motivated me along the process of research conduct.
Finally, I would like to offer my warm regards to all the readers of this thesis
paper. I appreciate your constructive feedback and hope that this study will be of use
to anyone who takes an interest in its topic.

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ABSTRACT
Poetry translation has always been regarded as a more perplexing task than the
translation of any other literary texts due to its intrinsic literary and aesthetic
complexity. Hence, concerted efforts have been made to identify translation methods
or strategies that can be adopted to preserve the poet’s message and stylistic
uniqueness, thus generating equivalent effects in target language. The aims of this
study were to find out the translation strategies applied to translate the poems in the
poetry collection Love & Misadventure written by Lang Leav, concerning André
Lefevere’s seven strategies (1975), and subsequently draw some lessons about poetry
translation from English into Vietnamese. The data were obtained from 65 Englishwritten poems and their Vietnamese translated versions in the bilingual book Love &
Misadventure – Yêu là thương hay vận rủi by means of document observation. The
theoretical model used was seven strategies for translating poetry devised by André
Lefevere (1975). The researcher opted for a qualitative approach, and the data were
analysed descriptively. The findings showed that the translator applied three out of
seven strategies proposed by Lefevere which were metrical translation, rhymed
translation, and blank verse translation. Blank verse translation was the most
frequently used strategy, followed by metrical translation and rhymed translation.
These results implied the translator’s tendencies to transfer poetic form and meaning

in her translation, as well as revealing certain gaps in Lefevere’s methodology in the
case of translating poetry from English into Vietnamese.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement .................................................................................................... i
Abstract .................................................................................................................... ii
Table of contents ...................................................................................................... iii
List of tables, figures, and abbreviations ................................................................. v
1. Chapter 1 – Introduction ................................................................................... 1
1.1. Statement of problem and rationale .................................................................. 1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study ...................................................................... 3
1.3. Significance of the study ................................................................................... 4
1.4. Scope of the study ............................................................................................. 5
1.5. Organisation of the paper .................................................................................. 5
2. Chapter 2 – Literature review .......................................................................... 6
2.1. Poetry translation .............................................................................................. 6
2.1.1. Definition ....................................................................................................... 6
2.1.2. Characteristics ................................................................................................ 7
2.1.2.1. Loss of poetic elements ............................................................................... 7
2.1.2.2. Particular difficulties in poetry translation.................................................. 8
2.1.2.3. Translator expertise ..................................................................................... 9
2.2. Approaches to translating poetry ...................................................................... 10
2.2.1. Dryden’s triadic model (1680) ....................................................................... 10
2.2.2. Raffel’s four audience-based types of poetry translation (1988) ................... 11
2.2.3. Holmes’ four traditional approaches (1988) .................................................. 12
2.2.4. Lefevere’s seven strategies for poetry translation (1975) .............................. 13
3. Chapter 3 – Methodology ................................................................................. 18

3.1. Selection of subjects .......................................................................................... 18
3.2. Sampling ........................................................................................................... 19
3.3. Data collection procedure ................................................................................. 19

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3.4. Data analysis procedure .................................................................................... 19
4. Chapter 4 – Findings & Discussion .................................................................. 21
4.1. Lefevere’s translation strategies applied in Love & Misadventure ................... 21
4.2. Most dominantly used strategies in Love & Misadventure ............................... 22
4.2.1. Blank verse translation ................................................................................... 22
4.2.2. Metrical translation ........................................................................................ 26
4.2.3. Rhymed translation ........................................................................................ 29
4.3. Some lessons about poetry translation from English into Vietnamese ............. 32
5. Chapter 5 – Conclusion ..................................................................................... 38
5.1. Summary of major findings .............................................................................. 38
5.2. Limitations of the study .................................................................................... 39
5.3. Suggestions for further studies .......................................................................... 40
5.4. Contributions of the study ................................................................................. 40
References ................................................................................................................ 42
Appendix .................................................................................................................. 45

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LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS
Abbreviations
ST

Source Text

TT

Target Text

SL

Source Language

TL

Target Language

Tables
Table 4.1. The translation strategies applied in translating Lang Leav’s poems

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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
This chapter specifies the research problem and rationale, objectives of the
study and research questions, the scope and the significance of the thesis, as well as
the organisation of the whole paper.
1.1. Statement of problem and rationale
Literary translation holds an influential position among other types of
translation given the complex nature of literary texts. One of the most prominent
translation scholars, Peter Newmark, states that the greater the quantity of a
language's resources (e.g. polysemy, word-play, sound-effect, metre, rhyme) a text is
charged with, the more challenging it is to be translated, and the more worthwhile

(1988). In this sense, a large number of researchers have set out to build a solid
foundation for literary translation with regard to both theoretical frameworks and
empirical approaches.
Within the field of literary translation, poetry rendering seems a more
challenging task than translation of other literary modes. Poetry is characterised by
its distinctive literary and aesthetic features. The former consist of rhymth, rhyme,
metre, and the latter involve figurative language and rhetorical devices such as
metaphor, simile, hyperbole. Since form and content of poetry are highly
interconnected and inseparable, the translator has to take into consideration both these
two aspects in the translation process. In consequence of such seemingly
insurmountable difficulties, the issue of poetry translatability has given rise to
considerable theoretical and practical debates among scholars. Jacobson (1959)
believes that poetry is by definition untranslatable; similarly, Frost (cited in Bassnet
& Lefevere, 1998) describes poetry as “what gets lost in translation”. On the other
hand, despite acknowledging the varying degrees of loss of meaning in poetry
translation, Newmark (1988) asserts that poetry is by no means unsuitable for
translation. In fact, poetry has been “superbly and closely translated at various times”,

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reflecting a linguistic harmony between the poet and the poet-translator. Besides,
poetry renderings prove to be a demonstration of the translator’s “suggestive and
tactful compensatory sound techniques”.
Considering these polarised views on the translatability of poetry, more time
and efforts have been dedicated to investigating the problems of translating poetry
than any other literary genres. Boase-Beier (2009) claims that “far more has been
written about the translation of poetry than either prose or drama”. Methodological
studies of poetry and translation from a non-empirical position are regarded as “most
valuable and most needed” by Bassnett (1980). In this regard, translation theorists

have proposed various strategies to translate poetry, such as Holmes’ four traditional
approaches to verse form translation (1988), or Lefevere’s seven descriptive strategies
(1975). Nevertheless, in the context of English-to-Vietnamese translation, it could be
noticed that few studies have been conducted in the matter of poetry translation from
English into Vietnamese. Meanwhile, taking the serious challenges of translating
poems into account, there is a clear need for in-depth researches to be conducted into
this branch of literary translation, particularly specific strategies to overcome those
difficulties.
Therefore, this thesis paper is dedicated to contribute to the limited existing
research body in the field of translated poetry from English into Vietnamese. By
testing the application of theories on strategies into real practice of translation, the
study expects to offer new insights and corroborate earlier findings in the field of
poetry translation in Vietnam. As one of the few translated poetry books in Vietnam,
Love & Misadventure – Yêu là thương hay vận rủi has been warmly welcomed by
Vietnamese readers since its publication. The reputation of its author (Lang Leav) as
a best-selling contemporary writer and the translator’s credibility (Zelda) as a wellknown writer and poet herself have justified the researcher’s decision to undertake
the study into this translated work.

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1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
By investigating the strategies applied by the translator in translating poems
based on Lefevere’s seven strategies for translating poetry, the study aims to
incorporate the theoretical model proposed by Lefevere to the real practice of
translation. Specifically, the objectives of the study are:
- to identify all the translation strategies applied in the translated version of the
poetry collection Love & Misadventure
- to identify the most dominantly applied translation strategies in the translated
version of the poetry collection Love & Misadventure

- to draw useful lessons about poetry translation from English to Vietnamese
and make recommendations for further researches on translation studies
Also, the study attempts to put forward a strategic approach to poetry
translation as a source of reference, which can be of use to future translators working
in the field of literary translation.
In order to achieve those objectives, the research aims to answer these
following research questions:
1. What are the translation strategies employed in the translation of poems
in “Love & Misadventure” by Lang Leav from English into Vietnamese,
concerning Lefevere’s seven strategies of poetry translation?
2. What is the frequency of each translation strategy? What is the most
dominantly used strategy by the translator?
3. What lessons about poetry translation from English into Vietnamese can
be drawn from the application of Lefevere’s seven strategies by Zelda in the
Vietnamese translated version of the work “Love & Misadventure”?

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1.3. Significance of the study
The study aims at supporting translators-to-be of Translation and Interpreting
Division, ULIS, VNU as well as novice translators in particular and anyone who has
the same interest in literary translation.
Firstly, the study is expected to provide readers with a source of reference
regarding theories on poetry translation and particularly specific strategies to translate
poetry. More distinctively, the study presents a theoretical overview of poetry
translation including definition, classification, characteristics, and translation
strategies with focus on Andre Lefevere’s seven strategies. Concepts and uses of
Lefevere’s strategies will be delivered to readers through examination of their
application in the Vietnamese version of the poem collection Love & Misadventure.

To some extent, this can contribute to enhancing readers’ understanding of particular
methodological strategies which can be useful for poetry translation in general.
Secondly, readers can find in this research the most dominant translation
strategies properly applied in the Vietnamese version of poems in the collection Love
& Misadventure. Thus, the study offers a deep and critical insight into specific poetry
translation strategies useful for professional literary translators and further academic
researches on poetry translation.
Finally, certain lessons about adopting translation strategies in translating
poetic works will be drawn from the application of Lefevere’s proposed strategies in
the Vietnamese version of Love & Misadventure. Such suggestions may be of
practical use to translators and anyone interested in the field of literary translation,
particularly poetry translation, so that they can decide on the most effective strategies
to employ in their translations. Furthermore, the findings of the study will supply
researchers with a source of relevant and trustworthy information for their further
studies in the future.

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1.4. Scope of the study
As the title implied, the study focused on the translation of the poem collection
Love & Misadventure from English to Vietnamese by the translator Zelda.
Consequently, the researcher clearly mentioned and critically analysed all the main
dimensions of Lefevere’s proposed poetry translation strategies consisting of
phonemic translation, literal translation, metrical translation, poetry into prose,
rhymed translation, blank verse translation, and interpretation.
Moreover, the researcher extracted quotations and examples all from the
original English version and Vietnamese translated version of the work Love &
Misadventure.
1.5. Organisation of the paper

The structure of the study is as following:
Chapter 1 – Introduction: Provide an overview of the study with rationale,
aims and objectives, significance and organisation of the study
Chapter 2 – Literature review: Provide a theoretical background in the field
of poetry translation and specific methodological strategies to translate poems
Chapter 3 – Methodology: Present methods of the study including selection
of subjects, research instrument, procedures of data collecting and procedures of data
analysis
Chapter 4 – Findings and discussion: Discuss the results of the study and
explain how these results are discovered, then justify how they answer the research
questions.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion: Summarise discussed points, limitations of the study,
suggestions for further researches as well as contributions of the study to this field.

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CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides a theoretical background relating to poetry translation,
including its definition and dominant charateristics. Besides, an overview of poetry
translation strategies proposed by different scholars is also presented in this chapter.
2.1. Poetry translation
2.1.1. Definition
Poetry translation may be defined as relaying poetry into another language
(Jones, 2011). Besides text transformation, poetry translation also involves cognition,
discourse, and action by and between human and textual actors in a physical and
social setting. Jones (2011) goes further to state that poetry translation is typically
overt. Poetry translators are concerned to analyse a source poem's layers of meaning,
to relay this interpretation reliably, and/or to “create a poem in the target language
which is readable and enjoyable as an independent, literary text.”

Another definition of poetry translation is given by Mathews (1966) (cited in
Wilss, 2001). He equates translating a whole poem with composing another poem. A
whole translation will be faithful to the matter, and it will “approximate the form” of
the original. The translated poem will have a life of its own, which is the voice of the
translator.
Both Jones and Mathews point out what action is involved in the translation of
poems, but neither of them provides an insight into the nature of poetry translation.
Boase-Beier (2009) fills this gap by addressing three dimensions of poetry to be
reproduced in translation: semantic content, aesthetic form, and pragmatic effect. On
the semantic level, it is “some message or statement about the real world or the
author’s reaction to it” that must be reproduced in any translation. Regarding aesthetic
or stylistic features, many scholars emphasise the necessary preservation of rhymes,
metre, and poetic forms in translated poetry. Finally, the pragmatic dimension of a

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poem refers to its ability “to arouse sentiment and to produce emotional effect”
(Boase-Beier, 2009), which is considered the most difficult to account for in
translation. Overall, Boase-Beier’s discussion has helped to further clarify the
fundamental nature of poetry translation.
2.1.2. Characteristics
Researches have indicated that poetry translation is characterised by the
inevitable loss of certain poetic elements, peculiar difficulties in translating poems,
and special requirements of translator expertise.
2.1.2.1. Loss of poetic elements
One of the most dominant characteristics of poetry translation is the inevitable
loss of basic poetic qualities as stated by Longfellow and Martindale (cited in Brower,
1966). According to Frost (1969), the main characteristic of poetic discourse that
distinguishes it from common discourse is that in poetry form and content are

inseparable. Therefore, poetry translators must strive to reproduce both poetic form
and content, which is certainly not a simple task.
Regarding the transference of poetic features, Venuti (2004) holds quite a
pessimistic view about both form and content reproduction in the translation of poetry.
He goes further to state that in general “the form is usually sacrificed for the sake of
the content.” In contrast to Venuti’s content-emphasized approach, Nida (1964) calls
for “a greater focus of attention upon formal elements” in poetry. He points out the
necessary sacrifice of content in translation of poetry and stresses the unavoidable
formal restrictions on poetic content.
Overall, as languages do not share the same phonology, syntactic structures,
vocabulary, literary history, prosody or poetics (Attwater, 2013), certain aspects are
bound to be missing in the translation of poetry.

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2.1.2.2. Particular difficulties in poetry translation
The special literary features of poetry often pose special problems to translators
in this field. According to Raffel (2010), there are five significant aspects of the
original literary work which cannot be reproduced in the new language, including
phonology, syntactic structures, vocabulary, literary history, and prosody. Raffel’s
categorisation seems to put an increased emphasis on the linguistic and literary facets
of poetry translation.
Meanwhile, Hariyanto (n.d.) proposes a different classification of problems
inherent in poetry translation, which is built on Raffel’s work and improved by adding
one more aspect. According to Hariyanto (n.d.), the problems in translating poetry
can be categorised into linguistic problems, literary or aesthetic problems, and sociocultural problems.
The linguistic aspect deals with collocations and obscured (non-standard)
syntactical structures in poetry. Collocations in poetry fall into two classes:
syntagmatic or horizontal, and pragmatic or vertical. Where there is an accepted

collocation in the SL, the translator must find and use its equivalent in the TL if it
exists. Meanwhile, a closer attention should also be paid to the collocation with
similar form but different meaning in the SL and TL. Obscured (non-standard)
syntactic structures may be intentionally adopted in a poem to perform the expressive
function of the text. Hence, such structures should be rendered as closely as possible.
Literary or aesthetic factors include poetic structure, metaphorical expressions,
and sound (rhyme, rhythm, assonance, onomatopoeia, etc.) Poetic structure includes
the plan of theoriginal poem as a whole, as well as the shape and the balance of
individual sentences in each line. Metaphorical expressions, as the second factor,
mean any constructions evoking visual, sounds, touch, and taste images, the
traditional metaphors, direct comparisons without the words "like' and "as if", and all
figurative languages. The last of literary or aesthetic factors is sound which is

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anything connected with sound cultivation including rhyme, rhythm, assonance,
onomatopoeia, etc. The job of poetry translators is to maintain these aesthetic factors
as much as possible in their rendering in order to successfully convey the feeling and
the hidden message of poems.
In terms of socio-cultural aspect, it is culturally-bound words or expressions
that create certain problems to poetry translators. The socio-cultural problems exist in
the phrases, clauses, or sentences containing word(s) related to the four major cultural
categories, namely: ideas, behavior, product, and ecology (Said, 1994). The "ideas"
involves belief, values, and institution; "behavior" involves customs or habits;
"products" involves art, music, and artifacts; and "ecology" involves flora, fauna,
plains, winds, and weather. Due to the wide gap between some cultures, the task of
translating these culturally-bound words in the poetic context becomes increasingly
challenging.
Overall, in comparison with Raffel’s categorisation, Hariyanto’s appears to be

more comprehensive as it takes into consideration the socio-cultural factor of poetic
works together with linguistic and literary/aesthetic elements. These three aspects
summarise the specific difficulties that translators may encounter when they translate
poetry.
2.1.2.3. Translator expertise
Due to its peculiar difficulties, poetry translation requires special expertise in
order to produce a satisfactory poetic rendition. Not only do translators have to
possess linguistic competence but they must also acquire a sound knowledge of poetic
discourse.
Dryden (cited in Miremadi, 1995), one of the greatest English poets of the
seventeenth century and a poetry translator, pioneers by asserting that “to render a
poem, the translator should be a poet him/herself.”

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Bassnett (1998) and Folkart (2007) both agrees that translators need to be
expert source-poem readers and expert target-poem writers. The job of poetry
translation demands crosslanguage expertise so that the translators are able to find
appropriate counterparts for complexes of source-poem features. In case no
equivalence is found, poetry translators have to make the literary judgement as to
“what to reproduce, what to recreate more loosely, and what to abandon.”
Rose (1981) further supports this point by emphasising the importance of the
translator’s knowledge of “the source language's cultural matrices, its etymologies,
syntax, and grammar, as well as its poetic tradition.” He also adds that the translator
needs to culturally and politically identify him/herself wholeheartedly with the
original poet. Besides, the expectations and sensibilities of the poetic tradition of the
target language must be successfully met in order to make the translation become a
poem. In general, the most successful translators of poetry are frequently “bilingual
and bicultural and, above all, poets in the target language.”

2.2. Approaches to translating poetry
Fully aware of the tough challenges translators encounter when they translate
poetry, researchers and scholars have tried to develop relevant strategies and methods
to face them. Throughout history, valiant attempts have been made at establishing a
methodological framework for translating poetry.
2.2.1. Dryden’s triadic model (1680)
One of the first schools of translation theories is formulated by Dryden (cited
in Hopkins, 2013). As a distinguished poet and translator, Dryden, in the Preface to
Ovid’s Epistles (1680), proposed his tripartite division of translation into metaphrase,
paraphrase, and imitation. This trichotomy of terms is respectively linked with the
more common terms in use today: word for word, sense for sense and free translation.

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Metaphrase is rejected by Dryden on the grounds that it produces “unidiomatic
and obscure renderings” and fails to convey the spirit of the original. Also, imitation
is not considered a desirable approach because it gives the translator so much liberty
that the results stand a high chance of being “original compositions than translations”.
Dryden comes to the conclusion that paraphrase is the most appropriate style of
translation, compromising between the two unacceptable extremes.
2.2.2. Raffel’s four audience-based types of poetry translation (1988)
For Raffel (1988), translation of poetry can be classified into four broad types
on the basis of different target audiences. These types are listed below:
(1) Formal translation
Formal translation is aimed primarily at scholars and those taught by scholars,
largely for scholarly rather than literary purposes. It deals with scholarship works
including examining, classifying, categorising, even comparing. Accordingly, the
formal translators opt for “literal”, or “faithful” translation of the original, which
means an exact reproduction of literary form, prosody and so on. They make every

effort to avoid any kind of interference between the original and their rendering and
prove perfectly willing to sacrifice literary for scholarly values.
(2) Interpretive translation
Interpretive translation is aimed primarily at a general audience who reads for
literary reasons. In order to serve this group of audience, the translators try to remain
faithful to the original poetic features such as the sequence of images, the rhythms,
and the tone. Their main goal is “to recreate something roughly equivalent in the new
language” which can be considered good poetry and successful in conveying “a
reasonable measure of the force and flavour of the original”.
(3) Expansive (or "free") translation

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Expansive translation is aimed at those who usually prefer to read something,
anything, new rather than anything old. It allows translators freedom to do essentially
whatever they like with the original in their own individual way rather than the
original poet’s way, such as adding, clarifying, and rearranging information. However,
Raffel (1988) considers such practice a destruction of the basic purpose of translation,
and comments that not many translators adopt this approach.
(4) Imitative translation
Imitative translation is aimed at an audience who wants the work of the
particular translator rather than the work of the original poet. Raffel (1988) criticises
this approach as “barely translation at all”. The so-called translation is self-sufficient
and separate from its sources. Lines are dropped, stanzas are moved, images are
changed, and metre and intent are altered.
Raffel admits that there exists some inevitable overlapping among these
categories, and most translators, as well as writers of translation, are unlikely to
approve of his classifications. Also, contrary to the prevailing viewpoint of most
commentators on translation, Raffel argues that no single type of translation is "best"

for each and every audience. The translators need to be aware of the existence of
linguistic and cultural matters during the translation process.
2.2.3. Holmes’ four traditional approaches (1988)
Regarding poetry translation, Holmes (1988) believes that the kind of verse
form translators choose and the kind of effect their translation produces are closely
connected. According to him, there are four traditional approaches that translators
have adopted for the translation of poetry into poetry.
The first approach is “mimetic form”, which is usually described as “retaining
the form of the original”. Holmes bases this method on the idea that no verse form in
one language can be completely identical to a verse form in any other, “however

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