idioœmaticity of english terminology in finance and solutions for finding vietnamese equivalents = tính đặc ngữ của thuật ngữ tài chính tiếng anh và biện pháp tìm tương đương trong tiếng việt tt

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
****************


PHẠM PHƢƠNG HOA


IDIOMATICITY OF ENGLISH TERMINOLOGY IN
FINANCE AND SOLUTIONS FOR FINDING
VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
(Tính đặc ngữ của Thuật ngữ Tài chính tiếng Anh và Biện pháp tìm
Tƣơng đƣơng trong tiếng Việt)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15




Hanoi - 2011
i

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I, Phạm Phương Hoa, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Idiomaticity of English
Terminology in Finance and Solutions for Finding Vietnamese Equivalents” is the result of
my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at Department of Postgraduate Studies,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
and the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for any degree at any other
university or tertiary institution.

Signature



Date:
ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to give my sincerest thanks to all those who have helped me throughout the
process of the study.
First of all, my gratitude is extended to all my teachers at Department of Postgraduate
Studies, University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS), Vietnam National
University, Hanoi (VNU) for their valuable lectures, which laid the foundation for this
thesis.
I would particularly like to show my greatest debt to my supervisor who has been a
constant source of advice, encouragement, and constructive criticism. Despite his heavy
workload, he still devoted his time and energy to helping me put this thesis into its present
shape. I must admit that his instant support and serious working attitude are indeed a great
source of inspiration for me to strive to complete this study.
I am also indebted to all the participants involved in the study. They have kindly given me
invaluable contributions and assistance. Without them, the survey and the interviews
would not have been possible. Their generous support is a launching pad for me to

complete my work.
In the most private sphere of acknowledgements, I would also like to thank my parents and
sister dearly for their encouragement and love. They have helped, comforted, and
supported me beyond any conceivable limits.
Finally, I take this opportunity to thank my roommate. Without her sympathy, I could not
have implemented my study smoothly.
iii

ABSTRACT

This thesis is intended to deal with idiomaticity of English financial terms, the difficulties
they cause to translation and solutions for finding Vietnamese equivalents. Specifically, it
studies the syntactic and semantic features of the terms which will help novice translators
and students of finance like us to understand their meanings more thoroughly. Difficulties
in translating English idiomatic financial terms and solutions to tackle them are also
presented. Apart from the author’s analysis of idiomatic financial terms, other findings and
solutions are derived from a survey with the participation of 53 graduate students of
International Finance at FTU and 33 senior ones of Interpreter and Translator Training
Division at Faculty of English Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU. Based on those findings,
this thesis provides some implications for translation and pedagogy. Last but not least,
suggestions for further research are given as direction in the time to come pursued by the
author and/or other interested people.
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS vi
LIST OF TABLES vii
LIST OF FIGURES vii
PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims and scopes of the study 2
3. Research questions and methodology 2
4. Organization of the thesis 3
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
1.1. Terminology and Financial Terminology 4
1.1.1. Definitions 4
1.1.2. Properties 5
1.1.3. Translation of terminology 9
1.2. Previous research 14
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16
2.1. Participants 16
2.2. Instruments of data collection 16
2.3. Procedures of data collection 18
v

2.4. Procedure of data analysis 20
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 21
3.1. Results 21
3.1.1. Syntactic idiomaticity of English financial terms 21
3.1.2. Semantic idiomaticity of English financial terms 23
3.1.3. Difficulties in translation of English idiomatic financial terms 24
3.1.4. Solutions to deal with difficulties in translation of English idiomatic financial
terms 30
3.2. Discussion 34

PART 3: CONCLUSION 35
1. Summary 35
2. Implications for Translation 35
3. Pedagogical implications 37
4. Limitations of the study 38
5. Suggestions for further research 39
REFERENCES 40
APPENDICES I
Appendix 1 I
Appendix 2 VII
Appendix 3 XIII