Some strategies to improve translation newspaper from english into vietnamese for the undergraduated students

Graduation paper
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGLISH & MODERN LANGUAGES
******************
GRADUATION PAPER
B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES
SOME STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE TRANSLATION
NEWSPAPER FROM ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE
FOR THE UNDERGRADUATED STUDENTS
STUDENT : HOµNG THóY VINH
DATE OF BIRTH : 04/10/1987
COURSE : K13K (2006 - 2010)
SUPERVISOR : NGUYÔN THÞ KIM CHI
Hanoi - 2010
DECLARATION
Tittle : “Some strategies on translation newspaper from English into
Vietnamese for the undergraduated students”
(Graduation paper submitted in Partial Fulfilment for B.A Degree in English)
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I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from
any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally
written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor.
(Date submitted)
Hanoi, March 2010
Student Supervisor

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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I have received great assistance from many people in the preparation of this paper.
Without their assistance and support, this paper might not have been finished.
First of all, I would like hereby to extend my profound gratitude to my supervisor,
Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Kim Chi from who I have received enormous kindness and
guidance.
Also, I an deeply indebted to all the teachers at the English Faculty and Modern
language, Hanoi Open University for their interesting and useful lectures which
have built in me a firm foundation with immense ideas for the fulfilment of this
paper.
In particular, my special thanks to my dear friends for the time, energy they spend
on reading my paper and providing me with extremely detailed comments on parts
and on the whole as well.
Last, but not least, I owe my deepest gratitude and thank all my family for their
love, great encouragement and support to me to fulfill this paper.
Hanoi, March 2010
Hoàng Thúy Vinh
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Declaration
Acknowledgement
Part A: Introduction
I. Rationale
II. Aim of the study
III. Scope of the study
IV. Method of the study
V. Design of study
Part B: Development

Chapter I: Overview of translation
1.1 Definitions of translation
1.2 Kinds of translation
1.2.1 Catford
1.2.2 Peter Newmark
1.2.3 Larson
1.3 Process of translation
1.4 Translation method
1.5 Skills and qualities required of translators
1.6 Summary
Chapter II: Overview of translation strategy on newspaper……………
2.1 Definition……………………………………………………………….
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2.2 Kinds of translation strategies………………………………………….
Chapter III: Strategies
3.1 Some strategies on translation newspaper from English into Vietnamese for the
undergraduated students
3.1.1 Newspaper headline…………………………………………………
3.1.2 Topic sentence
3.1.3 Idioms and fixed expression………………………………………
3.1.4 Grammar …………………………………………….
3.1.4.1 Voice……………………………………………………………
3.2.4.2 Tense …………………………………………………………
3.1.5 Proper names………………………………………………………
3.1.6 Prefixes and Suffixes…………………………………………………
3.1.7 Relative clauses……………………………………………………….
3.1.8 Phrasal verbs………………………………………………………….
3.1.9 Abbraviations……………………………………………………….

3.2 Summary………………………………………………………………….
Part C: Conclusion
Reference
Appendix
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Translation is a procedure which leads from a written SL text to an optimally
equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, semantic, stylistic, and text
pragmatic comprehension by the translator of the original text. (Wilss )
٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭٭
Part A: Introduction
I. Rationale
Language functions, not simply as a device for reporting experience, but also more
significantly, as a way of defining experience for its speakers. Language does more than
simply describe reality, it serves to shape how we see, taste, smell, feel and hear. It also
influences the way we think about the people, ideas and objects around us. Language is
not simply a formal system of sounds, words and syntactical structures, language also
reaches into the domain of human interaction.
The practice of translation dates back some two thousand years and ever since has
existed until present days. It is generally believed that translation plays a key role in the
universalization of human knowledge. It helps improve international understanding,
socio-cultural awareness, professional communicative activities, implementation of
technologies, and so much more. Many well-known translators have been paised fo their
great contribution to the mankind. Translation is of undeniable significance to the
development of the world culture and society.
However, the practice of translation has long been criticized for being. More than
often, unsatisfactory or even incorrection. Certainly, almost no translation is perfect even
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when the general text is conveyed. This is due to many linguistic and cultural differences
between this language and that. Perfecting the practice of translation has been a great
desire of generations of translators all over the world.
In Vietnam, there has been a growing concern about the quality of English –
Vietnamese translations. Some have been called by prestigious translators as “disaster of
the translation art”. Indeed, the practice of translation is not only a craft, but also a science
and an art, which needs to be constantly improved with a view to bringing the Vietnamese
mass culture to a new height. Particularly, English is the language of billions of
documents available in all fields, academic or popular. Therefore, it is hardky surprising
that many scholars and lecturers teaching translation at universities have spared no effots
to work on the frequently seen types of mistakes in English – Vietnamese translation as
well as techniques translators may employ to avoid them. They devote their life to find
out and resolve common pitfalls that make a translation unnatural and sometimes even
incomprehensible. That is also the attempt that I choose this topic; try my best to
accomplish this paper with the hope that it will give a translation overview especially
translation newspaper from English into Vietnamese for the undergraduated students to
help them translating better.
II. Aims of study
The study may mention the theoretical base in each of its parts, but it concentrates
large on dealing with translation in practice. The primary aim of this thesis is to give an
overview of translation and newspaper translation. Apart from that, the study also aims at
some possible strategies to overcome problems when translating newspaper. The targeted
subject of the paper is that all people who are interested in translation work can consider it
as useful reference helping improve their translation skills in newspaper.
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III. Scope of study
Due to time limitation, my paper can not cover all aspects of translating

newspaper. Therefore, I only pay attention to give some strategies to deal with the
problems when translating newspaper.
IV. Method of study
This paper is carried out by the following steps:
Have the instructions from my supervisor and other teachers.
Collecting materials from books, newspapers, and internet; reading all of them
carefully to draw features of news.
Translating some English articles in newspaper in order to find difficulties and
give some strategies for translating newspaper.
V. Design of study
My graduation paper is divided into three main parts:
Part A: Introduction, including the Rationale, Aims, Scope, Method, and Design of
study.
Part B: Development, there are two main chapter in this part.
Chapter I: Overview of translation
Chapter II: Strategies
Pat C: Conclusion
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Part B: Development
Chapter I: Overview of translation
1.1 Definitions of translation
Some things in life are not easy and leaning a language is one of them. Translating
from one language to another is yet another. No wonder translation is highly – intergrated
skill. It builds on not only language competency but also sound background knowledge
and sensitiveness. Thus, what is translation? It is still a question in need of reseach. It is a
difficult and complex field. Below are some opinions on concept of translation:
 Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language, the closed nature
equivalent of the source language message, first in term of meaning and second in

term of type.
(Nida & Taber 1974:12)
 Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (source language
– SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (target language – TL).
(Catford 1995:20)
 Translation is a procedure which leads from a written SL text to an optimally
equivalent TL text, and which requires the syntactic, semantic, stylistic, and text
pragmatic comprehension by the translator of the original text.
(Wilss 1982a: 112)
 Translation, as the process of conveying message across linguistic and cultural
barriers, is an eminently communicative activity, one whose use could well be
considered in a wider range of teaching situation than my currently be the case.
(Tudor, cited in Duff 1989: 5)
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1.2 Kinds of translation
As said above, there are many definitions and concepts of translation so there are
also different kinds of translation. However, in the book “Translation theory and practice”
by Hoang Van Van, the author mentioned the definitions from three writers: Catford,
Newmark, Larson.
1.2.1 Catford
According to the book “A linguistic theory of translation” by Catford (1965), there
are many kinds of translation: full & partial, total & restricted, phonological,
graphological, transliteration, rank – bound, and bouned.
 Full translation is translation in which the entire text is submitted to the translation
process; that is, every part of the source languge (SL) text is replaced by target
language (TL) text material.
 Partial translation is translation in which some parts of the (SL) text are left
untranslated: they are simply transferred to and incorporated in the (TL) text.

 Total translation is translation in which all levels of SL text are replaced by TL text
material. Strictly speaking, “total” translation is a misleading term, since, though
total replacement by equivalents at all levels.
 Restricted translation refer to the replacement of SL textual material by equivalent
TL textual material, at only one level; that is, translation performed only at the
phonological or at the graphological, or at only one of two levels of grammar and
lexis.
 Phonological translation is the replacement of the SL phonology by the TL
phonology.
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 Graphological translation is the replacement of the SL graphology by the TL
graphology. Transliteration refers to a complex translating process in which
involves phonological translation with the addition of phonology – graphology
correlation at both ends of the process; i.e, in SL and TL.
 Rank – bound translation is translation in which the selection of TL equivalents is
deliberately confined to one rank (or a few ranks) in the hierarchy of grammatical
units.
 Unbounded translation, in contrast, refers to normal total translation in which
equivalences shift freely up and down the rank scale.
1.2.2 Peter Newmark
According to Newmark, a text is divided into 10 different directions as below:
The truth
SL TL
SL norms TL
Text
SL culture TL culture
SL setting TL setting
and tradition and tradition

Translation
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Newmark looks at kinds of translation from the point of view of the reader. He
makes distinctionbetween semantic and communicative translation. In his opinion, all
translation must be in some degree communicative and semantic, social and individual.
 In communicative translation, the only pat of the meaning of the original, which is
rendered, is the part which corresponds to he TL reader’s understanding of the
identical message. In this kind of translation isallowed to modify, correct and
improve the latest version of the copy of his translation without referebces to the
original.
 Semantic translation, in contrast, refers to the translator’s respect to the context in
which the text occurs and his loyalty to the author.
If the semantic translator is asked whether his first duty to his author is not
communicate the meaning of the text to the reader, his answer is perhaps yes and no.
Certaintly, if the text is not modern, the translation has to be put into modern language,
which in itselft moves it nearer to the reader. Further, if the language contains symbolism
and expressive elements which are likely to be completely inaccessible to the reader, then
it is the translator’s duty to make their comprehension possible. Semantic translation is
not as rigid procedure; it is more objective than communicative translation, since the SL
words as well as the sentences are operative in the form of control. To sum up, main
differences between communicative and semantic translation are suggested by Newmark
as follow:
Communicative translation Semantic translation
Reader – oriented
Longer
Author – oriented
Shorter
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Smoother, simpler, clearer, more direct,
more conventional, conforming to a
particular register of language, tending
to undertranslate.
More complex, more awkward, more
detailed, more concentrated and pursues
the thought – process rather than the
intention of the transmitter.
1.2.3 Larson
Larson (1984) divides translation into two main kinds: literal and idiomatic.
 Literal translation is form – based; it is desirable to produce the linguistic features
of the source text. However, literal translation sound like nonsense and has little
communicative value.
 Idiomatic translation is meaning – based; it uses natural forms of receptor
language, both in the grammatical constructionn and in the choice of lexical items.
A truly idiomatic translation does not sound like a translation. It sounds as if it
were written originally in the receptor language.
However, translations are often mixtures of a literal transfer of the grammatical
units along with some idiomatic translation of the meaning of the text.
1.3 Process of translation
According to Tank (1976) translation process includes:
 Task of an intellectural, heuristic nature that can not be formalized:
comprehension, evaluation, appreciation, creation.
 Task of routine nature, which can be formalized, and thus which can be
mechanized: terminology research, application of simple grammatical rules.
Peter Newmark wrote in 1988 about the three basic translation processes:
• The interpretation and analysis of the source text.
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• The translation procedure (choosing equivalents for words and sentences in
the TL).
• The reformulation of the text according to the writer’s intention, the
reader’s expectation, the appropriate norms of the TL, etc.
Translation process can be accomplished, for a given translation:
- Either in a simple operation only:
Source text Translantion revision Target text
- Or in two operations (frequently the case in the large translation
services)
Source text Translantion revision Target text
- Or even in exceptional cases (for example: legal text), in three
operations:
Source text Translantion Linguistic revision
Revision Subject matter Target text
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1.4 Translation methods
Obviously, there are many ways to translate a text. It is depend on the text we
have a specific method.
 Word for word translation
Features:
SL word - order is preserved
Non - grammatical
Words are translated by their most common meanings, out of
context.
Used for:
Information about SL

Language learning
Pre - translation process of difficult text in order to gain sense of meaning.
 Literal translation:
Features:
SL grammatical structures are converted to their nearest equivalent in the TL.
Words are still translatedsingly, out of context.
Used for:
Pre - translation process to identify problems.
Basic of poetry “translation” for poet who does not understand SL.
 Faithful translation
Features:
Words are translated in context but unpromising to TL.
Transfer cultural words.
Does not naturalize.
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Often read like a translation.
Used for:
Literary translation.
` Authoritative text.
Drafts.
 Semantic translation
Features:
It is more flexible than faithful translation.
Naturalizes a bit while faithful translation is uncompromising.
Great focus on aesthetic features of source text.
Close rendering of metaphor, collocations, technical terms, slang, colloquialism,
unusual syntactic structures and collocations, peculiarly used words, neologism, badly
written or inaccurate message.

Used for:
Text that having high status: religious text, legal text, and politicians’ speeches.
Expressive texts.
 Communicative translation
Features:
Freer than semantic translation.
Gives priority to the effectiveness of the message to be communicated.
Focus on factors such as readability and naturalness.
Both content and the language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the
reader.
Used for:
Informative texts.
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 Idiomatic translation
Features:
Reproduce the “message” of the original.
Prefer colloquialism and idioms which do not exist in the original.
Outcome: lively, “natural” translation.
 Free translation
Features:
Reproduce the matter without the manner; the content without the form of the
original.
Paraphrases much larger than the original.
Used for:
Informative translation
In - house publication.
1.5 Skills and qualities required of translators
Language skills: reading and writing skills.

Analytical skills:
• Identify the writer’s, argumentative, etc.
• Identify the language level úed in the tẽt: standard, lang, religious, etc.
• Problem - spotting and problem – solving.
Cultural knowledge
Subject knowledge
Ethical behavior
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Researching/ resourcing skills
Computer skills
1.6 Summary
In conclusion, translation is a complex process. It requires not only language skill
but also background knowledge and sensitiveness. In this chapter, I have represented
some information of translation as well as kinds of translation. Processes, methods of
translation and skills of translator are also deal with. I hope that the reader would have a
literature review of translation’s significant role in our society.
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Chapter II: Overview of translation strategy on newspaper
II.1 Definition
There are many definition of translation strategy. We have not an exact definition
of it. Translation strategy can be defined as follow:
Krings (1986:18) defines translation strategy as "translator's potentially conscious
plans for solving concrete translation problems in the framework of a concrete translation
task," and Seguinot (1989) believes that there are at least three global strategies employed
by the translators: (i) 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 to the revision stage.
Moreover, Loescher (1991:8) defines 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,
Cohen (1998:4) asserts that "the element of consciousness is what distinguishes strategies
from these processes that are not strategic."
Furthermore, Bell (1998:188) differentiates between global (those dealing with
whole texts) and local (those dealing with text segments) strategies and confirms that this
distinction results from various kinds of translation problems.
Venuti (1998:240) indicates that translation strategies "involve the basic tasks of
choosing the foreign text to be translated and developing a method to translate it." He
employs the concepts of domesticating and foreignizing to refer to translation strategies.
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Jaaskelainen (1999:71) considers strategy as, "a series of competencies, a set of
steps or processes that favor the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization of information."
He maintains that strategies are "heuristic and flexible in nature, and their adoption
implies a decision influenced by amendments in the translator's objectives."
Taking into account the process and product of translation, Jaaskelainen (2005)
divides strategies into two major categories: some strategies relate to what happens to
texts, while other strategies relate to what happens in the process.
Product-related strategies, as Jaaskelainen (2005:15) writes, involves the basic
tasks of choosing the SL text and developing a method to translate it. However, she
maintains that process-related strategies "are a set of (loosely formulated) rules or
principles which a translator uses to reach the goals determined by the translating
situation" (p.16). Moreover, Jaaskelainen (2005:16) divides this into two types, namely
global strategies and local strategies: "global strategies refer to general principles and
modes of action and local strategies refer to specific activities in relation to the translator's

problem-solving and decision-making."
In conclusion, translation strategies are defined differently in different dictionaries,
books, and by different people.
2.2 Kinds of translation strategies
2.2.1 Newspaper headline
Every time we pick up a newspaper, what come into our sight will be lots of news
headlines. A headline has become an indispensable part of newspaper. The editor means
to attract the reader’s attention through headlines. As a result, news paper headlines are
usually specially designed to be short, concise, and informative to convey different kinds
of information. We may be confused by the headlines like “Cater’s War on Waste”, “UFO
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Sighted”, “Smugglers Get Jail and Fines”, “Weekly Mag for Stamp Lovers to Be
Launched”, ect. Yet without some knowledge of news headline features, it is not easy for
us to read English newspaper. This paper has summarized the study of newspaper
development in recent years and presents the lexical features, structure features and
rhetorical devices of English newspaper headlines in details. Then those are some
definitions of newspaper headline:
 A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the
article below it.
( /> Newspaper headline - the heading or caption of a newspaper article.
 Newspaper headline is the title or caption of a newspaper article, usually set in
large type. Or an important or sensational piece of news. Often used in the plural.
Or a line at the head of a page or passage giving information such as the title,
author, and page number.
( /> Others definitions of newspaper headline is that: Newspaper headline is a heading
in a newspaper for any written material, sometimes for an illustration, to indicate
subject matter, set in larger type than that of the copy and containing one or more
words and lines and often several banks. Or the largest such heading on the front

page, usually at the top. Or the line at the top of a page, containing the title,
pagination, etc.
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And the structure features of English newspaper headlines can be divided into two
aspects. They are as follows:

 Omission
Omission is one of the major features of English newspaper headlines. Generally
speaking, omission can be classified 4 types.
- Omission of articles
Eg: Italian Ex-mayor Murdered ( = A Italian Ex-mayor Was Murdered )
Tenth of British Mackerel Catch Ground into Feed
(= A Tenth of the British markerel Catch Ground into Feed )
- Omission of conjunction and pronoun
Eg: USA, Vietnam Resume Talks ( = USA and Vietnam Resume Talks )
Have Dollars, Will Sell ( = If You Have Dollars, Will Sell )
- Omission of “be ” and auxiliary verbs
Eg: Three Dead after Inhaling over Gas ( = Three Are Dead after Inhaling over
Gas )
Married Women to Get Care Allowance
( = Married Women Are to Get Care Allowance )
PNC’s world views praised ( = PNC’s world views were praised )
- Omission of verbs
Eg: Ballots, Not Bullets ( = Algerians Want Ballots, Not Bullets )
Pom peii Reported Seriously Damaged
( = Pom peii Reported to Have Benn Seriously Damage)
 Use Noun to Replace Adjective, Phrase, and Verb
Nouns are frequently used in newspaper Headlines to replace different words to

form various structures. So nouns are the most animated words in news headlines.
Eg: Yugoslav pianist stirring music world
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( “music world” = “musical world” )
Corruption Reports Against Police Rise
( “corruption reports” = “reports on corruption complaints ”)
Female axe murderer executed
( “female axe murdered” = “ a female murderer who killed with an axe ” )
Export growth to beat crisis
( “growth” is used to replace “grow” )
2.2.2 Topic sentence
A topic sentence is a sentence that captures the meaning of the entire paragraph or
group of sentences. It tells what the passage is mainly about.
( />The sentence, sometimes at the beginning of a paragraph, that states or suggests
the main idea.
( />The topic sentence is a sentence that sets out the main idea or topic of a paragraph.
It is often the first sentence especially when arguing a point where it may well be
followed by further information, examples etc If the writing is exploring a point, it
frequently comes as the last sentence, drawing a conclusion from the argument.
( />Topic sentence is the principal sentence, setting forth the main idea and coming
usually at the beginning, in a paragraph or section of a discourse, esp. of an expository
nature
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The main sentence in a paragraph, often the first sentence. It briefly conveys the
essential idea of the paragraph.
( /> 2.2.3 Idioms and fixed expression

There are many definitions of Idioms:
According to Oxford advance learner dictionary: Idiom is defined as “a group of
word whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words”.
And according to Mc Carthy and O’Dell, 2004 in “English Idioms in Use”: “It is a
fixed expression which has a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words”.
Or “Idiom is a phrase characteristic of a particular language, that cannot
necessarily be fully understood from the separate meanings of the individual words which
form it, but instead must be learned as a whole unit of meaning”.
( />Idiom is set expression of two or more words that means something other than the
literal meanings of its individual words.
( />A fixed expression in English is a standard form of expression that has taken on a
more specific meaning than the expression itself. It is different from a proverb in that it is
used as a part of a sentence, and is the standard way of expressing a concept or idea.
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A fixed expression. Any expression which offers a ready-made way of saying
something.
( /> 2.2.4 Grammar
Passive voice is the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb
is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb; "'The ball was thrown
by the boy' uses the passive voice"; "The ball was thrown' is an abbreviated passive".
Tense is used to show the relation between the action or state described by the
verb and the time, which is reflected in the form of the verb. There are two basic tenses in
English; the present tense and the past tense. The present is like the base form, although
the third person singular adds -s. Regular verbs add -ed or -d to show the past tense, while
irregular verbs change in many different ways, or not at all in some cases.
( /> Verbs can take various forms, depending on whether they refer to the present or
the past, and on the temporal relationship of one event to another. These forms are the
tenses.

( />Tenses represent a contrast of temporal references along the timeline of an
utterance. All languages use the same tenses present, past and future, however the
expression of these tenses cannot always be translated directly from one language to
another. While verbs in all languages have typical forms by which they are identified and
indexed in dictionaries, usually the most common present tense or an infinitive, their use
in methods for expressing tense varies among languages.
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