Câu nhấn mạnh trong tiếng anh và cách dịch sang tiếng việt

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRAN THI THANH TAM

EMPHATIC SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND WAYS
TO TRANSLATE THEM INTO VIETNAMESE

(CÂU NHẤN MẠNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ CÁCH DỊCH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT)

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH)

Hanoi, 2018


HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRAN THI THANH TAM

EMPHATIC SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND WAYS
TO TRANSLATE THEM INTO VIETNAMESE

(CÂU NHẤN MẠNH TRONG TIẾNG ANH
VÀ CÁCH DỊCH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT)

(SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS OF
THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH)

SUPERVISOR: DO TIEN DUC, M.A

Hanoi, 2018


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Do Tien Duc, for the continuous
support of my study and research, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and
immense knowledge in all four academic years. I appreciate all his contributions of
time, ideas, and funding to make my experience productive and stimulating, without
whose valuable comments and guidance, my thesis would not have been
accomplished.
I wish to thank all the lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, especially the
lecturers in the Faculty of Foreign Languages for their dedicated instructions during
years of university work.
Finally, I would like to express my deep love and appreciation to my parents, brothers
and sisters, who always encouraged me with love and spiritually supported me
throughout my life.


ABSTRACT

Emphatic sentences aim to emphasize a point or establish a focus to make the sentence
more prominent and important than others. This reasearch is conducted to explore
some kinds of emphasis in English and find out effective ways to translate English
emphatic sentences into Vietnamese.
Translation from English into Vietnamese in general is the highest level of using
English as a foreign language, and the translation of English in particular requires lots
of. There are a lot of translation methods used to tranlsate emphatic sentences from
English into Vietnamese. However, there has not been a useful method to translate

them. Usually, translation versions of emphatic sentences are produced without
emphasis, as it is not considered or translatorsdo not know how to produce it.
Therefore, this research work aims to contribute an investigation of emphatic
sentences in English and prove the researcher’s view that communicative translation
and semantic translation are effective methods for translating emphatic sentences from
English into Vietnamese.


DECLARATIONS
I hereby certify that the graduation paper entitled:
Emphatic sentences in English and ways to translate them into Vietnamese
(Câu nhấn mạnh trong tiếng anh và cách dịch sang tiếng việt)
is my own research work and not coppied from any other person’s work without
acknowledgements and that it is originally done by myself under my supervisor’s
instructions.
Date submitted: May 2018
Student

Supervisor

Tran Thi Thanh Tam

Do Tien Duc


TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1
1. Reasons for the study. ........................................................................................... 1
2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................. 2

3. Research questions ................................................................................................ 2
4. Scope of the study ................................................................................................. 3
5. Methods of the study ............................................................................................. 3
6. Design of the study ................................................................................................ 3
DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION ............................................ 4
1.1 Definition of translation. ..................................................................................... 4
1.2. Translation process ............................................................................................. 4
1.3. How translation is conducted ............................................................................. 6
1.4. Methods of translation........................................................................................ 7
1.4.1. Some approaches to translation....................................................................... 7
1.4.2. Some translation methods ............................................................................... 8
1.4.2.1. Comments on the methods ........................................................................... 8
1.4.2.2. Equivalent effects ......................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 2: ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EMPHATIC SENTENCES IN
CONTRAST ............................................................................................................ 11
2.1. Definitions of emphasis.................................................................................... 11
2.2. Devices of English and Vietnamese emphases ................................................ 12
2.2.1 Lexical device ................................................................................................ 12
2.2.2 Syntactic device.............................................................................................. 14
2.2.2.1. Announcements .......................................................................................... 14
2.2.2.2. Fragments ................................................................................................... 14
2.2.2.3 Imperative sentences ................................................................................... 15
2.2.2.4 Inversion ...................................................................................................... 15
2.2.2.5 Rhetorical questions .................................................................................... 17
2.2.2.6. Interuption (Isolation) ................................................................................ 18
2.2.2.7. Restatement ................................................................................................ 18
2.2.2.8. Exclamations .............................................................................................. 19

2.2.2.9 Repetition .................................................................................................... 19
2.2.2.10. Cleft Sentences ......................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER 3: THE ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF
EMPHATIC SENTENCES ..................................................................................... 23
3.1 Translation methods .......................................................................................... 23
3.2 Stages in the translation of emphatic sentences ................................................ 24
3.2.1 Discovering the meaning in the source language (English)........................... 25
3.2.2 Re-expressing the meaning in the target language (Vietnamese) .................. 25
3.2.2.1 Rough transformation.................................................................................. 26
3.2.2.2 Restructuring ............................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 4: SOME SHORTCOMINGS AND MISTAKES IN THE
ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF EMPHATIC SENTENCES CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS................................................................................. 37
4.1 Shortcomings and mistakes ............................................................................... 37
4.1.1 Emphasis absent from the Vietnamese sentence. .......................................... 37
4.1.2 Incapability of producing more than one structural equivalent ..................... 38
4.2. Causes............................................................................................................... 38
4.3 Solutions ............................................................................................................ 40
CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 42
1. Review of study ................................................................................................... 42
2 Suggestion for further studies .............................................................................. 42
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 44


INTRODUCTION
1. Reasons for the study
Language is our primary source of communication, which is the method through
which we share our ideas and thoughts with others. It is said that language is what
distinguishes us from other animals and makes us human. There are a lot of languages
in the world, each country has its own native language in addition to a variety of local
dialects spoken and understood by their people in different regions. Some languages

are used by millions of people, others by only a few thousand. Among those
languages, English is the most widely used, which has become more and more popular
in the world today. It has been widely used in many different walks of life. Translation
in general is fairly important in Vietnam nowadays, which has resulted from not only
requirements of country’s renovation in general but also its necessity in learning
foreign languages in particular.
In the process of renovation, translation acts as a factor that helps integrate Vietnam
into the region and the word. Since open-door policy was started, owning the
knowledge of the economy, politic mechanism, culture, etc of other countries has
become an indispensable need for most Vietnamese people, particularly the
intellectual class. Moreover, an increasing number of foreigners have shown a great
desire to get an insight into Vietnam- the country and the people. What is essential is
to create a body of professional translators and interpreters who specialize in foreign
languages, now most commonly in English, with a view to enabling others to
understand foreigners and make themselves understood by foreigners. As a result,
only with translation can be the above demands of Vietnamese people and
foreigners be met perfectly.
Translation viewed from the aspect of studying foreign languages is seen
indispensable as well. And this leads to the important role of mother tongue in learning
and teaching another language in which translation has proved to be an important
activity. However, translation works have revealed many disadvantages such as slow
acquisition of the foreign language as well as lack of unstanding of the culture of that
language. English is a typical case in this point. In learning and teaching new words
and grammatical items of English, using Vietnamese- our mother tongue- in
combination with English, i.e. employing translation will greatly accelerate those
processes. Also, it is imposible to ignore the translation of emphatic sentences, though
in some cases the translation may fail to reproduce part of the intended emphasis of the
source language writer.
An emphatic sentence is a special way of utterance in which an element or a part of the
sentence or the whole sentence is made more prominent than others. And the variation

of the emphatic elements can enable our ideas to be expressed with various nuances.
Neither English or Vietnamese proves an exception. For example, in English, the idea
that Jane phoned me yesterday can be expressed by either:

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It was Jane who phoned me yesterday (Jane herself, not somebody else, phoned me) or
Jane didn‟t write but phoned me.
Or
It was me that Jane phoned (Jane phoned me not somebody else)
In Vietnamese, to denote an offer of one more coffee people can say:
Em hãy uống thêm một tách cà phê nữa đi! (Normal invitation)
Em hãy uống thêm một tách cà phê nữa đi nào! (The speaker‟s insistence is stressed)
Em hãy uống thêm một tách cà phê nữa đi nhé! (The speaker‟s persuasion)
Note: đi, đi nào, đi nhé are some of the elements giving emphasis in Vietnamese.
Obviously, emphasis both in English and Vietnamese helps us understand precisely
what we hear and be able to feel the speaker (writer)’s attitude (surprise, respect,
friendliness,etc...) For that reason, Vietnamese writers also need to resort to emphasis
and Vietnamese readers need to understand that the emphasis has been used so that
they could not only feel what the English writer emphasizes but also comment on the
aesthetic values of his literary works, particularly in poetry. It would be better to say it
is very necessary to translate emphatic sentences from English into Vietnamese and
vice versa.
Finally, the item of emphasis in English and Vietnamese has not been studied
thoroughly in grammar books and how to translate English emphatic idea into
Vietnamese one has not been considered before. Therefore, it is the desire for
something new and adventurous that has made her concerned with the study of the
translation of English emphatic sentences into Vietnamese.
In short, these above-mentioned reasons are both objective and subjective. And it is

them that have given her an impetus to her study- the study on translation of sentences
with emphasis from English into Vietnamese and problems facing learners of English
in dealing with the translation of emphasis.
2. Aims of the study
The aims of study are as follows:
• To give an overview of English and Vietnamese emphases as well as emphatic
sentences in the two languages.
To introduce different translation methods and those possibly used for translation of
emphatic sentences from English into Vietnamese
• To suggest concrete steps in how to translate emphatic sentence from English into
Vietnamese.
•To point out some mistakes and shortcoming to which Vietnamese translators
sometimes make when they are to render emphatic sentences, by the way, suggesting
solutions for them.
3. Research questions
As far as it is considered, this research is conducted to answer the following questions:
1. What are some effective methods to translate English emphatic sentences into
Vietnamese?

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2. What may be the limitations of translating emphatic sentences from English into
Vietnamese and how to overcome them?
4. Scope of the study
As the name of the paper suggest, what is chosen to be studied in here is the way of
translating English emphatic sentences into its Vietnamese equivalents. Like
translation in general, this also goes from discovering the meaning in the source
language (SL) to re-expressing the meaning in the target language (TL). That is to say,
the translator, with her comparison between English and Vietnamese emphatic

sentences, will have to apply an appropriate translation method to transform emphatic
sentences from English into Vietnamese. Therefore, the scope of the study is limited to
issues concerning how to achieve emphasis in both English and Vietnemese, ways to
translate emphatic sentences from English into Vietnamese and shortcomings faced by
Vietnamese translators when dealing with emphasis. Other expressions, sentences
types and structures will not be mentioned in this study.
5. Methods of the study
The method applied for the research paper is analysis of materials related to emphatic
sentences in both English and Vietnamese to see how they are formed and used. On
the other hand the author generalize the use of emphatic sentences in the two
languages with specific examples collected from various reliable sources, base on
which the translation methods used to translate them from english into Vietnamese are
studied and suggested
6. Design of the study
The study consists of 4 chapters. Chapter 1 gives an overview of translation. Chapter 2
presents contrasts between emphases in English and Vietnamese and how they are
formed in the two languages. Chapter 3 deals with how to translate English emphatic
sentences into Vietnamese. Chapter 4 reveals the shortcomings in English-Vietnamese
translation of emphatic sentences as well as the causes and solutions to overcome
them.

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DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW OF TRANSLATION
1.1 Definition of translation.
It is common that there are always various concepts of the same thing. Therefore, there
exist different definitions of one thing viewed from different perspectives. Translation
would serve as a good example; it is differently defined in dictionary and by authors.

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopaedic Dictionary (Hornby et.al, 1993)
defines translation as the work to express something spoken or especially written in
another language or in simpler words, an as something that is translated. Whereas, the
Vietnamese Dictionary defines translation as the work of expressing a message spoken
or written in one language in another language. It can be deduced that the two
dictionaries do not have the same definition of translation. The former considers
translation both as a process and a product when the latter describes if only as a
process or an effort.
Similarly, many famous translation theorists do not reach unanimity on the work of
defining translation. In his book “Approach to translation”, Newmark (1981) defines
translation as a craft consisting an attempt to replace a written message and/or
statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language.
Nida, another famous theorist, holds the view that translation is both an art, a skill and
a science.
Taking some definitions of translation into consideration, the author would like to
prove that there are different definitions of translation, thus there are different ways in
which it is conducted. However, the ultimate aim of translation is to produce the best
version of a written or spoken message in another language. Therefore, it involves
activities, efforts, techniques and skills. Besides, translation has something to do with
art, as it requires creativeness as well as imagination to make good choices of words,
to fill the semantic gap between the two languages and to tackle various cultural
factors, etc.
In conclusion, translation can be viewed both as a process and a product, an art and a
science. That definition would not be a comprise among, but a good combination of
the definition mentioned above.
1.2. Translation process
Translation as a process, as discussed in 2.1, is defined as the work to express a written
or spoken message in another language. Expressing a message in another language
does not mean mere linguistic substitution but a rather complex process that requires
activities, techniques, skills, creativeness and, certainly, knowledge.

According to Pomonti (1998,pp.84-89), translation process is divided into three stages:
1) understanding the meaning of the text 2) Re-expressing the meaning in the target

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language 3) Correcting the target language text. Hervey and Higgins (1992) state that
translation process can be broken into two types of activities: Understanding a source
language (SL) text and formulating a target language (TL) text. They stress that these
two types of activities do not occur successively but simultaneously and that one may
not even realise that one has imperfectly understood the SL text until he comes up
against a problem in formulating or evaluating a TL text. In such a case, he may need
to go back to square one, so as to reinterpret and reconstruct the SL text in the light of
his new understanding of it. Thus SL text interpretation and TL text formulation go
hand in hand. But it is useful to think of them as different, mutually separate process.
The interpretation process can help the translator to know the topic and the type of the
SL text as well as the intention of the author in order to find the suitable translation
method and identify particular and recurrent problems. Interpretation process requires
both general and close reading. General reading is essential for the translator to get the
gist of the text. Here she may have to read encyclopaedias, textbooks, or specialist
papers to understand the subject and the concepts mentioned. Close reading helps the
translator to grasp the meaning of the words both out of and in context. The meaning
of a given word is governed not only by the external object or idea that particular word
is suppose to refer to, but also by the use of that particular word or phrase in a
particular way, in a particular context, and to a particular effect. Consequently, given
different shades of meaning of the same words, a text can be understood with varying
degrees of precision. Therefore, the translator has to work out the meaning of words
the author intended, to find out whether the whole or part of the text is straight (means
what it says) or ironical (slightly or entirely opposite in meaning) or non-sensical. The
following example illustrates how a sentence can be differently translated:

English version: She really likes him.
She: cô ấy, cô ta, bà ấy, ả, thị, nàng.
Him: anh ấy, anh ta, ông ấy, chàng, hắn, gã.
Possible translation:
Cô ấy/ cô ta rất thích anh ấy/ anh ta.
Bà ấy rất thích ông ta.
Thị/ ả rất quý (thích) gã/ hắn.
Nàng mà lại thích hắn? (The speaker raises his/her voice)
Cô ta ghét hắn lắm.(The stress is put on him)
In short, that contextual meaning of the words in the SL text which reflects the
author’s attitude and intention is always of importance and requires special efforts of
the translator.
In interpretation process, the translator attempts to get the gist of the text , the message
of the author, but she may be faced with complex structures. To tackle the problem,
she can adopt intralingual paraphrasing. The complex structures would be broken into
components in the SL to clarify all obscurities. This is an example:
“Indeed, in unveiling her 33-man cabinet – complete with a market friendly economic
team and surprisingly few politicians – she delivered the strongest message yet that
she is intent not only on reinventing her own public persona, but on resurrecting

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Indonesia‟s presidential system, weakened by her deposed predecessor, Abdurrahman
Wahid”
(Far Eastern Economic Review 23.8.2001)
This sentence can be reduced to simpler sentences:
“Indeed, she unveiled her 33-man cabinet. The cabinet is complete with a marketfriendly economic team and surprisingly comprise few politicians. Her act to unveil
that cabinet delivered her strongest message. The message is that she is intent not only
on reinventing her public persona, but on resurrecting Indonesia‟s presidential

system. The presidential system had been weaken by her deposed predecessor,
Abdurrahman Wahid”.
Intralingual paraphrasing may make the text of a component much longer. However, it
helps to remove obscurities in the text and improve the translator’s comprehension of
the text.
The SL interpretation and TL formulation process go hand in hand. In the second
stage, it is the work of the translator to re-express in the TL what he has got from the
SL text. In this stage the translator may focus on the search of TL to find equivalents
of concepts to be re-expressed. However, according to Newmark (1988), there exist
two cases of rendering words or terms. With text considered by Newmark as an
amalgam of standardized language, there should be only one correct equivalent, thus
requiring the accuracy. That is the science of translation. As for text considered to be
on non-standardized language, there is rarely only one correct equivalent , requiring
the translator’s creativeness and imagination. That is the art or craft of translation.
The TL text formulation stage includes the correcting mistakes of the transferred text.
He can replace or remove what she considers to be absurd or unnatural to the readers.
In conclusion, translation process comprises two intertwined stages: SL text
interpretation and TL text formulation. These two stages required the translator’s
intelligence, creativeness, mental efforts and efforts and linguistic skill, a close
knowledge of the subject matter of the SL text, a careful examination and analysis of
its content and significantly, mastery of the TL.
1.3. How translation is conducted
As Nida (1964) states, translation is both an art and a science. It means translation
involves both scientific and artistic activities. However, Ludskanov (1975), a
semiotist, considers translation as mere science. He claims that translation could be
done by machines or computers. On the contrary,Nida and Malinowski (2003,pp.79 80) state that translation could only be successful done by human beings. The dispute
lies in whether translation can or cannot be done out of context, whether the problem
of translation can be solved solely on the basis of lexical meaning of words in the text
without the context to be considered.
In effect, the rigorous developments in science and technology over the past decades,

especially in information technology, have nourished many people’s hope of

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computerized translating machines. There have been natural language-processing
software and even website on the Internet offering translations of inserted sentences or
texts. The initial successes have led to increasing efforts to produce perfect translating
machines that can translate any type of text.
That seems, however, impossible or a too far future. The software’s now can translate
only simple sentences or structures and mainly deal with lexical meanings rather than
contextual meanings. They can hardly “understand” the text contextually, thus fail to
discover the author’s intention, attitude, so as to distinguish between straight or
ironical meanings. Such software also fail to assess the reader’s knowledge and
interest, which are important issues to be considered in translation process.
Furthermore, they cannot deal with idiomatic expressions, let alone to process cultural
factors. Therefore, when applied to translating highly literary texts, these softwares
would produce absurd translations full of exoticism strangeness.
Then, it is possible to state that, as translation is both an art and a science, it cannot be
conducted by machines. It is only the human beings that can do translation
successfully.
1.4. Methods of translation
1.4.1. Some approaches to translation.
As the author points out in 1.1, there exist different definitions of translation, although
its ultimate aim is to produce the best version of a message in another language, thus
there are different methods to achieve that aim.
It should be noted that the translator does not spend much time thinking about which
translation method he should use to process the text; translation method is more of
habitual use. As Hervey and Higgins (1992) state, the SL text interpretation and TL
text formulation process occur simultaneously, so the translator would define

translation mehthod as soon as he starts reading the text.
Newmark (1984,1988) points out that the central problem has always been where to
translator to translate literally or freely. The argument has been going on since at least
the first century BC. Opinions swung between literal and free, faithful and beautiful,
exact and natural translation, depending on whether the bias was in favour of the
author or the reader, the SL or the TL of the text. Up to the nineteenth century, some
writers favoured some kind of free translation, the spirit, not the letter; the sense not
the words; the message rather than the form; the matter not the manner. That is the
revolutionary slogan of writers who wanted the truth to be read and understood. Then
at the turn of nineteenth century, when the study of culture anthropology suggested
that the linguistic barriers were insuperable and that language was entirely the product
of culture, the view that translation is impossible gain some currency and with it that,
if attempted at all, it must be as literal as possible. Since the rise of modern linguistic,
the general emphasis, supported by communication-theorists and non-literature
translators, has been placed on the reader, informing the reader effectively and
appropriately. In addition, the boom of mass media in the twentieth century has
generated a huge volume of “informative” and “vocative” text. Translation, as a means
of communication, then focuses more on the reader. In other words, translation

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emphasizes more on transferring the message, the contextual meaning of the text.
Consequently, although there are arguments among translators about translation
methods, they now centre on communicative and semantic translation.
1.4.2. Some translation methods
Newmark (1988) compare a text to be translated as an article in an electronic field. It
is attracted by the opposing forces of the two cultures and the norms of the two
languages, the idiosyncrasy of one writer (who may infringe all the norms of his own
language), and the different requirement of its readers, the prejudice of the translator

and possibly it publisher. Therefore, Peter Newmark states, translation methods could
be grouped in two opposing categories: one emphasises the SL, the other TL. He puts
them in the following flattened V diagram:
SL emphasis
Word-for-word translation
Literal translation
Faithful translation
Semantic translation

TL emphasis
Adaptation
Free translation
Idiomatic translation
Communicative translation
(Newmark, 1988,p.45)

1.4.2.1. Comments on the methods
Word-for-word translation
This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TL immediately below
the SL words. The SL word-order is preserved as the words translated singly by their
most common meanings, out of context. Cultural words are translated lirerally. The
use of word-for-word translation is either to understand the mechancics of SL or to
construe a difficult text as a pre-translation process.
Literal translation
The SL grammatical constructions are converted to their nearest TL equivalents but
the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context. As a pre-translation
process, this indicates the problems to be solved.
Faithful translation
A faithful translation attempts to reproduce the contextual meaning of the original
within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures. It “transfers” cultural words

and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical “abnormality” (deviation from the
SL norms) in the translation. It attempts to be completely faithful to the intentions and
the text-realisation of the SL writer.
Semantic translation
Semantic translation differs from “faithful translation” only in as far as it must take
more account of aesthetic value (that is, the beautiful and natural sound) out the SL
text, compromising on “meaning” where appropriate so that no assonance, word-play
or repetition jars on the finished version. Further, it may translate less important
cultural words by culturally neutral third or functional terms but not by cultural

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equivalents and it may make other small concessions to the readership. The distinction
between “faithful” and “semantic” translation is that the first is compromising and
dogmatic, when the second is more flexible, admits the creative exception to 100
percent fidelity and allows for the translator’s intuitive empathy with the original.
Adaptation
This is the “freest” form of translation. It is used mainly for plays (comedies and
poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, the SL culture converted to
the TL culture and text and written. The deplorable practice of having a play or poem
literally translated and then rewritten by an established drammatist or poet has
produces many poor adaptations but other adaptations may rescue period plays.
Free translation
Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the
form of the original. Ussually it is a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so socalled “intralingual translation”, often prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all.
Idiomatic translation
Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original but tends to distort
nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialism and idioms where these do not exist in
the original.

Communicative translation
Communicative translation 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.
According to Newmark (1984), there are more translation methods besides the eight
methods mentioned above, such as cognitive translation, service translation, academic
translation, etc. However, they are of no importance to this paper, so they are not
mentioned.
1.4.2.2. Equivalent effects
Newmark (1988) states that there that there is wide but not universal agreement that
the main aim of translation is to achieve as nearly as possible the same effect on his
readers as was produced on the readers of the original. Therefore, Peter Newmark
points out, translators should make effort to achieve “equivalent effect” (or as close as
possible). In other words, Newmark points out his “equivalent effect” princinple in
conducting translation. But it is noted that there have been long-lasting debates on
“equivalence” among meaning closest translation theorists. Nida distinguishes “formal
equivalence”. Meaning closest possible match of form and content between SL text
and TL text, and “dynamic equivalence”, which is the principle of equivalence of
effect on TL reader. As a result, a translator may pursue “formal equivalence” or
“dynamic equivalence”. But one can deduce that “equivalent effect” principle pointed
out by Newmark refers to the efforts to achieve “dynamic equivalence”.

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However, Hervey and Higgins (1992) warn about the perception of “equivalence”.
According to these theorists, the claim that SL text and TL text effects and features are
“equivalent” by the sense of “the same” is in any case unhelpful and misleading for the
purposes of translation methodology for two reasons. First, it is a difficult problem to
know how exactly one particular recipient responds to a text, and the extent to which

texts have constant interpretation even for the same person on two occasions. Second,
the translator can hardly know in advance what the effects of a TL text will be on its
intended audience. Furthermore, “equivalence” is not an objective concept, as the
translator remains the final arbitrator of the imagined effects of both the SL and TL
text. Consequently, in these circumstances, even a relatively assessment of “equivalent
effect” is hard to envisage.
In addition, the background, shared knowledge, cultural assumptions and learnt
responses of monolingual TL speakers are inevitably culture-bound. Given this fact,
SL speaker’s responses to the SL text are never like to be replicated exactly by the
effects on members of a different culture. As a result, Hervey and I.Higgins assert, the
transfer of meaning from a SL text to a SL text necessarily involves certain degree of
“translation loss”.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that Hervey and Higgins do not completely contradict
Newmark’s “equivalent” effect principle. They only want to avoid misinterpretation of
“equivalence”. Newmark (1988) states that he consideres “equivalent effect” as the
desirable result rather than the aim of any translation. It is a likely result in neutral or
non-national background with participants without specially local features such as
mathematics, chemistry, physics, etc. It is an unlikely result in two cases: 1) If the
purpose of the SL text is to affect and the translation is to inform (or vice versa): 2) If
there is a pronounced culture gap between the SL text and the TL text.
Then, in such cases, it is the work of the translator to attempt to reduce the
dissimilarities rather than to try to improve “sameness” between the SL text and the
TL text. By doing so she would be able to produce an effect as close as possible the
same effect on her readers as was produced on the readers of the original.
In conclusion, “equivalent effect” is an important concept which has a degree of
application to any type of text that translator should take into consideration in her
work. This principle is not always of the same importance but it is necessary to
consider that the “equivalence effect” principle is tending to rule out all the others,
particularly the predominance of any formal elements such as word or structure.

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CHAPTER 2: ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE EMPHASTIC
SENTENCES IN CONTRAST
2.1. Definitions of emphasis
Since the paper is about the translation of emphatic sentences from English into
Vietnames, it is neccesary to take into consideration how English and Vietnamese
emphases are defined by the research of these languages.
With a regard to English emphases, let us consider the definition given by Swan
(1995):
Emphasis is giving special importance to one part of a word or sentence ( for example,
by pronouncing it more loudly, by writing it in capital letters; or by using do in an
affirmative clause or by using special word order)”.
As to Vietnamese emphasis, a definition can be taken from Vietnamese- Vietnamese
dictionary, (Da Nang Publishing House, 1997) which says: “Emphasis is making
something more prominent and important than others”
The dictionary’s definition does not include ways of establishing emphasis as
Michael’s does. The importance is, however, these two definitions are the same in that
what to be emphasized is given special importance or prominence.
Investigations of English and Vietnamese emphases show that they have many things
in common in terms of the ways to achieve, such as pronouncing more loudly in
speech, using emphasis-giving words, fronting or rhetorical question in writing etc.
For example, emphasis in both English and Vietnamese can be achieved with fronting:
Điều các anh muốn nghe tôi đã nói hết.
(All what you want from me I have said already)
Thông minh thì cô ta có thể chứ còn thông suốt mọi việc thì cô ta không có đâu.
(Intelligent she may be but ommiscient she is not)
Or with emphasizing words:
Bộ phim đó hay không chịu được

(The film is bloody interesting)
Uống cà phê đi
(Do drink coffee!)
Or with a rhetorical question
Sao anh không về chơi thôn vỹ?
(Why don‟t you come to visit Vy Village?)
(Hàn Mặc Tử,1939)
And so forth
This is only a brief note of how to create emphasis. For more details, let us consider
the next part/devices of English and Vietnamese emphases- in this chapter which lays
main foundation to discover how to render English emphatic sentences into their
Vietnamese equivalents.

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2.2. Devices of English and Vietnamese emphases
Because the thesis is not on linguistics but translation, this section is only a general
introduction of how emphasis in the two languages is established. There may be
concepts and terms readers do not understand. That is reason why the symbol of the
materials in use is available so that readers can consult these materials for more details
about the matters of their concern.
The forms of the devices for emphasis in English and Vietnamese are basically the
same, thought there is not the device of the so-called “cleft sentence” in Vietnamese.
Therefore, most of these devices for emphasis will be presented mixedly.
2.2.1 Lexical devices
Lexical device consists of certain words which themselves can give emphasis to the
element or part of sentence which immediately follows them or make the sentence
containing it emphatic.
The word of that kind in English can be focusing adjuncts (Nguyễn Ba, 1999,p.26) as

shown below:
I merely asked his name.
You can get B-grade just for that answer.
I love the country, especially in spring.
You know even less about it than I do.
Or an intensifier (Nguyễn Ba,1999,p.27) as in the following examples:
He loves you in deed.
Certainly, that can not be true.
We absolutely agreed with you.
She may well cry when she hears this news
Trafic accidents are partly due to the poor condition of roads
or a swear word(Nguyễn Ba,1999,p.22), for instance:
It is bloody rainning again. (= heavily)
What a sodding mess! (=verry annoying)
Or interjection (Nguyễn Ba, 1999, p.22), as follows:
Oh, what a girl!
Aha, these books are exactly what I was looking for!
Ouch, my foot!
Ugh, what a mess!
Yipee, this is fun!
Or the auxiliary “do” (Nguyễn Ba, 1999,p.62)
I do agree with you. (=really, definitely)
Do have another cup of coffee (Indicating a polite offer)
Or a reflexive pronoun (Swan,1935,p.485)
We ourselves will lead the discussion (= we and no one else)
We spoke to the victims themselves(= the victims not other)
Or question + ever/on earth/ the hell (Nguyễn Ba,1999,pp28-29)
Why ever could you marry such a beautiful and rich girl? (Stressing the surprise)
What the hell are you doing here? (Stressing anger)

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How on the earth could you find him? (Stressing surprise)
In Vietnamese, there are also the words used to lay emphasis on an idea or the words
which immediately follow them or make the sentence containing it emphatic. The
word of such kind can be a particle (Diệp Quang Ban,1996,pp.147-150) for example:
Anh ấy đúng là người tốt bụng.
Chính qua anh cán bộ huyện Nam biết được tin đó.
Tôi tự động viên mình như thế.
Con lại không nghe lời bố rồi.
Đi đâu mà cậu vội thế.
Ai mà xinh thế?
Nhịn nhục quá là đê tiện
Giàu thì giàu thật nhưng ông ấy không bao giờ cho ai tiền vì lòng từ thiện.
Sao nó có thể lấy được cô gái đó cơ chứ?
Mày làm gì thế hả?
Cậu nói nhiều rồi đấy!
Uống thêm một cốc sữa đi nào!
Or an adverb (Diệp Quang Ban,1996,pp.131-132), as shown in the following
examples:
Giữa bữa ăn, ánh mắt mẹ bỗng dưng xa xôi hẳn đi.
(Diệp Quang Ban & Hoàng Văn Thung,1991, p.75)
Bây giờKeng nhất quyết lấy lạt.
(Nguyễn Kiên, 1963)
Anh thổi tiêu đấy ư, em thích nghe lắm đấy nhé.
(Nguyễn Khải,1960)
Gió mát quá nhỉ.
(Nguyễn Khải,1960)
Chừng như họ hơi lạ tai trước câu hỏi thăm như vậy.

(Diệp Quang Ban & Hoàng Văn Thung,1991, p.69)
Among the adverbs emerge those known as exaggeration words which are particularly
used to establish emphasis or an exaggerating word of a special adverb (Đinh Trọng
Lạc,1995,p.47), such as:
Bộ phim đó hay hết chỗ nói.
Việc đó làm anh bực không chịu được.
Con bé này nghịch quá trời.
Or a pronoun used to repeat the subject or object to make the idea concrete. ie. to
emphasize it. The common pronouns used like this are “nó” and “đó” ( Đinh Trọng
Lạc,1995,pp.99-100 ), as the examples below:
Anh Cốc ơi, Tây nó đánh chết thằng Năng rồi.
(Nguyễn Đình Thi,1951)
Tôi nom cái cười ấy nó mới chua chát làm sao.
(Nguyễn Công Hoan)

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Lao động, đó là nghĩa vụ của mỗi người công dân.
Or a colloquialism ( Đinh Trọng Lạc,1995,p.25 ) for example:
Dân chúng bây giờ họ ghê lắm, họ không để bác yên đâu.
Thì làm đếch gì được tao.
(Đào Vũ,1972)
Mày đang làm cái quái gì vậy?
Thằng ấy trông thế mà dại gái.
2.2.2 Syntactic device
Both English and Vietnamese users can employ the syntactic devices for emphasis as
follows.
2.2.2.1. Announcements
In English, “An annoucement ( in the sense it has here ) is a preliminary statement

which tells the readers, “Watch out, here comes something important”
(Thomas,1938,p.148) as a result, it is effectively used to lay emphasis on the element
or part which immediately follows it:
Finally,the last point about the man: he is in trouble
Now, let me tell you the worst news today: our beloved director has been killed in an
accident.
In Vietnamese, an announcement is also used to achieve emphasis as it can attract
listeners’ attention to what is going to be said.
Tình hình học tập của lớp này có thể kết luận như sau: hầu hết các đồng chí đều đạt
loại khá.
Bây giờ tôi xin thông báo tin xấu nhất ngày hôm nay: giám đốc đáng kính của chúng
ta đã chết vì vụ tai nạn.
2.2.2.2. Fragments
As Thomas (1938,p.148) states: “A fragment is a construction which, like a sentence,
begins with a capital and ends with a full-stop punctuation, but which does not satisfy
the traditional definition of a sentence. While they are grammatical faults, fragments
can be used positively as means of emphatic statement drawing attention because of
their difference.” For example:
Going off her diet, she gained back all the weight she had lost. Aslo her friends.
What do those manual labourers really do?
~Worry. Constantly. For a living
Where and when are we going?
~London. Tomorrow.
In Vietnamese, this way of establishing emphasis is called “ sentence splitting” which
is to separate a component of a sentence apart from it so that it becomes another

14


sentence (The fragment) and focus is laid on his fragment (Nguyễn Thanh Tú & Trần

Châu Hoàn,1999,p.84)
Bóng họ ngả vào nhau. Ở cuối đường
Mọi người nga hôm nay đều thích làm giàu. Tiền, đó là mục đích. Duy nhất, cao nhất,
đẹp nhất
Báo chí dạo này toàn đăng tin giật gân. Giết, cướp, hiếp
2.2.2.3 Imperative sentences
Being strong by nature, imperative sentences are used in both English and Vietnamese
when a speaker or writer wishes to show emphasis (Thomas, 1938,p.149)
At its simplest an imperative sentence is a command, for example:
Come here! (Đến đây!)
Listen to me! (Lắng nghe tôi nói!)
Its distinguishing feature, usually, is that it drops the subject and begin with the verb
and ends with an exclamation mark or a full stop, which sometimes, however, causes
reader to mistake the command for a normal statement, particulary some commands
use a noun of address or an actual subject:
John, come here! (John đến đây!)
You listen to me! (Các bạn lắng nghe tôi!)
It is notable that the Vietnamese command (imperative sentences) often begins with
“hãy, hẵng, đừng, chớ” or ends with “đi, nào,đã‟‟, especially when the writer does
not use an exclamation mark but a full stop (Diệp Quang Ban,1996,p.129)
Hẵng ở lại uống nước đã.
Cậu làm việc đi.
2.2.2.4 Inversion
In English, “Inversion means putting the main elements in an order other than the
formula Subject-Verb-Object. Some patterns of emphasis signal question (“Are you
going to town today?”); some signal condition to the fact (“Had I only been there”).
Other inversion patterns indicate emphasis. (Thomas,1938,p.21)
The most frequent inversion is seen in the sentence that opens with an adverbial word
or phrase (to which futher modification may be attached) and follows it with the verb
and subject:

The bus comes here (The bus always come here)
 Here comes the bus. (Ah, the bus has come here!)
The thief runs away. (A normal statement without any feeling)
 Away runs the thief. ( Look out! The thief is running away!)
He comes there (coming there is his habit.)

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 There he comes (Ah, he is coming there!)
And the sentence in the form “Adverbial phrase of place + Verb + Subject” is
emphatic due to resulting in more impression or feeling than the normal one.
There, at the summit, stood the castle in its medieval splendor
The palace is heavily guarded because inside its walls sit European leaders
Less commonly, emphatic inversion is in the form of fronting an element of a
sentence. That is to say, the element is moved to the front position of the sentence for
emphasis. The frontable parts of sentence are object, subject-complement, and
predication
 Fronted object;
Wrangles he advoiced, and disagreeable persons he usually treated with a cold
and freezing contempt. (Thomas,1938,p.50)
Not a word did he say.(Leech & Swartik,1990,p.178)
 Fronted subject-complement:
Intelligent she may be but omniscient she is not. ( Sinclair,1990,p.420)
Rich as he is, he never offers his money to anyone for charity.
 Fronted predication:
Leave himI could not, but. at least I could make his life a misery. ( Nguyễn Ba,
1990,p.40)
In Vietnamese, inversion is also the change of the normal order of sentence for the
purpose of emphasis. Like English, this can be in the form of fronting a sentence

element or part, i.e. moving it to the front position from its traditional one in the
sentence. The frontable parts are predication, verb-complement and adverbial (Nguyễn
Ba,1990,p.87). For example:
 Predication:
Đã tan tác những bóng thù hắc ám
Đã sáng lại trời thu tháng tám.
( Tố Hữu,1945)
Tiến lên chiến sĩ! Tiến lên đồng bào! ( Hồ Chí Minh,1969 )
 Verb complement:
Ở tù thì hẳn coi là thường. ( Nam Cao,1936 )
Những cuộc vui ấy, chị còn nhớ rành rành ( Ngô Tất Tố, 1937)
 Averbial:
Chưa bao giờ cô ta xúc động như thế.
Thường thì anh ấy đến nhà bạn gái cùng lớp chơi.
In addition, Vietnamese inversion can be to change the order Subject-Verb-Averbial
into the order Averbial-Verb-Subject so that the sentence will be turned from a normal
statement into a special sentence which can be:
- A more expressive description of something quiet (ĐinhTrọng Lạc,1995:115)
Trong nhà lô nhô mấy ông cụ già khăn áo chỉnh tề
( Ngô Tất Tố,1941)
- A good reproduction of the apperance or vanishing of something to be
described ( Đinh Trọng Lạc,1995, p.116)

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-

Đằng xa trong mưa mờ đã hiện ra những nhịp cầu sắt uốn cong, vắt qua dòng
sông lạnh

( Nguyễn Đình Thi,1957 )
A note of the events as fixed as in a photograph. ( Đinh trọng lạc,1995,p.117)
Anh xuân lướt cỏ xuân tươi,
Bên rừng thổi sáo một hai kim đồng.
( Thế Lữ,1935)

2.2.2.5 Rhetorical questions
Questions are generally used to ask for information. Howerver, in many languages
including English and Vietnamese, there is a kind of question which requires no
answers and which can be used simply as a way of drawing attention to something, or
expressing a strong feeling, opinion or impression. It would be better to say the
rhetorical question is used to establish emphasis.
As a matter of fact, in English, this question carries emphasis for the reason that it
functions as a forceful statement. A positive rhetorical question is like a strong
negative assertion, while a negative rhetorical question is like a strong positive one, as
can be seen below
 Positive
Can anyone doubt the wisdom of this action?
(= Surely, no one can doubt the wisdom of this action)
What is the use of offering him some money? What he needs is a job.
(= It is no use offering him some money...)
 Negative
Who doesn’t know Ho Chi Minh?
(= Surely, everyone knows him)
Have I not asked you again and again to be here on time?
(= I have asked you again and again to be on time)
Like its counterpart in English, a Vietnamese rhetorical question is the kind of
question aiming at making the conveyed idea more persuasive or expressive, that is. It
functions as a forceful statement employed either to stress something positive,
negative or to put forward something for consideration. Let us have a look at some

examples below.
Hồ Chí Minh nổi tiếng như thế ai là người Việt Nam không biết cơ chứ? (= Người
Việt Nam ai cũng biết Hồ Chí minh vì người quá nổi tiếng)
Sao anh không về chơi thôn Vỹ? (= Anh hãy về chơi thôn Vỹ.)
(Hàn Mặc Tử,1939)
Địa vị ư? Rồi sẽ mất.
Tiền bạc ư? Rồi sẽ hết.
Sắc đẹp ư? Rồi sẽ tàn.
Chỉ có tình yêu là tồn tại mãi mãi với thời gian.

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2.2.2.6. Interuption (Isolation)
In English, “normally a sentence moves from a subject to verb to complement.
Interuption breaks that flow by inserting constructions between the main elements and
forcing pauses (Thomas,1938,p.150). The interuption makes a particular word and the
whole sentence emphatic. For example:
And finally, stammering a crude farewell, he departed.
(E.Skipp&Francis, 1987)
Leibritz, it has sometimes been said, was the last man to know everything.
In Vietnamese, interuption, as stated by Đỗ Việt Hùng (1997,p.47) is called “chêm
xen” which is putting an extra appropriate word or phrase ( sometimes as cluster of
words as a complete sentence) in the middle of a sentence in the way that the sentence
is separated into two meaningful clusters of words
Bởi vì...bởi vì- San cúi mặt và bỏ tiếng ta, dùng tiếng Pháp- Người ta lừa dối anh
(Nam Cao,1944)
Có gì đâu, anh cười bẽn lẽn, mấy thứ lặt vặt mà.
Thơ Hồ Chí Minh trong tập “Nhật Kí Trong Tù” – nói như Quách Mạc Nhược, một nhà
phê bình văn học Trung Quốc-có thể sánh ngang với các bài thơ Đường nổi tiếng.

This syntactic means is aimed at causing a short pause to the listener’s or reader’s
perception of information which results in psychological effect on him. That is to say
he will be curious and excited about the information expressed by the cluster of words
which follows. The achieved emphasis, therefore, falls on this behind-cluster.
2.2.2.7. Restatement
Restatement is a sentence in which the idea to be expressed is stated twice, first in
negative terms, then in positive, or vice versa, that is, it indicates a contrast. This can
be considered a way of achieving emphasis for the reason that from the contrast comes
the idea to be stressed, as can be seen below.
Don‟t be serious!
~I am not joking; I am telling the truth.
(The idea to be stressed: it is very serious)
Why do you eat beef?
~I am an ordinary man; I am not a Hindu.
(The idea to be stressed: I have the perfect right to eat beef)
Khai đi rồi cậu sẽ được tự do
~Anh có thể giết tôi nhưng anh không thể moi được thông tin gì ở tôi đâu.
(The idea to be stressed: no matter how badly you treat me, I won’t reveal anything)
Sao em lại đối xử thờ ơ với anh như vậy?
~ Tôi không còn yêu anh nữa mà tôi yêu người khác rồi
(The idea to be stressed: It is not surprising that I behaves to you in such a cold way)

18