THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TERMINOLOGY FROM ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
---------------  ---------------

NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN ANH

THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TERMINOLOGY
FROM ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE

(CÁCH DỊCH THUẬT NGỮ CHUYÊN NGÀNH MÔI TRƯỜNG TỪ
TIẾNG ANH SANG TIẾNG VIỆT)
M.A. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15

Hanoi, 2011

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT


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I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “The translation of environmental terminology from
English into Vietnamese” is the result of my research for the Degree of Master of Art at
University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi and the thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or
tertiary institution.

Signature:

Nguyen Thi Van Anh
Date: Hanoi, 2011


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Throughout the process of accomplishing the thesis, I have received the support and
encouragement of teachers, family and friends.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Associate Professor, Doctor Le Hung Tien who gave me benefit of his wisdom and his
expert knowledge in translation as well as his constant encouragement from the beginning
stage of working out the research proposal to the final stage of writing up the thesis.
Without his critical comments and valuable suggestions, this study could not have been
completed.
My special thanks go to all my lecturers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful
lecture during my M.A course.
I also take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues at Faculty of English, University
of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their
various kinds of help and supports.
Last but not least, I would like to express my thankfulness to my family and friends for
their endless love, significant help and encouragement.


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ABSTRACT

The thesis focuses on the translation of English environmental terms into Vietnamese. It is
aimed at investigating their features and structural patterns in the light of functional
grammar proposed by Halliday in order to help the translator and readership have a clear
understanding of the terms. Attempts are also made to identify the procedures and
strategies commonly used by teachers in the lessons on English for Environmental Science
and translators for rendering environmental terms.
Hopefully, the result of the study will be of some help to people who are in charge of
teaching and translating English for Environmental Science materials.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
Candidate’s statement ................................................................................................i
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................ii
Abstract .....................................................................................................................iii
Table of contents .......................................................................................................iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1
1. Rationale ...............................................................................................................1
2. Aims of the study ..................................................................................................2
3. Scope of the study .................................................................................................2
4. Method of the study ..............................................................................................2
5. Design of the study ................................................................................................3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................4
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................4
1.1. Terminology .......................................................................................................4
1.1.1. Definitions of terminology ..............................................................................4

1.1.2. Characteristics of terminology ........................................................................5
1.2. Translation theory ...............................................................................................6
1.2.1. Definitions of translation .................................................................................6
1.2.2. Translation equivalence ...................................................................................7
1.2.3. Non-equivalence at word level and above word level ....................................10
1.2.4. Translation procedures ....................................................................................12
1.3. Technical translation ...........................................................................................18
1.3.1. Definitions of technical translation and its characteristics ..............................18
1.3.2. Translation of neologisms ...............................................................................20
1.4. Environmental terms ..........................................................................................22
1.4.1. Features of environmental terminology ..........................................................22
1.4.2. Classification of environmental terms according to their structural features... 24
1.5. Summary ............................................................................................................33
CHAPTER TWO: THE TRANSLATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL TERMS . 34
2.1. Translation of one-word terms and neologisms by transference ........................34


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2.2. Translation of one-word terms and neologisms by naturalization .....................36
2.3. Translation of above-word-level terms by transposition ....................................41
2.4. Translation by omission......................................................................................51
2.5. Translation by paraphrase ..................................................................................52
2.6. The appropriate strategies and procedures in translating English
environmental terms ...........................................................................................52
2.7. Discussion ..........................................................................................................54
2.7.1. Problems in the translation of environmental terms .......................................54
2.7.2. Suggestions for the translation strategies and procedures ...............................56
2.8. Summary ............................................................................................................58
PART C: CONCLUSION .......................................................................................59

1. Major findings .......................................................................................................59
2. Implications for the translation of environmental terms .......................................60
3. Suggestions for further studies ..............................................................................61
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................62
Appendixes


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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
The environment has become a burning issue on a world scale as well as in each country,
especially after a series of recent serious disasters such as tsunami, earthquake, volcanic
eruption, storm and flood. Accordingly, environmental science has developed, a number of
people have taken courses on this field, a variety of research and international, regional as
well as national conferences have been carried out. Several matters arise from the
translation of environment terms in such kinds of courses and meetings. First, when
teaching English for environmental science, the teacher may be confused about whether he
should explain one English environmental term in other words or he should translate it into
Vietnamese so that students are able to understand it completely. Experience shows that
explaining a new technical term in a longer group of words, the teacher unavoidably
utilizes words which are new or more complicated to his students. Meanwhile, translating
that term is more time-saving and more comprehensible. However, translation is not
always pleasant and easy to the teacher due to inadequate knowledge of environmental
science. This could lead to different ways of translation of the same term by different
teachers.
In addition, there are some English - Vietnamese dictionaries of environmental science
now, however, for one English term, a dictionary may offer various Vietnamese meanings
and it might not be able to provide all meanings of environmental terms. Therefore, it
causes difficulties in translating as well as in selecting appropriate meanings. Furthermore,

translators or interpreters also face challenges of translating environmental terms because
they do not have enough knowledge of environment and Vietnamese language has not had
precise equivalences for certain English words. It is time the translators and interpreters
needed to study the theory of translation so that they can find suitable strategies to translate
environmental terms.
Given the hindrances behind the translation of environmental terms, the research question
is raised: “What are the common strategies and procedures for the translation of English
environmental terms into Vietnamese?”.


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2. Aims of the study
The study is aimed at:

•

Investigating characteristics of English environmental terms and their compositions
in the light of functional grammar proposed by Halliday.

•

Identifying the procedures and strategies commonly used by teachers in the lessons
on English for Environmental Science and translators for rendering environmental
terms.

It is expected that the research partly contributes to English for Specific Purposes in
general and English for Environmental Science in particular in terms of the translating,
teaching and learning as well.
3. Scope of the study

Since the research serves the need of the teaching of English for Environmental Science
and rendering English enviromental terms, it mainly focuses on environmental terms
derived from materials currently used in well-known universities of science and
technology which offer environmental English as a subject.
However, the study cannot cover all terms which appear in these sources, only typical
terms with high frequency of occurrence are chosen. Because of the characteristics of texts
and the language in the materials of environmental field, most of the terms are one word
and above-word-level terms. It is the author’s purpose to conduct a study on the translation
of environmental terms at word-level and above-word-level terms based on the
grammatical and semantic features of the terms investigated.
4. Method of the study
This is a descriptive research as this kind of research is aimed at answering “what?”
questions, but not “why?” questions. As Wisker (2001: 118) points out, the purpose of
descriptive study is to “find out more about a phenomenon and to capture it with detailed
information”. Often the capturing and description is only true for that moment in time,
hence, ideally, the description should be repeated several times so that stability or change
could be noted. However, in the framework of a thesis, the study proposes to focus on the
present condition of English environmental terms and their common translation strategies


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and procedures into Vietnamese, which still helps us to understand and know more about
the phenomenon under investigation.
Descriptive data is collected by observing and noting only aspects which are of interest for
the research because descriptive research, as stated by Seliger and Shohamy (2000: 127)
begins with a premise about what to look for in the observation, that is to say the research
question. In a more detailed way, English environmental terms belonging to two
categories: one-word and above-word-level terms are collected from the study corpus.
Afterwards, the translation of these two groups and their subgoups are analyzed to identify

appropriate transalation procedures and strategies.
The steps of the study on the translation of environmental terminology are as follows.
Step 1: Reviewing environment materials from different reliable sources
Step 2: Collecting English environmental terms from these materials
Step 3: Classifying collected terms into two groups: one-word terms and above-word-level
terms.
Step 4: Analyzing the translation of typical examples of the above-mentioned groups in
order to find out the significant strategies and procedures for the translation of
environmental terms.
Step 5: Suggesting some implications for the translation of environmental terms.
5. Design of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. The
first part, Introduction outlines rationale, scope, aims, method and design of the research.
The second part entitled Development is divided into two chapters. Chapter One refers to
theories which serve as the foundation for this study and presents the typical features of
environmental terms and their structural patterns. Chapter Two, The translation of
environmental terms offers common procedures and strategies for the translation of the
terms. Finally, Conclusion summarizes all the research findings.
Ultimately, references, data sources and appendixes are indispensable parts of the study.


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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1.

Terminology

1.1.1. Definitions of terminology
Terminology is a fascinating subject to researchers in the world as well as in Vietnam. A
large number of definitions of terminology have been proposed.
In the words of Valeontis and Mantzari (2006: 1), “terminology has a twofold meaning: (1)
it is the discipline concerned with the principles and methods governing the study of
concepts and their designations (terms, names, symbols) in any subject field, and the job of
collecting, processing, and mangaging relevant data and (2) the set of terms belonging to
the special language of an individual subject field”.
In practice, it is more familiar with the second meaning of the term terminology, which is
further clarified by Russian authors in “Russian Encyclopedia” (1976), “terminology is
words or combinations of words that denote the concept precisely and its relationship with
other concepts in a specific area. Terminology is a specialized and restricted expression on
things, phenomena, characteristics and the relationships in specific profession” (quoted in
Nguyen Thi Mai, 2003: 16). This definition shares some common features in content with
the definition given by Nguyen Van Tu (1960: 176): “terminology is words or
combinations of words that are used in science, technology, politics, art, etc. And it has a
specific meaning, precisely denotes concepts and names of the above-mentioned scientific
areas”. Similarly, Nguyen Thien Giap (1981: 308-309) claims that terminology, which is
understood as a special linguistic unit of a language, consists of words and phrases which
are accurate names of concepts and subjects belonging to different specialized fields of
human beings.
Through the above-mentioned definitions, it is clear that terminology is a special lexicon of
a language. The particularity is that terminology is words and phrases which accurately
denote concepts of a specialized field.


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1.1.2. Characteristics of terminology
Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1981) and Luu Van

Lang (1998) share the idea that terminology possesses three important characteristics,
namely accurateness, systematism and internationalism.
a. Accurateness
A term needs to be accurate and clear because basically it reflects an exact concept of a
science. If a term is of absolute accuracy, people never mistake one concept for another.
For example, precipitation cannot be translated as mưa as in a dictionary for general
language. Precipitation means water in rain, snow, etc. that falls, therefore it should be
giáng thủy. Once a word has become a term, it no longer has connotational and emotional
meanings; it also loses its polysemousness and antonymousness. In short, terminology
necessarily works on the principle that “one concept has only one term for it and one term
indicates only one concept”.
b. Systematism
Any field of science has its own limited system of concepts, which is named by a system of
terms. Therefore, each term has its own position in the system of concepts and belongs to a
terminological system. The value of each term is determined by its relationships with other
terms in the same system. As a result, a term loses its value when isolated from its system.
For instance, if warming is not put in the environmental terminology, it is normally
understoood as làm ấm, but not ấm lên toàn cầu as it is in the field of environment. In
short, a term has to be a dependent member of its system.
c. Internationalism
Terms are used internationally because they are special words expressing common
scientific concepts to people of different languages. Therefore, it is useful to agree on terms
to be used among languages in order to push up the development of science. The
international links in sciences result in a number of terms which are present in many
different languages. For example, gradient, arsenic, gel, front, etc. are found in English
and Vietnamese with little difference in form.


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In a word, these are the important characteristics of terminology in their common use.
Based on the criteria of terminology, each language may require other principles in
accordance with its culture. Accordingly, terminology in Vietnamese also has its typical
features including nationalism and popularity.
d. Nationalism
Although terms are special words used in specialized fields, they are undoubtely part of the
national language. They, therefore, possess the colours and the characteristics of the
national language. Put differently, they should be made from the the materials of the
national language in terms of lexicology and grammatical composition.
e. Popularity
Terminology needs to be popular or close to the language of the masses. Science is to serve
the masses, to make the masses involved in scientific fields and at the same time, to bring
the knowledge and benefit to them. The language, especially terminology, used in scientific
materials should not be complicated or comprehensible to a limited group of upper or
intellectual class. In fact, terminology ought to be popular, i.e. easy to understand, easy to
remember and easy to use.
In a nutshell, terminology needs to possess five characteristics: accurateness, systematism,
internationalism, nationalism and popularity. These characteristics are key elements or
principles in the creation and standardization of terminology.
1.2.

Translation theory

1.2.1. Definitions of translation
Munday (2001: 4-5) refers to translation in two ways, first is the product (a text or work
that has been changed from one language into another) and second is the process (the
process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language). Sharing
the same idea, The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines translation as “the act or an
instance of translating” and “a written or spoken expression of the meaning of a word,
speech, book, etc. in another language” (quoted in Hatim and Munday, 2004: 3).

Based on these two basic ways, prominent figures in linguistics and translation make their
own definitions of translation. Catford (1965: 20) defines translation as “the replacement


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of textual material in one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in
another language (target language)”. Similarly, Hartman and Stork (1972: 713) state that
“translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a
presentation of an equivalent text in a second language”.
Sharing the same idea but supplementing the idea of equivalences, Nida and Taber (1969:
12) claim that “translating consists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural
equivalent to the message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style”.
By the same line of argument, Marlone (1988) asserts “Translation is the expression in
another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another, source
language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences” (quoted in Bell, 1991: 5).
In general, these definitions reveal basic features of translation, including the conversion
from source language (SL) to target language (TL), the equivalent and the preservation of
meaning and style of original text.
1.2.2. Translation equivalence
The concepts “equivalence” and “the equivalent” appear rather frequently in definitions of
translation, for example, “equivalent textual material” (Catford 1965: 20), “the closest
natural equivalent” (Nida and Taber, 1969: 12), “a maximally equivalent target language
text” (Wilss, 1982: 72). Apparently, “equivalence” is considered a central concept in
translation theory. It postulates a relation between source language text and target language
text and as Koller (1979) puts it, the kind of equivalence relation is defined in terms of the
frame and the conditions to which one refers when using the concept of equivalence
(Chesterman, 1989: 100). In other words, there exists equivalence between a given source
text and a given target text if the target text fulfils certain requirements with respect to
these frame conditions. The relevant conditions are those having to do with such aspects as

content, style, function and so on. The requirement of equivalence thus has the following
form: quality (qualities) X in the source language text must be preserved. This means that
the source language content, form, style, function and so forth must be preserved, or at
least that the translation must seek to preserve them as far as possible.


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Based on varied factors, translation equivalence can be categorized in various ways. Le
Hung Tien (2006: 54-55) presents four common ways of sorting translation equivalence as
followed:


Function-based equivalence: dynamic and formal equivalence (Nida)



Meaning-based equivalence: denotative, connotative, pragmatic and formal
equivalence (Koller)



Quantity based equivalence: one-to-one equivalence, one-to-many equivalence,
one-to-part-of-one equivalence and nil equivalence (Kade).



Form-based equivalence: equivalence at word, sentence and text level (Baker)

Starting with Nida (1964), he strongly advocates dynamic equivalence rather than formal

equivalence.


Formal equivalence: the closest possible match of form and content between SL
and TL texts or a means of providing some degree of insight into the lexical,
grammatical or structure form of a source text.



Dynamic equivalence: the principle of equivalence of effect on readers of TL text
or the same effect on the TL receivers as the source text had on the SL receivers.

Later, Koller (1979) differentiates more types as follows (Chesterman, 1989: 101).


Denotative equivalence: the SL and TL expressions refer to the same thing in the
real world. This kind of equivalence orients towards the extralinguistic content
transmitted by a text.



Connotative equivalence: As the name points out, this is the kind of equivalence
basing on the connotative dimension of language. Apart from a denotative meaning,
SL and TL expressions need to create equivalent communicative values when they
are read by native readers of two languages. The connotation is transmitted by
means of word choice between synonymous expressions with respect to level of
style (register), the social and geographical dimension, frequency and so on.


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

Text-normative equivalence: Expressions of SL and TL are used in the same or
similar context in their respective languages. To put it another way, text-normative
equivalence has to do with the text and language norms for given text types.



Pragmatic equivalence: the achievement of pragmatic equivalence means
translating the text for a particular readership, i.e. the reader to whom the
translation is directed and to whom the translation is tuned in order to achieve a
give effect.



Formal equivalence: this type of equivalence is generated by form expression when
the SL and TL have the same formal-aesthetic features. To achieve formal
equivalence in a TL text is to produce an “analogy of form” in the translation by
exploiting the formal possibilities of the TL or even by creating new forms if
necessary.

As regards quantity-based equivalence, Kade (1968) presents four types of equivalence (Le
Hung Tien, 2006: 55-56).


One-to-one equivalence: A single expression in TL is equivalent to a single
expression in SL. The type of equivalence often appears in terminology.



One-to-many equivalence: More than one TL expressions are equivalent to a single
SL expression.



One-to-part-of-one equivalence: a TL expression covers part of a concept
designated by a single SL expression.



Nil-equivalence: there is no TL expression for a SL expression.

Baker (1992) approaches the concept of equivalence differently by discussing the notion of
non-equivalence at word level and above word level, grammatical equivalence, textual
equivalence and pragmatic equivalence. However, it is the one-word terms and aboveword-level terms that the study focuses on, hence, grammatical equivalence, textual
equivalence and pragmatic equivalence are not taken into consideration. The first two types
of equivalence will be further explored in the following part.


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1.2.3. Non-equivalence at word level and above word level
1.2.3.1.

Non-equivalence at word level

In view of Baker (1992: 20), “non-equivalence at word level means that the TL has no
direct equivalent for a word which occurs in the source text”. She points out some common
types of non-equivalence at word level including culture-specific concepts, the SL concept

is not lexicalized in the TL, the SL is semantically complex, the SL and TL make different
distinctions in meaning, the TL lacks a super-ordinate, the TL lacks a specific term,
differences in physical or interpersonal perspective, differences in expressive meaning,
differences in forms, differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms, the use
of loan words in the source text.
1.2.3.2.

Non- equivalence above word level

In the previous section, problems arising from non-equivalence at word level are discussed.
In this section, the study will go one step further to consider what happens when words
collocate with other words to form stretches of language.
It goes without saying that words rarely occur on their own; they almost always occur in
the company of other words. But words are not strung together at random in any language;
there are always restrictions on the way they can be combined to convey meaning.
Restrictions which admit no exceptions, and particularly those which apply to classes of
words rather than individual words, are usually written down in the form of rules. Some
restrictions are more likely to admit exceptions and apply to individual words rather than
classes of words. These cannot be expressed in terms of rules, but they can be identified as
recurrent patterns in the language. In the following section, the study will concentrate on
this type of lexical patterning, namely collocation and the difficulties encountered by
translators as a result of differences in collocation of the source and target languages.
1.2.3.2.1. Definitions of collocation
Collocation, as it is defined by Baker (1992: 47), is the tendency of certain words to cooccur regularly in a given language. Robin (1989: 65) also claims that collocation is the
habitual association of a word in a language with other particular words in sentences.
Jackson and Amvela (2000: 113) believe that collocation refers to a structural and


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syntagmatic relation, to meaning relations that a word contrasts with other words occurring
in the same sentence or text.
Collocation, therefore, is said to be concerned with how words go together, i.e. the
company that a word keeps contributes to its interpretation.
1.2.3.2.2. Collocation meaning
Baker (1992: 53) argues that the meaning of a word depends largely on its patterns of
collocation and is not something that the word possesses in isolation as it is exemplified by
dry in the following combinations: dry cow, dry wine, dry country, dry voice, dry book and
dry fact. All of these collocations have unique meanings. For example, dry cow means a
cow which is not able to produce milk any more; whereas dry voice refers to a cold voice,
not expressing emotion; dry wine implies original liquid of wine; dry country is understood
as a country where wine is prohibited, dry fact means clear evidence. Those who render
dry all as it is in dry weather or dry clothes may misinterpret in these contexts.
As a result, it becomes clear that what a word means often depends on its association with
certain collocates. The translator is to recognize a collocational pattern with a unique
meaning different from the sum of the meanings of its individual elements. It is, therefore,
crucial to take account of collocational meaning rather than substituting individual words
with their dictionary equivalents.
1.2.3.2.3. Some collocation problems in translation
When translating non-literary texts, translators probably encounter some problems relating
differences in the collocational patterning of the SL and TL. The followings are the more
common collocational problems: the engrossing effect of source text patterning, the tension
between accuracy and naturalness, culture-specific collocations (Baker, 1992: 54-61).
Some strategies used by professional translators are given as suggestions to overcome the
problems under discussion. Firstly, the engrossing effect of source text patterning is
avoidable once the translator is aware of the potential influence that the collocational
patterning of the source text can have on him. A way to detach oneself from the source text
is to put the draft translation aside for some time, then, return to it with a better response to
its patterning as a target reader would. It is advised to avoid carrying over SL collocational
patterns which are untypical of the TL, unless there is a very good reason for doing so.

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Secondly, in terms of the tension between accuracy and naturalness, the translator is
justified to use a natural collocation in the TL with some change in meaning unless it is too
significant. Accuracy is no doubt an important aim in translation, but it is also important to
achieve the communication aim by choosing a familiar collocational pattern to the target
reader, which makes a translation sound original. Finally, the problem of translating
culture-specific collocations is caused by the significant difference between the cultural
setting of collocations in the SL and TL. As a consequence, it is advised to make use of
collocation with familiar associations of ideas or concepts which are easily understandable
to the target reader.
1.2.4. Translation procedures
Translation procedures, as stated by Newmark (1995: 81), are used for the translation of
sentences and the smaller units of language. The followings are the translation procedures
proposed by Newmark (1995: 81-93).
1.2.4.1.

Literal translation

Newmark (1995: 69) approaches literal translation by distinguishing it from word-for-word
and one-to-one translation. “Word-for-word translation transfers SL grammar and word
order, as well as the primary meanings of all the SL words, into the translation”. This
translation is supposed to be effective only for brief simple neutral sentences, e.g. He
works in the house now. - Il travaille dans la maison maintenant. One-to-one translation is
a broader form of translation in which each SL word has a corresponding TL word, but
their primary meanings may differ. Thus in passer un examen - take an exam, the two
verbs passer and take can be said to correspond with each other, but they are not semantic
equivalents. Literal translation goes beyond one-to-one translation. It ranges from one

word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, clause to clause, to
sentence to sentence.
1.2.4.2.

Transference

As Newmark (1995: 81) puts it, transference (loan word, transcription) refers to the
process of transferring a SL word to a TL text. The word then becomes a ‘loan word’.
When it comes to the role of a translator with respect to this translation procedure, he has
to decide whether or not to transfer a word unfamiliar in the TL, which in principle should


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be a SL cultural word whose referent is peculiar to the SL culture. Generally, only cultural
objects or concepts should be transferred to show respect for the SL country’s culture.
Words and expressions that are normally transferred are: names of all living and most dead
people; geographical and topographical names including newly independent countries
unless they already have recognized translations; names of periodicals and newspapers;
titles of as yet untranslated literary works, plays, films; names of private companies and
institutions; names of public or nationalized institutions; street names, addresses, etc.
Moreover, there are two ways of using a loan word, it can be used with or without an
explanation. First, speakers of many languages now prefer to borrow words from other
languages directly without an explanation. Word is written in the same form as in the SL
and pronounced as though it were a native word. For instance, the words bar, karaoke,
pub, telecom are now written in newspapers in original and understood by readers. This
way seems to be effective as it preserves the SL meaning, stylistic effect. It, nevertheless,
causes difficulties in pronouncing and writing. As a consequence, the communication
effect is limited.
Another way is the loan word with an explanation. Following the loan word with an

explanation is very useful when the word in question is repeated several times in the text.
Once explained, the loan word can then be used on its own; the reader can understand it
and is not distracted by further lengthy explanations (Baker, 1992: 34). Some borrowed
words may denote a new concept or something unfamiliar to speakers of the TL. As a
result, an explanation is necessary when it occurs the first time. For instance, in 1986 in
Vietnam there appeared a new term in politics đổi mới. When it was translated into English
in newspapers, the term was kept in the same form and followed by an explanation as đổi
mới (a renovation process in political policies). This way of borrowing seems appropriate
as it is easy to understand for all kinds of readers and able to preserve the SL phonology
and its nuances.
1.2.4.3.

Naturalization

This is the translation procedure that succeeds transference and adapts the SL first to the
normal pronunciation, then, to the normal morphology (word-forms) of the TL, for
example, acid - axít, gene - gen, virus - vi rút, etc.


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This use of loan word without explanation bases on two main ways, with or without
hyphen. In the case of using a hyphen each morpheme is written separately with hyphen in
order to exemplify TL pronunciation. It seems to be appropriate form, a compromise
between the norms of the two languages and easily used by the TL speakers. This loan
transcription shows some problems as there is no unique rule to separate morphemes in
multi-morpheme words. Following the original phonological pattern of the TL may result
in changing the original pronunciation of the word. Yet, it seems much easier for speakers
of the TL to recognize it a borrowed word to pay attention when pronouncing it.
1.2.4.4.

Cultural equivalence

In Baker’s terms (1992: 31), this procedure involves replacing a culture-specific item or
expression with a TL item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is
likely to have a similar impact on the target reader. This is rather useful when the concept
in the SL appears unfamiliar to the reader of TL. Replaced culture-specific item provides
readers with a familiar and understandable concept. Although the literal meaning of the
words may be different, both items produce the same effect for their expressive value.
It is noted by Newmark (1995: 83) that this kind of translation is limited, since
approximate cultural equivalents are not accurate. They can be used in general texts,
publicity and propaganda, as well as for brief explanation to readers who are ignorant of
the relevant SL culture. In particular, the main purpose of this procedure is judged to
support or supplement another translation procedure in a couplet.
1.2.4.5.

Functional equivalent

According to Newmark (1995: 83), functional equivalent, which is applied to cultural
words, requires the use of cultural-free words, sometimes with a new specific term. Its
function is to neutralize or generalize the SL word; and sometimes add a particular thus;
baccalauréat - French secondary school leaving exam, Sejm - Polish parliament. As a
cultural componential analysis, this procedure is the most accurate way of translating, that
is to say deculturalising a cultural word.
This procedure is also utilized when a SL technical word has no TL equivalent. For
instance, the English term cot death can be translated as subite d’un nourrisson in French.
In other words, this procedure fills in the gap between the source language or culture and


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target language or culture. In translation of cultural terms, this procedure is often combined
with transference: taille can be translated as a tax on the common people before the French
Revolution, or taille.
1.2.4.6.

Descriptive equivalent

In translation, description sometimes has to be weighed against function, for example,
samurai in Japanese is described as ‘the Japanese aristocracy from the eleventh to the
nineteenth century’; its function was ‘to provide officers and administrators’. Description
and function are essential elements in explanation and therefore in translation.
1.2.4.7.

Shifts or transpositions

“A ‘shift’ (Catford’s term) or ‘transposition’ (Vinay and Darbelnet) is a translation
procedure involving a change in the grammar from SL to TL” (Newmark, 1995: 85). There
are four main types of shift.
The first type of change may be from singular to plural or in the position of the adjective,
which is automatic and offers the translator no choice. This is clearly seen in the case of
Vietnamese versus English grammar. For example, sustainable development will be
translated as sự phát triển bền vững, which involves automatic change of word order in the
noun phrase; or glasses/spectacles means kính đeo mắt which automatically neglects the
plural form of the original version but does not affect the meaning of the words in the TL.
The second type of shift is required when an SL grammatical structure does not exist in the
TL. In such cases, there are always options for the translator to choose. For example, the
English gerund offers many choices as it can be translated by verb-noun or a subordinate
clause or an infinitive, for instance, “on hearing his death…” - “Khi biết tin anh ấy mất
…/Khi biết tin về cái chết của anh ấy …”

The third type of shift is the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but may
not accord with natural usage in the TL. As Vinay and Darbelnet see it, transposition means
the replacing of one word-class by another, without changing the meaning of the message
(Newmark, 1995: 86). They give an example which contains several transpositions: ‘Dès
qu’on essaie d’être arbitraire, on est tout de suite aux prises avec des contradictions’ ‘Any attempt to be arbitrary at once involves one in inconsistencies’. The transpositions in
the example are:


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(1) SL verb, TL noun (essaie - attempt)
(2) SL conjunction, TL indefinite adjective (dès que - any)
(3) SL clause, TL noun group (dès qu’on essaie - any attempt)
(4) SL verb group, TL verb (est aux prises - involves)
(5) SL noun group, TL noun (des contradictions - inconsistencies)
(6) SL complex sentence, TL simple sentence
However, to strictly standardize transpositions in the way that Vinay and Darnelnet do is
impossible because many of the transpositions overlap and convert to lexis which Carford
calls ‘level-shifts’ e.g. ‘après sa mort’ - ‘after she had died’ (Newmark, 1995: 86).
The fourth type of transposition is the replacement of a virtual lexical gap by a
grammatical structure, for example “after his arrival …” - “sau khi anh ấy đến …”.
Additionally, certain transpositions appear to go beyond linguistic differences and can be
regarded as general options available for stylistic consideration. An example of this is the
conversion of one complex sentence to a co-ordinate sentence or to two simple sentences:
“Si lui est aimable, sa femme est arrogante” - “He is very pleasant, but his wife is
arrogant” - “He is pleasant; his wife, however, is arrogant.”
To conclude, transposition is the only procedure concerned with grammar, and most
translators make transpositions intuitively.
1.2.4.8.

Recognized translation

The translator is advised to use the official or the generally accepted translation of any
institutional term, and he can gloss it if he wants to show his disagreement with this official
version. Thus ozone hole has to be translated as lỗ thủng tầng ôzôn. However, this
translation may make readers misunderstand the concept, they might think that the ozone
layer has a “hole” like a hole in a sheet of paper. In fact, ozone hole refers to an area in the
ozone layer where the amount of ozone has been very much reduced so that harmful
radiation from the sun can pass through it. As a result, a more reasonable translation could
be suy giảm tầng ôzôn. Nonetheless, to change the term is now too late and would cause
confusion if it is stated in any official or serious informative text.


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1.2.4.9.

Paraphrase

This is an amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the text, for
example, abbreviation - sự rút ngắn giai đoạn tiến hóa. As Baker (1992: 40) points out, the
main advantage of paraphrase is that it achieves a high level of precision in specifying
propositional meaning. One of its disadvantages is that a paraphrase does not have the
status of a lexical item and therefore cannot convey expressive, evoked, or any kind of
associative meaning. Expressive and evoked meanings are associated only with stable
lexical items which have a history of recurrence in specific contexts. A second
disadvantage of paraphrase is that it is cumbersome and awkward because it involves
filling a one-item slot with an explanation consisting of several items.
1.2.4.10.

Omission

This strategy which is proposed by Baker (1992: 40) may sound rather drastic, but in fact it
does not harm to omit translating a word or expression in some contexts. If the meaning
conveyed by a particular item or expression is not vital enough to the development of the
text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy explanation, translators can and often do
simply omit translating the word or expression in question. For instance, translators may
delete the word “of” in some terms like “velocity of air current” - “tốc độ luồng gió” or
“transfer of land property” - “sự chuyển nhượng quyền sở hữu đất đai”. However, this
strategy should be used only when the advantages of producing a smooth, readable
translation clearly outweigh the value of rendering a particular meaning accurately in a
given context.
1.2.4.11.

Couplets

Newmark (1995) presents that couplets, triplets, quadruplets combine two, three or four of
the above-mentioned procedures respectively for dealing with a single problem. These
combinations are particularly common for cultural words if transference is combined with
a functional or a cultural equivalent.
In short, above are popular procedures employed in the translation of terminology from
English into Vietnamese. The study will also discuss the problem of technical translation
and translation of neologisms in the next section in order to find out more convincing


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theoretical backgrounds to come to the best procedures and strategies for translation of
environmental terms.
1.3.

Technical translation

1.3.1. Definitions of technical translation and its characteristics
With the rise of technology, professional translators have been facing new types of text
which are identified by distinctive grammatical features and characteristics as well as a
number of terms. As a result, technical translation has come into existence with others. It is
considered as one part of specialised translation, potentially non-cultural, stated Newmark
(1995: 151).
Another definition of technical translation is given by Sofer (1999: 37). He claims that the
translation of a text may be called technical when it requires specialized terms in a
particular field.
Both Newmark and Sofer believe that specialised terms in a text being translated is the first
signal of technical translation though they usually only make up about five to ten per cent
of a text. Newmark (1995: 151) also points out characteristics of technical translation for
English such as passives, nominalisations, third persons, empty verbs, present tenses and
its characteristics format is the technical report, instructions, manuals, notices and
publicity. In addition, technical style is usually free from emotive language, connotations,
sound effects and original metaphor. Newmark (1995: 153) suggests three varieties of
technical language as follows: academic style including transferred Latin and Greek words
associated with academic papers, professional style which refers to formal terms used by
experts and the popular one which may include familiar alternative terms.
A significant problem in technical translation is the distinction between technical and
descriptive terms. The original SL writer may use a descriptive term for a technical object
for three reasons (1) the object is new, and has not yet got a name; (2) the descriptive term
is being used as a familiar alternative, to avoid repetition; (3) the descriptive term is being
used to make a contrast with another one. In addition, as Newmark (1995) claims, where
an SL technical term has no known TL equivalent, a descriptive term should be used.
In the view of Kennedy and Bolitho (1984), terms can be highly technical or sub-technical.
Highly technical terms account for an intrinsic part of the learning of the discipline itself.

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To understand these terms, the user might need to understand their theory. For example,
virucide (chất diệt virut), trophobiosis (hiện tượng cộng sinh dinh dưỡng), etc., if
appearing without more detailed explanations, may be problematic to a translator who has
no knowledge of the subject. Meanwhile, sub-technical terms are words which are not
specific to a subject speciality but occur regularly in scientific and technical texts, e.g.
assemblage (hợp quần, hợp thể), wash (phù sa, đất bồi), etc.
However, according to Newmark (1995: 152) the central difficulty in technical translation
is usually the new terminology. There are some reasons for this challenge.
The first reason is that there are some technical neologisms (more information on
neologisms will be provided in the next part) in the SL which are relatively context-free
and appear only once. If they are context-bound, the translator is more likely to understand
them by gradually eliminating the less likely versions.
The second reason lies in the fact that even standardized terms may have more than one
meaning in one field, as well as in two or more fields. Although the purpose of terminology
standardization is to establish a single one-to-one relationship between a referent and its
name, there are, in fact, many concept-words which are notorious for their different
meanings in various technologies.
1.3.2. Translation of neologisms
As Newmark (1995: 140) states, “neologisms can be defined as newly coined lexical units
or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense”. According to him, each language
expands its vocabulary or neologisms steadily in order to meet a particularly arisen need as
new objects and processes are continually created in technology.
Neologisms are perhaps the non-literary and the professional translator’s biggest problem
due to their number of types. Newmark (1995) also proposes types of neologisms and the
way to deal with each type in translation. Some of these types, however, are more often
met than others in a specific technical text. Here, the most popular cases of neologisms in

environmental texts will be discussed.