DIFFICULTIES AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS IN TRANSLATING CONTRACTS OF HOANG HA INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY CONSTRUCTION CO, LTD

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY
ENGLISH FACULTY
------

GRADUATION PAPER
DIFFICULTIES AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS IN TRANSLATING
CONTRACTS OF HOANG HA INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
CONSULTANCY CONSTRUCTION CO, LTD

Supervisor: Le Thi Phuong Mai, M.A.
Student: Nguyen Thi Ha Thanh
Class: K50N6
Student’s number: 14D170394

Hanoi - 2018


HÀ NỘI - 2016

ABSTRACT
Translation is a very important job for companies working with foreign partners.
For the Hoang Ha Company, contract translation has become an essential part of
the company's operations, as well as its image with its foreign counterparts.
Since the language in the building is not easy and the contract requirements are
very high, so the translation staff in the company encountered some difficulties
in the translation process. This study aims to find out the difficulties of
translating the contracts of the company's translation staff so that translators can
find solutions to overcome these difficulties to improve the quality.
Besides that, this study also helps translators and students involved in contract
translation understand the difficulties that arise during the translation process
and to orient the correct translation method. In addition, the research methods

used in this study are the questionnaire- a list of questions to find out the
difficulties that students usually face and the interview questions which used to
meeting students‟ expectations in learning the subject.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the process of completing this Graduation Paper, I have received a
great deal of help, guidance and encouragement from my teachers and friends.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest thank to my supervisor,
Mrs. Le Thi Phuong Mai , MA of Foreign Language Department, who has
offered me suggestion on how to shape the study and always been most
willing to give me valuable advice, helpful comments, corrected my
graduation paper as well as inspired me with his helpful advice and ideas.
I also would like to express my sincere thanks to all teachers in the
Department of Foreign language, who have thoughtfully trained me in the last
four years. Finally, as always I wish to express my special thanks to my
family, my friends and my brother for their understanding and encouragement
throughout the preparation of this paper.
This Graduation paper has been completed with my best knowledge.
However, errors and mistakes are unavoidable because of my limited
knowledge. Thus, I am looking forward to receiving the reflection, sympathy
and contribution from teachers to make it more perfect.
Ha Noi, April 2018
Student
Nguyen Thi Ha Thanh

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TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................i
TABLE OF CONTENT.........................................................................................iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES......................................................................vi
CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY......................................................1
1.1 Rationale.............................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Previous studies...................................................................................................2
1.3 Aims of the study.................................................................................................5
1.4 Scope of the study...............................................................................................5
1.5 Research methodology........................................................................................5
1.6 Organization of the study.....................................................................................5
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................7
2.1. The theoretical background................................................................................7
2.1.1 Definitions of translation..................................................................................7
2.1.2 The importance of translation...........................................................................8
2.1.3 Types of translation.........................................................................................10
2.2. Translation equivalence....................................................................................13
2.2.1. Dynamic equivalence....................................................................................13
2.2.2. Grammatical equivalence..............................................................................14
2.3. Some useful techniques for translation.............................................................15
2.3.1. Addition.........................................................................................................15
2.3.2. Omissions......................................................................................................16
2.3.3. Replacements.................................................................................................16
2.3.4. Transposition.................................................................................................17
2.4. Translations strategies.......................................................................................18
2.5. The translation process.....................................................................................20
2.6. Difficulties in translation..................................................................................22
2.7. General knowledge on a foreign construction contract.....................................23

2.7.1. Definition of a foreign construction contract.................................................23
2.7.2. The main content of a foreign construction contract......................................24

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CHAPTER III: FINDING AND DISCUSSION FROM STUDYING THE
TRANSLATION AI THE HOANG HA COMPANY..........................................26
3.1. An introduction of translation activities of the Hoang Ha Company................26
3.1.1. Translation staffs............................................................................................26
3.1.2. The translation materials................................................................................26
3.2. Context of the study..........................................................................................28
3.2.1 The subject.....................................................................................................28
3.2. 2. Instruments for collecting data.....................................................................29
3.2.3. Questionnaire.................................................................................................29
3.2.4 . Interviews with translation staffs..................................................................29
3.2.5. Data collection procedure..............................................................................29
3.2.6. Data analysis..................................................................................................30
3.3. Findings............................................................................................................31
3.4. Discussion........................................................................................................37
CHAPTER IV: SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO OVERCOME THE
DIFFICULTIES.....................................................................................................39
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Acronyms

Meaning in English

Meaning in
Vietnamese

SL

Source language

Ngôn ngữ nguồn

TL

Target language

Ngôn ngữ đích

Co,Ltd

Limited liability

Công ty TNHH

company

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

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Diagram 2.1: Translation process by Roger T. Bell
Table 3.1 : 7 questions in the interview
Chart 3.1: Translation staffs s' attitude towards the importance of vocabulary
Table 3.2: Ways of remembering English vocabulary on construction
Chart 3. 2: Translator staffs ’ vocabulary difficulties

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CHAPTER I: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1 Rationale
Along with the development of countries in the world and the trend of
the international economic integration, English is considered to be one of the
most popular languages in the world. In Vietnam, with the changes and the
developments of the economy and society, as well as the implementation of
the open- door policy, English has been used more and more widely both by
the young and the old and it has been the most popular foreign language.
English also occupied a specially important status in the development of
international relationship in Vietnam.
Besides, our country is also innovating and developing in the period of
industrialization and modernization. Many industrial parks are built together
with the presence of modern high-rise buildings and urban areas. This
development has led to increasing the demand for infrastructure. Thus,
construction has become an independent and important business. This is also
a sector with stable development and attracts a lot of foreign investments.
Moreover, the development of the construction industry beyond the
national territory has led to the need to use English-the international language,
as a bridge between domestic and foreign companies.Therefore, using English
in transactions, contracts or direct negotiations is also very important.

Because the contract is an agreement between companies through
specific terms and expressions as the basis for the follow-up of companies,
the conversion from English to Vietnamese and vice versa are high
accuracies. In particular, in the construction industry, contracts involving the
terms of quantity, quality or origin of materials need to be carefully drafted.
The terms in the construction industry also need to be correctly translated in
both English and Vietnamese so that both internal and external partners can
work together to avoid making mistakes in the construction process.
Therefore, finding and researching practical contract translation in an
actual company are very necessary. It will help us find out the difficulties,

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propose solutions and support companies and individuals to improve their
translation skills.
That is the main reason inspiring me to carry out this topic. More
importantly, thanks for studying this topic, I have a chance to have the
thorough understanding of the translation of construction contracts.
1.2 Previous studies
With regard to the subject of translation, there are now a lot of
documents and articles on this subject. Each researcher has his own
translation study and draws his own conclusions. To get a good quality
graduation paper, I have searched and consulted a lot of documents and
related research in both Vietnamese and English.
The first book I referred to is Nida and Taber (1982), attempting to give
a more “scientific” sense to translation. Borrowing theoretical concepts from
semantics and pragmatics, and being influenced by Chomsky‟s generativetransformational grammar (1965), Nida adopts a more systematic approach to
exploring the field of translation studies. With regard to equivalence, Nida
maintains that there are two basic types of equivalence: formal equivalence

and dynamic equivalence. In particular, Nida argues that in formal
equivalence the target text resembles very much the source text in both form
and content whereas in dynamic equivalence an effort is made to convey the
source text message in the target text as naturally as possible. It could be
argued that Nida is in favour of dynamic equivalence since he considers it to
be a more effective translation procedure. This comes as no surprise given the
fact that Nida was, at the time at which he proffered his views about
equivalence, translating the Bible, and hence trying to produce the same
impact on various different audiences he was simultaneously addressing.
This paper would have been incomplete without reference to Peter
Newmark, one of the founders of the Institute of Linguists and a fervent
advocate for the professionalization of translators. Peter Newmark (1988)
does not aim to promote any monolithic translation theory but rather attempt
to describe a basis for dealing with problems encountered during the

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translation process. More specifically, Newmark replaces Nida‟s terms of
formal and dynamic equivalence with semantic and communicative
translation respectively. The major difference between the two types of
translation proposed by Newmark is that semantic translation focuses on
meaning whereas communicative translation concentrates on effect. In other
words, semantic translation looks back at the source text and tries to retain its
characteristics as much as possible. Its nature is more complex, detailed and
there is also a tendency to over-translate. On the other hand, communicative
translation looks towards the needs of the addressees, thus trying to satisfy
them as much as possible. In this respect, communicative translation tends to
under-translate; to be smoother, more direct and easier to read. Hence, in
semantic translation, a great emphasis is placed on the author of the original

text whereas communicative translation is meant to serve a larger readership.
It should be pointed out that during the translation process, communicative
translation need not be employed exclusively over semantic or vice versa. It
may well be the case in a literary text that a particular sentence requires
communicative translation whereas another sentence from the same text may
require a semantic one. Hence, the two methods of translation may be used in
parallel, with varying focuses where each is employed.
In addition, the knowledge from Baker's book is also very important.
Mona Baker in her influential book (1992) addresses the vexing issue of
equivalence by adopting a more neutral approach when she argues that
equivalence is a relative notion because it is influenced by a variety of
linguistic and cultural factors (p. 6). In particular, the chapters of her book are
structured around different kinds of equivalence, that is, at the level of word,
phrase, grammar, text and pragmatics. Hence, terms such as grammatical,
textual and pragmatic equivalence come up. In more detail, a distinction is
made between word-level and above-world level equivalence. Adopting a
bottom-up approach, Baker acknowledges the importance of individual words
during the translation process, since the translator looks firstly at the words as
single units in order to find their equivalent in the target language. Baker goes

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on to provide a definition of the term word referring to its complex nature
since a single word can sometimes be assigned different meanings in different
languages. Consequently, parameters such as number, gender and tense
should be taken into consideration when translating a word (p. 11-12).
Grammatical equivalence refers to the diversity of grammatical categories
across languages and the difficulty of finding an equivalent term in the target
text due to the variety of grammatical rules across languages. In fact, she

stresses that differences in grammatical structures may significantly change
the way the information or message is carried across. As a consequence, the
translator may be forced to add or delete information in the target text because
of the lack of specific grammatical categories. Some of the major categories
that often pose problems for translators are number, voice, person, gender,
tense and aspect. On the other hand, textual equivalence refers to equivalence
that may be achieved between a source text and target text in terms of
cohesion and information. Baker argues that the feature of texture is of
immense importance for the translators since it facilitates their comprehension
and analysis of the source text and helps them to produce a cohesive and
coherent text in the target text.
Moreover, I also refer to other studies of translation from other books
such as by Roger T. Bell (1991). This book derives from a feeling of
considerable unease and puzzlement about the way translation has been
treated, over a substantial period, by translation theorists on the one hand and
linguists on the other. The translation theorists, almost without exception, 1
have made little systematic use of the techniques and insights of
contemporary linguistics (the linguistics of the last twenty years or so) and the
linguists, for their part, have been at best neutral and at worst actually hostile
to the notion of a tl1eory of translation. In addition, Alan K. Melby ( 1995)
gave me a general knowledge of translation difficulties, which helped me to
perfect the main subject of this paper.

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1.3 Aims of the study
The purpose of this research is to help the translators, particularly those
in the Hoang Ha Company, find the difficulties in contract translation. Along
with that, the students who are oriented in translation work in the company

will see the difficulties in the future. As a result, solutions will be found to
reduce or eliminate these difficulties to make translation work more efficient
and help the company operates more professionally.
1.4 Scope of the study
The study of translation has a large scope. Due to the limited time and
knowledge, I can not study all aspects of the translation. As mentioned above,
in this paper, I will focus on translating the contract of a specific object is
Hoang Ha investment and development consultancy construction Co., Ltd.
1.5 Research methodology
In order to fulfill the study, I have used the following research
methodologies:
First of all, internet resources are used because this is a huge data warehouse
that makes it easy for people to find the information they need.
Secondly, relevant research papers play an important role in the direction,
collation and underlining of this paper.
Thirdly, the actual data source was obtained from the administrative
department of Hoang Ha Co., Ltd and individuals are responsible for
translating and storing translated contracts.
At last, comparison method is also put into practice to finish this paper
graduation.
1.6 Organization of the study
My graduation paper consists of four main chapters:
Chapter I is an introduction which includes the rationale, previous studies,
aims of the study, scope and methods of the study.
Chapter II is the literature review and it is also the most important part. It has
five main parts. The first is the theoretical background includes the
definitions, important and types of translation. The second is translation

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equivalence . The third is some useful techniques in translation . The next
parts is the translation process and translation difficulties. At last, there is
general knowledge of a foreign construction contract.
Chapter III is the finding and discussion from studying the translation at the
Hoang Ha Co.,Ltd .
Chapter IV is the suggested solutions to overcome the difficulties mentioned
above.
And the last part is a conclusion which gives a brief summary of the study and
suggestion for further study.

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CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, I will introduce an overview of translation theory
involved in my study. This chapter will help readers have the first look at
some issues related to translation and translation of construction contracts:
translation theory with definitions, methods, and its equivalents and
translation of specific terms in construction.
2.1. The theoretical background
2.1.1 Definitions of translation
Translation has existed in our life from very soon, since people knew
how to use and develop their language with regional and cultural
characteristics. It is considered to be an extremely important part in most
areas of culture, society, education to the economy, especially when countries
are expanding markets, growing beyond territory. Therefore, definitions of
translation are numerous, and great numbers of books and articles have been
written about this subject. Hereinafter are some typical definitions:
Nida states that translation consists of reproducing in the receptor

language the closest natural equivalence of the source language message, first
in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. (Eugene Albert Nida and
Charles Russell Tabers, 1982)
From the definitions above the translation has the same term
“equivalence”. The meaning, context, though, or message of both sources of
reproducing in the receptor language, the closest natural are equivalent to the
message of the source language. The first is meaning and secondly is style.
The message of source language must equivalent. The reader of translation
who knows the target language only will be confused if the target language is
influenced by the source language.
Meanwhile, the result of translation must be transferring the meaning of
the source language clearly. In order to make the clear meaning of source
language, it is expected that the meaning of target language can be understood
by the readers. So, the result of translation must be readable. In target

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language, readability is needed, because it makes the readers easier to catch
the content of the translation text, conversely when the translation text is not
readable. It will make the readers difficult to understand the content of the
text well.
Besides, Newmark (1988) points out that translation is a work that
seeks to replace a message and / or a written statement in the language with
the same message or statement in another language. In addition, he considered
translation as a science, a skill, an art, and a problem of taste. As a science,
translation includes the knowledge and assessment of the events and
languages that describe them; as a skill, translation includes appropriate
language and acceptable use of language; as an art form, the translation
distinguishes good writing and bad writing, as well as involves levels of

creativity, intuition and inspiration; And finally, as a matter of taste, the
translation consists of the fact that the translator chooses the translation that
they like the most; So the same translation of different translators will not be
the same.
Based on many definitions above, in general, the translation is a
process of transferring thoughts and message from the source language to the
target language, in the form of written or spoken. The language to be
translated is called the source language, and the language is to be translated
into is called the target language; the final product is sometimes called the
target text."
2.1.2 The importance of translation
Today, we can not deny the important role of English in work, study or
daily life. Especially when the current trend is globalization, Vietnam is
opening up to attract investment capital as well as cooperation, economic,
cultural and political exchanges with world powers.
“ Never before in the history of the world have there been so many
persons engaged in the translating of both secular and religious materials. It
is estimated that at least 100,000 persons dedicate most or all of their time to
such work, and of these at least 3,000 engaged primarily in the translation of

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the Bible into some 800 languages, representing about 80 percent of the
world’s population.” (Eugene Albert Nida and Charles Russell Tabers, 1982)
Translation is important not simply because it gets us talking to each
other or allows each of us to read what the other has written but because it
gives us insights into why we find it difficult sometimes to speak to each
other and why we particularly like or understand what the other has written. If
contemporary reality is inescapably multicultural and multinational, then it

makes sense to look to a discipline which has mediation between cultures and
languages as a central concern to assist us both in understanding globalization
and in understanding what it might mean, and why it is difficult to be a citizen
of the world. (Roger T. Bell, 1991)
As a technique for learning foreign languages, translation is a twoedged instrument: it has the special purpose of demonstrating the learner's
knowledge of the foreign language, either as a form of control or to exercise
his intelligence in order to develop his competence. This is its strong point in
foreign-language classes, which has to be sharply distinguished from its
normal use in transferring meanings and conveying messages. The translation
is done in schools, which as a discipline is unfortunately usually taken for
granted and rarely discussed, often encourages absurd, stilted renderings,
particularly of colloquial passages including proper names and institutional
terms.
As a means of communication, translation is used for multilingual
notices, which have at last appeared increasingly conspicuously in public
places; for instructions issued by exporting companies; for tourist publicity,
where it is too often produced from the native into the 'foreign' language by
natives as a matter of national pride; for official documents, such as treaties
and contracts; for reports, papers, articles, correspondence textbooks to
convey information, advice and recommendations for every branch of
knowledge. Its volume has increased with the rise of the mass media, the
increase in the number of independent countries, and the growing recognition

9


of the importance of linguistic minorities in all the countries of the world.
(Peter Newmark, 1988)
In general, translation plays an important role. Most of the fields, such
as construction, health, finance, tourism, ... use specialized materials in both

Vietnamese and foreign languages. With the trend of international economic
integration, translation services for business and cultural exchange are
extremely essential.
For large corporations, reputable international organizations, the
precision in contract language or trade is critical to success. Most of these
businesses and organizations have a partnership with a professional
translation service to support the necessary times. It has the same consistency
and upgraded its brand in the eyes of partners.
In order to solve the problems encountered in communicating with
international friends, as well as partner documents or contracts, translation
services must be provided. Translation is important for both parties to
understand each other better so businesses must have a partnership with a
translation service to assist them when needed. It has both the unity and the
brand of the business in the eyes of partners.
2.1.3 Types of translation
According to Larson (1984: 15) translation is classified into two main
types, namely form-based translation and meaning-based translation. Formsbased translation attempts to follow the form of the source language and it is
known as literal translation, while meaning-based translation makes every
effort to communicate the meaning of the source language text in the natural
forms of the receptor language. Such translation is called idiomatic
translation. A literal translation sounds like nonsense and has little
communication value (Larson, 1984: 15). The literal translation can be
understood if the general grammatical form of the two languages is similar.
Larson (1984: 16) says that idiomatic translations use the natural forms of the
receptor language both in the grammatical constructions and in the choices of
lexical items. A truly idiomatic translation does not sound like the translation.

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It sounds like it was written originally in the receptor language. Therefore, a
good translator will try to translate idiomatically. This is his/her goal.
Besides, Peter Newmark (1988) states that translation methods relate to
whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller
units of language. Some kinds of translation are found because of the
differences and similarities of the source structures, different kinds of text that
are going to be translated and different purpose of translation. He divides the
kinds of translation in the same way.
The first type is word for word translation .This is often demonstrated
as interlinear translation, with the target language immediately below the
source language words. The source language word-order is preserved and the
words translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context.
Cultural words are translated literally. The main use of word-for-word
translation is either to understand the mechanics of the source language .
The second type is literal translation. The source language grammatical
constructions are converted to their nearest target language equivalents but the
lexical words are again translated singly, out of context. As a pre-translation
process, this indicates the problems to be solved.
The third type is faithful translation. A faithful Translation attempts to
reproduce the precise contextual meaning of the original within the
constraints of the target language grammatical structures. It 'transfers' cultural
words and preserves the degree of grammatical and lexical 'abnormality'
(deviation from source language norms) in the translation. It attempts to be
completely faithful to the intentions and the text-realisation of the source
language writer.
The fourth type is 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.
The fifth type is semantic translation. Semantic translation emphasizes

the “loyalty” to the original text. It is more semantic and syntactic oriented

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and, therefore, also author-centered. On the other hand, communicative
translation emphasizes the loyalty to the “readers” and more reader-centered.
The two concepts are not to be contrasted with the literal word-for-word
translation which is criticized in the concept of formal translation and literal
translation. He sees it as a translation procedure. He states that literal wordfor-word translation is not only the best in both communicative and semantic
translation, but it is the only valid method of translation if an equivalent effect
is secured (Peter Newmark, 1988).
He further maintains that, in fact, there is no pure communicative or
pure semantic method of translating a text. There are overlapping bands of
methods. A translation can be more or less semantic as well as more or less
communicative. Even a part of a sentence can be treated more
communicatively or more semantically. Anyhow he maintains that the more
important the language of the text or units of text, e.g. in the sacred texts, the
more closely it should be translated. Finally, he points out that meaning is
complicated, many-leveled, a ‘network of relation’. The more generalization
and simplification is done, the less meaning is gotten. From this discussion, it
can be argued that the choice between semantic and communicative approach
is done in the level of translating sentences or even parts of a sentence.
The sixth type is 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 source language culture converted to the target
language culture and the text rewritten. The deplorable practice of having a
play or poem literally translated and then rewritten by an established
dramatist or poet has produced many poor adaptations, but other adaptations
have 'rescued period plays.

The seventh type is free translation. Free translation reproduces the
matter without the manner or the content without the form of the original.
Usually, it is a paraphrase much longer than the original, a so-called
'intralingual translation”, often prolix and pretentious, and not a translation at
all.

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The last type is idomatic translation. Idiomatic translation reproduces
the 'message' of the original but tends to distort nuances of meaning by
preferring colloquialisms and idioms where these do not exist in the original.
2.2. Translation equivalence
There are types of equivalence defined by Nida, which are also called
two basic orientations of translation (Nida,Eugene A and Taber ,1982).
2.2.1. Dynamic equivalence
It is the principle equivalent effect, where the relationship between
receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed
between the original receptor and the message. The goal of the dynamic
equivalence is seeking the closest natural equivalent to the source message.
This receptor- oriented approach considers adaptations of grammar, of the
lexicon, and of cultural reference to be essential in order to achieve
naturalness.
An extremely interesting discussion of the notion equivalent can be
found in Baker’s book (Baker,1992) which seems to offer more detail list of
conditions upon which the concept equivalent can be defined at different
levels as follow: Equivalence that can appear at the word level. Baker gives a
definition of the term word since it should be remembered that a single word
can be regarded as being a more complex unit or morpheme, and it discuss
about lexical meaning above word level equivalence, when translating from

one language into another. In this section, the translator concentrates on the
type of lexical pattering, they are collocation, idioms, and fixed expression.
Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the diversity of
grammatical categories across languages. Baker focuses on number, tense and
aspects, voice, person and gender. In the process of translation; such
differences between source language and the target language often imply
some change in the information content. When the source language has a
grammatical category that the target language lacks, this change can take the
form of adding information to the target text. On the other hand, if it is the

13


target language that lacks a category, the change can take the form of
omission.
Textual equivalence when referring to the equivalence between a
source language text and a target language text in terms of thematic and
information structure. She also adds the discussion in this section about
cohesion. Pragmatic equivalence, when referring to implicatures and
strategies of avoidance during the translation process. These theorists have
studied equivalence in relation to the translation process, using different
approaches.
2.2.2. Grammatical equivalence
Grammar is the set of rules which determine the way in which units
such as words and phrases can be combined in a language. Grammar has two
main dimensions: morphology and syntax, morphology concern the structure
of single words, the way in which their form varies to indicate specific
contrast in the grammatical system (example: singular/plural, number,
present/past), syntax concerns the grammatical structure of groups of words
(clauses or sentence),the linear sequence of classes of words (noun, verb,

adverb, adjective, etc).
Different grammatical structures in the source language and target
language may cause remarkable changes in the way the information or
message is carried across, these changes may induce the translator either to
add or to omit information in the target language because of the lack of
particular grammatical devices in the target language itself, amongst these
grammatical devices which might cause problems in translation. (Baker,
Mona, 1992)
As far as translation is concerned, the most important difference
between grammatical and lexical choices is that the former are generally
obligatory while the latter is largely optional. In the process of translation,
such differences between the source language and the target language often
imply some change in the information content. When the source language has
a grammatical category that the target language lacks, this change can take the

14


form of adding information to the target text. On the other hand, if it is the
target language that lacks a category, the change can take the form of
omission. grammatical rules may vary across languages and this may pose
some problems in terms of finding a direct correspondence in the target
language.
2.3. Some useful techniques for translation
As Jane Fenoulhet,Alison Martin mentioned (Jane Fenoulhet,Alison
Martin, 2014) : “ Here is a simple technique you might like to use: If you
have access to a scanner of the photocopier, make a copy of the text so that
you can highlight things, colour code or simply write notes. It will help to
engaged activity like this with the text you are about to translate. Below are
two keys questions to help you make a first analysis. The first concerns

background knowledge relevant for understanding the text, while the second
involves reflection on your target audience: What are the first things that you
notice about this text? And What do you know about the target audience for
your translation and how will it affect your translation?
The study was carried out by using a qualitative method to interpret and
explain the techniques of translation. Besides, the quantitative method was
also employed to generalize and analyze the data from the survey
questionnaire. In addition, there are five useful techniques for EnglishVietnamese and Vietnamese-English translation with illustrated examples for
attempting to contribute to better translation competence of English learners.
In that study, four techniques are mentioned .
2.3.1. Addition
It means that when translating, translators can add some words which
are not found in the source language so as to make the translation text
increasingly fluent and coherent. About this issue, Hung, N. T. (1986). has
said: “Additions are caused by various factors. Very often, they are
necessitated by what may be called “Lexical incompleteness” of certain word
group in the source language. Thus, in English , words which are omitted can
be easily restored in the context, while in Vietnamese their actual presence in

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the group is necessary, which calls for additions in translation.” Hereafter is a
sample versions translated from English into Vietnamese and vice versa: “He
was always glad because he showed his gratitude to his parents. Vậy mà lúc
nào ông cũng lấy làm vui vẻ trong lòng, vì có thế thì con mới tỏ hết lòng hiếu
với cha mẹ.” (An, V. L. and Anh, V. L. (1999). “Vậy mà”, “lấy làm” and
“trong lòng” were added to convey the total feelings and spirits of the person
involved.
2.3.2. Omissions

When translating, to reduce the pleonastic words that can be
unnecessary for the meaning in the translation text. In other words, translators
can make use of the omission technique to omit some redundant words, which
does not really change the meaning of the version. Hung, N. T. (1986) has
mentioned: Omissions are the reverse of additions and are used to ensure a
greater degree of what is called “compression” that is reducing the
redundancy of the text by omitting words which can be easily restored from
the context. The following are some examples about this technique: “Với tư
cách là những sinh viên mới, chúng ta phải học bài trước khi đến lớp học. As
new students, we must study lessons before class.” (Dung, L. M. (2003). The
verb “đến” was omitted to convey a concise vesison in the target language;
“One day, a dog entered an inn, stole a piece of meat and ran away with it.
Một hôm, có một con chó vào hàng cơm ngoạm trộm miếng thịt rồi bỏ chạy.”
(An & Anh, 1993:79). It would be wordy if the vesion in the target language
was rendered “ ….rồi bỏ chạy với miếng thịt/với nó.” Instead, “with it” was
omitted to make the version briefer and smoother, but the meaning remained
the same.
2.3.3. Replacements
It means that when translating, translators ought to get insights about
two common types of linguistic units: word forms and parts of speech,
which have considerable influence on grammatical transformations between
the source language and the target language. Special attention should be paid
to singular and plural forms of word forms that are commonly recognized in

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the rendering. In some cases, translators, to reach the fluency in the target
language, can convert the plural forms into the singular ones and vice versa.
Replacements of parts of speech are quite common in translation. Nouns in

English, for example, can be replaced by verbs or adjectives in Vietnamese
and vice versa to obtain accuracy and suitability of semantics in English and
Vietnamese styles. The following example illustrate this part of the technique:
“Our belief is that Vietnam’s economy will be at the top-ten of the world.
Chúng tôi tin rằng nền kinh tế Việt Nam sẽ được xếp vào 10 nước đứng đầu
thế giới.” (Dung, 2003:54). Obviously, the possessive adjective “Our” was
replaced with the pronoun “Chúng tôi” and the noun “belief” was replaced
with the verb “tin” to match the suitable meaning in the target-language style.
2.3.4. Transposition
With this technique, translators can absolutely change the order of the
structures: words, phrases, clauses and sentences without altering the content
of the utterance. Hung (1986:12) has stated: It should be noted that the
traditional word order in English is Subject – Predicate – Object – Adverbial
modifier (manner/means/instruments + place + time) while the common
tendency in Vietnamese is to place adverbial modifier of time at the beginning
of the sentence. Such technique is more clearly illustrated by the following
examples: “Nếu nó cứ lười biếng như thế mãi, thì về sau chắc sẽ phải khổ
suốt đời. He will be unhappy all his life, if he continues to be lazy.” (An &
Anh, 1993:31). Opposite to the Vietnamese style, the subordinate clause is
mostly surpassed at the first place by the main clause. Thus, it can be easy to
find that “if he continues to be lazy” – the subordinate clause was transferred
to the end of the rendering.
It is of expressions that there are various types, but mainly proverbs,
short well-known statements or wise sayings giving people practical advice
about life, are discussed. It should be borne in mind that translators, when
applying the expressions to proverbs, ought to find in the target language
utterances or word combinations which have an equivalent meaning to those
in the source language.

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Written translation is completely different from any other type of
translation. As a rule, there is no need to react instantly - you can take your
time, think, choose a better variant, use a dictionary, consult a specialist, etc.
Like any other translation it should convey the meaning and the music of the
source language. Also, you need to be very accurate with the language and
give proper weigh to stylistic features.
2.4. Translations strategies
The word strategy is used in many contexts. In translation studies,
many theorists have used the term translation strategies widely but with some
considerable differences in the meaning and the perspective from which they
look at it. As Mona Baker (1992: 26-42) lists eight strategies used by
professional translators to deal with translation problems:
The first is the translation by a more general word. This is one of the
most common strategies for handling multiple cases with no equivalent. As
Baker's view, this strategy will fit most, if not all languages, because in the
semantic domain, meaning does not depend on language.
The second is the translation by a neutral / less expressive word. This is
another strategy in the field of the semantic structure.
The third is the translation by alternative culture. This strategy involves
the replacement of a particular word or cultural expression component with a
component in the target language based on its impact on the target reader.
This strategy makes text translations more natural, easier to understand and
more familiar to the target audience. The decision to use this translator's
strategy will depend on: the level of substitution requested by the translator
allows translators to perform and the purpose of the translation
The fourth is the translation using a loan word or a borrowed word
with the explanation. This strategy is often used when dealing with cultural
features, modern concepts, and common terms. Using the loan word comes a

very useful explanation when a word is repeated several times in the text. For
the first time, the word is mentioned by the explanation, and the next time it is
just the word, there is no need to explain it again.

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