A study on translation of technical terms used in export – import from english into vietnamese of the fourth year students at thuongmai university

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my grateful appreciation to all of those who gave me such
great support and motivation in process of doing the research. I want to give
acknowledge all lecturers at Thuong Mai University (TMU) for their teaching and
especially to my teachers who directly taught me invaluable knowledge during my
study at universitywhich enables me to complete my graduation paper.
First and foremost, I wish to express my sincerest thank to my supervisor, M.A
Vu Thi Thanh Hoa who helps me a lot in the whole process of my graduation paper.
Her enthusiasm and dedication have stimulated me to complete my graduation paper
successfully.
Secondly, I am indebted to the fourth-year students of English Faculty who
providing necessary materials for me in process of research in order to achieve best
results.
Finally, I would also like to express my appreciation to my family members and
my dear friends who always support and encourage me during the time I do the
research.
Due to the limited time and knowledge as well as other objective reasons, my
graduation paper has inevitable shortcomings. Therefore, all comments are welcomed
to make my research better.

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ABSTRACT
A study on translation of technical terms used in Export – Import from English
into Vietnamese of the fourth-year students at Thuongmai University
By
Bui Thi Lan Anh
The purpose of this study is to investigate some difficulties that the fourth-year
students of English Faculty encounter when translating Export – Import technical
terms and texts as well. To further develop the argument, the thesis works out some

typical error type made by the students. From that, the researcher finds out difficulties
they face in translation process. The participants are 40 English - major students with
the cooperation of teacher of the Faculty. To identify difficulties of the students when
translating Export – Import technical terms, 40 participants are required to take one
translation test which is about Export – Import field. The results reveal that students
frequently face difficulties in understanding concepts and vocabulary, also in choosing
adequate words in Vietnamese. Lack of background knowledge and vocabulary are
main reasons which cause their problems. Besides, due to the difference between
English and Vietnamese, they still made grammatical errors in translation. The thesis
then boldly give recommendations and suggestions for teachers as well as for the
students in order to assist the students to improve their translation skill.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1. Rationale
In the context of globalization and integration, it can be seen that Viet Nam has
cooperated with many other countries in the world in the field of economy, culture,
education, medicine, construction, security, ect. In order to become a developed
country, Viet Nam has to make more efforts to create opportunities for it, especially to
boost cooperation with some of developed countries such as the United State, the
United Kingdom and other Western countries. For that reason, English is becoming an
international language and it is essential quality to become an international citizen.
Mastering English skill, each person not only has the chance to develop themselves but

also makes contribution to the development of the country by cooperated business
activities, tourism promotion, cultural exchange. Therefore, English is becoming more
and more important to all of us in the era of globalization.
Except from basic skills in English like speaking, listening, reading, writing
skills, translation is the most essential when studying English and when working in
English-using environment. Nowadays, everyone attaches more importance to learning
translation skill. However, a lot of students and employees have to face difficulties in
translation especially as translating technical terms. In addition, the improvement of
trade leads to higher demand of good exchange and transportation. Hence, the
knowledge of export – import arises, which results in demand of translation exportimport terms.
At present, there are many of researches done to study aspects of translation in
general. However, the number of studies on translation technical terms is few,
especially on export – import sector gaining popularity nowadays.
Thuongmai University specializes in training the field of economy and trade.
Besides, the university has English Faculty which trains students to become would–be
English translators. The departments and lectures have launched many teaching
methods to help their students easily access to knowledge about trade, economy and
translation skill. As a student of English Faculty at Thuongmai University, I am aware
of the problems that English Faculty’ students encounter when studying translation in

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general and English – Vietnamese translation in particular. To be good at export –
import translation, students not only have to sharpen their translation skill but also
improve their specialized knowledge.
For these reasons, I choose the topic “A study on translation technical terms in
export – import from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year students of English
Department at Thuongmai University” for my graduation paper.
1.2. Previous studies

There are some of studies which are related to translation that I have collected.
Due to the limitation of time, I just present several studies relating to English –
Vietnamese translation in general and English – Vietnamese translation of
terminologies in particular. The following studies are collected from internet resource.
Topic for the first study is “English-Vietnamese translation of terminologies
on Human Resource Management” implemented by Ngo Thanh Huong, a student of
Hai Phong private university. The study aims to provide a general overview about
Human Resource Management terms as well as strategies to help students and people
who are working on Human Resource Management field improve their translation
skill. In the study, the researcher uses main methods like analysis, interview,
questionnaire to collect primary and secondary information. The study gives an overall
look on Human Resource Management, then the overview of Human Resource
Management terms. The main part presents the study on translating Human Resource
Management terms into Vietnamese, analysis of equivalence and some problems in
translation process. According to the thesis, there are two popular problems in Human
Resource Management including linguistic problem and cultural difference. At the last
chapter, some suggestions given by the researcher in order to help learners overcome
the difficulties in translating process. The advantage of this study is that: firstly, the
topic of thesis is clear and related to an urgent problem in Vietnam; secondly, the study
is done in concrete space and time and implemented with a variety of flexible
methods; thirdly, theoretical basis is clear, divided into specific issues. The study made
contributions to teaching in Vietnam and provide practical solutions for learners to
overcome difficulties when studying translation.

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1.3. Aims of the study
The study is conducted to survey and evaluate English-majored students in
translation skills. It then finds out difficulties which the fourth-year students encounter

as well as mistakes that they made when translating. From that, the study gives some
solutions that can help the students to overcome difficulties also to limit mistakes in
translating process and improve their translation skills.
1.4. Research Subject
In my study, the research subject is the export- import technical term translating
skill from English into Vietnamese of the fourth-year English-major students at
Thuongmai University. With the research subject, I will focus on current situation of
students while translating, mistakes they made, difficulties they encounter. The study
is conducted through interview and questionnaire.
1.5. Scope of the study
In order that the researcher can implement conveniently and gain accurate
results, the study is carried out at Thuongmai University with the participants of 40
fourth-year students of English Faculty.
1.6. Research methodology
The study aims at addressing the following questions:
1.

What are the difficulties the fourth-year students of English Faculty

encounter when translating export - import terms from English into Vietnamese?
2.

What are the reasons for the problems?

3.

What are solutions suggested to deal with the difficulties and to improve

translation skills of the fourth-year students?
To clear these questions up, the research is combined simultaneously both

qualitative and quantitative approach so that the researcher can compare, evaluate,
supplement and produce the adequate outcomes. About quantitative research method,
the questionnaire was conducted. Collected data is cleaned, processed, encrypted using
software support, then synthesized and analyzed. About qualitative research method,
from the results obtained in the questionnaire, the researcher makes judgment about
the nature of the answers and expresses the logic of the answers.
Data collection instruments

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1.6.1.1. Interview
With the aim of investigating and evaluating translation skills, also to find out
solutions for the fourth-year students to sharpen their skill, this method will support for
collecting appropriate as well as accurate answers so that can gain real results for the
study. From that, the interviewer also makes the study more reliable and information
more objective.
The objects of the interview are teachers and students of English Faculty. And the
interview was conducted in Vietnamese so as to receive free responses from
respondents and avoid misunderstanding. Note-taking is one of the vital skills in
interview because it was convenient for both the interviewer and respondents and help
the interviewer not to forget the important information when the interview ended.
1.6.1.2. Practical observation
This method has one advantage is that the researcher can save time and money
because the observer can evaluate through translation lessons. Practical observation
was conducted in 4 times per week.
1.6.1.3. Questionnaire
The questionnaire is a very common instrument when doing research. The
questionnaire will be conducted online. It aims at finding out the student’s attitude
towards translation subject, difficulties, causes as well as the way that can help them to

improve their skill. The questionnaire also helps to look for necessary information for
the study as well as gives appreciated solutions. The questionnaire is laid-out in the
form of multiple-choice items for answering and consisting of closed-ended and openended questions. In the study, there are 10 questions which are about translation in
general and English-Vietnamese in particular, the importance of export-import,
technical term translation.
1.7. Organization of the study
The thesis consists of the four following chapters:
+ Chapter 1: Overview of the study
The first part is overview of the study which includes rationale, previous studies,
aims of the study, research subject, scope of the study, research methodology,
organization of the study.

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+ Chapter 2: Literature review
This is the most important part that gives knowledge about translation, technical
terms, export – import, export – import terminologies, difficulties in translating
process.
+ Chapter 3: Research findings
Research findings give results of ability to translate of the fourth-year Englishmajored students.
+ Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions
Based on the results, the researcher gives suggested solutions to help the students
overcome difficulties when translating as well as improve their translation skill.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature is an important part in research because it helps researchers gain

fundamental knowledge about the problem focused on. Therefore, with the chosen
topic, this chapter introduces some basic definitions and analysis related to technical
terminologies, terms used in export – import. Then the researcher discusses in
translation theory such as definition of translation, definition of English – Vietnamese
translation, equivalence in translation, factors affecting translation process.
2.1. Related concepts in translation
2.1.1.

Definitionsof translation

There are variety of concepts of translation. Translation is the replacement of
textual material in one language(source language) by equivalent textual material in
anotherlanguage(target language), according to Catford (1965). This definition show
that translation is a process in the sense that is an activity. Performed by people
through time, when expressions are translated into simpler ones in the same language.
It can be done also from one language to another different language.
According to Peter Newmark (1988), translation is rendering a written text into
another language in the way that the author intended the text. The translators are
required to undertake assignments which range from simple items to more complex
written materials.
Besides, there are a lot of other concepts of translation such as:
Translation is the process of finding a target language (TL) equivalentfrom a
source language (SL) utterance.(Pinhhuck)
Translation is a transfer process, which aims at the transformation of awritten SL
text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which requiresthe syntactic, the semantic
and the pragmatic understanding andanalytical processing of the SL.(Wilss - 1982)
Translation is the act of transferring through which the content of a textis
transferred from the SL into the TL. (Foster - 1958)
Translation is to be understood as the process whereby a messageexpressed in a
specific source language is linguistically transformed inorder to be understood by

readers of the “target language”.( Houbert - 1998)

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Translation is a text with qualities of equivalence to a prior text inanother
language, such that the new text is taken as a substitute for theoriginal.(David Frank)
2.1.2. Types of translation
2.1.2.1. Word-for-word translation
This is often demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TLimmediately
below the SL words. The SL word-order is preserved and theword translated singly by
their most common meanings, out of context.Culture words are translated literally. The
main use of word-for-wordtranslation is either to understand the meaning of the SL or
to construct adifficult text as a pre-translation process.
2.1.2.2. Literal translation
The SL grammatical construction is converted to the nearest TLequivalents but
the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context.
2.1.2.3. Faithful translation
A faithful translation is used when translators want to reproduce theprecise
contextual meaning of the SL within the restriction of the TLgrammatical structures. It
converts cultural words but reserves the degreeof grammatical and lexical
“abnormality” in the translation. It attempts tobe completely faithful to the intentions
and text-realization of the SLwriter.
2.1.2.4. Semantic translation
Semantic translation differs from faithful translation only in as far asit must take
more account of the aesthetic value of the SL text,compromising on “meaning” where
appropriate so that no assonance,word-play or repetition jars in finished version.
2.1.2.5. Adaptation translation
This seems to be the freest form of translation. It is used mainly forplays and
poetry in which the themes, characters and plots are usuallypreserved, the SL culture

converted to the TL culture and text rewritten byan established dramatist or poet has
produced many poor adaptations butother adaptation has “rescued” period plays.
2.1.2.6. Free translation
This reproduces the matter without the manner, or the contentwithout the form of
the original. Usually it is a paraphrase much longerthan the original, a so-called
“intralingua translation”, often prolix andpretentious and not translation at all.

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2.1.2.7. Idiomatic translation
Idiomatic translation reproduces the “message” of the original buttends to distort
nuances of meaning by preferring colloquialisms and theidiom where these do not
exist in the original. For example:
2.1.2.8. Communicative translation
Communicative translation attempts to reader the exact contextualmeaning of the
original in such a way that both content and language arereadily acceptable and
comprehensible to the readership.
2.1.3. Equivalence in translation
According to Vanessa Leonardo “equivalence canbe said to be the central issue in
translation although its definition,relevance, and applicability within the field of
translation theory havecaused heated controversy, and many different theories of the
concept ofequivalence have been elaborated within this field in the past fifty years”.
Catford (1965) believes that the central problem of translation is that of finding
target language equivalence. Halverson (1997) defines equivalence is a relationship
existing between two entities, and the relationship is described as one of likeness/
sameness/ similarity/ equality in terms of any of a number of potential qualities. In
conclusion, translation equivalence is the similarity between a word or expression in
one language and its translation in another. In other word, a translation is a
corresponding word or expression in another language.

2.2. Technical terms (terms)
2.2.1.

Definition of technical terms

Term is a variation of language in a specific condition (Peter Newmark)and he
stated that the central difficulty in translation is usually the newterminology. Even
then, the main problem is likely to be that of someterms in the source text which are
relatively content-free, and appearonly once. If they are context-bound, you are more
likely to understandthem by gradually eliminating the less likely versions. Technical
terminology, which is the specialized vocabulary of a field. These terms have specific
definitions within the field, which is not necessarily the same as their meaning in
common use.

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2.2.2.

The characteristics of terms

There is distinction between technical and descriptive terms. Theoriginal source
language writer may use a descriptive term for a technicalobject for three reasons:
- The objective is new and not yet has a name.
- The descriptive term is being used as a familiar alternative, to avoidrepetition.
- The descriptive term is being used to make a contrast with another
one.Normally, you should translate technical and descriptive terms bytheir
counterparts and, in particular, resist the temptation of translating adescriptive by a
technical term for showing off your knowledge, there bysacrificing the linguistic force
of the SL descriptive term. However, if theSL descriptive term is being used either

because of the SL writer’s ignorance or negligence, or because the appropriate
technical term does notexist in the SL, and in particular if an object strange to the SL
but not to theTL culture is being referred to, then you are justified in translating
adescriptive by a technical term.
Terminology makes up perhaps 5-10 % of a text. The rest is“language” usually a
natural style of language; and there you normally findan authoritative text aspires to
such a style; if it does not, you gentlyconvert it to natural and elegant language-the
write will be grateful to you.
2.3. Difficulties in English – Vietnamese translation
When doing translation from English into Vietnamese, we find it difficult to
convert many texts naturally and we can identify two main problems in linguistic
difference and cultural difference.
First, in term of linguistic different between English and Vietnamese: the two
languages have various differences in terms of vocabulary and grammatical rules can
be named as below:
Inflexible English grammar
English has very strict grammar rules while Vietnamese is much more flexible.
For instance, Vietnamese does not always use articles and the rules are not as clear as
those of English.

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Phrasal verbs
While English does not have so many grammatical inflections, English verbs can
pose problems. They are peculiar to English such as turn on, turn off, set up, run out,
look into, look after, ect. In Vietnamese, specific verbs are used in place of the English
phrasal verbs.
Peculiar English vocabulary
A word in English may mean a lot of words in Vietnamese. For example, we may

translate the word problem into vấnđề, vấnnạn, tệnạn, khókhăn, trụctrặc, thắcmắc,ect.
depending on the context.
Second, in term of cultural difference, Asian culture in general and Vietnamese
culture in particular has few things in common with Western and American culture.
Unless translators are capable of breaking through decayed barriers of their own
culture and opening their mind to new and sometimes alien concepts, their translation
cannot be considered successful and natural. Difficulties occur when we have to
translate foreign notions like New Year’s revolution, fair go, wife swapping, ect.
because they are typical of the culture in English-speaking countries but not in
Vietnam.

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS
3.1. Research method
There are three main methods used to deal with the problem of this topic. The
researcher evaluates the results through translation test, questionnaire and interview.
The first method requires 50 fourth-year students from English Faculty to
translate an English newspaper into Vietnamese. 50 test papers were printed and
delivered to the students with the limited time is 60 minutes, similar to the time to do a
mid-term test for translation subject.
The second method is filling out a questionnaire. In this study, the questionnaire
is designed with 10 questions which consist of closed questions, multiple-choice
questions and opened questions. These questions focus on gathering information in
objective opinions of respondents on general translation, English-Vietnamese
translation, importance of Export-Import, difficulties in translating Export-Import
terms.
The third one is an interview. An interview is a process of contact between two
individuals, in which the interviewer attempt to collect information, responses and

views of the interviewee about these main points: importance of Export-Import in the
context of globalization and integration, technical terms, Export-Import technical
terms, general translation, English-Vietnamese translation. The aim of the interview is
to find out difficulties in studying translation subject, difficulties in translating
technical terms especially Export-Import terms, some common errors made by the
fourth-year English-majored students when translating from English into Vietnamese.
And then find out causes for these difficulties. From that, the researcher may make
some suggestions and solutions to help the interviewees solve their problems in
learning process.
3.2. Analysis of data
3.2.1. Results of the translation test
The translation error types which were made by the students in their translation
tests are described in the following chart.

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Chart 3.1 Distribution of translation error types

The result illustrates that the background knowledge is a decisive factor which
affects students most when translating. The proportion of errors made due to students'
lack of background knowledge is 52.1%.Of two other difficulties in vocabulary and
grammar, the number of students who make mistakes about vocabulary is higher than
this number of grammatical errors. The percentages of two types are 30.8% and
17.1%, respectively. In next sections, each type of problems will be described in detail.
3.2.1.1. Grammatical problem
Chart 3.2 Distribution of grammatical problem

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Chart 3.2 describes the distribution and percentage of grammatical errors made
by fourth-year students in translating Export-Import expertised text from English into
Vietnamese. Of all grammatical errors made by students, verb errors appear frequently
most and occupy the highest proportion (37%). The second popular error type that the
students usually made are errors of tense with the rate of 25.06%. Following this error
type are noun errors. The number for this problem accounted for 18%. The lowest
percentages are about passsive voice and preposition. The rates are 12.1% and 7.3%,
respectively.
Noun
From the results, we can see that noun errors are found in the translation test
accounted for 18%. These nouns are in plural form. However, not all the time the
nouns which added "s" or "es" are translated as "những, các" in Vietnamese. As it can
be seen from this example: "The products that posted positive export growth included
computers, electronic products and accessories, at 19.4%; vegetables and fruits, at
17.9%; and garments and textiles, at 48.6%". In some tests, this sentence was
translated as " Những sản phẩm cho thấy sự tăng lên đáng kể trong xuất khẩu bao gồm
máy tính, các sản phẩm linh kiện điện tử, đạt 19.4%; các loại rau quả, đạt 17.9%; các
loại hàng dệt may, đạt 48.6%". The thing that students added "các" before these nouns
may cause lack of comprehension and lack of unnaturalness of the sentence. In case of
"imports" or "exports" remains in plural form, that means "giá trị nhập khẩu" or "giá
trị xuất khẩu"
Tense
In English, tense is very important to understand and used. English has very strict
rules when using tenses. However, in Vietnamese, it is more flexible. For that reason,
the students do not encounter difficulties when translating the sentences which are
related to tenses. It can be seen in these examples.
"Indonesia has imported some 895,000 tons of rice including 441,000 tons from
Vietnam". The verb was used in present perfect, and it is still translated as "đã nhập
khẩu", the same as in past simple tense.

However, in some cases, the students still made mistakes like in this sentence.
"India was Vietnam’s largest seafood exporter, accounting for 25.7% of the nation’s

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total seafood imports". In some tests, this sentence was translated " Ấn Độ từng là
nước xuất khẩu thủy hải sản lớn nhất của Việt Nam, chiếm 25.7% trong tổng giá trị
nhập khẩu thủy hải sản của cả nước". In this case, it is reasonable to translate as " Ấn
Độ là nước xuất khẩu..." following the context mentioned in the text.
Verb
Overall, students do not face much problems with verbs.
In English, verb has varying forms such as "to infinitive", "bare infinitive",
"gerund", "irregular verbs". In Vietnamese, verb do not have many forms, adverbs "đã,
sẽ, đang" is added before verbs to indicate the time actions happen. Except from the
case of "to verb" may indicate the aim of actions. Noticeably, phrasal verb is very
popular in English and Vietnamese learner have to learn it by heart as well as its
meaning.
Passive Voice
In English written style, passive voice is used frequently. However, Vietnamese
written style is reverse. Vietnamese prefer using active voice in their texts. Therefore,
when translating from English into Vietnamese, the translators should be more flexible
in using appropriate words so that the sentence is logical and natural. The following
examples will illustrate this note.
"Customs data was quoted by the news website VnEconomy as indicating that
the total value of imports and exports had reached a record high of US$40.8 billion in
May". A translated version showed "dữ liệu hải quan được đăng tải bởi trang web
Vnevonomy cho thấy..." made the sentence longer and unnatural, so it should be
translated " dữ liệu hải quan đăng trên web báo Vneconomy cho thấy..."
Another example is "imports were recorded at US$173.52 billion". The students

may translate " giá trị nhập khẩu ghi nhận đạt 173,52 tỉ đô la" instead of "giá trị nhập
khẩu được ghi nhận đạt 173,52 tỉ đô la".
Preposition
Errors that students made when translating preposition occupied the lowest
proportion. This mean almost of the students understand different meaning of
preposition at different context. Specifically, students should pay attention to the

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preposition used before numbers, statistics. For instance, the phrase " down by
VND3.7 trillion" means "a rate of VND3.7 trillion reduced"
3.2.1.2. Lexical problem
The percentage calculus of each lexical error type is based on its frequency and
percentage of all lexical error types in the translation test which are counted by the
researcher. These lexical errors are idiom, technical term, multi-meaning words. These
errors will be described in the following chart.
Chart 3.3 Distribution of lexical errors

Chart 3.3 describes the distribution and percentage of lexical errors which are
made by the students’ translation test. Among all of the lexical errors, the number of
the errors that were made by the students in understanding and translating technical
terms accounted for 87.8%, the lower proportion is about multi-meaning words and
occupied 70%.
Multi-meaning word
According to the study, this type of error accounted for 22%. It would be clearer
to see the following example.
Duty: in export-import, it is similar to tax or taiff.
Trader: trung gian thương mại
Operations staff: nhân viên hiện trường

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Technical terms
Technical terms are important to understand an specialized text. In Export-Import
field, there is a variety of technical term to learn about export-import in general,
international payment methods, shipment, transportation, customs, kinds of exportingimporting commodities, exportr-import document.
Bill of lading: vận đơn
Voyage: tàu chuyến
Liner: tàu chợ
L/C: thư tín dụng
3.2.1.3. Background knowledge
Having a good understanding of different fields is one of the most important
factor to become a good translator. Therefore, in order to have a good translated
version about Export-Import field, the students should well-equipped for themselves
by broaden their knowledge about this field. It is necessary to grasp knowledge about
export-import in general, export-import procedure, transportation, international
payment, customs, sales contracts, transaction, negotiation, export-import documents,
ect. In addition, it is a good idea to learn about some kinds of export-import
commodities. From the results of the translation test, it can be seen that over 80% of
the students makes mistakes for the reason that they do not really understand some of
typical phrases in Export-Import.
The following examples illustrate this error type.
Some students translated the phrase "red, green, yellow channels" as "kênh đỏ,
xanh, vàng". Whereas, it should be translated as "luồng đỏ, xanh, vàng". If the
students do not have a certain knowledge about export-import, they may
misunderstand the meaning of this phrase.
An other example is " The FDI sector still accounted for 71% of the country’s
total export turnover". Some students refer this phrase as "doanh thu từ xuất khẩu", it

seemed to be correct. However, in this case, it should be "kim ngạch xuất khẩu".
3.2.2. Results of the interview
The data obtained from the interview to the teachers and the fourth-year students
of English Faculty covering the two main problems as follows.

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Problem 1: The difficulties the students have faced when translating ExportImport terms also texts of this field from English into Vietnamese
This problem was discussed to find out students’ difficulties based on two sides:
teacher’s perception and students’ perception. According to the study, there are three
main difficulties the students often encounter when translating specialized texts. They
are grammatical problem, lexical problem and background knowledge. Regarding
background knowledge, the teacher stated that most students have not good
understanding of Export-Import. Therefore, it is difficult for many students to
understand the source text as well as translate the text into Vietnamese.
Problem 2: Some suggestions from teachers and students to improve students'
translation skill
To be a good translator, the students first need to broaden their knowledge about
many different fields such as culture, economy, politics, life, ect. An effective method
is reading more and more from English and Vietnamese sources. After that, it is
necessary to sharpen their language skill by learning vocabulary, learning technical
terms, learning about export-import because accuracy in translation is an important
factor. Besides, the students also have to pay attention to some different points of
grammar between English and Vietnamese so that will not cause unnaturalness and
lack of comprehensive of texts.
3.2.3. Results of questionnaire
According to the results of the study, students are aware of the importance of
translation subject accounted for 99.1% and the percentage of students who aware of
the importance of export-import is 90.7%. It can be seen that almost all of the students

of English Faculty pay attention to learning translation and export-import field.

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Chart 3.4 Difficulties in translating export-import text

Chart 3.4 illustrates that the most students face difficulties in understanding
concepts and vocabulary related to export-import and choosing adequate words in
Vietnamese to translate.
Chart 3.5 Factors affecting students when translating Export – Import terms

Chart 3.5 shows that the decisive factor to have a good translated version in
Export-Import is the students' background knowledge. Therefore, it is important for
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students to learn Export-Import knowledge. Besides, they should pay attention to learn
vocabulary especially export-import technical terms to understand and translate the text.
Chart 3.6 The ways students improve their translating

According to the results, it can be seen that almost all the students aware of the
ways that help them to improve their skill. Four main ways the students choose as a
learning methods are learning vocabulary, reading English and Vietnamese
newspapers, enriching their background knowledge as well as practicing translating
because they believe that "practice makes perfect". According to the students, grammar
important factor. However, in translating technical terms, they do not pay too much
attention to learning grammar.

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CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS
From the analysis of the study results, there are some recommendation and
solutions to improve the competence as well as skills of students in learning translation
subject especially translating technical terms.
4.1. Recommendation and suggestions for teachers
Teacher plays an important role in directing students as well as helping them to
gain knowledge and improve their skill in university. Translation subject is a necessary
subject of English Department, teachers should have more new teaching methods to
help the students improve English skill in general and translation skill in particular so
that they will become excellent translators in the near future.
According to the results of the study, students have to face difficulties which are
mainly related to vocabulary, grammar and background knowledge.
Regarding to grammar, due to the difference of grammatical rules between
English and Vietnamese, students frequently make errors on tenses, nouns, verbs,
passive voice, ect. Because the amount of knowledge is too large to cover, there is too
little time spent for grammar. Hence, in every lesson, teacher should link knowledge
with some grammatical problems so that the students can deeply understand the
knowledge and consolidate their grammar as well.
In term of vocabulary, students should be guided about the context of word, it
means that each word may has more than one meaning, this phenomenon can be called
multi-meaning of word. When translating, the students need to choose appropriate
meaning depending on the context. In addition, it is necessary for the teachers pay
more attention to analyze technical terms for the students to understand. This not only
assists the students to make a good translation but also to broaden their knowledge
about different fields in life.
What’s more, background knowledge is considered a weakness of students. There
is a variety of reason for this. It may be due to teaching method, time of lessons,
knowledge of teachers also may be due to the students themselves. According to

learning program, English Faculty’s students have opportunity to learn British culture,
American culture, English - American literature. This helps the students have a good

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understanding of culture, however, they also broaden their knowledge about other
fields such as economy, politics, information technology, science, ect. Therefore, the
teachers should be good at passing knowledge and experience on to their students,
teaching them how to choose appropriate words in Vietnamese to translate an English
text especially a specialized text with many technical terms. Similar to export –
import, in modern life, a student need to equip for themselves export – import related
knowledge to become a global citizen. In international transactions, the students have
to use export - import knowledge in English. Hence, the teachers should spend more
time in each lesson for economy in general and export – import in particular. Besides,
more instructions should be made to assist the students in translation process.
4.2. Recommendation and suggestions for the students
On the side of the students, they themselves are the most important factor
determining if they could be better in translation subject or not. The students had better
be aware of the importance of translation and Export – Import field. Students should
absolutely avoid passive habits, rely on instructors, do not brainstorm or have the habit
of looking for translated articles. They should take advantage of opportunities to
practice translation both in classroom and at home. At class, they need to be more
active and give their opinions. If they make mistake, the teacher will correct and
analyze for them to deeply understand the problem. The process helps the students
make good progress in study. Vietnamese students do not have much opportunity to
approach Western culture and have limitations on background knowledge. Thus,
students should read more and more to broaden social knowledge to absorb the
translation skill as well as understand technical terms.
4.2.1. Recommendation and suggestions on improving grammar

In order to enhance English grammar, the students should find out some
reference books which contains not only the knowledge of grammar but also exercises
to practice. Hard-working is an extremely important factor, the students have good
results only when they practice regularly. There is a variety of grammar books which
are suitable for students. They can find for themselves some books which are
appropriate with their English level to easily learn.

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4.2.2. Recommendation and suggestions on improving vocabulary
The results of the study illustrate that majority of students face difficulties in
term of vocabulary when translating technical terms. Reading is an effective way to
help students enlarge vocabularies. In additions, they can see a lot of words being used
in certain context. It is also important to find suitable methods to learn new words.
4.2.3. Recommendation and suggestions on improving background knowledge
As it can be seen from the study, the students frequently have problem related to
background knowledge. Lack of background knowledge causes misunderstanding of
text, especially with specialized text. In order to translate Export – Import technical
terms well

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