A study on English-Vietnamese translation of the primary education texts in the primary education for disadvantaged children project in Vietnam

1

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

BÙI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

A STUDY ON ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE PRIMARY
EDUCATION TEXTS IN THE PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED
CHILDREN PROJECT IN VIETNAM
CÁCH DỊCH ANH-VIỆT VĂN BẢN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CỦA
DỰ ÁN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CHO TRẺ EM CÓ HOÀN CẢNH
KHÓ KHĂN Ở VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 602215

Hanoi - 2010


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VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************

BÙI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

A STUDY ON ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE PRIMARY
EDUCATION TEXTS IN THE PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED
CHILDREN PROJECT IN VIETNAM
CÁCH DỊCH ANH-VIỆT VĂN BẢN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CỦA
DỰ ÁN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CHO TRẺ EM CÓ HOÀN CẢNH
KHÓ KHĂN Ở VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 602215

SUPERVISOR: Dr. LE HUNG TIEN

Hanoi - 2010


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ii

ABSTRACT

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

iv

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study

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2. Aims of the study

2

3. Scope of the study

3

4. Methods of the study

3

5. Significance of the study

3

6. Design of the study

4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

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I.1 Terminology

5

I.1.1 Definition

5

I.1.2 Distinction between terms and words

6

I.2 Translation theory

8

I.2.1 Definition of translation

8

I.2.2. Translation equivalence

9

I.2.3. Translation strategies and translation procedures

10

I.2.4. Technical translation

12

I.3 Translation of terminology

13

I.3.1 Role of terminology in technical translation

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I.3.2 Translation of neologisms

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CHAPTER II: TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE PEDC PROJECT
II.1 Background knowledge of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged

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Children (PEDC) Project
II.2 Typical features of terminology

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II.3 Classification of technical terms of the PEDC Project according to their

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structural features


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II.3.1 Single terms and neologisms

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II.3.2 Compound terms

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CHAPTER III: THE TRANSLATION OF TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE
PEDC PROJECT
III.1 The present context of translating the technical terms used in the

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materials of the PEDC Project
III.1.1 The translators

28

III.1.2 The readers

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III.1.3 Some problems facing the translators and readers

30

III.2 The common strategies and procedures used in the translation of

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technical terms of the PEDC Project
III.2.1 Translation of terms which are names of intervention initiatives of the

31

PEDC Project
III.2.2 Translation of the simple terms by transference procedure

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III.2.3 Translation of the compound terms by transposition procedure

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PART C: CONCLUSION
1. The groups of terms and translation strategies and procedures used to

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translate them
2. Suggestion for the strategies and procedures

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3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Like other countries in the world, the education sector in general and the primary education cycle
in Vietnam play an important role in the society. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
has implemented many education projects at all education levels. These education projects are
conducted by the cooperation and financing of the GOV and donors from many foreign countries
such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Canada… Foreign languages,
especially English are used widely; therefore, translation of English materials into Vietnamese
plays an important role to those projects. Thanks to good translation, all the national and
international members of project teams can well understand and effectively cooperate with each
other. However, the translators often face many troubles with technical terms and language
structure, particularly in finding suitable equivalence in translating English technical terms used in
the project materials into Vietnamese.
The Government of Vietnam (GOV) has made a commitment to universal, high quality basic
education for all in its education laws, poverty alleviation programs, and 2005-2010 strategies. It
has also committed internationally to achieving Education For All (EFA), the Millennium
Development Goals and the Convention of the Rights of the Child. This is one part of the
rationale of the GOV to run projects and try to reach many of the un-reached students who do not
go to school. Over the last ten years Vietnam has successfully met its initial Universal Primary
Education (UPE) goals. However, the country still has an unfinished primary education agenda in

the provision of access to education for un-reached children and the improvement of education
quality in the overall system. This unfinished agenda involves ensuring that all children have the
opportunity to attend a school that meets minimum standards in terms of space, curriculum,
materials and personnel qualifications.
One of the education projects implemented by MOET is the Primary Education for Disadvantaged
Children (PEDC) Project in Hanoi, Vietnam with financing from (i) the International
Development Association (IDA), (ii) bilateral grants from various foreign donors including
Australian

Agency

for

International

Development

(AusAID),

Canadian

International

Development Agency (CIDA), British Department for International Development (DFID),
Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation (NORAD) and (iii) the Government of
Vietnam.
The translation of the technical terms in the material of the PEDC Project is controversial. There
are strong arguments among translators about how to deal with the specialist vocabulary or the
technical terms: explaining in other words or translating into Vietnamese. Experience shows that

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explaining a new technical term in a longer group of words to a large class of non-English majors
is almost impossible for the involvement of more complicated words in the explaining groups of
words. Translating the terms into Vietnamese is more time-saving and comprehensible; however,
translating terms of a specialized field is not a pleasant and easy task for the translators. In their
efforts to translate the terms, they may fail to give proper equivalents due to their lack of
knowledge, cultural context and exposure in the field. As a result, different translators may have
various translations for the same term and in no way can they agree on one “unified and
standardized” equivalent.
In the hope of finding a proper solution to the problem of translation of the terms in the materials
of the PEDC Project, and in the hope for some suggestions that can be of some use to those who
are responsible for translating the technical terms of the PEDC Project; the author would like to
carry out the study to answer the questions: what are some of the more problematic technical
terms, what are the common strategies and procedures used in the translation of the technical
terms of the PEDC Project in Vietnam?
2. Aims of the study:
(i) To collect the English technical terms in the materials of the PEDC Project and to study their
main features in terms of characteristics and structural patterns and work out the similarities as
well as the differences between English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents
(ii) To suggest the strategies and procedures that may apply to the translation of technical terms of
the PEDC Project and to suggest some implications for translating technical terms of the PEDC
Project.
3. Scope of the study
The study is confined to the investigation into English – Vietnamese translation of technical terms
of the PEDC Project. The major aspects to be considered are their classification, structural
patterns and their translation.
4. Methods of the study
To accomplish this study, firstly, we will go through a number of materials on translation and
terminology to build up a theoretical background for the research.

Then as stated in the aims and scope of the study, the writing is based on the review of many
types of materials of the PEDC Project in order to collect and group the English terms and their
Vietnamese equivalents for description, analysis, comparison and induction. From typical
examples of English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents; we can find the similarities and
differences and draw out the strategies and procedures used in the translation of technical terms of
the PEDC Project. The main method is contrastive analysis.


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We also conduct discussions and interviews with colleagues (translators of the PEDC Project),
specialist translators and readers (National consultants and Vietnamese stakeholders of the PEDC
Project) to find out the tendency for better and more preferable strategies and procedures.
Data collection: The technical terms to be studied will be taken from a number of materials of the
PEDC Project such as training materials, manuals, monitoring and evaluation reports. However,
within the scope of the study, only typical terms with high frequency of occurrence are selected
5. Significance of the study
This study can, hopefully, offer some references that can be useful to those who are responsible
for translating the technical terms of the PEDC Project and other projects and help them to get
more knowledge about translation methodology in general and about terminology translation in
particular. On that basis, they can find out the most suitable strategy and procedure to translate
technical terms, which may help them to improve the quality of their work. This study also helps
the author to extend the existing knowledge on this section, and successfully fulfill her task as a
translator and cope with difficulties in daily work. Moreover, the author also provides suggestions
for the further studies on English – Vietnamese translation of the PEDC Project. However, this
study is conducted within the PEDC Project in Hanoi, Vietnam using only some kinds of
materials with technical terms of this project. If the research can be applied to other primary
education projects in Vietnam utilizing other kinds of primary education materials, such as written
or spoken materials from meetings including speech and conversation, it may be possible to get a
more comprehensive view of this field and the overall answer to the problem stated in the study.
6. Design of the study:

This study consists of the three parts with the three main parts, a bibliography, and a number of
appendixes
Part A: Introduction
The introduction gives rationale for the study; it also outlines the aims, scope and methods of the
study.
Part B: Development
The development consists of three chapters
Chapter I: Theoretical background
This chapter provides the theory of terminology and translation
Chapter II: The technical terms of the PEDC Project
This chapter discusses the typical features of the technical terms of the PEDC Project and their
structural patterns.
Chapter III: The translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project


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This chapter studies the present context of the translation of the technical terms of the PEDC
Project; strategies and procedures applied in their translation
Part C: Conclusion
The conclusion summarizes the strategies and procedures as well as comments on them
The appendixes give examples of different groups of terms.


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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
As the study focuses on the translation of technical terms of the PEDC Project, the theoretical
background of this study would be a review of issues relevant to the thesis topics: terminology,
characteristics of terminology, translation, technical translation, translation procedures and the

translation of terminology.
I.1 Terminology
I.1.1 Definition
Definition of terminology has been proposed up by many linguists to establish its structure and
meaning. “Dictionary of Linguistics Terminology” (1997) mentions fifteen (15) definitions of
terminology. One of those definitions is given by Russian authors in “Russia Encyclopedia”
(1976: 473 - 474): “Terminology is a word or a combination of words that denotes the concept in
a specific area. Terminology is a specialized and restricted expression on things, phenomena,
characteristics and the relationship in specific profession”.
Many Vietnamese linguists such as Do Huu Chau, Nguyen Thien Giap…also provided definitions
of terminology. Do Huu Chau (1998) claims “Terms are specialist words used within a scientific
field, a profession or any technological field”. To identify a technical term, he (1981) states
“Scientific and technical terminology consists of lexical units used to denote phenomenal objects,
activities…in industrial technologies and natural or social sciences”.
Nguyen Thien Giap (1981) defines it as “a section of special lexis of a language. It consists of
fixed words or groups of words which are accurate names of concepts and subjects belonging to
different specialized fields of human beings”.
Those definitions, from different times and by different people, all indicate that there exist
“special words in specialized fields or branches of human knowledge”. There are, therefore, terms
used in Mathematics, physics, commerce, medicine, economics, linguistics…which should be
distinguished from ordinary words.
I.1.2 Distinction between terms and words
Baker (1998) suggests “Terms differ from words in that they are endowed with a special form of
reference, namely that they refer to discrete conceptual entities, properties, activities or relations
which constitute the knowledge space of a particular subject field”.
Further important differences between terms and words are as follows:
(i) Terms have special reference within a particular discipline whereas words function in general
reference over a variety of subject fields.

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(ii) Terms keep their lives and meanings only for as long as they serve the system of knowledge
that gave rise to them
In other words, terms together with words and proper names constitute the general class of lexical
items. Names refer individually to object and people; words refer arbitrarily to general concepts
while terms refer deliberately to specific concepts. However, the boundary between terms and
words is not a clear cut i.e. many terms become ordinary words when they are closed to daily life
and used with high frequency, and many words become terms when they are used in specialized
field.
I.1.3 Characteristics of terminology
Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1985), Luu Van Lang (1998)
share the idea that terminology possesses three important characteristics: accurate, systematic and
international
I.1.3.1 Accurate
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. Once a word has
become a term, it no longer has connotational, emotional meaning; it also loses its
polysemousness, synonymousness, and autonymousness. In short, terminology necessarily works
on the principle that “one concept has only one term for it, and one term indicates only one
concept”. This relationship is called the one-to-one equivalence between a concept and a term.
I.1.3.2 Systematic
Any field of sciences has its own limited system of concepts, which are 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. In short, a
term has to be a dependent member of its system.
I.1.3.3 International
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,
video, radio, hydrogen, telephone…are found in French, German, English and Vietnamese…with
little difference in form


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To conclude, the above mentioned contents are essential characteristics of terminology in general.
However, according to Lang (1998) terminology in Vietnamese needs to have two more
characteristics: national and popular.
I.1.3.4 Popular
Terminology needs to be popular or close to the language of masses. Sciences are to serve the
masses, to make the masses involve in scientific fields and at the same time 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.
I.1.3.5 National
Although terms are special words used in specialized fields, they are undoubtedly part of the
national language. They, therefore, possess the colors, the characteristics of the national language.
In other words, they should be made from the materials of the national language in terms of
lexicology, form and grammar.
In conclusion, terminology in general and technological terminology in particular needs to possess
five characteristics: accurate, systematic, international, national and popular. These characteristics
are key elements or principles in the creation and standardization of terminology.
I.2 Translation theory
I.2.1 Definition of translation
It is undeniable that translation plays an important role in our life. According to Kelly (1968),
without translation, there is no history of the world. Up to now, there have been so many
definitions of translation. Here are some examples.
Barkhudarov (1975) defines translation as “the transformation of a speech product in one
language into that of other language, keeping the content (or meaning) unchanged”.

In his own words, Catford (1965) says that translation “is the replacement of textual material in
one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in other language (target
language)”.
Meanwhile, Hartman and Stock (1972) defines translation as “the replacement of a representation
of a text in one language by a representation of another equivalent in a second language”.
Translation, in Wilss‟s word (1982), “is the procedure which leads from a written source language
text to an optimally equivalent target language text, and which requires the syntactic, semantic,
stylistic and text pragmatic comprehension by the translator of the original text”.
The most specific definition is one by Larson (1984):“Translation is the work of transferring the
meaning of a text or part of a speech from one language into another. Translation consists of


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studying in the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation and cultural context of
the source language text, analyzing it in order to determine its meaning and then reconstructing
this same meaning, using the lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the
receptor language and its cultural context”.
Still there is another way of classifying translation types, i.e. from Larson‟s viewpoint. As a given
text has both form and meaning, there are, according to Larson (1984), two main kinds of
translation, i.e. literal translation and idiomatic translation. The former, which attempts to follow
the form of the source language, is form-based, while the latter is meaning-based, which make
every effort to communicate the meaning of the source language text in the natural forms of the
target language.
To sum up, different linguists define translation from different points of view, they; however,
share the same notion of translation, i.e. when translating a text, its message (i.e. meaning) must
be fully conveyed. Moreover, the translated text must also be accepted in the target language in
terms of form, structure and culture.
I.2.2 Translation equivalence
Equivalence can be considered a central concept in translation theory; many theorists define
translation in terms of equivalence relation. Pym (1992) has even pointed to its circularity:

equivalence is supposed to define translation, and translation, in turn, defines equivalence. Here
are some elaborate approaches to translation equivalence:
Nida (1964) distinguishes formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence as basic orientations
rather than as a binary choice: (i) Formal equivalence is achieved when the source language (SL)
and target language (TL) words have the closest possible match of form and content; (ii) Dynamic
equivalence is achieved when the SL and TL words have the same effect on their effective readers.
Newmark (1988a) terms Nida‟s dynamic equivalence as “equivalence effect” or “equivalence
response” principle: “the overriding purpose of any translation should be to achieve “equivalence
effect””, i.e. to produce the same effect (or ones as close as possible) on the readership of the
translation as was obtained on the readership of the original” (Newmark 1988a). He also sees
equivalence effect as the desirable result rather than the aim of any translation except for two
cases: (i) if the purpose of the SL text is to affect and the TL translation is to inform or vice versa;
(ii) if there is a pronounced cultural gap between the SL and TL text.
Koller (1979) considers five type of equivalence: (i)Denotative equivalence: the SL and TL words
refer to the same thing in the real world; (ii) Connotative equivalence: this type of equivalence
provides additional values beside denotative value and is achieved by the translator‟s choice of
synonymous words or expressions; (iii) Text – normative equivalence: the SL and TL words are


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used in the same or similar context in their respective languages; (iv) Pragmatic equivalence: with
readership orientation, the SL and TL words have the same effect on their respective readers; (v)
Formal equivalence: this type of equivalence produces an analogy of form in the translation by
either exploiting formal possibilities of TL, or creating new forms in TL.
I.2.3. Translation strategies and translation procedures
Just as it was mentioned in the aims of the study, the main purpose of the study is to find out the
strategies and procedures used in the translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project. In
this part, we will review some theoretical background on these factors. Newmark (1988b) points
out the difference between translation methods and translation procedures. He writes that, "While
translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the

smaller units of language" (p.81).
I.2.3.1 Literal translation
Newmark (1981b) approaches literal translation by distinguishing it from word-for-word and oneto-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 sentence. 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. 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; sentence to sentence.
I.2.3.2 Transference
As Newmark (1981b) puts it “Transference is the process of transferring a SL word to a TL text as
a translation procedure. It is the same as Catford‟s transference, and includes transliteration,
which relates to the conversion of different alphabets. The word then becomes a „loan word‟”.
Normally the translator has to decide whether or not to transfer a word unfamiliar in TL, which in
principle should be a SL cultural word. The names of SL objects, interventions, devices, processes
that are imported into the TL culture should be, in principle, creatively, preferably translated, if
they are neologisms, although brand names have to be transferred. However, in the media, the
experts are more likely to transfer words whether the translators like it or not.
Words and expressions that are normally transferred are: names of all living and most dead
people; geographical and topographical names including newly independent countries except for
those which already have recognized translations; names of periodicals and newspapers, titles of
un-translated literary works, plays, films, names of private companies and institutions, public or
nationalized institutions, street names, addresses…


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Cultural words in regional novels and essays are often transferred to give local color, to attract
their reader, to give a sense of intimacy between the text and the reader. In non-literary texts, the
same words should be translated if they are likely to remain in the TL culture.
Semi-cultural words, in principle, should first be translated, and if necessary the transferred word
and the functional equivalence can be added in brackets until the translator is confident that

his/her readership recognizes and understands the word.
According to Baker (1992), translation by the use of loan words is used not only because the
concepts are unknown or not lexicalized in the TL culture. Sometimes loan words are used not
because they have no equivalence in TL but because they sound more modern, smarter and high
class. The loan word can be followed by an explanation and then can be used on its own when
repeated several times in the text. However, there are arguments for and against transference: the
argument in favor of transference is that it shows respect for the SL country‟s culture; the
argument against is that it is the translator‟s job to translate, to explain.
I.2.3.3 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 1981b).
There are four main types of shifts:
(i) One type which is automatic and offers the translator no choice involves the change from
singular plural, or the change in the position of the adjective.
(ii) A second type of shift is required when a SL grammatical structure does not exist in the TL. In
such cases, there are always options for the translator to choose. An obvious example of the
common grammatical structure in English that does not exist in many other languages is the
English gerund. In translation, the English gerund offers many choices: it can be translated by a
verb-noun, or by a subordinate clause.
(iii) The third type of shift is the one where literal translation is grammatically possible but may
not accord with the natural usage in the TL. In this type of shift the translators often give their
preferred translations which may be suitable in certain context or may merely be a matter of taste.
(iv) The fourth type of transposition is the replacement of a virtual lexical gap by a grammatical
structure.
There are other transpositions which appear to go beyond linguistic differences and can be
regarded as general options available for stylistic consideration.
To conclude, transposition is the only procedure which is concerned with grammar, and which is
made intuitively.
I.2.3.4 Cultural equivalent

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This procedure is an approximate translation where the translator translates a SL cultural word by
a TL cultural word. The translation uses of these approximate equivalents are limited because they
are not accurate, but 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. A great advantage of
approximate cultural equivalents is that they have a greater pragmatic cultural equivalents is that
they have a greater pragmatic impact than culturally neutral terms; they are important in drama as
they can create an immediate effect. However, the main purpose of this procedure is to support or
supplement another translation procedure in a couplet.
I.2.4. Technical translation
I.2.4.1 Definition of technical translation
Newmark (1981) differently distinguishes technical translation from institutional translation
“Technical translation is one part of specialized translation; institutional translation, the area of
politics, commerce, finance, government etc, is the other.” He goes on to suggest that technical
translation is potentially non-cultural and universal because the benefits of technology are not
confined to one speech community. The terms in technical translation, therefore, should be
translated. On the contrary, institutional translation is cultural, so, in principle, the terms are
transferred unless they are concerned with international organization.
Sofer (1991) approaches technical translation by distinguishes it from literary translation “The
main division in the translation field is between literary and technical translation”. According to
him, literal translation covers such areas as fiction, poetry, drama and humanities in general and is
done by writers of the same kind in the target language, or at least by translators with the required
literary aptitude. Meanwhile, technical translation is done by a much greater number of
practitioners and is an ever-growing and expanding field with excellent opportunities.
To define it he writes “One way of defining technical translation is by asking the question, does
the subject being translated require a specialized vocabulary, or is the language non-specialized?
If the text being translated includes specialized terms in a given field, then the translation is
technical.”
The two authors, although having different approaches to technical translation, they both view it

as specialized translation with its essential element – “specialized terms”.
I.3 Translation of terminology
I.3.1 Role of terminology in technical translation
Newmark (1981) claims “Technical translation is primarily distinguished from other forms of
translation by terminology although terminology usually only makes up about 5%-10%.” This
distinguishing feature may arise from the fact that other characteristics, grammatical feature, such


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as passives, nominalizations, third persons, empty verbs, present tenses merge with other varieties
of language. However, terminology, especially new terminology is considered the central
difficulty in technical translation. There are some reasons for this challenge: (i) The first reason is
that there are some technical neologisms in the SL which are relatively context-free and appear
only once. These neologisms are sometimes not context-bound; therefore; the translator is
unlikely to understand them by gradually eliminating the less likely versions; (ii) 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 reference and its name, there are, in fact,
many concepts-words which are notorious for their different meanings in various technologies.
I.3.2 Translation of neologisms
As Newmark (1981b) puts it “Neologisms which can be defined as newly coined lexical units or
existing lexical units that acquire new sense are perhaps the non-literary and professional
translator‟s biggest problems.” The main reason that leads to the arrival of neologisms is that new
objects and processes are continually created in technology, new ideas and variations on feelings
come to the media and new terms from the social sciences, slang, dialect and transferred words
come into the main stream of language. Newmark (1981b) also proposes twelve types of
neologisms, including old words with new senses, new coinages, derived words, abbreviations,
collocations, eponyms (persons, objects, geographical names), acronyms, phrasal words
transferred words and pseudo-neologisms and he also discusses the translation of particular
instances.

I.3.2.1. Old words with new senses
These words are normally non-cultural and non-technical as they do not usually refer to new
objects or processes, and therefore are rarely technological; they are usually translated either by a
word that already exists in the TL, or by a brief functional or descriptive term.
Existing collocations with new senses are a translator‟s trap. This occurs when “normal”
descriptive terms suddenly become technical terms and their meaning sometimes hides innocently
behind a more general or figurative meaning. These existing collocations can be cultural or noncultural; if the referent (concepts or objects) exist in the TL, there is usually recognized translation
or through-translation. If the concept does not exist or the TL readers are not yet aware of it, an
economical descriptive equivalent has to be given.
I.3.2.2. Derived words
Newmark (1981b) states “The great majority of neologisms are words derived by analogy from
ancient Greek and Latin morphemes usually with suffixes such as – ismo, - ismus, etc. naturalized


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in the appropriate language”. The word-forming procedure is applied mainly to designate
scientific and technological rather than cultural institutional terms, the advance of these
internationalisms is widespread, and these words normally have naturalized suffixes.
As a professional translator, we should bear in mind that there are distinctions between terms with
or without those suffixes to transfer its subtlety nuances of meaning.
I.3.2.3. Acronyms
Newmark (1981b) defines an acronym as “the initial letters of words that form a group of words
used (vertiginously)” for denoting an object, institution or procedure as WAC from Women's Army
Corps, OPEC from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries… Sometimes, the acronym
can be specially coined for the text and can be found there, so there is no need wasting time
looking for it in the numerous reference books. Besides, there are many cultural reasons why the
acronym may or may not be worth transferring depending on the standard contextual factors as
readership, translation prospects…
Acronyms are considered to be an increasingly common feature if all non-literary texts. In
translation, depending on their degree of importance, the acronyms can be translated by a standard

equivalent term or a descriptive term if the standard does not yet exist. Acronyms which stand for
institutions and names of companies are usually transferred. When a political or social
organization becomes important, it is common to transfer its acronym and translate its name.
I.3.2.4. Abbreviations
Abbreviations are considered to be common type of pseudo-neologisms, probably more common
in some French than in English. An abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or
phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, U.S. for United States…If the abbreviation
does not coincide in two languages, they are written out in the TL.
I.3.2.5 Collocations
New collocations (noun compounds or adjective plus nouns) are particularly common in the social
sciences and in computer languages. These terms represent their varying problems as some of
them do not exist in the TL, therefore, we have to transfer them and then add a functional –
descriptive term; otherwise we might create our own neologisms.
To sum up, as a translator, we have to account for every SL word, thus be able to guess the word‟s
meaning, the linguistic and situation context, the composition of the word in order to decide what
type of neologisms it belongs to and what translation procedure is appropriate: transference,
transposition, TL derived word, functional, or descriptive term…We should not transfer SL
neologisms in the primary education texts of the PEDC Project, which are evidently recent or
devised for the particular SL text; we should be in respect of neologisms.


21

CHAPTER II: TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE PEDC PROJECT
In the Chapter I we have discussed the main features of terminology in general. In this chapter, we
would like to give a very brief background of the PEDC project and more importantly, a brief
introduction about the technical terms which are selected from materials used in the primary
education field in the PEDC Project.
II.1 Background knowledge of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children (PEDC)
Project

In this part, we only briefly provide general information about the PEDC Project; specific
contents such as purposes, strategy, approach, description, Institutional Strengthening Teams
(ISTs), structure, institutional and implementation arrangements will be included in the Appendix
1.

The Government of Vietnam (GOV) has signed up to try to achieve Education for All (EFA) and
also the Millennium Development Goals which include Universalization of Primary Education
(UPE). The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is implementing the Primary Education
for Disadvantaged Children Project (PEDC) with financing from (i) the International
Development Association (IDA), (ii) bilateral grants and (iii) the Government of Vietnam.
Project scope: The project commenced in late 2003 and will run until the end of 2011. PEDC is
being implemented in the 222 most disadvantaged districts in 40 of Vietnam‟s 64 provinces. The
districts were chosen on the basis of an extensive survey which ranked districts on a number of
key poverty criteria.
Project overall objective: The objective of this project is to improve access to primary school and
the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. Disadvantaged children are broadly
defined as school-aged children who are not enrolled or are at risk of not completing their primary
education; children who attend schools that do not meet fundamental quality standards; and
children with disabilities or children from other highly vulnerable groups, such as street children,
migrant children or girls from certain ethnic minority areas.
Project Description: The project consists of four components, including (i) Component 1:
Reaching Fundamental School Quality Level (FSQL), (ii) Component 2: Educational initiatives


22
for groups of highly vulnerable children, (iii) Component 3: National and provincial institutional
and technical support for implementation of FSQL, (iv) Component 4: Project Management.
II.2 Typical features of terminology
The technical terms of the PEDC Project possess typical features of terminology
II.2.1 Accurate

Technical terms of the PEDC Project are emotionally neutral with denotative meaning and most
of them have one-to-one relationship with the concept they refer to.
Examples:
“Primary curriculum” (chương trình tiểu học) refers to only one concept that denotes the
aggregate of courses of study given in a primary school
Similarly, there are many other examples of single meaning terms such as primary teacher (giáo
viên tiểu học), primary student (học sinh tiểu học), primary education (giáo dục tiểu học)… that
respectively refer to a single concept.
II.2.2 Systematic
A term takes on a different meaning in the field of primary education. This meaning is decided by
its relations with other terms in the same system or by its position in the system.
Example:
The term “preschool” means “trước tuổi đến trường” when it is combined with the word
“children” in the sentence “The School Readiness program for preschool children has been
conducted by the PEDC Project for the last three years” (Dự án PEDC đã thực hiện chương trình
Chuẩn bị đến trường cho trẻ em trước tuổi đến trường trong 3 năm qua). But when this term is
related to the word “class”, it has different meaning: “preschool class” (lớp mẫu giáo).
II.2.3 International
Some terms of the PEDC Project are used internationally. Though they may appear in similar or
different forms in different languages, they refer to the same concepts that exist in different
cultures.
English

Vietnamese

French

German

module

mô đun

module

modul

satellite

điểm trường lẻ

satellite

satellit

curricular

chương trình học

curriculaires

curriculare

II.2.4. National
Technical terms of the PEDC Project are made up from the material of the language that contains
them. For example, to denote the age or period when a child normally attends school, English


23
language uses the term “school-age” whereas Vietnamese uses “tuổi đi học” with its own way of

word formation, spelling, pronouncing and writing.
II.2.5. Popular
Many terms of the PEDC Project have become so popular that they are no longer regarded as
technical terms but have become ordinary words used in daily life of the user.
Primary students

HS tiểu học

Teaching skills

Kỹ năng dạy học

School managers

Ban giám hiệu/ cán bộ quản lý trường học

Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

Ban đại diện cha mẹ HS

Teaching aids

Đồ dùng dạy học

Learning skills

Kỹ năng học tập

Learning aids

Đồ dùng học tập

II.3 Classification of technical terms of the PEDC Project according to their structural
features
Terms of the PEDC Project can be classified into two groups according to their structural patterns:
single terms and compound terms.
II.3.1 Single terms and neologisms
Single terms are made up of one word (usually a noun or a verb), and neologisms can be
acronyms, new coinages, abbreviations, collocations.
II.3.1.1 Single terms which appear in the form of a verb
Upgrade

nâng chuẩn

Train

tập huấn

Guide

hướng dẫn

Facilitate

hỗ trợ

Disseminate

tuyên truyền, phổ biến

One important feature of these terms is that they are not “fixed”, i.e they can appear either in the
form of a verb or a noun at different time in the same text or in the same sentence to avoid
repetition. Almost all the verbs have their nouns to be used as alternatives.
Verbs

Nouns

Upgrade

Upgrading (sự nâng chuẩn)

Train

Training (việc tập huấn)


24
Guide

Guidance (sự hướng dẫn)

Facilitate

Facilitation (sự hỗ trợ)

Disseminate

Dissemination (sự tuyên truyền, phổ biến)

Another important feature of some of these verbs is that each verb usually goes with (in

collocations) one or two certain nouns. Examples of verbs and nouns that go together are:
Upgrade Teaching Assistant

Nâng chuẩn Nhân viên hỗ trợ giáo viên

Facilitate training

Hỗ trợ tập huấn

Disseminate event

Tuyên truyền, phổ biến sự kiện

Develop professional activities

Phát triển các hoạt động chuyên môn

II.3.1.2 Single terms which appear in the form of a noun
The terms which are nouns (also including the nouns that derive from verbs in 2.3.1.1) can be
divided into subgroups as follows:
Sub-technical terms
Those are words which are not specific to a subject specialty but occur regularly in scientific and
technical texts. These items will be accorded high priority in language program because one
estimate puts the occurrence of sub-technical items in scientific texts almost as high as 80% (Iman
1978) in Kenedy and Bolitho (1991).
Some terms of the PEDC Project are ordinary words that lose their “normal” sense and take on the
specialist meaning, e.g the normal sense of “methodology” is a set of methods and principle used
to perform a particular activity while its specialist meaning is “a set of teaching methods”
Other examples:
Upgrading (nâng chuẩn)

Dissemination (tuyên truyền, phổ biến)
Sub-technical vocabulary can prove a problem because words commonly met in General English
take on a specialized meaning within a specific or technical context. The user may already know
the general meaning and may be confused when he/she meets in a context with a totally different
meaning.
Highly technical terms
Every subject has its set of highly technical terms, which are an intrinsic part of the learning of the
discipline itself. To understand these terms, the user may need to understand their theory. For
example, a translator translating materials of the PEDC Project will meet such items as
curriculum (chương trình học), consumables (đồ dùng cho HS), pilot (thí điểm), trial (thử nghiệm),
satellite (điểm trường lẻ), monograde (lớp đơn), multigrade (lớp ghép)…in the course of his/her


25
studies. These highly technical words can be really problematic when the user has relatively little
knowledge both of his/her subject discipline and of English.
II.3.1.3 Neologisms referring to newly created concepts
In technology, new objects or processes are invented and created all the time; therefore, there rises
a need for neologisms to name them (primary term creation). These neologisms are initially used
in the culture where the concepts are invented. Later, the concepts are transferred to other cultures,
and sometimes the original names may be transferred together with the concepts.
School Readiness

Chuẩn bị đến trường

Vietnamese School Readiness

Chuẩn bị tiếng Việt

Campus Support Fund

Quỹ hỗ trợ điểm trường

Vietnamese Language Strengthening

Tăng cường Tiếng Việt

Inclusive Education

Giáo dục hòa nhập

Exemplary Inclusive Education Services

Mô hình dịch vụ giáo dục hòa nhập mẫu

Fundamental School Quality Level

Mức chất lượng tối thiểu

Child Development Record

Dữ liệu trẻ thiệt thòi

Disadvantaged children

Trẻ em có hoàn cảnh khó khăn

II.3.1.4 Acronyms in the technical terms of the PEDC Project
Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of words that make up a term or a proper name.
Some acronyms of the PEDC Project are:

SR (School Readiness)

Chuẩn bị đến trường (CBĐT)

VSR (Vietnamese School Readiness)

Chuẩn bị tiếng Việt (CBTV)

CSF (Campus Support Fund)

Quỹ hỗ trợ điểm trường (QHTĐT)

VLS (Vietnamese Language Strengthening)

Tăng cường tiếng Việt (TCTV)

IE (Inclusive Education)

Giáo dục hòa nhập (GDHN)

EIES

(Exemplary

Inclusive

Education Mô hình giáo dục hòa nhập mẫu

Services)
FSQL (Fundamental School Quality Level)

Mức chất lượng tối thiểu (MCLTT)

II.3.1.5 Abbreviations in the technical terms of the PEDC Project
An abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole.
Some abbreviations of the PEDC Project are:
DFG (District FSQL Grant)

Kinh phí MCLTT cấp huyện

DFDP (District FSQL Development Plan)

Kế hoạch phát triển MCLTT cấp huyện

FII (FSQL Input Index)

Chỉ số đầu vào MCLTT


26
Kiểm kê MCLTT cấp huyện

DFA (District FSQL Audit)
II.3.1.6 Collocations

In the different texts related to primary education of the PEDC Project, there are some terms
involved in the arrangement, esp. of words in a sentence. Some collocations of the PEDC Project
are as the followings:
Monograde class

Lớp đơn

Multigrade class

Lớp ghép

Field trip

Chuyến công tác thực địa

Formative assessment

đánh giá thường xuyên

Summative assessment

đánh giá định kỳ

Inclusive education

giáo dục hòa nhập

II.3.2 Compound terms
These are terms which are composed of two or more than two words; these words, which are of
different part of speech, combine together and create terms that have the form of nominal group
(Halliday‟s term)
The nominal group
Before examining the terms, which appear in the form of nominal groups, we would like to
discuss briefly the experiential structure of the nominal group.
According to Halliday (1985), the nominal group structure contains the Thing (Head noun),

preceded by various items including Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, and Classifier, and followed by
Qualifier:
These

nine

excellent

enthusiastic

Grade 1

teachers

of

the

school
Deictic

Numerative

Epithet

Epithet

Classifier

Thing

Qualifier

Deictic: the deictic element indicates whether or not some specific subset of the thing is intended.
It can be either specific such as this, that, these, those, my, your, his, her, their…or non-specific
like a, an, each, every, all…
Numerative: the numerative element indicates some numerical feature of the subset: either
quantity (one, two, three…) or order (first, second, third…), either exact (one, two, three…) or
inexact (some, few, little…)
Epithet: the epithet, which usually appears in the form of an adjective, indicates some quality of
the subset. This can be an objective property of the thing itself, e.g. old, long, blue, thin…or it
may be an expression of the speaker‟s subjective attitude towards it, e.g. wonderful, excellent,
terrible…


27
Classifier: the classifier indicates a particular sub-class of the thing in question, e.g primary
teachers, ordinary teachers, support teachers, key teachers…Classsifier can be an adjective, e.g
ordinary teachers or a noun, e.g support teacher.
Verbs also enter into the nominal group and function as Epithet or Classifier in one of the two
forms: (i) Present (active) participle, V-ing, e.g teaching, as in teaching aids; (ii) Past (passive, or
intransitive active) participle, e.g modularized, as in modularized training
When these forms function as Epithet, they usually have the sense of the finite tense: the present
participle means “which is (was/will be)…ing”, and the past participle means “Which has
(had/will have)been…ed”
Examples:
A bleeding face (a face which is bleeding)
Modularized training (training which has been modularized)
When these forms function as Classifier, they typically have the sense of a simple present, active
or passive: present (active) “Which…s”, past (passive) “Which is…ed”

Examples:
A stopping train (a train which stops)
Individualized instruction (instruction which is individualized)
Often the participle is itself further modeified and embodies any one of a number of experiential
relations as in a fast-moving train, a school-based manual, child-based teaching…
Sometimes the same word may function either as Epithet or Classifier, with a different in meaning
Examples:
Support = Epithet in support teachers that means “teachers that supports” or support = Classifier
in support teachers that means “teachers classified as a special type of teachers”
Thing: the thing is the semantic core of the nominal group, which may be common noun, proper
noun, or personal noun
Qualifier: the qualifier element follows the Thing and characterizes it. The qualifier can be a
relative clause or a prepositional phrase.
Technical terms of the PEDC Project in the form of the nominal group
II.3.2.1. Terms consisting of classifier (noun) + thing
A term of this group consists of two nouns, the first noun function as Classifier and helps to
distinguish the Thing (the second noun) from other concepts of the same group.
For example, in the list of technical terms of the PEDC Project, there are many types of teachers
(Thing) that can be distinguished from one another by different Classifier that precede them, e.g


28
resource teacher (giáo viên nguồn), support teacher (giáo viên hỗ trợ), class teacher (giáo viên
đứng lớp)…
School maintenance

Bảo dưỡng trường học

School readiness

Chuẩn bị đến trường

Teacher training

Tập huấn Giáo viên

Support teacher

GV hỗ trợ

Language barriers

Rào cản ngôn ngữ

Community participation

Sự tham gia của cộng đồng

II.3.2.2. Terms consisting of classifier/epithet (adjective) + thing
A term of this group consists of an adjective that functions as Classifier and the Head noun
(Thing)
Exemplary services

Dịch vụ mẫu

Inclusive education

Giáo dục hòa nhập

Preschool children

Trẻ em trước tuổi đến trường

Vulnerable children

Trẻ em có nguy cơ thiệt thòi

Flexible promotion

Sự lên lớp linh hoạt

Instructional improvement

Cải thiện dạy và học

The classifier can be further modified by another sub-classifier which takes on the form of a
noun, or an adjective:
Child Development Record

Dữ liệu trẻ thiệt thòi

School Development Plan

Kế hoạch phát triển trường học

Educational Innovation Grant

Quỹ sáng kiến giáo dục

Professional Development training

Tập huấn phát triển chuyên môn

District Equipment Grant

Kinh phí mua sắm cấp huyện

Full day schooling

Học 2 buổi 1 ngày

Inclusive Education Documentation

Văn bản chính sách giáo dục hòa nhập

II.3.2.3. Terms consisting of classifier/epithet (present participle) + thing
In this group, some V-ing function as Classifier, e.g teaching aids = aids which are used in
teaching, training manual = manual which is used in training, some function as Epithet, e.g “A
teaching assistant not only helps Grade 1 ethnic minority students learn well in the class but also
mobilize school-aged students to attend School Readiness class” (Nhân viên hỗ trợ GV không chỉ
hỗ trợ HS dân tộc thiểu số lớp 1 học tốt trong lớp mà còn huy động trẻ em trong độ tuổi đến
trường học lớp Chuẩn bị đến trường). In this example, the teaching assistant means the assistant