Common difficulties in translation from English to Vietnamese encountered by the fourthyear students of English faculty in Thuongmai University

ABSTRACT
Today, in the context of globalization and integration around the world, the role
of translators is increasingly enhanced, especially in economic texts. Ony knowing a
English does not mean you can become a good translator. We must be fluent to use
vocabulary and grammar in both mother language and foreign languages, the
knowledge of diplomacy and the difference between the two cultures. So, we are able
to convey content from the source language to the target language completely.
Realizing the importance of translators, TMU has officially introduced
Translation to the final-year English major students. However, the students all
encounter certain problems related to the English-Vietnamese language and culture.
Seeing their negative impact on these students' academic performance, this small study
was conducted to identify some common diffculties in the process of translating from
English to Vietnamese in the field of economic. The purpose of the research is to find
reasons of these common difficulties and provide a number of methods to help
students learn well in translation, having their own experiences in the future.
Therefore, in the hope of improving students’ ability to translate with the
enthusiastic help of participants, I hope this research will be a neccessary tool for
everyone.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the time of my graduation paper, I really appreciate the great support and
guidance from teachers, parents and friends.
First and foremost, I would like to send my sincere thanks to all the teachers
teachers of the Thuongmai University, especially the teachers in the English faculty
who created the conditions for me to study and develop many skills in a very dynamic
environment.

Next, with the deepest and most sincere affection, allowing me to express my
gratitude to my direct instructor, Mrs. Phan Tu Lan who spend much time on guiding,
editing, and giving necessary advice so that I can complete this graduation paper.
Besides, I would like to thank all final-year students of English faculty at
Thuongmai University. They enthusiastically shared useful documents to each other.
Last but not least, I want to express my gratitude to my family.They took care of
me and motivated me to complete my graduation report more easily.
Finally, during the process of writing graduation paper, I can not avoid mistakes
because I am lacking in knowledge and skill. I am looking forward to receiving your
valuable comments and suggestions for graduation paper.
I wish you good health, happiness, and success in your life.
Ha Noi, Friday, March 6th, 2021
Sincerely thanks!
Student
Tran Thi Mai Lan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
NO
i
ii
iii

Abbreviation
TMU
SL
TL

Meaning
Thuongmai University
Source Language
Target Language

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1 Rationale
English is said to be the first global language and it is the most widely used
language in the world in international trade, diplomacy, mass entertainment,
international telecommunications,.. Nearly 60 countries use English as their primary
language, besides their mother tongue and nearly 100 countries use English as their
second language. There are also over 1,130 million native speakers. However, every
country has its own language and has some differences in habits, cultures, traditions, ..
These countries that do not use English, must know two languages at the same time to
communicate with international friends. English translation is born to help people who
have difficulty learning or acquiring a second language.
Nowaday, business, trade and commerce have become international. It is an
undeniable fact that English is the only common language to communicate with the
present growing commerce and trade between companies from all over the world as
well as Vietnam. Therefore, the translation of economic and commercial documents
from English to Vietnamese plays an important role.
Recognizing the importance of translation, TMU has introduced Translation into
the subject. The teachers teach the students how to translate English into Vietnamese
and how to translate Vietnamese into English. However, most students often find that
they have a lot of difficulties during learning process. In my research, I will investigate
the common difficulties in learing translation encountered by the final-year English
major students at TMU and suggest some solutions to this problem. Therefore, I would
like to conduct the study entitled “Common difficulties in translation from English to
Vietnamese encountered by the fourth-year students of English faculty in
Thuongmai University”. I hope this study will help them find out their difficulties and
provide them some solutions to learn translation more easily.
1.2 Previous studies
Research topics on issues “the difficulties of learners in English translation” have
been studied by many different researchers around the world in general and in Vietnam
in particular.

1.2.1 In the world
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Through surveying the research on translation issues, I see that there have been
many documents on this issue.
A article named ‘Students’ difficulties in translating english text by
JOALL( Journal of Applied Linguistics and Literature). The objectives of this research
were to identify types of error in translation, students’ difficulties in translating text,
and factors which influence students’ error in translating in English department of
State Institute for Islamic Studies Bengkulu. This research used descriptive
quantitative method. The results of this research showed that students’ difficulties in
translating English text, were elliptical errors (67.29%), idioms (87.5%), and textual
meaning (73.54). The difficulties of students in translating were lack of vocabulary
(87,50%), difficult translating Islamic texts (75,00%), literary works (66,66%), and
grammatical issues (62,50%). Then, the factors affected students’ error in translation
were ignorance of ellipsis; unable to identify ellipsis, idiom, and lexical meaning; lack
of strategy in translating ellipsis, idiom, and lexical meaning; translating words per
word; most students lack a strong background on the content of the text. It was
concluded that the students got three types of error in transalation, four points
difficulties in translation, and six factors which influence the students’ error in
translation.
Ibrahim (2017) has conducted research about an investigation of difficulties
of translation which faced by Sudanese students in Dongola University. His research
aims were to find out kind of

difficulties in translation,

introducing pupils‟

difficulties in detail, and how to overcome the problems. The data were taken
from Dongola University consisted of 30 students. Questionnaire was used to
take the data of the study. He reported that Sudanese University students in
College of Education in the second semester find students‟ difficulties in
translating because of grammatical categories, linguistic level, lexical items, and
some differences between source language with the target language.
1.2.2 In Vietnam
A study named “Problems in Translation Facing Vietnamese EFL College
Learners” written by Do Na Chi. The paper investigates how Vietnamese EFL college
learners undertake translation tasks and the effectiveness of those translated versions
in comparison with the Vietnamese documents. Examining 10 translated texts of 10
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participants, the findings reveal a high volume of inaccurate translated items caused by
word-by-word translation technique and the influence of Vietnamese language.
Advices are provided to help educators and learners modify the program and teaching
methods.
A study named “Difficulties and expectations in learning written translation at
Dong Thap University” by Nguyen Thi Hong Tham and Bui Thi Huyen Tram. This
study was conducted to find out the students‟ difficulties as well as their expectations
when they begin to learn written translation in order to make suggestions that can
partly help them overcome these obstacles in studying this course. Besides that, the
study also aims at making some suggestions as a useful reference helping adjust
learning and teaching method to get a better result in learning and teaching process.
The research methods used in this study are the questionnaire- a list of questions to
find out the difficulties that students usually face and the interview questions which
used to meeting students‟ expectations in learning the subject.
A study named “ “Difficulties in Learning the Translation of Students majoring in
International Relations” by Hien Le. In the process of conducting the research, the

writer has used both qualitative and quantitative methods.The purpose of the research
is to find out and explain these difficulties, and at the same time offer a number of
methods to help. students can study Translation well, have their own experience in the
future. The researcher has limited his research subjects to the 2-class students TA39A
and TA39B, Department of English, Diplomatic Academy.
Above are some studies in the world and in Vietnam. All studies find out what
common problems students face and how to overcome it. The studies will help readers
have a more specific view of difficulties about learning translation from English to
Vietnamese and gain experience for themselves.
1.3 Aims of the study
This study has three main purposes as follows:
- To overview of the basics of translation
- To point out the common difficulties faced by English faculty students, and
explain the reasons for these difficulties.
- To propose a number of options to help students overcome the above problems.
1.4 Research subjects
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The subjects of this study are the fouth-year students of English Faculty at TMU.
The study is concentrated on their common difficulties in translation from English to
Vietnamese with the participation of 50 seniors who are learning Business English.
1.5 Scope of the study
The idea of this study comes from the writer’s observations and experiences after
2 semesters of learning translation in the English Faculty. Because of limiting about
time, the study only focuses on exploiting the most basic issues in translation from
English to Vietnamese of the final-year English major students at TMU.
1.6 Research methodology
In the process of conducting research, the writer used both qualitative and
quantitative methods. Methods of data collection including collecting information

about research history Qualitative methods are used to analyze, synthesize and explain
the difficulties faced by English language learners. The quantitative method helps to
convert data into percentages. Database of research was collected from books and
trusted websites.
1.7 Organization of the study
This study includes four main chapters, organized as follows:
Chapter 1: Overview of the study.
This chapter includes the rationale, previous studies, aims of the study, research
subjects, scope of the study, research methodology and organization of the study. It
points the reason why the author chose to research this study and the methods for the
fulfillment of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review
The relevant theoretical backgrounds are revised in this chapter as the base for
the research being carried out. It focuses on the concepts of translation in general and
the common difficulties and the reasons of them.
Chapter 3: Methodology and research findings
This chapter includes the selection of participants, data collection and data
analysis from survey questionnaire and interview, the result of the findings, as well.
Then, the research findings and discussion of the findings will be presented.
Chapter 4: Recommendations and Suggestions.

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The writer summarizes the issues of the study and also offers some suggestions
to help students learn translation skills effectively and give the recommendation for
further researches.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Translation theory

2.1.1 Definition of translation
Translation is a phenomenon that has a huge effect on every life. It has been
approached from a scientific and technical point of view and considered as an
indispensable part in the field of not only literature, culture and religion but also
commercial advertisement, popular entertainment, public administration, immigration
and education, especially in this current renovation economy. Thus, there are many
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various definition of transalation defined by a lot of famous translators and began to
appeared in books, dictionaries or websites. The followings are some typical
definitions which are basic and easy to approach for the reader:
According to Wikipedia , translation is claims: “Translation is the interpreting of
the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text, likewise
called a translation that communicates the same message in another language. The text
to be translated is called the source text, and the language that it is to be translated into
is called the target language; the final product is sometimes called the target text.”
Advanced Oxford Dictionary ( page 1632) defines: “Translation is the process of
changing something that is written or spoken into another language”.
Ghazala (1995) shares: "Translation is generally used to refer to all the process
and methods used to convey the meaning of the source language in to the target
language". Ghazala's definition focuses on the notion of meaning as an essential
element in translation. That is, when translating, understanding the meaning of source
text is vital to have the appropriate equivalent in the target text thus, it is meaning that
is translated in relation to grammar, style and sounds.
Catford (1995) believes that: “Translation is the replacement of textual material
in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)”.
Yowell and Mutfah (1999), views differently (1999): “ Translation is a product
since it provides us with other different cultures, to ancient societies and civilization
life when the translated texts reaches us “.

Theory of interpreting and translation (Thuongmai University.) defines:
“Translation is rendering a written text into another language in the way that the author
intended the text”.
From the above definitions, it can be seen that translation is the act of
transferring the linguistic entities from one language in to their equivalents in to
another language. We all do realize that translation is not just a way of converting
words into other words but it’s a complicated and a very crucial way of explaining
things in a way that its actual meaning is delivered without harming its origin.
2.1.2 Significance of translation
In this era of globalization where mostly everyone wants to explore something
new each moment, it becomes impossible to actually deny how important translation
is. Translation is a real-life, natural activity and increasing necessary in a global
environment.
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a. Translation enables a global economy
Communication is the key of any successful relation, business or in fact
anything, you are nothing if you cannot communicate well and so here the role of a
translation becomes more crucial and very important. Global businesses cannot sell
their products and services without translation. Besides, companies benefit from
working overseas. They can take advantage of the lower cost of products and services
in some countries, the professional and industrial expertise of others, and additional
markets to trade in.Therefore, it is necessary to put some certain data in another
language, and negotiate terms with international governments or other local companies
where a proper translation of relevant proposals and agreements is required.
b. Translation is necessary for the spread of information, knowledge, and ideas
It is absolutely necessary for effective and empathetic communication between
different cultures. Translation, therefore, is critical for social harmony and peace.
Translation is also the only medium through which people come to know different

works that expand their knowledge. For example: The Bible has been translated into at
least 531 languages.
TED Talks runs open translation projects that allow people around the world to
understand their talks, offering non-English speakers to learn from some of the best
educators in the world.
Especially in the journalism industry, with the current socio-political context,
there are many news stories of international significance. Journalists from around the
world need to stay up-to-date on current events outside of their home countries to
gauge their impact on local activity. To do this, translation is the best support tool.
c. Translation promotes tourism development
Translation is very important in every aspect of the tourism industry. Travelrelated content comes in a variety of formats, from categories, brochures and websites,
to menus, flyers and signs. Visitors feel more comfortable when they can research and
gather information about their destination and plan their stay in their own language.
Studies show that not only do customers browse websites with content in their native
language, but about half of them will pay more if given their information in their
native language. As a consequence, businesses that are looking to expand in this
industry - and indeed, survive! - are now understanding the importance of being able
to reach out to more and more customers by providing them with as much information
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as possible. And the only way for businesses to reach an international customer base is
through translation.
d. Translation is a means of cultural exchange between countries
Culture appears and becomes an indispensable part of people's intellectual-social
life. Culture includes films, music, literature and many other formats of art global
borders. And translation is the leading factor contributing to spreading the world's
classics to people.Translated and subtitled movies today earn the large turnover for the
international film industry. Song translations also allow the artists to earn royalties and
international fame as an added bonus, while also reaching a large number of

international customers. In short, it is translation that helps to close linguistic gaps
between countries and enrich a country's culture.
2.1.3 Types of translation
The world of translation is a vast and varied one. Here are eight types of
translation that I chose for my study
a. Business translation
Effective communication is the key to any successful business. Business
documents are required to communicate clearly between organizations, and when
multiple languages come into play, it calls for translation. Business translation or
sometimes known as commercial translation is the process used to translate
commercial documents. Some of the documents that require business translation are
invoices, business reports, contracts, company accounts or tender documents,..
b. Administrative translation
A good administration requires transparency and clarity. It is important to convey
information within an organization without any confusion. Administrative translation
involves the conversion of managerial or administrative texts and documents used in
daily operations when an MNC has multilingual employees. Administrative translation
includes employee contracts, sales pitch, presentations, annual reports, general
briefs,..etc
c. Technical translation
Technology is an essential factor in today’s world. And it is necessary to make
sure it is not limited to a certain region but is spread to every little part of the world. To
assure that this happens, technical documents need to be translated into different
languages without losing their significance and content. Documents that require

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technical translation include user guides, manuals, instruction leaflets,training
material, minutes of meetings,.. etc

d. Legal translation
Law is a very delicate aspect of the world. One wrong move and it could cause
destruction, and one right move can lead to happiness. And legal documents are used
to incorporate the law. The term legal translation refers to the conversion of legal
documents and it is one of the most complex types of translation which requires high
skill. Legal documents that undergo translation include statutes, legal contracts,
treaties and deals, court summons, warrants, etc
e. Medical translation
Health and well being is necessary for the survival of a human being irrespective
of the country, culture or language. In order to maintain this, it is essential to expand
medical knowledge to every corner of the world. Medical translation is the process in
which medical documents are converted from a source language to the target language
without changing its intended purpose and meaning. The documents that undergo
medical translation include medical research papers and thesis, patient reports,
information posters, medical equipment manuals, drug labeling, clinical trial reports
etc
f. Financial translation
Money makes the world go around. A simple, yet powerful statement which
conveys the importance of money in life. Financial documents are used to transmit
monetary information, and therefore need to be translated in order to be accepted and
understood across the world. Financial translation involves the conversion of
documents of financial nature related to stocks, commodities, investment funds,
banking, etc. Some of the documents include financial contracts, packages, bank
records and statements, balance sheets, equity and bond research notes, cryptocurrency
etc
g. Literary translation
Literature is a comprehensive essence of the intellectual life of a nation. This
shows the importance of spreading the beauty of literature to all around the world.
Literary translations are nothing but the conversion of literary works from one
language to the other. They are done on novels, poems, plays, essays, comics etc

h. Script translation

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Ever tried watching an Oscar movie, only to realize that it is in a foreign
language? Well, script translation makes sure this does not happen, and that everyone
gets to enjoy the gift of films. It is a subset of the literary translation. This is not
limited to just films. Scripts can be translated on movie scripts, TV series scripts,
interview scripts, cartoon/animated series scripts,..
i. Website translation
More than a quarter of internet users around the world do not have English as a
native language. As a company, it is necessary to translate the websites to all these
languages to expand the clientele, and this process is known as website translation.
Usually, website translations are done on website textual content, symbols and logos,
quote and slogans, pictures, address formats, currency, and other page content,
subtitles for videos, page layouts,..
j. Localization
Language and culture are intertwined. Every country and region has different
culture and linguistic differences. In these scenarios, a simple translation alone is not
sufficient when converting content. This is where localization comes into play.
Localization is simply put, a comprehensive process of conversion of text and other
content into a different language by giving a major emphasis on the culture, location as
well as tiny linguistic differences.
2.1.4 Criteria for a good translation version
Translators often worry about their skills as professional translators and ask
themselves “what is a good translation?” Here are some citeriaa of what could be
termed a good translation.
- It must be accurate
This might seem obvious, but the number of poor translations and mistranslations

demonstrate that accuracy isn’t always a priority when it comes to translation. Just try
and use Google Translate or any one of a number of automatic translation tools to see
what happens when translation is done poorly. Words are used incorrectly. Sentences
are botched. At the worst, the meanings of whole chunks of text are distorted.
You would expect this lower standard from automatic translation tools, but the
number of times it is used is astounding. When commercial or government
organizations skimp on the cost of professional translation, they are not going to get
accuracy.
- It must be clear
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Another obvious criterion, but often disregarded. Good translations are generally
compiled by good translators. Unfortunately, good translators do not always have wellwritten text to translate. A good translator usually clarifies a poor original project. One
of the reasons for this is that many writers do not understand how to write clearly
themselves. Their sentences are too long. Their paragraphs are too long. Words may
not fit the people who are going to read what is written. One of the skills of a good
translator is to retain the meaning of the original text yet make it easier to read.
- The translated material must seem natural
One of the qualities of a good translator is to make sure that he or she reads
through what has been translated several times afterwards. This is not just to proofread
what has been written and make sure there are no spelling mistakes, typos and the like,
but to ensure it sounds as natural as possible. It is easy for translations to appear stilted
until they are redone so that it seems smooth and easy to read.
When finding out some other documents, the reader can see that EI Shafey
(1985) suggest other criteria for a good translation, these includes three main
principles:
- “The knowledge of the grammar of source language plus the knowledge of
vocabulary, as well as good understanding of the text to be translated.
- The ability of the translator to be reconstitute the given text (source language

text) into the target language.
- The translation should capture the style or atmosphere of the original text, it
should have all the ease of an original composition.”
In a word, a good translation contains unbiased, unchanged versions of the said
words in another language. It has to be accurate otherwise it may lead to
mistranslations, missing sentences and bad grammar.
2.1.5 Translation strategies and methods
2.1.5.1 Translation methods
a. Word-for-word translation
Here the source language (SL) word is translated into another language by their
most common meanings, which can also be out of context at times, especially in
idioms and proverbs.
The following are the characteristics of this approach:
+ SL word order is preserved.
+ Words are translated by their most common meanings, and out of contex
b. Literal translation
Here the SL grammatical constructions are translated to their nearest language
(TL). A literal translation sounds like nonsense and has little communicative values.
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The following are the characteristics of this approach:

Lexical words are

translated singly, and out of context.
c. Faithful translation
Here the translation interprets the exact contextual meaning of the original within
the constraints of the grammatical structures of the TL.
The following are characteristics of this approach:

+ Words are translated in context but uncompromising to TL
+ Transfer cultural words
+ Does not naturalize
+ Often read like a translation
d. Semantic translation
It refers to that type of translation, which takes into account the aesthetic value of
the SL text.
The following are the characteristics of this approach:
+ More flexible than faithful translation
+ Naturalize a bit while faithful translation is uncompromising (but in order to
achieve aesthetic effect), for instance, it may translate cultural words with neutral or
functional items.
+ Great focus on aesthetic features of source text (at expense of meaning if
necessary).
+ Close rendering of metaphors, collocations, technical terms, slang,
colloquialisms, unusual syntactic structures and collocations, peculiarly used words,
neologism, badly written or inaccurate passages.
e. Adaptation
The text is rewritten considering the SL culture which is converted to the TL
culture where the characters, themes, and plots are usually preserved.
f. Free translation
Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without
the form of the original. It is a kind of meaning-based translation and usually a
paraphrase much longer than the original. Free translation focuses on the content of the
target text rather than the form, which means that the same content is expressed in the
target text but with very different grammatical structures if need be.
g. Idiomatic translation
It translates the message of the original text but tends to disort the original
meaning at times by referring colloquialisms and idioms. (Su, 2003) “16 Idiomatic
translation makes use of idioms and colloquialisms that are not present in the source

text”. It is asserted that the original meaning of a fixed combination is not equal to the
sum of the meaning of separate words.
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h. Communicative translation
This method displays the exact contextual meaning of the original text in a
manner where both content and language are easily acceptable and comprehensible to
the readers.
The following are the characteristics of this approach:
+ Bee freer than semantic translation
+ Give priority to the effectiveness of the message to be communicated
+ Focus on factors such as readability and naturalness
+ Both the content and the language are readily acceptable and comprehensible
to the reader.
2.1.6. Translation strategies
Different scholars suggest various types, categorizations and classifications for
the strategies according to their particular perspectives. Here, some of these typologies
are mentioned:
Chesterman (1997), as Bergen (n. d.) stated, believes that in translation strategies'
field there is "considerable terminological confusion".
Krings (1986:18) defines translation strategy as "translator's potentially
conscious plans for solving concrete translation problems in the framework of a
concrete translation task,".
Seguinot (1989) believes that there are at least three global strategies employed
by the translators: (i) translating without interruption for as long as possible; (ii)
correcting surface errors immediately; (iii) leaving the monitoring for qualitative or
stylistic errors in the text to the revision stage.
Loescher (1991:8) defines translation strategy as "a potentially conscious
procedure for solving a problem faced in translating a text, or any segment of it."

Cohen (1998:4) asserts that "the element of consciousness is what distinguishes
strategies from these processes that are not strategic."
Jaaskelainen (1999:71) considers strategy as, "a series of competencies, a set of
steps or processes that favor the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization of information."
He maintains that strategies are "heuristic and flexible in nature, and their adoption
implies a decision influenced by amendments in the translator's objectives."
2.2 Common difficulties in translation from English to Vietnamese
2.2.1 Difficulty in translating the major word
Major words (terminology) are words / phrases special word used in a subject or
specific subject matter (Richards & Schmidt, 1992). Understanding the economic
terminology is quite difficult, but translating the terminology hardly used is even
harder. With student, when encountering specialized words which often acts as a key
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word in a sentence, without enough knowledge, they often get confused and take a lot
of time. They may not can guess then translate incorrectly. For examples:
Shares (‘ Cổ phiếu’ in Vietnamese)
Note (‘ Kỳ phiếu’ in Vietnamese)
Venture capital- (‘Vốn mạo hiểm’ in Vietnamese)
2.2.2 Difficulty in translating the abbreviation
In economic texts, abbreviation is the most difficult thing for translators to
remember and understand. For example:
GDP (Gross domestic product)- GDP is often used as a measure of a nation’s
economic performance and activity. It is usually calculated on a quarterly or annual
basis.
NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement)- NAFTA was an
agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral
trade bloc in North America.
2.2.3 Differences in language structure

Be rigid in switching from English to Vietnamese. This comes from students who
do not understand and understand the structures in English as well as in their native
language. Along with that, during the translation process, you too closely follow each
translation word without paying attention to the context will make your sentence
structure become dry and lack the smoothness. Sometimes it confuses the reader.
For example: A new car is bought. If the students translate follow the English
structure, it becomes “ Một chiếc ô tô mới được mua” in Vietnamese. This translation
is said to be very rigid and not suitable for Vietnamese style.
2.2.4 Misunderstanding about culture
Culture play an important role in the translation process. Misunderstanding of
culture can lead to bad translation products and sometimes makes it funny and even
insulting to readers of the target language.This requires you to understand the two
languages as well as the customs between the two countries to use words
appropriately. In other words, many words, phrases or sentences in one language seem
very easy to understand in another language, but not at all easy to translate into the ear,
easy to hear. Just like in Vietnamese, one of the top notes that is always mentioned
when translating English documents into Vietnamese is "pure Vietnamese" translation,
which means how to translate without the listener's thinking. is a Westerner who
translates in the manner of maize, westernization, not in accordance with Vietnamese
fine traditions .
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2.2.5 Words and choices of word meaning
Words play a crucial role for any language learners to build their own vocabulary
system to get advantages in their language learning. Vocabulary is the fundamental
component of communication. The more vocabulary one has, the more advantages for
him to obtain effective communication. Developing this basic tool with create many
opportunities in learning translation subject well within a translation text. If learners
have no difficulty in new words, it will be easy for them to translate into the target

language text. In contrast, they seem to fail translating. Most of English words have
many meanings, so choosing a suitable and appropriate word, which has the exact
meaning to apply into the target language text sometimes, create many confusing for
translators.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH FINDINDS
The purpose of this chapter is to present the methodology used in this thesis. It
includes research questions, research participants, data collection instruments and
research procedure.
3.1. Methodology
3.1.1 Research questions
To obtain the above stated purposes, the study has to answer the following
questions:
What are common difficulties in translation from English to Vietnamese
encoutered by the fourth-year students of English faculty in TMU?
What are the reasons that make the fourth-year students of English faculty find it
difficult in translation from English to Vietnamese?
What should be done to limit their difficulties in translation from English to
Vietnamese by the fourth-year students of English faculty in TMU?
3.1.2 Participants
The objects of study are the fourth-year students of English faculty in TMU. The
number of objects is 50 students. At the time of the study, these students had
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completed advanced translation subject, so they were able to give the most
comprehensive view of the most common difficulties faced by the subject.
3.1.3 Data collection method
a. Data collection instruments: The questionnaire
50 the fourth-year students of English faculty in TMU were asked to complete a

questionnaire with 10 questions related to the difficulties they are most likely to face
and solutions that can help improve their learning outcomes. To ensure objectivity and
fairness, each student will complete the questionnaire on their own without being
allowed to see the answers chosen by others. Only the researcher can view the full
results of the investigation. The survey results are only publicized after all 50 subjects
have completed the questionnaire completion. The aims of those questions can be
described as follows:
The first three questions: questions (1), (2) and (3) were used to find out the
students’ attitude towards translation subject in general. Question (1) was for finding
students’ feelings in studying translation. Question (2) was used to find out the reason
why students study translation. And question (3) was used to survey the amount of
time that the students spend on studying the translation.
Question (4) was aimed to find out the difficulties that students have to face
when translating from English to Vietnamese.
Question (5) was used to find out the reasons that make students have difficulties
in translating from English to Vietnamese.
Question (6) was used to find out the solutions that students choose to improve
their translation from English to Vietnamese.
Question (7) was aimed to find out what the students often do to improve their
vocabulary, grammar and their knowledge about economy.
Question (8) was used to explore what they often do when they finish their
translation
Question (9) was a choice question to determine a factor that most affected
students' translation, between their sense of learning and teaching methods of their
teachers.

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The last question was to seek for the methods that the students want their

teachers to improve during your translation class.
b. Data collection procedures
The survey questionnaire was designed as Google form and sent the link for 50
students to fill out. These students are encouraged to present additional difficulties
encountered by themselves in the process of learning Translation as well as their own
solutions (questions related to this problem have an option of “other ideas ”, where
students can give different answers from the available ones). As mentioned above,
each student must complete the questionnaire by themselves without seeing the
answers of others, ensuring their own ideas, avoiding the situation of students being
influenced by each other's opinions.

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3.1.4 Methods of data analysis
After collecting data, the writer will conduct analysis of those data. The results of
the questionnaire are reviewed and the choices made by students are listed. Qualitative
methods are used by the writer to analyze and evaluate data. Quantitative methods are
used to convert data into percentages. These data are presented on tables, bar charts,
pie charts for better illustration and explanation.
3.2. The results of the study
3.2.1 The survey questionnaire’s results:
The statistical analysis and the results of data analysis are displayed in the
following tables and charts
a. Students’ opinion about learning translation

Chart 3.1: The students’ opinions about learning translation
It can be seen from the char, the number of students who found translation
difficult but interesting account for approximately two-thirds (64%) of the total
number of students participating in the questionnaires. This shows that the students

were still interested in learning even though translation is a difficult subject.Besides,
24% of the students shared that translation was an interesting and useful subject,
proving that the students had positive attitude with this subject. On the contrary, there
was still 8% of students

found learning translation helpless, although they also

considered it easy. The writer believes that these students did not fully understand the

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importance and objectives of this subjiect. In addition, only a small minority, 4%, is
left for its difficult and boring. It is not completely significant.
b. The reasons why students learn translation

Chart 3.2. The reasons why students learn translation
The chart shows the proportion of students who studied translation because it is a
compulsory subject accounts for the highest proportion (62%). It was easy to
understand because this is a major of Thuongmai University. Interestingly, two reasons
"Because I find it interesting" and "Because I want to have more knowledge and
improve my English skills" both account for 52%. This ratio shows that students had a
passion for learning translation. They not only wanted to expand their knowledge but
also learn more skills such as reading and writing. Besides, the number of students
learning translation because they want to become a translator after graduation is only
20%. In fact, translating was not an easy job, it required highly about knowledge and
skills. As a result, many students were reluctant to choose this job because they could
not meet the standards of a translator.

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