translation of trade related neologism generating since 1995 from english into vietnamese hoang t

Vietnam national university, Hanoi
University of Languages and international Studies
THE FACULTY OF English LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

HOÀNG THỊ KIỀU MƠ

Translation of trade – related
neologisms GENERATING since 1995 from
English into Vietnamese

submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of bachelor of arts (TEFL)


Hanoi, May 2011


Vietnam national university, Hanoi
University of Languages and international Studies
THE FACULTY OF English LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

HOÀNG THỊ KIỀU MƠ

Translation of trade – related
neologisms GENERATING since 1995 from
English into Vietnamese

submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of bachelor of arts (TEFL)

supervisor: NGUYỄN NINH BẮC, ma.

Hanoi, May 2011


RETENTION
I hereby state that I: Hoàng Thị Kiều Mơ, class 07E20, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the
requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of
Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper
deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of
study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions
established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the
paper.
Signature………………………………………………………
Date……………………………………………………………


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr.
Nguyen Ninh Bac, M.A Lecturer in the Division of Translating and
Interpreting, Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi for his helpful ideas. Without his valuable guidance,
comments and suggestions, this graduation paper would not be
fulfilled.
I also wish to thank all other teachers who have provided me with the
knowledge and information for this graduation paper. I send my
sincere thanks to Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Ninh for her useful books and to
Ms Vu Thanh Huong (University of Economics and Business) for her

consultancy on economic knowledge.
I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all my friends who have
encouraged me and help me with this work.
Finally, my sincere gratitude goes to my family who is always besides
me during my study at the University.

i


ABSTRACT
The thesis is arranged in five main chapters: Introduction, Literature
review, Methodology, Findings & Discussion and Conclusion. The paper
is aimed to study on how neologisms relating to trade have been
translated so far and to offer some strategies to deal with this type of
word.
Chapter 1 of the paper states the rationale, aims and objectives,
significance of the paper. Also, the scope and organization of the paper
are mentioned in this chapter.
Chapter 2: Literature review studies the theoretical background
knowledge the paper relies on. In this chapter, all understandings about
neologisms and translation are introduced. Moreover, some previous
related studies both in Vietnam and in the world are presented.
The chapter 3 focuses on the researched instruments, the procedure of
data collection and data analysis procedure.
Chapter 4, the main part of the study, analysis and comments on the
translation of neologisms relating to trade are carried out. Furthermore,
some suggestions for strategies of translating neologisms relating to
trade are offered.
The last chapter summarizes the whole paper. The chapter 5 also
indicates the shortcomings of the study and offers some suggestions for

further studies.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I:…………………………………………………………………...1
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1
1. Rationale .................................................................................................... 1
2. Aims and objectives .................................................................................. 3
3. Significance of the study ........................................................................... 3
4. Scope of study ............................................................................................ 4
5. Structure of the study ............................................................................... 5
Chapter II ...................................................................................................... 6
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 6
A. Definition of key terms ............................................................................ 6
1. Translation ........................................................................................... 6
1.1. What is translation ............................................................................ 6
1.2. Major translation procedures ........................................................... 8
2. Neologism .......................................................................................... 12
2. 1. What is neologism? ........................................................................ 12
2.2. Classification of neologisms relating to trade generating since 1995
................................................................................................................ 13
3. Trade .................................................................................................. 15
4. Neologisms relating to trade .............................................................. 15
B. Previous studies ...................................................................................... 15
Chapter III................................................................................................... 18
METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 18
1. Data collection .............................................................................. 18
2.

Procedure of data collection ............................................................. 18
2.1. Phase 1 .......................................................................................... 19
2.1. Phase 2 .......................................................................................... 19
3.
Procedures of data analysis .............................................................. 20
3.1. Classifying data............................................................................. 20
3.2. Analysis on strategies of translating each group.......................... 20
Chapter IV ................................................................................................... 21
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TRANSLATION OF NEOLOGISMS RELATING TO TRADE FROM
ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE ............................................................ 21
1.

Neologisms relating to trade since the establishment of WTO in

1995 ……………………………………………………………………….21
2.

Translation of English neologisms about trade into Vietnamese . 21

2.1. Translation of totally new concepts ................................................ 23
2.2. Translation of old words with new senses ...................................... 27
2.3. Translation of acronyms ................................................................ 30
2.4.Translation of pseudo – neologisms ............................................... 33
2.5. Translation of other categories of neologisms ............................... 35
3.
Suggested strategies to translate neologisms of trade from English
into Vietnamese ........................................................................................... 38

Chapter V .................................................................................................... 41
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 41
1.

Summary ............................................................................................ 41

2.

Limitations of the study .................................................................... 41

3.

Suggestions for further studies ........................................................ 42

REFERENCES............................................................................................ 44
LIST OF SOME ENGLISH NEOLOGISMS REALTING TO TRADE
AND THEIR VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS...................................... 47
LIST OF SOME ENGLISH NEOLOGISMS RELATING TO TRADE
AND SUGGESTED VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS .......................... 64

iv


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SL

Source language

TL

Target language

ST

Source text

TT

Target text

WTO

World Trade Organization

FELTE

Faculty of English Language Teacher
Education

HULIS

Hanoi University of Languages and
International Studies

IT

Information Technology

v

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the rationale as well as the aims and the objectives of the
study are stated. Moreover, it mentions the significance and design of the
research.
1. Rationale
As the development of the society, more and more concepts,
phenomena and events come out; at the same time, some others will
disappear. These changes have been reflected immediately by the system
of vocabulary. The vocabulary, as a result, has to expand to meet the
increasing demand of the developing society. On the other hand, some
words also become less popular because they refer to the old concepts.
Neologisms appear to fill the gaps of the language when new concepts
emerge. It has been stated in Newmark (1998, p.140) that approximately
3,000 neologisms are coined annually in each language; in fact,
neologisms cannot be accurately quantified, since so many of them hover
between acceptance and oblivion and many are short – lived. The
appearance of neologisms may cause troubles for the speakers; and even
more for the translators who transfer the ideas from a language into
another one. Problems caused by translation of new words rank high on
the list of challenges faced by translators because this type of words are
not readily found in ordinary dictionaries, even in the newest specialized
dictionaries.
The establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the
first day of 1995 was considered the most important event of the
1


international economy in the last decade of 20th century. The formation of

WTO has given birth to hundreds of new concepts, new agreements as
well as new principles which lead to hundreds of neologisms relating to
trade. More than fifteen years have elapsed and the come out of other
neologisms is obvious.
Vietnam is a developing country and she cannot be out of the upward
movements of the world. As soon as WTO was founded, Vietnam
actively studied and approached the agreements and principles of this
international organization. Also, Vietnam’s successful WTO accession
has brought a turning point to Vietnam’s trade with an increasing total
sum of trade. Together with its improvement in economy, a huge number
of new concepts have come up, which requires a huge number of
neologisms. Translation of trade – related neologisms became vitally
important because this task has bridged the different languages.
Understanding neologisms of trade helps Vietnam government to
introduce the appropriate economic policies and the businesses to carry
out the right plan.
Translation of neologism is always a fundamental job to help other
people to understand the “newest” knowledge of human beings. However,
this work is not a simple one. The neologism of trade is even more
difficult to translate because the translators are required to possess
knowledge of trade. Yet, translating neologisms relating to trade is
inevitable because of the global development and international
integration.
With these reasons, in this thesis, the writer wishes to introduce and
analyze the translation of trade – related neologisms which have emerged
2


in since 1995 and then can offer some strategies for translators to deal
with trade – related neologisms in this period.

2. Aims and objectives
Conducting the study, the author expects to find out the strategies
used by translators when they have to handle trade – related neologisms.
The core aim of the study is to analyze and comment on the ways they
cope with this type of neologisms and suggest some procedures to
translate the English neologisms of trade into Vietnamese.
In short, the objective of the study is to answer the following research
question: How to tackle English trade – related neologisms generating
since 1995?

3. Significance of the study
As the extension of globalization process, almost all countries in the
world have become closer and interchange among countries has never
happened as strongly as now. The deep integration requires nations,
including Vietnam, to understand the updated international socioeconomic context. Translation of neologisms became more necessary
than ever because it bridges the different cultures, fills the gap between
the languages and helps Vietnam to update the global background. Once
completed, the study will offer an overview of translation of English
neologisms relating to trade into Vietnamese. Some tips to deal with this
type of neologism will be withdrawn, which hopefully contributes to the
translation theory of Vietnam.
3


Also, the study collects the data since 1995 up to now so it updates the
latest words from the daily trade activities. The study also presents the
terms and their Vietnamese equivalents. Therefore, the study functions as
a reference for translators when they are translating English neologisms
of trade into Vietnamese.

4. Scope of study
As a student of translation and interpretation, I am fully aware of the
challenges faced by translators when encountering words that are
difficult to be found in dictionary. I, therefore, focus on the translation of
neologisms about trade from English into Vietnamese. This direction of
translation is selected because most terms of trade are from foreign
countries. If Vietnamese – English translation is chosen, it is just like a
back translation.
Moreover, the study only focuses on the time of last fifteen years
since 1995. It is not only the establishment of WTO but also remarks a
series of events that exerted great influence on global trade like the attack
to World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the emerge of four
countries BRIC, the Great Depression in 2007 and the majestic
development of China. The entrance in WTO of Vietnam in 2007 is
considered an outstanding event of Vietnam’s trade in this period. This
event has provided our countries both opportunities and challenges.
Vietnamese people are required to know more about the international
context to take advantages of opportunities and to face with troubles in
front. Vietnamese people have to update the information to get the latest

4


news, law or decision brought by individuals or organizations in the
world.
Many words entered Vietnam after 1995 but they had been coined
before that. As a result, they cannot be considered as neologisms and do
not involve in the study.
Hopefully, this work will bring the readers a clear understanding of

richness and liveliness of language as well as a sound mind to deal with
difficulties in translation of neologism.
5. Structure of the study
In this paper, source language is English and the target language is
Vietnamese. The study is organized in five main chapters: Introduction,
literature review, methodology, findings & discussion and the conclusion.
The main part of the study is presented in the next four chapters. In the
chapter literature review, some definitions will be introduced such as the
theory of translation, definition of neologisms, etc. Besides, some
previous studies on the same theme will also be discussed in this chapter.
The third chapter focuses on the methods to conduct the study. In the
findings and discussion chapter, neologisms relating to trade and their
translated versions will be analyzed and commented by the researcher.
An overview on translation procedures will also be given. The conclusion
chapter will summarize the study, present the shortcomings of the study
and some suggestions for further researches.

5


Chapter II
LITERATURE REVIEW
The terms neologism in general and neologism relating to trade are
novel to many readers. Therefore, this chapter will offer the definition of
the approaches for readers to grab their accurate concepts. Furthermore,
some related studies are mentioned in this chapter.
A. Definition of key terms
1. Translation
1.1. What is translation
As translation stands at the center of this dynamic process, so far

many answers have been given the to the question “what is translation?”.
Among them are:
Translation is a craft consisting of the attempt to replace a written
message and/or a statement in one language by the same message
and/or statement in another language.
Newmark (1995, p. 5)
Translation is the transfer of the message from one language into
another.
Newport, Albrecht (1989, p.143)
Translation is the expression in another language (or target
language) or what has been expressed in another (source language),
preserving semantic and stylistic equivalents.
Roger (1991:4)
6


Translation, as a process of conveying the message across linguistic
and cultural barriers, is an eminently communicative activity.
Duff (1991: 5)
These definitions share the same idea that translation is to transfer
something spoken or written from one language to a different one. In
other word, two different languages are involved in translation: source
language (SL) and target language (TL), which culturally and
linguistically gives birth to the translation. Translation is compared to the
bridge of cultures and languages. Thanks to translators’ attempts, people
are able to access knowledge of human beings.
According to Larson (1984, p.4), translation is a process that can be
illustrated following:
SOURCE LANGUAGE

RECEPTOR LANGUAGE

Text to be
translated

Translation

Discover the meaning

Re-express the meaning
MEANING

7


1.2. Major translation procedures
In translation, methods are used as the general approach to the whole
texts and translation procedures are employed to access sentences and
smaller units of language. In the scope of this paper which studies the
translation of neologisms of trade, therefore, procedures will be analyzed.
In general, there are a lot of translation procedures introduced by
Newmark (1998, p.81). Basing on the categorization of Newmark,
researcher suggests some procedures which may be used to translate
English trade – related neologisms into Vietnamese.
1.2.1. Literal translation
Literal translation is regarded as the most important of the procedures.1 In
literal translation procedure, ST is translated with the most common
meaning in TL and SL grammatical structures are converted to their
nearest equivalent in the TL.
Eg:

ST: The red umbrella
TT: Cái ô màu đỏ
Literal translation can help to deal with all levels of vocabulary: from one
word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation,
clause to clause and sentence to sentence.

1

Newmark, P. (1998). A text book of translation. Phoenix ELT (p. 81)

8


1.2.2. Transference
The SL word is directly taken into TL text with no translation. The
words may be the names of newspaper, geographical names, street
names, new technical terms that do not have equivalent in the TL. This
procedure can make the translation sound professional and stylistic.
Eg:
ST: Paris
TT:Paris
1.2.3. Naturalization
The SL word is transferred or adapted to the TL based on the
pronunciation and morphology. Like the transference, naturalization is
also applied for names of newspaper, geographic names, etc. Moreover,
this procedure is usually used in publications with a wide readership.
Eg:
ST: Fukushima
TT: Phư – cư –si – ma2
1.2.4.Through translation

Through translation is a literal translation of a word or normally an
expression into the TL.

This procedure often deals with already

recognized terms including names of organizations, names of diseases, or
common collocations.
Eg:

2

A.P (2011). Nhật Bản lập vùng cấm đi lại quanh nhà máy điện hạt nhân Phư – cư – si –ma số 1. Nhân dân
cuối tuần. Retrieved May 2, 2011 from />
9


ST: Food and Agriculture Organization
TT: Tổ chức Lương thực và Nông nghiệp Liên Hợp quốc
1.2.5.Shift or Transposition
A change in grammar or part of speech from SL to TL. It may be a
change in number (singular – plural) of nouns, the position of adjective,
or grammatical structure.
Eg:
ST: With good nutrition, medical care, education and skill training
TT: Do được ăn uống đầy đủ, chăm sóc sức khỏe đều đặn và được giáo
dục, đào tạo kỹ năng tốt
1.2.6. Modulation
A variation in the message when it is translated into a TL due to a change
in the point of view.
Eg:

ST: undoubtedly
TT: chắc chắn
1.2.7.Cultural equivalent
The SL cultural word or expression is translated by a TL cultural word
based on its equivalent in the TL. Because of different culture, the
different

idioms

and

currencies

are

translated

differently.

Eg:
ST: Mutton dressed as lamb
TT: Cưa sừng làm nghé
10


1.2.8.Functional equivalent
The use of a cultural free word or expression in a translation for a cultural
word or expression in the SL text.
Eg:
ST: Kremlin

TT: Chính quyền Nga
1.2.9.Descriptive equivalent
The meaning of the original word is explained in several words.
This procedure is often used with transference to translate a cultural word
or expression.
Eg:
ST: Ipod
TT: Máy nghe nhạc Ipod.
1.2.10. Couplets
Couplet combine the two or more translation procedures above to deal
with a single problem. This procedure is particularly common for cultural
words.
Eg:
ST: Boomerang
TT: Vũ khí bum – mơ – rang, một loại vũ khí của người Úc khi ném ra
thì bay tới đích rồi quay trở lại chỗ người ném.

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2. Neologism
2. 1. What is neologism?
Accroding to Mikhail (2008), the word “neologism” originated from
Greek in which neos means “new” and logos means “word”. Neologism
is a concept understood in different ways by different people. To some
people, this word is a neologism but to the others, it may be not.
In 1975 the French lexicographer and terminologist Alain Rey set up a
theoretical model, suggesting that:
…, the neologism will be perceived as belonging to the language in
general or only to one of its special usages; or as belonging to a

subject-specific usage which may be specialized or general. (cited in
Sayadi, 2001)
A neologism itself contains the historical meaning. A popular word
nowadays may be a neologism in five or ten years ago.
Some definitions for neologism have been brought out so far.
According to Newmark (1998, p. 140), neologisms can be defined as
newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units that acquire a new
sense.
A neologism is defined by Sayadi (2001) as a word, a term or a phrase
which has been recently created (or coined) which is often applied to new
concepts or to restate older terms in new language. It can also refer to an
existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning. It may
be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted
in mainstream language. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying
inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas that have taken on a new
cultural context.

12


Generally, neologism can be understood as forms of words, meanings,
or phrases that have recently entered the lexicon and are still treated as
fresh and unusual.
Neologism is a new word or expression or a new meaning of a word.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2007)
In general, neologisms
- are new words that have been invented by speakers
- do not appear in dictionary of primary spoken language
For example, ROTFL means rolling on the floor for laughing or
redonkulous is an extreme version of ridiculous.

2.2. Classification of neologisms
According to Newmark (1998, p.140), there are two main types of
neologism, in general, which are (1) existing lexical items with new
senses and (2) the totally new forms. However, with English neologisms
relating to trade emerging since 1995, neologisms can be grouped as
following categories.
2.2.1. Existing lexical items with new senses
This type of neologism is divided into two sub – types: existing words
with new senses and existing collocations with new senses. These do not
normally refer to new objects or processes. Usually, neologisms of this
kind appear thanks to metaphor. Some words are compared with others
but then used widely by public. For example, graduation (bãi bỏ chế độ
ưu đãi), reciprocal (có đi có lại).
2.2.2. New forms
13


a) New coinages, e.g. Most-favoured-nation (Quy chế Tối huệ quốc),
National Treatment (đối xử quốc gia, Quad (nhóm bộ tứ), etc.
Nowadays, the main new coinages are brand or trade names (Knorr,
Mussanl, Pepsi, Oxo) and these are usually transferred unless the product
is marketed in the TL culture under another name.
b) Derived words (including blends)- formed with productive prefixes or
suffixes, e.g. Non-trade objectives in trade policy (Các mục tiêu phi
thương mại trong chính sách thương mại), M – commerce (thương mại di
động)
c) Abbreviations: (shortened form of word). Abbreviation is called
neologism since it is used as a certain word. In trade, abbreviations
usually appear as the names of organizations or agreements like mbr:
member (thành viên), merch: Merchantable (có thể bán được hay khả

thương)
d) Eponyms – recently based on proper names, including inventors and
names of firms and towns. For example, Singapore issues (Các vấn đề
Singapore), Montréal Protocol (Nghị định thư Montréal).
e) Transferred word – words borrowed from other languages and kept
only one sense of their foreign nationality. They are likely to be “media”
or “product” rather than technological neologisms. For instance, Lex
posterior, Keiretsu ngang, etc.
f) Acronyms (new and old referents) WTO, EEP, NGMTS etc.
g) Pseudo – neologisms - generic words standing in for specific words.
For example, people use “members” to refer “WTO members”.

14


3. Trade
Trade is the activity of buying and selling or of exchanging goods
or services between people or countries.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2007)
Trade can be simply understood as activities of exchanging of goods
or services between two parties or several parties. Bilateral trade refers to
the trade that takes place between two parties whereas multilateral trade
occurs when more than two parties are involved in the transaction.
Amount of trade is affected by a lot of factors such as trade policy of a
nation, by comparative advantage and the finance market. Trade gets the
goods and commodity transported or moved from manufacturers to
customers. Nowadays, international trade becomes popular and
contributes largely to the development of the world economy.

4. Neologisms relating to trade

In fact, neologism about trade has not been defined clearly so far. Like
many other terms about trade which are used commonly in trade and
having an accepted meaning different from its ordinary or dictionary
meaning, a neologism about trade is a new trade term. In the scope of this
study, new trade terms which are mentioned have emerged since the
establishment of World Trade Organization in1995.

B. Previous studies
So far, neologism seems not to be the appealing topic to translation
theorists, especially to Vietnamese specialists. Perhaps the most popular
15


book including translation of neologism is A text book of translation by
Peter Newmark published in 1998. The book has provided the an
overview of neologism as well as offer some strategies to deal with
neologism.
Besides, a few studies on translation of neologisms can be listed
following:
Forough Sayadi (2001), on her study, offered an overview on
translation of neologisms relating to Information Technology (IT). She
covered a thorough revision of neologism of all extends like definition of
neologisms, categories of neologisms and the creation of neologisms.
However, her analysis on translation of IT – related neologisms is not
comprehensive enough to help readers withdraw any hint to deal with the
terms.
In his study “Neologisms as prevailing language indicators of the
endemic speech strategy of participants in the English internet –
discourse”, Mikhail S. Ryzhkov (2008) had just mentioned neologisms
as the emerging kind of indicators on internet but did not study the way

of translating them.
In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang was one of the people
conducting a study on neologism. As to fulfill the requirements for the
Degree of Bachelor of Art in 2006 at the College of Foreign Languages,
Vietnam National University, Hanoi, she carried out the graduation paper
titled “How translators tackle Vietnamese political neologisms?”. It is a
good study which presents the difficulties of translating Vietnamese
political neologisms into English and a thorough analysis of the applied

16


translation procedures. The study focused on political terms and the
direction of translation is Vietnamese – English.

17