ASSESSMENT AND COMPARISON ON THE QUALITY OF THAI VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH VIETNAMESE SUBTITLES OF THAI DRAMA “BUPPAE SANNIWAS” (LOVE DESTINY)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

ASSESSMENT AND COMPARISON ON THE
QUALITY OF THAI-VIETNAMESE AND
ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE SUBTITLES OF THAI
DRAMA “BUPPAE SANNIWAS” (LOVE DESTINY)

Supervisor: Ms. Trần Lưu Ly, MA.
Student: Trần Thị Mỹ
Course: QH.2017.F1.E22.PDCLC

HÀ NỘI – 2021


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

ĐÁNH GIÁ VÀ SO SÁNH CHẤT LƯỢNG BẢN
DỊCH PHỤ ĐỀ THÁI – VIỆT VÀ ANH – VIỆT PHIM
THÁI LAN BUPPAE SANNIWAS (NHÂN DUYÊN
TIỀN ĐỊNH)

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Trần Lưu Ly, MA
Sinh viên: Trần Thị Mỹ

Khóa: QH.2017.F1.E22.PDCLC

HÀ NỘI – 2021


Signature of Approval:

_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________


ACCEPTANCE PAGE
I hereby state that I: Trần Thị Mỹ, class QH.2017.F1.E22.PDCLC, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts 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: 29/04/2021


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to send my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Ms. Trần Lưu Ly,
MA for her constant support and guidance throughout this research. Her critical
comments and motivation are of great importance to me. Without her constructive
feedback and encouragement, this research might not come to an end.
I am thankful to Ms. Nguyễn Mai Phương, MA, Department of Southeast
Asia Languages and Culture, for helping reviewing my data, especially my
suggested translation.
Moreover, I am deeply indebted to my three seniors who agreed to take
interviews with me. This research might not have any conclusion without their
invaluable support. Also, I very much appreciate Ms. Thảo Lê, a long-time friend of
mine, for her helping to find the subtitles of the movies and her relentless support
for me.
I would like to express my deepest attitude to my family for their
unconditional caring, love and sacrifices for me. I appreciate my parents’
unwavering understanding of my decision.
Last but not least, many thanks to my teachers, friends, colleagues whom I
am unable to name all here for their profound belief in my abilities. I would not have
been confident enough to finish this thesis if there had been no encouragement and
trust from them for me.

i


ABSTRACT
Along with globalization, exchange culture via movies, music among
audiences from different countries are getting more and more common. As a result,
translations for those forms of entertainment, especially movie translation, are more
flourishing than ever. However, movies from countries with a minority of language
learners need relay translation to be translated into target language. This research
aims to compare and evaluate the quality of translations between a Thai-Vietnamese

subtitle by Zingtv and a subtitle adopting relay translation via English by CCCS of
a Thai drama called Buppae Sanniwas (Love Destiny). To achieve the objective of
the research, the researcher adopted the ATA Framework for Standardized Error
Marking provided by American Translators Association (2017) to identify errors in
both subtitles. Moreover, three semi-structured interviews were conducted to help
evaluate the quality of the two subtitles. The results showed that Zingtv's subtitle
created more errors than CCCS. However, both versions still conveyed the messages
understandably enough for the audience to watch. Additionally, evaluation of
CCCS's subtitle, which adopted relay translation, suggested that though relay
translation was the cause of various errors in the TL text, it was not the only trigger
for all of errors made by CCCS. These results show that adoption of relay translation
in movie translation is possible with a condition that translators take the original
movies into serious account in terms of context, nonverbal language and synosip.

ii


LIST OF ABBREVIATION
E – V: English – Vietnamese
SL: Source language
ST: Source text
TL: Target language
TT: Target text
T – V: Thai – Vietnamese
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Errors made by Zingtv and classification in part 1 episode 1
Figure 2: Errors made by Zingtv and classification in part 2 episode 1
Figure 3: Errors made by CCCS and classification in episode 1
Figure 4: Table of the number of translation errors made by Zingtv and CCCS in
the 1st episode of Buppae Saniwas (Love Destiny)

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowlegement………………………………………………………………… i
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………... ii
List of abbreviations and figures………………………………………………… iii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………. 1
1. Research problem and rationale for the study
2. Research objectives and Research questions
3. Significance of the study
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………… 6
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

An overview of translation
Relay translation
Audio-visual translation
Relay translation in subtitling
Translation quality assessment (TQA)
Translation errors
Summary

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………..13

1. Research design
2. Subject of the study
3. Data collection and analysis methods
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION……………………………….16
1. Data analysis
2. Comparison and evaluation
3. Discussion, conclusion and suggestions for the improvement of the two
subtitles
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH……………………………………………………………………...27
1. Conclusion
2. Limitations and suggestions for further research
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………...29
APPENDICES ….……………………………………………………………….31


CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. Research problem & rationale for the study
With the advent of the internet and information technology, information and
culture exchange has been promoted more than ever before. As people increasingly
look for the foreign entertainment forms, they rely on translation more than ever to
approach such entertainment conveniently. Over the past few decades, movie
translation has been flourishing all over the world.
Along with the development of the cinematic industry, audio-visual
translation has also made huge progress within a short period of time (Cintaz &
Anderman, 2009). Live events like theater, opera or concert, for example, may
require translation in the form of subtitles. Moreover, those with sensory
impairments like the deaf or the blind have huge demand for audio-visual translation
such as subtitling for the deaf and audio description for the blind, which is now of
great concern among scholars. In addition, the export and import of numerous TV

shows, TV series, cinema movies and other forms of entertainment does boost the
rapid development of audio-visual translation. According to the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism, in 2019, 49% movies in Vietnamese cinemas originated from
the US, 20% were from Asian countries such as China, Korea or Japan. With such
a high number of imported movies, audio-visual translation is obviously of great
importance to make those movies accessible to the local audience.
Asia is home to a variety of movies with big names in the entertainment
industry such as India, China, Japan, Korea and Thailand. Beside movies from India
or China which are in English or Chinese – two of the most common languages
worldwide (Gosh, 2020), movies from other countries like Thailand, which attracts
a minority of language learners, often require an adoption of relay translation for
their subtitles. Take Thai dramas as an example, in order for those movies to be
1


translated into Vietnamese, they normally should have English subtitles or Chinese
subtitles first since the number of T-V translators is small.
However, the relay translation method does bear specific shortcomings
needed consideration. First of all, there is a likelihood that a product of relay
translation would contain errors (Dollerup, 2000). If the first translator
misunderstands the original messages, the relay translator, without understanding
the SL, will easily cause an error. Secondly, Dollerup (2000) also states that relay
may lead to deviations in translation, especially in written translation. One of the
reasons for such deviations is cultural differences. It is obvious that each relay
translator will often add new deviations to those made by the predecessors in the
chain of translation.
Besides errors caused by the relay translation mode, many other errors can
be made during the translation process. Translation errors can be caused by various
factors ranging from non-equivalence between SL and TL to the translator’s lack of
language competency and understanding of the SL and TL (Rahmatillah, 2013).

However, to err is human, acknowledging these errors and finding the solution to
them will help to upgrade the translation and ensure the translator’s competency.
The researcher’s personal observation and experience as a freelance
translator have raised the wonder in the quality of the subtitles with different source
languages. Hence, this research topic also allows the researcher to apply both the
major knowledge – English translation and interpreting, and her second language –
Thai.
This research focuses on the assessment and comparison between the quality
of the T-V and E-V subtitle versions of a specific Thai drama called “Buppae
Sunniwas” as known as Love Destiny. The drama has made great contribution to
Thai film industry. The movie is believed to have help Thailand reduce traffic jam
during rush hour since people rushed to home to watch it (Prachachat.net, 2018).
2


Furthermore, as the movie is about a historic period of Thai history, it has done an
excellent job in illustrating this period with historical events, lifestyle of the people
and Thai culture at the time without any attempt to distort the history. The movie
was so famous that Thailand’s Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-oncha did invite the
film cruise to the Government House of Thailand to promote the wearing of Thai
traditional costumes during Songkran Festival – Thai New Year. The movie also
ranks first in terms of rating during digital television era (Posttoday, 2018). With
such popularity, Buppae Sanniwas deserves to be the typical presence of Thai film
industry in the international market. In Vietnam, the movie did receive a warm
welcome and attract millions of audience at that time. The movie gets 9.5/10 on
Zingtv, a big film website in Vietnam. Today TV, a Vietnamese TV channel, did
buy this movie to broadcast in its prime time in 2019 (08:00p.m, Monday-Saturday).
All of these prove that the movie is worth to be taken into consideration, especially
in terms of translation since translation acts as a bridge to connect Thai culture in
general, Thai movies in particular with the foreigners as well as international

market.

3


2. Research objectives and research questions
The objective of this research is to provide comparison and evaluations for
the subtitles created by Zingtv and CCCS, and to give recommendations for the
improvement of the two subtitles’ quality. With a view to achieving those aims, the
researcher decided to identify errors in both subtitle versions. From those errors,
assessment were made to find out whether the quality of the translation is affected
by the SL and the reasons for that. The objective were achieved by answering these
following questions:
1. What are the translation errors found in both subtitle versions: ThaiVietnamese and English-Vietnamese?
2. To what extent does the adoption of relay translation affect the
translation quality of the English-Vietnamese subtitle?
3. Significance of the study
First of all, the research aims to be a source of reference for anyone who is
interested in translation in general and in audio-visual translation as well as relay
translation in particular. Moreover, this research is expected to show the relationship
between two different languages: English as a synthetic language and Thai as an
analytic language.
Moreover, translation studies as well as the teaching and training of
translation mainly focuses on ST and TT. As a result, the intermediate text is often
in ignorance (Dollerup, 2008). The adoption of relay translation in Vietnam, to the
best of my knowledge, is quite common, especially in movie translation. However,
there are really few studies and observations of relay translation in Vietnam.
Therefore, this research is expected to draw more attention to this kind of
translation, especially the adoption of relay translation in movie subtitles.
Consequently, more instructions and principles of relay translation in subtitling will

be introduced so that the practice of subtitling will be more consistent.
4


Last but not least, certain errors will be identified in both subtitle versions of
T-V and E-V so that translators of these languages can refer to and avoid in their
translation. Also, suggestions will be made for translators and anyone who are keen
on movie subtitling so that they can have effective strategies in translating and
assessing the text.

5


CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. An overview of translation
Translation is similar to communication in the sense that it transfers the
message from a person to another. However, what makes its distinction is its
requirement for a mediator – the translator to convey the message from the sender
to the receiver. Since the days the Bible was translated into various languages to
serve the purpose of preaching, translation has always been shown its significance.
The mistranslation of the Japanese telegram to Washington just before Hiroshima
was bombed, in which mokasuiu was translated into “ignored” instead of
“consider”.
However, translation’s emergence as an academic study only embarked on
the 20th century and later on was admitted as a branch of applied linguistics (Venuti,
2000 & Nord, 1997, in Rahmatillah, 2013). So, what is the exact definition of
translation? Translation can be understood as either the process of conveying a
message into TL or even emphasized more on the product of that process
(Newmark, 1988). The presence of translation can now be found anywhere
surrounding us, from instruction, tourist attractions, movies, books to treaties,

contracts or official documents, almost all walks of life. Nida & Taber (1969) points
out that what translator should all focus on is the response of the receptor to the
translated message. According to Newmark (1995), translation is conveying the
meaning of a SL text into the TL text while preserving the intention of the author.
In addition, Catford (1995 in Osman, 2017) defines translation as the replacement
of the SL text with the equivalent TL text. From these definitions, despite the
differences in the way of defining the term, it can be drawn that it is the meaning of
the ST that is the most important.
2. Relay translation

6


According to the Guidance on Relay Translations by Society of Authors
(2016), relay translation happens when a translation is not translated from the
original language but from a middle language. For example, in the case of this
research, a version of translation is translated from Thai into English then from
English into Vietnamese. The definition can be expanded as follow:
“'relay' can be defined as a mediation from source to target language in which the
translational product has been realized in another language than that of the original; the
defining feature is that the intermediary translation has an audience, that is consumers, of
its own. Unlike the renditions rightfully termed 'indirect' ..., these intermediary realizations
do not exist in a vacuum or in an ephemeral interval between the original and the target
language version under discussion.” (Dollerup 2000: 19)

Relay translation and interpreting have been widely adopted from Bible
translation to simultaneous conference interpreting. Dollerup (2000) also points out
that relay interpreting is more advantageous over relay translation since relay
interpreting includes the presence of the message sender as well as his/her body
language, which makes it easier for the relay interpreter to grasp the key

information. In the meantime, relay translators often encounter the situation in
which the ambiguous message is hard to be fully comprehended due to the absence
of the message senders. As a result, deviations in relay translation is hard to avoid.
Take Dollerup’s experience in literature translation for example:
“In books by esteemed Danish translators I find at least one error (by my definition)
per page of prose translation, and, inevitably, more in popular literature where translators and
publishers take little care. ... No matter how we define ‘errors’ or deviations, it is clear that in
written public translations, each translator using relay will normally add new ‘deviations’ to
those made by predecessors in the chain. In relation to the original, there is thus a cumulation
of deviations every time a work is relayed.” (Dollerup, 2000)

3. Audio-visual translation
Oreo (2004) lists 3 most common types of audio-visual translation, namely:
dubbing, voicing over and subtitling. While the two formers involve the replacing
of the SL audio with the TL audio under the constraint of lip-synchronization, the

7


later refers to the use of written text at the bottom of the screen without interfering
with the SL audio.
Subtitles, from technical perspectives, can be delivered with the image and
can be open or closed at the audience’s will. From a linguistic point of view, there
are two types of subtitles: intra-lingual subtitles and inter-lingual subtitles. While
intra-lingual subtitles is where the language of the subtitle coincides with the
program, inter-lingual subtitles are the translated message of the SL program
(Cintas,

2010).

Cintas (2010) also mentions the six-second rule, whereby two full 35-character lines
can be read comfortably by the readers within 6 seconds. However, this rule is being
violated by the appearance of three, four or even five lines/time frame, which can
be easily encountered in fan-subbing on the internet (Cintas, 2010). Nevertheless,
those rules are often modified when it comes to Vietnamese as a TL. Take the rules
from Phudeviet.org – a forum for Vietnamese subtitles for example, each time frame
should last for a maximum of 5 seconds, and each time frame should consist of 5-7
words, and 10 words max. If the sentence is too long, it should be divided into two
lines/time frame or three lines/time frame in case there is a need for further
explanation.
4. Relay translation in subtitling
Despite its shortcomings, according to Dollerup (2008), relay translation is
still adopted in subtitling by large subtitling firms with several languages to save
money. Moreover, it is common among the non-profit subtitling communities that
relay translation performs as the link among international audiences. For instance,
it is easy to find a Korean music video translated into English and then from English
into Vietnamese or Spanish.
According to Zilberdik’s research (2004), which analyses the famous Danish
film called “Festen” (The Celeration) by Thomas Vinterberg and its translation into
8


Hebrew (via English and German), relay translation in subtitling produces more
deviations than direct subtitling. In addition, the longer the chain of relays is, the
more deviations and errors will appear in the end-product. Zilberdik (2004) also
highlights the roles of the original film. Relay subtitlers should carefully analyze the
original film from the aspects of the context, the actors and actresses’ acting, their
body language, which will of great help in fully comprehending the movie even
though the subtitlers have no idea about the SL.
5. Translation quality assessment (TQA)

Newmark (1995) affirms translation criticism’s importance via 3 main
reasons. Firstly, by assessing others’ translation, translators can improve their
competences. Secondly, translation criticism also helps translators widen their
knowledge in terms of the languages as well as the topic. Lastly, translators can
sharpen their comprehension of translation principles and theories, which are
obviously essential for their profession.
Though the role of TQA has been highlighted, it is still controversial over
the criteria to evaluate a translation is of good or bad quality. House (1997 in
Schäffner, 1997) claims that “different views of translation lead to different
concepts of translational quality, and hence different ways of assessing it”.
A “good” translation is often evaluated on the accuracy of the TT in
comparison to ST (Newmark, 1991 in Schäffner, 1997). The comparison, in
Newmark’s opinion (1991), would consider both quantitative and qualitative
equivalence in translation. Additionally, Nida (1964) also takes the response of the
receptors into consideration. He claims that the receptors of TT should be similar to
that of ST ones. However, such factor is regarded as subjective and needs further
definition (Newmark, 1974 in House, 1977).
Newmark (1995) also proposes a five-step method to evaluate a translation,
which is considered as a “comprehensive criticism of a translation”, namely:
9


analyzing the ST, analyzing the translator’s purpose, comparing the translation with
the original, evaluating the translation, predicting the translation’s future. This
method is actually in accordance with the process of translating a text.
In general, various models regarding TQA have been introduced, each of
them does show its advantages and disadvantages when being applied. Therefore,
translators, editors and reviewers should flexibly adopt the model to produce an
appropriate evaluation.
6. Translation errors

From the researcher’s perspectives, in order to establish a set of criteria for
TQA, the concept of “translation errors” should be made clear and necessarily taken
into account. Neubert & Shreve (1992) illustrate translation errors as below:
“What rightly appears to be linguistically equivalent may very frequently qualify
as “translationally” non-equivalent. And this so because the complex demand on adequacy
in translation involves subject factors and transfers conventions that typically run counter
to considerations about “surface” linguistic equivalence.”

It can be drawn from the statement above that identifying translation errors
is complex and difficult. Sigrid Kupsch-Losereit (in Nord, 1997), classifies
translation errors as an offence against one of these six following factors: the
function of the translation, the coherence of the text, the text type or text form,
linguistic conventions, culture-and-situation-specific conventions and conditions,
and the language system. According to Youfi (2014 in Putri, 2019), translators make
errors in translation because of their lack of knowledge of both SL and TL in terms
of structure, vocabulary and punctuation. Those errors can be divided into 3 types,
namely: linguistic errors, cultural errors, and stylistic errors. Similarly, Nord (1997)
proposes a four-category classification of translation errors:
(1) Pragmatic translation errors, caused by inadequate solutions to pragmatic
translation problems such as a lack of receiver orientations
(2) Cultural translation errors, due to an inadequate decision with regard to
reproduction or adaption of culture-specific conventions

10


(3) Linguistic translation errors, caused by an inadequate translation when the
focus is on language structures
(4) Text-specific translation errors, which are related to a text-specific translation
problem and, like the corresponding translation problems, can usually be evaluated from a

functional or pragmatic point of view.

Meanwhile, American Translation Association (ATA) provides a list of 22
types of errors that should be taken into consideration when marking errors or
assessing

a

translation:

1) Grammar, 2) Verb tense, 3)Word form/part of speech, 4) Accents, 5)
Capitalization, 6) Punctuation, 7) Spelling, 8) Addition, 9) Ambiguity, 10)
Faithfulness/Misunderstanding, 11) False cognate/falso amigo, 12) Indecision, 13)
Literalness, 14) Omission, 15) Cohesion, 16) Register, 17) Syntax, 18)
Terminology, 19) Text type, 20) Illegibility, 21) Unfinished, and 22) Usage. This
list seems to cover almost every error a translator can make when producing a
translation. However, such errors are concentrating on sentence-based level rather
than text-based level.
It is essential to mention the seriousness and impact of translation errors on
the whole. Melis and Albir (2001) assume that the impact of translation errors
should be evaluated based on their relation to these five following factors:
(1) The text as a whole
(2) The coherence and cohesion of the TT
(3) The degree of difference from the sense of the TT, especially when this difference is
unlikely to be detected by the TT’s readers
(4) The functionality on a communicative level of the TT
(5) Consequences regarding the purpose of the translation

7. Summary
So far, this chapter has provided an overview of translation and related terms

that need clarification in this research. The researcher has discussed the application
of relay translation in audio-visual translation, especially in subtitling. Moreover,
11


the role of TQA and criteria to evaluate a translation have been reviewed. From the
researcher’s point of view, translation errors and their impacts are crucial to the
assessment of a translation’s quality. From the review, the researcher decided to
adopt ATA framework in order to classify and assess the quality of the subtitles.

12


CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1. The research design: Case study
The research includes 5 chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction (research problem, rationale, research objectives,
significance and research methodology)
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Suggestion for further research
Qualititive research method, specifically, case study was adopted to analyse
the data. As the research subjects are 2 subtitles of a Thai movie, qualitive
method is an effective method to dive deep into the subjects and understand
the response of the interviewees comprehensively.
2. Subjects of the study
This research includes 2 subtitle versions of a Thai drama called Buppae
Sunniwas (Love Destiny). One version is translated from Thai into Vietnamese (TV) by Zingtv and the other is from English into Vietnamese (E-V) by Chuồn Chuồn
Cánh Sen (CCCS). The drama consists of 15 episodes, however, due to time

limitation, only the translations of the first episode were analyzed in detail. To better
understand the analysis, a summary of the drama is provided as below.
The drama is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Rompaeng and
produced by CH3 TV channel. Kadesurang, a history student, was traveling home
from a school excavation trip in the ancient city called Ayutthaya. On the way home,
she and her friend – Rueng, got in a car accident. When she woke up, Kadesurang
found herself in the body of Karakate – a girl who lived in Ayutthaya period, during
the reign of King Narai (1656-1688). Karakate is the daughter of the ruler of
Phitsanulok, which is just a remote province at the time, but currently is living in
13


Ayutthaya capital with her fiancé’s family. Karakate’s fiancé – Det is an official at
ministry of foreign affair and holds the noble title Muen Sunthon Thewa. Det and
his family do not adore Karakate at all due to her evilness towards subordinators.
However, after Kadesurang’s spirit possesses Karakate’s body, everyone was first
shocked at her modern manners and languages, but gradually favors her for her
kindness, which is totally in contrast with Karakate’s characteristics before.
3.

Data collection and analysis methods
i.

Research question 1:
The instrument supporting the researcher’s data collection is document

analysis. The researcher decided to adopt the ATA Framework for Standardized
Error Marking to identify translation errors made in both versions of subtitle. The
framework covers nearly all types of possible errors that might be encountered and
concentrates on sentence-level errors. Since the subtitles of the drama are the

translation of the utterances made by characters, the ATA framework proves to be
sufficient to deal with identifying the errors. After the identification of the errors,
they were classified and evaluated to see the seriousness of impact of these errors
on the subtitles. The researcher also uses the explanation of error categories
provided by atanet.org (American Translators Assocciation, 2017) as specified in
appendix 2.
ii.

Research question 2:
From the errors identified in research question 1, an overall assessment of

both versions would be given. The researcher conducted three semi-structured
interviews with three T–V translators and asked for their comments on the quality
of the two versions. Then the data from the interview were transcribed for further
analysis.
The backgrounds of the three interviewees are described as below:

14


Interviewee A: A translator whose second foreign language at university was
Thai. She has more than 4 years of experience in interpreting and translating T – V.
Interviewee B: A translator who has more than 10-year experience in T – V
translating and about 2 years in movie subtitle.
Interviewee C: A translator whose major is in Oriental studies at the
University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City with more than 3year experience in T – V movie subtitle.
These interviewees were selected solely depended on their availability and
the contact of the researchers. However, they are still believed to give
comprehensive comments and opinions on the subtitles.
The interviewees were required to watch both subtitles beforehand. While

watching the movies, the interviewees were expected to take special focus on the
errors in both translations. Later, the researcher conducted interviews with them to
assess the quality of the subtitles. The interviews were in Vietnamese so that the
messages from the interviewees could be understood correctly. The interview
questions are attached in appendix 1.

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CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
1. Data analysis
Initially, the researcher collected and classified errors from both subtitles to
get an overview of the number and types of errors that both Zingtv and CCCS made.
It should be noted that Zingtv breaks each episode of the drama into half while
CCCS remains the total length of each episode, which makes the timecode for each
error in both subtitles different.
Figure 4: Table of the number of translation errors made by Zingtv and CCCS in
the 1st episode of Buppae Saniwas (Love Destiny)
No

Types of Error

The Number of
Each type of Error
made by Zingtv

The Number of
Each type of Error
made by CCCS

1

Mistranslation

21

17

2

Terminology

17

3

Omission

26

7

4

Misunderstanding

9

10

5

Punctuation

8

1

6

Addition

5

1

7

Faithfulness

3

8

Spelling

5

9

Cohesion

1

10

Usage

2

11

Ambiguity
Total

1

2
2

97

41

The table illustrates the number of the errors that both Zingtv and CCCS
made in their subtitles. It can be seen that the total number of errors made by Zingtv
is more than that by CCCS.
16

To begin with, Zingtv made 10 types of error, namely: mistranslation,
terminology, omission, misunderstanding, punctuation, addition, faithfulness,
spelling, cohesion, and usage. Among these types, mistranslation, which
distorts/changes the meaning of SL, and omission dominate with 21 and 26
respectively, followed by terminology with 17 errors. Usage and cohesion appears
the least in this subtitle, only 1-2 errors/type.
Meanwhile, CCCS’s subtitle only consists of 8 types: mistranslation,
omission, misunderstanding, punctuation, addition, usage, and ambiguity. Similar
to Zingtv, CCCS’s subtitle also sees the domination of mistranslation with 19 errors.
Misunderstanding and omission rank 2nd and 3rd with 10 and 7 errors accordingly.
The others only appear only 1 or 2 throughout the subtitle. It is obvious that the
amount of errors as well as the types of errors made by CCCS are far less than those
by Zingtv.
2. Comparison and evaluation
The comparison between two subtitles is provided as below. Also,
evaluations are conducted with the supporting information and comments from the
three interviewees.
The information collected from the three interviews bears some resemblance
to the data the researcher collects from the errors above. All of the interviewees
agree that the subtitle created by CCCS was much more careful with trivial errors.
In the meantime, Zingtv’s errors are more irritating (interviewee C).
Moreover, interviewee B stated that for the parts that are hard to listen, the
translator from Zingtv would produce a translation that is totally different from the
SL. She also referred to the line below as an example.
No. Timecode Vietsub by
Zingtv

Suggested translation
and Thaisub

17

Type of error