nh gi bn dch Vit - Anh tc phm Oxford

thng yu
Trn Thanh Hng
Trng i hc Ngoi ng
Lun vn ThS ngnh: Ngn ng Anh; M s: 60 22 15
Ngi hng dn:
Nm bo v: 2012

Abstract: Over the past decade, more and more foreign works of literature have been
translated into Vietnamese, and vice versa. However, quantity does not ensure quality.
Translation quality has received much criticism from reviewers and readers. This thesis
aims at investigating the quality of Vietnamese-English literary translation through the
analysis of the English version of the novel Beloved Oxford. Due to the limit of the
study, only the first three chapters are selected to be compared and analyzed to point out
the strengths and weaknesses of the translated version. The translator encounters
enormous difficulties in finding the appropriate equivalence. Based on the findings, some
implications about the challenges of Vietnamese-English literary translation are drawn.
Although the study has some limitations, it can be a useful reference for those who take
interest in literary translation.
Keywords: Ting Anh; Bn dch; Tc phm vn hc; Dch thut

Content
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
Translation has been of great importance to the worlds society and culture, especially in
the current process of globalization. Thanks to translation, more and more books, documents,
news have been translated between languages, which enables human access to the repository of
knowledge of many fields in different languages. It also contributes to the introduction of each
countrys identity to the world. Therefore, international understanding, social cultural awareness
among people is dramatically improved.
Among translation fields, literary translation catches many peoples interest. A lot of
foreign literature works have been translated into Vietnamese, and vice versa. However, the
question of how much the quality of literary translation is remains unanswered. A plenty of

translated versions have drawn much criticism from reviewers and readers for the last few years.
Thus, assessing the translations becomes inevitable.
The novel Beloved Oxford written by Duong Thuy (published in 2007) is chosen for
several reasons. Firstly, it is one of the best sellers in its original Vietnamese language in 2007.
The novel has been reprinted seventeen times with the total copies of 59,500 so far (up to April,
2012). Secondly, Beloved Oxford is one of my favourite novels, which helps me understand
more about the life of Vietnamese students overseas. This novel is translated into English by
Elbert Bloom, an American reader, who is fascinated by Duong Thuys works.
These reasons and interests provide me with motivation to work on this thesis,
Evaluating the English version of the novel Beloved Oxford.

2. Scope of the study

The beautiful romantic novel Beloved Oxford consists of sixteen chapters. On the ground
of limited time, conditions, this thesis focuses on the first three chapters, namely The Surprising
School Admission, The Challenger, The Lonely Winter respectively.
3. Aims of the study
The study is carried out to investigate the quality of the English version of the novel
Beloved Oxford based on Newmarks theory of translation criticism. In order to serve the aim of
the study, two research questions are raised:
1. What are the strengths of the English version of Beloved Oxford in terms of
linguistic aspect and translational aspect?
2. What are the weaknesses of the English version of Beloved Oxford in terms of
linguistic aspect and translational aspect?
4. Research methodology
To achieve the goal of the study, contrastive analysis is employed. The researcher
conducts the study in the following steps:

Building up a theoretical background for the study

Choosing a model for translation quality assessment, that is Newmarks

Analyzing and comparing source text and target text to find out the strengths and
weaknesses of the translation in term of linguistic aspect and translational aspect

5. Organization of the study

Part I is the Introduction which provides readers an overview of the thesis including the
rationale for the study, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the organization of the study.

Part II is the Development, which includes two chapters.

Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical background knowledge related to literary translation
and translation quality assessment.
Chapter 2 is the main part of the study. It provides comparison and analysis between
original texts and translation texts, and discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the
translation.
Part III is the Conclusion which summarizes the main ideas and findings of the study,
draws some implications for Vietnamese - English literary translations, points out limitations of
the study and makes suggestions for further research.

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. LITERARY TRANSLATION
1.1.1. Literary translation definition
According to Toury (1995, cited in Elkjr, 2010), a literary translation is a translation of
a text deemed literary in the source culture, which conforms - translates - to the requirements of a
literary text in the target culture.
Having the same viewpoint, Schulte (2010) claims that Literary translation bridges the
delicate emotional connections between cultures and languages and furthers the understanding
of human beings across national borders. In the act of literary translation the soul of another
culture becomes transparent, and the translator recreates the refined sensibilities of foreign
countries and their people through the linguistic, musical, rhythmic, and visual possibilities of
the new language.
1.1.2. Characteristics of literary translation
Belhaag (1997, cited in Hassan, 2011) summarizes the characteristics of literary
translations:
-

expressive

connotative

symbolic

focusing on both form and content

subjective

allowing multiple interpretation

timeless and universal

using special devices to heighten communicative effect

tendency to deviate from the language norms

1.1.3. Methods used in literary translation

It seems that Nidas formal equivalence translation, Larsons literal translation, and
Newmarks semantic translation focus on the form of the text. However, they ignore context.
Similarly, Nidas dynamic equivalence translation, Larsons idiomatic translation and
Newmarks communicative translation seek one goal, that is, conveying the message of the
original text to the receptor audience and are equivalent to the original text in a dynamic way.
Therefore, it is advisable that translators bear these methods in mind when translating literary
text.
1.1.4. Problems of literary translation
The first problem is that of equivalence. Jakobson (1966, cited in Boushaba, 1988)
considers that equivalence cannot be defined in terms of sameness and synonymy in translation
theory. The problems of literary translation also include differences between cultures. Equal
importance should be stressed on both linguistic and cultural differences between the SL and the
TL. When working with literature, a translator might have problems related to the analysis of the
ST, which is made in order to establish the purpose and before a translation.
1.2. TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT
1.2.1. Definition of translation quality assessment
In his book A Textbook of Translation (1988), Newmark defines it as translation
criticism. According to him, translation criticism is an essential link between translation theory
and its practice.
1.2.2. Role of translation quality assessment
Newmark (1988) regards translation criticism or TQA as the keystone of any course in
comparative literature, or literature in translation, and a component of any professional
translation course with the appropriate text-types as an exercise for criticism and discussion.
1.2.3. Models for translation quality assessment
In her book A Model for Translation Quality Assessment, House (1986) classifies the
studies on TQA into four main categories: pre-linguistic studies, response-based psycholinguistic
studies, source text-based studies, and studies based on pragmatic theories of language use.
Newmark (1988) also suggests another translation assessment method called a
comprehensive criticism of a translation. This method consists of five steps: (1) a brief analysis

of the SL text stressing its intention and its functional aspects; (2) the translators interpretation
of the SL texts purpose, his translation method and the translations likely readership; (3) a
selective but representative detailed comparison of the translation with the original; (4) an
evaluation of the translation in the translators terms and in the critics terms; (5) an assessment
of the likely place of the translation in the TL culture or discipline.
From the researchers point of view, Newmarks method is employed in this study
because of two reasons. The first reason is that it can be applied without any difficulty.
Newmarks method includes 5 steps, and in each step he describes what to do in detail. Besides
this method comes from the translators real experiences, so it discusses issues raised in
translating process. The second reason is that it is appropriate for the goal of the study which
investigates the quality of the translated version, the strengths and weaknesses of the translation
in terms of linguistic and translational aspect in particular. The researcher assesses the translation
from the perspective of a practitioner, not of a critic, so she takes much interest in translation
practice rather than translation theory.

CHAPTER 2: TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF THE TRANSLATED

VERSION OF BELOVED OXFORD
2.1. Source text and the author
Beloved Oxford is a best-seller romance novel written by author Duong Thuy. The story
is about the trials, successes and romances of a young Vietnamese girl, Thien Kim, who travels
to English to study at Oxford University. Here she fulfils her dreams and falls in love with a
Portuguese teaching assistant, Fernando.
In the first three chapters namely The Surprising School Admission, The Challenger, The
Lonely Winter respectively, the author describes the new life of Thien Kim in Oxford. She faces
a lot of trouble as she has to adapt herself to a new environment including eating diet, harsh
weather, and reserved native people. Fernando always helps her to overcome these difficulties by
giving her useful advice and supporting her. With the enormous help of Fernando, Kim soon gets
used to the living style and study style in England. When it is near Christmas time, the school has
a break. Fernando comes back to his family in Portugal while Kim visits her aunts family in
France. Although Kims aunt wants her to stay for Christmas, she insists on returning to
England. Kim unfortunately catches a cold, but she does not dare go to the doctors because of
the expensive cost. Kim then feels the lonely winter and wishes Fernando would be by her side.

When Fernando finally returns from Portugal, he takes Kim to the doctors and they enjoy the
happy time together.
The author Duong Thuy is currently one of the popular young writers in Vietnam. She
started writing short stories when she was 16 years old. Since then, writing has been her hobby
and also her need to express herself. She has never been a full time writer, but she always tries to
write professionally.

2.2. Translation and the translator

The novel was translated into English by Elbert Bloom and was published by Youth
Publishing House in the late 2011.
The non-professional translator, Elbert Bloom, finds this novel so charming that it
deserves to be made available for English speaking people all around the world. Thus, he
decided to translate this novel into English. He translated each chapter with the aid of a
dictionary, sent the translated versions to Duong Thuy for review, and edited his work according
to her comments. It was edited over and over by himself before coming out.
2.3. Translation quality assessment of the English version of Beloved Oxford
2.3.1. Strengths
The considerable strength of the translation is the translators appropriate word choices in
comparison with the original. This helps the translation become clearer and more explicit in
meaning than the source text.
2.3.2. Weaknesses
Weaknesses of the translation can be found in both linguistic and translational aspect.
2.3.2.1. Linguistic aspect
Linguistic aspect involves plural noun forms.
2.3.2.2. Translational aspect
Translational aspect includes omission, addition, equivalence, accuracy and naturalness.
a. Omission
Omission in translation is understood as no translation of a certain piece of information in
the source text and the information does not include in the target text. In these following
examples, the translator omits crucial information that helps readers to fully comprehend the
text.
b. Addition

Addition in translation is understood as an extra piece of information added to the target

text that is not in the source text. Addition makes what is implicit in the source text explicit in the
target text. However, if the additional information in the target text is redundant and not useful
to readers to understand the text, it then becomes unnecessary.
c. Equivalence
It is common knowledge that equivalence is a key issue in translation theory. There are
many ways of classifying according to different views of equivalence, for instance, Nidas
formal and dynamic equivalence (1964), Widdowsons structural, semantic, and pragmatic
equivalence (1979), Newmarks semantic and communicative equivalence (1988). Another
classification of equivalence is Bakers (1992) which is viewed from different perspectives,
syntactically and pragmatically. In this thesis, Bakers classification is chosen to form the
foundation for analyzing weaknesses in equivalence.
c.1. Equivalence at word level
The equivalents are divided into three groups based on their part of speech in the
sentence: noun equivalents, verb equivalents and adjective equivalents. The translator makes
mistakes because he translated the text word for word.
c.2. Equivalence above word level
Equivalence above word level includes phrase equivalents, sentence equivalents and
idioms.

d. Accuracy
Every error that has been discussed in the previous parts ranging from errors in
grammatical aspect to errors in translational aspect certainly influences the accuracy of the
translation. To avoid unnecessary repetition, no discussion on the inaccuracy of the translated
text is provided in this part.
e. Naturalness
In this thesis naturalness in translation is observed from linguistic angle. Unnaturalness
can be identified by analyzing the use of words, expressions, grammatical structures.
2.3.2. Summary
In this chapter, by analyzing, synthesizing, describing, explaining, comparing the first
three chapters between the original and the translation, the answers to the two research questions
are found out.

1. What are the strengths of the English version of Beloved Oxford in terms of
linguistic aspect and translational aspect?
It is revealed that the enormous strength of the translation is the translators proper use of
words in comparison with the original, which makes the translated version clearer and easier to
be understood.
2. What are the weaknesses of the English version of Beloved Oxford in terms of
linguistic aspect and translational aspect?
The weaknesses lie in both linguistic and translational aspects. Linguistic weakness
consists of the misuse of plural noun forms. Translational aspect involves omission, addition,
equivalence, accuracy and naturalness, among which the translator encounters enormous
difficulties in finding the appropriate equivalence.

PART III: CONCLUSION

Among many translation fields, literary translation is supposed to be the most challenging
but interesting. Thanks to translation, many foreign works of literature have been introduced to
Vietnamese readers, and vice versa. However, little attention is paid to the quality of literary
translation. This thesis attempts to investigate the quality of Vietnamese-English literary
translation, strengths and weakness of the translated version in detail.
The study starts with an overview of key concepts in literary translation and translation
quality assessment. Then, in the main part, the analysis and comparison between the source text
and target text is presented to point out the strengths and weaknesses of the translated version.
Based on the results, the researcher can explore some implications about the challenges of
Vietnamese-English literary translation.
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