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1 PART I INTRODUCTION Rationale In the process of worldwide industrialization, the needs for studying English become more and more inevitable Especially for the knowledge of the specific job, translators must understand deeply all the skills of the job and must be ready for the translation into second language if necessary In Vietnam, anyone coming into career, he or she must prepare all the knowledge of job not only in Vietnamese but in English as well Deriving from translating technical documents of the paint company, the researcher realizes the mistakes in translating paint documents which made by himself or by his colleagues Certainly, in order to get the skills of translation better, anyone who works as translators should analyze thoroughly the mistakes and find out the solutions to correct and avoid in the future Aims of study and research questions Analysis on semantically terminological mistakes in the paint document translation of specific purpose English is a very complicated matter for the researchers, especially for the translators in the field of paint terminology in particular and in English in general The study aims at: - Finding out the mistakes in translating paint terminology from English into Vietnamese with the specific evidences - Suggesting the solutions to the problems to improve the current situation of translating and avoid mistakes in the future Thanks to these ideas, the researcher will be aware of some suitable ways to avoid the mistakes and correct themselves at work * Some research questions deducted from the study are as follows: - What are the mistakes that the translators make when translating the documents? - What are the solutions to these problems? Scope of study In this study, it is impossible to cover all the mistakes - concerning matters The researcher just focuses on the documents that he has been translated from English into Vietnamese – basing on his experience on the paint document translation And from comparison with another 15 translators in sheets of technical documents, the researcher takes the most popular examples that he has observed, he recognizes three of the most common mistakes in the translated documents as follows: - At word level: Resin (chất tạo màng) is a kind of gelled solution to be the main component of paint constitution (Someone translates resin into “nhựa”.) Vehicle (chất mang, dung môi dẫn) = solvent + binder resin (Someone translates vehicle into “phương tiện”.) - At sentence level: “Technology of Haiphong Paint is under the license of Chugoku-Japan.” Vietnamese sentence must be “Cơng nghệ Hải Phịng quyền hãng Chugoku – Nhật Bản”, but some translators take in Vietnamese as “Cơng nghệ cơng ty Sơn Hải Phịng theo li xăng hãng Sơn Chugoku – Nhật Bản” - At paragraph level “Of the paint researches that are important not just to the quality of paint but to water environment, free copper and tin antifouling technologies are improved more and more, which is the best way of reducing the fouls which hold under the marine vessels, which are releasing activated biocides that creates antifouling process through the stages of hydrolysis” The result should be “Trong số nghiên cứu sơn quan trọng không đối chất lượng sơn mà cịn với mơi trường biển, cơng nghệ chống hà không chứa hợp chất thiếc đồng trọng cải tiến Phương pháp tốt để giải chất chống hà tạo nên trình chống hà thông qua giai đoạn thủy phân” The investigated issues in relation to the research are as follows: - A general view of paint technical and other documents - An analysis of the meanings of all the paint terminology and the mistakes created in translation Methods of research Initializing the study, the researcher take advantages of some methods which help him the research in the right direction There are two methods the researcher uses are survey coming from documents observation and statistics applied with analysis and synthesis Encouraging two above methods, the researcher carries out the corresponding tasks as - Collecting and classifying examples and - Comparing the usage of language between Vietnamese and English Instruments for data collection, subjects Deriving from the career, the researcher finds the subject of the study and makes an effort to deal with It is obvious that working as a translator of the paint documents, the researcher has ever got the difficulties in the job ”Mistakes and how to correct them in translating”, which is the reason for the subject The two data collection instruments used in the study are Description of experience and Description of observation * Description of experience To fulfill this study, the researcher has worked at Haiphong Paint Join Stock Company for over years The experience he can get is through such all the documents he has done with in translation as Technical data sheets, paint specifications, catalogue, and color collection cards, etc And some international documents which are related to the Paint Marketing and paint checking are ASTM (American Standard for Testing Measurement), ISO (International Standard Organization), and JIS (Japanese International Standard), TCVN (Vietnamese Standard) Paint companies’ websites are also the resources for the researcher to the study There are so many paint companies in the world In the fact of worldwide economy, the competition among companies is higher and more technological, and the information must be updated regularly and immediately That is the reason why website is a useful instrument to get the information the most easily * Description of observation The researcher is professional in the field of paint, especially paint document translation To help himself be able to understand all the phenomena of paint checking and inspection, the researcher has ever been trained on paint production, checking and inspection at Technical center in Japan (2 months), in the laboratory of Haiphong Paint Joint Stock Company (1 year) and in Technical Service Department (over years) All these things can improve the knowledge of the researcher in both English and Vietnamese deeply, which can help the researcher understand and translate paint documents into a second language easily Methods of data analysis and presentation The data or documents for this study are analyzed and shown in the methods of - Overviewing of all the documents and finding out the general mistakes; after that, - Basing on the research methodology and some kinds of analysis, the researcher shows the document in the form of the assessment and classification of all the documents Structure of thesis Apart from the acknowledgement, table of content and appendices, the thesis is composed of three main parts: Part Introduction includes the rationale, aims of study and research questions, scope of the study, method of research with instruments for data collection, the subject, methods of data analysis, and presentation Part Development consists of three chapters: Chapter Literature review discusses the definition of translation, the functions of translation, importance of developing translating skill and the main reasons for translating mistakes Chapter Description of selected documents basing on the analysis of characteristics of paint terminology Chapter Mistake analysis, recommendations for mistake correction Part Conclusion involves a brief summary of main points, some conclusions induced from the results of the study, limitations of the study and some suggestions for further study PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter focuses on the theoretical knowledge concerning semantically terminological mistakes in the paint document translation of specific purpose English including factors affecting the translation for the people who read and write the paint technical documents 1.1 What is translation? 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." (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation) And, “Translation consists of producing in the target language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, firstly with respect to meaning and secondly with respect to style.” Nida (1959) Often it is rendering meaning of signs, symbols (both verbal and non-verbal) by means of other signs, symbols in the same language or in other languages Common sense tells us that this ought to be simple, as one ought to be able to say something as well in one language as in another On the other hand, it may be seen as complicated, artificial and fraudulent, since by using another language, the language user may be pretending to be someone he/she is not Hence, working in translation has its own interests and its own excitement Since a translator works on a text, he/she is always trying to extent his/her knowledge and improve his/her means of expression, he/she is always pursuing facts and words, so a satisfactory translation is always possible, but a perfect or ideal translated version may never be obtained 1.2 Functions of translation Translation functions as a means of communication and information transferring It is used for multilingual notices in public places, for instructions issued by companies, for technical staffs where it is too often produced from the native into the foreign language by natives as a matter of nation pride, for official documents such as treaties and contracts, for reports, papers, articles, correspondence, textbooks or for technical documents of for advertisement, bidding folio, studying specific materials, etc to convey information, advice and recommendations for every branch of knowledge Its volume has increased with the rise of new technology, the increase in the number of new inventions in science and the growth of the terminology In the field of paint, sometimes we read a technical document, it is really a meaningful word for the daily conversation but it can not be applied for the technical matter For example the word “Heavy duty”, may be understood “Nhiệm vụ nặng nề”, but in all paint documents, we must understand like “Industrial paint” And this well-known example is repeatedly reminded by all translators as a valuable experience of profession, especially when translating such “semi-technical” terms Translation is greatly demanded for the need of common understanding among companies and technicians Millions of books and texts translated everyday help to transfer ideas, notions, customs, and beliefs in the paint field to the others These are absorbed and considered in various directions and lead to the common agreement at different levels, either fully or partly accepted HOW MANY FORCES PULL A TRANSLATION According to Peter New mark, a text may be pulled in ten different directions: Source language writer Source language norms The truth (the facts of the matter) text Source language culture Source language settings and tradition Target language readership Target language norms Target language culture 10 Translator Target language settings and tradition Matters discussed in this study are involved in directions and between English and Vietnamese 1.3 Importance of developing translating skill Although translating skill has been cared by anyone who is related to the reading and writing foreign language technical documents, there are still many problems in reading and writing, especially in translating These problems are the results of the translators’ unawareness of the translating skill Therefore, this section is going to discuss the importance of translating the paint document along with the analysis of the knowledge for the translators of paint technical documents For the purpose of analysis, language has been divided into different skill areas These can be discussed in the framework of how we can understand our first language A child can first learn to practice language by speaking, combined with listening Then, when school begins, children learn the skills of reading and writing As the child grows in their language ability and use, the different skills are most often integrated with each other so that they are being used in coordination with each other Thanks to these skills coordination, the understanding of a language will be developed and can be improved day by day In the same way, the understanding of a foreign language can be built up and developed by learners They can practice a foreign language day by day to create a new habit an understanding of a foreign language That is why the translating skill can be improved when they read the technical documents daily After reading and listening, the translator responds and understands Just think of all English documents you read in one day and compare with the documents in Vietnamese Which you understand more of? Of course, Vietnamese is the answer but if you can understand English as well as Vietnamese, you must practice English translating in daily life In a company, while a staff is reading an English document, he may also understand and translate it into Vietnamese immediately A qualified translator must have good background knowledge of the career in both languages - Vietnamese and English The meaning of technical terminology is conveyed and understood in contexts Furthermore, it is also a requirement that a qualified translator has capability or skills of translating so as to transfer messages from Vietnamese into English and vice versa For the purpose of foreign language translating, some translators have memorized hundreds of words and many grammar rules, but they still cannot translate well Many people can read and understand the English technical documents but when they translate from Vietnamese into English, they cannot It is true to say that being able to read all the words in a sentence is quite different from being able to comprehend or understand and analyze the technical terminologies and the English grammar with meanings This is very much like children, when they can read out all the words in the document but they cannot understand what the meanings of the words are Moreover, the translators who have not much exposure to some rarely-used words, they may forget the meaning They have no solutions to remember these words, which are easy to understand for all the learners of English as a second language But how they can remember these words depends very much on how often they practice using them or writing them down in the memory books In general, all the activities of the translator are aimed to how they can understand technical terms and translate a technical document into another language All they have to is to have both the knowledge of their specialism or career and the ability of the second language understanding 1.4 Reasons for translating mistakes There are, in fact, many things that contribute to the success of translators The followings are some typical factors affecting translating English documents 1.4.1 Subjective causes A translation of high quality must be the work of a skillful translator To be able to produce good translation, the translator must be competent in both the source and target languages and have extensive background knowledge of different fields 1.4.1.1 Insufficient language competence First and foremost, the practice of translation belongs to the linguistic realm Thus, the primary reason of a poor translation must be the insufficiency of the translator’s language competence The incompetence may be of Vietnamese, the target language in English – Vietnamese translation, and/or of English, the source language * Insufficient target language (Vietnamese) competence 10 Before becoming a translator, one must be a good writer That is to say that he/she is capable of using his mother tongue effectively to express the ideas Translation, hence, is most of the time direct consequence of a poor or insufficient target language competence In the English – Vietnamese translation, the target language is the Vietnamese language Vietnamese is known for its sophisticated grammatical rules on which not all Vietnamese people hold appropriate knowledge In fact, only a few Vietnamese translators excel at their own mother tongue, let alone students who are still learning to become translators Language incompetence can be observed in the areas: the vocabulary and the grammatical structures Insufficient knowledge on either of the two areas may lead to translations of poor quality Noticeably, many would-be translators learning at university nowadays not know a remarkably large number of specific Vietnamese words are often used in technical documents This causes limitations in their practice of translation when they work for a company, especially when the text strictly requires proper writing style “Finish” term likes these, as observed, in shipbuilding field, it means “hoàn thiện” (complete a ship) In this case, it is very easy to translate into Vietnamese because it has the same meaning of the daily life when we something okay But in paint field, it means “sơn phủ” (the last paint layer in the painting system) Some unskilled translators tend to use one neutral word to translate all words of similar meaning in English for they are unwilling to improve their Vietnamese vocabulary They not have in mind that academic English should be translated into academic Vietnamese and vice versa This requires all translators to ceaselessly enlarge their vocabulary, especially academic ones, which quite a few Vietnamese people lack Vietnamese grammatical structures are just as diverse as that of any other language, sometimes even more Most Vietnamese people can intuitively use these structures but fail to connect them with certain foreign language, hence cannot translate naturally Besides, Vietnamese language users are known for over-using commas instead of conjunctions, and run-on sentences Overcoming these weaknesses is crucial to the improvement of English – Vietnamese translations 23 Resin (chất tạo màng) is a kind of gelled solution to be the main component of paint constitution Vehicle (chất mang, dung môi dẫn) = solvent + resin When looking at the word ”vehicle”, we think it is like ”car”, “truck”, or something relates to the moving machine In fact in the field of paint, vehicle is a kind of chemical substance The same as the word resin, in Vietnamese, we often consider it “nhựa”, which leads to wrong translation Here are some other examples: Wall-paint (sơn nước): is the same meaning with emulsion paint Hardener (đóng rắn): used to make the paint film be created in chemical reaction (Someone that does not work in paint will translate “chất làm cứng”) Silicon Coating: sơn chịu nhiệt Touch-up: Sơn dặm Striped coat: Sơn lưng b Some words have no Vietnamese equivalent, therefore, cannot be translated into Vietnamese Therefore, borrowing is very much likely a solution In the technical documents, there are many new words which must be used in English original sound or word For example: Base: the basing substance to constitute a coating Paste: a kind of coating substance is ready to replace coating with some added powders Etching: is the coating of primer 3.1.2 Context matters Study these examples: “Sơn Hải Phòng, niềm tự hào cơng trình bền với thời gian” In English: “Haiphong paint, the proud with every project long live performance” 24 “Cơng trình” In English: “Experience” “Đầu tư” In English: “Member” It is clear to see that “Công trình” and “Experience”, as well as “Đầu tư” and “Member” is not correct translation But in the context of advertising the experience of the paint projects which Haiphong paint has supplied In this case, experience means all the projects in which paint product are used In the case of member, in fact, they are the members of Haiphong Paint Joint Stock Company, they are subsidiary companies But up to now, they have been running independently from Haiphong Paint JS Company That’s why, the capital which is invested from Haiphong Paint JC Company, is like shareholder 3.1.3 Habit of English translator In this part, I would like to mention the bad habit of the translators which is repeatedly and unconsciously used Take a look at the following examples: “Công ty cổ phần Sơn Hải Phòng thành lập ngày 25 tháng 01 năm 1960 Trên sở kinh nghiệm, công nghệ truyền thống đặc biệt chuyển giao công nghệ sản xuất sơn theo Lixăng hãng Chugoku Marine Paints” In English: “Haiphong Paint Joint Stock Company was established in 25th January 1960 Basing on the long-timed experience, special technology licensed from Lixang Technology of Chugoku Marine Paints of Japan” We can see the bold words Lixăng is used very naturally because the translators always hear about the lixăng from Vietnamese people who are not professional in English These people often see the word “license” and they understand what it means In fact, whenever they want to use it, they use the word “lixăng As a result, what is heard (the sound) becomes the word in writings 25 Moreover, when we look at the above paragraph, it appears that the grammar applied is something wrong In English version, there is no Subject for the second sentence The matter here is mistake in grammar In general, there are many mistakes and misunderstanding in the process of translation However, if the translators can not correct them immediately, it will become the big problems in the future Basing the experience from the colleagues who work as qualified translators, the would-be translator must make an effort to correct the mistake basing on the basic grammar and career experience Some suggested ways to correct the mistakes will be discussed in section 3.2 below 3.2 Recommendations for mistake correction It is highly recommended that translators and translation learners equip themselves with as many translation techniques as possible They may be the strategies to overcome linguistic difficulties, or the tactics to make your translation widely accepted by target language readers in specific English terms 3.2.1 Overcoming linguistic problems 3.2.1.1 Choose the right word At the level of words, problems can only be solved if the translator works hard to accumulate both his English and Vietnamese vocabulary to a level that he is capable of choosing the right word in any case to produce a natural translation It is crucial for a translator to fully understand all the denotations and connotations of a word so that he can avoid making any loss of connotational meanings To that, he also needs flexibility in the use of words and does not translate mechanically basing on an English – Vietnamese dictionary Besides, the translator must avoid the rigid use of parts of speech with the following techniques: a Translate English nouns with Vietnamese verbs or adjectives - Paint is a long-live performance product: Sơn bền với thời gian 26 - It is a coating of cutting and weldability: Đó lớp sơn bền hàn cắt - It is the shop with the red and green sign: Đó cửa hàng có biển hiệu xanh đỏ b Plural form to singular form and vice versa Translation at word level includes the ability to proper switch between the plural form and singular form so that the translation best suits the mindset of Vietnamese readers This is particularly noticeable as we deal with English uncountable nouns The following examples are extracted from some paint translators They have a relatively good sense of plural and singular form in English – Vietnamese translation English Resins, in pre-mixing with solvent and Suggested Vietnamese version Chất tạo màng trộn với loại color pigment, are mixed in additives to dung mơi bột màu, sau nghiền với produce paint Coating is created on the steel surface, phụ gia để tạo nên sản phẩm sơn Lớp sơn hình thành bề mặt ensuring thép đảm bảo tiêu độ the properties of coverage, thickness as well as chemical and physical phủ, độ dày tiêu lý Vietnam ink and paint Association is in hóa học Hiệp hội sơn mực Việt Nam the process pursuing solutions of a number tìm kiếm giải pháp cho cải cách công of technology improvement and market nghệ tìm mở rộng thị trường achievement Table 3.1 Switch between plural and singular form 3.2.1.2 Choose the right structure By structure, it is meant both the structure of the phrase and the sentence At phrase level, translators should choose the best word order possible so that their translation would sound more Vietnamese At sentence level, it is necessary not only to switch the positions of certain parts of the sentence but also to replace some structures unfamiliar to Vietnamese readers a Transpositions 27 Transposition is a translation technique in which the translator reverses the order or place of certain words or phrases when necessary to improve the naturalness of the sentence For example, when translating this English sentence into Vietnamese, you should make a transposition Original version: Allow the proper drying time between coat for multiple paint systems and before exposure as required by the coatings manufacturer and include in the test (ASTM D1014, 5.1) Suggested Vietnamese version: Trước thi công lớp sơn theo yêu cầu nhà sản xuất theo hệ thống sơn nhiều lớp tiến hành thử nghiệm, cần xác định thời gian khô cụ thể b Replacements Replace passive voice with active voice: Needless to say, most of the times, passive voice in the original English text should be replaced with active voice in Vietnamese Observe the replacements in these sentences: Original version: After surface preparation, if the panels are stored prior to coating, precautions must be taken to preserve the clean surface Suggested Vietnamese version: Sau chuẩn bị bề mặt xong, trước sơn lên mẫu, cần ý giữ bề mặt mẫu Replace a complex sentence with two or more simple sentences (Splitting technique, or ‘salami’ technique): It would be unnatural to try to translate an English long complex sentence to a Vietnamese sentence of the same structure The excessive use of markers like 28 “mà”, “nơi mà”, etc can make the sentence too complicated for an average Vietnamese reader to fully understand For example, with sentences like “Of the paint researches that are important not just to the quality of paint but to water environment, free copper and tin antifouling technologies are improved more and more, which is the best way of reducing the fouls which hold under the marine vessels, which are releasing activated biocides that creates antifouling process through the stages of hydrolysis”, the solution is breaking it into smaller ones to translate The result should be “Trong số nghiên cứu sơn quan trọng không đối chất lượng sơn mà cịn với mơi trường biển, cơng nghệ chống hà không chứa hợp chất thiếc đồng trọng cải tiến Phương pháp tốt để giải chất chống hà tạo nên q trình chống hà thơng qua giai đoạn thủy phân” 3.2.1.3 Dealing with linguistic untranslatability It is never easy to deal with linguistic challenges in translation, such as specific English words in documents However, there are techniques that translators can apply when necessary for the untranslatability to some extent This kind is very difficult unless you have a copious linguistic and even terminology Consider the following short paragraph: Nowadays, customers prefer inorganic shop primer to epoxy shop primer because they have high weldabilily, heat resistant performance Cerabond 2000 is the most effective shop primer coating It is necessary to distinguish between Cerabond and Cerabest Both are inorganic coating but Cerabond is shop primer type and Cerabest is looked as an anticorrosive one We visited shipyards at Hiroshima where one kind of shop primer (Cerabond 2000) is applied only whereas other coatings are supplied by Hempel, KCC, NMK… It would be rather unwise to translate it as: Ngày nay, khách hàng ưa chuộng loại sơn lót vơ sơn lót gốc epoxy chúng có khả chịu hàn cắt, chịu nhiệt Cerabond 2000 loại sơn lót hiệu Chúng ta cần phải phân biệt hai loại sơn Cerabond Cerabest Cả hai loại sơn lót Cera best có đặc tính chống rỉ nhiều Chúng thăm nhà máy đóng tàu Hiroshima nơi mà Cerabond 2000 thi công sơn phủ khác hãng Hempel, KCC, NMK… 29 Shop primer and anti corrosive are the same, but in above case, we must understand the properties of paint which can only help to translate 3.2.2 Overcoming terminology problems 3.2.2.1 Terminology competence To avoid mistakes over issues of terminology, translators should keep in mind that sometimes an effort to translate correctly is not as valuable as a suitable substitution In any areas of a job, people get many difficulties to get acquainted with the terminology, even in Vietnamese When we gets the Vietnamese words, we can not understand what it means, and we can not explain it in Vietnamese For example, in construction, we say “tâm tuyến” in Vietnamese At first we hear it, we find it difficult to know how to use it But when we say it in English “center-line”, easy to notice and can remember In paint field, we often get the terms such as “hàm rắn, hàm không bay – Nonvolatile content”, “hàm ẩm humidity”, “bền uốn – bending”, “bền thời tiết – weathering”, “chống rỉ - antirust, anticorrosive”, “chống hà – antifouling” Some unskilled translators tend to use one neutral word to translate all words of similar meaning in English for they are unwilling to improve their Vietnamese vocabulary They not have in mind that academic English should be translated into academic Vietnamese and vice versa This requires all translators to ceaselessly enrich their vocabulary, especially academic ones, which quite a few Vietnamese people lack Consider the meaning of the terminology, we find it easy to look for some English specific word has the meaning similar to the major use For example, “finish”, “undercoat”, “humidity”, “anti rust”… 3.2.2.2 Dealing with terminology untranslatability Untranslatability is unavoidable due to the numerous differences between the two languages A translator, however, can resort to a number of translation procedures to compensate a Free translation In some studies, free translation is also called adaptation According to Wikipedia, an adaptation is a translation procedure whereby the translator replaces the terms reality in the 30 source text with a corresponding reality in the target text; this new reality would be more usual to the audience of the target text For example, in the Vietnamese chemical documents, many proper names are modified so that it would at least sound familiar to Vietnamese readers The names are presented in the following table: No English Vietnamese Chrome Cờ rôm Polyurethane Pô li u rê than Epoxy Ê pốc xi Alkyd An kít Rubber Chlorided Cao su clo hóa Table 3.2 Free translation of proper names All the above names are also the same as the original English because Vietnamese readers can immediately relate them to some image on their mind It can be said that these names have been made Vietnamese b Borrowing Borrowing is not a new method It has been discussed in many books on lexicology and translation What the thesis wants to emphasize is the translation- loan, special kind of borrowings Translation-loans “are not taken into the vocabulary of another language more or less in the same phonemic shape in which they have been functioning in their own language, but undergo the process of translation.” (Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng & Lê Quốc Hạnh, 2003) Translation-loans not only resolve problems of terminology untranslatability but also help increase one language’s vocabulary For instance, Vietnamese people are now familiar with terms like “người chơi” (indicating a player in a gameshow), “thân thiện với môi trường” (environmental friendly), and “định hướng khách hàng” (client- oriented) In fact, in paint constitution, many words must come from the English specific terms which makes the translators and readers be able to understand For example, the words “tỷ lệ base đóng rắn”, “sơn lưng”… In these examples, it is very difficult to take in if we 31 translate “base/harderner rate – tỷ lệ chất nền/đóng rắn” or some time of the use of “sơn lưng” makes it more difficult for the readers to understand instead of “stripe coat” c Paraphrase and translator’s note We can see that the translators sometimes should employ the technique of paraphrasing (also known as periphrasis) Otherwise, it would be almost impossible for target language readers to comprehend the concepts unprecedented in their culture On the other hand, the translator may keep the original word or phrase without paraphrasing, but then add a footnote or endnote to the target text providing additional information, pertaining to the limits of the translation, the terminology or any further explanation This translator’s note helps readers better understand the text; nevertheless, it is generally considered a failure in translation attempt by many professional translators The above-mentioned techniques are useful for translators when trying to compensate the untranslatability Besides, translators can also use techniques like paraphrase or calque However, these techniques cannot be used successfully without the translator’s willingness to diligently study with a view to gaining his terminology along with his linguistic competence 32 PART CONCLUSION This chapter provides a conclusion for this thesis Firstly, a brief overview and a summary of the main chapters are provided Secondly, the strengths and weaknesses of the thesis are discussed Finally, suggestion for further research and a final comment are made Summary of main points Since its very beginning, translation has not ceased to play its indispensable role of transferring messages across languages and cultural barriers Although the practice of translation is honored for its noble task, huge efforts are needed to improve the quality of translations Thus, the study on translation as the transformation of a written text in one language to that in another language has been carried out long before the formation of this thesis and undoubtedly will be continued ever after What I attempt to in this thesis is to contribute my humble study to that great research work by pointing out the mistakes in Paint technical documents to clarify English terminology and Vietnamese terminology that may trouble whom working in translation which is very close to my everyday work This is to show translators, especially would-be translators who are still studying in various universities in Vietnam to become translation 33 professionals, the potential traps they may get caught in when rendering English texts into Vietnamese in terms of technical documents Peter Newmark wrote in 1988 about the three basic translation processes: a the interpretation and analysis of the source language text; b the translation procedure (choosing equivalents for words and sentences in the target language), and c the reformulation of the text according to the writer's intention, the reader's expectation, the appropriate norms of the target language, etc This thesis is concerned with only the third process, the reformulation of the text In the course of this thesis, I have examined the previous literature on the theory of translation, especially ones on English – Vietnamese translation Then I looked at the semantically terminologies mistakes in the paint document translation of specific purpose English in detail I outlined the analysis of this issue in three main parts on mistakes in translation, the causes and corrections The causes of terminology mistakes in the paint document translation as discussed in Part can be considered a classification of common mistakes that may make the translations get in trouble Specific examples are taken from technical documents and bidding documents and from previously published books By the classification and examples cited as well as the description of selected documents, I attempted to help readers of this thesis, especially would-be translators and inexperienced ones to be fully aware of what mistakes they may easily make before seeking ways to avoid them Especially chapter 3, Part II of this thesis discusses the mistakes analysis and translation recommendations a translator may employ when encountering a difficult situation in which he may risk turning his translation into an wrong combination of words Some of recommendations are emphasized for they are likely to help translators much in their professional practice; however, the others are briefly mentioned as they may have appeared frequently here and there in other publications Some conclusions induced from the results of the study Though there have been many books on English –Vietnamese translation so far, few of them emphasize the mistakes occurring during the process of translation This 34 thesis, however, discusses in detail this phenomenon with relevant examples It is organized in a way that helps readers find it easy to get the general ideas about the issue In this thesis, people can find clear definitions and constructive suggestions for mistakes corrections These are factors that may make the thesis stand out from other studies also touching on the issue Furthermore, the author limited the types of mistakes mentioned to ensure they are popular ones that translators should pay the most attention to Finally, the aims and scope of the thesis is consistent from the beginning to the end Limitations of the study Although the thesis has been completed, there are some limitations in this study Due to the limited time of research and the broad scope it is concerned with, issues mentioned are still somewhat general Moreover, examples cited are limited due to the short-time exploration from the author and some books and articles sparsely collected This does not cause any bias because the classification was carried out independently But to some extent it may not be very diverse Suggestions for further study In the time to come, Vietnam will further integrate into the world economy and the opening economic policies will need the demand for communication in English, especially for the specifically technical companies This progress requires translations of high quality, mainly from English to Vietnamese and vice versa Thus, more studies should be carried out to identify and how to cope with common mistakes in these translations Besides, studies on what can be called a pure Vietnamese language and how to maintain it through the processes of translation should be implemented These studies are supposed to bring readers an overview of the contemporary situation of Vietnamese translated works, its strengths and limitations, and how to improve it Digging into current publications to find common pitfalls that may harm the quality of translations is recommended In conclusion, I want to significantly contribute to the study of English – Vietnamese translations in universities and on the media through this thesis In my opinion, it can be considered a companion of all people who are seeking to improve their English – Vietnamese translation skills as well as the quality of their translations Hopefully, readers of this thesis can find it useful in their work and study or at least see it as a reference worth 35 looking at REFERENCES Bassnett, S 2002 Translation studies Rout ledge Taylor and Francis group Bùi Tiến Bảo, & Đặng Xuân Thu (1999) Interpreting and Translation Course Book Hanoi: Education Publishing House Catchword (n.d.) Glossary of Naming Techniques and Linguistic Concepts Retrieved May 10, 2006, from http://www.catch-word.com/glossary.html Huỳnh Trung Tín, & Nguyễn Ngọc Tuyền (n.d.) Theory of Translation Retrieved May 17, 2006, from http://www.ctu.edu.vn/coursewares/supham/ltdich/index.htm Lê Huy Trường, Đặng Đình Thiện, & Trần Huy Phương (1998) A Grammar of the English Language Hanoi: Education Publishing House Lê Văn Sự (2003) Translation and Grammar Hanoi: Culture and Information Publishing House Newmark, P (October, 1988) A Textbook of Translation New York: Prentice Hall 36 Nguyễn Quốc Hùng (2005) Hướng dẫn kỹ thuật dịch Anh - Việt Hanoi: Social Sciences Publishing House Shei, C (2002) Combining Translation into the Second Language and Second Language Learning: An Integrated Computational Approach Doctoral dissertation, the University of Edinburgh, UK Retrieved May 9, 2006, from http://www.swan.ac.uk/cals/staff/shei/phd2/thesis_revised2.htm 10 Venuti, L (2000) The Translation Studies Reader London: Routledge 11 Wright, D (2001) Yan Fu and the Tasks of the Translators (p 4) Retrieved April 28, 2006, from www.wsc.uni-erlangen.de/pdf/wright.pdf ... – Vietnamese translations in universities and on the media through this thesis In my opinion, it can be considered a companion of all people who are seeking to improve their English – Vietnamese... improve it Digging into current publications to find common pitfalls that may harm the quality of translations is recommended In conclusion, I want to significantly contribute to the study of English... whom working in translation which is very close to my everyday work This is to show translators, especially would-be translators who are still studying in various universities in Vietnam to become