translation as cultural transfer: the case of translating idioms of food and drink Đào Lan Anh Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành:English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Assoc. Prof., Dr. Lê Hùng Tiến Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: In the English language, idioms are one of issues that have never been studied exhaustively. There are many interesting topics in this valuable treasure of the language, and food and drink is not an exception. This study focuses on the cultural transfer through the idiomatic translation. Data was collected from professional translations of idioms of food and drink. The author, then, will analyze how cultural transfer occurs through the translation and give some suggestions on the strategies of translating idioms of food and drink. Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Dịch; Thành ngữ. Content: iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale………………………………………………………………………………. 1 2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………………………… 1 3. Limitation of the stuy…………………………………………………………………. 1 4. Method of the study…………………………………………………………………… 2 5. Design of the study…………………………………………………………………… 2 DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. LANGUAGE ANDCULTURE…………………………………………………… 3 1.1. Definition of language and culture…………………………………………………. 3 1.2. The relation between language and culture………………………………………… 4 2. TRANSLATION……………………………………………………………………. 6 2.1. Definition of translation…………………………………………………………… 6 2.2 Translation Process and Methods…………………………………………………… 7 3. IDIOMS AND TRANSLATION…………………………………………………… 10 3.1. Definition of idioms…………………………………………………………………. 10 3.2. The interpretation of idioms………………………………………………………… 11 3.3. Idioms versus proverbs………………………………………………………………. 13 3.4. Culture in idioms and its relation to the transfer in translation…………………… 15 CHAPTER TWO: CULTURAL TRANSFER THROUGH TRANSLATION OF IDIOMS OF FOOD AND DRINK 1. Idioms of food and drink…………………………………………………………… 18 1.1. Criteria for idioms of food and drink………………………………………………… 18 1.2. Syntactical feature of idioms of food and drink…………………………………… 19 1.3. Cultural features of idioms of food and drink……………………………………… 22 2. Cultural transfer through translation of idioms of food and drink…………. 23 2.1. Idiomatic equivalence……………………………………………………………… 24 2.2. Conceptual equivalence……………………………………………………………. 26 2.3. Lexical equivalence…………………………………………………………………. 28 2.4. Semantic and pragmatic equivalence………………………………………………. 30 3. Suggestions of some strategies in translating idioms of food and drink………… 31 CONCLUSION 1. Review of the study…………………………………………………………………… 35 2. Suggestions for further studies………………………………………………………. 36 REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………… 37 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Since human’s society developed, there has been a trend of integration between people and nations. People living together in the world need to help each other to gain economic development, political stabilization and equality. That, the need of understanding between people and nations has increased. Translation constitutes an essential tool for better communication, better understanding each other. Of all the translation work, translating idioms seems to be the most challenging since it is a meaning-based translation which makes every effort to communicate the meaning of the source language ( SL) text in the natural forms of the target language (TL). To deal with translating idioms, one must have good cultural background of not only the SL but also of the TL. Therefore, mastering translation theory in general and strategies of translating idioms in particular is very important to learners and translators. Being interested in idioms for a long time, I choose idioms as my thesis topic. Due to the limited time and knowledge, I just focus on how culture transfers through the process of translating idioms of food and drink. When searching for equivalence in translation to see how cultural transfer occurs, some strategies of translating idioms of food and drink will be discussed to overcome the difficulties of idiom translation. 2. Aims of the study The study has the following aims:  considering how cultural transfer occurs through the process of translating idioms of food and drink;  suggesting some practical strategies in translating idioms of food and drink 3. Limitation of the study Due to the limited time and knowledge, I cannot cover all aspects of idiomatic expression of food and drink in this study. Thus, I just focus on the cultural transfer through the idiomatic translation and suggest some strategies of translating English – Vietnamese idioms of food and drink and vice versa. 2 4. Method of the study To achieve these aims, I have consulted many dictionaries and books of languages, idioms, proverbs, etc. in both English and Vietnamese in which whatever relating to idiomatic expressions of food and drink is taken into consideration. One hundred idioms of food and drink in Vietnamese and another hundred idioms of food and drink in English which are thought to be widely used are selected for the study. For English idioms, a number of reference books were consulted, but the main ones are Longman Dictionary of Idioms (1998), Collins Cobuild Idioms Dictionary (2002), Thành ngữ Tục ngữ Tiếng Anh (2008). These books were selected because they contain a large number of idioms of food and drink. Vietnamese ones were selected from Từ điển Thành ngữ Tục ngữ Việt-Anh (2006), Kể chuyện thành ngữ Tiếng Anh (2006). Then a comparative analysis is designed to point out how cultural transfer occurs through the translation. 5. Design of the study Apart from Introduction and Conclusion, the study is organized around two chapters. Chapter one attempts to look into the nature of culture, culture in relation with language and translation. Later, the chapter presents an overview of translation theories developed by well-known authors with certain basic theoretical items such as definition of translation, the process, and methods of translation. The chapter ends by taking idioms into consideration: the definition of idioms, the interpretation of idioms, idioms versus proverbs, culture in idioms and its relation to the transfer in translation. Chapter two deals with the translation of idioms of food and drink. Firstly, how cultural transfer occurs through idioms translation is studied by looking for stylistic equivalence, conceptual equivalence, lexical equivalence, semantic and pragmatic equivalence. After that, the chapter mentions some of the translation strategies for translating idioms of food and drink. 37 REFERENCES ENGLISH 1 Baker, M. (1992), In Other Words. London: Routledge 2 Bảo, Bùi, & Thu, Đặng (1999), Interpreting and Translation Course Book. Hanoi: Education Publishing House. 3 Bassnett, S. (2002), Translation studies. London: Routledge 4 Byram, M. (1989). Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education, Philadenphia Multilingual Matters Ltd., 22-36. 5 Cobuild, C. (2002), Collins Cobuild Idioms Dictionary, HarperCollins Publisher. 6 Duff, A. (1989), Translation, Oxford University Press, 124. 7 Hinkel, E. (Ed.) , (1999). Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 8 International Translation Bureau™. (2003), Frequently asked questions: What is translation. Retrieved April 25, 2006, from http://www.itbtranslation.com/faqs.html 9 Karamanian, A.P. (January, 2002), Translation and Culture. Translation Journal, 6 (1). 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Tuyển tập Thành ngữ, tục ngữ ca dao Việt – Anh thông dụng. http://www.ebook.edu.vn. 25 Nguyễn Khánh (2008), Sổ tay thành ngữ tục ngữ tiếng Việt, NXB Giáo dục. 26 Nguyễn Lân (1994), Từ điển Thành ngữ và tục ngữ Việt Nam, NXB Khoa Học Xã Hội. 27 Tiêu Minh (2006), Đi tìm Điển tích Thành ngữ, NXB Thông tấn. 28 Bùi Phụng (2006), Thành ngữ Việt Anh, NXB Văn Hóa Sài Gòn. . feature of idioms of food and drink ………………………………… 19 1.3. Cultural features of idioms of food and drink …………………………………… 22 2. Cultural transfer through translation of idioms of food and drink ……… translations of idioms of food and drink. The author, then, will analyze how cultural transfer occurs through the translation and give some suggestions on the strategies of translating idioms of food and. CHAPTER TWO: CULTURAL TRANSFER THROUGH TRANSLATION OF IDIOMS OF FOOD AND DRINK 1. Idioms of food and drink ………………………………………………………… 18 1.1. Criteria for idioms of food and drink ………………………………………………