Introduction to Translation

BOOK REVIEW - COMMENTS

Group Comments

- The review still lacks references to Baker’s theories (e.g. translation

strategies, translation problems, etc.).
- Some ideas are irrelevant to translation (1st and 3rd paragraphs).
- There is some confusion between collocation and idiom (2 nd
paragraph).
lowkeylikemonkey
❤ - The context is mentioned; however, it is not clear enough in the 2nd
paragraph (how is the chosen collocation relevant to perceiving praise?),
and too wordy in the 3rd paragraph.
- Why the translation solutions are considered good or bad should be
justified.
- Grammar should be checked and refined.

- The review presents some references to Baker’s theories; however, it

is suggested that translation strategies should be paid more attention.
notnamedyet
- Some translation analysis needs to be more detailed (“a few minor
missing meanings” in the 5th paragraph).

- It is suggested that Baker’s theories on translation problems and

translation strategies should be paid more attention.
- The context is not clear in the 1st paragraph.
Magical Family - Some translation analysis should be more detailed (“entailing the word
quiver could confuse readers” in the 1st paragraph).
- There seems to be some confusion between formal and informal
language (2nd paragraph).
- Since it is group work, the pronoun “I” should be replaced by “we”.

- Wrong format: The review should be written in paragraphs.

- The review still lacks references to Baker’s theories (e.g. translation
Bobapop?? strategies, translation problems, etc.).
- If a translation solution is considered not good enough, an alternative
solution should be mentioned and justified.

Tra Sua Dau Xanh - Perspective: Since it is group work, the pronoun “I” should be replaced
by “we”.
- There is some confusion between translation strategies (“hold your
 tongue” is translated by using an idiom of similar meaning and form
rather than by paraphrasing).
- Only one idiom is analyzed, which is not enough as required by the
task.

Deadline - Wrong format: The review should be written in paragraphs instead of

just one.
- The review still lacks references to Baker’s theories (e.g. translation
strategies, translation problems, etc.).

Dau Xanh Rau Ma - The review presents some references to Baker’s theories; however, it
is suggested that translation strategies should be paid more attention.
- Some ideas need to be checked (“the word crew in crew cut has a
much different meaning from its literal meaning when it goes along with
the word cut.”)
- If a translation solution is considered not good enough, an alternative
solution should be mentioned and justified.

UTH - The review still lacks references to Baker’s theories (e.g. translation
strategies, translation problems, etc.).

Tomorrow - The logic in the first paragraph is quite confusing, since it is unclear
whether the translation solution is considered effective or not.
- Grammar and wording should be checked and refined.

Café - Some ideas need to be clarified (“these evaluation criteria” in the 1 st

paragraph).
- The review still lacks references to Baker’s theories (1st paragraph).

GOOD PARAGRAPHS:

1. (notnamedyet – 6th and 7th paragraph)

Another demonstration of idiom translation is “But the island ran true to form and the incredible pool,
which clearly was only invaded by the sea at high tide, was so deep at one end as to be dark green.” The
sentence in Vietnamese is “Nhưng nơi này quả đúng là một hòn đảo, cái vũng nước lạ thường này sâu
thật, dù rõ ràng nước biển chỉ đổ vào khi triều lên, đến nỗi một đầu thẫm toàn màu lục.” (pg. 14) Here,
one may encounter the problem of the idiom not having an idiomatic equivalence in the TL - Vietnamese
even though this idiom is relatively transparent with its idiomatic meaning. Therefore, the translator opted
for a paraphrasing approach. As the original idiom does not carry any attitude, the translation process
does not have any major difficulty.

Expressive meaning is also a factor which the translator has shown to take into consideration in his
translation. The sentence “Ralph pursed his lips and squirted air into the shell, which emitted a low,
farting noise.” was translated into “Ralph chúm môi, ép hơi thổi vào vỏ ốc, rốt cuộc bật ra một âm trầm
như tiếng rắm.” (pg. 20) In this case, there are several equivalences of this collocation that exist in the
TL. One may tend to choose the more popular direct translations for this collocation such as “bĩu môi”,
or “bặm môi”. However, neither of these examples are suitable in this context, as both “bĩu môi” and
“bặm môi” usually carry expressive meanings that show anger or disapproval. Based on the context, the
action “pursed his lips” is purely descriptive and expresses no negative connotation. Thus, the warranted
translation here is “chúm môi” as it fits the action of pursing lips to blow air.

2. (Dau Xanh Rau Ma – 2nd and 3rd paragraphs)

On page 2 of chapter 1, there come collocations: “The two young men, glossy hair crew cut, scrubbed
clean-cut faces composed into humble contrition, bowed their heads in submission”. According to the
Cambridge Dictionary, the adjective "clean" means “free from any dirty marks, pollution, or bacteria''.
For example, "a clean shirt" means to describe a shirt that is free from dust. However, the collocation
"clean-cut" does not mean to describe a cut that is done cleanly; its meaning is “neat and wholesome”.
The reason for this distinction is that "the meaning of a word depends largely on its pattern of collocation
and is not something that the word possesses in isolation", according to Mona-Baker's definition of
collocational meaning. Therefore, in this situation, the collocation “clean-cut” in "clean-cut face" is used
to describe a person who is neat and good-looking.[…] The Vietnamese translation is “Cả hai thằng cúi
mặt làm như tủi hổ, hối hận. Tóc chúng hớt cao, mặt mũi sáng sủa quá”. Even though the length of the
translation is not the same as the original version, the translator transformed it a little bit to make the
words more familiar to the target readers, Vietnamese people, and still keep the meaning of the words.
The translator succeeded in capturing the collocational meaning, conveying that meaning perfectly in
Vietnamese.

On the other hand, besides the success of translating collocation, there is an unsuccessful translation
which is the one for the idiom “go on our knees to” in the sentence “For justice, we must go on our knees
to Don Corleone” on page 3 of chapter 1. That sentence was translated into “Lão quyết định tìm tới cố
nhân Corleone…”. The word “tìm tới” in Vietnamese simply indicates the action of “moving and finding
someone by walking on your feet”. However, as in the story, the idiom “go on our knees” in this context
means “in a way showing that you have no power, but you extremely need a help, then you have to find
someone to beg for help”, and “go on our knees” can now be considered as “moving and seeking help by
moving towards being on your knees”. Therefore, this translation is quite correct, but it doesn't fully
represent the lower status of the person who performs the action of “go on our knees”. The reason, in this
case, is that “this idiom does not have an equivalent idiom in the target language”. It is therefore
unrealistic to expect to find an equivalent idiom in the target language as a matter of course. This situation
is sometimes unavoidable; however, it is assumed that the translator somehow “failed” in translating, and
the translated version of this idiom needs to be corrected in order to capture the implication of the book’s
author.

3. (Tomorrow – 4th paragraph)

Finally, in the chapter III, Mr. Joseph used the idiom “earn their bread” in the sentence “The rest of
them do earn their bread” to mention about his children’s effort in earning lives while he broke out and
hurled terrible words which may hurt anyone else hearing them to his daughter-in-law. Although there is
no words representing the meaning of money or lives, Manh Chuong still understand and translate into
“Bọn chúng nó phải bỏ công sức ra kiếm sống” because he first following the cultural-specific factor.
With collocations or idioms, before reaching the final version, translators must consider many factors
such as the word’s level of specificity, the number of senses words have, or the cultural-specific. In this
case, the translator based on the cultural-specific character and used cultural substitution. Take a
Vietnamese daily meal, for example, people get used to having servings with rice because Vietnam is
well-known for agriculture and rice is the main food course; therefore, when someone wants to mention
about earning money, we will use the idiom in Vietnamese as “kiếm cơm”. Thus, bread is also familiar
food with American people so the idiom “earn their bread” can be translated as the idiom “kiếm cơm” in
Vietnamese. Suppose the translator translate this idiom with word-by-word method, the final version
being “kiếm bánh mì của chúng” is not accessible to the Vietnamese readers. All in all, this translation of
Manh Chuong not only selected words appropriated with Vietnamese culture but also shows his effort in
studying the culture in different countries.