CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

I, the researcher of this study, have worked as a legal translator for more than three years from
2011 up to this time at different law firms based in Ho Chi Minh City with different working styles
and working environment. What I have experienced so far in this position, though, is more or less
the same in these firms and, more to the point, in the context of growing integration and
globalization upon Vietnam’s joining WTO since 2007, I desire to bring to light my own
experiences as well as those of other legal translators working at law firms around Ho Chi Minh
City once market demands on this occupation has sharply increased. In the hope that Legal
Translation and other key issues attached thereto, i.e. Vietnamese Legal System, Vietnamese Legal
Translators, and Legal Translation Training in Ho Chi Minh City, will, to some extent, be known to
those who have an interest in the field, this study was accordingly born for the purpose of helping
readers hereof partially visualize Legal Translation and its belongings in their mind, through which
they could better understand this occupation and people who are living it day after day and when
they are asked accidentally about Legal Translation some day, they will have something to tell in
both positive and negative ways.

1.1 Vietnamese Legal Context

The Emergence of Legal Translation in Vietnam

Successfully gaining independence from the United States of America (the U.S.) in 1975, which
marked a new era of peace, the Vietnamese government has used its best endeavors to re-build the
country, including, among other elements, promoting its integration into international markets
through a restructuring process called “Doi Moi” started in 1986 (Abbott, Bentzen & Tarp, 2007) .
Concretely, as revealed in Abbott’s, Bentzen’s and Tarp’s discussion paper No. 07 – 06 (2007),
Vietnam has conducted negotiations for bilateral trade agreements to be signed to enhance its
“market-oriented legal and economic reforms” as well as to give rise to remarkable institutional
changes to render the country “a more open, socialist-oriented market economy”. Vietnam entered
into a bilateral agreement with the European Union (EU) in 1992, joined ASEAN in 1995, executed
a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. in 2000, and gained access to WTO as the 150th member
on 11 January 2007 which was considered one of its most significant achievements for the nation’s
development, to name a few. It is the negotiations process through which major agreements were
reached for the sake of Vietnam’s economy that required for a considerable amount of Vietnamese

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legislation to be translated into other languages including English, a chosen language for
international trade, and vice versa. Once there arises a need for translation of legislative texts of
different countries, Legal Translation emerges as an essential course of action that helps speed up
global integration among the nations, as a result of which demand for skilled legal translators has
long risen dramatically. The truth is the farther Vietnam’s trade is broadened, the greater amount of
translation on legal issues is desired, and as Vietnam’s lifelong ambition is to expand its global
footprint, the sustainable existence of Legal Translation will not be in doubt.

Basic Structure of Vietnamese Legal System

Ruled by China during the eleven hundred years before 938 A.D when Confucianism was applied
and then by the French who “imposed another alien layer of law on the Vietnamese” (The
Vietnamese Legal System, n.d.), Vietnam was unable to form its own legal system without being
significantly affected by its rulers’ ones. Indeed, the current Vietnamese Legal System is largely
“based on the socialism legal theory and inherited from French civil law system.” (Basic Structure
of Vietnam Legal System, Kenfox IP & Law Office, 2009). To put it another way, the nation
operates under Socialist Law that communist states have used to run their countries with civil law
system employed as a foundation (Wikipedia).

Recognized as “the highest organ of state power,” the National Assembly of Vietnam is a
legislative body who appoints the President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of the Supreme
People’s Court of Vietnam, the Head of the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam, and the
Government of 21 members. This unicameral body is also liable for the law making activities,
including drawing up, adopting, and amending the Constitution and laws. While Committees as
well as other subordinate bodies under the National Assembly assist it in making law, ministries or
agencies of ministerial level will be in charge of law drafting. As the Constitution regulates, drafted
legal documents will be submitted to agencies of appropriate levels for their consideration, revision,
and approval, subject to level of legalization applicable to each document (Basic Structure of
Vietnam Legal System, Kenfox IP & Law Office, 2009).

The present Constitution of Vietnam was adopted by the National Assembly in April, 1992, and
amended in 2001, under which are laws, ordinances, decrees and other associated legal documents
that deal with various aspects of social life. In particular:

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  Laws: adopted by the National Assembly and are highest form of legal direction of
Vietnam;
 Ordinances: adopted by the Standing Committee under the National Assembly when the
Assembly is not in session;
 Decrees: adopted by the Government and generally issued for the purpose of
implementing Laws and Ordinances and often modified by more detailed Regulations;
 Orders: issued by the State President upon promulgation of Laws and Ordinances;
 Government Decisions: issued by the Prime Minister guiding the implementation of
regulations on certain issues;
 Circulars: issued by ministries individually to provide guidelines on how a ministry
manages the implementation of a Law, Ordinance or Decree;
 Guidelines: issued by the Prime Minister in the form of policy outlines, but not legal
instruments, indicating that it is imperative to establish governmental committees to cope
with certain issues;
 Ministerial decisions: issued by a Minister (or a Deputy Minister on his behalf) providing
regulations on some issues in the areas administered by the relevant Ministry.
Figure 1: The diagram of Law making bodies and Legal System in Vietnam

(Source: Kenfox IP & Law Office, 2009, http://www.kenfoxlaw.com/resources/legal-topics/12958-basic-structure-of-

vietnam-legal-system.html)

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Above is merely a brief but quite a sufficient description of the Vietnamese Legal System provided
by Kenfox IP & Law Office with particular types of applicable legal documents to be complied with
upon occurrence of any business or investment in Vietnam.

Legal Translation in Ho Chi Minh City

There exist two kinds of Legal Translators in Ho Chi Minh City Legal Context who have worked
diligently to protect their position in such a challenging and competitive sector, whether they are
full-time employees for a particular law firm or freelancers for different companies or clients. The
fact remains that there are more and more law companies being established in Vietnam in general
and in Ho Chi Minh City in particular in an effort to satisfy hungers for practical legal advice on
cross-border transactions and where there is a law firm to be built, there is a need for legal
translator(s) to be employed. Subject to each firm’s operational scale, the firm will determine
whether it should hire a full-time legal translator or a project-based freelance translator from time to
time. This, in fact, gives equal chances for both types of legal translators as mentioned above to
survive this job as well as for law companies or individual clients to run their business in a more
cost-effective manner. Regardless of their working styles, the majority of legal translators working
in Ho Chi Minh City are English majors in such primary areas as English Translation and
Interpretation, Pedagogy, or English for Specific Purposes with knowledge of legal translation
mainly earned by way of on-the-job training and self-studying.

Overview of Translation Education in Vietnam

Translation has long been taught in institutions of higher education across Vietnam with
materials/textbooks specifically designed to equip students with necessary translation and
interpretation skills. Table 1 that follows is a summary of typical materials/textbooks utilized for
translation teaching/training at certain institutions nationwide.

Name of Material/Textbook Name of Author Year of Name of

Publication University/College/Institution
Translation Theory 2002 Da Nang University; College of
Pedagogy
Unnaturalness in English – Le Phuong Lan 2006 Hanoi University
Vietnamese Translation: Causes
and Cures
Vietnamese – English MA. Nguyen Thanh 2009 Can Tho University
Translation Practice 2 Duc
(Thực hành Luyện dịch Việt-
Anh 2)

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Translation 1, 2, 4, &5 Nguyen Van Tuan 2009 Hue University College of Foreign
Languages
Translation Psychology Nguyen Van Tuan 2009 Hue University College of Foreign
Languages
Translation and Interpretation Pham Thi Thanh 2010 Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
Theory Huyen
A Translation Course in Nguyen Ngoc Tam 2011 Ton Duc Thang University
Business Translation
Vietnamese – English Minh Thu – Nguyen 2014 University of Social Sciences and
Translation Practice Hoa Humanities
(Luyện dịch Việt – Anh)

Table 1: Summary of translation training textbooks/materials

(Source: http://www.ebook.edu.vn/?page=1.5&tag=d%E1%BB%8Bch+thu%E1%BA%ADt&alltxt=Y)

It is obviously shown through Table 1 that Legal Translation has remained being excluded from
translation training in Vietnam for years even though this 21st century has created enormous
demands on such area and on legal translators as well. This training issue will be discussed in more
detail in later Chapters of this study.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Notwithstanding increasing demands on Legal Translation resulting from Vietnam’s accession into
international organizations over time, I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of legal
translators who could successfully cope with the challenges and difficulties brought by Legal
Translation in Ho Chi Minh City at the present time. To my best knowledge and belief, Ho Chi
Minh City has usually faced an acute shortage of competent legal translators who own requisite
skills and knowledge for the job and have a good command of at least two languages that are
English and Vietnamese. Upon Vietnam’s entry into WTO since 2007, foreign investments pouring
into the country has continued to rise in volume and when Vietnamese turns to be one of the
organization’s official languages, the demand for English-Vietnamese translation has never been
that high and qualified and skilled translators of specialist texts on, among others, legal and
economic issues, have never been that “hot”. Still, demand is exceeding supply once most
institutions, comprising both universities and training centers in Ho Chi Minh City that offer
translation training programs, have not yet effectively trained and produced an elite group of
translators equipped with real-life practice as well as with helpful translation strategies to meet the
current market needs for business and Legal Translation. It is believed that the present translation
syllabi applied in most institutions are hardly designed, evaluated and improved according to the
social and cultural development as well as market demands, let alone Legal Translation. As

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revealed through my own experience who was once a student of translation, students of English
Interpretation and Translation at my time were not taught any specialized translation, but general
translation theories instead. More precisely, what the students wanted was “practical training”
whereas what they actually received was nothing more but “abstract education,” as Szczyrbak
described in her 2008’s article on the same issue. Apart from universities’ academic translation
training as afore-mentioned where Legal Translation is not included, certain companies, centers or
institutes as INTERPROTRANS (a limited liability company), Center for Human Resource
Development under Vietnam National University, and ILI (International Language Institute), to
name a few, with translation classes organized for the people in need of a more professional
translation training in a variety of areas such as culture, economy, politics, medicine, etc., also give
no room for Legal Translation to be taught officially (Young Translators Club, n.d.). On the other
hand, these courses are merely short-term so the knowledge comes to its learners like a flash in
mind and without much real-life practice, there is a strong possibility that the learners will pass the
courses empty-handed.

1.3 Aim of the Study

It is the problem as above stated that urges me to make a start on this study for the purpose of
exploring the education and experiences of legal translators in Ho Chi Minh City and, at the same
time, investigating translation courses conducted in universities based in Ho Chi Minh City to see if
the courses meet the needs identified by the legal translators in practice.

1.4 Research Questions:

In order to ‘guide my boat’ to the right destination, I owe a duty to find satisfactory answers to the
following Research Questions:

1. What are the experiences of legal translators in Ho Chi Minh City?

2. Do translation courses in Ho Chi Minh City’s universities address the needs identified by
the legal translators in practice?

1.5 Significance of the Study

Should this study is successfully conducted, it will significantly contribute to translation studies,
Legal Translation in this case, by reason of the following:

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 1 – It unfolds tales of legal translators working in Ho Chi Minh City, particularly the education
they received and the experiences accumulated in the course of their daily work, thanks to which
audience can visualize a more obvious picture of the so-called ‘Legal Translation’ and learn if legal
translators were well trained and adequately equipped to do their job smoothly and professionally.
2 – It digs deep into translation training programs that are available in the market to examine
whether the courses are adequate to meet current needs for any specific professions; whether Legal
Translation is taught; whether the training programs are a combination of theory and practice that
will allow students to hone their translation skills.
3 – It proposes effective approaches to teaching Legal Translation upon knowing the current
situation of Legal Translation training.
4 – It draws the attention of concerned persons and officials to the vital role of Legal Translation
and of making Legal Translation a compulsory subject in English language education for the
purpose of producing more accurate and perfect translation of legal issues and forming teams of
competent and professional legal translators also to satisfy the market’s hungers.

1.6 Limitations and Delimitations of the Study

Limitations of the Study

Given time constraint and the researcher’s capacity, the study is restricted to a limited number of
participants within the region of Ho Chi Minh City only whereas a larger group of participants
across the country will render the research much more valuable and convincing. This restriction,
however, does not matter much but rather paving the way for further thorough study on other
material aspects of the same issue to be implemented as long as Legal Translation and the training
thereof is still a matter of interest.

Delimitations of the Study

I choose to study, inter alia, Legal Translation out of various areas of specialized translation as I
am, as a legal translator for a UK reputable law firm at present, well aware of the increasing market
demand on qualified legal translators and of the severe shortage of well-trained translators who
could effectively deal with the job. That is not to say other areas of translation are inferior to
translation of legislative texts, yet, in the context of growing integration and globalization whereby
all business and commercial activities across the globe are legally binding, making legal systems of

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all countries comprehensible through translation for business and investment purposes has become
an ‘absolute must’.

1.7 Outline of the Study

This study is composed of Six Themed Chapters in the following order:

Chapter One, or the Introductory Chapter, presents the background to the study by giving a brief
description of Vietnamese Legal System and the Reasons giving room for Legal Translation to
grow in Vietnam. The Statement of the Problem is introduced next, followed by the Study’s
Purposes and specific Research Questions. This Chapter One additionally states How Significant
This Study Is to translation studies in general and to Legal Translation and its training in particular.
Lastly, Limitations and Delimitations of this research are also made known to readers in this very
first Chapter.

The Literature associated with central issues of this study, Legal Translation and Translation
Training at Tertiary Level, is thoroughly reviewed and reported in Chapter Two to provide readers
with an overall understanding of Legal Translation, entailing Characteristics thereof and
Difficulties and Problems encountered in this area of translation. The following Section considers
the Requirements for Legal Translators and the Teaching of Translation/Legal Translation comes
last to close the Chapter.

Chapter Three deals with the Methodology selected to conduct this study, which is Narrative
Inquiry, accompanied by a particular set of data collection instruments, embracing Narrative
Interviews, Legal Instruments, and Translation Training Materials. An analytical framework, or
data analysis techniques, will then be expressly described. What is finally disclosed is information
on the Research Setting and Participants and some cautions of Narrative Inquiry.

Stories of Four Different Legal Translators working in Ho Chi Minh City, including those of the
researcher herself, are unfolded in Chapter Four in order for audience to ‘sense’ how a legal
translator survives his/her daily job as well as how challenging and difficult such job could become.
To put it another way, this Chapter Four is where the interviewed legal translators share the
experiences accumulated during years of their employment as translators of legal issues and what
kinds of attitudes they are having towards this occupation.

The stories retold in Chapter Four pave the way for Chapter Five to present A Thematic Analysis of
Data and to Discuss in more Detail the Findings generated from all the collected data. In this

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Chapter, the data will be analysed based on primary themes/categories arisen out of the interview
questions with evidence drawn from the participants’ responses and also from the theoretical
framework that is previously built in Chapter Two. In parallel with the analysis of any particular
theme, the related findings will also be discussed to create interconnections among the information
earned from the narrative interviews.

Chapter Six serves as a Conclusion of the entire study where answers to the Research Questions as
set out in Chapter One will be provided. Certain Recommendations for the prevailing Problems are
proposed as well to render Legal Translation more reachable and, more to the point, other
researchers will be given convincing reasons to conduct further research on Legal Translation
should they find this occupation still worth studying.