COMPOSERS: THANH+ CUC

CONTENT: PROBLEMS OF EQUIVALENT

DATE OF PRESENTATION: April 29TH 2012

PROBLEMS WITH NON-EQUIVALENCE AT WORD LEVEL

1.Culture-specific concept 2.The SL concept is not lexicalized the target language (TL) 3.The

source language (SL) word is semantically complex 4.The SL and the TL make different

distinction in meaning 5.The TL lacks a superordinate 6.The TL lacks a specific term

(hyponym) 7.Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective 8.Difference in

expressive meaning 9. Differences in form 10. Differences in frequency and purpose of using specific forms 11.The use of loan words in the

SL

• 1.Culture-specific concept-The SL word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture-the concept may be abstrac t or concrete,related to religious belief,so cial custom or even a type of food.Such concepts are often referred to as“culture specific”Eg:The VNese use the word “ông mãnh” to refer to a young died man. The other countries people couldn’t know what“ ông mãnh” is if they don’t understand this Vnese s’custom.

• 2.The SL concept is not lexicalized the target language (TL)-The SL word may express a concept which is known in the target culture but it isn’t allocated a TL to express it.Ex:The word:“quântử” refers to a talented and straight forward man who possesses much good quality in accordance with Confucian.There is no equivalent word in E.sometimes it can betranslated as “gentleman” but it is restricted in certain circumstance.Or: the concept “mặccả”-put the price up expecting people to bargain

• 3.The SL word is semantically complex .This is fairly common problem in translation. Words do not have to be morphologically complex to be semantically complex .In other word which consists of single morpheme can sometimes express a more complex set of meanings than a whole sentence. Eg:In Vietnamese “tôi tiễn anh ta ” the word “tiễn” means “I take him out the door and say goodbye”.

• 4. The SL & TL make different distinctions in meaning. The TL may make more or fewer distinctions in meaning than the SL .Ex:Vnese:aunt: cô,dì,thím,mợ,bác gái.uncle:chú,cậu,dượng,bác trai .When translator translates from English to Vnese,he gets some difficulties, he has to depend on the context to translate it accurately.

• 5.The TL lacks a superordinate.The TL may have specific words but no superordinate word (general word) to head the semantic field.Ex:Vietnamese doesn’t have the general word for “rice’’.It is translated as “mạ,lúa,thóc,gạo,cơm,cốm,bỏng…”depending on the context Or:English doesn’t have the general word for “đàn”,depending on the kind of animal to use different word such as:a flock of bird / sheep,a pride of lions / deer,a pack of dog and so on

6.The TL lacks a specific term (hyponym).The TL may have superordinate words (general word) but lacks specific words. Ex1:“to wear”-Eng:depend on the context to understand its meaning-Vnese:many hyponyms for it:mặc (quần áo) ,đi (tất,giày),để (râu),đội (mũ),bôi (son) and so on….Ex2:“cooking”-Eng:many hyponyms:boil,roast,bake,brew,braise,simmer,poach,grill,seal,glaze,prick,brown.-Vnese:sào,nấu,quay,rán,hấp,luộc=>lacks words to express

• 7.Differences in physical or interpersonal perspective-Physical perspective:concerns the location of the things or people of the context with others Ex:Vnese:to“come / go”–“đi”English:+Come:means getting closer the speaker + Go:means getting away from the speaker-Interpersonal perspective :drawn the attention to the relationship among participants in the discourse . Ex:English:“to give”-present voluntarily and with out expecting compensation Vnese:biếu,tặng,cống,nạp,đưa,cho…

• 8.Differences in expressive meaning .A word has different expressive meaning between SL and TL Ex 1:“sexy”-Eng: it means attractive which has positive , complementary meaning (praise)-Vnese:it means wearing erotically (khiêugợi),has negative meaning .Ex2:“exotic”-Eng:it means unusual and exciting because of coming from a distant country,has neutral and positive meaning.-Vnese:it often conveys a disapproving meaning (ngoại lai)

• 9.Differences in form .There is no equivalence in TL for a particular form in SL text. Prefixes & suffixes in E often have no equivalent in other languages. Ex:“employer”,“creditor”,transferee”The suffixes “er,or,ee”…Vnese have no direct equivalent in producing such a form so it is often replaced by paraphrase depending on the meaning they convey

10.Differences in frequency and purpose of using of specific forms .A particular form does have equivalent inTL but there may be a difference in the frequency with which it is used or purpose for which it is used.Ex:-Eng:“_ing” form in English is used differently from using in gerund

11.The use of loan words in the source text .The source text use loan words , so it is difficult to find loan words in TL Ex:“sơn hào,hải vị”are 2 loan word from Chinese Eng has no equivalent loan word.

Strategies for non-equivalence at word level

• 1.Translation by a more general word 2.Translation by more neutral / less expressive word 3.Translation by cultural substitution 4.Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation 5.Translation by paraphrase using a related word 6.Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words 7.Translation by omission 8.Translation by illustration

• 1.Translation by a more general word

• This strategy uses a more general word to replace them or specific one .It’s the most common strategy for dealing many types of non - equivalence,particularly in the area of propositional meaning . Ex:-Eng: makes distinctions among mopeds , scooters and motorcycles depending on wheels and engines.-Vnese : use the general word “xe máy”for all

• 2.Translation by more neutral / less expressive word .The strategy uses more neutral /less word to replace words which don’t have equivalent words. It is particularly useful to an expressive word . Ex1:The word “sexy” should be transferred as “quyến rũ” in Vnese since it is more neutral and not likely to convey a disapproving meaning as “gợi tình” Ex2:Oversea Vietnamese was delighted with remarkable change in the mother land.Should be translated:Việt kiều vui mừng trước sự thay đổi của quê hương It is better than “mẫu quốc”

3.Translation by cultural substitution-.This strategy involves replacing a cultural-specificite more express with one of the different meanings but similar impact in the translated text.-This strategy gives the reader a concept which they can identify and understand,familiar and appealing to them.-Most Vietnamese translators dislike this strategy and prefer direct translation claiming that is a way for the original text. Eg:In English “the baby weights six pounds ”Translate into Vietnamese ,instead of “đứa bé nặng 6 cân Anh ”we say“đứa bé nặng 2,7kg”.Eg 2:“mother day” in English is translated as “ngày lễ vu lan”in Vietnamese. Because both are a day to honor mother and motherhood in both countries.

4.Translation using a loan word or loan word plus explanation-This strategy is particularly deal with culture-specific items, modern concepts ,-This strategy is very useful when the translator deal with concept so wide as that are new to target audience ,culture-specific items ,and proper name so if diseases or medicines that a widely known in English names. Eg: “HIV and AIDS” are two familiar concepts with most people in the word .Therefore ,they often used as in the SL without accompanying explanation

• 5.Translation by paraphrase using a related words.This strategy tends to be used when the concept expressed by the source item is lexical in the TL but in a different form , and when the frequency with which a certain form is used in the source text is significantly higher than would be natural in the TL . Ex:-In English : “the integrated resorts are fully opened , gaming areas will take up less than 3 percent of the Gross Floor Area for Marina Bay Sands.”-In Vnese: “Các khu nghỉ dưỡng kết hợp đa chức năng mở cửa hoàn toàn , khu vực sòng bài chỉ chiếm chưa tới 3% tổng diện tích mặt bằng của Marina Bay Sands . ”As in dictionary,“integrated”is an adj referring to the stated of combining many different parts are closely connected and work successfully together,but it is not lexicalized clearly in Vnese

• 6.Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words .If the concept expressed by the source item is not lexicalized at all the TL,the paraphrase strategy can still be used in some context.Instead of a related word,the paraphrase may be base on modifying a superordinate or simply on unpacking the meaning the source item .Eg. In English ”Compulsory school attendance was only through grade five.”the word“attendance“in Vietnamese means“sự tham dự”it seems to be not appropriate here.Therefore we translate into Vnese“giáo dục bắt buộc chỉ hết lớp năm.

• 7.Translation by omission-If the meaning conveyed by aparticular item or expression is not vital enough to the development of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy explanations,translators can often do simply omit translating the word or expression in question Eg:-SL”long hours and shared stress at work are leading to office romance.”the word “romance”in English can be translated as “tình / chuyện tình / chuyện tình lãng mạn / mối tình lãng mạn”the shorter version,though can convey the implication which is enough for the reader to understand.Therefore we translate the SL into Vietnamese as “thời gian làm việc chung lâu và sự chia sẻ khó khăn khi làm việc là tác nhân cho tình công sở”

8.Traslation by illustration. This is a useful option if the word which lacks an equivalent in the TL refers to a physical entity which can be illustrated , particularly if there are restrictions on space and if the text has to remain short , , concise , and to the point . Eg: In Vietnam,having toys named “tò he”which made from colored rice dough .It is made to depict different heroes and ordinary people of daily life , symbolic animal .It is difficult for a foreigner readers to visualize what exactly a “tò he ”is showing a photo of it.