ABSTRACT
Translation and its relating issues have become non-stop topics for researchers.
Language difference is one of the most basic issues of translation. Aiming at handling
the gaps between languages, translation procedures is one of the elements determining
the accuracy of language equivalence. Therefore, this research is firstly an attempt to
figure out in detail types of translation procedures applied in the Vietnamese version
of one of the most famous books for children- Harry Potter book series. By counting
the frequency of translation procedures used in the translation of the Vietnamese
translator Ly Lan, the characteristics of each procedures affecting the equivalence of
the translation are drawn, in which through translation, functional equivalence, and
couplet are most frequently used.
Together with that, the Sino-Vietnamese structures used in the books are also
concentrated in the hope to have a deeper look into the use of Sino-Vietnamese in the
translation of literary documents. By modeling common Sino-Vietnamese structures of
noun phrases in Ly Lan’s versions, some structures are built, including some stylistic
structures of the translator such as “Bất khả+V”, or “V+N-career indicator”. In
comparison with original noun phrases, some features of Sino-Vietnamese are also
described. One of those is the ability to remain the structure of English noun phrase by
using the structure “N Adj+N” or “N  Q+ N”. Basing on the closeness in
structures of phrases, Sino-Vietnamese must be exploited in other literary documents
and fictions as well.
Last but not least, since the suggestions were given basing on a small-scale
study, the answer to it needs more examination, thus requires larger-scale studies.
Further studies should be of larger scope to increase the validity as well as reliability
of the results. More discussions are needed within the topic of translation procedures
and the use of Sino-Vietnamese, as there remain a lot of issues to discover.
TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE
Acceptance page i
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii

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2.3.2.1. Transference
2.3.2.2. Naturalization
2.3.2.3.Through translation
2.3.2.4.Shift or transposition
2.3.2.5.Modulation
2.3.2.6.Cultural equivalence
2.3.2.7.Functional equivalence
2.3.2.8.Descriptive equivalence
2.3.2.9.Adaptation
2.3.2.10.Couplet
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2.4. An overview of Harry Potter book series by J.K.Rowling and
Vietnamese translator Ly Lan
2.4.1. J.K.Rowling
2.4.2. Harry Potter book series
2.4.3. Vietnamese translator Ly Lan
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CHAPTER 3 : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Selection of subjects
3.2. Data collection instruments

Adj+ V/N
4.2.2.4. N/Np

Q (Quantitative indicator)+ N
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4.2.3. Suggestions for utilizing SV vocabulary when
translating noun phrases, especially in literary documents
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4.2.3.1. The exploitation of translation procedures
translating English original noun phrases into SV in fiction
works
4.2.3.2. The exploitation of SV in translating English
original noun phrases into Vietnamese in fiction works
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4.3. Summary and conclusion 36
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1. Major findings of the study
5.2. Limitations of the study
5.3. Recommendations for further study
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REFERENCES
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INTRODUCTION
This chapter is to clarify the rationale, the aims and the objectives of the study,
the significance, scope and the organization of the thesis.
1.1. Rationale
Since the release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on
30 June 1997, Harry Potter has become a symbol in readers’ mind all over the world,
especially children. The name of the young boy wizard is so familiar to everyone in
every corner of the world. Harry Potter, without a doubt, is no longer a name but a
global book phenomenon that maintains its heat and attraction for generations. As of
June 2011, the book series has sold about 450 million copies, making it the best-selling
books series in history and has been translated into 67 languages, and the last four
books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.
Definitely, Vietnamese translators quickly coped with this global trend to bring
this famous book to Vietnamese readers. This book series have been translated into
Vietnamese, mostly known through the version translated by Ly Lan and published by
Youth Publishing House. Although there are many other translated versions of this
book into Vietnamese, Ly Lan’s version is the most famous among readers of Harry
Potter series.
One of the reasons leading to the fame of Ly Lan’s version is that she knows
how to translate strange and hard-to-understand noun phrases originated from
Rowling’s great imaginative version into typical, easy-to-remember, and arousing
nouns in Vietnamese. “Veritaserum”, “Felix Felicis”,…, what are they? “Chân Dược”
and “Phúc Lạc Dược”. These original nouns cannot be found in any English-
Vietnamese dictionaries. Therefore, Ly Lan’s talent is shown through the way she
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counts on the content of the original version to find out the best equivalents for those
words. Using SV is one of the special ways of Ly Lan that achieves values of both
content and art. Ly Lan is very clever at keeping characteristics of original words by
using short and descriptive SV equivalents to convey their meaning. The process to
make such products is undoubtedly a tough way to go. Fortunately, SV noun phrases

English noun phrases?
3. What are suggestions for utilizing SV vocabulary when translating nouns
especially in literary documents?
1.3. Significance of the study
This research would benefit those who work in translation, those who are
trained to be future translators, especially those who work on literary translation, and
researchers working on related studies.
As for translators and students whose major is translation, this study raises their
awareness of using SV noun phrases as equivalents in translation of English Literature,
specifically proper names created by writers. Based on the findings, they can draw
some conclusions of the effectiveness of exploiting SV vocabulary in translation of
literary text. Therefore, this research paper can help translators develop some strategies
and apply some models of SV noun phrases for utilizing SV vocabulary.
In addition, the researcher hopes those who share the same interest in the study
of application of SV vocabulary in translation not only in literary field but also in other
fields such as economics or politics can rely on this research to find some reliable and
useful information for their related studies in the future.
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1.4. Scope of the study
As the title implies, this research paper focuses on the translation of original
noun phrases created by Rowling into SV by Ly Lan in Harry Potter Book Series.
Therefore, the analysis is conducted in seven volumes of Harry Potter book series of
J.K.Rowling in English and seven translated volumes into Vietnamese of those books
by Ly Lan (Youth Publishing House). In those books, only original noun phrases
created by Rowling (including nouns, proper names, and some complete noun phrases)
which have SV equivalents in the translated versions are focused.
1.5. Organization of the study
The graduation paper consists of five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 (Introduction) clarifies the rationale, the aims and the objectives of the study,
the significance, scope and the organization of the thesis.

possible elements that can combine into a single noun phrase. According to him, an
English noun phrase has the following formula:
Pre-modification + Head + Post-modification
As we can see, a noun phrase consists of three parts: pre-modification, head,
post-modification. In a noun phrase, the head is obligatory but the Pre-modification
and the Post-modification are optional. As their names have suggested, the function of
the pre-modification and post-modification is to elaborate or limit the head noun’s
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meaning. In this research paper, noun phrases are mostly in the form of only head
nouns (common nouns and proper nouns).
2.1.2. Original noun phrases created by J.K.Rowling
In Harry Potter book series, there are many nouns, such as “Veritaserum”,
“Thestral”, or “Death Eater” that are not very familiar with readers as they are the
products of Rowling’s imagination. In this research, proper names and nouns relating
to typical terms of wizarding world are mainly focused as they help the readers stay in
the whole picture of the story and follow the storyline. It is necessary to say that these
noun phrases sometimes cannot be looked up in any dictionaries as they originate from
Rowling’s own knowledge about wizarding world and her imagination to invent such
specific, typical wizard items.
2.2. SV words
2.2.1. Origin
Both Vietnamese and Chinese are languages experiencing a very long history.
As China and Vietnam are neighbors for centuries, the contact of these two languages
had begun. Instead of using the whole system of Chinese characters, Vietnamese had
adapted and changed those characters for their easier using and learning. Therefore, SV
words are elements in Vietnamese language derived from Chinese. According to Tran
(2012), SV words account for 60% of Vietnamese vocabulary, not including
naturalized words borrowing from China. After Vietnamese had their own alphabet
system, SV words have been written with Latin alphabet instead of Chinese characters.
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adj  verb-adj
adj  adj-adj’
verb  verb- adj
adj  adj- adj’
b. i. verb  noun- verb
verb  verb- verb
verb  adj- verb
ii. noun  noun- verb
verb  verb- verb
adj  adj- verb
c. i. noun  noun- noun
noun  verb- noun
noun  adj- noun
ii. noun  noun- noun
verb  verb- noun
adj  adj- noun
d. i. noun  Q- noun
verb  Q- verb
ii. Q  Q- noun
Q  Q- verb
e. i. noun- Q
adj- Q
ii. verb- Q
Q- adj
In the context of this thesis, the researcher only goes deeper into SV noun phrases. Therefore,
this table above can be shortened regarding only the structures of noun translated into noun plus
suffixes and prefixes:
1.
noun  noun- adj

and smaller units of language.
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According to Newmark (1995, pp. 81-93), there are many procedures of
translation listed below:
2.3.2.1. Transference
A SL word is directly taken into the TL word with no changes in terms of word
form in order to create certain stylistic effect. Most of the cases of this loan-translation
procedure are used for proper names of people, places, kinds of tree or animals that do
not exist in Vietnam. These can serve as typical examples.
E.g: - IT-related names: Bluetooth, Internet, Blog, Wifi, USB
- Some jobs: MC, DJ
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2.3.2.2. Naturalization
A transferred word is adapted to the TL (maintaining the pronunciation and the
phonology). This procedure succeeds in transferring and adapting the SL word first to
the normal pronunciation, then to the normal morphology of the TL. It helps strange
elements of SL texts come closer to the readers thanks to the familiar pronunciation.
Illustrations for this procedure are various.
E.g: - Coffee: cà phê
- Turbine: Tua-bin
2.3.2.3. Through translation
A word or normally an expression is literally translated into the TL. Through
translation should be used for already recognized terms, e.g. names of organizations.
Newmark (1995, p. 84) defined this procedure as “the literal translation of common
collocations, names of organizations, the components of compound and perhaps
phrases.” Names of organizations and diseases can be illustrations of this translation
procedure.
E.g: - AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome: Hội chứng suy giảm
miễn dịch mắc phải.
- MOET: Ministry of Education and Training: Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo.

2.3.2.7. Functional equivalence
Functional equivalence uses a culture-free word or expression in a translation
for a culture word or expression in a SL. This procedure can also be called the
“deculturalising-cultural-word” procedure. The following sentences can be examples of
this method:
E.g: - Will the Pentagon decide to terminate the program?
 Liệu Bộ Quốc Phòng Mĩ có quyết định dừng chương trình?
-He has attended the biggest carnival festival in Europe.
 Anh ấy đã tham dự lễ hội hóa trang lớn nhất châu Âu.
2.3.2.8. Descriptive equivalence
This means the meaning of the original word is explained by a phrase or
sentence. It is frequently used with transference to translate a cultural word or
expression. These sentences can serve as an example for this method of translation:
E.g: - To attend the barbecue, you must have a student ID
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- Khi đi dự tiệc Barbecue (bữa tiệc tổ chức, đồ ăn cũng được đặt ở bên
ngoài), bạn cần mang theo thẻ sinh viên.
2.3.2.9. Adaptation
In addition to those eight translation procedures, Newmark (1995, p.91)
considered another item of translation approach, which is “adaptation”. It is used in the
cases where the type of situation referred to by the SL message is unknown in the TL
culture. According to him, adaptation rests on “the use of a recognized equivalent
between two situations”, and he considered it as “a matter of cultural equivalence.”
However, Newmark (1995, p. 91) claimed that adaptation is not “usable” and
recommended other translation procedures to translators.
E.g:
Người ta khổ vì thương không phải cách
Yêu sai duyên, mà mến chẳng nhầm người
Người ta khổ vì xin không phải chỗ
Có kho vàng nhưng tặng chẳng tùy nơi

On July 7, 2004, she received an honorary degree from Edinburgh University, in
recognition of the Potter books and her outstanding contribution to children's literature.
She is the best-selling author in the history of literature. Also, she is the first author to
become a billionaire from writing books.
2.4.2. Harry Potter book series
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Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J.
K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of a wizard, Harry Potter, and his
friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger , all of whom are students at Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story is about Harry's quest to overcome
the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort, whose aims are to become immortal, conquer
the wizarding world, subjugate non-magical people, and destroy all those who stand in
his way, especially Harry Potter.
Since the release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on
30 June 1997, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and
commercial success worldwide. The series has also had some share of criticism,
including concern for the increasingly dark tone. As of June 2011, the book series has
sold about 450 million copies, making it the best-selling book series in history, and has
been translated into 67 languages. The last four books consecutively set records as the
fastest-selling books in history.
The main theme of Harry Potter books is death. There are also many other
themes in the series, such as prejudice and corruption.
The initial major publishers of the books were Bloomsbury in the United
Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. The books have since been
published by many publishers worldwide.
2.4.3. Vietnamese translator Ly Lan
Ly Lan was born on July 16, 1957 in Thu Dau Mot, Binh Duong province. Her
mother is Vietnamese, and her father is originally Chinese.
Ly Lan spent about a year studying at village school, half a year at Trung Chanh
school, and finished her primary school at Cho Quan. She continued her secondary