VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
GRADUATION PAPER
STRATEGIES APPLIED IN VIETNAMES -ENGLISH
TRANSLATION OF PROPER NAMES IN "SỐ ĐỎ"
(DUMB LUCK) BY VU TRONG PHUNG
Supervisor : Nguyễn Thành Vân (M.A)
Student : Bùi Thu Hương
QH2010.F. E21

Hà Nội, 2014
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ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH
KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP
CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC ÁP DỤNG TRONG
VIỆC DỊCH CÁC TÊN RIÊNG TỪ TIẾNG VIỆT SANG
TIẾNG ANH TRONG TÁC PHẨM “SỐ ĐỎ”
CỦA VŨ TRỌNG PHỤNG
Supervisor : Ths. Nguyễn Thành Vân
Student : Bùi Thu Hương
Khóa : QH2010.F. E21

Hanoi, 2014
DECLARATION
I hereby state that I : Bui Thu Huong, QH2010.F1.E21, being a candidate for
the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirement of the College relating
to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origins of my paper deposited in

interview guide approach were adopted as research methods. 25 proper names selected
after purposive sampling process. Regarding translation strategies, the most dominant
strategy in translating proper names from Vietnamese to English was literal translation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
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SL: Source language
TL: Target language
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
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Table 3.1. Types of proper names……………………………… 8
Table 4.1. The satirical meaning behind some proper names
of the characters in “Số đỏ”……………………….…20
Table 4.2. The use of translation procedures in
Vietnamese-English translation
of proper names in “Số đỏ”………………………… 24
Table 4.3. Proper names translated by literal…………………….25
Table 4.4. Proper names translated by couplet………………… 25
Table 4.5. Types of combination couplet translation procedure…26
Table 4.6. Proper names translated by transference…………… 27
Table 4.7. Proper names translated by cultural equivalent……….27
Figure 4.2. The use of translation procedures in
Vietnamese-English translation of proper names
in”Số đỏ”………………………………………….….24
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Translation is not a new term to human. It has such a long history – since the
early dates of civilization. In fact, no one can deny the inevitable role of translation in
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societies. Thanks to this activity, communication between people coming from

arguably the greatest Vietnamese writer of this rich literary period, and whose works
have been published in English. Vu Trong Phung died in 1939 at a very young age, at
27 years old. However, he left a huge number of works of Vietnamese literature “eight
novels, seven plays, several dozen short stories, five book-length works of nonfiction
reportage, and hundreds of reviews, essays and articles” (Zinoman, 2002, p. 8) Among
his works, “Số đỏ” is considered a masterpiece in Vu Trong Phung’s career and
Vietnamese literature as well, which first appeared in serialized form in a Hanoi
newspaper in 1936.
From the above reasons, the researcher decided to conduct a study titled
“Strategies applied in Vietnamese - English translation of proper names in "Số đỏ"
by Vu Trong Phung.
2. Aims and objectives
The aim of this paper is to identify how well the English translated version of
“Số đỏ” conveys the source texts in terms of style, sense and meaning and the focus is
proper names.
In brief, this objective could be fulfilled by answering the two following
research questions:
1. What are the satirical meanings behind proper names in “Số đỏ”?
2. Which strategies are applied by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman in
translating proper names from Vietnamese to English in “Số đỏ”?
3. Significance of the study
Upon completion, the study is expected to be beneficial for students and
teachers who have to translate proper names. They will, to a certain extent, be aware of
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translation procedures applied to translate proper names. Then they may choose the
most appropriate one in order to produce the well translated version.
Besides, this study is also expected to serve as a preliminary work for further
investigation on the issue. The researcher hopes these pieces of information could
provide in-depth understanding on the issue. It means that this study could provide the
foundation for future further study on proper names translation in general, and

đỏ”. This chapter also contains a critical discussion of the findings and their linkages to
the existing literature and research in order to ascertain whether these translation
strategies applied by Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman can retain the
implication of author in the source text.
Chapter 5: Conclusions
This chapter presents addresses the results delivered from the thesis and draws a
conclusion on the work of the researcher. It also suggests the possibility of further
research in the future. This chapter ends with a sum-up of the thesis’s contribution and
significance to translation.
Chapter 6: References and appendixes
A reference list includes books, articles, and web pages, etc. that are cited in the
study. The list is arranged alphabetically by authors.
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides background knowledge used to analyze data in the next
chapter, which includes definition of translation in general, proper names in particular
and proper name’s translation as well.
2.1. Translation theory
2.1.1. Definition of translation
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A thorough and precise awareness of the definition of translation is a
prerequisite for a study of translation.
One of the first definitions of “translation” is presented by Cartford in his 1965
book named “A Linguistic Theory of Translation”. In this book, translation is defined
as “the replacement of textual material (SL) in one language by equivalent textual
material in another language (TL)” (p. 20).
Sharing a similar view, Newmark (1988, p. 7) states that “translation is a craft
consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language
by the same message and/or statement in another language".
Along the same line, Hartman and Stork (1972, p. 713) also consider
“translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a

16 translation procedures proposed by Newmark in his book “A textbook of
translation” (1995) as follows:
1. Literal translation
According to Newmark, the most crucial translation procedure is the literal
translation. He even wrote a separate chapter about this procedure.
Literal translation is a translation that maintains closely the form and order of
the source language. Literal translation occurs when a translator directly transfers a
word or expression from the source language to the target language without further
explanation. Vocabulary is still separately translated and separated from context.
E.g.
• It was a pleading cry of a strong man in distress (London, “Love of life”).
→ Đó là tiếng kêu van vỉ của một người đàn ông khoẻ mạnh trong lúc tuyệt
vọng. (Tình yêu cuộc sống - Đắc Lê dịch)
• I love you
→ Anh yêu em.
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1. Through-translation
The literal translation, which dealt with already recognized terms including
names of organizations (UN), names of diseases (HIV-AIDS), or common collocations
(small business websites → các trang web của doanh nghiệp nhỏ), is recognized by
Newmark as “cake” (loan translation) or “through-translation”.
E.g.
• Galloping inflation
→ Lạm phát phi mã
• Eyeball
→ Nhãn cầu
• Superman
→ Siêu nhân
• International Monetary Fund
→ Quỹ tiền tệ quốc tế

• Red Nose Day
→ Ngày quyên tiền cho công cuộc nghiên cứu hiện tượng trẻ em chết trong
nôi
6. Descriptive equivalent
The meaning of the original word is explained in several words. This procedure
is often used with transference to translate a cultural word or expression.
Eg.
• Continental breakfast
→ Bữa điểm tâm nhẹ gồm có bánh mỳ, mứt, cà phê hay trà.
• Hitchhiking backpacker
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→ khách du lịch ba lô
7. Componential analysis
This translation procedure involves in splitting up a lexical unit into meaning
atoms and translating those.
8. Synonymy
By using the word “synonym”, Newmark (1988, p.84) meant a near translation
equivalent to an SL word in a context, where exact synonym may or may not be
available. “Where there is no precise alternative for a SL word, or this word is not
crucial, this method is used, especially for adjectives or adverbs of quality” (Newmark,
1988, p.84)
9. Shifts or transpositions
The translation procedure of shift or transpositions involves a change in
grammar or part of speech from SL to TL, including four main types: the change in
number (singular-plural) of nouns, the position of adjectives or grammatical structure.
E.g: With good nutrition, medical care, education and skill training
→ Do được ăn uống đầy đủ, chăm sóc sức khỏe đều đặn và được giáo dục,
đào tạo kỹ năng tốt
10. Modulation
This translation procedure involves a variation in the message when it is

15. Reduction and Expansion
Reduction implies “omission of a word from an expression” which “is not
essential for understanding” (Newmark, 1988, p. 90)
E.g. Linguistics
→ Khoa học ngôn ngữ
2.2. Proper names
2.2.1. Definition of proper names
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Generally, proper names cover several categories: names of people, places,
animals, signs, festivals, etc. Although many scholars provide their own definitions of
proper names, this study focuses on the definition mentioned in The Oxford Concise
English Dictionary (2001, p.1146). A proper name is “a name for an individual person,
place, or organization having an initial capital letter”.
According to Nord (2003, p.183), “if we are familiar with the culture in
question, a proper name can tell us whether the referent is a female or a male person ,
maybe even about their age or their geographical origin within the same language
community”. For example, many children were named after a soccer player, film star
of a film which was shown on the television as the same year as they were born.
Furthermore, many translation theorists such as Javier Franco Aixelá, Irma
Hagfors, Eirlys E. Davies, Katrine Brøndsted and Cay Dollerup acknowledge that
proper names may also have certain connotations, and then they treat proper names as
belonging to certain culture and often call them culture-specific items.
In the same manner, Garcéc (2003, p. 122) emphasized that “proper names are
used “not only to reinforce characterization […], but in some cases to anticipate the
drawing of a character or even make it unnecessary”.
In short, proper names are not non-informative; it includes a lot of useful
information and helps to provide some simple information for audiences.
2.2.2. Types of proper names
As mentioned above, proper names cover several categories such as: names of
people, places, animals, signs, festivals, etc. According to Marshall (2010), proper

to the analysis of translating proper names given to the literary characters. With her
own observations and experiences in the field of linguistic study, Bertills (2003)
categorizes proper names in literary works into the following groups:
“1) Conventional personal names including first names and/or family names that
belong to the general anthroponomy. This category includes only names that are found
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as such in the general name register and which cannot be defined as suggesting any
characteristic traits of the name-bearer.
2) Invented names or coined names which are, to use Hermans (1988) term,
“semantically loaded” and are formed or invented for the purpose of a certain narrative
context. Most of these names are transparently or opaquely semantically loaded, or
have a clearly discernable origin. For instance, Raivo (2001, p.9) distinguishes between
invented or names derived from other words and imaginary names. (Bertills, 2003)
refers to these names in terms of poetic names. The term imaginary names with
reference to names that have no transparent semantic content, that is, they do not
include already existing word forms. They are still coined for a specific narrative
context.
3) Classic names (also historical, universal or literary names) contain a
“universal” content, that is, the name is associated with certain characteristics
independently of cultural or linguistic context. For instance, the classic names of
literary characters “Hamlet”, historical names “Caesar”. These are not conventional
and do not have any discernable meaning.” (p.53)
2.2.3. Proper names translation
Gergana Apostolova presents a variety of aspects to consider while translating
proper names.
“The transformation of names in translation […] is rooted deeply in the cultural
background of the translator which includes phonetic and phonological competence,
morphological competence, complete understanding of the context, a correct attitude to
the message, respect for tradition, compliance with the current state of cross-cultural
interference of languages, respect for the cultural values and the responsibilities of the

this study limits itself to the analysis of translating proper names given to the literary
characters. Therefore, proper names of literary characters can be sort out into 3 groups
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which are (1) conventional personal names, (2) invented names or coined names, and
(3) classic names.
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
The chapter gives a description of the methodologies which are employed in this
research: the research approach, the sampling, the methods of data collection and the
procedure of data collection and analysis.
3.1. The research approach
A qualitative research must be an optimal choice when the researcher sets out to
investigate phenomena which are difficult to quantify or measure accurately, or where
such measurement would be inexact. Qualitative research commonly measures:
• Personal experience
• Processes
• Personal values and beliefs
• Interactions and relationships
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• Service evaluation
As presented previously, the focus of this study is analyzing the translation
procedures which Nguyen Nguyet Cam and Peter Zinoman applied in translating
proper names from Vietnamese to English in “Số đỏ”. Therefore, qualitative method is
chosen to convey a clearer perspective on the translation of proper names, especially
by investigating translation tactics adopted to express the author’s implications under
the words.
The results of the research will be more persuasive if the researcher can have
precious information from the direct exchange with the two translators Nguyen Nguyet
Cam and Peter Zinoman. For that reason, the researcher and her supervisor attended a
talk by Peter Zinoman at Bookworm, 44 Chau Long, Hanoi on 3
rd

researcher investigated information from two types of document resource which are
public records and personal documents.
Data collection instrument
As the document analysis was chosen as the data collection method, the
instruments employed to gather data would be 25 selected proper names in Vietnamese
and their English translated version.
3.3.3. Data collection procedures
In this chapter, the data collection procedure basically consisted of three main
steps as follows:
Step 1: Collecting the proper names in “Số đỏ”.
The very initial and necessary step of this research is collecting proper names of
literary characters. Due to the limitation of accessible materials, the researcher could
only find a soft copy of the translated work in pdf file on the website
www.diendantienganh.net. As for original work, sampling was identified and listed
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from the book “Số đỏ” by Vu Trong Phung which was published in 2008 by Vietnam
Culture and Information Publishing House. The researcher read and highlighted all
proper names appearing in “Số đỏ” and its translated version in “Dumb luck”.
Step 2: Building the database of proper names in “Số đỏ”.
It was essential to establish a database containing both original Vietnamese
proper names and their English translated version so that it could be much easier for
the researcher to investigate samples. These proper names in original and translated
version will be listed alphabetically in a table.
The list would be enclosed in the Appendix.
Step 3: Gathering meaning explanation of proper names in the Vietnamese
version of “Số đỏ”.
From the established database, the researcher made a reference to some
websites, books, articles, and blogs discussing the implication of author in giving
names for characters in the novel.
3.3.4. Data analysis procedures