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TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
Candidate’s statement i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Method of the study 2
5. Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.1. Terminology 4
1.1.1. Definitions of terminology 4
1.1.2. Characteristics of terminology 5
1.2. Translation theory 6
1.2.1. Definitions of translation 6
1.2.2. Translation equivalence 7
1.2.3. Non-equivalence at word level and above word level 10
1.2.4. Translation procedures 12
1.3. Technical translation 18
1.3.1. Definitions of technical translation and its characteristics 18
1.3.2. Translation of neologisms 20
1.4. Environmental terms 22
1.4.1. Features of environmental terminology 22
1.4.2. Classification of environmental terms according to their structural features 24
1.5. Summary 33

well as national conferences have been carried out. Several matters arise from the
translation of environment terms in such kinds of courses and meetings. First, when
teaching English for environmental science, the teacher may be confused about whether he
should explain one English environmental term in other words or he should translate it into
Vietnamese so that students are able to understand it completely. Experience shows that
explaining a new technical term in a longer group of words, the teacher unavoidably
utilizes words which are new or more complicated to his students. Meanwhile, translating
that term is more time-saving and more comprehensible. However, translation is not
always pleasant and easy to the teacher due to inadequate knowledge of environmental
science. This could lead to different ways of translation of the same term by different
teachers.
In addition, there are some English - Vietnamese dictionaries of environmental science
now, however, for one English term, a dictionary may offer various Vietnamese meanings
and it might not be able to provide all meanings of environmental terms. Therefore, it
causes difficulties in translating as well as in selecting appropriate meanings. Furthermore,
translators or interpreters also face challenges of translating environmental terms because
they do not have enough knowledge of environment and Vietnamese language has not had
precise equivalences for certain English words. It is time the translators and interpreters
needed to study the theory of translation so that they can find suitable strategies to translate
environmental terms.
Given the hindrances behind the translation of environmental terms, the research question
is raised: “What are the common strategies and procedures for the translation of English
environmental terms into Vietnamese?”.

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2. Aims of the study
The study is aimed at:


and procedures into Vietnamese, which still helps us to understand and know more about
the phenomenon under investigation.
Descriptive data is collected by observing and noting only aspects which are of interest for
the research because descriptive research, as stated by Seliger and Shohamy (2000: 127)
begins with a premise about what to look for in the observation, that is to say the research
question. In a more detailed way, English environmental terms belonging to two
categories: one-word and above-word-level terms are collected from the study corpus.
Afterwards, the translation of these two groups and their subgoups are analyzed to identify
appropriate transalation procedures and strategies.
The steps of the study on the translation of environmental terminology are as follows.
Step 1: Reviewing environment materials from different reliable sources
Step 2: Collecting English environmental terms from these materials
Step 3: Classifying collected terms into two groups: one-word terms and above-word-level
terms.
Step 4: Analyzing the translation of typical examples of the above-mentioned groups in
order to find out the significant strategies and procedures for the translation of
environmental terms.
Step 5: Suggesting some implications for the translation of environmental terms.
5. Design of the study
The thesis consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. The
first part, Introduction outlines rationale, scope, aims, method and design of the research.
The second part entitled Development is divided into two chapters. Chapter One refers to
theories which serve as the foundation for this study and presents the typical features of
environmental terms and their structural patterns. Chapter Two, The translation of
environmental terms offers common procedures and strategies for the translation of the
terms. Finally, Conclusion summarizes all the research findings.
Ultimately, references, data sources and appendixes are indispensable parts of the study.
4



5
1.1.2. Characteristics of terminology
Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1981) and Luu Van
Lang (1998) share the idea that terminology possesses three important characteristics,
namely accurateness, systematism and internationalism.
a. Accurateness
A term needs to be accurate and clear because basically it reflects an exact concept of a
science. If a term is of absolute accuracy, people never mistake one concept for another.
For example, precipitation cannot be translated as mưa as in a dictionary for general
language. Precipitation means water in rain, snow, etc. that falls, therefore it should be
giáng thủy. Once a word has become a term, it no longer has connotational and emotional
meanings; it also loses its polysemousness and antonymousness. In short, terminology
necessarily works on the principle that “one concept has only one term for it and one term
indicates only one concept”.
b. Systematism
Any field of science has its own limited system of concepts, which is named by a system of
terms. Therefore, each term has its own position in the system of concepts and belongs to a
terminological system. The value of each term is determined by its relationships with other
terms in the same system. As a result, a term loses its value when isolated from its system.
For instance, if warming is not put in the environmental terminology, it is normally
understoood as làm ấm, but not ấm lên toàn cầu as it is in the field of environment. In
short, a term has to be a dependent member of its system.
c. Internationalism
Terms are used internationally because they are special words expressing common
scientific concepts to people of different languages. Therefore, it is useful to agree on
terms to be used among languages in order to push up the development of science. The

process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language). Sharing
the same idea, The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines translation as “the act or an
instance of translating” and “a written or spoken expression of the meaning of a word,
speech, book, etc. in another language” (quoted in Hatim and Munday, 2004: 3).
Based on these two basic ways, prominent figures in linguistics and translation make their
own definitions of translation. Catford (1965: 20) defines translation as “the replacement
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of textual material in one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in
another language (target language)”. Similarly, Hartman and Stork (1972: 713) state that
“translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a
presentation of an equivalent text in a second language”.
Sharing the same idea but supplementing the idea of equivalences, Nida and Taber (1969:
12) claim that “translating consists in producing in the receptor language the closest natural
equivalent to the message of the source language, first in meaning and secondly in style”.
By the same line of argument, Marlone (1988) asserts “Translation is the expression in
another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another, source
language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences” (quoted in Bell, 1991: 5).
In general, these definitions reveal basic features of translation, including the conversion
from source language (SL) to target language (TL), the equivalent and the preservation of
meaning and style of original text.
1.2.2. Translation equivalence
The concepts “equivalence” and “the equivalent” appear rather frequently in definitions of
translation, for example, “equivalent textual material” (Catford 1965: 20), “the closest
natural equivalent” (Nida and Taber, 1969: 12), “a maximally equivalent target language
text” (Wilss, 1982: 72). Apparently, “equivalence” is considered a central concept in
translation theory. It postulates a relation between source language text and target language
text and as Koller (1979) puts it, the kind of equivalence relation is defined in terms of the

real world. This kind of equivalence orients towards the extralinguistic content
transmitted by a text.
 Connotative equivalence: As the name points out, this is the kind of equivalence
basing on the connotative dimension of language. Apart from a denotative
meaning, SL and TL expressions need to create equivalent communicative values
when they are read by native readers of two languages. The connotation is
transmitted by means of word choice between synonymous expressions with
respect to level of style (register), the social and geographical dimension, frequency
and so on.
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 Text-normative equivalence: Expressions of SL and TL are used in the same or
similar context in their respective languages. To put it another way, text-normative
equivalence has to do with the text and language norms for given text types.
 Pragmatic equivalence: the achievement of pragmatic equivalence means
translating the text for a particular readership, i.e. the reader to whom the
translation is directed and to whom the translation is tuned in order to achieve a
give effect.
 Formal equivalence: this type of equivalence is generated by form expression when
the SL and TL have the same formal-aesthetic features. To achieve formal
equivalence in a TL text is to produce an “analogy of form” in the translation by
exploiting the formal possibilities of the TL or even by creating new forms if
necessary.
As regards quantity-based equivalence, Kade (1968) presents four types of equivalence (Le
Hung Tien, 2006: 55-56).
 One-to-one equivalence: A single expression in TL is equivalent to a single
expression in SL. The type of equivalence often appears in terminology.
 One-to-many equivalence: More than one TL expressions are equivalent to a single

the company of other words. But words are not strung together at random in any language;
there are always restrictions on the way they can be combined to convey meaning.
Restrictions which admit no exceptions, and particularly those which apply to classes of
words rather than individual words, are usually written down in the form of rules. Some
restrictions are more likely to admit exceptions and apply to individual words rather than
classes of words. These cannot be expressed in terms of rules, but they can be identified as
recurrent patterns in the language. In the following section, the study will concentrate on
this type of lexical patterning, namely collocation and the difficulties encountered by
translators as a result of differences in collocation of the source and target languages.
1.2.3.2.1. Definitions of collocation
Collocation, as it is defined by Baker (1992: 47), is the tendency of certain words to co-
occur regularly in a given language. Robin (1989: 65) also claims that collocation is the
habitual association of a word in a language with other particular words in sentences.
Jackson and Amvela (2000: 113) believe that collocation refers to a structural and
syntagmatic relation, to meaning relations that a word contrasts with other words occurring
in the same sentence or text.
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Collocation, therefore, is said to be concerned with how words go together, i.e. the
company that a word keeps contributes to its interpretation.
1.2.3.2.2. Collocation meaning
Baker (1992: 53) argues that the meaning of a word depends largely on its patterns of
collocation and is not something that the word possesses in isolation as it is exemplified by
dry in the following combinations: dry cow, dry wine, dry country, dry voice, dry book and
dry fact. All of these collocations have unique meanings. For example, dry cow means a
cow which is not able to produce milk any more; whereas dry voice refers to a cold voice,
not expressing emotion; dry wine implies original liquid of wine; dry country is understood
as a country where wine is prohibited, dry fact means clear evidence. Those who render

to the target reader.
1.2.4. Translation procedures
Translation procedures, as stated by Newmark (1995: 81), are used for the translation of
sentences and the smaller units of language. The followings are the translation procedures
proposed by Newmark (1995: 81-93).
1.2.4.1. Literal translation
Newmark (1995: 69) approaches literal translation by distinguishing it from word-for-word
and one-to-one translation. “Word-for-word translation transfers SL grammar and word
order, as well as the primary meanings of all the SL words, into the translation”. This
translation is supposed to be effective only for brief simple neutral sentences, e.g. He
works in the house now. - Il travaille dans la maison maintenant. One-to-one translation is
a broader form of translation in which each SL word has a corresponding TL word, but
their primary meanings may differ. Thus in passer un examen - take an exam, the two
verbs passer and take can be said to correspond with each other, but they are not semantic
equivalents. Literal translation goes beyond one-to-one translation. It ranges from one
word to one word, through group to group, collocation to collocation, clause to clause, to
sentence to sentence.
1.2.4.2. Transference
As Newmark (1995: 81) puts it, transference (loan word, transcription) refers to the
process of transferring a SL word to a TL text. The word then becomes a „loan word‟.
When it comes to the role of a translator with respect to this translation procedure, he has
to decide whether or not to transfer a word unfamiliar in the TL, which in principle should
be a SL cultural word whose referent is peculiar to the SL culture. Generally, only cultural
objects or concepts should be transferred to show respect for the SL country‟s culture.
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Words and expressions that are normally transferred are: names of all living and most dead
people; geographical and topographical names including newly independent countries
order to exemplify TL pronunciation. It seems to be appropriate form, a compromise
between the norms of the two languages and easily used by the TL speakers. This loan
transcription shows some problems as there is no unique rule to separate morphemes in
multi-morpheme words. Following the original phonological pattern of the TL may result
in changing the original pronunciation of the word. Yet, it seems much easier for speakers
of the TL to recognize it a borrowed word to pay attention when pronouncing it.
1.2.4.4. Cultural equivalence
In Baker‟s terms (1992: 31), this procedure involves replacing a culture-specific item or
expression with a TL item which does not have the same propositional meaning but is
likely to have a similar impact on the target reader. This is rather useful when the concept
in the SL appears unfamiliar to the reader of TL. Replaced culture-specific item provides
readers with a familiar and understandable concept. Although the literal meaning of the
words may be different, both items produce the same effect for their expressive value.
It is noted by Newmark (1995: 83) that this kind of translation is limited, since
approximate cultural equivalents are not accurate. They can be used in general texts,
publicity and propaganda, as well as for brief explanation to readers who are ignorant of
the relevant SL culture. In particular, the main purpose of this procedure is judged to
support or supplement another translation procedure in a couplet.
1.2.4.5. Functional equivalent
According to Newmark (1995: 83), functional equivalent, which is applied to cultural
words, requires the use of cultural-free words, sometimes with a new specific term. Its
function is to neutralize or generalize the SL word; and sometimes add a particular thus;
baccalauréat - French secondary school leaving exam, Sejm - Polish parliament. As a
cultural componential analysis, this procedure is the most accurate way of translating, that
is to say deculturalising a cultural word.
This procedure is also utilized when a SL technical word has no TL equivalent. For
instance, the English term cot death can be translated as subite d‟un nourrisson in French.
In other words, this procedure fills in the gap between the source language or culture and

message (Newmark, 1995: 86). They give an example which contains several
transpositions: „Dès qu‟on essaie d‟être arbitraire, on est tout de suite aux prises avec des
contradictions‟ - „Any attempt to be arbitrary at once involves one in inconsistencies‟. The
transpositions in the example are:
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(1) SL verb, TL noun (essaie - attempt)
(2) SL conjunction, TL indefinite adjective (dès que - any)
(3) SL clause, TL noun group (dès qu‟on essaie - any attempt)
(4) SL verb group, TL verb (est aux prises - involves)
(5) SL noun group, TL noun (des contradictions - inconsistencies)
(6) SL complex sentence, TL simple sentence
However, to strictly standardize transpositions in the way that Vinay and Darnelnet do is
impossible because many of the transpositions overlap and convert to lexis which Carford
calls „level-shifts‟ e.g. „après sa mort‟ - „after she had died‟ (Newmark, 1995: 86).
The fourth type of transposition is the replacement of a virtual lexical gap by a
grammatical structure, for example “after his arrival …” - “sau khi anh ấy đến …”.
Additionally, certain transpositions appear to go beyond linguistic differences and can be
regarded as general options available for stylistic consideration. An example of this is the
conversion of one complex sentence to a co-ordinate sentence or to two simple sentences:
“Si lui est aimable, sa femme est arrogante” - “He is very pleasant, but his wife is
arrogant” - “He is pleasant; his wife, however, is arrogant.”
To conclude, transposition is the only procedure concerned with grammar, and most
translators make transpositions intuitively.
1.2.4.8. Recognized translation
The translator is advised to use the official or the generally accepted translation of any
institutional term, and he can gloss it if he wants to show his disagreement with this
official version. Thus ozone hole has to be translated as lỗ thủng tầng ôzôn. However, this

given context.
1.2.4.11. Couplets
Newmark (1995) presents that couplets, triplets, quadruplets combine two, three or four of
the above-mentioned procedures respectively for dealing with a single problem. These
combinations are particularly common for cultural words if transference is combined with
a functional or a cultural equivalent.
In short, above are popular procedures employed in the translation of terminology from
English into Vietnamese. The study will also discuss the problem of technical translation
and translation of neologisms in the next section in order to find out more convincing
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theoretical backgrounds to come to the best procedures and strategies for translation of
environmental terms.
1.3. Technical translation
1.3.1. Definitions of technical translation and its characteristics
With the rise of technology, professional translators have been facing new types of text
which are identified by distinctive grammatical features and characteristics as well as a
number of terms. As a result, technical translation has come into existence with others. It is
considered as one part of specialised translation, potentially non-cultural, stated Newmark
(1995: 151).
Another definition of technical translation is given by Sofer (1999: 37). He claims that the
translation of a text may be called technical when it requires specialized terms in a
particular field.
Both Newmark and Sofer believe that specialised terms in a text being translated is the first
signal of technical translation though they usually only make up about five to ten per cent
of a text. Newmark (1995: 151) also points out characteristics of technical translation for
English such as passives, nominalisations, third persons, empty verbs, present tenses and
its characteristics format is the technical report, instructions, manuals, notices and

meaning in one field, as well as in two or more fields. Although the purpose of
terminology standardization is to establish a single one-to-one relationship between a
referent and its name, there are, in fact, many concept-words which are notorious for their
different meanings in various technologies.
1.3.2. Translation of neologisms
As Newmark (1995: 140) states, “neologisms can be defined as newly coined lexical units
or existing lexical units that acquire a new sense”. According to him, each language
expands its vocabulary or neologisms steadily in order to meet a particularly arisen need as
new objects and processes are continually created in technology.
Neologisms are perhaps the non-literary and the professional translator‟s biggest problem
due to their number of types. Newmark (1995) also proposes types of neologisms and the
way to deal with each type in translation. Some of these types, however, are more often
met than others in a specific technical text. Here, the most popular cases of neologisms in
environmental texts will be discussed. 20
1.3.2.1. Old words with new senses
Existing words with new senses are non-technical as they do not normally refer to new
objects or processes, so they are usually translated either by a word that already exists in
the TL or by a brief functional or descriptive term.
Existing collocations with new sense are usually descriptive terms which suddenly become
technical terms as their meaning sometimes hides innocently behind a more general or
figurative meaning. Existing collocations with new senses may be cultural or non-cultural;
if the referent (concept or object) exists in the TL, there is usually a recognized translation
or through-translation. If the concept does not exist or the TL speakers are not yet familiar
to it, an economical descriptive equivalent has to be given.

add a functional-descriptive term. He does not have the authority to devise his own
neologism.
1.3.2.5. Eponyms
Newmark (1995: 198) defines eponyms as “any word that is identical with or derived from
a proper name which gives it a related sense”. Eponyms can be divided into three
categories, those derived from persons, objects and places. In the first category, eponyms
denoting objects usually derive from their inventors or discoverers. When eponyms derive
from people‟s names, they tend to rise and fall depending on the popularity of their referent
and ease of composition. When they refer directly to the person, they can be translated
easily, but if they refer to the referent‟s ideas or qualities, the translator may have to add
some sort of explanation such as Baldwin-effect - “hiệu quả Baldwin (biến tình trạng
không di truyền thành di truyền do đột biến và chọn lọc)”. In the second category, when
derived from objects, eponyms are usually brand names, and can be transferred only when
they are equally well known and accepted in the TL, for example, nylon. Thirdly, new
eponyms deriving from geographical names appear to be rare - most commonly they
originate from the products (wines, cheeses, sausages, etc.) of the relevant area - in
translation, the generic term is added until the product is well enough known. Many
geographical terms have connotations. When they are names of towns and villages, they
should be transferred and glosses where necessary. Nowadays, there is an increasing
practice of referring to governments by the name of their respective capitals or locations
and institutions or ministers by their residences or streets (Whitehall - the British
government, the Pentagon - US military leadership, Fleet Street - the British press).
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1.3.2.6. Transferred words
Newly transferred words keep only one sense of their foreign nationality; they are the
words whose meanings are least dependent on their contexts. They are likely to be media
or product rather than technological neologisms and given the power of the media, they

living creatures in a particular area considered in relation to their physical environment.
The term global warming (sự ấm lên toàn cầu) refers to only one concept that denotes the
increase in temperature of the earth‟s atmosphere, that is caused by the increase of
particular gases.
Similarly, there are endless examples of single meaning terms such as geosphere (địa
quyển), ordinatormeter (dụng cụ đo tung độ), etc. that respectively refer to a single
concept.
1.4.1.2. Systematism
An environmental term takes on a different meaning in the field of environment. This
meaning is decided by its relations with other terms in the same system or by its position in
the system.
Example: The term vector means sinh vật truyền bệnh (not vectơ) when it is used in the
field of environment and in its relation to mosquitoes and malaria in the sentence:
Mosquitoes are the vectors in malaria. (Muỗi là sinh vật truyền bệnh sốt rét.)
1.4.1.3. Internationalism
Environmental terms are used internationally. Though they may appear in similar or
different forms in different languages, they refer to the same concepts that exist in different
cultures.
Example:
English
Vietnamese
French
pollution
sự ô nhiễm
pollution
glacier
sông băng
glacier
plankton
sinh vật phù du