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VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
***************** BÙI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG
A STUDY ON ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION OF THE PRIMARY
EDUCATION TEXTS IN THE PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED
CHILDREN PROJECT IN VIETNAM

CÁCH DỊCH ANH-VIỆT VĂN BẢN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CỦA
DỰ ÁN GIÁO DỤC TIỂU HỌC CHO TRẺ EM CÓ HOÀN CẢNH
KHÓ KHĂN Ở VIỆT NAM
M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 602215

M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 602215

SUPERVISOR: Dr. LE HUNG TIEN Hanoi - 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ii
ABSTRACT
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the study
1

I.3 Translation of terminology
13
I.3.1 Role of terminology in technical translation
13
I.3.2 Translation of neologisms
13
CHAPTER II: TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE PEDC PROJECT

II.1 Background knowledge of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged
Children (PEDC) Project
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II.2 Typical features of terminology
16
II.3 Classification of technical terms of the PEDC Project according to their
structural features
18

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II.3.1 Single terms and neologisms
18
II.3.2 Compound terms
22
CHAPTER III: THE TRANSLATION OF TECHNICAL TERMS OF THE
PEDC PROJECT

III.1 The present context of translating the technical terms used in the
materials of the PEDC Project
28
III.1.1 The translators
28
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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Like other countries in the world, the education sector in general and the primary education cycle
in Vietnam play an important role in the society. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET)
has implemented many education projects at all education levels. These education projects are
conducted by the cooperation and financing of the GOV and donors from many foreign countries
such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Canada… Foreign languages,
especially English are used widely; therefore, translation of English materials into Vietnamese
plays an important role to those projects. Thanks to good translation, all the national and
international members of project teams can well understand and effectively cooperate with each
other. However, the translators often face many troubles with technical terms and language
structure, particularly in finding suitable equivalence in translating English technical terms used in
the project materials into Vietnamese.
The Government of Vietnam (GOV) has made a commitment to universal, high quality basic
education for all in its education laws, poverty alleviation programs, and 2005-2010 strategies. It

of the PEDC Project, and in the hope for some suggestions that can be of some use to those who
are responsible for translating the technical terms of the PEDC Project; the author would like to
carry out the study to answer the questions: what are some of the more problematic technical
terms, what are the common strategies and procedures used in the translation of the technical
terms of the PEDC Project in Vietnam?
2. Aims of the study:
(i) To collect the English technical terms in the materials of the PEDC Project and to study their
main features in terms of characteristics and structural patterns and work out the similarities as
well as the differences between English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents
(ii) To suggest the strategies and procedures that may apply to the translation of technical terms of
the PEDC Project and to suggest some implications for translating technical terms of the PEDC
Project.
3. Scope of the study
The study is confined to the investigation into English – Vietnamese translation of technical terms
of the PEDC Project. The major aspects to be considered are their classification, structural
patterns and their translation.
4. Methods of the study
To accomplish this study, firstly, we will go through a number of materials on translation and
terminology to build up a theoretical background for the research.
Then as stated in the aims and scope of the study, the writing is based on the review of many
types of materials of the PEDC Project in order to collect and group the English terms and their
Vietnamese equivalents for description, analysis, comparison and induction. From typical
examples of English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents; we can find the similarities and
differences and draw out the strategies and procedures used in the translation of technical terms of
the PEDC Project. The main method is contrastive analysis.

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We also conduct discussions and interviews with colleagues (translators of the PEDC Project),
specialist translators and readers (National consultants and Vietnamese stakeholders of the PEDC
Project) to find out the tendency for better and more preferable strategies and procedures.

Chapter III: The translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project

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This chapter studies the present context of the translation of the technical terms of the PEDC
Project; strategies and procedures applied in their translation
Part C: Conclusion
The conclusion summarizes the strategies and procedures as well as comments on them
The appendixes give examples of different groups of terms.


used in Mathematics, physics, commerce, medicine, economics, linguistics…which should be
distinguished from ordinary words.
I.1.2 Distinction between terms and words
Baker (1998) suggests “Terms differ from words in that they are endowed with a special form of
reference, namely that they refer to discrete conceptual entities, properties, activities or relations
which constitute the knowledge space of a particular subject field”.
Further important differences between terms and words are as follows:
(i) Terms have special reference within a particular discipline whereas words function in general
reference over a variety of subject fields.

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(ii) Terms keep their lives and meanings only for as long as they serve the system of knowledge
that gave rise to them
In other words, terms together with words and proper names constitute the general class of lexical
items. Names refer individually to object and people; words refer arbitrarily to general concepts
while terms refer deliberately to specific concepts. However, the boundary between terms and
words is not a clear cut i.e. many terms become ordinary words when they are closed to daily life
and used with high frequency, and many words become terms when they are used in specialized
field.
I.1.3 Characteristics of terminology
Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1985), Luu Van Lang (1998)
share the idea that terminology possesses three important characteristics: accurate, systematic and
international
I.1.3.1 Accurate
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. Once a word has
become a term, it no longer has connotational, emotional meaning; it also loses its
polysemousness, synonymousness, and autonymousness. In short, terminology necessarily works
on the principle that “one concept has only one term for it, and one term indicates only one
concept”. This relationship is called the one-to-one equivalence between a concept and a term.

five characteristics: accurate, systematic, international, national and popular. These characteristics
are key elements or principles in the creation and standardization of terminology.
I.2 Translation theory
I.2.1 Definition of translation
It is undeniable that translation plays an important role in our life. According to Kelly (1968),
without translation, there is no history of the world. Up to now, there have been so many
definitions of translation. Here are some examples.
Barkhudarov (1975) defines translation as “the transformation of a speech product in one
language into that of other language, keeping the content (or meaning) unchanged”.
In his own words, Catford (1965) says that translation “is the replacement of textual material in
one language (source language) by equivalent textual material in other language (target
language)”.
Meanwhile, Hartman and Stock (1972) defines translation as “the replacement of a representation
of a text in one language by a representation of another equivalent in a second language”.
Translation, in Wilss‟s word (1982), “is the procedure which leads from a written source language
text to an optimally equivalent target language text, and which requires the syntactic, semantic,
stylistic and text pragmatic comprehension by the translator of the original text”.
The most specific definition is one by Larson (1984):“Translation is the work of transferring the
meaning of a text or part of a speech from one language into another. Translation consists of

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studying in the lexicon, grammatical structure, communication situation and cultural context of
the source language text, analyzing it in order to determine its meaning and then reconstructing
this same meaning, using the lexicon and grammatical structure which are appropriate in the
receptor language and its cultural context”.
Still there is another way of classifying translation types, i.e. from Larson‟s viewpoint. As a given
text has both form and meaning, there are, according to Larson (1984), two main kinds of
translation, i.e. literal translation and idiomatic translation. The former, which attempts to follow
the form of the source language, is form-based, while the latter is meaning-based, which make
every effort to communicate the meaning of the source language text in the natural forms of the

either exploiting formal possibilities of TL, or creating new forms in TL.
I.2.3. Translation strategies and translation procedures
Just as it was mentioned in the aims of the study, the main purpose of the study is to find out the
strategies and procedures used in the translation of the technical terms of the PEDC Project. In
this part, we will review some theoretical background on these factors. Newmark (1988b) points
out the difference between translation methods and translation procedures. He writes that, "While
translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the
smaller units of language" (p.81).
I.2.3.1 Literal translation
Newmark (1981b) 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 sentence. 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. 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; sentence to sentence.
I.2.3.2 Transference
As Newmark (1981b) puts it “Transference is the process of transferring a SL word to a TL text as
a translation procedure. It is the same as Catford‟s transference, and includes transliteration,
which relates to the conversion of different alphabets. The word then becomes a „loan word‟”.
Normally the translator has to decide whether or not to transfer a word unfamiliar in TL, which in
principle should be a SL cultural word. The names of SL objects, interventions, devices, processes
that are imported into the TL culture should be, in principle, creatively, preferably translated, if
they are neologisms, although brand names have to be transferred. However, in the media, the
experts are more likely to transfer words whether the translators like it or not.
Words and expressions that are normally transferred are: names of all living and most dead
people; geographical and topographical names including newly independent countries except for
those which already have recognized translations; names of periodicals and newspapers, titles of
un-translated literary works, plays, films, names of private companies and institutions, public or
nationalized institutions, street names, addresses…

structure.
There are other transpositions which appear to go beyond linguistic differences and can be
regarded as general options available for stylistic consideration.
To conclude, transposition is the only procedure which is concerned with grammar, and which is
made intuitively.
I.2.3.4 Cultural equivalent

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This procedure is an approximate translation where the translator translates a SL cultural word by
a TL cultural word. The translation uses of these approximate equivalents are limited because they
are not accurate, but 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. A great advantage of
approximate cultural equivalents is that they have a greater pragmatic cultural equivalents is that
they have a greater pragmatic impact than culturally neutral terms; they are important in drama as
they can create an immediate effect. However, the main purpose of this procedure is to support or
supplement another translation procedure in a couplet.
I.2.4. Technical translation
I.2.4.1 Definition of technical translation
Newmark (1981) differently distinguishes technical translation from institutional translation
“Technical translation is one part of specialized translation; institutional translation, the area of
politics, commerce, finance, government etc, is the other.” He goes on to suggest that technical
translation is potentially non-cultural and universal because the benefits of technology are not
confined to one speech community. The terms in technical translation, therefore, should be
translated. On the contrary, institutional translation is cultural, so, in principle, the terms are
transferred unless they are concerned with international organization.
Sofer (1991) approaches technical translation by distinguishes it from literary translation “The
main division in the translation field is between literary and technical translation”. According to
him, literal translation covers such areas as fiction, poetry, drama and humanities in general and is
done by writers of the same kind in the target language, or at least by translators with the required
literary aptitude. Meanwhile, technical translation is done by a much greater number of

come into the main stream of language. Newmark (1981b) also proposes twelve types of
neologisms, including old words with new senses, new coinages, derived words, abbreviations,
collocations, eponyms (persons, objects, geographical names), acronyms, phrasal words
transferred words and pseudo-neologisms and he also discusses the translation of particular
instances.
I.3.2.1. Old words with new senses
These words are normally non-cultural and non-technical as they do not usually refer to new
objects or processes, and therefore are rarely technological; 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 senses are a translator‟s trap. This occurs when “normal”
descriptive terms suddenly become technical terms and their meaning sometimes hides innocently
behind a more general or figurative meaning. These existing collocations can be cultural or non-
cultural; if the referent (concepts or objects) exist in the TL, there is usually recognized translation
or through-translation. If the concept does not exist or the TL readers are not yet aware of it, an
economical descriptive equivalent has to be given.
I.3.2.2. Derived words
Newmark (1981b) states “The great majority of neologisms are words derived by analogy from
ancient Greek and Latin morphemes usually with suffixes such as – ismo, - ismus, etc. naturalized

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in the appropriate language”. The word-forming procedure is applied mainly to designate
scientific and technological rather than cultural institutional terms, the advance of these
internationalisms is widespread, and these words normally have naturalized suffixes.
As a professional translator, we should bear in mind that there are distinctions between terms with
or without those suffixes to transfer its subtlety nuances of meaning.
I.3.2.3. Acronyms
Newmark (1981b) defines an acronym as “the initial letters of words that form a group of words
used (vertiginously)” for denoting an object, institution or procedure as WAC from Women's Army
Corps, OPEC from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries… Sometimes, the acronym
can be specially coined for the text and can be found there, so there is no need wasting time

introduction about the technical terms which are selected from materials used in the primary
education field in the PEDC Project.
II.1 Background knowledge of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children (PEDC)
Project
In this part, we only briefly provide general information about the PEDC Project; specific
contents such as purposes, strategy, approach, description, Institutional Strengthening Teams
(ISTs), structure, institutional and implementation arrangements will be included in the Appendix
1. The Government of Vietnam (GOV) has signed up to try to achieve Education for All (EFA) and
also the Millennium Development Goals which include Universalization of Primary Education
(UPE). The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is implementing the Primary Education
for Disadvantaged Children Project (PEDC) with financing from (i) the International
Development Association (IDA), (ii) bilateral grants and (iii) the Government of Vietnam.
Project scope: The project commenced in late 2003 and will run until the end of 2011. PEDC is
being implemented in the 222 most disadvantaged districts in 40 of Vietnam‟s 64 provinces. The
districts were chosen on the basis of an extensive survey which ranked districts on a number of
key poverty criteria.
Project overall objective: The objective of this project is to improve access to primary school and
the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. Disadvantaged children are broadly
defined as school-aged children who are not enrolled or are at risk of not completing their primary
education; children who attend schools that do not meet fundamental quality standards; and
children with disabilities or children from other highly vulnerable groups, such as street children,
migrant children or girls from certain ethnic minority areas.
Project Description: The project consists of four components, including (i) Component 1:
Reaching Fundamental School Quality Level (FSQL), (ii) Component 2: Educational initiatives

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for groups of highly vulnerable children, (iii) Component 3: National and provincial institutional

mô đun
module
modul
satellite
điểm trường lẻ
satellite
satellit
curricular
chương trình học
curriculaires
curriculare
II.2.4. National
Technical terms of the PEDC Project are made up from the material of the language that contains
them. For example, to denote the age or period when a child normally attends school, English

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language uses the term “school-age” whereas Vietnamese uses “tuổi đi học” with its own way of
word formation, spelling, pronouncing and writing.
II.2.5. Popular
Many terms of the PEDC Project have become so popular that they are no longer regarded as
technical terms but have become ordinary words used in daily life of the user.
Primary students

HS tiểu học
Teaching skills
Kỹ năng dạy học
School managers
Ban giám hiệu/ cán bộ quản lý trường học
Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
Ban đại diện cha mẹ HS

Verbs
Nouns
Upgrade
Upgrading (sự nâng chuẩn)
Train
Training (việc tập huấn)

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Guide
Guidance (sự hướng dẫn)
Facilitate
Facilitation (sự hỗ trợ)
Disseminate
Dissemination (sự tuyên truyền, phổ biến)

Another important feature of some of these verbs is that each verb usually goes with (in
collocations) one or two certain nouns. Examples of verbs and nouns that go together are:
Upgrade Teaching Assistant
Nâng chuẩn Nhân viên hỗ trợ giáo viên
Facilitate training
Hỗ trợ tập huấn
Disseminate event
Tuyên truyền, phổ biến sự kiện
Develop professional activities
Phát triển các hoạt động chuyên môn
II.3.1.2 Single terms which appear in the form of a noun
The terms which are nouns (also including the nouns that derive from verbs in 2.3.1.1) can be
divided into subgroups as follows:
Sub-technical terms
Those are words which are not specific to a subject specialty but occur regularly in scientific and

Vietnamese School Readiness
Chuẩn bị tiếng Việt
Campus Support Fund
Quỹ hỗ trợ điểm trường
Vietnamese Language Strengthening
Tăng cường Tiếng Việt
Inclusive Education
Giáo dục hòa nhập
Exemplary Inclusive Education Services
Mô hình dịch vụ giáo dục hòa nhập mẫu
Fundamental School Quality Level
Mức chất lượng tối thiểu
Child Development Record
Dữ liệu trẻ thiệt thòi
Disadvantaged children
Trẻ em có hoàn cảnh khó khăn
II.3.1.4 Acronyms in the technical terms of the PEDC Project
Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of words that make up a term or a proper name.
Some acronyms of the PEDC Project are:
SR (School Readiness)
Chuẩn bị đến trường (CBĐT)
VSR (Vietnamese School Readiness)
Chuẩn bị tiếng Việt (CBTV)
CSF (Campus Support Fund)
Quỹ hỗ trợ điểm trường (QHTĐT)
VLS (Vietnamese Language Strengthening)
Tăng cường tiếng Việt (TCTV)
IE (Inclusive Education)
Giáo dục hòa nhập (GDHN)
EIES (Exemplary Inclusive Education

đánh giá định kỳ
Inclusive education
giáo dục hòa nhập
II.3.2 Compound terms
These are terms which are composed of two or more than two words; these words, which are of
different part of speech, combine together and create terms that have the form of nominal group
(Halliday‟s term)
The nominal group
Before examining the terms, which appear in the form of nominal groups, we would like to
discuss briefly the experiential structure of the nominal group.
According to Halliday (1985), the nominal group structure contains the Thing (Head noun),
preceded by various items including Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, and Classifier, and followed by
Qualifier:
These
nine
excellent
enthusiastic
Grade 1
teachers
of the
school
Deictic
Numerative
Epithet
Epithet
Classifier
Thing
Qualifier
Deictic: the deictic element indicates whether or not some specific subset of the thing is intended.
It can be either specific such as this, that, these, those, my, your, his, her, their…or non-specific

Examples:
Support = Epithet in support teachers that means “teachers that supports” or support = Classifier
in support teachers that means “teachers classified as a special type of teachers”
Thing: the thing is the semantic core of the nominal group, which may be common noun, proper
noun, or personal noun
Qualifier: the qualifier element follows the Thing and characterizes it. The qualifier can be a
relative clause or a prepositional phrase.
Technical terms of the PEDC Project in the form of the nominal group
II.3.2.1. Terms consisting of classifier (noun) + thing
A term of this group consists of two nouns, the first noun function as Classifier and helps to
distinguish the Thing (the second noun) from other concepts of the same group.
For example, in the list of technical terms of the PEDC Project, there are many types of teachers
(Thing) that can be distinguished from one another by different Classifier that precede them, e.g

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resource teacher (giáo viên nguồn), support teacher (giáo viên hỗ trợ), class teacher (giáo viên
đứng lớp)…
School maintenance
Bảo dưỡng trường học
School readiness
Chuẩn bị đến trường
Teacher training
Tập huấn Giáo viên
Support teacher
GV hỗ trợ
Language barriers
Rào cản ngôn ngữ
Community participation
Sự tham gia của cộng đồng
II.3.2.2. Terms consisting of classifier/epithet (adjective) + thing

II.3.2.3. Terms consisting of classifier/epithet (present participle) + thing
In this group, some V-ing function as Classifier, e.g teaching aids = aids which are used in
teaching, training manual = manual which is used in training, some function as Epithet, e.g “A
teaching assistant not only helps Grade 1 ethnic minority students learn well in the class but also
mobilize school-aged students to attend School Readiness class” (Nhân viên hỗ trợ GV không chỉ
hỗ trợ HS dân tộc thiểu số lớp 1 học tốt trong lớp mà còn huy động trẻ em trong độ tuổi đến
trường học lớp Chuẩn bị đến trường). In this example, the teaching assistant means the assistant