ABSTRACT
From the very first days of their professions, translators have always been entrusted
with the role of a communication facilitator who bridges the gap of understanding
between people coming from various cultures and speaking different languages.
Coming along with this trend, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU
also strives to train high-qualified translators to meet the demand of the whole society.
With the deep concerns about the situation, the researcher would like to conduct a
study entitled “Common errors made by 2nd year students majoring in Translation
and Interpreting at FELTE, ULIS, VNU in Translation Practice compiled by
Nguyen Viet Ky and suggestions for improvement”
The study aims at identifying common errors made by 2nd year students majoring in
Translation and Interpreting in course-book “Translation Practice” compiled by
Nguyen Viet Ky. Based on reasons shared by students and experienced teacher,
suggestions are offered for the improvement of not only surveyed students but also the
next generations of 2nd year students.
The major methods and procedures adopted throughout the study include
questionnaires, class observations, document observations, diary reports and online
interview. A combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods enables the
researcher to triangulate the data in order to produce the rich and reliable findings.
With this approach, the researcher ensures the validity as well as the reliability of the
study. Hopefully, the study proves beneficial to fresh would-be translators at FELTE,
ULIS, VNU.

I


TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................1
1.1 Statement of problem and rationale for the study.............................................................................1
1.2 Aims of the study...............................................................................................................................2
1.3 Significance of the study...................................................................................................................3

4.1 Findings and discussion from questionnaires.................................................................................25
4.1.1 Linguistic errors........................................................................................................................25
4.1.2 Translation errors …………………………………..............................................................26
4.1.3 Possible causes …………………………………………………………………...................28
4.1.4 Suggestions ………………………………………………………………………………....29
4.2 Findings and discussion from class observations, document observations, diary reports and
online interview..................................................................................................................................30
4.2.1 Linguistic errors........................................................................................................................31
4.2.2 Translation errors......................................................................................................................34
4.2.3 Possible causes..........................................................................................................................38
4.2.4 Suggestions...............................................................................................................................40
4.3 Comparison between findings from five instruments.....................................................................40
4.3.1 Research question 1: Common errors made by 2nd year students...........................................41
4.3.2 Research question 2: Possible causes.......................................................................................42
4.3.3 Research question 3: Suggestions............................................................................................42
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................45
5.1 Major findings of the study.............................................................................................................45
5.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies..........................................................46
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................................47
APPENDIX A............................................................................................................................................50
QUESTIONNAIRE...............................................................................................................................50
APPENDIX B............................................................................................................................................55
THƯ MỜI THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU...............................................................................................55


APPENDIX C............................................................................................................................................57
DIARY EXTRACT FROM STUDENT CODED AS S1.....................................................................57
APPENDIX D............................................................................................................................................60
DIARY EXTRACT FROM STUDENT CODED AS S2.....................................................................60
APPENDIX E.............................................................................................................................................62

by researcher
Table 3

Participants’ demographic information

20

Table 4

Common linguistic errors observed from

26

questionnaires
Table 5

Common translation errors observed from

27

questionnaires
Table 6

Lengthy and awkward expression errors

34

Table 7

Terminology errors

Diagram 2

Data collection procedure

23

Diagram 3

Possible causes of common errors synthesized from

41

multiple instruments
LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1

Possible causes of common errors made by 2nd year

PAGE
28


students observed from questionnaires
Chart 2

Suggestions to overcome errors observed from
questionnaires

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS


The massive global integration has witnessed a proliferation of translating as
Munday (2001, p5) accentuates “Throughout history written and spoken translations
have played a crucial role in interhuman communication”. More notably, the 21st
century fosters nations around the world to come together in tremendous vigor to
address global challenges and promote socio-economic development; hence,
translators have been entrusted with the role of bridging the gap between people
coming from various cultures and speaking disparate languages. As a result, the
constant and growing essence for translators is perfectly comprehensible, and myriad
of universities all over the world offer translation courses in their academic year.
According to Caminade and Pym (1995), as cited in Munday (2001) at least 250
university-level bodies in over sixty countries offering four-year undergraduate and
postgraduate courses in this art of science.
Harmonizing with the blossom of discipline, University of Languages and
International Studies, a prestigious institution in Vietnam prominent for grooming
translators also strives to diversify and impose assorted pedagogical methods to
strengthen students’ translating competence. Students majoring in translation are
oriented towards intensive training from their 2 nd year, which facilitates them to glory
in translation skills and lay a momentous foundation from the early stage. In this
training phase, more than ten generations of trainees follow the course-book
“Translation Practice” compiled by senior lecturer Nguyen Viet Ky. What is more, texts
in this course-book are extracted for both mid-term and end-of-term tests; therefore,
translating texts in this course-book precisely assists translator to-be in sharpening their
translation skills and harvesting better exam results.

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Nonetheless, tackling Vietnamese-English translations poses unprecedented
challenges for sophomores as they are at the initial drilling process and not truly aware
of translating-related theories and skills. Additionally, compared with EnglishVietnamese translation, Vietnamese-English translation is considered to be more

1.3 Significance of the study
Translation is a vast discipline of study and practice, which so far has seen a great
deal of research works. The study would be of great usefulness for the improvement of
Vietnamese – English translation of 2nd students and assists students in strengthening
their translation competence. Besides, the research helps teachers become more aware
of common errors students may confront while translating and serves as a reference for
them in the process of teaching translation. The findings of this research also can be
regarded as a valuable experience for the researchers who share the same interest in
this topic as well.
1.4 Scope of the study
The study population comprises both students and teachers as the errors made by
2nd year students are detected and offered suggestions by from the perspectives of
students and teachers. Regarding students, the participants include 81 students of three
classes, QH2011.E18; E19 and E20.

They all gain experiences in translating

Vietnamese-English texts in “Translation Practice” compiled by Nguyen Viet Ky.
Additionally, the population involves senior lecturer Mr. Nguyen Viet Ky in
Translation and Interpreting Division who is the compiler of the course-book
“Translation Practice” and possesses considerable experience in teaching Translation
Practice for 2nd year students. Due to time and capacity constraint, the researcher
merely concentrates on detecting errors in Vietnamese – English translations in Unit 4
3


“Vietnam”. The Unit is selected among the three themes “Vietnam”, “Economy”,
“Health” in the second semester for two main reasons. Firstly, Unit 4 is advantageous
for researcher to arrange time and conduct observations. Besides, “Vietnam” is among
the popular themes which students confront during 3rd and 4th year at university.

accuracy of the messages, the meaning of words from the ST to the TT.
The above-mentioned viewpoint was also supported by the renowned founder of
translation theories Newmark. Newmark (1995) defines that translation is a procedure
of transferring a written text into another language in the way that the author aimed in
the text. In other words, translation means rendering the meaning of a text into another
language in the same way that the author intended the text. From his point of view,
Newmark particularly expounds on two key points which are the transfer of written
text and the purpose of author; thus, translation means transferring not only language
but also ideas and purpose of the author in source text.
Another concept about translation can be found in Bell (1991) who defines this art
of science as the substitution of a representation of a text in one language by a

5


representation of an equivalent text in a second language. This concept also put strong
emphasis on accurately conveying the messages from ST to TT.
Seeing eye-to-eye with Newmark and Bell, Larson (1994) reaffirms that
translation as a process of replacing the form of the source language by the form of
target language. More importantly, Larson emphasizes two critical factors in translation
process. Firstly, translation needs studying the ST including lexicon, grammatical
structure, communication situation or cultural context. Secondly, after studying the ST,
it is “a must” to reconstruct this same meaning using the lexical and grammatical
which are proper in TT and its cultural context. From Larson’s indication, it can be
concluded that reading and writing skills are crucial skills for the success of a
translators. In other words, the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary plays pivotal
role during translation process. The definition of translation is reinforced by Landa
(2006) who defines translation as a reproduction of the meaning from one language to
another language in written form.
All in all, it can be witnessed that the above-cited definitions, though differed in

and clients’ satisfaction.
2.1.2.2 Criteria for translation quality assessment
The very fundamental model of TQA is proposed by House (1986) which consists
of four main criteria including pre-linguistic studies, response-based psycholinguistic
studies, source text-based studies and studies based on pragmatic theories of language
use. Pre-linguistic studies cover the faithfulness to the ST. In other words, an adequate
translation should successfully convey the ideas of the original text. Response-based
studies can be approached from behavioristic views and functionalistic views. Nida
(1964) as cited in House (1986) proposes a criterion in which “equivalence of
response” is the key point of a good translation. The “equivalence of response” is
7


clearly reflected in the principle of dynamic equivalence. The dynamic equivalence
concentrates on naturalness, the message and readability. According to Nida, the
manner in which the receptors of a translation respond to the transition should be
equivalent to the manner in which the ST’s receptors to the original. Besides, it is the
purpose of a translation that is of great importance in assessing the quality of
translation. Thirdly, source text-based studies are oriented towards the translation text.
The translation is assessed mainly based on its forms and functions inside the system of
the receiving culture and literature. Last but not least, a functional-pragmatic model of
translation evaluation involves the analysis and comparison between the original and
its translation at three levels, namely the level of text, register and genre. These three
levels also refer to the same conclusion that is “equivalence” is fundamental criterion
of translation quality.
The above model asserted by House (1986) represents an early and general
description of TQA. Nearly ten years later, the criteria are discussed further by
Newmark (1995). Compared with earlier criteria of TQA, the model by Newmark is
particularly thorough since it suggests five essential steps from the beginning to the end
in translation evaluation process, including pre-evaluation and post-evaluation. These

translation of trainees.
Nevertheless, from a new approach, more recently, Williams (2009) claims that it
is better to see TQA from a broader sense in which TQA can be the combination of
both quantitative and qualitative method. TQA can be based on statistical
measurement, reader response, interviews and questionnaires. No matter the
assessment is on products, performance or competence, TQA should be drawn from the
criteria of “goodness”, the achievement of quality. Specifically, a high-quality
translation should ensure validity and reliability. Validity refers to an assessment
measuring what it is designed to measure such as necessary translation skills for
performance. Validity also includes predictive validity involving the consequence of
the assessment reflecting future performance. Reliability is an assessment which
9


creates the same results when repeatedly examined to the same population under the
same conditions. Williams proposes a score of questions in order to identify the
reliability such as “Are there any biases or undue variations in results over time? Is
there a mechanism for ensuring that evaluators do not fluctuate between excessive
rigour and extreme flexibility? Is the evaluator always objective?”.
Overall, researchers adopting different approaches have proposed different
definitions of a good translation. No matter what approach has been adopted, most
researchers agree with Tien and Bac (2008) that a good interpretation must ensure
accuracy, naturalness, readability and consistency. Accuracy means that the translator
exactly conveys the ideas and the meaning of original text to translated one with no
omissions and no additions. Naturalness can only be achieved provided that the
translator pays enough attention to the style of both source and targeted text. The
product should be smooth and natural for the sake of the targeted readership.
Readability is satisfactory when the translator makes no mistakes in grammar,
punctuation, spelling and so on; therefore, it is convenient for the readers to follow the
whole translation. Consistency refers to the systematic use of terminologies, names of

to the lack of translator’s competence, and the latter occurs when translator poses a
purpose to recreate the text.
2.2.2 Classification of translation errors
Not only the definition but also the classification of interpreting errors has
attracted a myriad of efforts from scholars and researchers. Nevertheless, due to the
complexity of this practice, it remains intricate to establish a single comprehensive list
of all the translation errors observed. This part, therefore, just attempts to review some
of the most noticeable study intro translation errors, and building on those studies, the

11


researcher proposes a list of translation errors which can be regarded as the foundation
for the error analysis of this study.
Hejwowski Krzysztof (1992) divides translation errors into four main types:
errors of syntagmatic surface translation, errors of mistaken interpretation, realization
errors and meta-translation errors. The first type includes equivalents, false friends,
calques and unjustified borrowings. The second type covers misreading syntagms and
wrong interpretation of verb frame, misinterpret scenes and scripts and misreading the
text modality. The third type covers TL errors, wrong evaluation of recipients’
knowledge and insufficient of knowledge of subject-matter. The final type comprises
translation technique, additions, omissions, two versions, too many or two few
footnotes, a wrong translation strategy, corrections and changing the text’s
intertextuality. Nevertheless, this approach is complicated and troublesome for
researcher to figure out translations errors of professional translators in general and
undergraduates in particular.
Three years later, translation errors were categorized more logically by the
founder of translation Newmark (1995, p189) in which translation errors consists of
two main types that are referential errors and linguistic errors. “Referential errors are
about facts, the real world, propositions not words”. Linguistic errors involve mistakes

viewpoint with Newmark (1995) and Nord (1997). The third categorization includes
errors of compliance. Although meaning and form are accurate, the translator fails to
convey the style guide, preferred terminology, and other customer requirement which
can cause unnaturalness, lack of readability and inconsistency in a translation.
The classification of translation error remains diverse; however, most scholars
agree with Wang Baorong (2009). Baorong arrives at a mutual conclusion that
translation errors should be classified into three main types including pragmatic
translation errors, cultural translation errors and linguistic translation errors. Pragmatic
translation errors are caused by practical issues such as a lack of receiver orientation
and background knowledge. Cultural translation errors are related to equivalent
problems and methods to deal with cultural words. Linguistic errors occur due to the
13


lack in the proficiency of the translator. As Newmark (1995) points out linguistic errors
involves grammatical mistakes, punctuations, collocations, idioms and so forth.
Based on the above reviewed studies, the researcher has come up with a
comprehensive list of common errors which is considered as the foundation for error
analysis in this study. The error list is mainly based on the theories of Newmark (1995),
Nord (1997), Nord (1997), Schiaffino (2005), and Wang Baorong (2009). On the basis
of these theories, the list of errors to assess the quality of 2 nd students’ translations can
be divided into two categorizations including linguistic errors and translation errors.
Both these two types of errors are unavoidable as 2 nd year trainees still undoubtedly
lacks English proficiency as well as the background knowledge about translation
theories. The list of errors is as followed:
LINGUISTIC ERRORS

Linguistic errors

Inaccurate


last night is my sister.
I congratulated her on her success.

Punctuation

success.
We all watched Titanic, it was a We all watched Titanic. It was a

Spelling

Singular
plural forms
Subject-verb

great movie!

great movie!

If you like your mother's new

If you like your mother's new

wallpaper, you'll complement

wallpaper, you'll compliment her on

her on her decorating skills.
and He does his homeworks after



Source text

Poor translation

Suggested
translation

Lengthy and Mặc dù những kỹ năng Although skills which Although

subject-

awkward

mang tính đặc thù môn have

subject-specific specific skills are of

expression

học là rất quan trọng, characteristics are very importance, students
nhưng sinh viên hiện important,

students today need more than

nay cần nhiều hơn thế. today need more than that. They need other
Họ cần những kỹ năng that. They need other skills

including



services

phương, cần đẩy mạnh to stimulate job-related tourism,
công tác đào tạo nghề, matters.
truyền nghề và phát

 Omission
15

it

and
is

necessary to stimulate
of

vocational

training,


triển nghề.

ideas.

professional
transmission



in

English.
Consistency Biến đổi khí hậu gây ra Climate change poses CC

poses

những thách thức to huge challenges. CC is challenges.
lớn. Hiên tượng này is

having

huge
CC

is

dramatic abstract to us, but in

đang gây ra những tác effects in the Arctic. The the Arctic it is having
động to lớn ở cực. Tác effects of climate change dramatic effects. The
động của biến đổi khí includes
hậu

liên

quan

đến and higher sea levels.

editor

to

decide for an editor to decide

câu chuyện nào đó có whether an incident is whether an incident is
đáng được đưa tin hay newsworthy or not: the newsworthy or not:
không. Đó là: Thời time, the importance, the timing, significance,
gian của sự kiện, tầm venue,

the

incident- proximity,

quan trọng của nó và related celebrities, and prominence
16

and


mức độ cảm xúc mà đó the level of emotions it human interest.
có thể gây ra cho người affects on readers.
đọc.

 The incorrect use
of terminologies.

Table 2: The model of common s synthesized by the researcher
Summary

Throughout the study, all the selected participants were mentioned neither in
real names or pseudonyms. They will be coded with letters and numbers to preserve
their rights of privacy. Furthermore, the participants were selected via strict sampling
procedures to ensure their representativeness of the whole population.

3.1.1 Teacher participant selection
Based on purposive sampling, an experienced senior lecturer coded as T in
charge of QH.2011.E18, QH.2011.E19, and QH.2011.E20 was selected to participate in
the study. Having worked in training field for fifteen years in Translation and
Interpreting Division, ULIS, VNU, T possessed considerable experiences and deep
insights of students’ competence. Hence, the recommendations from T were especially
priceless to not only students but also other lecturers.
3.1.2 Student participant selection
18