English-Vietnamese translation of terminology on credit card - 1 -

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the study
1.1.1 Rationale
It was a milestone in my life when I passed the hard entrance exam
to the English class of my province's high school for gifted students. During my
study there, I had a good chance to be exposed to the English language
environment where I accumulated English a lot. My passionate love for the
English language remains and just grows more strongly day by day during my
time spent at the English Department, Hanoi University of Foreign Studies. In
the last three university terms namely term 6, 7 and 8, English students of the
academic year 2002 including me have been trained in Translation and
Interpretation course, and I immediately took special pleasure in translating,
especially from English into Vietnamese. Within three terms only, we have been
introduced to a wide range of fields that we may encounter in our future jobs
such as diplomacy, politics, economic issues, finance and banking, environment,
social development, etc. We all find these thoroughly selected topics are of great
application to us due to their frequent use in the current affairs locally and
globally. Truly speaking, when practicing translation at class, we have the
feeling that the deeper scopes of life we touch on, the greater challenge we are
confronted with. In fact, the problem may not lie in the language itself but in the
background knowledge containing in the source language text required to
produce a comprehensible and professional translated version. Thus, in the very
initial stage of translation learning, I myself find it extremely hard to deal
successfully with terminologies arising in the English version. In reality, all
professions have their own system of "jargons" and translators normally have no

- Analyzing the translation of credit card terminology Credit card is one small aspect among various bank products and services
nowadays. However, it is not an easy job to understand clearly and profoundly
how it works and benefits individuals and the economies to render correctly and
English-Vietnamese translation of terminology on credit card - 3 -
understandably all terms related to such industry into Vietnamese. Due to my
limited knowledge and the rapid development of credit card in the dynamic
financial market today, shortcomings and mistakes in credit card terminology
are inevitable. Thus, any comment, correction, and constructive ideas by my
fellow students, teachers and readers to further complete my research are deeply
appreciated.

1.1.3. Methods
In a bid to write a good Graduation Paper, it is vital to start on the right
track and carefully outline a sound and effective method of doing a research.

The research has been conducted on the ground of studies on terminology
by many foreign and Vietnamese linguists and scientists. The theoretical
background is built on the basis of their scientific reports, statements and books
on terminology and the translation of terminology.

In addition, online and offline dictionaries and encyclopedia are also
consulted to build a complete glossary on credit card. I obtain much knowledge
of Credit card and collect additional terms from Reference books, Journals,
Publications by quite a few banks in Vietnam. Especially, I have tried hard to
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CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

2.1. An overview of terminology
2.1.1. Definition of terminology
Since the topic of the graduation paper reads "A study of English-
Vietnamese translation of terminology on credit card”, apparently the word
"terminology" should appeal to any reader who happens to rest his eyes on the
cover of the research as the core point of the work. A question will then be
raised thereby "what is terminology?" or "Do the word “term” and
“terminology” mean the same thing?" It is necessary to bring these questions to
light within the limited scope of the study.

According to Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary, term is "a word or
phrase used as the name of something especially one connected with a
particular type of language." Also this dictionary defines terminology as "a set
of technical words or expressions used in a particular subject." As such,
terminology is broader in meaning compared with term. While terms separately

their own features and are used in certain situation by particular groups of
people. That is also applied to terminology. Đỗ Hữu Châu (1981) in his book Từ
vựng tiếng Việt hiện đại or Modern Vietnamese Vocabulary has defined three
main characteristics of terminology including Accuracy, Systematicality and
Internationality.

• Accuracy
A concept represented a term must be clear and exact. In addition, an
accurate term should not make the reader misunderstand the concept it expresses
with another. Actually the accuracy of terminology is well recognized in both its
form and meaning.
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With respect to the lexical meaning of words, normal word often bear the
characteristics of polysemy and synonym, whereas terminology must keep away
from this. The semantics of ordinary words may change in different usage and
contexts while that of terminology is fixed in specialized fields it is employed in.
For example, a normal and simple noun like "school" in general language has up
to eight shades of meanings when used in different circumstances. However, the
term "pneumonia" in medicine is taken for one single meaning "a serious illness
affecting one or both lungs that makes breathing difficult."

As regards the accuracy of terminology in terms of form, terminology has
no other form or outer cover other than its original one. We can hardly add any
factors like prefix, suffix, etc, to a term to refer to the plural form, antonyms, or
any change in word meaning. For example, the above-mentioned word
"pneumonia" does not allow any transformation to its form. However,
considering systematicality (that will be further discussed in the next part), the