VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF GRADUATE STUDIES
LƯƠNG TỐ LAN
APPLICATION OF HOUSE’S MODEL FOR
TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN
ASSESSING THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
VIETNAM’S LAW ON INVESTMENT
NO. 59/2005/QH11
ÁP DỤNG MÔ HÌNH ĐÁNH GIÁ CHẤT LƯỢNG
BẢN DỊCH CỦA HOUSE VÀO VIỆC ĐÁNH GIÁ
BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG ANH
LUẬT ĐẦU TƯ SỐ 59/2005/QH11
M.A. Thesis
Combined Programme Thesis
English Linguistics
60 22 15
HA NOI - 2007
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF GRADUATE STUDIES
LƯƠNG TỐ LAN
APPLICATION OF HOUSE’S MODEL FOR
TRANSLATION QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN
ASSESSING THE ENGLISH VERSION OF THE
VIETNAM’S LAW ON INVESTMENT
NO. 59/2005/QH11
ÁP DỤNG MÔ HÌNH ĐÁNH GIÁ CHẤT LƯỢNG
BẢN DỊCH CỦA HOUSE VÀO VIỆC ĐÁNH GIÁ
BẢN DỊCH TIẾNG ANH
LUẬT ĐẦU TƯ SỐ 59/2005/QH11

translation, as well as assessment and evaluation of translations.
This study aims at revealing the most basic features of Vietnamese and
English legal language, and basic concepts of translation theory in general, legal
translation in particular. Then it will test the appropriateness of House’s model for
translation quality assessment in assessing English translations of Vietnamese legal
documents. This is done through the application of the model in assessing the English
version of the Law on Investment 2005 of Vietnam and conclusions based on the
findings. Finally, implications for translating Vietnamese legal documents into
English will be proposed.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Statement of authorship i
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations vi
List of diagrams vii
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rational for the study 1
2. Significance of the study 2
3. Scope and objectives of the study 2
3.1. Scope of the study 2
3.2. Research questions 2
4. Research methods 2
5. Overview of the study 3
CHAPTER 1. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4
1.1.CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGAL LANGUAGE 4
1.1.1. An overview of legal traditions in the world 4
1.1.2. Vietnamese legal system 6

vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SL: Source Language
TL: Target Language
ST: Source Text
TT: Translation Text
viii
LIST OF DIAGRAMS
Global Distribution of Legal Systems Page 5
The schema for analyzing and comparing original and translation texts Page 30
ix

INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
Globalization and integration is an inevitable trend in today’s world. Any
country that rejects this trend will soon be lagged behind in all major fields of social
life. But communication is successful only when the participants can understand each
other. This cannot be achieved if nations with different languages never try to
understand the language of another. Therefore, the need for translation between
languages is greater than ever before. And because English is an accepted
contemporary international language, more and more documents in other languages
are being translated into it. These are documents of all fields: politics, economics,
culture, etc. But when can a translation be considered ‘good’ still draws much
discussion. Translation theorists have their own founded criteria for translation
quality assessment. Among distinguished scholars of this field is Julian House, a
German linguist, with her model for translation quality assessment.
On its route to international economic integration, Vietnam has to make many
new laws as objectively required. Laws in Vietnamese obviously have legal validity.
But reliable English versions of these laws are desirable to foreign investors before
and on coming to do business in Vietnam. Though these English versions do not have

Among the various criteria and models for translation quality assessment, House’s
model is chosen in this study because it is deemed to have a comprehensive set of
parameters for assessing functional and pragmatic equivalence of the translation text.
Furthermore, as House argues, the model can be applied with a wide range of texts.
In applying House’s model, a source text is first selected, then analyzed to
draw its textual profile along the eight situational dimensions and a statement of
2
function of the ST will be made. Similarly, a profile of the translation text will be
come up with and compared with the ST’s to find out mismatches before a statement
of quality can be drawn about the TT.
5. Overview of the study
The study contains three chapters:
Chapter 1 – Review of Literature
The first part of this chapter will first introduce the main legal traditions in the
world and then give a brief introduction to the legal system of Vietnam. After that, it
will elaborate linguistic features of Vietnamese and English legal languages.
The second part discusses different aspects of translation: definition, methods
and strategies, and equivalence and assessment. Basic characteristics of legal
translation will also be presented.
Chapter 2 – Application of House’s model for translation quality assessment
In this chapter, House’s model for translation quality assessment will first be
presented and then applied in assessing the English translation of the Law on
Investment 2005 of Vietnam.
Chapter 3 – Discussion of results and implications
Findings about the quality of the translation text which is based on the
application of the model will be discussed and implications for translating
Vietnamese legal documents into English will also be come up with.
3
CHAPTER 1.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Source: />Of these five traditions, Civil Law and Common Law are predominant and
will be discussed further in details.
Civil Law, also known as Continental Law or Roman Law, originated from
Roman law, more specifically, from the sixth century “Corpus Juris Civilis”, a code
consolidating all of the laws in continental Europe during the reign of Roman
emperor Justinian. In countries that follow the civil law tradition, statutes are the
basis of the legal system. Solutions for each individual case are prescribed in the
provisions of the legal codes, on which sentences have to be based. National legal
systems developed through the process of codification.
Common Law shares roots in Roman law with Civil Law but has a much
different evolution from that of Civil Law. The general principles of Common Law
grow out of the judicial decisions in court cases by individual judges over a long
5
period of time. The main source of law and the basis for rules of conduct are past
cases, not codes or legislation. The common law systems include all present and
former members of the British Empire, as well as the United States of America. But it
should be noted that the present common law of the U.S. differs to a great extent from
the common law of Britain, despite the two countries being significant representatives
of Common Law. Therefore, the language of these two systems poses considerable
differences in terms of technical terminologies.
1.1.2. Vietnamese legal system
As stated above, the legal system of Vietnam, like those of other socialist
countries, is now considered a member of the Civil (or Continental) law tradition. It
takes nationally enacted legal documents as its basis. Vietnamese statutes are enacted
by the National Assembly of Vietnam, the highest organ of State power and the only
organ with legislative power of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (the 1992
Constitution of Vietnam, amended in 2000).
In a socialist-oriented country like Vietnam, law is an important means of
realizing lines and policies of the Communist Party – the leading party – to ensure the
right path of development of the country, the foundation of which is public

th
to the late 15
th
centuries, during which Vietnamese had not gained its status as an
administrative language. This period also witnessed the development of a class of
Chinese-Vietnamese words.
In 1651, with the Annam-Lustin-Latin dictionary by priest A. de Rhodes,
Vietnamese started to be recorded in Latin, which contributed to its emergence to be a
scholarly language and even at times the state’s administrative language during the
period from the early 16
th
to the early 19
th
centuries.
By the early 20
th
century, Vietnamese had almost completed its development.
And after the August Revolution, it was recognized as the official language of
Vietnam. It is now the language of all socio-economic activities, including politics.
1.1.3.2. Linguistic features of Vietnamese legal language
Before Tien’s doctoral thesis in 1999, which studied linguistic features of
Vietnamese legal language as a separate discourse type, legal documents were only
treated as a sub-type of documents of the administrative style. Some notable works
are those of Dinh Trong Lac and Nguyen Thai Hoa; and Cu Dinh Tu. A study of
these works points out the following linguistic features of the language of Vietnamese
legal documents:
7
1.1.3.2.1. Lexical features
* Words are rhetorical and there is a moderate number of bookish words.
* There is technical vocabulary for both the general legal field and specific

1. …
2. Người lợi dụng chức vụ, quyền hạn cản trở hoạt động đầu tư; có hành vi sách
nhiễu, gây phiền hà đối với nhà đầu tư; không giải quyết kịp thời yêu cầu của nhà
đầu tư theo quy định; không thực thi các công vụ khác do pháp luật quy định thì tuỳ
theo tính chất, mức độ vị phạm mà bị xử lý kỷ luật, xử phạt hành chính hoặc bị truy
cứu trách nhiệm hình sự.
(Law on Investment 2005 of Vietnam)
* A system of enumeration with numbers I, II, III, …, 1, 2, 3, … or letters a, b,
c, … is used to separate the parts of complex structures, making them clear in terms
of meaning.
* Use of syntactic discontinuity.
* Chapters and articles are summarized with a noun phrase: Điều 45. Thủ tục
đăng ký đầu tư đối với dự án đầu tư trong nước, Điều 66. Bảo lãnh của Nhà nước
cho một số công trình xây dựng và dự án quan trọng.
1.1.3.2.3. Textual features
* Repetition of nouns
Điều 36. Ưu đãi về sử dụng đất
1. Thời hạn sử dụng đất của dự án đầu tư không quá năm mươi năm; đối với dự án
đầu tư có vốn đầu tư lớn nhưng thu hồi vốn chậm, dự án đầu tư vào địa bàn có điều
kiện kinh tế - xã hội khó khăn, địa bàn có điều kiện kinh tế - xã hội đặc biệt khó khăn
mà cần thời hạn dài hơn thì thời hạn giao đất, thuê đất không quá bảy mươi năm.
* Use of anaphoric and cataphoric reference
Điều 29. Lĩnh vự đầu tư có điều kiện
1. …
2. Đối với nhà đầu tư nước ngoài, ngoài các lĩnh cự quy định tại khoản 1 Điều này,
…
* Avoidance of pronouns
9
* Cognitive structure of “(Nếu) X (+ X’ + X’’ + …) thì Y (+ Y’ + Y’’ + …)”
In this structure, X and Y are the core, and X’, X’’ … as well as Y’, Y’’ … are

still found in modern legal English: addition of initial e to words; addition of –ee to
10
words to indicate the person who was the recipient or object of an action; adjectives
that follow nouns (as in attorney general, letters testamentary, malice aforethought.
But as the language for legal purposes, Latin and French were only used by
people of the upper class and by legal professionals. So soon after its ascendancy to
be the predominant language of the law, French declined to be a living language and
finally started to be replaced by English in the legal field in the late 15
th
century.
Along with the colonization of the British Empire, English common law and
legal English were transported to many countries in the world, including North
America. Yet, the English legal language of these two systems are not identical.
There are different concepts as well as different words for similar concepts. For
example, there is no distinction between solicitor and barrister in the United States as
in Britain; and American corporate law is equivalent to British company law.
1.1.4.2 Linguistic features of English legal language
Since the 1980s, there has been a growing number of studies into the field of
English legal language. Some notable studies are those of Bhatia, Melinkoff, Maley
and Tiersma. In this section, their findings will be summarized in terms of lexical,
syntactic and textual features of English legal language.
1.1.4.2.1. Lexical features
Perhaps the lexicology of legal English is the most distinctive feature making
it highly specialized.
a) Technical vocabulary
* Legal English makes use of a great deal of terminology that is generally
unfamiliar to the lay audience. These are words and phrases like restrictive covenant,
restraint of trade, promissory estoppel, etc.
- restrictive covenant: clause in a contract which prevents someone from
doing something

1.1.4.2.2. Syntactic features
a) Word and phrase levels
12
* Very often in legal English, two or three words of the same grammatical
category are strung together with ‘and’ or ‘or’ to convey a single legal concept; for
example null and void; fit and proper; perform and discharge; dispute, controversy
or claim; signed and delivered; I give, devise and bequeath the rest, residue and
remainder; act or omission; wholly and exclusively; etc. Words used in such
constructions at times mean exactly the same thing (null and void; will and
testament), and at other times do not (dispute, controversy or claim).
* Complex prepositional phrases (with the construction of P-N-P) are used in
place of simple prepositions to enhance precision and clarity: for the purpose of, in
respect of, in accordance with, etc.
* There is a tendency in legal English to imitate French grammatical structures
to arrange words in a distinctly strange order, as in the provisions for termination
hereinafter appearing or will at the cost of the borrower forthwith comply with the
same.
* Post-modifications in nominal groups are often extended to a rather abnormal
length: any installment then remaining unpaid, hereinbefore reserved and agreed to
be paid during the term.
b) Sentence level
* Lengthy and complex sentences
Sentences in legal language are often longer and more complex than in other styles
because they have more embeddings. Here is an excerpt – one sentence - from section
9 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, UK: 9.(2) Where on a breach the contract is
nevertheless affirmed by a party entitled to treat it as repudiated, this does not of itself
exclude the requirement of reasonableness in relation to any contract term.
* Syntactic discontinuity
One reason for sentences in legal documents to be so lengthy and confusing is the fact
that the subject is often separated from the verb, or the verb complexes are split. For

14
Nouns in legal documents are often repeated, not replaced by pronouns, which brings
cohesion to the documents, and enhances precision.
This is an excerpt from section 3 of the Criminal Code 1995 of Western Australia,
where the word “offence” is used eight times (the word is underlined):
3 . Offences, types of
Offences are of 3 kinds, namely, crimes, misdemeanours, and simple offences.
Crimes and misdemeanours are indictable offences.
Where for any indictable offence offenders may be punished summarily any court of
petty sessions before which a person charged with the offence or which deals with
the charge or examines the person charged, or commits him for trial shall be
constituted by a magistrate alone, or if there is no magistrate available and the
person consents, by 2 justices.
A person guilty of a simple offence may be summarily convicted by 2 justices in petty
sessions.
An offence not otherwise designated is a simple offence.
* Use of anaphoric and cataphoric reference
Anaphoric and cataphoric references are often used to refer the reader to another
provision either before or after the present one. They may also refer to a provision in
another statute.
598 . Kidnapping; alternative verdict
Upon an indictment charging a person with an offence under section 332 the
person may be convicted of an offence under section 333 .
* Avoiding pronouns
One means of gaining precision is to repeat nouns (e.g., player), rather than using a
pronoun (e.g., he) after a person or thing is introduced. Pronouns can sometimes
have ambiguous reference, so this technique can indeed enhance precision.
* Cognitive structure of “if X, then Z shall be (do) Y”
In this underlying structure, “if X” is made up of conditional or concessive adverbial
clauses. Examples of coordinated adverbials in this structure are: on the expiration