Culture includes a variety of things such as: languages, arts, beliefs, values, morals…in which language is an important part. Every culture has its own language and every language has its own way to express ideas and thoughts. Idioms, phrases, sentence structure, vocabulary, grammar..all these parts of speech are different in different languages. Thus, while translating the text from the source language to the destination one there are a lot of challenges which a translator has to face. To understand more clearly and clarify these issues we mention three problems which translators usually face as well as solutions in this paper.
Firstly, it is very difficult for translators to find equivalent words between English and Vietnamese due to cultural differences. This phenomenon is almost unavoidable, especially in the case of English-Vietnamese translation because English culture is a western one and the Vietnamese culture is oriental. For example, the word “nhà” in Vietnamese is equivalent to the word “house” in English. However the word “nhà tôi” in the way the husband call his wife or in contrast, we can not translate this word into “my house”. Therefore, the equivalent words in this case are “my wife” or “my husband”. Also in greeting, Vietnamese people often say that “bạn đi đâu đấy?”, they do not mean to get answer from the other. In fact it is the same as saying hello to each other. So we can not translate into “where are you going” but we should translate “hello”, “good morning”, “how are you?”.
The second one is difficulty in using personal pronounces. In Vietnamese the personal pronounce system is very complicated. It can cause misunderstanding and ridiculous situations. In English, the sentence “how are you” has many ways of translation. In different cases, we can not translate “mày bao nhiêu tuổi?” or “chaú bao nhiêu tuổi?” when we meet elder people and it is impossible to translate “xin lỗi cụ, cụ bao nhiêu tuổi” in case we meet young men or someone in the same age.
Besides, translators also have difficulties in translating idioms on proverbs due to every culture has its own way in using and expressing them. For instance, the Vietnamese sentence “chở cuỉ về rừng” can not be translated into “bring firewood to the forest” in English because it is not appropriate to the way of thinking and expressing of English people. Thus we should translate into “bring coals to Newcastle”. Another example is the English proverb “as cool as cucumber”, we can not translate into Vietnamese “lạnh như dưa chuột”. In this situation it is more suitable to translate “lạnh như tiền”.
To reduce these problems in translating procession, we would like to show some solutions. In case translators can not find Vietnamese words equivalent to English ones or these words can not cover all the meaning of original ones, we can deduce its meaning which is called “paraphrase” in English. For example, the Vietnamese phrase “bắt chạch trong chum” can be deduced into “catching eels in the water tank” in English because there is not an equivalent phrase in English. Another solution in translating personal pronounces and fixed expressions is that translators should have well study about culture in order to avoid misunderstanding and mistranslation.
All in all, any translation can not be separated from culture. In other word, a good translator should have good knowledge of culture of two languages. That is why we say “learning a language is a kind of learning the culture and habit of the country where the language is spoken”.
Sưu tầm.
Firstly, it is very difficult for translators to find equivalent words between English and Vietnamese due to cultural differences. This phenomenon is almost unavoidable, especially in the case of English-Vietnamese translation because English culture is a western one and the Vietnamese culture is oriental. For example, the word “nhà” in Vietnamese is equivalent to the word “house” in English. However the word “nhà tôi” in the way the husband call his wife or in contrast, we can not translate this word into “my house”. Therefore, the equivalent words in this case are “my wife” or “my husband”. Also in greeting, Vietnamese people often say that “bạn đi đâu đấy?”, they do not mean to get answer from the other. In fact it is the same as saying hello to each other. So we can not translate into “where are you going” but we should translate “hello”, “good morning”, “how are you?”.
The second one is difficulty in using personal pronounces. In Vietnamese the personal pronounce system is very complicated. It can cause misunderstanding and ridiculous situations. In English, the sentence “how are you” has many ways of translation. In different cases, we can not translate “mày bao nhiêu tuổi?” or “chaú bao nhiêu tuổi?” when we meet elder people and it is impossible to translate “xin lỗi cụ, cụ bao nhiêu tuổi” in case we meet young men or someone in the same age.
Besides, translators also have difficulties in translating idioms on proverbs due to every culture has its own way in using and expressing them. For instance, the Vietnamese sentence “chở cuỉ về rừng” can not be translated into “bring firewood to the forest” in English because it is not appropriate to the way of thinking and expressing of English people. Thus we should translate into “bring coals to Newcastle”. Another example is the English proverb “as cool as cucumber”, we can not translate into Vietnamese “lạnh như dưa chuột”. In this situation it is more suitable to translate “lạnh như tiền”.
To reduce these problems in translating procession, we would like to show some solutions. In case translators can not find Vietnamese words equivalent to English ones or these words can not cover all the meaning of original ones, we can deduce its meaning which is called “paraphrase” in English. For example, the Vietnamese phrase “bắt chạch trong chum” can be deduced into “catching eels in the water tank” in English because there is not an equivalent phrase in English. Another solution in translating personal pronounces and fixed expressions is that translators should have well study about culture in order to avoid misunderstanding and mistranslation.
All in all, any translation can not be separated from culture. In other word, a good translator should have good knowledge of culture of two languages. That is why we say “learning a language is a kind of learning the culture and habit of the country where the language is spoken”.
Sưu tầm.
