HO CHI MINH CITY PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE

SAI GON UNIVERSITY

FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

A SURVEY ON TRANSLATION DIFFICULTIES OF THE SOPHOMORES

AT FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT IN SAI GON UNIVERSITY.

MEMBERS:
TỐNG THỊ DIỄM THÚY 25% ([email protected])
TRẦN THANH THÚY 25%
TRƯƠNG NHƯ ANH THI 25%
NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ THO 25%

Ho Chi Minh City May 2021

 Content page
I. Introduction..............................................................................................................2

II. Literature Review....................................................................................................2

1. Definition of translation..................................................................................2

2. The importance of translation.........................................................................3

3. Classification of translation difficulties and solutions....................................4

III. Notion of original research....................................................................................5

IV. Key objectives / Research questions......................................................................6

V. Research method.....................................................................................................6

1. Approach........................................................................................................6

2. Population.......................................................................................................7

3. Location..........................................................................................................7

4. Time................................................................................................................ 7

5. Techniques......................................................................................................8

6. Procedure........................................................................................................9

VI. Research limitations..............................................................................................10

1. Quality............................................................................................................11

2. Time................................................................................................................ 11

3. Size................................................................................................................. 11

VII. Proposed Time Scale............................................................................................11

1
VIII. References / Bibliography...................................................................................12

IX. Appendix...............................................................................................................14

X. References / Bibliography.......................................................................................18

I. Introduction
It is widely recognized that English is an international language. People use
English to communicate worldwide and work with different individuals from
different cultural backgrounds. Currently, the number of people using English can
be found in nations where the language is employed as a foreign or second
language.

Translation is an interest of large significance in our current world. Almost

no translation is ideal while the message is conveyed due to the fact students do
now no longer recognize the means of sentences. So that is very vital for students
to learn how to avoid mistakes when translating. However, it isn't always smooth
to have a thorough grasp of translating and students can’t help making mistakes.
Understanding their concerns and adhering to their standards go a long way in
overcoming learning barriers and creating a supportive learning environment, we
conducted this research, hoping to provide useful reference assisting their
improvement at translating skills and giving them some suitable solutions when
translating Vietnamese into English

This thesis was done with a view to finding out causes of translation
difficulties according to the sophomores in the English Language. The study also
aims at understanding the students’ expectation in learning the subject and
suggesting some possible solutions to overcome difficulties in English-Vietnamese
translation.
.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

2
 1. Definition of translation

There are many concepts of translation that are presented with different
perspectives for many historical periods. According to Catford (1965),
“Translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (Source
Language) by equivalent textual material in another language (Target Language).”

Another idea shows that “Translation is a transfer process , which aims at

the transformation of written source language text into an optimally equivalent
target language text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the
pragmatic understanding analytical processing of the source language.” (Wilss
1982).

Peter Newmark (1988b) states that “Though not by any means always,
translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that
the author intended the text. Common sense tells us that this ought to be simple, as
one ought to be able to say something as well in one language as in another. On
the other hand, you may see it as complicated, artificial and fraudulent, since by
using another language you are pretending to be someone you are not. Hence in
many types of text (legal, administrative, dialect, local, cultural) the temptation is
to transfer as many SL (Source Language) words to the TL (Target Language) as
possible”. Bell.R (1991) also defines that translation is the expression in another
language (target language) of what has been expressed in one language (source
language), preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.

In a nutshell, it can be said simply that: “Translation is the process of

changing something that is written or spoken in another language.” (Advanced
Oxford Dictionary). All of the above concepts of translation have the same
underlying concept: Translation is the act of replacing or substituting a written text
or an utterance from one language into another, while maintaining equivalence of
meaning, communication intent, or pragmatics.

3
 2. The importance of translation

In today's world, translation is extremely necessary. The twenty-first

century is the age of translation. The universalisation of human understanding
relies heavily on translation. It aids in the improvement of international
comprehension, sociocultural literacy, technical communicative practices,
technology adoption, and many more. All aspects of human life, including the
economy, education, politics, and tourism, depend on advanced resources that
must be translated from one language to another. With the trend of integration and
the enhancement of the international economy, translation helps people transcend
the barriers of multi-cultural and global communication. The appearance of a
shared language that all countries in the world will use is expected to satisfy the
demand of this multilingual world's entire growth. English is still widely used as a
universal language all over the world. In our country, English plays an
indispensable role in the economic aspect.

3. Classification of translation difficulties and solutions

Phuc Nguyen Van and Diep Truong Thi Ngoc (2018) conducted a study on
difficulties of seniors majored in English Interpretation and Translation when
translating printed information advertisements. Firstly, the finding showed the
ability to translate the printed information advertisements of participants was
average. Secondly, the research revealed that the majority of student had trouble
with linguistic devices related to vocabulary and grammar. Finally, the result also
showed strategies, which are used to overcome linguistic devices, include using
word-for-word translation, equivalence, addition, borrowing, paraphrasing,
transposition, and reduction.

Minh Nguyen Le Uyen and Thu Nguyen Thi Kieu (2019) examined the
difficulties and errors in translating TV programs in English into Vietnamese and

4
also suggested potential solution. They divided the major errors which translators
mostly encountered into three: linguistic errors, rendition errors and cultural
errors. Besides analyzing common errors, researchers also figured out difficulties
as factors causing those errors. The difficulties included absence of English
equivalents, a lack of linguistic proficiency, inadequacy of cultural knowledge
from SL/TL and negligence. After analyzing both errors and difficulties, they
gave some recommendations summarized as boosting vocabularies, terminology
as well as enhancing cultural knowledge.

Oanh Ho Thi Kieu and Ngoc Le Hoang (2020) conducted a study to

investigate the linguistic features causing difficulties in translating English –
Vietnamese, Vietnamese - English speeches. The data have been collected from
the 200 questionnaires completed by these 200 students. The questionnaire
showed that the majority of students had trouble with lexical feature in translating
English-Vietnamese speech and vice versa. Some difficulties are figured out
including a lack of lexical knowledge of politics in source text, having problems
with the linguistic, semantics and syntactic features in translating English -
Vietnamese speeches and vice versa, and a lack of essential given information. In
addition, the results from the interview show that many student often had trouble
with new words , idioms, etc. when they had to translate speeches. Finally, after
analyzing linguistic features causing difficulties for student when translating
speeches, the researchers had some recommendations for solving these difficulties
such as read and watch as many as possible materials and data of the target and
source language; deeply understanding the given information of the text; using
mind map and writing outline of sources text before translating speeches, etc.

III. NOTION OF ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Previous researches had figured out lexical causes that lead to the

difficulties in translating both Vietnamese into English and English into

5
Vietnamese advertisements, TV programs and speeches. After analyzing these

difficulties, researchers also provided a certain number of solutions for solving the

problems in translation. Although much work has been done, there is still no

research into the difficulties in translating texts of sophomores of the Foreign

Language Department at Sai Gon University. Hence, it is necessary to conduct

more researches to figure out both difficulties and appropriate solutions for texts

translation, especially for sophomores of the Department of Foreign Languages at

Saigon University. In addition, our research will focus on specific group of

sophomores of the Department of Foreign Languages at Saigon University so that

the results would be more specific and practical. Furthermore, our research not

only figure out difficulties but also suggest some solutions which are simple and

easy for individuals to practice.

IV. KEY OBJECTS/ RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are raised by this study:
1. What are the common difficulties that the English major’s
sophomores often encounter when translating Vietnamese into English?
2. What are the possible strategies to overcome difficulties in
translating?

V. RESEARCH METHODS

1. Approach

The researchers attempt to address the research question from survey

method. This method helps us to collect the relevant data quickly and analyze it
easily. Secondly, surveys are one of the cheapest methods of collecting
quantitative data this is presently available. Last but not least, with a survey,

6
participants can choose a moment that fits them high-quality and the time needed
to finish the survey is a whole lot shorter. Besides those advantages of this
method, it also has some drawbacks. Firstly, there can be differences in how
participants understand the survey questions. The most effective way to keep away
from this problem is to make the questions as simple as possible. Another
disadvantage is that the variety of the survey is not wide in order that there can be
duplication with inside the result.

2. Population

We randomly choose 200 sophomores of Foreign Language Department at

Sai Gon University to participate in our research. They will fill out the
questionnaires in our research, and all their answers depend on their opinion.
Firstly, they are sophomores and do not have many experiences in translation
because they have just started with introduction to translation course, they can give
us the difficulties who have encountered as well as their ideas for improving their
drawbacks. Secondly, because of their age, major, and concern, they are the most
appropriate participants.

3. Time

We spent 13 weeks of the second semester of the 2020 – 2021 academic

year, from February 22nd to May 24th to prepare and complete our research. To
conduct our study, we split the 13-week duration into several smaller periods. We
spent the first week determining the issue about which we were all concerned and
deciding on a topic. The next week was spent determining our research process
and planning what we will do in the following weeks. Then we spent three weeks
thinking about method and making theory before using the next four weeks to read
and develop the relevant data as well as analyze it. After that, we spent two weeks
submitting the questionnaire to students through Google and gathering data.
Finally, we used the last two weeks to write our proposal research.

7
 4. Location

We decided to do the research on the internet at the community group for

sophomores of Sai Gon University’s Foreign Language Department. Because this
is the group for sophomores of the Foreign Languages Department communicating
and sharing specialized knowledge so that it would be quite convenient for both us
and our participants to work with each other. Furthermore, the collected data
would be more satisfactory.

5. Techniques

Our research was focused on documents and questionnaires. We read

documents relating to translation difficulties because we were concerned about
this important issue. In addition, we also read other translation materials to support
the details of the research process.

The questionnaire in this study contains 10 multiple-choice questions

written in English that were distributed online through Google. Students may have
additional responses to each inquiry. The questionnaire was delivered to 200
sophomores from Sai Gon University’s Foreign Language Department, with 200
of them returned three weeks later. This questionnaire would focus on the
difficulties that students face while translating. They were able to articulate their
thoughts on the subject in this manner. Aside from that, their difficulties they had
encountered and solutions when learning translation could all be gathered. This
research technique was very effective since the sophomores were unwilling to do
the paper survey but were interested in doing it online due to its convenience and
pace. The target participants were selected so that the researchers could effectively
monitor them and avoid superficial perspectives from both sides of the researchers
and the students.

The aims of those questions can be described as follow:

8
 The first three questions, question (1), (2) and (3) were grouped to find out
the students’ attitude towards translation subject in general.

- Question (1) was for seeking students’ feelings in studying written

translation, whether they find translation easy or difficult, interesting
or not.
- Question (2) was used to find out the reason why students study
translation.
- question (3) was on purpose to seek for the students’ opinion about the
usefulness of studying the subject.
The next four questions, question (4), (5), (6) and (7) were used to
explore the students’ difficulties in learning the translation course.
- question (4) was applied to know the biggest challenge that students
have to face when translating a text from Vietnamese to English
- question (5), (6), (7) asked in turn about the problems they faced with
vocabulary, grammar, and reasons why they could not make progress
in the translation.
To know more about how the students solved problems, the next group
of three questions were designed with the following detail.
- Question (8) was designed to clarify whether the students have
preparation before class or not and how they do to prepare the new
lesson.
- question (9) was to seek for the methods that the students usually apply
to improve their translation skill.
- The content of question (10) was what students usually do after they
finish their translation.

6. Procedure

9
 First of all, we discussed about choosing a topic reflecting the difficulties
that all of us cared about. We decided to choose “Translation” and “Difficulties”
as keywords for the topic. The whole research procedure was divided into 9 small
stages which were brainstorming the title, constructing questionnaire, piloting
questionnaire, delivering questionnaire, choosing the study design, collecting data,
processing data, analyzing data and writing the report.

We realized that a study of difficulties and suggested suitable solutions for

those students would be practical and needed many sophomores were having
many problems while learning translation skills. After deciding on the difficulties
and title, the common errors and solutions needed to be determined. Then we
started to form a questionnaire that would be appropriate for the target population.
We concentrated on defining the problems and anticipating their responses in
specific circumstances in this questionnaire, then we expanded on some proposed
solutions that might be beneficial and necessary for their studying process. This
study's questionnaire consisted of 15 multiple-choice questions written in English
that were distributed through Google. For each question, students may provide
additional responses. The questionnaire was sent to 200 second-year students at
Saigon University's Department of Foreign Languages, with 200 of them returning
it three weeks later. This survey will concentrate on the difficult questions. The
survey data provided enough information for us to distinguish the challenges that a
group of freshmen at Saigon University's Foreign Language Department had been
facing, as well as their own responses to these challenges. Finally, after conducting
research and analysis, we began writing this report. This stage had been ongoing
since the tenth week and was completed on the twelfth week.

VI. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS

Since this is the first time, we have had the opportunity to conduct a
research, as well as lack of experience and objective factors, making mistakes
during the study is unavoidable. However, we believe that the study titled

10
"Translation difficulties of sophomore at Sai Gon University's Foreign Language
Department " will be able to contribute its honesty and usefulness to students in
adapting the learning method.

These are some of our research’s limitations:

1. Quality

Though questionnaires have many positives, dishonesty is an issue.

Some respondents were not entirely honest about their responses. We got a few
unconscientious responses. It's possible that respondents skipped through
questions, selected responses before fully reading the question, or split-second
choices were made, affecting the validity of the data.

2. Time

Due to the limited time of the research and the busy study schedule, it
is very difficult for us to arrange an appropriate time for interviewing questions
and gathering more details about the students’ expectations

About the last two weeks, we studied online, the exchange and
discussion information between the members of the group were a bit difficult.
Besides, some issues that could be achieved with a direct consultant happened.

3. Size

Since this is a rather small-scale study, our collected data are

subjected to the 200 random sophomores at Foreign Language Department in Sai
Gon University. So, the result of this study may not be entirely generalizable
unless they applied to all freshmen at other universities.

VII. PROPOSED TIME SCALE:

Research projects need to provide sufficient time to carry out research, in

other words, time is very important. We had 13 weeks researching (February 22nd

11
- May 24th), therefore we created an estimated time scale for proper and efficient
conducting of our study.

 Time for group to discuss the topic of the research: 1 week (February 22nd
– February 28th).

 Time for determining the research process and plan what to do: 1 week
(March 1st – March 7th).

 Time to think about method and make theory: 3 weeks (March 8th –
March 28th).

 Time for searching the materials from the internet and reference books: 4
weeks (March 29th – April 25th).

 Time to do survey, gather, and analyze the data: 2 weeks (April 26th –
May 9th).

 Time to write a report of the research and check whole the research: 2
weeks (May 10th – May 24th).

VIII. REFERENCES

1. Catford, J.(1965). A linguistic theory of translation. An essay in

applied linguistics. London: Oxford University Press.

2. Wolfram, W. (1982). The Science of Translation: Problems and

Methods. Tübingen : G. Narr.

3. Shafey, F. A. (1985). Compounding in English and Arabic,

Implications for Translation Methodology (Unpublished Master’s thesis).
Faculty of Arts, Cairo University. Giza: Giza publisher.

4. Newmark, P. (1998b). Approaches to translation. Hertfordshire:

Prentice Hall.

12
5. Stuart, C. (1998). Translation into the Second Language. London and
New York: Longman.

6. Bell, R. (1991). Translation and Training Theory and Practice. New

York: Longman.

7. Smith, K. L. (2002). The Translation of Advertising Texts: A Study of

English-Language Printed Advertisements and Their Translations in
Russian. Doctoral thesis. England: University of Sheffield.

8. Wehmeier, S., McIntosh, C., Turnbull, J., & Ashby, M. (2005).

Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary of current English. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

9. Al-Nakhalah, A. (2006). Tenses difficulties that face students of

English in Palestinian universities while translating from English to
Arabic- A case study of Al –Quds Open University. Unpublished M.A.
thesis, Al-Quds Open University.

10. Suksaereseup, N. & Thep-Ackrapong, T. (2009). Errors found in

translation from English to Thai. Translation Journal. 13(1).

11. Juliane, H. (2014). Translation: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

London: Palgrave Macmillan.

12. Hoa, N.T.T., & Mai, P.T.T. (2016). Difficulties in Teaching English
for Specific Purpose: Empirical Study at Vietnam Universities. Higher
Education Studies. Volume(6), 2.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1101357.pdf

13. Phuc, N.V., & Diep, T.T.N. (2018). Strategies used by English
interpretation and translation-majored seniors to solve linguistic

13
 difficulties in English-Vietnamese advertising translation. Can Tho
University Journal of Science. 54(5): 23-29.

https://ctujs.ctu.edu.vn/index.php/ctujs/article/view/97/97

14. Minh, N.T.H., & Thu, N.T.K. (2019). Difficulties in Translating TV

Programs in English into Vietnamese: A Study at Lam Dong Radio -
Television Station. International Journal on Studies in English Language
and Literature 2019;7(5):13-26.

http://45.113.122.54/international-journal-on-studies-in-english-
language-and-literature/volume-7-issue-5/2

15. Oanh, H., & Ngoc, L. (2020). Linguistic features causing difficulties
in translating English-Vietnamese, Vietnamese-English speeches,
encountered by third-year English major Vietnamese faculty, university of
foreign language studies, Danang, Vietnam. International Journal of
Education And Pedagogy,2(4), 446-463.

http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijeap/article/view/11907/5800

IX. APPENDIX.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear students, this short questionnaire is part of our translation study and is
intended to identify your difficulties in translation. We guarantee that your answer
will be held fully confidential and will, of course have no effect on your learning
outcome. Thank you so much for your time.
1. How do you feel about learning translation?
A. Easy and helpless
B. Interesting and helpful
C. Difficult but interesting
D. Difficult and boring
2. Why do you study translation?

14
 A. Because it is a compulsory subject
B. Because it is interesting
C. Because it is helpful, you can get lots of information when doing
translation.
D. Because you want to study more skills to make you more perfect.
E. Others: …………………….
3. In your opinion, studying translation can help you
A. Enlarge your vocabulary
B. Use grammar structures more flexibly
C. Improve language skills especially writing
D. All the above
E. Others: ………………
4. What is the biggest challenge you have to face when translating from
Vietnamese to English?
A. Struggling with vocabulary for target texts
B. Applying grammar in the target language
C. Having a progressive translation for target texts
D. Others: …………………………….

5. What are your problems with vocabulary in translating?

A. Cannot apply proper words in target texts
B. Cannot come up with academic words and idioms
C. Cannot use words related to literary styles of target language.
D. Others: ...........................
6. In your opinion, which of the following structures that you find them
difficult when translating?
A. Cannot follow complex structures
B. Cannot use sentence patterns flexibly.
C. Cannot use grammar properly in speaking and writing.

15
 D. Others: ………………….
7. What are your problems for having a progressive translation?
A. Cannot completely understand the meaning of source texts.
B. Cannot determine the literary styles of the target language
C. Unable to interpret the translation in a clear, coherent way.
D. Others: ………………….
8. What do you do to prepare for your lesson before class?
A. Prepare new vocabulary
B. Prepare grammar structures that need to be used
C. Try to translate it and wait for feedback in class
D. Just read it and do nothing
E. Do nothing to prepare
9. What do you do to improve your translation skill?
A. Learning vocabulary.
B. Doing grammar exercises from grammar books or the internet.
C. Reviewing teacher’s feedback to learn vocabulary, grammar, and
way of using vocabulary.
D. Reading and practicing translating from newspaper, magazines,
an article from English to Vietnamese and vice versa.
E. Consulting progressive translations related to your topic.
F. Improving your cultural knowledge.
G. Participating in translation clubs.
H. Others: …………………
10. What do you often do after you finish your translation?
A. Share with your friends
B. Read it again to correct some mistakes if have
C. Read it again and try to translate it in another way
D. Wait for teacher’s feedback
E. Others: …………………………

16
Thank you for your response!

17