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"Thử Ðitìm Cáitươngđương
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From:
Lylii@xxx.com
Date:
Wed, 28 Aug 2002 00:12:38 EDT
Subject:
Translation from English into Vietnamese
To:
webmaster@vny2k.com
Minh Hồ
Dear Editor
I 've found your website whilst surfing on the Net today,
and read with great interest Mr Trinh Nhat's article 'Thu
Ditim Caituongduong Trong Phiendich' because I'm a
student-translator at RMIT University in Victoria,
Australia. I just wonder if you can pass on to Mr Trinh
Nhat a number of questions concerning translating certain
English terms and phrases into Vietnamese. The questions
that I have are as follows:
- the phrase 'fiscal policy' was translated into
Vietnamese by my teacher-translator 'chinhsach thue',
meaning 'taxation policy' if the Vietnamese phrase 'chinh
sach thue' is translated back into English. I believe this
is a mistranslation because a taxation policy is only one
arm of a fiscal policy of which the government budget is a
product that catches so much public attention every year
when it is announced. I 've attempted to translate this
term into Vietnamese as 'chinhsach ngankho' because the
Australian Treasury Department is the government body
reponsible for formulating fiscal policy and the resulting
annual goverment budgets. Are there other alternative
Vietnamese versions that are linguistically acceptable?
- the phrase 'terms of trade' was translated into
Vietnamese by my teacher as 'cancan maudich' meaning
'balance of
trade' in English. I believe this is a more serious
mistranslation than the one above. As far as I know,
'terms of trade' usually refers to a situation in which
one country gives up a quantity of their products to get
another quantity of another country's products. Hence, we
frequently hear the media talking about favourable and
unfavourable terms of trade. However, 'balance of trade'
refers to the difference between funds received by a
country when exporting products and the funds paid for
importing products, hence, the phrase trade deficit and
trade surplus. Could the phrase 'terms of trade' be
translated into Vietnamese as 'chiso maudich'?
- In an examination paper, there was a paragraph
discussing the rise in property prices and there was a
sentence saying a prospective buyer faced 'a $350,000
dilemma'. This phrase was translated into Vietnamese by my
teacher as ' canh tienthoai luongnan trigia $350,000',
meaning 'a dilemma that is worth $350,000' if the
Vietnamese phrase 'canh tienthoai luongnan trigia
$350,000' is translated back into English.
I believe my teacher's Vietnamese version of the phrase
'$350,000 dilemma' represents a distinct mistranslation
because it involves both a comprehension problem and an
_expression problem.
(a) It is a problem of English comprehension because the
phrase 'a $350,000 dilemma' should not be literally
understood as 'a dilemma worth $350,000'. I would think
when a prospective property buyer faces 'a $350,0000
dilemma' it means the person has to make a very difficult
choice between to buy and not to buy a house worth
$350,000.
(b) It is also an _expression problem because in
Vietnamese the phrase 'canh tienthoai luongnan' does not
collocate with the phrase 'trigia $350,000', or, as a
matter of fact, never collocates with any monetary values.
- In a short text published by Centrelink (Australian
Social Security Department) that my teacher handed out in
class for translation practice, there was a paragraph
saying: 'Remember, domestic violence is a crime and
unacceptable in Australia. You do not have to remain in a
violent situation just to get residence' . My teacher
believed that because the term 'Australia' was mentioned
in the first sentence, it gave rise to an implicit context
of an immigration issue, and the term 'residence' should
be understood as 'residency'. Therefore, the second
sentence is meant to be something like this: one (who is a
non-resident, but has been a partner of an Australian
resident) does not have to subject himself/herself to
domestic violence just because he/she wants to become a
(permanent) resident.
I find it is difficult to agree with my teacher for the
following reasons:
(a) the term 'residence' here means no more than 'a place
in which one resides' because elsewhere in the text there
is no mention of immigration issues or anything to that
effect.
(b) immigration, in particular the grant of permanent
residence in Australia on ground of a continuing marital
relationship, is an area administered by the Department of
Immigration, Multicutural Affairs, not by Centrelink which
administers the payments of government benefits paid
almost exclusively to permanent residents of Australia;
and
(c) in a real-life situation, it is a legal minefield for
those who understand and, subsequently, translate the
passage into Vietnamese the way my teacher believes it
should be because it is unlikely that Centrelink published
this piece of information with the intention of (i)
encouraging, on ground of domestic violence, the
separation of married couples of whom one party is a
non-resident whose application for the grant of permanent
residence is pending upon the continuing relationship
between the parties; and (ii) by so doing, impliedly
pledging financial support in the form of payments of
government benefits to those non-residents who
involuntarily choose to live separately and apart from
their partners who is a permanent resident of Australia
and who supports his/her partner's application for
permanent residence.
The issue of whether the term 'residence' actually means
'residency' is quite clear given this extra-textual
knowledge that is required of a professional translator,
not to mention that that person is also a teacher. Yet my
teacher is a government-accredited professional translator
who always recommends us to read a book entitled
"Butchien o Mietduoi' published by his former
teacher!
Regards
Minh Ho
minhho_2001@xxx.com.au
Ýkiến bạnđọc về bàiviết
"Ðitìm Cáitươngdương Trong Phiêndịch"
của Trịnh Nhật:
Ðọcthêm
ýkiến của Minh Hồ về
Vietnamese translation in Australia:
A missing link của Frank Trịnh
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