How To Be Good At English-Vietnamese Translation?
Steven Le 14.09.2008 02:39:30 (permalink)
 
“How to be good at translation?” is a very interesting question but not an easy one to find the answer to, indeed. My experience in translation is wrapped within only one sentence – PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
 
English to Vietnamese Translation
 
*First, you must own a good English-Vietnamese dictionary, which must be a copy from the English-English Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary of Current English. You should use the English-Vietnamese dictionary and the English-English dictionary at the same time in your translation process because in some cases, you can not find out the suitable Vietnamese meaning of an English word in a English-Vietnamese dictionary and you can find out the suitable meaning of that word from its explanation in an English-English dictionary, instead.
 
**Second, make sure that you know common grammatical structures well because this will give you a lot of help in your translation process.
 
***Third, the first rule in the English-to-Vietnamese translation process is that you must always follow the English original as close as possible. Your translation must be a correct one based on what the English original says. You should not be easily and quickly satisfied with your translation and you must be strict with yourself in your translation process. Otherwise, your translation will become a loose one, which is far different from the true meanings and ideas of the English original. Experience is the most important factor. Below is a little experience of mine:
 
I) HALVE A VIETNAMESE WORD to get a better Vietnamese meaning for this word: I have an example like this: “The kimono is the NATIONAL COSTUME of Japan”. The word – “national” – in the dictionary has 4 meanings: (1) thuộc về quốc gia – (2) có đặc tính quốc gia – (3) công dân – (4) đồng bào and the word – “costume” – has 4 meanings: (1) kiểu quần áo – (2) bộ quần áo – (3) quần áo – (4) trang phục. After choosing from these meanings, you have the Vietnamese meaning of “NATIONAL COSTUME” as “TRANG PHỤC QUỐC GIA or TRANG PHỤC THUỘC VỀ QUỐC GIA” but the phrase “TRANG PHỤC QUỐC GIA or TRANG PHỤC THUỘC VỀ QUỐC GIA” does not sound like the way we says in Vietnamese. In this case, apply the rule: “Halve A Vietnamese Word” like this: you just keep “quốc” of “quốc gia” and “phục” of “trang phục” and you will have the suitable Vietnamese meaning of “NATIONAL COSTUME” as “QUỐC PHỤC”. And “The kimono is the national costume of Japan” means “Áo kimono là quốc phục của nước Nhật”.
 
II) TRY TO FIND another word having a similar meaning to the word in your dictionary by DOUBLING THE WORD IN YOUR DICTIONARY: I have an example like this: “Photos showed people using cranes, hoists and their HANDS to remove slabs of concrete and STEEL.” The word – “hand” – in the dictionary has 2 suitable meanings: (1) tay – (2) bàn tay and the word – “steel” – has 5 meanings: (1) thép – (2) sức mạnh – (3) sự vững chắc – (4) tính sắt thép – (5) thanh thép mài dao. After choosing from these meanings, you have the Vietnamese meaning of “HANDS” as “TAY” and of “STEEL” as “THÉP”. The above sentence can be roughly translated like this: “Các bức ảnh cho thấy người ta đã dùng cần cẩu, cần trục và TAY để di chuyển những tấm bê tông và THÉP.” Do you have a feeling that this translation sounds not very good? I think you feel it. So in this case, apply the rule: “DOUBLING THE WORD IN YOUR DICTIONARY”, you double “TAY” to turn it into “TAY KHÔNG” and do the same for “THÉP” to turn it into “SẮT THÉP”. And as a result, we have the final translation like this: “Các bức ảnh cho thấy người ta đã dùng cần cẩu, cần trục và TAY KHÔNG để di chuyển những tấm bê tông và SẮT THÉP”. And now you feel the translation sounds great, right?
 
III) FIND A VIETNAMESE WORD HAVING A CLOSE MEANING TO THE WORD IN YOUR DICTIONARY to make your translation sounds like the way our Vietnamese is: I have an example like this: “The Old Man and The Sea is the story of a Cuban fisherman who REFUSES to be DEFEATED BY nature”. This example can be translated into Vietnamese in a simple and basic way like this: “Ông Già và Biển Cả là câu chuyện kể về một ngư dân người Cuba TỪ CHỐI bị ĐÁNH BẠI BỞI thiên nhiên”. Well, this translation sounds not okay and has a problem, right? So, now open your dictionary, the word “refuse” has 5 meanings: (1) từ chối, (2) không đồng ý, (3) không chịu, (4) không muốn, (5) khước từ and the word “defeat” has 4 meanings: (1) chiến thắng, (2) đánh bại, (3) làm nản chí/rối trí/thất bại, (4) bác bỏ and the word “by” has 3 suitable meanings: (1) bằng, (2) bởi, (3) do. Luckily, by choosing from these meanings you get a good meaning – “KHÔNG CHỊU” – for “REFUSE”, but you can find good meanings for “DEFEAT” and “BY”. So, now apply the rule: “FIND A VIETNAMESE WORD HAVING A CLOSE MEANING TO THE WORD IN YOUR DICTIONARY” to the words “defeat” and “by”. If you try to think, I think you will find their good Vietnamese meanings for them like this: “KHUẤT PHỤC” for “DEFEAT” and “TRƯỚC” for “BY”. And finally we have the best translation for the above sentence like this: “Ông Già và Biển Cả là câu chuyện kể về một ngư dân người Cuba KHÔNG CHỊU KHUẤT PHỤC TRƯỚC thiên nhiên”.

IV) BE PATIENT AND WORK HARD and don't forget to apply the three rules above and always look up the meanings of the words you are not certain about in your dictionary, you will find ways out there and gain success. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Good luck to you.
 
Written by Steven Le (Le Duy Minh)
 
( You guys can read more things in English at my blog http://360.yahoo.com/leduyminh20022002 )
 
 
<bài viết được chỉnh sửa lúc 14.09.2008 02:42:03 bởi Steven Le >
#1
    Steven Le 14.09.2008 02:44:26 (permalink)
    Hi everybody!
     
    If you have some experience in English-Vietnamese translation, please share your experience here. I highly appreciate all your ideas. Thanks.
    #2
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