TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .i ABSTRACT .ii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Scope of the study Aims of the study .4 Method of the study 5 Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Terminology 1.1 Definition of terminology 1.2 General features of terminology 1.3 Formation of terminology 1.4 Words and neologisms .11 Translation theory 11 2.1 Definition of translation 11 2.2 Translation methods 12 2.3 Translation equivalence 13 2.4 Translation procedures .15 2.5 Technical term translation 19 CHAPTER II: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TERM TRANSLATION 20 Structural features of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms 20 1.1 Simple terms .20 1.2 Complex terms 20 Structural features of English mechanical engineering terms 22 2.1 Simple terms .22 2.2 Complex terms 23 English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms 24 3.1 English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering simple terms.24 3.2 English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering complex terms 30 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 REFERENCES .43 DATA SOURCES 44 APPENDIXES PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale In the trend of globalization and dramatic development of science and technology, translation in general and technical translation in particular have become extremely necessary and attracted very much attention from translation theorists and researchers Like many developing countries in the world, in national industrialization and modernization, Vietnam needs continuously develop its mechanical engineering, one of the most important fields of science and engineering This means it is necessary for Vietnam to improve international cooperation, translation studies and applications in mechanical engineering More and more inventions as well as products of mechanical engineering are made in the world More and more new information and valuable experience in the field of mechanical engineering should be shared and exchanged in order to constantly update knowledge of such an essential field Meanwhile, English is an international language; it is used in almost fields, in many materials, and on various media Therefore, the EnglishVietnamese translation particularly mechanical engineering term translation plays a very important role in the development of mechanical engineering In practice, very few English-Vietnamese Mechanical dictionaries are published in Vietnam These dictionaries sometimes provide Vietnamese different meanings of the same English term and they can not cover all the meanings of mechanical engineering terms This causes some difficulties for dictionary users to choose the most suitable terms Besides, translators and researchers sometimes find it difficult to translate a number of English mechanical engineering terms into Vietnamese equivalents The main reasons are that they not have enough knowledge of mechanical engineering and that Vietnamese language has not had words that can express or present the meaning of some English terms exactly In this case, they need study and choose suitable translation strategies to carry out the English-Vietnamese translation of terms in materials for mechanical engineering effectively In addition, translation studies and applications are also important in English language teaching Translation is really useful for teachers who teach English for mechanical engineering They can save time and sometimes help their students understand English lessons more profoundly when they translate some English mechanical terms into Vietnamese equivalents In this case, they not need analyse or explain English terms by using other English words, which may cause confusion, waste much time, and make their lectures more difficult Moreover, teachers, students and engineers can understand and translate English materials into Vietnamese more exactly and easily when they apply appropriate translation strategies It is better when they have the knowledge of English and Vietnamese languages, translation theories as well as mechanical engineering to deal with difficult mechanical engineering terms in English and Vietnamese languages It can be said that technical term translation in general and mechanical engineering term translation in particular represent one of the most difficult tasks for everyone In fact, in Vietnam there are not many studies on English-Vietnamese translation of terms in science and technology especially mechanical engineering and the need for and important role of studies on the English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms are increasing Therefore, the author decides to carry out a study on the English-Vietnamese translation of terms in the materials for mechanical engineering Hopefully, the thesis would bring concrete benefits to translators/interpreters, researchers, engineers, teachers, students and so on Scope of the study There are innumerable English and Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms in many materials for mechanical engineering The study concentrates on typical English terms and their Vietnamese equivalents in some materials for mechanical engineering The materials are derived from some books, dictionaries, and the Internet The study will analyse typical English mechanical engineering terms’ structural features, compare them with Vietnamese equivalents, and then find out common translation strategies that can be applied in the English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms Aims of the study The study is ultimately aimed at: • Working out and comparing typical structural features of English terms with that of Vietnamese terms in the materials for mechanical engineering to find out appropriate Vietnamese equivalents for English mechanical engineering terms • Defining common translation strategies that can be applied in the translation of mechanical engineering terms • Giving some suggestions for technical translation especially translation in mechanical engineering, dictionaries editing, English language teaching as well as for the standardization of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terminology Research question: What are common translation strategies applied in the English-Vietnamese translation of terms in materials for mechanical engineering? Method of the study The study will present a theoretical background based on a number of materials for translation and terminology Next, it will collect typical English and Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms from some materials for mechanical engineering and analyze their general features and main structural features In the process, the study will always compare English mechanical terms with Vietnamese ones in order to choose the best Vietnamese equivalents After that, the study will define common strategies applied in the English-Vietnamese mechanical engineering term translation A number of general research methods such as qualitative statistics, quantitative analysis, deductive, and inductive method will be applied to carry out the thesis Besides, observation, contrastive analysis, and description which are usually used to study linguistics will be applied in the thesis The materials for mechanical engineering are derived from books, bilingual dictionaries and downloaded from the Internet Design of the study The study includes three main parts, a bibliography, and appendixes Part A: Introduction It consists of rationales, aims, scope and methods of the study Part B: Development Chapter I: Theoretical background The chapter provides the theory of terminology and translation Chapter II: Mechanical engineering term translation The chapter analyses typical structural features of mechanical engineering terms in both English and Vietnamese and draws out main strategies used in the EnglishVietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms Part C: Conclusion The conclusion summarizes a number of common translation strategies and makes some comments on them In addition, Part C gives some suggestions for translation, dictionaries editing, English language teaching, and the standardization of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terminology Finally, the part C suggests further study References Data sources Appendixes PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The chapter will provide typical theories on terminology and translation considered a basis for studying the English – Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms Terminology Many linguists and theorists study terminology in various aspects The study will present typical definitions and general features of terminology 1.1 Definition of terminology Valeontis and Mantzari (2006:1) says “terminology has a twofold meaning: (1) it is the discipline concerned with the principles and methods governing the study of concepts and their designations (terms, names, symbols) in any subject field, and the job of collecting, processing, and managing relevant data and (2) the set of terms belonging to the special language of an individual subject field” In practice, it is more familiar with the second meaning of the term terminology, which is considered “the set of special words belonging to a science, an art, an author, or a social entity”; for example, “the terminology of law” or “the terminology of culture” In another word, a term, or terminology unit, is the name or designation of a concept in a particular subject field In Vietnam, many studies on vocabulary as well as terminology have been made by famous linguists such as Nguyen Van Tu, Do Huu Chau, Nguyen Thien Giap, and Nguyen Huu Quynh Nguyen Van Tu (1968) states that terminology consists of fixed words or phrases which denote concepts of sciences, manufacturing fields, or culture and so on Similarly, Do Huu Chau (1998) says that terminology includes specialist words used within a scientific field, a profession or any technological field Besides, Nguyen Thien Giap (1999) defines it as a part of special lexis of a language It consists of fixed words or groups of words which accurately name concepts and subjects belonging to different specialized fields of human beings In addition, for scientific terminology, Nguyen Huu Quynh (2007:104) defines a scientific term as a word or a phrase which designates a concept in fields of science (social science, natural science, technical science) He also states that generally a scientific term has a certain phonetic form and designates a concept with one meaning (monosemy) which is not the same as the meaning of other terms From the above-mentioned definitions, terminology can be considered fixed words or phrases which accurately denote concepts of particular subject fields 1.2 General features of terminology There are different ideas about features of terminology In general, many linguists have common agreement about the following general features of terminology They are systematic, accurate, international, and national 1.2.1 Systematic This is the most important characteristic of terminology In one terminology system, each term is dependent on others The characteristic helps terms define their positions in one terminology system Terms name things, events, phenomena, activities, and concepts…which exist objectively and have relations with other terms in a particular system with disciplines controlling their existence and development, so their concepts can be easily comprehended (Nguyen Thien Giap, 1999) 1.2.2 Accurate Nowadays, science and technology have dramatically developed, and terminology plays an important role in building a specific theory To understand the theory, it is necessary to know the terms which are used to present the theory To help the reader thoroughly comprehend any scientific and technical objects, terms must have functions of exactly naming and correctly define the objects without confusion Therefore, terminology is featured with accuracy 1.2.3 National Each nation should use its own language’s terms to express scientific concepts and avoid abusing foreign terms Luu Van Lang (1977:58) states that terminology in any scientific fields or specific fields must be part of one national language, so terminology must be national and have the national language’ features 1.2.4 International Besides national charateristic, terminology is international This seems to be contradictory, but in fact it is very logical The vocabulary system of each language brings the typical features of a nation which uses that language but science is the common fortune of human beings Theories or concepts of mathematics, physics, and biology… are universally used It is impossible that theories on biology in Vietnam are different from that in England, Japan…As it is stated by Nguyen Thien Giap (1999:275), if the content of terminology is noticed, it is agreed that international characteristic of terminology is important; it distinguishes terminology with other parts of vocabulary Terminology is a special part of vocabulary which denotes common scientific concepts for all people speaking different languages Therefore, the unification of terminology among languages is necessary and useful This makes terminology bear international characteristic In addition, terminology has other features particularly mono-meaning Terms should be fixed words or phrases which have only one meaning Terminology should not denote more than one concept simultaneously Many linguists agree that there should not be more than one term which denotes one scientific concept 1.3 Formation of terminology According to Valeontis and Mantzari (2006:5), the following term formation mechanisms applied in the English language are recognized and applied in other languages: •Creating new forms: The mechanism consists of derivation, compounding, and abbreviated forms, e.g Derivation: phosphor + ous = phosphorous, co- + education- + al = co-educational Compounding: member country, biological + electronic = bionic Abbreviated forms: Court of Justice of the Justice of the European Communities Court, page - p., United Nations – U.N •Using existing forms: The mechanism consists of terminologization, transdisciplinary borrowing, conversion, and semantic transfer within a special language Terminologization: a word or phrase from general language is transformed into a term designating a concept in a special language, e.g 10 ‘circuit’ General language: a line enclosing a surface Electric or mechanical engineering language: an arrangement of devices or media through which electric current can flow Transdisciplinary borrowing: as internal borrowing, it refers to situations where a designation from one specific subject field is used in another one to represent a different concept The general features making up the intension of both concepts in both subject fields are often comparable and analogous, e.g ‘Reaction’ In Chemistry: interaction among two or more chemical elements or compounds, resulting in the creation of another chemical compound In Physics: force of equal magnitude and opposite direction, developed due to action of any given force Conversion: as the morphosyntactically differentiated usage of a single form, e.g Input (noun) – input (verb), intake (noun) – intake (verb) Semantic transfer within a special language: An existing term in a special language is used to designate a different concept, by an analogous extension These are some main modes of semantic transfer: Simile: this is usually expressed by means of suffixes (–like, -style, -type…), e.g Noise-like error, ethernet-like interface, bus-type interface Synecdoche: this is the most productive technique of utilizing existing forms, which is referred to as systematic polysemy in the contemporary linguistic theory of semantics, e.g ‘Screen’ Concrete: the part of a computer on which information is displayed Abstract: the information displayed on this computer part •Interlingual borrowing: Terms existing in one language can be introduced into another language by means of: Direct borrowing: e.g English: diameter, spiral (from Ancient Greek) Loan translation: The morphological elements of a term or whole words from the source language are translated literally (“word by word”) to form a new term in the target language, e.g German: die nische (from ‘niche’ in French) 29 DO Dissolved Oxy không hòa tan Oxygen Initialisms ARI Air Conditioning Viện đào tạo thiết bị and Refrigeration lạnh điều hịa khơng khí Institute HSS High Speed Steel Thép tốc độ cao – thép gió (dụng cụ cắt gọt) In TL mechanical engineering texts, terms in abbreviated forms appear in two ways: (1) they appear with their full forms, e.g BHP, Brake Horse Power; and (2) they appear without their full forms such as EAP In the first way, the translator should transfer the abbreviated terms and translated their full forms into Vietnamese by applying literal translation or functional/descriptive equivalent In this case, English abbreviated terms have two Vietnamese equivalents, e.g English terms BHP, Brake Horse Power Vietnamese equivalents BHP, mã Lực Phanh CVT: Continuosly Variable BHP, đơn vị đo công suất thực động đo trục CVT: hộp số biến thiên vô cấp Tranmission CVT: hộp số biến thiên vô cấp, sử dụng số xe Nissan Murano, In the second way, the translator can deal with some abbreviated terms as follows: English terms DOHC Vietnamese equivalents DOHC SOHC DOHC, cấu cam nạp xả với hai trục cam phía xi-lanh SOHC SOHC, kết cấu trục cam đơn mặt máy trục cam tác động đóng/mở xu-páp xả nạp In the table, DOHC stands for Double Overhead Camshafts and SOHC stands for Single Overhead Camshafts The translator may transfer English abbreviated terms into Vietnamese and not decode the initials (especially in case of popular English abbreviated terms) In addition, he may both transfer them into Vietnamese and translate their full forms into Vietnamese based on 30 literal translation or functional/descriptive equivalent), which depends on the interests and knowledge of the TL readership 3.2 English-Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering complex terms The part studies the translation of six common groups of English mechanical engineering complex terms into Vietnamese Group 7: Eponyms The group consists of eponyms referring to proper names: inventors’ names and names of firms and towns In mechanical engineering texts, many eponyms refer to the person who invented a thing, a new principle, or a theory For example, Compeb mill is translated as máy nghiền Compeb, which was invented by Compeb; Kotelnikov sampling theorem is translated as định lý mẫu Kotelnikov, which was stated by Kotelnikov Generally, for English eponyms derived from people’s names, the translator may translate the second element of terms refering to things, principles, or theories and directly borrow the first element which is a proper name For example, Balata belt is translated as đai Balata, Herberger furnace as lò Herberger, Timken machine as máy Timken Particularly, there are also other eponyms referring to nations’ names in which new products, principles, or theories were invented, produced, or approved The kind of eponyms is also translated similarly to the kind of eponyms referring to people’s names, e.g., Japanese paint – sơn Nhật, Swedish gauge – tiêu chuẩn Thụy Sĩ There is an idea that the first word should be transferred into Vietnamese but not directly borrowed This idea wants to assimilate this word, make it become similar to the Vietnamese word mainly based on phonetic aspects, e.g., Herberger furnace – lò Hơ-bơgơ, Davis bronze – đồng Đa-vít Such a translation strategy helps the reader pronounce the terms more easily However, it has a limit that if the reader only knows such Vietnamese equivalents in Vietnamese mechanical engineering texts, he would sometimes find it difficult to realize their English terms in English texts In addition, in some cases eponyms are not familiar to the reader, it is better to add explanation to the Vietnamese terms, e.g., Guerin process – phương pháp Guerin, phương pháp dập khuôn dẻo, Guillery ruler – thước Guillery, thước đo đường kính vết lõm đo độ rắn Brinell It can be seen that such Vietnamese explanation expressions may be complex nouns or phrases which provide the Vietnamese main terms further information 31 related to their function or description The reader can find it easier to understand Vietnamese terms There are some cases English eponyms are translated in other ways The first words of English eponyms derived from people’s names or nations’ names are not present in the Vietnamese equivalents, e.g English terms Haworth test Beaker valve Swedish block The English terms have Vietnamese equivalents Sự thử độ mài mòn trạng thái khơ ướt Cửa van hình cầu Tấm đệm đỡ tiêu chuẩn Vietnamese descriptive or functional equivalents This translation strategy is usually applied when the things, principles, or theories English terms refer to are unique in Vietnamese If in Vietnamese language there are some kinds of cửa van hình cầu, it is easy to make mistakes when the reader sees Vietnamese equivalents, he may not image right things, principles, or theories which English terms denote The most common translation strategy is that the translator applies through-translation, descriptive and functional procedures to translate English eponyms into Vietnamese In cases where the whole Vietnamese equivalents are too long, descriptive or functional expressions or both may be put in notes at bottom of page, at end of chapter or book, e.g English terms Allen wrench Vietnamese equivalents Chìa khóa Allen có thân lục giác Compeb mill Gemmer hydraguide Máy nghiền bi nhỏ Compeb Bộ lái trợ lực Gemmer dầu ép The above translation strategy is suitable for engineers and students However, for experts and professors, it is not necessary to combine descriptive or functional equivalent to translate English eponyms into Vietnamese Therefore, the translator should consider readers who are experts, professors, engineers, or students and eponyms' frequency of appearance in Vietnamese to apply appropriate translation strategies This requires the translator to be creative Group 8: Terms consisting of prepositions (such as of, in, with) The number of terms structured with noun + of + noun is quite great in mechanical engineering vocabulary Translating these English terms into Vietnamese is not easy It is much dependent on the translator and reader’s knowledge of linguistics and mechanical engineering 32 Generally, such English terms are translated into Vietnamese with the omission of the preposition of For example, diagram of gears is translated as sơ đồ động in Vietnamese, difference of phase has the most appropriate Vietnamese equivalent hiệu sai The English preposition of is not translated into Vietnamese Here are some other examples: range of load - phạm vi chịu tải, rate of circulation - tốc độ lưu thông, ratio of concentration - hệ số cô đặc… The translator tends to apply literal translation to translate the first noun and the second noun, and he often does not translate the preposition of into Vietnamese However, some terms having the structure of noun + of + noun (noun phrase) are sometimes translated in other ways, e.g English terms Vietnamese equivalents Percent of grade Độ dốc tính theo phần trăm Limit of error Giới hạn sai số Length of life test Sự thử máy suốt thời gian làm việc Cam of variable lift Cam có độ nâng biến đổi The above English terms are translated by different translation strategies Some English terms are translated word by word like limit of error – giới hạn sai số, curvation of field – độ cong trường, derivation of a vector – đạo hàm véc tơ However, the preposition of is sometimes translated as có, e.g cam of variable lift – cam có độ nâng biến đổi The translator also borrows the term cam in English to use in Vietnamese texts In some cases, the translator may use descriptive or functional equivalent to translate a number of English terms including noun + of + noun especially terms unfamiliar to many readers in order to help them understand these terms more thoroughly, e.g depth of cut – chiều sâu lớp đất bị xén In general, translating English-Vietnamese terms structured with noun + of + noun requires the translator to be creative The main matter is here that the translator need deal with the preposition of appropriately and have knowledge of mechanical engineering Furthermore, mechanical engineering terms also consist of terms which contain some other prepositions such as with, in, over, down, to , e.g English terms Coupling in series Diffraction by disk Black-out driving lights Vietnamese equivalents Mắc nối tiếp Sự nhiễu xạ tròn Đèn mắt mèo: đèn mờ lắp xe, sử dụng cần che ánh sáng, từ cao trông xuống nhìn thấy tầm mức gần 33 It can be seen that translating those like the terms in the table is really complicated The translator may use functional or descriptive equivalent to deal with such English terms Many terms require the translator as well as reader to have thorough background knowledge of mechanical engineering Furthermore, TL equivalents need adding with explanation if necessary The term black-out driving lights in the table is a typical example for this case In addition, if the expression explaining the TL equivalents is long, it had better to put it in notes at bottom of page, at end of chapter or at end of book Group 9: Terms consisting of numbers (such as one, two, three) Numbers usually appear vividly in mechanical engineering texts In some cases, they refer to the quantity of something, e.g., start two engines – khởi động hai máy, when the engine is restated four wheels of the engine rotate simultaneously – khởi động lại động cơ, bốn bánh động quay đồng thời In other cases, they are combined with other words to form complex terms In these cases, they denote the shapes, structures or features of something such as machines, engines tools, and parts of engines, e.g English terms Four barrel carburetor One turn cap First gear low speed Vietnamese equivalents Bộ chế hịa khí bốn họng Nắp tháo nhanh Cấp truyền động thứ cấp độ chậm: số số chậm mạnh để di chuyển English complex terms in Group can have Vietnamese equivalents which are complex words, phrases, or even clauses Words denoting numbers in Vietnamese terms may be Vietnamese originated or Sino-Vietnamese originated, e.g., two stage pump – máy bơm hai tầng, double governor – điều chỉnh kép Generally, the frequency of appearance of Vietnamese originated numbers in mechanical engineering texts is higher than that of Sino-Vietnamese originated numbers In addition, in the current trend it is encouraged and preferred to use Vietnamese originated terms than Sino-Vietnamese terms For example, double-arm engine has two Vietnamese equivalents: động có hai cánh tay địn is more popular than động có có cánh tay địn kép Three way valve has two Vietnamese equivalents; van ba nhánh and van tam nhánh, the first term is preferred However, in some cases numbers in English terms are not translated into Vietnamese terms, e.g double compound belt – đai truyền động phức tạp, two-dimensional profiling – chép hình phẳng, three-part slide valve – van trượt dẹt hình hộp/van trượt dẹt hình chữ 34 D The translator uses descriptive equivalent to translate the English terms into Vietnamese This clarifies the meanings of Vietnamese terms It is easier for the reader to image the subjects which terms name Moreover, there are some English terms unpopular or new to the reader or rarely appear in texts These terms may have Vietnamese equivalents which are complex terms, phrases, or even clauses with explanation expressions, e.g two drum hoist – tời hai tang (quay), first gear low speed – cấp truyền động thứ cấp độ chậm: số 1là số chậm mạnh để di chuyển, second-process machine – máy làm nguyên công thứ hai (sau tiện ngồi phơi máy tự động…It can be seen that when English terms consist of ordinal numbers, they usually have Vietnamese equivalents which are phrases, clauses with or without explanation expression following them Group 10: Terms consisting of letters (such as A, B, C) One of the most typical features of English mechanical engineering terms is that many terms consist of words that are letters such as A, B, C, D and so on In English terms the majority of letters has a function of describing the shapes, structures or features of something such as machines, engines, tools In general, there are three main strategies to translate English terms belonging to Group 10 into Vietnamese Firstly, the translator may literally translate them into Vietnamese, e.g V-belt drive – chuyển động đai hình chữ V, table T slot – rãnh chữ T bàn máy Secondly, he may combine literal translation and functional/descriptive equivalent procedures to translate some English terms into Vietnamese, e.g U-bolt – đai ốc hình chữ U dùng để siết nhíp vào khung xe, F head – động kiểu F: loại động có sú páp tổng hợp (một giàn hút nắp mái, giàn thải bên hông xy lanh) The Vietnamese equivalents are phrases or clauses which are followed by explanation expression if necessary Finally, the translator may not literally translate the letters in English terms but use descriptive or functional equivalent procedure to find appropriate Vietnamese equivalents, e.g L head engine – động có sú páp đặc, I head cylinder – xy lanh có sú páp treo, Tjunction box – đầu nối ba nhánh, A-type frame – bệ hai chân The translator adds some elements to clearly describe the shapes, structures, features, or functions of machines, appliances, devices, or tools 35 The above three strategies are popular in English-Vietnamese mechanical engineering dictionaries The first and second ones are more popular than the third Group 11: Terms with structures Noun + Noun, Verb-ing + Noun, Adjective + Noun + (Noun) The group consists of three structures of complex terms: N + N, (Adv) + V-ing + N, and Adj + N + (N) The common translation strategies used to translate them into Vietnamese are transposition and literal translation There is a change in word order from SL to TL The following table presents some examples: Subgroups N+N Adj + N + (N) V-ing + N English terms Supplement air Cancellation signal Sequential access device Planetary gear set Floating crane Crushing ball Vietnamese equivalents Khí dự phịng Tín hiệu hủy bỏ Thiết bị truy xuất Bộ bánh hành tinh Cần trục Bi nghiền It can be seen that the position of elements of English terms is changed when they are translated into Vietnamese In English language the order of N1 + N2 is changed as N2 + N1 in Vietnamese, e.g supplement air is translated as khí dự phịng, it the word dự phịng khí is unacceptable For the subgroup Adj + N + (N), the translator also uses transposition which involves the automatic change in word order from English to Vietnamese In English terms Adj precedes N but in Vietnamese Adj follows N, e.g coherent diffusion – khuyếch tán quán The elements of the above English terms are literal translated into Vietnamese but their positions are changed Finally, for the subgroup V-ing + N, the translator usually converts the position of elements from English word order into their corresponding word order in Vietnamese, e.g floating crane – cần trục However, in some cases in which the translator can not use transposition and literal translation to deal with English terms of the group He does not find Vietnamese equivalents to each element of English terms, so he needs to paraphrase English terms in Vietnamese or use descriptive/functional equivalent procedure to translate them into Vietnamese by a phrase, clause, or even sentence to clarify the meaning of English terms in Vietnamese Some example are pitch position – góc nghiêng lưỡi ủi , ignition cable – dây dẫn điện cao đến phân điện bugi (dòng điện thứ cấp), loading technique – kỹ thuật dồn đất vào xe cạp hay xếp vật liệu lên xe 36 In general, the translator and reader need to be creative to apply transposition, literal translation, descriptive, functional equivalent, and paraphrase in the translation of terms belonging to Group 11 Group 12: Terms with structures Adverb+ Past Participle + Noun, Noun+ Past Participle + Noun The group consists of two subgroups Adv + P.P + N and N + P.P + N To understand and translate English terms belonging to the first subgroup the reader and translator need to analyze the position and role of each element of the terms before finding their Vietnamese equivalents After that they may rewrite the structure Adv + P.P + N as N + which + to be (is/are) + P.P + Adv and find it easier to translate the English terms into Vietnamese from the new structure This translation strategy is called rank-shift Many English complex terms belonging to the group have Vietnamese corresponding clauses, e.g English terms English clauses Vietnamese equivalents Adv + P.P + N N + which + to be (is/are) + Adv N + “được” + V + Adv Finely ground powder Automatically + P.P Powder which is finely ground Equipment which is controlled equipment Directly compressed air automatically controlled (một cách) tự động Air which is directly compressed Khí nén trực tiếp Bột nghiền mịn Thiết bị điều khiển From the above table it can be seen that the Vietnamese clauses are longer than the first English terms but their meaning is quite clear Sometimes the translator can omit in Vietnamese clause if this does not make confusion The term finely ground powder can be translated as bột nghiền mịn or bột nghiền mịn but the term automatically controlled equipment can be differently understood if its Vietnamese equivalent as thiết bị điều khiển tự động Thiết bị điều khiển tự động means that this is a equipment is automatically controlled by something or someone while thiết bị điều khiển tự động can be understood as a equipment that controls something or someone automatically Therefore, the addition of the element in the Vietnamese clause is a safe way of translation, it avoids confusion and vague For the second subgroup N + P.P + N, rank-shift may be applied similarly to the first subgroup to translate most of English terms of the subgroup into Vietnamese, e.g English terms English clause Vietnamese equivalents 37 N + P.P + N N + which + to be (is/are)+ N+ “được” + V + “bằng” + P.P + by somebody or N Cable operated someone Brake which is operated by Phanh điều khiển brake Hand made tool cable Tool which is made by hand cáp Dụng cụ làm tay It can be concluded that the majority of English terms of the group has Vietnamese equivalents which are clauses In this case, the translator uses rank-shift to translator these English terms into Vietnamese Besides the twelve common groups of mechanical engineering terms discussed above, the thesis also takes account of neologisms which consist of both simple terms and complex terms that are new terms In the process of carrying out the study on the EnglishVietnamese translation of the above twelve groups of terms, new terms and unfamiliar/unpopular terms are always taken into account English new terms usually cause much problem to the translation and the reader Newmark (1988b) says the central difficulty in technical translation is usually the new terms The idea is completely true The translator may combine some translation procedures and techniques flexibly to find the nearest TL equivalents to SL terms When the translator must deal with an English neologism and he does not find its Vietnamese equivalent, he should transfer it into Vietnamese and add an explanation expression behind the loan word or in the footnote if necessary, e.g babbit – babbit, hợp kim chống ma sát dùng làm bạc lót Explanations may describe a subject denoted by an English term in terms of its appearance, shape, features, function or position In other words, explanations help clarify the main meanings of the loan word/transferred words preceding them In summary, English mechanical engineering terms can be classified into different groups which include the above-discussed twelve common groups and other groups The study of English-Vietnamese translation of the twelve term groups shows that the translator needs to have knowledge of translation theories, linguistics, and mechanical engineering Furthermore, the translator also needs to be creative in applying various translation methods and translation procedures to find appropriate and common translation strategies 38 used in the English-Vietnamese translation of terms in materials for mechanical engineering 39 PART C: CONCLUSION We have carried out the study on the English-Vietnamese translation of terms in materials for mechanical engineering We have studied the translation of twelve main groups of English mechanical engineering terms into Vietnamese In the part, we would like to summarize a number of common translation strategies drawn out from the study: Group 1: Simple terms which are agential nouns made by a root plus suffix er/or Strategies: translated by adding máy, cái, bộ, thiết bị, phận, dụng cụ, vật, thợ, or người before main elements which are Vietnamese or Sino-Vietnamese originated Functional or descriptive equivalent procedure may be applied to find appropriate Vietnamese equivalents for new/unfamiliar English terms with explanation if necessary In case of long explanation, they may put it in the footnote of page Group 2: Simple terms which are nouns Strategies: to deal with terms naming tools, devices, parts of an equipment literal translation or transference with descriptive words should be applied For nouns which are metaphors related to parts of human body, they are metaphorically translated based on the shapes, functions or positions of parts of human body Finally, to deal with nouns ending with suffixes such as -ion, -ment, and -ing, the translator and reader may find or form Vietnamese equivalents made by adjuncts sự/tình trạng/việc and other elements which are usually literally translated from English terms’ roots Group 3: Simple terms which are verbs Strategies: most of verbs in the group are literally translated into Vietnamese equivalents Group 4: Simple terms which are adjectives Strategies: literally translated into Vietnamese and Vietnamese equivalents are structured with tính, có (tính), có thể, or and main elements whose meanings are denotative meanings of roots (originated from verbs) Group 5: Simple terms which are international units of weights and measures 40 Strategies: transferred and assimilated based on Vietnamese language features mainly aspects of phonetics so that they become more natural in Vietnamese Group 6: Terms in abbreviated forms Strategies: usually transferred into Vietnamese, sometimes decoded and literally translated Group 7: Eponyms Strategies: The most common translation strategy is that the translator applies throughtranslation, descriptive and functional procedures to translate English eponyms into Vietnamese When the whole Vietnamese equivalents are too long, descriptive/functional expressions or both may be put in notes at bottom of page, at end of chapter or book Group 8: Terms consisting of prepositions Strategies: Generally, such English terms are translated into Vietnamese with the omission of the preposition of Besides, functional or descriptive equivalent may be used Group 9: Terms consisting of numbers Strategies: the translator may apply literal translation to find their Vietnamese equivalents or descriptive or functional equivalent procedure to translate unpopular/new English terms into Vietnamese; or even paraphrase the English terms in Vietnamese Group 10: Terms consisting of letters (such as A, B, C) Strategies: literal translation is usually applied, and functional/descriptive equivalent procedure is sometime used with or without literal translation Group 11: Terms with structures Noun + Noun, Verb-ing + Noun, Adjective + Noun + (Noun) Strategies: translated by transposition procedure and literal translation procedure For new/unpopular English terms, the translator should use descriptive or functional equivalent, and even he may paraphrase English terms in Vietnamese Group 12: Terms with structures Adverb+ Past Participle + Noun, Noun+ Past Participle + Noun Strategies: translated by rank-shift 41 Hopefully, the thesis is useful for translators/interpreters, researchers, engineers, teachers, students and so on in translation, dictionaries editing, English language teaching, and the standardization of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terminology In translation, such translation strategies may help the translator find it easier to translate English mechanical engineering terms into Vietnamese He may combine two or more translation strategies creatively in specific situations To become a competent technical translator, he needs to have knowledge of linguistics, translation theories, and fields of science and technology such as mechanical engineering In dictionaries editing, the editor may order mechanical engineering terms based on their structural features by classifying English mechanical engineering terms into the groups like the thesis In this way, the user can find it easier to use such dictionaries because he would learn how to remember and to guess the meanings of terms in some common principles A good dictionary always consists of explanations following new/unpopular TL terms or notes for neologisms at bottom of page, at end of dictionaries In English language teaching, the teacher can apply the translation strategies derived from the thesis in teaching English for mechanical engineering In some cases where there is no dictionary or no dictionary consists of English terms which the teacher wants to know or translate into Vietnamese, he may guess their meaning and know how to find their appropriate Vietnamese equivalents based on the translation strategies found in the thesis In the standardization of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terminology, it is time to give standards on the terminology In the process of carrying out the study, the author finds different English-Vietnamese mechanical engineering term dictionaries sometimes give different Vietnamese equivalents to the same English terms Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms consist of Vietnamese originated terms, Sino-Vietnamese originated terms, and Indo-European originated terms The main problem is here that whether or not to borrow foreign terms to enrich the Vietnamese language; and if yes, how we should borrow foreign terms We should not make abuse of the borrowing of foreign terms Vietnamese originated terms should be encouraged to use However, in some cases it is necessary to borrow foreign terms to designate objects precisely, concretely, and economically Therefore, it is needed to give some standards on Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms 42 Because of time limitation and minor-thesis requirements, the study can not cover other matters which are not less important and less interesting Hopefully, the following matters will be thoroughly studied in the future: The English-Vietnamese translation of sentences in texts in materials for mechanical engineering The English-Vietnamese translation of texts in materials for science and technology The standardization of Vietnamese mechanical engineering terminology as well as Vietnamese technical terminology 43 REFERENCES English Catford, J.C (1965), A Linguistic Theory of Translation, Oxford: OUP Hartman, R.R.K and F.C Stock (1972), Dictionary of Language and Linguistics in Bell, R.T (1991), Translation and Translating, Longman Hatim, B and I Mason (1990), Discourse and the Translator, London: Longman Koller, W (1979), Equivalence in Translation Theory, Heidelberg: Quelle und Meyer Krings, H.P (1986), Translation Problems and Translation Strategies of Advanced German Learners of French In J House, & S Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlingual and intercultural communication: pp 263-75, Tubingen: Gunter Narr Loescher, W (1991), Translation Performance, Translation Process and Translation Strategies, Tuebingen: Guten Narr Newmark, P (1988a), Approaches to Translation, Oxford Pergamon Newmark, P (1988b), A Textbook of Translation, Prentice Hall International Valeontis K & E Mantzari (2006), The 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... English- Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering terms 24 3.1 English- Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering simple terms. 24 3.2 English- Vietnamese translation of mechanical engineering. .. the study on the English- Vietnamese translation of terms in materials for mechanical engineering We have studied the translation of twelve main groups of English mechanical engineering terms into... of the study There are innumerable English and Vietnamese mechanical engineering terms in many materials for mechanical engineering The study concentrates on typical English terms and their Vietnamese