VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ****** NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀN AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION VERSION OF JACK LONDON’S FAMOUS NOVEL “THE CALL OF THE WILD” (PHÂN TÍCH SÂU VỀ BẢN DỊCH ANH – VIỆT CUỐN TIỂU THUYẾT NỔI TIẾNG CỦA JACK LONDON “TIẾNG GỌI NƠI HOANG DÔ) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code 60 22 15 HANOI, 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ****** NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀN AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION VERSION OF JACK LONDON’S FAMOUS NOVEL “THE CALL OF THE WILD” (PHÂN TÍCH SÂU VỀ BẢN DỊCH ANH – VIỆT CUỐN TIỂU THUYẾT NỔI TIẾNG CỦA JACK LONDON “TIẾNG GỌI NƠI HOANG DÔ) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code 60 22 15 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến HANOI, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS Declaration ………………………………………………………………… Pages i Acknowledgements …………………………………………………… ii Abstract …………………………………………………………………… iii List of Abbreviations ……………………………………………………… iv INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… I Rationale for the study ……………………………………………… II Objectives of the study ……………………………………………… III Scope of the study ……………………………………………… IV.Method of the study ………………………………………………… V Organization of the study…………………………………………… CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………… I What is translation? …………………………………………… II Literary translation ……………………………………………… III II.1 General characteristics of literary language ………………… II.2 Problems of literary translation ……………………………… Translation Quality Assessment……………………………… III.1 Proposed models ………………………………………………… III.1.1 Nida’s response - based approach……………………………… III.1.2 Koller’s text - based approach…………………………………… III.1.3 Peter Newmark’s comprehensive criticism approach………… III.1.4 Julianne House’s functional – pragmatic approach…………… III.2 Representation of Julianne House’s TQA model………………… III.2.1 Covert and Overt Translation……………………………………… III.2.2 Representation of J House’s model……………………………… CHAPTER II - ANALYSIS OF THE SOURCE TEXT, BASED ON J 11 HOUSE’S MODEL I Brief introduction of the chapter………………………………… I.1 The author Jack London………………………………………… v 11 11 I.2 The novel “The Call of the Wild”……………………………… 11 I.3 Introduction of Chapter 6………………………………………… 11 II Discourse features of the source text……………………………… 11 II.1 Syntactic features……………………………………………………… 11 II.2 Textual features………………………………………………………… 19 Analysis of the source text based on J House’s model……… 22 III III.1 Dimension of language user…………………………………………… 22 III.2 Dimension of language use…………………………………………… 23 IV.Statement of function 28 CHAPTER III: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE SOURCE TEXT 29 AND ITS VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION VERSION I Comparison between the source text and the target text based on 29 J House’s model ……………………………………………… I.1 Medium……………………………………………………………… 29 I.2 Participation……………………………………………………… 30 I.3 Social Role Relationship………………………………………… 32 I.4 Social Attitude……………………………………………………… 33 I.5 Province…………………………………………………………… 35 II Overtly Erroneous Errors………………………………………… 39 Statement of Quality and Translation Type………………… 39 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………… 42 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………… 45 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………… I III vi INTRODUCTION I Rationale for the study Over the past years, translation has been playing a crucial part in bridging two cultures and has enabled the advances of modern life and internationalism of around the world In literature, foreign poetry and prose into the curriculum also increasingly covers much ground, which brings translation to more attention However, the translation of literary works is not an easy – to – deal matter and the question of how a good translation text is measured has never ceased to challenge linguists In fact, Translation Quality Assessment (TQA) has been addressed by many linguists so far and it remains a controversial topic with many a theory proposed Among many linguists who have put forward models to carry out a comprehensive assessment, J House is chosen by most researchers because of the best applicability of her model, based mainly on the theory of functional grammar by K Halliday The novel “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London is the author’s first literary work, which helped him rise to the prominence as the top author of American literature in the early 20th century The researcher has taken the translation version by Nguyễn Công Ái and Vũ Tuấn Phương to measure how well the translation is The novel also characterizes Jack London’s writing style, straightforward but formal, which is embraced in each chapter of the novel In this minor study, Chapter of the novel titled “For the love of a man” is chosen as the data for the analysis This chapter is the only one which reveals Buck’s passionate love for his master and this love demonstrates the humanity in the whole novel II Objectives of the study The study aims at investigating the translation quality of the target text of Chapter in full comparison with the source text, based on J House’s model At the end of this study, the answers to the following research questions should be provided: What are the features of the ST, according to J House’s model? What are the mismatches of the TT in comparison with the ST? III What kind of translation, covert or overt, is employed? Scope of the study As referred to earlier, J House’s model is adopted to assess the quality of the translation in this research This results from the fact that the models proposed by Peter Newmark and other linguists’ only suit professionals in translation, whilst J House’s model can be widely applied by researchers In terms of the data for analysis, the whole novel should have been adopted to provide the researcher with a sufficient insight into the translation quality of the Vietnamese target text However, due to its modest scale, this study is merely confined to chapter of the novel “The Call of the Wild”, which partly features Jack London’s basic writing style in the novel With such a limit set out at the beginning of the study, all the analysis and comparison between the ST and the TT is only restricted in this chapter IV Method of the study The principal method employed in the study is Documentary Research, using the outside sources (the ST and TT of chapter – “The Call of the Wild) to support the whole procedure of translation quality assessment The researcher also combines both qualitative and quantitative research, analyzing data and providing the readers with deeper insights into the distinctions and value in the ST and TT Some important conclusions can be drawn from these analyses V Organization of the study The first chapter of the study will be Literature Review in which some related concepts of translation theory and typical models of translation quality assessment are discussed In the second chapter, the research will introduce an overview of the original text’s content, and J House’s model applied to analyze the ST In the third chapter, the researcher will apply J House’s model to analyze and compare English ST and its Vietnamese TT to find out mismatches and draw a conclusion of what type of translation is employed in the study CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW I What is translation? There have been many different definitions of translation so far From the researcher’s point of view, however, following definitions should be taken into consideration: Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in another language (Peter Newmark, 1988) Translation deals with the signs and attempts to preserve semiotic, as well other pragmatic and communicative, properties which signs display (Basil Hatim and Ian Mason, 1990) Translation is the replacement of a text in the source language by a semantically and pragmatically equivalent text in the target language (J.House, 1977) Translation is to produce in the receptor language the closest natural equivalence to the message of the source language, first in meaning and second in style (Nida, 1975) Translation means the replacement of a text in one language (Source Language) by an equivalent in another language (Target Language) (Cartford, 1965) The five definitions of Peter Newmark, Basil Hatim and Ian Mason, J House, Nida, and Cartford are expressed in different ways However, they all share the same essence of translation which lies in the preservation of semantic, pragmatic, and textual aspects of meaning across two different languages II Literary translation Literary studies have always, explicitly or implicitly, presupposed a certain notion of ―literariness‖ This notion of ―literariness‖ is crucial for the theoretical thinking about literary translation In the following part, the researcher attempts to put forward some general characteristics of literary language and typical problems of literary translation II.1 General characteristics of literary language Literature is the use of well-chosen words to tell a story through narrative, involving characters in conflict, or to express an emotion or idea through artfully arranged images The purpose of literature is to entertain and instruct (or to delight or enlighten) the reader through the use of imagination Literature can shock, amaze or help readers make an escape from the reality for a while As far as we know, literary language is a part of general linguistics Thus, almost linguistic features used in literary texts are taken from general linguistics However, literary language possesses some typical characteristics Literary language possesses all the features that assist in realizing the descriptive goal of literary texts As Peter Mark (1995: 13) states, there is ―an emphasis linking verbs, adjective, and adjectival nouns.‖ Besides, literary texts consist of the linguistic particularities relating to ―major topics as cohesion, manning patterns, modality, and evaluation, the structure of narratives, the recording of character speech and thought, clause processes and participants, and the dynamic of dialogue, presupposition and textual revision.‖ (Michael Toolan – 1998) Literary texts, especially in poetry, also carry the metrical and parametrical features of language This is an adaptation of the linguistic form which is called the prosodic phonological form A linguistic form which is also used in literary language is parallelism in syntax, semantics, and lexis With regards to narrative, one of the aspects of narrative form which exists independently of language is the macro-structure, or large-scale structure As far as we know, it seems generally agreed upon that the structure of the stories cannot adequately be accounted for in terms of their sentence structures alone Notions such as plot, scheme, theme, and plan have been used, both in classical literary scholarship and in structural analysis of myths, folktales and other simple stories, in order to denote more global narrative structures In addition, literary language is closely related to cultural elements These cultural elements marked out the patterns and threads in the narrative whereby the overall cultural gap that has to be bridged and gauged, and some consideration can also be given to the balance of items to be domesticated and foreignised Moreover, these elements provide insights to the author and an understanding of the undercurrents in the novel It is, thus, clear that cultural elements are central to any translation To support this idea, Nord (1997:11) states that ―… a translation theory cannot draw on a linguistic theory alone… What it needs is a theory of culture to explain the specificity of communicative situations and the relationship between verbalized and nonverbalized situational elements.‖ II.2 Problems of literary translation In order to create a good translation, a translator has to deal with many challenges, especially regarding literary translation where a number of problems remain Long – standing debates mainly consider finding equivalents not just for lexis, syntax, or concepts, but also for features like style, genre, figurative language, historical stylistic dimensions, polyvalence, connotations as well as denotations, cultural items and culture-specific concepts and values Options made by translators such as whether to retain stylistic dimension of the original become critical in literary translation As regards poetry translation, it is necessary for the translator to determine whether the verse should be translated into verse, or into free verse or into prose In poetry, the form of linguistic units cannot be modified without a corresponding change in semantic, pragmatic, textual meaning Since the form cannot be detached from its meaning, this meaning cannot be expressed in another ways such as paraphrases explanations and borrowing of new words is impossible in a translation of a poetic-aesthetic work of art One of the prominent problems in translating literary texts is the differences between cultures It is easily recognized by a translator who uses a cultural approach that each language contains elements which are derived from its culture In addition, every text is anchored in a specific culture, and conventions of text production and reception vary from culture to culture In fact, translation is considered as a form of intercultural communication which poses the problems not merely at verbal level or linguistic level The awareness that one does not seek barely verbal equivalents but also for cultural equivalents, if there are any, comes in handy in prompting the translator to decide the strategies he or she has to use Accordingly, translation is no longer a matter of finding verbal equivalents but also interpreting a text encoded in one semiotic system with the assistance of another The whole enterprise of finding cultural equivalents raises awareness of the difference and similarities between cultures It also brings into focus the critical question of cultural identity Apparently, literary translation exerts great influence on the target culture, and at the same time, the target culture has never stopped restraining the process of literary translation It is held that ―there is always a context in which the translation takes place, always in a history from which a text emerges and into which a text is transposed‖ (Lafervere: 1990: 11) As a matter of fact, literary translation is embedded with the constraints of a certain target cultural context III Translation Quality Assessment Translation Quality Assessment does not only deal with the ideal case of integral communicative performance, in which target language aims at the closest equivalence as regards the conceptual content, linguistic form and communicative function of a SL text The practice of translation is subject to a great many conditions which determine that such an integral communicative performance cannot, or even should not, be achieved Theodore Savory (Readings in translation theories, 1957: 49) listed ten translation principles gleaned from the literature, some of which are directly contradictory while others are mutually complementary They provide an abundance of opinions on what a good translation should be like III.1 Proposed models Over long history of translation quality assessment, linguists have kept on putting forward their approaches to reach the best assessment for the quality of translation III.1.1 Nida’s response – based approach Nida’s concern centered on a systematic approach to translation He suggested three programmatic and general criteria (1964: 182) for quality assessment of a translation, including general efficiency of the communication process, comprehension of intent and equivalence of response The third and most significant criterion is obviously close to Nida’s basic principle of ―Dynamic (or Functional) Equivalence of a translation’ In other words, the manner the receptor of the translation text responds to the ... JACK LONDON? ??S FAMOUS NOVEL ? ?THE CALL OF THE WILD? ?? (PHÂN TÍCH SÂU VỀ BẢN DỊCH ANH – VIỆT CUỐN TIỂU THUYẾT NỔI TIẾNG CỦA JACK LONDON “TIẾNG GỌI NƠI HOANG DÔ) MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics... created many famous literary work such as ? ?The call of the wild? ??, “White fang”, The sea wolf” and many others I.2 The novel ? ?The call of the wild? ?? ? ?The call of the wild? ?? is the story of Buck,... comparison of the translation with the original An evaluation of the translation: in the translation? ??s terms and in the critics’ terms An assessment of the likely place of the translation in the target