CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH DEPARTMENT W X THESIS Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu REFLECTIONS ON THE APPLICATION OF NOUN PHRASES IN ENGLISH-VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION A 10-credit thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of English of Can Tho University Supervisor: Mr Huynh Trung Tin May, 2007 i Student: Nguyen Anh Thi Student’s code: 7032465 Class: English Education 02 Course: 29 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this work has not been submitted in whole or in part to this university, or to other educational institutions for marking and assessment either previously or concurrently I also certify that I this research by myself, and this is all my own original work Nguyen Anh Thi May, 2007 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to people for their sincere help that bring me upon completion of my study To my supervisor, Mr Huynh Trung Tin, I would like to express my deep gratitude to his useful advice and support At the beginning, he guided me to shape my research ideas, introduced helpful websites, suggested related books to find appropriate literature review, and gave immediate feedback on my drafts Without his guidance, I could not complete my research paper in time I am grateful to lecturers of the English Department, and the students of English Education class 01 and 02, course 31 of Can Tho University for their contribution to the completion of data collecting process by doing the tests Without their willingness, make good progress Trung tâm Học my liệustudy ĐHwould CầnnotThơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu I would like to send my thankful messages to all of my old teachers at Cheguevara high school, Ms Nguyen Thi My Hanh, Ms Nguyen Ngoc Trinh, and Mr Tran Van Hoang; all my classmates, for their support, and my foreign teacher, Mr Wesley Hedden, living in Ohio, the USA for his shared experience in doing research ii ABSTRACT After acquiring a basic knowledge of English, the students could be able to analyze English materials During the process of using English, the term translation appears and plays a very essential role in learners In addition, English sentence structures are very complicated, and raise a lot of troubles for learners, especially in terms of noun phrases since they are considered as one of the two main parts of a sentence, and occur in different styles of discourse Therefore, this study is aimed at finding out the answer for the hypothesis if the knowledge of English noun phrases should be brought to learners in order that they could perform well in their translation Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT PART 1: INTRODUCTION Background PAGE i ii iii Aim of the study Research methods Organization of the study PART 2: INVESTIGATION Chapter one: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Definitions of translation 1.3 Translation process 1.4 Skewing 1.5 Equivalence 1.6 Competence and performance 10 1.7Học Sentences Trung tâm liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên 11 cứu 1.8 Phrases 12 1.9 Noun phrases 13 1.9.1 Some definitions from different linguists 13 1.9.2 Types of NP 15 1.9.2.1 Simple NPs 15 1.9.2.2 Complex NPs 16 1.9.3 Structures of NPs 16 1.9.3.1 Head 16 1.9.3.2 Premodifiers 17 1.9.3.2.1 Simple premodifiers 17 1.9.3.2.2 Complex premodifiers 18 1.9.3.3 Postmodifiers 20 1.9.3.3.1 Simple postmodifiers 20 1.9.3.3.2 Complex postmodifiers 21 1.9.4 Functions of NPs 23 iv 24 Chapter 2: RESEARCH METHOD 2.1 Subject 24 2.2 Instruments 24 2.2.1 Comprehension test 24 2.2.2 Performance test 25 2.3 Test validity and reliability 25 2.3.1 Test validity 25 2.3.2 Test reliability 26 2.4 Procedures 28 2.5 Result analysis 28 Chapter 3: RESULT ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 30 3.1 Results 30 3.2 Result analysis and discussion 33 3.2.1 Group A 33 3.2.2 Group B 33 3.2.3 Group C 34 3.2.4 Group D 35 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên 36 cứu 3.3 Summary 37 PART THREE: CONCLUSION Summary 37 Implication 38 Suggestion for further research 38 BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 APPENDIX 41 COMPREHENSION TEST 41 PERFORMANCE TEST 45 SUGGESTED ANSWER KEY 48 ASSESSMENTS 50 v PART ONE INTRODUCTION Background Throughout years studying at university, many students in the English Department have been fully equipped with the knowledge of linguistics such as semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology and theory of translation Thus, they have better understanding of language meaning and language uses, but they still meet many problems in translation that stem from the fact that English grammar structures raise many difficulties for those who learn English as a foreign language, especially English noun phrases As can be said from Longman Dictionary of English language, and Culture (1992) Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu “a phrase is a group of words without a finite verb.” According to Noam Chomsky (1975), “a sentence is defined as a noun phrase and a verb phrase, and each sentence of the language is represented by a set of strings in which noun phrases are contained within verb phrases and verb phrases within noun phrases in English.”, and “a sentence is formed by an noun phrase and a verb phrase.” Indeed, a sentence is usually considered the largest syntactical unit, and it consists of a noun phrase (or subject) and a verb phrase (or predicate) In other words, it could be said that noun phrases play a very important role in sentence structures Indeed, noun phrases are used in different kinds of text such as in informal speech, newspapers, fictions, science writings and so forth Besides, the study proved that noun phrases also occur in different styles of discourse They are considered to play a very sensitive and core role in the text Because of this variety, noun phrases raise a lot of problems for the Vietnamese learners, especially when they translate materials from English into Vietnamese Aim of the study For the above-mentioned reasons, it is very necessary to conduct a research to see how the mastery of English noun phrases helps translators The study is aimed at finding out whether there is a correlation between the comprehension of English noun phrases and the translation performance In other words, the study will try to answer the following research question: “Do English noun phrases affect learners’ English-Vietnamese translation?” Research methods In order to find the answer for the research question, I design tests to access both learners’ comprehension and performance of English noun phrases, basing Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu on the different types of noun phrases described in Chapter Moreover, thanks to the comprehension test, I can exactly measure the relationship between comprehension of English noun phrases and establish a correlation to decide on how much comprehension affects performance All of the students majoring in English at the English Department – Course 31 – Can Tho University are invited to the tests since they have already taken some courses of translation, English grammar including noun phrases Organization of the study There are parts in this study: introduction, investigation and conclusion PART 1: INTRODUCTION generalizes the background, aim, methods and the organization of the study PART 2: INVESTIGATION Chapter 1: Literature review Chapter 2: Research methods Chapter 3: Result analysis and discussion PART 3: CONCLUSION summarizes the main points Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu PART TWO INVESTIGATION Chapter one: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Introduction In this chapter, I am going to give some definitions of translation, some issues related to translation theory, the basic knowledge of English noun phrases and their functions as well 1.2 Definitions of translation There are so many definitions of translation that I can find in some books and websites, but I am really contented with these following ones by some sources Firstly, Newmark defines translation as “a craft consisting in the attempt to Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu replace a written message in one language by the same message in another language.” Also, Pinhhuck (1997) states that “Translation is a process of finding a target language (TL) equivalent for a source language (SL) utterance.” Similarly, Catford (1965) maintains translation as a process which is always unidirectional, i.e from a SL into a TL Nida and Taber (1969) explain the process of translating consisting of reproducing in the receptor language (RL) the closes natural equivalent of the SL message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style According to Wills (1982), “Translation is a transfer process which aims at the transformation of a written SL text into an optimally equivalent TL text, and which “Problems in translating verb phrases from English into Vietnamese” In conclusion, this study is expected to contribute somehow to learning and teaching English in terms of applied linguistics Moreover, the learners and teachers could exploit the benefits from expanding this study for further improvement However, this is the first time I such a research, the lack of experience and mistakes is inevitable; therefore, I would be glad to receive comments and suggestions BIBLIOGRAPHY A Robert young and Ann O – Stranch Nitty Gritty Grammar – Sentence Essentials for wtiters Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Baxter Hathaway A Transformational Syntax – The Grammar of Modern American English English for Today – HCM Press Fromkin, V.et al (1990) An Introduction to Language 2nd edn London Fromkin Redman Collins Blair An Introduction to Language Huddleston, R (1975) An Introduction to Language Transformational Syntax Longman Jacobs, A Roderick (1995) English Syntax – A Grammar for English Language Professionals Oxford: Oxford University Press 38 Nguyen Hoa Lac An Outline of Syntax – HCMC University of Education – English Department Noams Chomsky (1957) Syntactic Structures Mouton Publisher The Hague – Paris – New York Quirk, Randolph Et al (1980) A Grammar of Contemporary English ESSEX: Longman Roberts, Paul (1964) English Syntax – A Book of Programmed Lessons Harcourt, Brace World Inc Summers, Della (1992) Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture Longman Tran Thi Sau Bai Giang Translation Can Tho University Press Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Venuti Lawrence (2000) The Translation Studies Reader Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation Http://englishrussiantranslation.com/resources/glossary.html Http://www.sil.org/translation/Trtheory.htm Http://www.acurapid.com/Journal/14equiv.htm Http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticsterms/WhatIsAPhras.htm Http://athena.english.vt.edu/~owl/wcip/phrases.htm 39 APPENDIX COMPREHENSION TEST Name: …………………… Score:…………… Class:……………………… Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Circle the letter that best describes the meaning of the underlined phrases in the following sentences Some of the more specialized streets like Hang Quat with red candlesticks, funeral boxes, flags and other temple items; and Hang Gai which is a bit more glamorous with silk, embroidery, lacquerware, paintings and water puppets make Ha Noi beautiful at night a There are many special things make Hang Quat street more beautiful b Hang Quat is one of the most specialized streets with red candlesticks, funeral boxes, flags and other temple items c There are some specialized streets have red candlesticks, funeral boxes, flags and other temple items, and Hang Quat is one of them 40 d Hang Quat is specialized for red candlesticks, funeral boxes, flags and other temple items Rare wooden materials that were gathered from all over the world were used to build this pagoda a People from over the world gathered these rare wooden materials b Wooden materials from over the world were rarely gathered c Rare materials made of wood were gathered from all over the world d Materials made of rare wood were gathered from all over the world The temple is a rare and outstanding example of well-preserved traditional Vietnamese architecture and well deserves a visit a Vietnamese people pay much attention on preserving traditional architecture b One of the Vietnamese’s tradition is to preserve the architecture Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu c Vietnamese people preserve this traditional architecture very well d.This is a Vietnamese’s traditional architecture and it is well-preserved Notre Dame Cathedral has a neo-romanesque form and two 40 m-high square towers, tepped with iron spires that dominate the city’s skyline a Two towers that are square and 40m-high and tepped with iron spires help the Notre Dame Cathedral dominate the city’s skyline b Two towers that are square and 40 m-high dominate the city’s skyline with iron spires c The iron spires of the tower are square and 40 m-high help the Notre Dame Cathedral dominate the city’s skyline d The two square towers are tepped with 40 m-high iron spires 41 Ho Chi Minh city is one of the huge and important economic sectors in Vietnam a This is one of the sectors which is economically important and huge b This is one of the sectors about economy and this sector is huge and important c This is one of the huge economic sectors and important d This is one sector among others tat deals with huge and important economy The ancient houses with their moss-grown roofs have survived a The houses have many roofs and ancient moss b The moss grows in the roofs of the houses is ancient c These houses have moss and their roofs are very old d These houses are very old and their roofs have moss Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu From a wide range of products for sale at all the streets in Chinatown, you can purchase a satisfying item a There are a lot of products selling at all the streets in Chinatown b The products sold at all the streets in Chinatown are wide and various c A lot of products are sold with a low price at all the streets in Chinatown d In Chinatown, people sell a lot of products at all the streets The serious and systematic terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon on the 11th of September are clear striking proofs of the heavy failure in the US Defense Network a The attacks of terrorists on the WTC and the Pentagon on the 11th of September are serious and systematic 42 b The terrorists attack the WTC and the Pentagon on the 11th of September seriously and systematically c The WTC and the Pentagon attack the terrorists seriously and systematically d There are a lot of dangerous terrorists who attack the WTC and the Pentagon on the 11th of September The Zoo and Botanical Garden make pleasant places for a relaxing stroll under the giant tropical trees that thrive amid lakes, lawns and flowerbeds a Amid lakes, lawns and flowerbeds help the giant tropical trees develop b The big trees that grow in the tropical-zone climate help amid lakes, lawns and flowerbeds develop c Many big trees, amid lakes, lawns and flowerbeds appear in tropical-zone climate Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu d The tropical-zone climate is suitable for the giant trees, amid lakes, lawns and flowerbeds develop 10 The ground floor room with the boat-shaped table was often used for conferences a The boat looks like a table and it is set in the ground floor room b There are a room and a boat-shaped table in the ground floor c There is a ground room with the boat-shaped table in the floor d There is a boat-shaped table in the room in the ground floor Note: the highlighted answers are the correct ones 43 PERFORMANCE TEST Name: …………………… Score:…………… Class:……………………… Translate these sentences into Vietnamese Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu We will make every effort to join the world’s largest trade body at the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference scheduled for December 2005 in Hong Kong ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … Niccolo Paganini, a colourful and gifted violinist of the nineteenth-century was standing before a packed house, playing through a difficult piece of music 44 ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … At the age of 17, Sam Stacey of Stainforth, Doncaster, England, had the world’s longest legs, verified at an incredible 126,36cm (49,75 in) the same height from hip to heel as an average 10 years old ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu ……………………………………………………………………………………… … Business is one of the most popular areas of study for students who come to the United States ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … 45 The United States military in Iraq says it has begun a major security operation in the Western provinces of Al Anbar, including a nine-time curfew in the capital Ramadi ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … This is the dreaded and open-ended interview question and likely to be among the first ……………………………………………………………………………………… … Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … There have been some very bad car accidents caused by drivers being distracted by cell phone ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … 46 HCM city- The number of applicants to post graduate courses has increased considerably this year, say education authorities, but there is a serious nation wide shortage of instructors to train new teachers ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … After departing from Cai Ray Market and passing many luxuriant orchards, Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu visitors will arrive at Ba Mang’s Phu An Tourist orchard in Phu An Commune, Chau Thanh District, Can Tho City ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … 10 Changes in material conditions over many centuries and increasing demands of cultural life have influenced the Vietnamese language ……………………………………………………………………………………… … 47 ……………………………………………………………………………………… … ……………………………………………………………………………………… … SUGGESTED KEY: liệu học tập nghiên cứu Trung tâm Học liệu ĐHANSWER Cần Thơ@Tài Chúng nổ lực để gia nhập quan thương mại lớn giới hội nghị trưởng WTO lần thứ lên kế hoạch diễn vào tháng 12-2005 Hồng Kông Niccolo Paganini, nghệ sĩ vĩ cầm đầy sắc thái tài kỷ 19 đứng chơi nhạc khó trước khán phòng chật kín người Ở tuổi 17, Sam Stacy Stainforth, Doncaster, Anh Quốc có đôi chân dài giới kích thước dù tin 126,36cm (49,75 in) từ hông đến gót tương đương chiều cao trung bình đứa bé 10 tuổi Kinh doanh lĩnh vực nghiên cứu phổ biến sinh viên đến học Hoa Kỳ 48 Quân đội Mỹ Iraq cho biết họ bắt đầu chiến dịch an ninh trọng yếu tỉnh phía tây Al Anbar gồm có lệnh giới nghiêm thủ đô Ramadi Đây câu hỏi vấn khó, bở ngỡ có khả câu hỏi Có số tài xế gây tai nạn xe thảm khóc mê nghe điện thoại di động TP Hồ Chí Minh - Các nhà chức trách giáo dục cho biết, năm số lượng người nộp đơn vào khóa đào tạo sau đại học tăng đáng kể có thiếu hụt nghiêm trọng phạm vi toàn quốc số lượng người giảng dạy để huấn luyện giáo viên Sau khởi hành từ chợ Cái Rây băng qua nhiều vườn ăn xum xuê, du khách đến khu du lịch vườn Phú An Ba Máng xã Phú An, huyện Châu Thành, thành phố Cần Thơ Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu 10 Những thay đổi điều kiện sở vật chất qua nhiều kỷ gia tăng yêu cầu đời sống văn hóa có ảnh hưởng đến ngôn ngữ Việt Nam 49 ASSESSMENTS ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY A Robert young and Ann O – Stranch Nitty Gritty Grammar – Sentence Essentials for wtiters Baxter Hathaway A Transformational Syntax – The Grammar of Modern American English English for Today – HCM Press Fromkin, V.et al (1990) An Introduction to Language 2nd edn London Fromkin Redman Collins Blair An Introduction to Language Huddleston, R (1975) An Introduction to Language Transformational Syntax Longman Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Jacobs, A Roderick (1995) English Syntax – A Grammar for English Language Professionals Oxford: Oxford University Press Nguyen Hoa Lac An Outline of Syntax – HCMC University of Education – English Department Noams Chomsky (1957) Syntactic Structures Mouton Publisher The Hague – Paris – New York Quirk, Randolph Et al (1980) A Grammar of Contemporary English ESSEX: Longman Roberts, Paul (1964) English Syntax – A Book of Programmed Lessons Harcourt, Brace World Inc 51 Summers, Della (1992) Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture Longman Tran Thi Sau Bai Giang Translation Can Tho University Press Venuti Lawrence (2000) The Translation Studies Reader Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Translation Http://englishrussiantranslation.com/resources/glossary.html Http://www.sil.org/translation/Trtheory.htm Http://www.acurapid.com/Journal/14equiv.htm Http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticsterms/WhatIsAPhras.htm Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập nghiên cứu Http://athena.english.vt.edu/~owl/wcip/phrases.htm 52 [...]...requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and analytical processing of the SL.” In addition, Translation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language – the ST – and the production, in another language, of a new, equivalent text – the target text, or translation. ” said from the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Translation Another definition... (1999), he states “One of the reasons why literal translations do not communicate is that they keep the SL skewing The skewing in the SL will not match the skewing in the RL.” He also defines skewing as the diversity or the lack of one – to – one correlation between form and meaning” (1999) For instance, the English possessive noun phrase has a number of various functions in the following My car → ownership... My brother → kinship My singing → activity In other words, the translators must first find out the meaning of the text to be translated and then re-express it in the form of the RL since each language packages meaning components in different ways, and as a result, skewing happens within that SL Similarly, Nida says “All types of translation involve loss of information, and/or skewing of information.”... equivalence in translation is far more than mere correct communication of information.” Indeed, Nida is much more interested in the 9 message of the text or, in other words, in its semantic quality He, therefore, strives to make sure that this message remains clear in the target text In conclusion, the notion of equivalence is undoubtedly one of the most problematic and controversial areas in the field of translation. .. Course 31 of the School of Education – Can Tho University are invited as the subjects The reason why they are chosen is that they have already been supplied with the knowledge of noun phrases in the English courses Moreover, it is a helpful way to check the comprehension of noun phrases and how the knowledge of noun phrases is applied in the performance, especially in terms of translation Thanks to the result... rules of back transformation in the SL, of contextual consistency in the transfer, and of transformation in the RL, the message is preserved and the translation is faithful.” (Nida and Taber, 1982) For these opinions above, one can easily see that Nida is in favor of the application of dynamic equivalence, as a more effective translation procedure Only in Nida and Taber’s edition is it clearly stated... 1.9 Noun phrases 1.9.1 Some definitions from different linguists 12 In the study of Antonio (2004), an noun phrase is generally defined as a syntactic unit that includes a noun The formal definition of an noun phrase given below describes the most common components of an noun phrase In his book “An outline of syntax”, Mr Nguyen Hoa Lac-lecturer in English states that an noun phrase is a group of words... contained within verb phrases and verb phrases within noun phrases in English 1.9.2 Types of noun phrase In general, nounCần phrases fall into two basic types, are simplecứu noun Trung tâm HọcEnglish liệu ĐH Thơ@Tài liệu học tậpwhich và nghiên phrases and complex noun phrases 1.9.2.1 Simple noun phrases A simple noun phrase contains just the head noun with or without determiners (a book, a chicken, the. .. Another definition of translation from http://englishrussiantranslation.com/resources/glossary.html defines Translation is the process of facilitating written communication from one language to another It is performed by a translator Translation should almost be done by a native speaker into his/her own mother tongue.” In conclusion, translation is a very complicate process since the translators have... understanding of the meaning of each underlined NP by choosing the option which best describes it As mentioned in Chapter 1, the head noun is a very integral part of an noun phrase Thus, those who can recognize the correct position of the head noun can easily recognize the correct option and do well in the test 24 The score for each correct answer is 1 mark So, the maximum score for the comprehension test ... courses of translation, English grammar including noun phrases Organization of the study There are parts in this study: introduction, investigation and conclusion PART 1: INTRODUCTION generalizes the. .. translation, some issues related to translation theory, the basic knowledge of English noun phrases and their functions as well 1.2 Definitions of translation There are so many definitions of translation. .. how the mastery of English noun phrases helps translators The study is aimed at finding out whether there is a correlation between the comprehension of English noun phrases and the translation