HANOI PEADAGIGICAL UNIVERSITY NO FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY DOAN VAN LONG ENGLISH IDIOMS AND APPLICATION OF COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION METHOD TO TRANSLATE THEM INTO VIETNAMESE (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELORS OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: DO TIEN DUC, M.A Hanoi, 2016 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Do Tien Duc, for the continuous support of my study and research, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge in all four academic years I appreciate all his contributions of time, ideas, and funding to make my experience productive and stimulating, without whose valuable comments and guidance, my thesis would not have been accomplished I wish to thank all the lecturers at Hanoi Pedagogical University Number 2, especially the lecturers in the Foreign Language Faculty for their dedicated instructions during years of university work and their participations in fullfiling my questionnaire I would like to express my deep love and appreciation to my parents, brothers and sisters, who always encouraged me with love and spiritually supported me throughout my life Finally, I am particularly grateful to my close friends for their enthusiasm and kindness, to course 38 and 39 students of Foreign Language Faculty for helping me in doing the survey ii ABSTRACT Idiom share cultural and historical information and broadens people’s understanding and manipulation of a language English idioms are not an exception They partially conveys British culture aspect on itself It is important to understand idioms in another language whenever learning them Due to the differences among languages, to translate an idiom into another language is not easy There are a number of translation method used to translate English idioms into Vietnamese However, not all methods are the ultimate one to translate them Each method produce different translation versions and they all have their pros and cos Therefore, this research work would like to contribute an investigation of English idioms and to prove the researcher’s view that communicative translation is the most suitable method for translating English idioms into Vietnamese iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: English idioms and the application of communicative translation to translate them into Vietnamese (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English) I certify that no part of the above report has been copied from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and that the report is originally written by me under the instructions of my supervisor Date submitted: May 2016 Student Supervisor Doan Van Long Do Tien Duc iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Chart 1: The propotion of participants in the group of students showing their knowledge of English idioms Chart Choice of participants for best translation methods to translate English idioms into Vietnamese Table 1: The number and percentage of participants with their choices of translation versions for the first English idiom Table 2: The number and percentage of participants with their choices of translation versions for the second English idiom Table 3: The number and percentage of participants with their choices of translation versions for the third English idiom Table 4: The number and percentage of participants with their choices of translation versions for the fourth English idiom Table 5: The number and percentage of participants with their choices of translation versions for the fifth English idiom v TABLE OF CONTENT PART ONE INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale Aims of the study Research significance Scope of the study Working methods The hypothesis .3 Design of the research work .3 The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion CHAPTER ENGLISH IDIOMS AND THEIR COMPARISONS TO VIETNAMESE ONES 1.1 Definition of idiom 1.2 Essential features of idioms .6 1.2.1 Figurativeness 1.2.2 Stability of use 1.2.3 Stability of lexicology .7 1.2.4 Stability of grammatical structure 1.3 Idioms in relation to free phrases and proverbs 1.3.1 Idioms and free phrases 1.3.2 Idioms in relation to proverbs 10 1.3.2.1 Definition of proverbs 10 vi 1.3.2.2 Similarities between idioms and proverbs .10 1.3.2.3 Differences between idioms and proverbs 11 1.3.2.4 Conclusion .12 1.4 Classification of English idioms .13 1.4.1 Lexicology-based classification 13 1.4.1.1 Phraseological fusions .13 1.4.1.2 Phraseological unities 14 1.4.1.3 Phraseological combinations 15 1.4.2 Structure-based classification 15 1.4.2.1 Phrase idioms 15 1.4.2.2 Clause idioms 15 1.4.2.3 Sentence idioms .16 1.5 English and Vietnamese idioms in contrast 16 1.5.1 Similarities 16 1.5.1.1 Idioms involving plant/ fruits/ vegetables 17 1.5.1.2 Idioms involving parts of body 18 1.5.1.3 Idioms involving animals 18 1.5.2 Differences 20 CHAPTER 24 GENERALIZATION ABOUT TRANSLATION METHODS AND ENGLISH IDIOMS TRANSLATION 24 2.1 Definition oof translation 24 2.2 Translation process .25 2.3 How translation is conducted 28 vii 2.4 Methods of translation 29 2.4.1 Some approaches to translation 29 2.4.2 Some translation methods 30 2.4.2.1 Comments on the methods .30 2.4.2.2 Equivalent effect .32 2.4.3 Communicative translation 34 2.4.3.1 What does communicative translation mean? 34 2.4.3.2 The merit of communicative translation 35 2.4.3.3 Communicative and semantic translation 36 2.5 English idioms translation 38 2.5.1 The nature of English idiom translation 38 2.5.2 Requirements of satisfactory translation of English idioms 39 2.5.3 Some methods for translating English idioms into Vietnamese 40 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 42 3.1 – Methodology .42 3.1.1 Purpose of the survey 42 3.1.2 Population of the survey 42 3.1.3 Type of the survey 43 3.4 Construction of the survey 43 3.1.5 Administration of the try-out 44 3.1.5.1 Preparation of the try-out 44 3.1.5.2 Try-out .44 3.1.6 Method of data analysis 44 3.2 Results of the survey 45 viii 3.2.1 Result from the group of English major students 45 3.2.2 Result from the group of teachers of English .57 After being collected, the questionnaires from the second group of participants ( the teachers of English in FLF, HPU2) have been analyzed with the following results .57 3.3 CONCLUSION 58 CHAPTER 4: 60 THE APPLICATION OF COMMUNICATIVE TRANSLATION METHOD IN TRANSLATING ENGLISH IDIOMS INTO VIETNAMESE .60 4.1 Introduction 60 4.2 Scope of the application 60 4.3 The application of communicative translation in translating English idioms into Vietnamese 61 4.3.1 Translating phraseological fusions 61 4.3.2 Translating phraseological unities and phraseological combinations 66 4.3.2.1 Modification .67 4.3.2.2 Substitution .69 4.4 Notes for the application of communicative translation in translating English idioms into Vietnamese 74 I Review of the study 77 II Suggestions for futher studies 78 REFERENCE 79 APPENDIX 82 ix PART ONE INTRODUCTION Part one introduced the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the significance, the scope and the design of the study Rationale In the modern world today, globalization has brought in a range of developmental opportunities in different areas from economy, politic to culture and society Among 5,000 to 6,000 living languages, it is truly known that English has become a means of international communication in the aspects of business, commerce, education and so on The majority of information in the internet comes in English language Therefore, the prerequisite factor of individual’s success mostly depends on the ability to seek in the internet It is certainly right to say that if you want to gain that needed information, you have to know English In reality, there is remarkably a limitation in interpretation of English among Vietnamese people Peter Newmark (1988) argued that a translation is something that has to be discussed In too many schools and universities, it is still being imposes as an exercise in felicitous English style, where the wart of the original are ignored The teacher more or less imposes a fair copy which is a “model” of his own English rather than proposing a version for discussion and criticism by students, some of whom will be brighter than he is Many translation services are labeled with the title “disaster” Although there are many barriers like custom and geographic factors being deep-seated in culture in each nation, translational mistake should be in acceptable level which can not impute the blame for these objective factors Especially in idiomatic translation, there are several approaches to deal with them Because idioms take root in a nation’s customs, history, religion, and even geography, they may become case-specific and their literal definitions seem, oftentimes, nonsensical Vietnamese readers always thinks that quỷ refers to an imaginary monstrous animal or a savage and venomous person Therefore, while reading the above translation, they may think that làm quỷ indicates someone’s attempts to induce or to urge the other to something very bad, very harmful In fact, English readers have a different interpretation, be a devil is an idiom indicating encouragement to someone to what they are reluctant to Therefore, in rendering the idiom, the translation should not translate devil as quỷ Instead, he can base on the implication Then, the form of be a devil can be preserved as the translator use an imperative form in Vietnamese to re-express the idiom In this direction, be a devil can be translated as mạnh dạn lên or dũng cảm lên The sentences can be translated as follows: Nào, mạnh dạn lên! Đập vỡ kính cửa sổ Or Nào, dũng cảm lên! Đập vỡ kinh cửa sổ Clearly, these two translation have a neutral implication, which can be clarified in context, while in the first translation ( Nào, làm quỷ! Đập vỡ kính cửa sổ đi), it is put to an extreme Thank to modification, the translator can remove obscurities or avoid causing misinterpretation for the reader In conclusion, modification allows the translator to make certain changes to the structure of English idioms, which is essential for transfering the message of the original to the second reader without causing any obscurities or misinterpretation 4.3.2.2 Substitution As has been stated above, modification and substitution are branches of communicative translation, but they are different from each other The difference lies in the fact that while modification allows the translator to make certain changes to the structure of idioms, using substitution means he reexpresses the English idiom by another one in Vietnamese which is equivalent ( or very close) in meaning but no components of the original are preserved in the translation 69 Why is substitution applied to translating Englishidioms into Vietnamese? One can recognize that in many cases modification fails to render English idioms since no components can be translated literally; Otherwise, they will be unnatural to the second reader For example, a storm in a teacup can be interpreted literally, but if one of the components is preserved and translated literally, the translation will sound strange to the second reader Cơn bão tách trà is certainly exotic, unnatural to Vietnamese It is obvious that Vietnamese never use bão or tách trà when referring to a lot of fuss, excitement, disturbance, etc, about something unimportant Therefore, the translator’s work is to find an idiom or expression in Vietnamese, which can convey the message of the original In this case, substitution appears to be a feasible solution Putting aside the need to preserve the writer’s style, the translator can search for idioms or expressions in Vietnamese, in order to find a suitable one: Bé xé to Like other translation methods, substitution comprises two intertwined stages: SL interpretation and TL formulation Therefore, when applying substitution to translate an English idiom into Vietnamese, the translator has to go through these two stages: Interpreting the English idiom and formulating a translation in Vietnamese Interpreting the English the given idiom, he thinks over how to render it, what he should preserve and what he should not Here, the issue lies in how the English idiom can be re-expressed, by an idiom or a simple expression in Vietnamese both of which are totally different in terms of structure This requires the translator’s command of Vietnamese as well as his efforts to seek idioms or expressions, and careful examination, assessment of possible ones to be used To further clarify the application of substitution , take the following example: I managed to start my car But out of the frying pan into the fire, I was stuck in a traffic jam for hours 70 In translating the above sentences , the translator is confronted with an English idiom- out o the frying pan into the fire The meaning of this idiom can be deduced from literal meaning of its components: a person manages to get out of a bad situation but he falls into a worse one At first, it is clear that out of the frying pan into the fire does not have an exact equivalent in Vietnamese, for the phrase khỏi chảo rang rơi vào đống lửa does not sound natural to Vietnamese Suppose modification is adopted to render out of the frying pan into Vietnamese, the translator may translate out of , frying pan, into, or fire into Vietnamese literally Nevertheless, chảo rang and đống lửa hardly occur in Vietnamese to mention a situation indicated by the English idiom In this way, a vivid expression can be found Vừa khỏi miệng vó lại rơi vào rọ ông chài Then, the given sentences can be translated as:  “ Tôi cố khởi động xe Nhưng vừa khỏi miệng vó lại rơi vào rọ ông chài, lại bị tắc đường tiếng đồng hồ  Tôi cố khởi động xe lại bị tắc đường tiếng đồng hồ Đúng vừa khỏi miệng vó lại rơi vào rọ ông chài Obviously, modification successfully re-expresses the English idiom by a vivid and figurative expression However, it appears that the translation seems to be wordy, not very smooth, and it is not a Vietnamese idiom In his efforts to improve the translation, the translator can apply substitution Now he does not attempt to preserve one or some components of the English idiom Instead, he can search for Vietnamese idioms or idiomatic exppressions that match the original in meaning to find tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa, an idiom in Vietnamese With this idiom, the translation can be:  Tôi cố khởi động xe Nhưng tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa, lại bị tắc đườg tiếng đồng hồ  Tôi cố khởi động lại xe lại bị tắc đường tiếng đồng hồ Đúng tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa 71 Then the translator has to assess his translations so as to decide which one is the best version Modification:  Tôi cố khởi động xe Nhưng vừa khổi miệng vó lại rơi vào rọ ông chài, lại bị tắc đường máy tiếng đồng hồ  Tôi khởi động xe lại bị tắc đường tiếng đồng hồ Đúng vừa khỏi miệng vó lại rơi vào rọ ông chài Subsitution:  Tôi cố khởi động xe Nhưg tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa, lại bị tắc đừng tiếng đồng hồ  Tôi cố khởi động xe lại bị tắc đường tiếng đồng hồ Đúng tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa Considering these translations, one can know that they are all accurate and clear, but the first two versions are rather wordy and the English idiom is not rendered with another in Vietnamese In the last two versions, the English idiom is rendered with a Vietnamese idiom, which is a desirable translation The idiom in Vietnamese is obviously suitable for the situation Thus, it can be stated that substitution is really effective in the translation of the given idiom Nevertheless, it should be remembered that substitution is not the only method for translating English idiom into Vietnamese Moreover, it does not always render idioms with idioms In these cases, the translator should make efforts to re-express the English idiom in a way that the readers can fully understand its implication, and his translation becomes readable Take the following example: …” He is old, no energy” she says, “like my grandfather” Hedging her bets, three times a week she slips on a miniskirt and heads out to the basement Moonlight Club, looking for someone a little younger and a lot richer And of course, he has got to come from Hong Kong” ( Crossing the line – Times, 7.5.2001) 72 Translated version: ” Ơng già chẳng cịn sức sống, chẳng khác ơng nội tơi” Và tuần ba lần cô lại ăn mặc thật đẹp để tối câu lạc Ánh trăng vối mong muốn tìm thương gia khác trẻ giàu có Và tất nhiên, người phải phải đến từ Hồng Kông ( Mặc trái thành phố- Kiến thức gia đình, 18.7.2001) Considering the two extracts, the aim of the author is not to assess the translated version, but to comment on how the translator deals with the English idiom hedge one’s bets used in the English extract Reading the English extract, one can recognize two major facts First, the woman is bored and frustrated when living with a tantalizingly old, through rich, husband Sesond, she tries to make up for the boring life In this extract, hedging her bets acts as a bridge between the woman’s boredom and frustration and her efforts to minimize the “losses” Therefore, it is necessary for the translator to translate the idiom into Vietnamese However, when this idiom can not be rendered with another one in Vietnamese It is virtually ignored, and tuần ba lần only refers to a fact that the woman goes to Moonlight Club, It does not transmit the writer’s implication In the case, hedging her bets should be re-expressed naturally in Vietnam Để bù lại may be a good choice, and the extract can be translated as follows: “ Ơng già chẳng cịn sức sống, chẳng khác ơng nội tơi” – gái than phiền Để bù lại, tuần ba lần cô lại ăn mặc thật đẹp để tới câu lạc “Ánh Trăng” với mong muốn tìm thương gia khác trẻ giàu có Và tất nhiên, người phải phải đến từ Hồng Kơng In this translation, the translatoe adopts substitution to translated an English idiom Để bù lại successfully conveys the implication of the writer when using the idiom hedge one’s bets Adopting substitution, translators can fully transfer the message of the original to make the second readers grasp the implication of the writer With 73 subsitution, in many cases translator not render English idioms with those in Vietnamese However, that should not be considered a failure to preserve the flavor of the SL text An idiom is often a component of a text, thus adopting substitution to translate it does not affect the whole translation version It only shows the translator’s efforrs and his flexibility to achieve accuracy, clarity and “dynamic effect” – important creteria to access a translation version In conclusion, substitution attempts to render English idioms with Vietnamese ones both of which are totally different in structure, or with simple structures As a branch of communicative translation that focuses on the second reader, substitution can fully convey the implication of English idioms The application of this method requires the translator’s acquisition of the SL to exactly grasp the intended message of the original and his command of the TL to re-express this message smoothly, naturally and clearly 4.4 Notes for the application of communicative translation in translating English idioms into Vietnamese As stated in 4.3.1, it is desirable if an English idiom is replaced with another in Vietnamese However, the implication of an idiom is governed by status of the people who use it, the context in which it is used, and degree of formality in the given situation Therefore, in many cases, although the translator can find Vietnamese idioms which are equivalent in meaning to those in English, they not fit the situation and may cause strangeness to the second reader Consequently, translators should not always attempt to replace English idioms with those in Vietnamese Now the author would like to touch an issue that translators should take into consideration when translating English idioms into Vietnamese Sometimes they may come up against a situation in which there are more than one idiom in Vietnamese to re-express that in English As the two idioms conveys different attitude, emotion, it is difficult for translators to make choice In such cases, it issential for the translator to understand the writer’s real intention and attitude in 74 order to make the best choice of possible translations For example, to describe someone’s dark complexion, it is possible to use the English idiom as black as coal However, when this idiom is translated into Vietnamese, there are some versions: Đen củ súng, đen than, or đen cột nhà cháy In his translation, the translator can use only one of those His choice will depdend on the writer’s attitude, intention as well as his style in using words Likewise, nhắm mắt làm ngơ or giả câm giả điếc can be used depending on whether turn a blind eye is used with neutral or critical, ironical meaning and in which context it is used Let us consider two following extracts for illustrations: Extract 1: The demonstrators protested that the government has turned a blind eye to the arms deal of some high-ranking officials Extract 2: Jack: Why are you so angry with Bob? Tom: He knows that Jane stole my laptop but he turns a bind eye Dealing with these extracts, the translator has to translate the idiom turn a blind eye into Vietnamese As pointed out above, this idiom can be rendered with two idioms in Vietnamese (Nhắm mắt làm ngơ and giả câm giả điếc) However, they not reflect the same attitude of the writer As a result, the translator has to think over the style of the original and the context in which turn a blind eye is used In the first extract, the style seems to be of journalism, as it refers to demonstrators and the government Therefore, giả câm giả điếc should not be choosen, since it is often used when referring to someone, not an institution In this way, extract will be translated as follows: Những người biểu tình phản đối việc phủ nhắm mắt làm ngơ trước hợp đồng buôn bán vũ khí số quan chức cao cấp In extract 2, the conversation is between two people, and one of them is very angry It can be seen that the language is informal Therefore, nhắm mắt làm ngơ and giả câm giả điếc are all feasible However, as Tom is very angry, 75 giả câm giả điếc will be more suitable With this choice, extract will be translated as follows: Jack: Sao cậu/mày bực với thằng Bob thế? Tom: Nó thừa biết thừa Jane ăn cắp máy tính xách tay tao/tớ mà lại giả câm giả điếc Clearly, giả câm giả điếc is a suitalbe choice as it fully reflects Tom’s attitude and emotion when mentioning Bob As the author has pointed out in 4.3.1, sometimes the translator can not render an English idiom with an available one in Vietnamese with slang or a simple structure Obviously, the intention and attitude of the writer, style of the SL text are always of significance to the way the translator re-express English idioms Hence, besides his knowledge and mastery of both SL and TL, the translator should be flexibile and creative in dealing with translating English idioms, which are vivid and figurative, into Vietnamese 76 CONCLUSION I Review of the study Described as distinctive forms of expression, idioms are always fascinating but challenging for both readers and translators Translating idioms requires the translators’ mastery of both SL and TL, his perception of the sense of the SL text, and flexibility to adapt to certain situations In this graduation paper, I not attempt to make a thorough research on English idioms, but to synthesize theories by authors for the sake of the study In this direction, classification of English idioms, similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms are discussed with a purpose to lay a foundation to determine the most suitable methods for translating English idioms in Vietnamese Considering communicative translation and semantic translation in translating English idioms, I have come to a conclusion that communicative translation is the best method for translating English idioms into Vietnamese, as it can help the translator to successfully convey the message of the original and in many cases, transfer the stylistic flavour However, as communicative translation is maily developed theoretically, in order to prove my view, I have discussed the application of communicative translation in translating English idiom into Vietnamese As English idioms vary in degree of figurativeness and stability, I suggest two branches of communicative translation to be applied in dealing with certain idioms which are modification and substitution They are already used by translators to translate text units, in this paper – idioms These two methods are developed both theoretically and practically Both modification and substitution help translator to avoid causing obscurity, strangeness and exoticism in his translation, and to transfer the implication of the original idioms in the SL In other words, when dealing with English idioms, translators should adopt modification and substitution to produce a natural, clear and comprehensible translation in the TL 77 In short, the study has discussed communicative translation and its implication in translating English idioms into Vietnamese, both theoretically and practically However, due to my limited ability and experience, this paper cannot completely deal with all the issues concerned with the translation of English idioms Yet, I hope that it can be used as a reference for English major students at HPU2 and those who are interested in the matter II Suggestions for futher studies Translating English idioms into Vietnamese involves various factors, some of which are similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese idioms, cross-cultural issues, ways of expression in English and Vietnamese, etc However, due to limited time and scope of the study, in this paper I can not discuss these factors elaborately They should be discussed thoroughly by others Futhermore, this paper only focuses on translating English idioms into Vietnamese As a result, I would like to give out some suggesstions for further studies such as: Cross-cutural issues in English idioms translation Translating Vietnamese idioms into English I expect that futher studies on such translation issues from English into Vietnamese and vice versa will enhance translating capability of English major student at HPU2 students at HPU2 and improve their command of the two languages 78 REFERENCE Dang, X T and Bui, B B T., 1999, Interpreting & Translating cousebook Hanoi: Hanoi Forein Studies Dinh, K.Q.B (2001), 500 common English idioms in daily communication, Hanoi, Culture and Information press Dinh, N T., (2007) So sánh đối chiếu thành ngữ tiếng Anh tiếng Việt có liên quan đến rau, củ, quả, Hanoi, Language and Life journal No.12 Hatim, B and Mason, I (1990), Discourse and the translator, Longman group Hervey, S and Higgins, I (1992) Thinking Translation, Lodon: Rouledge Hoang, T T., (1993) Basic English Lexicology, Hanoi University for teachers of foreign languages, p97 Hornby, A.S., Cowie, A.P., Lewis, J V (1993), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic Dictionary, Oxford University Press Linguistic Institution, (1997), Vietnamese Dictionary, Hanoi, Dictionary Center Press Ludskanov, A (1975), A Semiotic Approach to the Theory of Translation, Language Sciences, Vol 35, pp 5-8 Newmark, P (1984) Approaches to Translation London: Pergamon Press Newmark, P (1988), A Textbook of Translation, Phoenix: ELT Nguyen, B N., (2001), Thành ngữ tiếng Anh với người dạy, người học Việt Nam, Language and Life journal Nguyen, L., Luong, V & Nguyen, D C., (1999), Thành ngữ tiếng Việt, Hanoi, Social Science press Nguyen, M.T., (1998), Kể chuyện thành ngữ tiếng Anh, Ho Chi Minh City, The Young Press Nida, E A & Taber, C R (2003), The theory and practice of translation: Brill Nida, E.A (1964), Toward a science of translating, Leiden: Brill Oxford Advanced learner’s Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1988, fifth impression, Oxford University Press 79 Pham, T.H., (2001), Ẩn dụ thành ngữ tục ngữ tiếng Anh, Language and Life journal, 12th edion, pp 36-38 Pham, V B (1996), English proverbs and idioms, Hai Phong, Hai Phong Press Pham, V H (1999), Thành ngữ bốn yếu tố tiếng Việt đại, Hanoi, Social Science Press Pike, K.L (1960), Muleation, The Modern Language Journal, Vol 4, Issue 7, pp.291-295 Promonti, J.C (1998), L’Asie du Sud –Est se Montie incaple d’enrayer la crise economique, Le Monde du Richards, J.C & Schmidt, R.W (2013), Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 4th Edition Routledge Seidl, Jenifer & Mordie, W M C., 1982, English idioms and How to use Oxford University Press Speake,J (1999), the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, Oxford University Press Thu, A., (1995), Thành ngữ Anh Việt thông dụng, Ca Mau, Ca Mau Press Ton, D.P., (1999), Vài nét nghiên cứu ngơn ngữ qua văn hóa, Language and Life, 4th edition, pp 17-21 Tran, T P., (2000), Methods for translation of news articles, Hanoi, Militaty Science Academy Vu, M T., (1998), Thành ngữ tục ngữ tiếng Anh, Hanoi, Hanoi Press www.Wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom www.phrases.org.uk, http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/birds-of-a-feather- flock-together.html www.en.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_from_the_frying _pan_into_the_fire www.en.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_the_bucket www.en.wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_make_a_storm_in_a teacup www.phrases.org.uk, http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/To_make_a_storm_ 80 in_a teacup www.en.wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Dont _teach_fish_to_swim 81 APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT HPU N°2 ABOUT THE TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH IDIOMS INTO VIETNAMESE How much you know about English idioms? □ Nothing □ A little □ Not much □ Very much □ Everything In your opinion, what is the best translation in Vietnamese for the following English idioms? a, He kicked the bucket □ Anh ta chết □ Anh qua đời □ Anh ta ngoẻo rồi/đi tàu sáu tấm/về chầu ông bà ông vải Your own translation:…………………………………………………………………… b, Birds of a feather flock together □ Những chim loại lông thường tụ tập □ Ngưu tầm ngưu, mã tầm mã □ Kẻ xấu chơi với kẻ xấu, người tốt chơi với người tốt Your own translation: …………………………………………………………………………………… c, To make a storm in a teacup □ Tạo bão tách trà □ Làm cho chuyện vớ vẩn trở thành quan trọng □ Chuyện bé xé to, có sít nhiều Your own translation: …………………………………………………………………………………… d, Out of the frying pan into the fire □ Thoát khỏi chảo rang lại rơi vào đống lửa 82 □ Vừa khỏi miệng vó lại rơi vào rọ ông chài □ Tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa Your own translation: …………………………………………………………………………………… e, Don’t teach fish to swim □ Đừng dạy cá bơi □ Đừng múa rìu qua mắt thợ □ Đừng cầm đèn chạy trước ô tô □ Đừng dạy đĩ vén váy Your own translation: ……………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, which of the following translation methods is the best one which can be used to translate English idioms into Vietnamese? □ Word- for-word translation □ Literal translation □ Faithful translation □ Semantic translation □ Adaptation □ Free translation □ Idiomatic translation □ Communicative translation Your own idea: …………………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 83