HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY MID -TERM TEST ON BASICS OF TRANSLATION

FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH (No 1)

Subject Code: EN42

Full name
Date of birth
Group:
Đề 01
I. Answer the following questions: (40 points)
1. What are the different definitions on translation?
2. What is the nature of translation?
(The file sent will be named after each student’s name. Plagiarism will lead to failure)

1. Translation is a complex and multifaceted process defined through various

perspectives, from altering language forms to preserving the meaning and style of the
original text. Below are some key definitions of translation:
1. Translation is basically a change of form. When we speak of the form of a
language, we are referring to the actual words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc.
The forms are referred to as the surface structure of a language. It is the structural
part of language which is actually seen in print or heard in speech. In translation
the form of the source language is replaced by the form of the receptor/target
language.
2. Translation is the expression in another language of what has been expressed
in one language. In this definition, you should preserve semantic and stylistic
equivalencies. You should be careful when you express the other people's ideas. It
is very easy to be erroneous.
3. Translation is the replacement of a representation of a text in one language by
a representation of an equivalent text in a second language. In this case you an
understand that there must be an equivalent text in the second language. You
should try to find and create as many as equivalents as possible.
4. Translation is rendering a written text into another language in a way that the
author intended the text. You should bear in mind that it is important to
understand the author's intention. If you have no idea about the author's intention,
you will be in the middle of the road.
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5. Translating may be defined as the process of transforming signs or
representations into other signs or representations. If the originals have some
significance, we generally require that their images also have the same
significance, or, more realistically, as nearly the same significance as we can get.
Keeping significance invariant is the central problem in translating between natural
languages.
6. Translation may be defined as follows: the replacement of textual material in
one language by equivalent material in another language. In this definition,
translation is expressed in the most general aspect. The replacement of the textual
material is not really easy.
7. To translate means “to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose
and target addressees in target circumstances". One of the most important
factors determining the purpose of a translation is the addressee, who is the
intended receiver or audience of the target text with their culture-specific world-
knowledge, their expectations and their communicative needs. Every translation is
directed at an intended audience.
8. Translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest
natural equivalent of the source-language message. In this aspect the
reproduction of a language is put forward. The natural equivalent is paid much
attention to. Of course, the translator has to spend much more time on the nature of
the target language.
9. Translation leads from a source-language text to a target-language text which
is as close an equivalent as possible and presupposes an understanding of the
content and style of the original. In translation the understanding of the content
and style of the original is very necessary. It is the key factor to render a text. The
presupposition is a must for the translation process.
10. Translation can be conceived as an integral communicative performance,
which without any extratextual additions (notes, explanations etc.) When the
translation is an end in itself, in the sense of simply seeking to extend an originally
monolingual communicative process to include receivers in another language, it
provides an insight into the cognitive meaning, linguistic form and communicative
function of the SL text.

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 11. Translating as a code-switching operation. With the more pragmatic
reorientation at the beginning of the 1970s, the focus shifted from the word or
phrase to the text as a unit of translation. Equivalence as a basic concept or even
constituent of translation was never really questioned.
12. The ideal translation would be one in which the aim in the target language is
equivalence as regards the conceptual content, linguistic form and
communicative function of a source-language text. This means that the source-
language content, form, style, function, etc. must be preserved, or at least that the
translation must seek to preserve them as far as possible

2. The nature of translation can be summarized through several essential principles that
guide the translator’s work:
1. Reproducing the Message: You should bear in mind that translating must aim
primarily at “reproducing the message.” To do anything else is essentially false to
one’s task as a translator. But to reproduce the message one must make a good
many grammatical and lexical adjustments. A meaningful equivalent is "tender
compassion,” and it is precise in this manner that many translations attempt to
reproduce the significance of this source-language expression.
2. Equivalence rather than Identity: The translator must strive for equivalence
rather than identity. In a sense this is just another way of emphasizing the
reproduction of the message rather than the conservation of the form of the
utterance, but it reinforces the need for radical alteration of a phrase such as I think
or in my opinion which may be quite meaningless.
3. Dynamic Equivalence over Formal Correspondence: Equivalence in translation
is considered mainly in terms of form and meaning. However, over the past years,
translation scholars have focused more on the communicative function than on the
notion of equivalence of the target text. The translator is seen as a bilingual
communicator in an intercultural situation, who can competently produce
utterances which are also appropriate in the given sociocultural circumstances. A
4. Natural Equivalent: Natural refers to three areas of the communication process: a
natural rendering should fit the whole receptor language and culture, the context of
the specific message, and the receptor-language audience. Therefore the translation

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 should bear no obvious trace of a foreign origin. A natural translation would have
to deal with two main areas of adaptation, that is grammar and lexicon.

II. Translation practice

1. Translate the following text into Vietnamese (30 points)
The two most interesting arguments in The Concept of the Corporation actually
had little to do with the decentralization fad. They were to dominate his work. The first
had to do with “empowering” workers. Drucker believed in treating workers as resources
rather than just as costs. He was a harsh critic of the assembly-line system of production
that then dominated the manufacturing sector – partly because assembly lines moved at
the speed of the slowest and partly because they failed to engage the creativity of
individual workers. The second argument had to do with the rise of knowledge workers.
Drucker argued that the world is moving from an “economy of goods” to an economy of
“knowledge” – and from a society dominated by an industrial proletariat to one
dominated by brain workers. He insisted that this had profound implications for both
managers and politicians. Managers had to stop treating workers like cogs in a huge
inhuman machine and start treating them as brain workers. In turn, politicians had to
realise that knowledge, and hence education, was the single most important resource for
any advanced society.

Hai lập luận thú vị nhất trong cuốn Khái niệm về Doanh nghiệp thực ra không liên
quan nhiều đến xu hướng phân quyền. Chúng đã chi phối công việc của ông ấy. Lập luận
đầu tiên liên quan đến việc “trao quyền” cho công nhân. Drucker tin rằng nên coi công
nhân như là nguồn lực chứ không chỉ là chi phí. Ông là một nhà phê bình nghiêm khắc
đối với hệ thống sản xuất dây chuyền đang chiếm ưu thế trong ngành sản xuất lúc bấy giờ
- một phần vì dây chuyền sản xuất vận hành theo tốc độ của người chậm nhất và một
phần vì chúng không khai thác được sự sáng tạo của từng công nhân. Lập luận thứ hai
liên quan đến sự gia tăng của những người lao động tri thức. Drucker lập luận rằng thế
giới đang chuyển từ “nền kinh tế hàng hóa” sang “nền kinh tế tri thức” - và từ một xã hội
bị thống trị bởi giai cấp công nhân công nghiệp sang một xã hội bị thống trị bởi những
người lao động trí óc. Ông nhấn mạnh rằng điều này có những tác động sâu sắc đối với cả
các nhà quản lý và chính trị gia. Các nhà quản lý cần ngừng đối xử với công nhân như

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những bánh răng trong một cỗ máy khổng lồ vô nhân tính và hãy bắt đầu coi họ là những
người lao động trí thức. Ngược lại, các chính trị gia cần nhận ra rằng tri thức, và do đó
giáo dục, là nguồn lực quan trọng nhất cho bất kỳ xã hội tiên tiến nào.

2. Translate the following text into English (30 points)

Lúc này phải coi tất cả hàng hóa đều là thiết yếu trừ hàng cấm, tất cả đều
quan trọng, theo Bộ trưởng Giao thông Vận tải Nguyễn Văn Thể. Ông Nguyễn Văn Thể
nêu ý kiến trên tại cuộc họp trực tuyến cùng Bộ Công Thương, Bộ Nông nghiệp và Phát
triển Nông thôn, UBND các tỉnh, thành về tạo điều kiện thuận lợi cho vận chuyển hàng
hóa, nông sản, chiều 25/8. Lãnh đạo ngành giao thông nêu rõ, tất cả các tuyến đường bộ,
đường thủy đều là luồng xanh phục vụ vận chuyển hàng hóa."Các phương tiện vận
chuyển hàng hóa đều được lưu thông; cấp mã QR code là để tạo ưu tiên khi qua chốt, chỉ
tiền kiểm, hậu kiểm và xử lý nghiêm minh với các vi phạm", ông nói và đề nghị các chốt
khi kiểm soát phải đảm bảo không xảy ra ùn tắc giao thông kéo dài, nghiêm trọng; nếu
xảy ra ùn tắc phải xả chốt ngay.

At this time, all goods must be considered essential except for prohibited items, all
are important, according to Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The. Mr. Nguyen Van The
expressed this opinion during an online meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Trade,
the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and People's Committees of
provinces and cities on facilitating the transportation of goods and agricultural products
on the afternoon of August 25. The leader of the transport sector stated that all roads and
waterways are green lanes for the transportation of goods. "All means of transporting
goods are allowed to circulate; QR codes are issued to create priority when passing
through checkpoints, only pre-inspection, post-inspection and strict handling of
violations," he said and requested that checkpoints must ensure that there are no
prolonged and serious traffic jams; if traffic jams occur, they must release the checkpoint
immediately.

Một số yêu cầu:

+ Sinh viên nộp file word lên hệ thống
+ Ghi rõ mã đề trong bài làm.
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Chú ý:
+ Chế tài xử lý đối với bài phát hiện có sự sao chép ( VD: nếu phát hiện sao chép thì bài làm của
sinh viên sẽ không được công nhận và nhận điểm 0….)
+ Giảng viên có thể trao đổi, nhận xét góp ý cho bài làm của sinh viên trên diễn đàn hoặc buổi
Vclass (SV tham gia lớp Vclass đầy đủ để được giải đáp)