Luận văn How to translate some of the metaphors in Harry potter Books (book 3 and book 7) into Vietnamese

Acknowledgements The completion of this graduation research owns the help of people who have enthusiastically contributed in different ways. First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thang, M.A. for his enthusiastic and usual guidance and encouragement. His valuable suggestions, and careful and critical comments have been vital to the completion of this research. I would like to give my thanks to teachers of Foreign Language Department, Hung Vuong University, for their useful lectures providing me with basic background of translation studies and metaphors in linguistic terms My gratitude also goes to students in Foreign Language Department for their great encouragement and provision of valuable documents. AbStract The title of this research is “ How to translate some of the metaphors in Harry potter Books ( book 3 and book 7 ) into Vietnamese”. This topic is chosen due to the difficulty of translating metaphors, particularly in literary translation. The language in Harry Potter’s books must be smoothly rendered so that it is both expressive to the readership and faithful to the authors’ intention. The major purpose of this research is to study the fundamentals of translation studies and different ways to translate metaphors through professional translation of metaphors in two Harry Potter’s books, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows The results of the analysis of professional translation shows that metaphors could be translated in five different ways: reserving metaphors of the source language, translating as similes, using target language equivalent metaphors, reserving metaphors and giving explanations, and removing metaphorical imagery. Secondly, semantic and communicative translation methods are equally effective in translating metaphors, while literal translation is likely to lead to wrong metaphoric translation. Thirdly, to successfully convey the meaning of a metaphor, understanding its context and good knowledge of English grammar and semantics are of great importance. Lastly, the translator should acknowledge his readership to produce the finest, as natural as possible translation. In the final part, the research suggests some techniques in translating metaphors. Hopefully the research could be useful for students of translation and those who are interested in the topic of metaphor translation. Table of contents Acknowledgement……………………………………………….…… 1 Abstract……………………………………………………………….…… 2 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION I.1. Topic: ………………………………………………..………………....…5 I.2. Rationale: …………………………………………………………...…....5 I.3. Over view of the research: ………………………….…………………….6 I.4.The purpose: …………………………………………..…………………...6 I.5.The main points: ………………………………………..………………….7 1.6. Research duties and methods: ………………………..…………………...8 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW II.1Translation: ………………………………………………..……….………9 II.1.1. Definition: ……………………………………………………….…..9 II.1.2. Translation process and the translator: ……………………………..10 II.1.2.1. Modeling translation process: ……………….…………... 10 II.1.2.2. Translator: ……………………………………..…………..12 II.1.2.2.1.What is a translator? …………………….…….. 12 II.1.2.2.2. Translator competence: ………………….……..13 II.1.3. Equivalence in translation: …………………………………………14 II.1.3.1. Definitions of equivalence in translation: …………..……..14 II.1.3.2. Types of equivalence: ……………………………….…….14 II.1.4. Translation methods: ……………………………………..………..16 II.2 Metaphor: ……………………………………………………..………….18 II.2.1. Definition: ……………………………………………….………...18 II.2.2 Types of metaphors: ……………………………………….……….19 II.2.3. Recognizing a metaphor: ……………………………………….....21 II.2.3.1. Metaphor and similes: ……………………………………....21 II.2.3.2. Metaphor and idioms: …………………………….…………21 II.2.3.3. Analyzing a metaphor: ……………………………………...23 II.2.3.4 Problems in understanding and translating metaphors:...……25 II.3. Translating metaphors: ……………………………………………...27 CHAPTER III: TRANSLATION OF METAPHORS IN HARRY POTTER BOOKS (BOOK 3 AND BOOK 7) III.1.Reason for choosing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: ……………………………………..….…..32 III.2. Translation of dead metaphors in Harry Potter books …………………33 III.3. Translation of live metaphors in Harry Potter books ………………….34 III.3.1. Reserving a metaphor: ………………………………………...39 III.3.2. Using target language equivalent metaphors and removing metaphoric imagery: ……………………………………………..………..40 CHAPTERIV: CONCLUSION IV.1.Recapitulation: ………………………………………………….……....43 IV.2.Implications : ………………………………………………….….……..43 IV.3.Limitations : ………………………………………………………..…...45 IV.4.Recommendations for the further research: ………………………..…...45 References: …………………………………………………………...…47 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION I.1. Topic How to translate some of the metaphors in Harry Potter Books ( book 3 and book 7 ) into Vietnamese I.2. Rationale In occasion of doing the graduation research, I decided to study in depth the subject of metaphor translation for general readers, especially for children for the following reasons : First, books in general and translated works in particular contribute greatly to the improvement of Vietnamese readers’ knowledge, cognition, critical thinking and emotion. In the context of the national intergration into the world community, translated publications are even more necessary as by reading them, children have an opportunity to better their understanding of different cultures, and they learn to appreciate precious humane and moral values. Second, the innocence and naivety of children make translation for challenge for themselves but rewarding. It is not easy for an adult translator to smoothly transfer messages by a foreign author into language of children. On the other hand, natural translation can leave children with strong and vivid impressions that may remain forever in their mind. Therefore, translation quality is absolutely worth being considered. Third, metaphors have long been making numerous difficulties to translators, i.e. how to recognize a metaphor, how to understand correctly its semantic implication, how to re-express it into the target language while reserving the original meaning, etc. In addition, linguistic and cultural gaps frequently challenge language skills of the translator. A research on “How to translate some of the metaphors in Harry potter Books (book 3 and book 7) into Vietnamese” thus should be scientifically conducted. Finally, the research is conducted with a view to examining how Vietnamese professional translator in Harry Potter’s books (children’s books ) have translated metaphors. Some drawn findings and conclusions are hopefully useful for students of Foreign Language Department and those who are interested in the topic of research. I.3. Overview of the research In the world as well as in Vietnam, there have been many linguistics, translators and researchers studying translation process aspect, metaphors aspect, and both of aspects in combination, such as : Baker, Mona, Catford, Peter, Nguyen Hoa, Trung Tanh, … Some of books or links mention to the importance of translation; some mention detail to types of metaphor, such as: fishing metaphor, cooking metaphors, weather metaphors,… in order to show that : metaphors are vivid, anominous. Giving these metaphors in translation is interesting but difficult. There appeared some methods, some solutions which many authors found. However, they are in general and scrattered. Furthermore, Harry Potter series are famous and well-known with readers, especially with children. Its languages are vitally remarkable to study. However, there’re few researcher find that Harry Potter’s books are the golden store of metaphors. In comperation with professional translator, Lý Lan, those metaphors are turned into interesting, vivid and precious picture. So, the research on “How to translate some of the metaphors in Harry Potter Books (book 3 and book 7) into Vietnamese” is an attemption to convey these hidden things. It is the first research in Foreign Language Department of Hung Vuong University. I.4.The purpose of research With this topic, my research is conducted with the following purposes: First, researching metaphors in semantics and translation theory terms and finding the way to apply theory to practice. Second, discussing the way to translate some of metaphors in Harry Potter books (book 3 and book 7) to illustrate the theory. Third, finding the best way to translate some of metaphors in Harry Potter books ( book 3 and book 7 ) into Vietnamese and techniques for translation. Therefore, the research questions are as followed: How is a metaphor recognized and its hidden meaning understood? In term of translation theory, what are the possible ways to translate an English metaphor into Vietnamese? How have English metaphors actually been translated in Harry Potter books (book 3 and book 7 ) in written English ? What conclusions could be drawn to help students of Foreign Language Department? I.5.The main points of the research I.5.1. Introduction I.5.2. Literature review I.5.2.1. Translation I.5.2.2. Metaphor I.5.3. Translation of metaphors in Harry Potter books ( book 3 and book 7 ) I.5.3.1. Reason for choosing Harry Potter books ( book 3 and book 7) I.5.3.2. Translation of metaphors I.5.4. Conclusion I.5.4.1. Recapitulation I.5.4.2. Implications I.5.4.3. Limitations I.5.4.4. Recommendations for the further research I.6. Research duties and methods I.6.1. Research duties With the drawn main points, the research must be conducted with view to -formulating the theoretical framework of translation and metaphor of English and Vietnamese; suggesting the way to apply theory is to practice; - giving illustration of translation’s professional translator of metaphor in Harry potter books ( book 3 and book 7 ) - drawing conclusion to help students to translate metaphors in general and particularly in Harry Potter books ( book 3 and book 7 ) I.6.2. Research methods With the duties mentioned above, this research will be methodologically conducted by collecting, analyzing and interpreting data on metaphoric cases in translation textbooks and the selected literary publications. In addition, to get the good results for this research, asking specialist’ idea method was conducted in order that these instruments would clarify and illustrate theories on English – Vietnamese translation of metaphors, so that readers of this research could have a sense of how to translate a metaphor into Vietnamese in a natural way. CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW II.1. Translation II.1.1.Definition Translation is widely recognized as an occupation of long history, dating back thousands of years ago, and of great importance to human cross- cultural communication, knowledge exchange and economic development The first trace of translation dates from 3000 B.C, during the Egyptian Old Kingdom, the area of the First Cataract, Elephantine, where in descriptions in two languages have been found. It became a significant factor in the West in 3000 BC. Luther’s Bible translation in 1552 laid the foundations of modern Ger man. However, as the last century witnessed the rapid-than-ever progress of natural science and technology, translation subjects were no longer bound by literary texts, but have been varied by every aspect of life, from technical issues to health, medicine, law and administration. Until the last half of the 20th century (the age of translation) did the very first translation studies emerge to academically define what translation was. Though scholars have stated various definitions with different points of view, almost all of them regard translation as a process and product, and the nature of equivalence is frequently mentioned. In Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice (1991) Bell introduces Meetham and Hudson’s general view on the notion of translation: Translation is the replacement of a text in one language by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language (p.713) Munday (2001) goes further with more details: The term translation itself has several meanings: it can refer to the general subject field, the product (the text that has been translated) or the process ( the act of producing the translation, otherwise known as translating). The process of translation between two different languages involves the translator changing an original written text ( the source text ) in the original verbal language ( the source language) into a written text ( the target text) in a different verbal language ( the target language) (p.4- p.5) Newmark also introduces a very clear and comprehensive concept of translation: Translation is rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text (p.5) According to him, translation seems to be simple: as one ought to be able to say something as well in one language as in another. It is nevertheless as complicated, artificial and fraudulent, since by using another language, you are pretending to be someone you are not. By acknowledging two sides of the translation process and implying translation evaluation (“the way the author intended the text”), the explanation by Newmark is supposed to be one of the most satisfactory definitions of translation. Needless to say, it is impossible to come to a perfect definition covering all aspects of such a vast notion of translation, as Bell (1991) admits that it can be either an art or a science. II.1.2. Translation process and the translator II.1.2.1. Modeling translation process According to Newmark (1995), translation process or translating involves four levels “more or less consciously in mind” (p.19), namely: The source language text level: the level of language The referential level : visualizing and building up objects and events, an essential part of comprehension and reproduction process The cohesive level : encompassing both comprehension and reproduction, presenting an overall picture. The level of naturalness : constituting a band within which the translator works, concerning only reproduction In addition, Bell (1991) and Larson (1984) illustrate translation as a process to achieve the final product in a clear way by two translation models as followed: Memory Target language text Semantic representation Synthesis Analysis Source language text Figure 1: Bell’s translation model (1991, p.21) Translation Text to be translated MEANING Figure 2: Larson’s translation model (1984, p.4) Both models emphasize two major steps of translation process: First, the translator analyzes the source language text to discover its meaning, or the semantic representation and the author’s intention and implication. Then, all these factors are synthesized and re-expressed into the target language. Obviously if the source text is wrongly analyzed, the translation will fail to render the author’s intention. Therefore, reading comprehension of the source text is vitally important for the success of a translation, particularly in translating metaphoric texts, where the meaning is normally hidden. In further discussion, there’re three major stages of translation process , as syntactic, semantic and pragmatic processing. Although scholars introduced some other models of translation process, still the two presented above are considered as the core of translation process. II.1.2.2. Translator II.1.2.2.1. What is a translator? It is not the truth that a person knowing at least a foreign language could be a translator. That a language learner may be proficient at that language does not always mean he could render smoothly the meaning of a written or spoken text into his mother tongue. In addition to conveying the lexical meaning, translation requires the translator to respect other important factors such as the author’s implication and literary style. In other words, as humorously stated by Newmark (1969, p.85) “any fool can learn a language…but it takes an intelligent person to become a translator” So a translator, is a billingual mediating agent between monolingual communication participants in two different language communities (Bell, 1991). More clearly, translator was explained that: it decoded messages transmitted in one language and re-encodes them in another. II.1.2.2.2 Translator competence So far the general concept of translation and the work of a translator have been discussed. Accordingly what is the competence required to be a professional translator? Newmark (1995) assumes that “a translator has to have a flair and a feel for his own language” or in other words, a translator has to “sixth sense”, compounded of intelligence, sensitivity, intuition, and knowledge. In his point, in translating process, these factors directly affect translation methods and procedures applied by the translator, and therefore, determine translation quality. Knowledge of the subject area is so vast and no translator could know all topics from science, technology, socio-economic, political issues, to literary and philosophical works. However, it is admitted that a good language learner can translate a scientific document better than a scientist with poor language knowledge. Consisting with his previous explanation of a translator, Bell (1991, p.37) adds to the stated translator’s knowledge-base the decoding skills of reading and the encoding skills of writing. He comes to a condensed conclusion that a translator must know: How propositions are structured ( syntactic knowledge) How clauses can be synthesized to carry propositional content and analyzed to retrieve the content embedded in them ( semantic knowledge) How the clause can be realized as information-bearing text and the text decomposed into the clause (pragmatic knowledge). All these views on translator competence have had great and useful contribution to translators of any language. In addition, it is undeniable that practice and experience in translation are also important to success of any translator, particularly to newcomers. II.1.3. Equivalence in translation II.1.3.1. Definitions of equivalence in translation As mentioned above, equivalence is considered the central concept of translation studies, yet theorists’ approaches to equivalence are so different. Such scholars as Catford (1965), Nida and Taber (1969) claim that translation bases itself on equivalence relation, hence, equivalence is the necessary condition for translation: “translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” (Nida and Taber,1969/1982,p.12). On the contrary, Snell- Hornby (1988) and Gentzler (1993) regard equivalence as irrelevant to or damaging translation, even as an obstacle to translation. The middle- course representative is Baker (1992) to whom equivalence is a useful category for describing translation. In spite of different approaches, almost all theorists share agreement that there is no such thing as absolute equivalence in translation due to differences in grammatical rules, forms, expressions, etc. between two languages. Therefore, there are many ways to define what kind of equivalence should be aimed at in order to achieve the best equivalent effect. II.1.3.2. Types of equivalence Basing on text meaning, Koller ( 1995) classifies equivalence in translation in five categories : 1. Denotative equivalence: source language and target language words refer to the same thing in the real world. For example: - Tomato (a soft fruit with a lot of juice and shinny red skin that is eaten as a vegetable either raw or cooked) - Cà chua ( một loại quả mềm, nhiều nước, vỏ bóng đỏ, có thể ăn sống hoặ