SESSION THREE

This session will be taught in 9 periods (3 shifts)

3.1 ABOUT LANGUAGE

WORDS (từ )

When people get together, they talk to each other. All our talk comes in words,
which we use with their unchangeable meanings. In English, we know that the idea
of 1 is expressed as "one", in French "un", and in Vietnamese "một".

SYNTAX (cú pháp)

Then there are rules, which tell us how to put the words together, their sequence. I
can say in English: I have a red book, but the Vietnamese would say: I have a book
red. Every language has its own order of words in the sentence and we must
respect that. Once we know a language, we can use the rules; we can make new
sentences and phrases.

IDIOLECT (vốn từ vựng)

All native speakers of a language have a particular way of speaking, which

depends on their age, sex, mood, education, etc. This very personal way of
speaking is called IDIOLECT. It allows us to recognize a person by his voice, even
if we do not see him. There are about 400 000,000 English speakers in the world.
Each of them, we might say, speaks a different idiolect of English.

DIALECTS (phương ngữ)

Regional variations of a language are called DIALECTS. New Zealand and

Australian and US English can be considered dialects of English. It is very
difficult, however, to define a dialect as such, i.e. to decide when two tongues are
to be classified as separate languages instead of one being a dialect of the other.
There is a rule of thumb, which states that two dialects become different languages
when they are mutually unintelligible, when people of one language group can no
longer understand members of the other group.
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SLANG (tiếng lóng)

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SLANG WORDS occur frequently in speech. Although we use slang on many
occasions, it is rather difficult to define it. The use of slang, or colloquial language,
creates new forms by combining existing words, (beat it, rip-off) giving new
meaning to words (grass, pig) or introducing completely new words into the
language

JARGON (biệt ngữ)

All professions, sciences, trades and occupations, including the less honorable ones
have a language, which includes words known only to their members or initiates.
These "languages" are call JARGON.

A doctor was being examined as a witness for the defense in an assault case. The
police prosecutor asked the doctor: "Did you notice anything special regarding the
defendant, when he came to see you on 29 July?” “The defendant?” asked the
doctor, “he had a peri-orbital haematoma”, and to the prosecutor's staring look he
added, "a black eye" to each his own jargon.

IDIOMS (thành ngữ)

Finally, in addition to single or compound words that we know in a language, there

are phrases called IDIOMS, the meaning of which cannot be inferred by the
individual words they consist of. Here are some examples of English idioms: to
take for a ride, to give a piece of one’s mind, to bite one's tongue.

3.2 STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATORS

Please read “ THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION” from page 70 to

80 of Vietnamese - English Translation 1 (student’s book)

Agenda :

First shift will be on Monday 28th Sep : STRATEGY 1 (page 70 to 73)

Second shift will be on Monday 5th October : STATEGY 2 and 3 (page 73 to 78)

Third shift will be on Monday 12 October : STRATEGY 4, 5 and 6 (page 78 to

80), then followed by the revision of Session 3
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