HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

*******************************

Translation difficulties and some solutions

of SOFL’s third-year students of HUST

By:

Nguyen Thi Huong

Nguyen Duy Tu

Pham Thi Thuy

A paper submitted to School of Foreign Languages, Hanoi

University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the
science research report.

Hanoi, July 2020

 DECLARATION

We hereby certify that the thesis contains no material that has been published or written by
another person, excepted for ones that were referred to as references of the research .
Additionally, we declare that the paper describes original work that has not previously been
presented for the award of any other degree of any institution.

No. Student’s Full Name Signature

1 Nguyen Thi Huong ………
2 Nguyen Duy Tu ………

3 Pham Thi Thuy ………

APPROVED BY:

Supervisor’s Full Name Signature Date

Nguyen Viet Khoa ………… …………

 ABSTRACT
Recently, the awareness of students on translation has been improved significantly.
However, many students have encountered particular difficulties related to languages and
cultures between English and Vietnamese. Being aware of the difficulties in translation, our
research team decided to carry out this study. The objective of this study is to find the difficulties,
as well as suggest several recommendations for students to improve translation skills. Two
methods used to gather information were questionnaire surveys with students of Cohort 62 who
have studied the translation module and participant observation through the participants in
Technical Translation class and Technical Translation and Interpretation.

In this paper, we have reviewed the background knowledge and a number of strategies for
translation. It also discusses the translation problems met by all translators as well as the
translation difficulties of many students who learn English as a foreign language when learning a
translation subject, and recommends several methods to help students overcome these difficulties.

Hopefully, the study will be helpful information for SOFL’s students in particular and
Vietnamese students in general to improve translation skills.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the assistance and guidance from all our teachers and friends at School of
Foreign Languages (SOFL), Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), we are able
to finish our study at the end.

First and foremost, our group would like to express our high appreciation to our
supervisor - Mr. Nguyen Viet Khoa for his significant guidance as well as precious feedbacks
from the beginning to the end of this research. He has provided us materials and given us
valuable advices when we cope with troubles as the study is conducted. He also created
motivation which helps us complete this research successfully. Without his help and guidance,
our project could not get good results.

Secondly, our sincere thanks are also extended to all our teachers from School of Foreign
Languages of Hanoi University of Science and Technology who have been giving us knowledge,
love for the past years.

Finally, we also would like to show our gratefulness to third-year students K62 of School
of Foreign Languages- Hanoi University of Science and Technology for their assistance and help.
They have a great contribution in helping us complete our study, particularly our survey. Without
their contributions and support, our research would be impossible.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

6
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................iii
LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1
1. Rationale...................................................................................................................................1
2. Research Objectives..................................................................................................................2
3. Research questions....................................................................................................................2
4. Scope of the study.....................................................................................................................2
5. Significance of the study...........................................................................................................2
6, Structures..................................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................................4
2.1. Definition of translation.........................................................................................................4
2.2. Some strategies for translation...............................................................................................4
2.2.1. Translating strategies used for non‐equivalence at word levels......................................4
2.2.2. Translating strategies used for idioms and fixed expressions.........................................5
2.2.3. Translating strategies used for proper names..................................................................6
2.3. Translation difficulties and translation problems..................................................................6
2.4. Methods to overcome difficulties in translation....................................................................8
2.4.1. Culture bound translation................................................................................................8
2.4.2. Synonyms........................................................................................................................8
2.4.3. Paraphrase.......................................................................................................................8
2.4.4. Consultant.......................................................................................................................9
2.4.5. Back translation...............................................................................................................9
2.4.6. Visualization...................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.......................................................................10
3.1. Research methods................................................................................................................10
3.2. Sampling..............................................................................................................................10
3.2.1. Research population......................................................................................................10
3.2.2. Research sample............................................................................................................10
3.2.3. Sampling method..........................................................................................................11
3.2.4. Sampling size................................................................................................................11
3.3. Data collection.....................................................................................................................11
3.3.1. Questionnaire surveys...................................................................................................11
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 3.3.2. Participant observation..................................................................................................11
3.4. Data collection procedures...................................................................................................12
3.4.1. Questionnaire surveys...................................................................................................12
3.4.2. Participant observation..................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS...............................................................................................13
4.1 The result in the first translation module..............................................................................13
4.2 The difficulties met in the first translation module...............................................................14
4.2.1 The difficulties in linguistics..........................................................................................15
4.2.2 The difficulties in culture...............................................................................................15
4.2.3 The difficulties in background knowledge.....................................................................16
4.3 The causes of the difficulties in the first translation module................................................17
4.4 The methods that the students used to overcome the difficulties, their self-evaluation in
these methods and the recommending methods to enhance translation skills............................18
4.5 Summary...............................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS............................................................................20
5.1. Review of the findings.........................................................................................................20
5.2. Agreements between the findings and the existing research...............................................20
5.3. Disagreements between the findings and the existing research...........................................21
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION....................................................................................................22
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................23
APPENDICES..........................................................................................................................................27

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4. 1 The translation score in the first translation module.................................................................13

Figure 4. 2 The difficulties in translation from SL to TL...........................................................................14
Figure 4. 3 The difficulties in linguistics in the first translation module....................................................14
Figure 4. 4 The difficulties in culture in the first translation module..........................................................15
Figure 4. 5 The difficulties in background knowledge...............................................................................16
Figure 4. 6 The average time the students spend on translation per week..................................................17
Figure 4. 7 The recommending methods to enhance translation skills.......................................................18

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
HUST: Hanoi University of Science and Technology

SOFL: School of Foreign Languages

SL: Source language

TL: Target language

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11
 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Google launched Google Translate, which is an online service for supporting more than
100 different languages used in the system. However, this tool cannot replace the role of
translators because it is only a machine translation system and cannot understand the full
meaning of sentences. Only translators who have undergone translation training in the languages
and skills can make translation accurate and natural. However, Vietnamese-English translation
skills are not easy for Vietnamese professionals to students, especially 3rd-year SOFL’s students.

Experiencing the course of the first translation module in the first semester of the third-
year, many students from K62 SOFL have had difficulties during the translation process. It is
easily noticeable that this is a new subject, and many students have little experience in the
translation field. Additionally, many students cannot immediately adapt to this, then leading to
encountering difficulties, as well as many problems in translating practice. However, there are a
lot of other reasons to answer for the question: “Why they met difficulties during the translation
process?”. Many students have not actively studied and cultivated background knowledge both
Vietnamese and English or well learned other subjects related to translation in the previous
semesters such as Vietnamese Practice, Theory of Translation and Interpretation. That leads to
their own limited language ability in both of the languages. English and Vietnamese are the two
distinct languages coming from the East and the West, so there are clear differences in grammar
structures, vocabularies and their reflection in two distinct cultures. Because of the influences on
the differences of cultures and the limited background knowledge, Vietnamese students in
general, and English major students from SOFL cannot avoid mistakes as well as their difficulties
when learning translation subject. Furthermore, complex sentences and specialized vocabularies
are also an answer for the question because they must deal with a language which is not as
similar as a communication language.

For those reasons, our research team decided to choose the study “Translation difficulties
and some solutions of SOFL’s third-year students of HUST” which aims at finding the
difficulties they encountered, which reasons causing them as well as suggesting some
recommendations for overcoming translation difficulties and improving translation skills.

2. Research Objectives

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 The aim of the study is to find out the difficulties of the 3 rd-year SOFL’s students in
translating Vietnamese- English. The study also aims at evaluating the effectiveness of
suggestions proposes by themselves and then suggesting some possible solutions to overcome the
problems.

3. Research questions
The study firstly concentrates on the background knowledge of translation, then shows the
difficulties students met in the translation subject. Therefore, the study has to answer for the
following questions to achieve those objectives stated above:

1. What are the difficulties they encountered during the translation process?
2. Which causes leading to the difficulties?
3. What are some solutions to help students overcome these problems and improve
translation skills?

4. Scope of the study

Based on the objectives of the study, the research is carried out with third-year students
from cohort 62 of SOFL who have to study both English- Vietnamese translation and
Vietnamese- English translation in the translation module. Our group mainly focuses on
identifying the difficulties in the translation process made by the third-year SOFL’s students and
making some suggestions to help them overcome them.

5. Significance of the study

Translation plays an important role with Vietnamese in general and SOFL’s students in
particular. The thesis will be a useful reference for the students with the solutions recommended
which help the students overcome the difficulties, self-correct their common mistakes, and find
out their own effective ways in learning to improve their translation skills. Furthermore, we hope
that this research will be a big help for teachers in understanding the students’ difficulties, then
updating their teaching materials to help the students partly overcome the problems.

6, Structures
Our study consists of 6 Chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature Review

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 Chapter 3: Research methodology

Chapter 4: Data analysis

Chapter 5: Discussion of findings

Chapter 6: Conclusion

In Chapter 1, an overview of the study in terms of rationale, objectives, methods, scope,

significance and structure are given. The second chapter reviews the theoretical background
knowledge of translation, shows difficulties during the translation process and suggests some
solutions overcome the problems. While focusing on research methodology in chapter 3, in
chapter 4, we conduct to analyze data through the process of collecting. Chapter V, our research
team has some discussions between the theory and the reality. Finally, Chapter 5 is the
conclusion which summarizes our study as well as our recommendations for further research.

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The various aspects of translation difficulties and solutions have been covered by many
studies and research. This review will explore four of the major content related to this research
topic. These are: (1) an overview of translation; (2) several strategies for translation; (3)
translation difficulties and problems; and (4) methods to overcome difficulties in translation.
Sources in the subject area of translation difficulties and solutions are abundant and available
both online and offline, researched by researchers at different times and from different countries.
This review will focus only on studies closely related to the four major contents mentioned above.

2.1. Definition of translation

It is essential to have a clear understanding of what "translation" is. The definition of
"translation" is various. According to Wilss (1982), translation is "a transfer process, which aims
at the transformation of written source language text into an optimally equivalent target-language
text, and which requires the syntactic, the semantic and the pragmatic understanding and
analytical processing of the source language. Pöchhacker (2004) explains the translation in
comparison with interpretation. Interpretation in the source language cannot be replayed or
repeated, while the source language in translation can be reviewed. The target-language text in
interpretation is under time pressure, with little chance for correction and revision, whereas
translation is low time pressure and more chances for analyzing and accomplishing.

Translation skills are crucial to the students' learning process and future jobs. The
importance of translation is undeniable, and it is obviously reflected in two aspects: its
contribution to motivate human's life and the success of a language training course. Firstly,
translation becomes more important when all countries in the world have exchanged and
cooperated together in various aspects like culture, education, business, etc., as well as marked its
importance in the development of life as a mean of communicating and interacting among culture
and regions (Clavijo and Marin (2013)). Secondly, Lei (1999) indicates that the level of
translation reflects translation abilities in the foreign language and the mother tongue.

2.2. Some strategies for translation

2.2.1. Translating strategies used for non‐equivalence at word levels
Non-equivalence at word levels means that no Vietnamese equivalents can be found in
English words. Baker (1992) proposes some strategies listed below have been used to solve
problems of non-equivalence in the translation.
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2.2.1.1. Translating strategies used for non‐equivalence at word levels using general words
Firstly, translating by a more general word using a more general word to translate English
with no equivalents can be found in Vietnamese. For instance, in English, there are some
differences between coupes with 2-door cars and sedans with four doors. On the other hand, in
Vietnamese, it refers to all four-wheel, motorized vehicles as "ô tô."

2.2.1.2. Translating strategies used for non‐equivalence at word levels using specific words
Secondly, translating by a specific word may be necessary when translating an English
word into Vietnamese in some cases. An English word for "aunt" can be translated by many
different Vietnamese words like "cô, dì, thím, mợ, bác gái." Similarly, an English word "uncle" is
translated by the Vietnamese words (chú, cậu, bác trai). In these cases, the English context should
be examined to decide to choose Vietnamese words.

2.2.1.3. Translating strategies used for non‐equivalence at word levels using paraphrasing
Thirdly, when the word does not exist in Vietnamese or the term for the concept does not
include all the meaning conveyed by the English term, translating by paraphrasing is applied. For
example, in the sentence "Children should be protected from abuse and neglect," However, the
Vietnamese translation adds some words to reflect the full meaning of the English sentence "Trẻ
em phải được bảo vệ trước mọi hình thức bạo lực, gây tổn thương, hay xúc phạm, bỏ mặc hoặc
Sao nhãng trong việc chăm sóc."

2.2.2. Translating strategies used for idioms and fixed expressions

In Cambridge Dictionary, an idiom is defined as "a group of words whose meaning
considered as a unit is different from the meanings of each word considered separately." Venuti
(2000), in his book, says that idioms are involved in cultural elements, this type of translation is
focused on conveying the message of the source-language. Therefore, Baker (1992) presents
some strategies for idioms and fixed expressions, which can be dealt with the ways listed below.

The first is using an idiom or fixed expression of similar meaning and form. It is possible
to find a Vietnamese idiom or expression with a similar to an English idiom or expression. One
example is the idiom in English "as quick as lightning," which is translated into Vietnamese as
"nhanh như chớp." Another idiom is "prevention is better than cure," which is expressed in the
same words "phòng bệnh hơn chữa bệnh."

16
 The second is using an idiom or fixed expression of similar meaning but dissimilar form.
To translate this way, translators also deepen understanding both Vietnamese and English
cultures. The idiom "chở củi về rừng" is translated into "Carry coals to Newcastle" because
Newcastle is a city in the northeast of England and is famous for coal mining (Wisegeek, n.d.).

The third is using the paraphrasing method when Vietnamese equivalents cannot be
found. In a book "The General Retires and Other Stories," Nguyen Huy Thiep (1993 ) wrote a
sentence "Bố cháu Kim Chi là vụ phó, anh là tướng, thế là môn đăng hộ đối," which Lockhart
translated into "Kim Chi's father is a Deputy Chief of a Department, you are a General, you two
are of the same social class."

2.2.3. Translating strategies used for proper names

The proper names (person, geographical terms) do not have uniform properties. For
instance, "New York" cannot be translated into "York Mới" (new= mới), or "Ms. Rice" also
cannot be translated into "bà Gạo" or "bà Cơm." Farahzad (1995) believes that translators should
use transcription and transliteration techniques. For example, the word "Moscow" is translated
into "Mát-xcơ-va." Therefore, there are two principles for translating them: one is using another
word that has the same meaning in English like "Chiến tranh hoa hồng" (the War of the Roses);
the second is using Sino-Vietnamese like London- Luân Đôn, Bắc Kinh- Beijing. However,
Farahzad (1995) indicates that the translators of religious texts must use the most common
equivalent of a personal name in the target language even if these equivalents do not follow the
foregoing translation strategies. An example is when translating "Lenin" into Vietnamese; this
name should not be translated into "Liệt Ninh" like the second principle.

2.3. Translation difficulties and translation problems

To have a better understanding of translation difficulties and problems, it is essential to
distinguish these terms. Christine Nord in her short article (1987) and in her Text Analysis in
Translation (1991) shows that both the terms are used to refer to challenges; however, translation
problems met by all translators while translation difficulties met by a specific group of
translations (as cited in Linder, 2000).

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 It is important for translators to have firm background knowledge in translation theories.
In addition, Jones (2002) emphasizes translators are required to have at least these factors:
excellent writing and analytical ability as well as good editing. Translation deals with the written
form of a language, so it is necessary to be precise in the language used. According to Al-
Mughalles (2004), for many translators, major problems that they frequently face related to
linguistic, stylistic, and socio-cultural aspects. In linguistics, translators usually have problems
handling words, sentence structure. Moreover, they also indicate the other problems related to
text and pragmatic deciding to translation work.

These above are normal problems faced by translators in general. However, for a specific
population, such as students who learn English as a foreign language, their translation difficulties
are more frequent. Mohammed (2018), in his research in Arab students of English as a foreign
language, shows many particular difficulties that they have met. Although the students have
background knowledge of translation, they still have many troubles in processing their translation
work. Particularly, the initial difficulty almost every student has is related to the lack of English
words, which leads to wrong word choices or English acronyms as well as grammar. Baker
(1992) and Howwar (2013) note that translating idioms is a great challenge for many students (as
cited in Arono & Nadrah, 2019). They are in overall trends of having translation problems as the
majority of translators. It is mainly difficult to tackle English knowledge, such as the ability to
choose an appropriate English equivalent or solve grammar and sentence structure differences
between the source language and target language. On the paper of Do Na Chi (2018), she shows
the same opinion as Mohammed after carrying a survey on well-understood English translation
students. From the analysis of students' translated works, she concludes the common mistakes
made by these students. Firstly, although their English is fairly good, they are still affected by
their mother tongue (Vietnamese) when doing a translation. Specifically, in this case, it is the use
of word-for-word translation. This causes them to choose the wrong word choices to make the
translated text smoothly.

The second common translation difficulty is a textual problem that relates to the
understanding of the source text of translators (Stiegelbauer, 2016). Likewise, Do Na Chi asserts
that because the students in her survey cannot catch the exact meanings as well as the messages
that authors want to convey, it leads to the incorrectly translated texts. Therefore, the textual
problem returns to the problem of lacking English knowledge to understand the source text.

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 These factors above belong to the language problem of translators, another aspect which
is significantly considered is the cultural difference. Translation between two cultures is the
"instance of intercultural communication" (Ginter, 2002, p.27). He also finds out that the problem
in this aspect is that the translators do not know how to comply with cultural problems between
two cultures and how to choose a suitable strategy to convey the author's ideas completely. This
idea had great support from many authors when they conducted their study. Dr. Chahrour (2018),
in his journal, says that many cultural terms and expressions are very difficult to translate because
it requires translators to have in-depth cultural knowledge of both cultures. For that reason, even
many professional translators are in trouble handling them. Therefore, for students, it becomes
harder and more challenging.

2.4. Methods to overcome difficulties in translation

When obstructed by a problem, the first thing anyone thinks of is to find the solution. In
this case, there are many ways to help the students to overcome their difficulties in translation.

2.4.1. Culture bound translation

First and foremost, Ginter (2002) noted that "translation into a foreign language will
always be an instance of intercultural communication." That is, the translation is a product of a
mix between two or more cultures. Therefore, a translator needs to be familiarized with the
source-culture bound translation method and the target-culture bound translation method. The
source-culture bound translation method (also known as 'foreignization') keeps the translation's
meaning within the source language's culture. The target-culture bound interpretation strategy
keeps the interpretation's conversion inside the target language's way of life.

2.4.2. Synonyms
According to Newmark (1988), you can use synonyms to translate words that are not
crucial to the text. Synonyms are words with similar or close meaning to another word.
Translators use a synonym to avoid repetition in their texts. A synonym can be made when an
exact translation of the text is not available, and therefore the translator needs to adapt to the
situation. Be wary that, however, if synonyms are used extensively will be proof of a poor
translation.

2.4.3. Paraphrase

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 When encountered with the need to state the author's idea in a different way, the translator
needs to rephrase that thought using paraphrase. Basically, to paraphrase something is to rewrite
the original text into a paragraph of your own words without altering its meaning (Gahan, 2018).
When paraphrasing an idea, it shows that the translator is well aware of the author's meaning, and
it makes your translation more 'original' (Gahan, 2018). The paraphrasing method is used to make
the text clearer and to unite the reader's idea (Karimnia, 2014). One should be wary when using
paraphrasing to remember to cite the source of the idea that the translator gets from.

2.4.4. Consultant
Bourdon (2019) stated that "translation work is not a linear process," he corrected that
"it's more cyclical as they comb the work done again, and again." When in doubt, a translator can
always come to a consultant to help with the translation. Cause translation is not a one-man work,
and the translating process can always have an extra pair of eyes to spot mistakes that might be
neglected (Bourdon, 2019). Other than discovering mistakes, a consultant can help you look at
things from a different point of view.

2.4.5. Back translation

Another method that can help the students is the back-translation technique. A survey
conducted by (Maneesriwongul and Dixon, 2004:175) that 80% of the studies of instrument
translation are back-translating (38 out of 47). Back-translation is defined as "a process whereby
the translated text is re-translated back into the source language by a translator who does not see
the original text." That is, to translate the source language text into the target language text, then
the translator reverses the target language translation back into the source language text, and then
compare the two source language texts. If there are any inconsistencies with the meaning between
the two texts, it indicates that there might be an error during translation. Back-translation is
considered to be the best assessment of text translation nowadays. Besides the means to translate
using back-translation, the method can also be used as a validation to review the translated text
(Tyupa, 2011).

2.4.6. Visualization

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 According to Kussmaul (2005), visualization is a way to make the translation more
creative and more vivid. The visualization uses pictures, pictograms, and icons to describe the
true intentions of the writer. It can also be the tool to convey the meaning of emotions, which is
really hard to express in words. For example, one cannot really translate the act "sad," but it can
be expressed through an icon of a tear and a curved-down mouth (Kussmaul, 2005).

We conclude, through the combination of the listed-above methods, a translator will

succeed in finding the most suitable strategy to help with the difficulties in translation.

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 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This part of the report is to present the methodology used in our project. In this research
project, we use a mix-method, both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative
approach will be used in the self-completed survey designed for the third-year students of SOFL
who have undergone the translation module. The qualitative method will be employed in each
researcher aiming to get a comprehensive picture of the data. This chapter includes research
methods, sample of the study and the population, data collection and final section highlighting
the procedure of data collection.

3.1. Research methods

The researchers used mixed-methods, both quantitative and qualitative methods in the
study. Creswell (2012) indicated that the quantitative method deals with numeric data which are
collected from a large of people using instruments with inquires and responses. We choose
questionnaire survey as the quantitative method because we need to gather a large amount of data
from students of SOFL who undergone the translation module. In addition to using the
quantitative research, our research team also uses the qualitative method which collects data
based on words from a small number of individuals so that the participants’ viewed are gained
(Moloeng, 2005). Ary (2010) stated that observation, in-depth interview, and document analysis
are the most common research instruments used in a qualitative method. To conduct qualitative
research, in our research, we decide to choose participant observation to get a general picture and
have detailed information during the translation learning. Combining two methods, the
researchers will minimize the weaknesses of each approach, provide more accurate,
comprehensive and detailed data.

3.2. Sampling
3.2.1. Research population
The 3rd-year students from K62 SOFL, HUST who have been learning the translation
course as one of the main subjects are the main subjects. The subjects are mostly classmates of
the researchers. It is very convenient for observation and data collection. They were willing to do
the survey and the results are used for the researching purposes only.

3.2.2. Research sample

Our research team conducted the research on 60 3 rd-year students majoring in English of
SOFL.
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3.2.3. Sampling method
In this study, we employed the purposive sampling method for the selection of the
participants. According to Black (2010), purposive sampling occurs when “elements selected for
the sample are chosen by the judgment of the researcher. Researchers often believe that they can
obtain a representative sample by using a sound judgment, which will result in saving time and
money”

3.2.4. Sampling size

The amount of population of the 3rd-year students from K62 SOFL is too excessive so that
we decide to minimize the number of students, only choose 60 students to conduct the survey
with the questionnaire. However, to be convenient for participant observation, we choose 2
groups. The first group consists of students from Technical Translation class and the other is the
subjects of Technical Translation and Interpretation class.

3.3. Data collection

3.3.1. Questionnaire surveys
Our questionnaire surveys are designed according to our expectation of what the answers
can provide by finding the answers for the attitudes of 3rd-year SOFL’s students towards their
translation course, their overall difficulties when translating English into Vietnamese and in
contrast, and the methods that the students used to overcome the difficulties and their self-
evaluation in these methods as well as suggesting several solutions to improve their translation
skills. The questionnaire survey is designed in Google Form. We choose this method because it
ensures a high response rate, requires less time and the questionnaires are closed, which makes it
easy for the researchers to compare the responses to each item.

3.3.2. Participant observation

Creswell (2012) indicated that observation is a set of particular instruments of collecting
data that can be used to get a comprehensive picture of the data. Moreover, by observation, the
researchers have their deeper understanding about the theory-in use and respondents’ views
which could not be mentioned in the questionnaire. The researchers use participant observation
which is done by involving the researchers in a group of subjects being observed. Belonging to
the population, it is convenient to observe during the researchers’ learning translation. By these
reasons, the participant observation was chosen.

3.4. Data collection procedures

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3.4.1. Questionnaire surveys
The researchers had the help of 40 students majoring in English from K62 SOFL in
answering questionnaire lists. We carried out the pilot questionnaire surveys on five students in
order to check mistakes before conducting the main survey. Our surveys were sent to 60 students
on 1th June, 2020. It took about 5 to 10 minutes long for each individual conducting the survey.
Before sending surveys, our research team briefly explained the purpose of the study and made it
clear to the participants that their responses would be kept confidential. In addition, these
students are encouraged to write down other difficulties that they have encountered in the process
of learning translation and their own solutions (in the questionnaire, 2 questions related to the
problem). This has an option of "Other ideas", where students can give a different answer from
the available answers.) As mentioned above, our research team sent the survey online which can
maintain that each student completed the questionnaires without looking at the answers of other
people and avoid being influenced by each other’s opinion.

3.4.2. Participant observation

The researchers choose the subjects in 2 classes in this semester, including Technical
Translation and Technical Translation and Interpretation class. During the learning, our research
team observed difficulties, students’ learning attitudes towards the translation course. In order to
answer the research questions considering to students’ responses towards the translation course,
the number of students who responded as well as those did not respond was recorded through a
note.

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 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the data of the research. To receive the objective and detailed data,
mixed-method approach is applied. The quantitative data is in the form of a questionnaire
survey. It is the online questionnaire consisting of 10 closed questions, which is suitable for the
researchers’ purposes when carrying the survey. It was formed and sent online to 60 third-year
students of SOFL of HUST. We received 40 out of 60 correspondences. To supplement for the
result of the questionnaire survey, participant observation (because the researchers are the
students of the translation classes where the observation is carried out) which is the form of
qualitative method is used. During the process of observation, the researchers who are in 2
different translation classes observe what is outlined in the questionnaire survey and take notes
carefully. After combining both the results from two methods, we analyze to have a complete
picture of the research topic in detail.

4.1 The result in the first translation module

The first translation module is the first time the students have approached to the
translation process after learning theory of translation in the previous semester. The chart below
shows their results in the first translation module. Generally, for the first time to start with a
difficult field, it is fairly good. Specifically, nearly a half (45.7%) got good score, 14.3% with
very good mark and 37.1% was on the average. There was just one student had weak score,
accounting for 2.9%. From this result, we can see a good start for learning in this subject.

25
 Figure 4. 1 The translation score in the first translation module
4.2 The difficulties met in the first translation module
The pie chart below illustrates that over half of the students (60%) find translation from
Vietnamese into English more difficult, while 22.9% finds English to Vietnamese translation
harder and 17.1% finds the equal difficulty. The number of 60% above shows the lack of English
use in translation because Vietnamese is their mother tongue, it is easier for them to understand
Vietnamese source texts than those of English.

Figure 4. 2 The difficulties in translation from SL to TL

The students cannot avoid these common mistakes like other translators, especially when
they are “new” in this field. The translation problems are met by all translations whereas the
translation difficulties are met by a particular group of translators. The population in the research
have faced with the general translation problems. However, they also have their own difficulties
which are classified into three main groups, including linguistics, culture and background
knowledge, especially linguistics and background knowledge.

4.2.1 The difficulties in linguistics

26
 Figure 4. 3 The difficulties in linguistics in the first translation module
In terms of linguistics, the most difficult thing for the students is lexicology or words. The
typical types of phrases that make the students so confused are phrasal verbs, collocations and
idioms. It becomes more complicated when putting these phrases in the context of the text. 57.1%
of the students is abstruse to recognize phrasal verbs and idioms, especially idioms. During the
process of observation, we found that regarding idioms, the students cannot recognize even when
they finish their homework. Only when teachers analyze and point out the idioms, the students
are able to recognize them in the text. Although they can understand these idioms based on the
context of the text, they still cannot translate into target language naturally. This is the reason
why 62.9% have obstacles finding equivalents in the target language.

In terms of syntax, for a long and complex sentence, the students have difficulties in
analyzing the structure of that sentence, especially the subject and what supplements for the
subject. The number of the chart above demonstrates transparently, with 51.4% of the students.

4.2.2 The difficulties in culture

Culture is the broad filed to have a profound understanding for this field. Having the
problems in such a field is inevitable, especially for students in general. Moreover, for translators,
they need to understand not only the culture in the source language, but also in the target
language.

27
 Figure 4. 4 The difficulties in culture in the first translation module
The bar chart above presents the students’ cultural obstacles in translation. To have a
smooth and natural translated text, culture is as the bridge to connect two languages. However,
65.7% students find understanding the differences between the two languages, so it leads to the
misunderstanding and mistranslate the information. Even if they can comprehend these issues,
they are stuck in finding the cultural equivalents, particularly in the chart with 57.1% students
having met such things.

4.2.3 The difficulties in background knowledge

In the chart below, it highlights the two difficulties in terms of background knowledge
which are translation theory and specialized topics.

Figure 4. 5 The difficulties in background knowledge

28
 In previous semester, the students learned translation theory and have the basic
knowledge about this area. In contrast, nearly half of the participants (42.9%) reported that it is
not easy to apply the translation theory in their translated texts. In particular, during in-class
lessons, when teachers require the students to apply the techniques which have just taught to
translate a short text or only a few sentences, they can do at that moment. However, to really be
able to apply in their translation, they usually ignore these techniques learned. This result is
revealed from observation. It can be partially concluded that it is the reason why their translation
skills are not much improved.

The another is about specialized topics which is proven by the number of 57.1 % of the
participants surveyed. This difficulty is shown obviously in the process of observing.
Specifically, in this semester, when the students have opportunities to cover the variety of
translation genres, from journal articles, memorandums, reports to instructions, it can be seen that
they struggle with these genres because in Vietnamese, they do not understand the texts. This
leads to the reason why they cannot translate well. In addition, when they meet the new topics,
especially in science and technology, the complex and difficult terms make them stuck.

4.3 The causes of the difficulties in the first translation module

To resolve the difficulties mentioned above, teachers have taught the students a number of
techniques to apply in their translated texts. However, it will not work if the students do not have
self-practice, which is presented specifically in the pie chart below. When the students were
asked how much time they spent on translation (including homework), over half of the survey
(65.7%) reported that they spend from 2 to 3 hours on translation, whereas a minority of the
surveyed (14.3%) spend from 4 or 5 hours. Moreover, there are a number of the correspondents
even never spend time on the subject.

29
 Figure 4. 6 The average time the students spend on translation per week

In response to question “What are causes for your difficulties?”, the answers received are
the lack of responsibility, knowledge, incentive and the attitude which is not positive and
proactive to the subject, while the reason for the new subject only accounts for 3%.

From the result, we can find that the causes are individual, which means the students can
overcome these difficulties their selves. 4 or even 5 hours is just time needed to finish homework,
not accounting for practice time. Objectively speaking, they can self-overcome these obstacles by
practicing.

4.4 The methods that the students used to overcome the difficulties, their self-evaluation in
these methods and the recommending methods to enhance translation skills
According to the result of the survey about the methods that the students have used in the
first translation module, it can be seen that the majority of them chose looking for dictionary
(65.7%) and searching the related-topic documents (68.6%), whereas a minority of them watch
videos or listen to music or ask for assistance when encountering these difficulties.

As their self-evaluation about the efficiency of these methods, 65.7% finds the efficiency
is on average, 25.7% of them finds fairly good and a small number of them (8.6%) think their
methods are bad.

30
 With the above data, it can be concluded that the methods the students using do not really
bring the considerable movements for their translation skills. This is the reason why we give
several recommending methods for the correspondents. This chart below presents their choices
for the suggested methods. In this question, we cannot adjust which method is right or wrong
because it depends on the translation styles of the students and their favorites.

Figure 4. 7 The recommending methods to enhance translation skills

4.5 Summary
The data from the survey combining with the process of observation helps the researchers
find out the difficulties when the population have had in the first translation module. Generally
speaking, they have met a number of difficulties related to linguistics, culture and background
knowledge in detail. From these obstacles, the research has investigated the causes that lead to
the abovementioned issues. The data shows that the reasons mainly focus on the individual
attitude to the subject, particularly in the research is about the time they spend practicing
translation.

31
 In addition, the survey helps the students have a self-evaluation about their using
methods, which presents a majority of them are not satisfied with their methods and their
efficiency. For that reason, at the end of the questionnaire survey, we give several recommending
methods which are proven effectively as mentioned in the literature review to broaden their
variety of choices and assist them to have a better translation skill in the next semester and in
their translating career in the future.

32
 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
In this chapter, the findings in Chapter 4: Data Analysis will be discussed more in order
to find the agreements and disagreements between the results of the study and other relating

research.

5.1. Review of the findings

The collected and analyzed data have answered all of the research questions:

 What are the difficulties they encountered during the translation process?
 Which causes leading to difficulties?
 What are some solutions to help students overcome these problems and improve their
translation skills?

In the next part of this chapter, all the findings of this study will be compared to other

existing researches so as to highlight the similarities and differences.

5.2. Agreements between the findings and the existing research

Some findings in our study seem similar to the results in existing research.

According to a research on translation's difficulties conducted by Arono & Nadrah

(2019), the most frequent error made by students is translating idioms that occur 420 times which
equals to 87.05% of the total errors. A slightly different, but still consider being the most difficult
problem encountered, the findings show 57.1% of the students is abstruse to recognize phrasal
verbs and idioms, especially idioms.

Another study about translation by Lam Dong Radio – Television Station, 48.1%
translators find that lexical difficulty is the most problematic problem in translation. Similarly,
the findings show that 25 out of 40 students see lexical is an obstacle when doing a translation.

All of the researches also indicate that three of the most difficult problems encountered in
the translation are difficulties in linguistics, culture, and background knowledge, whereas most
students lack a strong background in the content of the text (Arono & Nadrah, 2019; Thu, 2019).
In our study, 40 out of 40 students consider at least one of these three difficulties the hardest.

33
 A study by Lycyna Harmon (2013) shows that paraphrasing is the best translation
strategy, while in our study the same amount of ideas (54.3%) agree that both paraphrasing and
using a synonym is the best method in translating.

In short, the existing studies support our findings in some aspects of the topic, including
the difficulties encountered during the translation process, the causes leading to these difficulties,
and the solutions to help translators overcome these problems.

5.3. Disagreements between the findings and the existing research

There are still disagreements between the findings and the existing researches. They may
be differences in the results, or else they were not studied before.

In a study about translating from English to Islamic (Arono & Nadrah, 2019), 67.29% of
errors are from elliptical errors or punctuation in general, while in our study, the most difficult
thing for students is lexicology or words.

According to an article written by Jafri, Rany, & Leong Lai Mei (2013), 27.5% of
participants study 1-5 hours of English per week, 29.4% study 6-10 hours, 25.6% study 11-15
hours. In our study, 82.9% of students only study about 1-5 hours per week, and the rest does not
even study any English in a week.

While the back-translation method is not considered to be the foremost well-known

strategy in our study, however, in research by Pacific International Translations (2020), it is
favored for critical, high-risk content where interpretation precision is paramount, and any errors
could have critical results.

To sum up, the findings have similarities and differences compared to existing researches.
This is a great advancement in this field of study that eliminates the flaws in previous literature.

34
 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
The translation is one difficult subject faced by all the English-majored students of
English in the School of Foreign Languages at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. The
students have found three main difficulties when translating documents, namely linguistics,
culture, and background knowledge. Besides, we find out that the reasons behind these problems
are mainly the lack of responsibility, knowledge incentive, and the attitude towards the subjects.
Most of all of these causes are of individual fault; therefore, it can be overcome by the self-
practicing for about 1-5 hours a week, even many more hours if they want to achieve a better
level of English. There are also more specific strategies that students can use to improve their
translation skills, such as reading more documents, asking for a consultant, using visual aids,
paraphrasing the ideas, utilizing synonyms, back translation, and culture-bound translation.

It is prescribed for the students in translating the writings to see and understand the
context of the texts before translating, to know the form and shape of the pattern of the words
made up the sentences, to learn literary texts by consulting with the lecturers, to truly understand
the concept of meanings, and to find better strategies in translating by reading some articles or
other sources related to methods of translation. We hope that our research will help the students
to have a better translation skill by finding out the difficulties and the reasons for not having the
difficulties much improved. Furthermore, understanding the translation difficulties of the students
will partially assist the teachers in the translation department to adjust their teaching methods to
have significant movements for teaching and learning translation module.

35
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 APPENDICES
Appendix: Questionnaire surveys

Translation difficulties and solutions of 3rd- year SOFL’s students of HUST

1. What was your score in the first translation module?

A Weak (<4.0)
B Below average (4.0-5.4)
C Average (5.5-6.9)
D Good (7.0-8.4)
E Very good (8.5-10)

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2. In your opinion, what kind of text is more difficult to translate?

A English to Vietnamese
B Vietnamese to English
C Equal difficult level

41
3. What are the factors that make you have difficulties in the translation process? (You can
choose more than one answer)

Linguistics
Culture
Background knowledge
Others:

42
4. What difficulties in LINGUISTICS did you meet when translating in the 1st translation
module? (You can choose more than one answer)

Recognizing and understanding phrasal verbs, collocations, idioms

Meanings of the words/phrases in the contexts of the text
Finding equivalents for the target language
Analysing and understanding complex sentences (sentences with a lot of clauses...)
Others:

43
5. What difficulties in CULTURE did you meet when translating in the 1st translation
module? (You can choose more than one answer)

Understanding cultural differences in the source language and the target language
Understanding and finding cultural equivalents in the target language
Others:

44
6. What difficulties in BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE did you meet when translating in
the 1st translation module? (You can choose more than one answer)

Understanding and applying techniques used in each lesson (translating proper nouns,
cultural words, parallel structures, relative pronouns...)
Not having the background knowledge in translated topics (politics, IT, electronics,
environment...)
Others:

45
7. On average, how much time do you spend on translation per week?

4-5h
2-3h
Never
Others:
8. What are causes for difficulties you face? (You can choose more than one answer)

Lack of responsibility
Lack of knowledge
Lack of incentive
Your attitude towards this subject
New subject
Others:

46
9. What method(s) did you use in the 1st translation module to overcome translation
difficulties? (You may choose more than one answer)

Searching in a dictionary
Looking up documents related to the topic encountered
Watching videos, listen to music
Asking for assistance from teachers, friends, family members...
Others:
10. How would you evaluate your methods of dealing with the difficulties in translation in the
1st translation module?

A Good
B Fairly good
C Average
D Bad
E Others:
11. If possible, what methods listed below will you use in the future to improve your
translation skills? (You may choose more than one answer) (TL: target language; SL:
source language)

Learning the TL’s cultural backgrounds

Back-translation (translate the SL1 to TL, then TL to SL2 and compare the 2 SL)
Using synonyms to translate words which is not crucial to the text
Paraphrasing the author’s idea using your own thoughts
Using visual aids to express emotions
Asking a consultant for a different point of view to the matter
Others:

47