HANOI UNIVERSITY

Km 9 Nguyen Trai Road, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam

Telephone:(84-4)3854 4338; Fax:(84-4)3854 4550 E-mail:
hanu@hanu.edu.vn; Website: www.hanu.edu.vn

GRADUATE DIPLOMA ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Family Name: Bui First Name: Lam

Unit Title: Academic Writing

Assignment Title: COMMON ERRORS IN VIETNAMESE – ENGLISH TRANSLATION MADE BY ENGLISH-MAJORING

STUDENTS IN VIETNAM

Name of Lecturer: Nguyen Thi Thu Ha Ph.D Class:

Date Submitted: Student Contact Telephone No./Student Email Address:

STUDENT DECLARATION

I DECLARE THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS ORIGINAL AND HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR ASSESSMENT ELSEWHERE .
I DECLARE THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS MY OWN WORK AND DOES NOT INVOLVE PLAGIARISM OR

COLLUSION.

I GIVE MY CONSENT FOR THE ELECTRONIC VERSION TO BE EXAMINED BY RELEVANT PLAGIARISM

SOFTWARE PROGRAMS.
I HAVE MADE A PHOTOCOPY OR ELECTRONIC COPY OF MY ASSIGNMENT , WHICH I CAN PRODUCE IF THE ORIGINAL
IS LOST FOR ANY
REASON.

SIGNED: DATED:

1
 MARKS

COMMENTS: .......................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................

Lecturer’s Signature: ..……………………………………… Date: ………………....

2
 Abstract

This paper reviews the common errors made by English-majoring students that affect

their translations, focusing on the grammatical and lexical mistakes, through the careful

examination of several existing research on the aforementioned subjects. The exploration of the

grammar errors encompasses tense misuse, subject-verb agreement, subject omission, and

inaccurate article use, while lexical inaccuracies describe specifically preposition misuse and

inaccurate cultural item transfer. The analysis of the errors and summary of relevant literature not

only demonstrate that these mistakes can arise from linguistic and cultural disparities between

Vietnamese and English but also highlight potential solutions to enrich students' vocabulary and

enhance cultural sensitivity to improve translation precision. Ultimately, the literature review

seeks to contribute valuable insights to language education, providing a development foundation

of effective pedagogical approaches addressing the specific needs of English-majored students in

Vietnam.

3
 Table of Contents

Abstract...........................................................................................................................................3

1. Introduction............................................................................................................................5

2. Definitions of key terms..........................................................................................................6

2.1. Translation......................................................................................................................6

2.1.1. Translation..................................................................................................................6

2.1.2. Methods of translation..............................................................................................6

2.2. English-majoring students in Vietnam........................................................................8

3. Common errors in Vietnamese-to-English translations of English-majored students in

Vietnam...........................................................................................................................................8

3.1. Grammatical errors.......................................................................................................8

3.2. Lexical errors...............................................................................................................10

4. Conclusion............................................................................................................................12

Reference list................................................................................................................................13

4
1. Introduction

Translation has always been a helpful tool for society. Ancient translations include a Latin

Odyssey version translated by Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave, in 250 BC and the Rosetta

stone from Egypt created in 196 BC (Kelly & Jerome, 1988). In the increasingly globalized

world with a rising need for cross-cultural interactions, translation, translators, and interpreters,

are gaining significance, which calls for more proficient workers in the field. Translation,

however, is challenging as it does not simply involve conveying the words in one language into

equivalent ones in another, but the delivery of the text's meaning and the writer’s intention in the

most authentic manner (Newmark, 1988). Consequently, numerous mistakes or obstacles related

to grammatical rules and lexical feature usage are highly likely.

This essay therefore attempts to explore and analyze the aforementioned translation

errors made by Vietnamese English-majoring university students when translating from

Vietnamese to English in their respective orders. Besides, the research will suggest several

possible solutions to improve the precision of their usage of English grammatical and lexical

items in Vietnamese-to-English translation.

By raising translators’ awareness of several mistakes made during the conversion of

Vietnamese text to English, this essay would contribute to increasing translation accuracy, and

thus facilitating more culturally sensitive communication between Vietnamese and English

speakers in the increasingly interconnected modern world.

The essay first looks at the definitions of key elements, namely translation and English-

majoring undergraduates, before analyzing common grammatical and lexical mistakes

5
commonly committed by the students. Finally, it concludes by providing suggestions for the

limitations of these errors.

2. Definitions of key terms

2.1. Translation

2.1.1. Translation

“Translation” involves the transformation of a text between languages with the

preservation of the original meaning (Newmark, 1988). The keywords include “rendering” and

“the original intention”, which emphasizes that translation is not simply conveying words in the

source language (SL) to their equivalents in the target language (TL), but also requires the

maintenance of the qualities of the original text. Consequently, the translators have to make

many decisions, such as the style or idiolect preservation or the selection of suitable grammatical

and lexical items in the SL and TL (Newmark, 1988). These require a competent translator to

utilize different translation methods in different situations to produce the most accurate and

appropriate translation possible.

2.1.2. Methods of translation

In his book, Newmark outlines eight translation methods, four of which focus on the SL

(word-for-word translation, literal translation, faithful translation, and semantic translation),

while the others emphasize the TL (adaptation, free translation, idiomatic translation, and

communicative translation) (Newmark, 1988).

6
 Word-for-word translation: This method “translates words in a text singly by their most

common meanings, out of context. In this, cultural terms are translated literally, without any

attempt to modify them.”

Literal translation: While this method “converts the SL grammatical constructions to

their nearest TL equivalents, the lexical items are still translated singly, out of context.”

“Faithful translation: This method aims at “reproducing the accurate contextual meaning

of the original within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures. Cultural words are

transferred without altering the level of grammatical and lexical abnormality. It focuses on being

faithful to the way the SL writer intends the text to be.”

Semantic translation: Semantic translation is similar to faithful translation with

consideration for the artistic value of the SL, trying to maintain the qualities of the SL, including

assonance, word-play, or repetition.

Adaptation: This is deemed by Newmark to be the form of translation mainly used for

plays, with the cultural items that are specific to SL converted to the TL culture, while other

features like themes, characters, and plots are usually maintained.

Free Translation: This method conveys both the meaning and intent of the original text in

a natural way in TL, in which the manner or form of the original is often discarded.

Idiomatic translation: This maintains the message of the original text, but colloquialisms

and idioms are utilized in places where these are not present in the original.

Communicative translation: This method stays faithful to the original contextual meaning

by using acceptable and comprehensible content and language for the SL readers.

7
 2.2. English-majoring students in Vietnam

This literature review is based on studies of students from different universities majoring

in the English language and whose courses involve translating Vietnamese texts into English and

vice versa. According to the information on the main websites of the universities, after the

courses, the students are expected to have the ability to produce accurate translations of different

texts between the languages, which requires an awareness of the common mistakes that they

make to avoid them in their future professional environment and highlights the need for

pedagogical methods to help them achieve this (Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry, 2016;

Tay Do University, 2018; Duy Tan University, 2024).

3. Common errors in Vietnamese-to-English translations of English-majored students in

Vietnam.

There are different methods to categorize translation errors based on a variety of distinct

theories and norms. This review focuses mainly on the ones commonly made by Vietnamese

English-majoring students during their translation from Vietnamese to English, including

grammatical errors and lexical errors.

3.1. Grammatical errors

A grammar error occurs when a sentence in the translation violates the TL grammatical

rules. The errors examined in this essay involve the wrong usage of tenses, subject–verb

agreement, omission of the subject, and inaccurate article usage.

Vietnamese students tend to struggle with tense usage during translation due to the

differences between how tenses function in Vietnamese and English. Specifically, while English

speakers should be aware of the appropriate use of tenses and aspects, demonstrated through

8
different rules, these features are not as prominent in Vietnamese and are often expressed with

the adverbials “đã, đang, sẽ” preceding the unchanged verbs to indicate the concept of time (D.

Nguyen, 2020). For example, while the verb “play” in English can be transformed into “played”

to express the action of the past, in Vietnamese the speakers/writers usually add the adverbial

“đã” prior to the main verb to express the idea that this is a past action instead of changing the

verb itself. This leads to the students lacking the marker “-ed” after the verb in their English

translation.

The problem of subject–verb agreement also poses real challenges to students attempting

to translate Vietnamese texts into English. For example, while the present simple tense in English

requires the verb to have an extra “-s” if the subject is “he”, “she”, or “it”, or a singular or

uncountable noun, in Vietnamese, whether the subject is singular or plural, the verb undergoes no

such change (Nguyen, 2015). This results in the students translating the phrase “anh ấy thích”

into “he like” instead of “he likes” when using the aforementioned tense.

Another common translation error is the lack of subject in translation. This happens when

the original Vietnamese texts have an empty pronoun or elliptical subject, and because of

students’ unawareness of the missing subject, it is often not included in the translation (Bui,

2018). Consequently, they transfer sentences such as “Nếu áp dụng giải pháp này, vấn đề sẽ được

giải quyết” (If PEOPLE/WE apply this measure, the problem will be solved) into “If apply this

measure, the problem will be solved”.

The correct article usage in a noun phrase is another notable problem. Firstly, students are

often unable to identify the instances in which the article “the” is necessary, demonstrated

through their translation of “người giàu - người nghèo” into “rich people – poor people” instead

of “the rich – the poor” (Nguyen, 2021). Moreover, they are also confused when determining

9
whether to use the definite article “the” or the indefinite pronoun “a” before a consonant or “an”

for a vowel in English (Nguyen, 2021). A possible explanation for these phenomena is that the

Vietnamese language has no exact equivalents to the articles in English (Dam, 2001), so students

often omit or misuse these articles in their English translation. This exemplifies the effects of the

SL grammatical features on the final translation in the TL.

3.2. Lexical errors

Due to the many lexical differences between the two languages, Vietnamese students also

encounter several difficulties when translating Vietnamese texts into English in terms of lexical

items, including prepositions and idioms.

Prepositions: These are “words or groups of words that precede a noun, pronoun, or noun

phrase to demonstrate the direction, time, place, location, and spatial relationships, or to

introduce an object” (Lai, 2023). Despite their existence in both English and Vietnamese, they

have different attributes and usage.

Particularly, while each Vietnamese preposition has a fixed meaning regardless of the

word that precedes it, the meanings of English prepositions are usually dependent on their

preceding words (Phan et al., 2022). These differences can contribute to making precise

preposition usage an obstacle in the language acquisition of learners, as their selection of the

English preposition is usually based on the Vietnamese meaning without paying attention to their

different meanings. For example, the Vietnamese preposition “về” is usually converted into

“about” in English, which has led to several mistranslations reported in the research conducted

by Phan et al (2022).

10
 Moreover, while English users often involve trajector and landmarks when using

prepositions, Vietnamese people do not pay attention to these factors (Tran, 2010). For example,

based on these factors, the Vietnamese preposition “trên” can be translated into either “on”,

“above”, or “over” in English (T. Nguyen, 2020). This is also demonstrated in the research

conducted in 2022 by Phan et al. and the table of Tran (2010). Because of this difference in the

way prepositions are considered in the two languages, Vietnamese students can make mistakes

when choosing a suitable preposition for their translation.

Cultural errors: These are typical when students attempt to translate a text with culturally

specific items such as idioms from one language into another (Phan et al., 2022). This is because

the cultural context represents a variety of factors, including the worldview, beliefs, emotions,

and values of a particular society, and these require translators to have a specific set of culture-

related information to translate easily and effectively (Chahrour, 2018). Without these, students

can have problems when trying to successfully convey the accurate intention and content of the

original phrase.

In the case of Vietnamese and English, they are two different cultures. Therefore, despite

some coincidences, culturally specific items like idioms can certainly trouble students, and this

results in the utilization of word-by-word translation to replicate the meaning, leading to a

potentially inaccurate and unnatural translation (Phan et al., 2022). For example, the Vietnamese

idiom “sướng như tiên” is reproduced by many students as “like a fairy”, which both fails to

convey the original meaning and is unidiomatic (Phan et al., 2022).

11
4. Conclusion

In conclusion, the examination of common errors in Vietnamese-English translation made

by English-majoring students in Vietnam highlights the intricate challenges inherent in

interlingual communication. The examination of common grammatical and lexical errors has

highlighted areas where students often struggle, including tense usage, subject–verb agreement,

article usage, prepositions, and cultural nuances. While the pervasive nature of grammatical

errors suggests a need for targeted instruction on syntax and language structures, lexical errors,

often rooted in linguistic and cultural differences between Vietnamese and English, underscore

the necessity of cultivating a deeper understanding of language nuances during translation

exercises.

To address these challenges, pedagogical interventions are imperative. Enriching

students' vocabulary through contextualized exercises, emphasizing the intricacies of English

grammar, and fostering cultural sensitivity training can significantly enhance their translation

skills. Moreover, incorporating practical strategies such as peer review sessions, collaborative

translation projects, and exposure to authentic materials can provide students with real-world

application opportunities.

By implementing these solutions, educational institutions can contribute to the

development of more adept translators equipped not only with linguistic proficiency but also

with a nuanced understanding of cultural subtleties, fostering accurate and culturally sensitive

translations.

12
 Reference list

Bui, T. K. P. (2018). Common structural errors in Vietnamese - English translation made by

English majored students at Duy Tan university. The University of Danang.

http://tailieuso.udn.vn/handle/TTHL_125/9188

Chahrour, O. (2018). Cultural problems in translation [Review of Cultural problems in

translation]. Translation Journal. https://translationjournal.net/July-2018/cultural-

problems-in-translation.html

Dam, P. (2001, February 1). Old Habits Die Hard: Persistent Errors in English Written by

Vietnamese Speakers. ERIC. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED453672

Duy Tan University. (2024). Duy Tan University. Retrieved from Duy Tan University:

https://duytan.edu.vn/tuyen-sinh/Page/EducationDetail.aspx?id=267

Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry. (2016). Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry.

Retrieved from Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry:

https://tuyensinh.hufi.edu.vn/bai-viet/tieng-anh/nganh-tieng-anh-28.html

Kelly, L., & Jerome, S. (1988). Retrieved January 30, 2024, from

https://open.unive.it/hitrade/books/Cours%20de%20Louis%20G.%20Kelly.pdf

Lai, P. (2021). Academic Guides: Grammar: Prepositions. Academicguides.waldenu.edu.

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/prepositions

Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Longman.

13
Nguyen, P. Q. N. (2015). A QUICK ANALYSIS OF SOME TYPICAL GAPS IN PHONOLOGY

AND MORPHOLOGY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE THAT LEAD TO

VIETNAMESE STUDENTS’ COMMON ERRORS.

Nguyen, D. S. (2020). THE TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH TENSES AND ASPECTS IN

NARRATIVE MODE INTO. VNU Journal of Foreign Studies.

Nguyen, T. L. H. (2020). A contrast between English and Vietnamese prepositions [Review of A

contrast between English and Vietnamese prepositions]. Vietnam Journals Online.

https://vjol.info.vn/index.php/dhhp/article/view/56269

Nguyen, T. B. H. (2021). A Study on Common Errors in Vietnamese - 24 English Transl tion by

English 25 majors Students at Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry (HUFI).

Phan, T. M. U., Nguyen, T. T. H., & Nguyen, H. L. (2022). SOME COMMON ERRORS IN

VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH-MAJOR JUNIORS AT TAY

DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM. European Journal of English Language Teaching, 7(2).

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v7i2.4226

Tay Do University. (2018). Tay Do University. Retrieved in 2024, from Tay Do University:

https://tdu.edu.vn/storage/photos/shares/CDR/2018/CDR%20NNA%202018.pdf

Tran, Q. H. (2010). Major differences in the use of English and Vietnamese locative prepositions

describing special relations. Retrieved from: http://www.kh-

sdh.udn.vn/zipfiles/so40quyen3/10-tranquanghai.pdf

14