Unit 5: Cultural Maintenance

5.1. Beirut: UNESCO has completed the

rehabilitation of the 280 educational institutions
damaged by port explosions
5.2. Nghệ sĩ làm điều tử tế ở thế giới mạng
 Basic Vocabulary
• Rehabilitation (n) ~ việc khôi phục
– Rehabilitate (v)
• Blast (n) ~ luồng gió, luồng hơi (từ vụ nổ)
– Blast (v)
• Devastate (v), damage (v), wreck (v) ~ phá
hủy, tàn phá
– Devastation (n), damage (n), detriment (n), wreck
(n)
• Appeal to someone ~ khẩn khoản yêu cầu
• Appall (v) ~ gây kinh hoàng, gây khủng hoảng
– Appalling (a), appalled (a)
• Sloppy (a) ~ cẩu thả, nhếch nhác, tùy tiện
• Mediocre (a), ordinary (a) ~ tầm thường
• Aesthetic (a) ~ có tính thẩm mỹ
– Aesthetically (adv)
• Ambitious (a), challenging (a) ~ mang tính thách
thức, đầy khó khăn
 Next…
Look at the following sentences, in both English and
Vietnamese. How is the grammar different?
• Someone broke the glass. (“Ai đó làm vỡ kính
rồi”)
• The glass was broken. (“Kính (bị làm) vỡ rồi.”
• The glass broke. (“Kính vỡ rồi.”)
What’s special?
• Basically, they express the same idea, but
differ in grammar.
– ACTIVE FORM vs PASSIVE FORM
• The difference in grammar leads to the
difference in voice:
– ACTIVE vs NEUTRAL/ MIDDLE vs PASSIVE
More examples are as follows:
• When the construction finishes, students will
enjoy the new learning center.
• Please wait while your transaction is processing.
• The car stopped in time, so there was no accident.
• If your phone drops, it will definitely break.
=> Frequently-used verbs: start/ begin, continue, fly, boil,
drop, break, increase, decrease, run, etc.
 Now you try
How would you translate the following sentences?
• “Khi sinh viên bị bài vở làm “tụt mood”, họ thường
cảm thấy khó học.”
– “When student(‘s) mood is broken by the lesson, they
usually find it hard to study.”
– “When mood breaks (due to the lesson), students usually …”
– “When the lesson breaks student(‘s) mood, students…”
– “When the lesson causes student(‘s) mood to break,
students…” (no THE to each sentence)
• “Khi não bộ đã phát triển đủ nhiều, thì trẻ em …”
– “As the brain has developed well enough, …”
– “As the brain has been developed …”
– When a child has enough brain growth, …”
– “When a child has reached …
– Etc.
We have different ways to express the same idea.
 What’s the Point?
• A number of verbs can be put in active form, but
maintain passive meaning. These are called
“ERGATIVES”.
– An ergative has no passive form.
– When it is used, the subject of the sentence is actually the
object of the verb.
– Little to no change in meaning is introduced.
• With the use of ERGATIVE, translations may be
varied in grammar => easier to express ideas.
After ERGATIVE, what’s next?
Look at the following sentence and its translations.
Notice the difference in position of some phrases.
(Source) Teachers often avoid “hot button” topics.
(Target 1) Giáo viên thường tránh các chủ đề “nóng”.
(literal: more natural)
(Target 2) Giáo viên thường tránh các chủ đề (thuộc
nhóm) “phím nóng”. (literal + free: unnatural)
(Target 3) Giáo viên thường tránh các chủ đề nhạy cảm.
(equivalence: more natural)
 What to remember?
• Translating a text may require more than one
technique. Some techniques are:
– Literal
– Modulation
– Transposition
– Equivalence
• The choice of technique(s) depends on specific
situations.
 Your handouts
• Now you look at your handouts, follow the
instructions, and do the activities.
Thank you!