A STUDY ON COMMON STRATEGIES TO TRANSLATE CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS IN VIETNAMESE FESTIVALS =

Abstract

ABSTRACT

In the context of rapid and strong integration, the translation of books on Vietnamese culture to a global language as English plays an important role in promoting the image as well as cultural identity of Vietnam to the world. However, translators who are trying to do this have usually encountered with problems of transferring Vietnamese culture-specific words and phrases; thus it has never been an easy task. As a result, serious studies on how to accomplish and better this work are necessary and have certain significance. As one of many attempts to explore the translation of Vietnamese books on culture, this paper seeks to explore the strategies to deal with culture-specific items in the translation of Vietnamese festivals. The study is conducted to find out the most common as well as effective strategies to help translators in general and those who take interest in translating Vietnamese festivals in particular. To obtain the intended goal, the researcher firstly collects the samples from bilingual series on festivals by Hữu Ngọc and Lady Borton, including “Tết Nguyên đán – Vietnamese Lunar New Year”, “Tết Trung thu – Mid-autum festival” and “Lễ hội mùa xuân ở miền Bắc Việt Nam – Spring festivals in Northern Vietnam”. Through the deep analysis and synthesis of the samples and data, the research identifies the strategies to deal with the stated problem, and bases on the calculated statistics to detect the strategies that are applied most frequently. Each strategy presented is exemplified and analyzed carefully to facilitate readers’ comprehension. Lists of samples and their translation are also provided as a source of reference for those who are interested in this subject.