Unit 2: Translation skills at
phrase level
Passive Voice
• Passive voice is usually found in academic English works such
business document and scientific papers whereas Vietnamese
prefer active form.
E.g.:
A recommendation for adjustments of the social insurance law is
made to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs.→
Mọi người kiến nghị Bộ Lao động – Thương binh và Xã hội nên
điều chỉnh luật bảo hiểm xã hội mới.
• However, in some situations an English version adopting
active voice is translated into Vietnamese with passive voice.
E.g.:
1) Tôi bị mất tiền. →. I have lost my money
2) He used to be arrested for his crime. → Anh ta đã có tiền án
tiền sự.
Collocations
• “Collocations” are combinations of words that
frequently go together and sound "right" to
native English speakers whereas other
combinations sound "wrong" and unnatural.
E.g.:
Natural English: the fast train, fast food, a quick
shower, a quick meal.
Unnatural English: the quick train, quick food, a
fast shower, a fast meal.
Categories for collocations
• a. Idioms: are expressions whose meanings do not reflect the
meanings of their component parts.
E.g.:
to make a mountain out of a molehill
to carry coals to Newcastle
to have cold feet
An idle brain is the devil’s workshop
• b. Fixed collocations: are expressions whose meanings reflect the
meaning of their constituent parts but they spring to mind
readily to be psychologically salient (in contrast to free
combinations.
E.g.:
as a matter of fact (thật ra), all the best (chúc bình an vô sự), crime
does not pay (thiên bất dung gian), waste not want not (phí của
Trời), rancid butter (bơ có mùi).
Categories for collocations
• c. Free/Weak collocations: are expressions that co-
occur with a greater than random frequency.
E.g.:
“murder” can be used with many verbs (to analyze, boast
of, condemn, discuss, (etc.) a murder), and these verbs, in
turn, combine freely with other nouns.
• d. Medium-strength collocations: are words that go
together with a greater frequency than weak
collocations.
E.g.:
Tổ chức cuộc họp (hold a meeting)
Tiến hành nghiên cứu (conduct an experiment)
Nộp hồ sơ (file paperwork)
Diction
3 levels of diction
• High/formal diction: employs language that
creates an elevated tone without any slangs,
idioms, or colloquialisms.
• Neutral diction: contains standard language and
vocabulary.
• Informal/low diction: uses common and simple
language with colloquialisms, slangs, dialects,
etc.
Elements to consider for effective diction in
translation
• Accuracy
It means the words chosen must reflect the correct meaning of the writers and at
the same time can arouse the same effects on the target receivers.
• Readers’ background
Generally, there are 3 groups of audience:
– Experts: are those who have a deep insight into the subject mentioned.
– Educated laymen: are ordinary people with some basic background
knowledge of the relevant topic.
– The uninformed: are who are nearly ignorant of the
• Writer’ purposes and intentions
The writer’s purposes play a significant role in determining the appropriate
choice of words. For example, if the purpose is to inform, translators should use
straightforward diction. If the purpose is to entertain, interpreters might have to
exploit figurative language in ironic, playful, or humorous ways.
• Politeness
Different cultures have different viewpoints on politeness, especially in business
settings, translators are supposed to re-construct the messages in a polite
manner at all time.
Techniques to adopt high diction
• 1. Euphemism. E.g.: Người tàn tật = physically challenged /differentially
abled (instead of "disabled people"); hàng Sida = pre-owned (instead of
“second-hand”)
• 2 Biased-free language: are terms that treat people with respect and
make them feel included. E.g.: Ladies and Gentlemen = Xin kính chào
quý vị quan khách! (It shouldn’t be translated as “Xin chào quý bà và quý
ông” since the youth or senior citizens might feel excluded)
• 3. Indirectness: This technique depends on the relevant cultures and
current situations. Indirectness is preferable when translators want to
avoid a particular sensitive point, thus fostering solidarity among parties
involved.
• 4. Paraphrase: is a procedure whereby translators replace a
word/phrase in the source text by a group of words in the target text,
restating important information and ideas of writers, taking into
consideration both connotation and denotation meaning of lexical units,
and including all of the minor details into target language.
