Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences

Thanh Minh To

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

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Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences

Thanh Minh To

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 7, Issue 6)

Received: 10 August 2019 Accepted: 5 September 2019 Published: 25 October 2019

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Abstract

The paper is about how to identify the attributes closely related to the two notions named Subject and Đề, the latter including the Topic and the Range Topic, as well as to find out how to translate the Vietnamese sentences the basic structure of which is the Topic-Comment structure into the English sentences the basic structure of which is the Subject-Predicate structure. The paper starts with a selected Vietnamese declarative which in its typical Topic-Comment structure with a succession of three Range Topics in the initial position in order to show the time and space in which whatever presented in the Comment occurs. The paper then presents, one after another, the two suggested translated versions in English: the former requires a Subject which doubles as Topic, which is ‘you’ in this case, in order to play the semantic role of “the Actor”; the latter is an inverted sentence in English, which is definitely equivalent in sense and better reflects the very Topic-Comment structure as well. Considerable attention has been paid to the distinction between the Topic and the Range Topic in the Vietnamese sentences in question. Such a distinction is crucial not only to widely perceiving what is called “meaning” but also to producing well-formed translated versions, either from English into Vietnamese or vice versa. After the theoretical points that are based basically on Functional Grammar are some notes for translating Vietnamese and English sentences. Hopefully, this contributes to drawing the attention of those who have practiced translating, and hopefully professional translators as well, to sophisticated issues in translation, both from and into the English language, which is part of the whole process of language learning.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 7, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
Page(s)	269-276
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Subject, Topic, Subtopic, Comment, Minor Comment, Range Topic, Subject-Predicate Structure, Topic-Comment Structure

References

[1]	Cao Xuan Hao (2004), Tiếng Việt: Sơ thảo ngữ pháp chức năng. Quyển 1 (The Vietnamese Language: A Rough Draft on Functional Grammar. Volume one) (2nd ed.), Hanoi: Social Sciences Press.
[2]	Jacobson, R. (2000). On linguistic aspects of translation. In: L. Venuti (Ed.), The translation studies reader: 113-118, London/New York: Routledge.
[3]	Cao Xuan Hao (chief author), Hoang Xuan Tam, Nguyen Van Bang and Bui Tat Tuom (1998), Ngữ pháp chức năng tiếng Việt. Quyển 1. Câu trong tiếng Việt (The Vietnamese Functional Grammar. Volume one. Sentences in the Vietnamese Language) (2^nd ed.), Hanoi: Education Press.
[4]	Li, Ch. & Thompson, S. (1976), Subject and topic: A new typology of language. In: Ch. Li (Ed.), Subject and Topic: 457-489, New York: Academic Press.
[5]	Cao Xuan Hao (1998), Tiếng Việt: Mấy vấn đề ngữ âm, ngữ pháp, ngữ nghĩa (The Vietnamese Language: A number of Phonetic, Grammatical and Semantic Issues), Hanoi: Education Press.
[6]	Dyvik, H. J. J. (1984), Subject or Topic in Vietnamese. Bergen: University of Bergen.
[7]	Firbas, J. (1971). On the concept of communicative dynamism in the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective. Brno Studies in English 7: 12-47.

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APA Style

Thanh Minh To. (2019). Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 7(6), 269-276. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

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Thanh Minh To. Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 7(6), 269-276. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

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AMA Style

Thanh Minh To. Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences. Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;7(6):269-276. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14,
  author = {Thanh Minh To},
  title = {Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {7},
  number = {6},
  pages = {269-276},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20190706.14},
  abstract = {The paper is about how to identify the attributes closely related to the two notions named Subject and Đề, the latter including the Topic and the Range Topic, as well as to find out how to translate the Vietnamese sentences the basic structure of which is the Topic-Comment structure into the English sentences the basic structure of which is the Subject-Predicate structure. The paper starts with a selected Vietnamese declarative which in its typical Topic-Comment structure with a succession of three Range Topics in the initial position in order to show the time and space in which whatever presented in the Comment occurs. The paper then presents, one after another, the two suggested translated versions in English: the former requires a Subject which doubles as Topic, which is ‘you’ in this case, in order to play the semantic role of “the Actor”; the latter is an inverted sentence in English, which is definitely equivalent in sense and better reflects the very Topic-Comment structure as well. Considerable attention has been paid to the distinction between the Topic and the Range Topic in the Vietnamese sentences in question. Such a distinction is crucial not only to widely perceiving what is called “meaning” but also to producing well-formed translated versions, either from English into Vietnamese or vice versa. After the theoretical points that are based basically on Functional Grammar are some notes for translating Vietnamese and English sentences. Hopefully, this contributes to drawing the attention of those who have practiced translating, and hopefully professional translators as well, to sophisticated issues in translation, both from and into the English language, which is part of the whole process of language learning.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences
AU  - Thanh Minh To
Y1  - 2019/10/25
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 269
EP  - 276
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
AB  - The paper is about how to identify the attributes closely related to the two notions named Subject and Đề, the latter including the Topic and the Range Topic, as well as to find out how to translate the Vietnamese sentences the basic structure of which is the Topic-Comment structure into the English sentences the basic structure of which is the Subject-Predicate structure. The paper starts with a selected Vietnamese declarative which in its typical Topic-Comment structure with a succession of three Range Topics in the initial position in order to show the time and space in which whatever presented in the Comment occurs. The paper then presents, one after another, the two suggested translated versions in English: the former requires a Subject which doubles as Topic, which is ‘you’ in this case, in order to play the semantic role of “the Actor”; the latter is an inverted sentence in English, which is definitely equivalent in sense and better reflects the very Topic-Comment structure as well. Considerable attention has been paid to the distinction between the Topic and the Range Topic in the Vietnamese sentences in question. Such a distinction is crucial not only to widely perceiving what is called “meaning” but also to producing well-formed translated versions, either from English into Vietnamese or vice versa. After the theoretical points that are based basically on Functional Grammar are some notes for translating Vietnamese and English sentences. Hopefully, this contributes to drawing the attention of those who have practiced translating, and hopefully professional translators as well, to sophisticated issues in translation, both from and into the English language, which is part of the whole process of language learning.
VL  - 7
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Author Information

Thanh Minh To

Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hoa Sen University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Thanh Minh To. (2019). Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 7(6), 269-276. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Thanh Minh To. Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2019, 7(6), 269-276. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

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AMA Style

Thanh Minh To. Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences. Int J Lang Linguist. 2019;7(6):269-276. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14,
  author = {Thanh Minh To},
  title = {Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {7},
  number = {6},
  pages = {269-276},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20190706.14},
  abstract = {The paper is about how to identify the attributes closely related to the two notions named Subject and Đề, the latter including the Topic and the Range Topic, as well as to find out how to translate the Vietnamese sentences the basic structure of which is the Topic-Comment structure into the English sentences the basic structure of which is the Subject-Predicate structure. The paper starts with a selected Vietnamese declarative which in its typical Topic-Comment structure with a succession of three Range Topics in the initial position in order to show the time and space in which whatever presented in the Comment occurs. The paper then presents, one after another, the two suggested translated versions in English: the former requires a Subject which doubles as Topic, which is ‘you’ in this case, in order to play the semantic role of “the Actor”; the latter is an inverted sentence in English, which is definitely equivalent in sense and better reflects the very Topic-Comment structure as well. Considerable attention has been paid to the distinction between the Topic and the Range Topic in the Vietnamese sentences in question. Such a distinction is crucial not only to widely perceiving what is called “meaning” but also to producing well-formed translated versions, either from English into Vietnamese or vice versa. After the theoretical points that are based basically on Functional Grammar are some notes for translating Vietnamese and English sentences. Hopefully, this contributes to drawing the attention of those who have practiced translating, and hopefully professional translators as well, to sophisticated issues in translation, both from and into the English language, which is part of the whole process of language learning.},
 year = {2019}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Some Notes for Translating Vietnamese and English Sentences
AU  - Thanh Minh To
Y1  - 2019/10/25
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 269
EP  - 276
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20190706.14
AB  - The paper is about how to identify the attributes closely related to the two notions named Subject and Đề, the latter including the Topic and the Range Topic, as well as to find out how to translate the Vietnamese sentences the basic structure of which is the Topic-Comment structure into the English sentences the basic structure of which is the Subject-Predicate structure. The paper starts with a selected Vietnamese declarative which in its typical Topic-Comment structure with a succession of three Range Topics in the initial position in order to show the time and space in which whatever presented in the Comment occurs. The paper then presents, one after another, the two suggested translated versions in English: the former requires a Subject which doubles as Topic, which is ‘you’ in this case, in order to play the semantic role of “the Actor”; the latter is an inverted sentence in English, which is definitely equivalent in sense and better reflects the very Topic-Comment structure as well. Considerable attention has been paid to the distinction between the Topic and the Range Topic in the Vietnamese sentences in question. Such a distinction is crucial not only to widely perceiving what is called “meaning” but also to producing well-formed translated versions, either from English into Vietnamese or vice versa. After the theoretical points that are based basically on Functional Grammar are some notes for translating Vietnamese and English sentences. Hopefully, this contributes to drawing the attention of those who have practiced translating, and hopefully professional translators as well, to sophisticated issues in translation, both from and into the English language, which is part of the whole process of language learning.
VL  - 7
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download