TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. II. III. IV. TRANSLATION 1. Definition of translation 2. Definition of translation strategies LITERARY TEXTS 1. Definition and characteristics of literary texts 2. Classification of literary texts PROPER NAMES 1. Definition and characteristics of proper names 2. Classification of proper names TRANSLATION OF PROPER NAMES IN LITERARY TEXTS 1. Potential challenges in translating proper names 2. Translation strategies of proper names CONCLUSION REFERENCES (7TH APA) Literature Review: Strategies in translating Proper names from English into Vietnamese in literary texts. Introduction This chapter lays the theoretical foundation for the research by examining literature about translation, literary texts, proper names, and strategies for translating proper names. I. Translation 1. Definition of translation Translation is the cognitive process of conveying the intended message of a spoken or written communication from one language to another. The process entails moving the information of a written text from its original language, referred to as the source language (SL), to the intended language, known as the target language (TL) (Foster, 1958). The aim of translation is to faithfully express the meaning and essence of the source discourse in the target language. 2. Definition of translation strategies According to Krings (1986), the term "translation strategy" refers to the deliberate and conscious plans that translators utilize to address specific translation challenges within a given translation project. Furthermore, regarding Loescher (1991), “translation strategy” is described as a potentially conscious approach employed to solve problems encountered during the translation of a text or its segments. This definition emphasizes the importance of awareness in differentiating strategies utilized by learners or translators. II. Literary Texts 1. Definition and characteristics of literary texts A literary text is a particular style of writing whose primary objective is to demonstrate how the content has a poetic or artistic purpose (Martin, 2022). The outstanding characteristic of literary text is the ability to convey ideas delicately and artistically within the various genres. Some literary writings also share aspects with other texts, such as description, exposition, or argumentation, simply because the literary component delivers many forms of play and offers a wide range of possibilities. 2. Classification of literary texts Along with providing a definition, Martin (2022) additionally outlines different types of literary texts, including lyrical, dramatic, and narrative texts. III. Proper names 1. Definition and characteristics of proper names According to her, there are two distinctive features of proper names which are uniqueness and the identification marks of individuals. Sharing the same common ground with Bertills, Miami (1999) presents that proper names are typically not restricted by morphological regulations and that they lack synonyms. 2. Classification of proper names Newmark (1988b) as cited in Abdolmaleki (2012) classifies proper nouns into five different categories which are: cultural phrases, national institutional phrases, international phrases, historical institutional phrases, and personal institutional phrases. Also, classified proper names based on the universal meaning they carry, (Gutierrez, 2003) insists that there are four main groups, which are names of people, places, things, and animals, respectively. IV. Translation of proper names in the literary text 1. Potential challenges in translating proper names Sato (2016) states that social-political implications, translating in general, particularly translating proper name distinctions have political ramifications because translation is never just a language process. Furthermore, the way that translation is perceived and used reflects intercultural power. Texts that have been translated not only show the relationship between the source and target cultures, to whom they are intended but also have an impact on them by projecting a certain view of the source culture. Also investigating the cross-cultural criteria, Hang (2022) agrees that proper names are deemed untranslatable because of cultural and linguistic problems. In this situation, cultural untranslatability arises from the fact that a trait that is functionally important for the source language (SL) does not exist from the target language (TL). If the two authors mention culture in the process of translating proper names, Krstev et al., (2010) pay more attention to the availability and the morphological structure of proper names. They mention that the vocabulary utilized to create PNs has the potential to be endless. Since PNs are members of a word-open category, formulating and analyzing PNs following "pure" linguistic principles can be challenging. Additionally, PNs make up a sizeable fraction of the "unknown words" in corpora that cannot be found in dictionaries or documents due to their abundance and originality. Boiling down that translating PN frequently necessitates a different strategy than translating other kinds of words. Furthermore, he mentions to morphological aspects, the term the Chopin tradition can be referred to in English as either the “Chopinian tradition” or the “Chopin Tradition”, as one instructive example provided by possessive and relational adjectives. From this, the very basic criterion "a proper name is any unknown name that starts with a capital letter" can be inferred. However, according to (Maurel, 2004), this criterion is only accurate in 50% of instances because of the homography and compounds. This problem accordingly prevents the translators from preceding proper names in literary texts. 2. Translation strategies of proper names Translating proper names poses significant challenges for translators, particularly when dealing with literary texts. According to Newmark (1993), proper names consistently present a difficulty in translation, regardless of the context. As a result, many scholars have participated in thorough research and presented diverse strategies to translate proper names more effectively. In his dissertation titled "Proper Names in Translation: A relevance-theoretic Analysis," Vermes (2003) proposes four strategies for translating proper names such as modification, translation, substitution, and transference. Firstly, modification involves substituting the proper name with a TL one that may be unrelated or only partially related to the original. Secondly, translation refers to rendering either the entire proper name or a portion of it in the TL using an expression that conveys a similar implication as the source text (ST). Thirdly, substitution involves substituting the proper name in the source language (SL) with an equivalent one that already exists in the target language (TL). Lastly, transference involves preserving the original form of proper names. While Vermes considered generalization, addition and omission as subsets of modification, he does not provide a thorough explanation of these subcategories in his dissertation. Furthermore, Vermes does not offer a justified rationale for grouping these strategies under the umbrella of modification. On the other hand, Davies (2003) presents an alternative perspective on translating proper names, focusing on cultural-specific items. She suggests seven strategies such as preservation, addition, omission, globalization, localization, transformation, creation. Firstly, preservation involves retaining the source language (SL) item without alterations or translating it literally. Furthermore, addition refers to leaving the original item unchanged while providing supplementary information. Conversely, omission means the translators exclude problematic cases. Next, globalization involves substituting culture-specific items with more general ones. Localization involves altering the phonological and grammatical aspects of proper names, to align the translation more closely with the target language (TL). Transformation, as defined by Davies, involves altering or distorting the original proper names (Davies, 2003). Finally, creation entails generating a proper name that is absent in the source text (ST). In comparison to Vermes's approach, Davies's framework offers more comprehensive explanations, particularly regarding strategies like addition and omission. However, the strategy of transformation proposed by Davies may pose practical challenges as it lacks a clear definition, and she acknowledges the potential ambiguity between the definitions of transformation and addition. Another approach to name translation was formulated by Coillie in 2006. He provides ten ways to translate proper names: (1) non-translation (copying or replicating), (2) nontranslation but extra clarification, (3) substitution of a personal name for a familiar one; (4) phonetic or morphological adaptation; (5) exonym; (6) substitution of a more well-known name from the source culture or an internationally - renowned name that serves the same purpose; (7) substitution of a different name from the intended language, (8) translation of names with specific meanings, (9) substitution of an additional name in place of the original, and (10) omission. (as cited in Linh, 2017). Although Coillie's model of strategies has undergone substantial clarification, it still only relies on a character name analysis. Thus, the usage of Coillie’s model is not feasible in a study that consists of different types of names, such as personal names. Conclusion During the translation of proper names, translators often face numerous challenges that extend beyond mere linguistic differences such as the availability and morphological aspects. Consequently, translators are required to skillfully employ these translation strategies in order to produce high-quality and efficient translations. All of the factors mentioned above have led our group to decide to conduct research on "Strategies in translating Proper names from English into Vietnamese in literary texts." The purpose of this research is to identify the strategies used to translate proper names from English to Vietnamese in literary works. By studying these strategies, We seek to draw helpful findings about proper name translation from English to Vietnamese in literary text. To attain these targets, the research aims to address the following questions: 1. What are the common challenges encountered when translating proper names from English to Vietnamese in literary texts? 2. What are common strategies employed by translators to address the challenges of translating proper names in literary texts from English to Vietnamese? REFERENCES Abdolmaleki, S. D. (2012). Proper names in translation: An explanatory attempt. The social sciences, 7(6), 832-837. Coillie, J,V. (2006). Character Names in Translation: A Functional Approach. In Van Coillie, J. and W.P. Verschueren (eds.), Children’s Literature in Translation. Challenges and Strategies (pp. 123-139). Manchester, United Kingdom: St Jerome Publishing. Davies, E.E. (2003). A Goblin or a Dirty Nose? The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication, 9(1), 65-100. Gutiérrez Rodríguez, M. M. (2003). The problem of the translation of proper names in" Harry Potter" and" The Lord of the Rings" Hang, T. (2022). Challenges in literary translation: A case in English- Vietnamese translation of “The Great Gatsby”. VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, 38(3). https://doi.org/10.25073/2525-2445/vnufs.4839 Krings, H.P. (1986). Translation problems and translation strategies of advanced German learners of French. In J. House, & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlingual and intercultural communication (pp. 263-75). Krstev, C., Vitas, D., Maurel, D., & Tran, M. (2005). Multilingual ontology of proper names. In 2nd Language & Technology Conference (LTC'05) (pp. 116-119). Linh. (2017). STRATEGIES IN TRANSLATING PROPER NAMES FROM ENGLISH INTO VIETNAMESE IN FANTASY LITERATURE: A CASE STUDY IN BOOK I OF THE GAME OF THRONES SERIES. UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES. Loescher, W. (1991). Translation performance, translation process and translation strategies. Manini, L. (1996). Meaningful literary names: Their forms and functions, and their translation. The Translator, 2(2), 161-178. Martin, B. (2022, December 12). What is a literary text. Actualidad Literatura. Retrieved from https://www.actualidadliteratura.com/en/que-es-un-texto-literario/ Newmark, P. (1993). Paragraphs on translation. Clevedon, United Kingdom: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Osman, A. (October, 2017). Definition of Translation. Translation Journal. https://translationjournal.net/October-2017/definition-oftranslation.html?fbclid=IwAR2bHdHDroGpb3zB3_dBYkPNKjQAuZBQcGoFWmEn0BweyePEQ53i_MiBxo Sato, E. (2016). Proper names in translational contexts. Theory and practice in language Studies, 6(1), 1.
