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What are some pitfalls to avoid, specific to Vietnamese, a client should be aware of when translating into this language?
To translate into any language, it is crucial to understand that language's evolving history and to have an idea of the intended reader.
Since 1975, Vietnam has gone through many dramatic transformations in social, cultural, linguistic and monetary fields...
As with any such changes, some are perceived to be positive, and some, negative.
In the area of language, grammar, vocabulary, semantics... have been altered as new vocabulary and idioms are introduced.
A large number of words are pronounced and written differently in Vietnam since the unification of 1975; some people even call this the (new) "socialist" language.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese people who have emigrated to other countries around the world still speak the Vietnamese used prior to 1975; this is referred to then as the (old) "freedom" language.
For many good reasons, some of the Vietnamese living in the States (and abroad) have very strong feelings against the government in Vietnam. They reject the new language conventions, feeling that elements were intentionally and randomly changed in an attempt to destroy their history and culture.
This is an important consideration for translation and why the language and style should be different for a document used by Vietnamese living in Vietnam or by Vietnamese living abroad.
A company could miss out on a substantial market, both in Vietnam and around the world, if they are not to appear sensitive to such current linguistic differences.
Many Vietnamese living outside of Vietnam (mostly in the States, Europe, and Australia) would potentially reject a marketing campaign that contained an abundance of "new" Vietnamese terms. On the other hand, a document containing "old" Vietnamese terms would be difficult for Vietnamese currently living in Vietnam to understand, especially for those born after the unification of 1975.
What are same characteristics of Vietnamese that are unique or different from English and/or other languages?
1. Vietnamese has two-word terms (for example: house="cư gia"), for which the order can be reversed without changing the meaning, and this is not a syntax error either!
Here are a few examples:
• house: "cư gia" or "gia cư"
• friends: "bạn bè" or "bè bạn"
• residents: "cư dân" or "dân cư"
• go together: "đi cùng" or "cùng đi"
• sale: "buôn bán" or "bán buôn"
• bright moon: "trăng sáng" or "sáng trăng"
• spread: "lan truyền" or "truyền lan"
(spread disease, lead ...)
2. Vietnamese terms mainly rely on the accent on or under the vowel to determine both the pronunciation and the meaning. An accent might only have a slight difference in pronunciation but create a completely different meaning.
For example:
• hải (ocean) and hãi (afraid) (slightly different in pronunciation)
• hái (cut fruit), hài (funny), hại (harmful), hai (two) (different in pronunciation)
• hộp (box), hợp (similar, correctness), anh họp (assemble, meeting) (slightly different in pronunciation)
• cùi": "bệnh cùi" (leprosy), "cùi chỏ" (elbow), "cùi ngân phiếu" (check stub)
3. There are a number of adjectives that can be used generally to qualify a variety of nouns, but some others are dedicated only to a certain type of subject/thing/animal.
For example: "đen" (black) is used in "ngựa đen" (black horse), "mèo đen" (black cat), "chó đen" (black dog), "dế đen" (black cricket), "tóc đen (black hair), "dầu đen" (black oil), but:
• "ô" is only for horses: "ngựa ô" (black horse)
• "mun" is for cats: "mèo mun" (black cat)
• "mực" is for dogs: "chó mực" (black dog)
• "than" is for crickets: "dế than" (black cricket)
• "huyền is for hair: "tóc huyền" (black hair)
• "hắc" is for oil: "dầu hắc" (black oil)
• etc.
4. Vietnamese has some two-word terms, where both words have no meaning if standing alone: lẩm rẫm, choi choi, uềnh oang, lêu lổng, suồng sã, bâng khuâng
How do these characteristics make it important to use properly qualified, professional translators?
Basically, a professional translator will chose the right word for the context he/she is translating to make the sentence more rich and full of meaning. He/she will also be a lot more careful in putting the correct accent on the vowel. One single mistake will give the word/sentence a very different meaning.
A good editor should also know that using a "reversed" term within one sentence or paragraph should not be considered an inconsistency; the translator may only be trying to make the sentence more colorful.
Professional translators have good knowledge of both their source and destination languages, particularly for industry-specific terms.
Professional translators are experienced in CAT (computer-aided translation) software and can deliver their work in the appropriate form required by customers.
Do you know of examples where translation or localization mistakes have occurred with Vietnamese, such as problems with text expansion, date/time formats, counting errors, character encoding, etc., or mistakes with the translation itself? Perhaps you've been asked to review a translation that did not seem to be the work of a properly qualified, professional translator.
A. Since the business world is becoming more and more international, the first thing a Vietnamese translator will ask is where the translated document will be used: by readers in the U.S., in Europe, or in Vietnam. The market will dictate a number of factors:
1. The unit of measure and monetary units
a. If the market is the U.S., the format will be US Standard, and the monetary unit and punctuation are kept, only measurements are translated (i.e., 3.5" 1,000 lbs, $23.12, etc. becomes 3.5 insơ, 1,000 cân Anh, $23.12 Mỹ kim, etc.)
b. If the market is Europe or Vietnam, the format will be Metric Standard, and the punctuation is changed and the unit converted into metric (i.e. 8,9 cm, 453,60 kgs, $23,12, etc.)
2. The language
a. If the market is the U.S., Europe or Australia, terms should reflect Vietnamese before 1975, or the language of the South Vietnamese (the older language).
b. If the market is Vietnam, usage should mirror the language after 1975, or the language of the North Vietnamese (the current language).
3. The dialect.
If the market is Vietnam, it's better to specify the region (Northern, Central, or Southern).
4. The character encoding
a. If the market is the U.S., Europe, or Australia, VPS/VNI (and lately, Unicode) is preferred.
b. If the market is North Vietnam, ABC [TCVN] (and lately, Unicode) is preferred.
c. If the market is South Vietnam, VNI (and lately, Unicode) is preferred.
B. Companies should know that Vietnamese translators (or Vietnamese translation groups) in the U.S. do understand the variations in Vietnamese both in the U.S. and in Vietnam, while a translator (or Vietnamese translation group) in Vietnam might not be aware of the situation (if they never travel abroad).
This also applies when selecting a qualified editor.
There are many instances, in which companies are having translation work reviewed in Vietnam—thinking they will get the most authentic feedback this way—and come back with a lot of changes (and bad rating on our work), because the reviewer does not understand the market in the U.S.!
Relate an example or two of times you found a website page or form difficult to use because it was poorly localized. How might a business lose money, prestige, or incur legal risk due to this bad translation?
Refer to our website, and click on the upper right link to see our translation samples.
After you choose one of the many samples then, when the page displays, click on the yellow/red dot the upper left to switch between the English and the Vietnamese.
(Note: If you choose a sample using a VNI or VPS font, you might need to have VNI or VPS fonts installed on your machine to view the page.)
Since Vietnamese expands the word count from the English original document by around 35% a good translator should always be aware of that situation and ensure the his/her text works within the formatting parameters of the English document.
If possible, provide one example of a particular phrase or concept that only a properly qualified, professional translator would be able to correctly communicate.
Here are a few examples:
• For drill do you need a "boring/rotary tool" or a "training/exercise"?
• A STOP Program may refer to a proper name or to an abbreviation/acronym
• Fork as a cooking utensil should be translated as "dĩa" for North Vietnam and as "nĩa" for South Vietnam
• Brake should be translated, as "phanh" for North Vietnam and as "thắng" for the South Vietnam
