PART 1:

TRANSLATING SENTENCES

CHAPTER 1:
IDENTIFYING AND TRANSLATING PARTS OF A
SENTENCE
1.1 Introduction
A sentence is, no doubt, the fundamental element of a text. No matter how long
or short the text is, it is made up of sentences. Therefore, translating a text is based on
translating sentences. In general, a sentence is constructed from clauses. Identifying
componential clauses of a sentence is essential to understand the sentence well before
the translation process takes place. In this chapter, the basic steps to translating a
sentence is presented with tips and techniques.

1.2 Identifying the main clause

A sentence, in the simplest term, includes the subject represented by a noun phrase and
a finite verb or verb phrase. In practice, the noun phrase as the subject is often modified
by one or more phrases/clauses, and so is the verb phrase. Consider the following
sentence:
[1.1] SS: Theo tin từ Bộ Thông tin - Truyền thông, trong giai đoạn từ 2011 đến
2015, nguồn ngân sách nhà nước đầu tư cho phát triển lĩnh vực Thông
tin - Truyền thông là 5.000 tỉ đồng.
In this sentence, the main idea lies in ‘nguồn ngân sách nhà nước đầu tư cho phát
triển lĩnh vực Thông tin - Truyền thông là 5.000 tỉ đồng,’ and thus the main clause of
the whole sentence. In this main clause, the subject is ‘nguồn ngân sách nhà nước’ and
the complement is the amount of VND 5,000 billion.
The core part of the sentence is as follows:
TS: The state budget is (worth) VND 5,000 billion.

1.3 Identifying the modifiers

There is further a question to solve in the subject of example [1.1]: What is the
role of the phrase after the subject (‘đầu tư cho phát triển lĩnh vực Thông tin - Truyền
thông’)? Answering this question helps to identify the function as well as the syntactic
structure of the phrase in the sentence.
The phrase is apparently adjectival. It gives particular information about the noun
phrase as subject. As often happens in an English sentence, this phrase can be structured
in the form of a relative clause, a participial phrase or a prepositional phrase:
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 a relative clause: The state budget which is used for the development in the
field of Information and Communication
a participial phrase: The state budget allocated for the development in the field
of Information and Communication
a prepositional phrase: The state budget for the development in the field of
Information and Communication
The complete main clause of the sentence is
TS: The state budget which is used for/allocated for/for the development
of the field of Information and Communication is (worth) VND 5,000
billion.
When the main clause is identified and translated, the remaining of the SS will
be identified in terms of function and syntactic structure.

1.4 Identifying the adverbials

Also take example [1.1], the beginning of the sentence (‘Theo tin từ Bộ Thông
tin - Truyền thông, trong giai đoạn từ 2011 đến 2015’) can be divided into two parts as
they are separated by a comma. The first part (Theo tin từ Bộ Thông tin - Truyền thông’)
gives the source from which the information in the main clause comes, which is
equivalent to the phrase ‘according to the Ministry of Information and Communication’
in English. The second part (‘trong giai đoạn từ 2011 đến 2015’) is an adverbial of time,
equivalent to ‘in the period of 2011 – 2015’, ‘between 2011 and 2015’, or ‘from 2011
to 2015’.
The English version for [1.1] is as follows:
TS: According to the Ministry of Information and Communication, in the
period of 2011 - 2015, the state budget allocated for the development
in the field of Information and Communication is (worth) VND 5,000
billion.
The phrases in the English sentence, nonetheless, are not usually in the order as
above. There should be an adjustment, including re-ordering different parts of the
sentence and conjugating the verb in the proper tense. Firstly, since the adverbials are
subordinate, they often come after the main clause in an unmarked (not showing any
particular feature or style) sentence. Secondly, an adverbial must appear together with
the verb phrase it modifies. In the case of SS [1.1], the period of time from 2011 to 2015
indicates the time for the budget allocation, and thus the adverbial must come after the
verb ‘allocate’, whereas the prepositional phrase ‘according to the Ministry of
Information and Communication’ indicates the source of information for the whole
sentence, so it can be used at the beginning of the sentence or at the end of the sentence,
separated from the sentence by a comma. Furthermore, as the period of time is in the
past, the main verb must be in the simple past tense:

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 [1.1] TS: The state budget allocated for the development in the field of
Information and Communication in the period of 2011 - 2015 was
(worth) VND 5,000 billion, according to the Ministry of Information
and Communication.

1.5 Summary
These are steps to analyzing and translating sentences:
Breaking down sentences into parts by identifying the main clause, the
modifiers and the adverbials
Translating the expression in SL into an equivalent in TL
Putting different parts together to make a TS
Refining the TS in terms of syntax and style
Although the example [1.1] has Vietnamese as the SL, these steps are applicable
to all sentences no matter what their SL is.

1.6 Practice Exercises

1.6.1 Exercise1: Vietnamese-English Translation

Break down each of the following sentences into the main clause and the subordinates,
then translate them into English.
1. Nổi lên với bài hát đầu tay Ướt mi (1957) qua tiếng hát Thanh Thúy, Trịnh
Công Sơn trở thành một hiện tượng âm nhạc thời đó.
Being well-known for the first song namely Uot mi with Thanh Thuy's voice , Trinh Cong Son became a musical phenomenon at that time
2. Nhờ tính cần cù và ý chí mạnh mẽ, anh ấy đã gây dựng cơ nghiệp từ một số
vốn rất khiêm tốn. 2. Thanks to his diligence and strong will, he has built his fortune from a very small amount of money.
3. Anh ấy bày tỏ hy vọng là công ty sẽ làm ăn phát đạt trong những năm tới.
He shows his hope that his company will be developed/ enhanced/ work well / in the coming years.
4. Các tình nguyện viên đã giúp đỡ các em học sinh có hoàn cảnh khó khăn.
Volunteers have helped disadvantaged students/ students in need
5. Giáo dục là một trong những cách tốt nhất để loại bỏ các bất bình đẳng xã hội
và kinh tế.
Education is one of the best ways to eliminate social and economic inequalities.
6. Lũ lụt đã làm ngập nhiều vùng ở duyên hải miền Trung, gây ách tắc giao thông
nhiều nơi trên Quốc lộ 1A.
Floods have occurred in many areas in the central coast, which caused traffic jams in various places on the national highway 1A
7. Ông ấy từ chối tham dự cuộc họp, cho rằng ông không nhận được sự tôn trọng
đúng mực.
He refused to attend /take part in/ participate in the meeting, claiming that he was not respected properly
8. Trong 5 năm trở lại đây, khoa Tiếng Nhật, Đại học Hà Nội đã đào tạo được
hơn 600 cử nhân chính quy và 260 cử nhân vừa làm vừa học.
In the past 5 years, the Japanese department of Hanoi University has trained more than 600 full-time bachelors and more than 260 part-time
ones. 9. Làn sóng lây lan Covid-19 trên diện rộng ở Tokyo đặt thủ đô của Nhật Bản
trước thách thức có thể tổ chức thế vận hội mùa hè vào tháng 7 năm 2021 hay không.
The widespread Covid-19 in Tokyo has brought/offered The Japan's capital challenges of the fact that they could host the summer Olympics in
July 2021. 10. Theo một nghiên cứu mới được công bố trên tạp chí Neurology, lượng vitamin
E và C trong chế độ ăn có liên quan tỷ lệ nghịch với nguy cơ mắc bệnh Parkinson.
According to a new study in the Neurology Journal, the amount of vitamin E and C in the diet is related inversely to the risk of Parkinson's
disease. 3
1.6.2 Exercise 2: English-Vietnamese Translation
Break down each of the following sentences into the main clause and the subordinates,
then translate them into English.
1. The development of jazz can be seen as part of the larger continuum of
American popular music, especially dance music. In the twenties, jazz became the
hottest new thing in dance music, much as ragtime had at the turn of the century, and as
would rhythm and blues in the fifties, rock in the fifties, and disco in the seventies.
2. Carnegie Hall, the famous concert hall in New York City, has again undergone
a restoration. While this is not the first, it is certainly the most extensive in the building’s
history. As a result of this new restoration, Carnegie Hall once again has the quality of
sound that it had when it was first built.
3. In some places, people can’t grow crops because the weather is too hot and
dry, or too wet. This often means that they don’t have enough to eat. Sometimes, people
can’t buy food because of a war, or a natural disaster like a bad storm. Maybe food is
too expensive and people don’t have enough money to feed themselves and their
families.
4. Tobacco is addictive, and smokers need increasingly larger doses to reach the
desired effect. They become physically and psychologically dependent on it and will
suffer severe withdrawal symptoms when they do eventually quit smoking.
5. Forbes reports that 72 per cent of Instagram users have bought something when
using the app and 70 per cent of Pinterest users use the platform to find new and
interesting products. Companies can now create posts that allow users to shop directly
on social media instead of companies’ own websites. This allows retailers to reach their
customers more quickly and easily.