TTLA: Research on methods of translating implied meanings in questions from German to Vietnamese (based on translated literary data)

1. Full name of the doctoral student: Le Thi Bich Thuy2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: 14/08/1978                                                4. Place of birthNam Dinh

5. Decision to recognize doctoral student numberDecision No. 4618/2016/QD-XHNV, dated December 29, 2016, of the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes in the training process:

(Note the types of changes and the corresponding times)

7. Thesis Title: Research on methods of translating implied meanings in questions from German to Vietnamese (based on translated literary works)

8. MajorComparative and contrastive linguistics9. Code number: 62 22 02 41

10. Scientific AdvisorAssoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Quang Dong, Dr. Le Tuyet Nga

11. Summarize the new findings of the thesis (no more than 1 page)

According to the survey, there are four groups of mechanisms that create conventional implied meaning in German questions:direct expression of discourse,A noun that expresses the speaker's attitude,direct social expressionandsyntaxThe mechanisms for generating conversational implications include:complyandViolation of the principles of collaboration and conversational maxims., which primarily violates the principle of Quality.

- Three groups of meanings emerge through the above mechanisms: the speaker's expectations or suggestions to the listener; the speaker's attitude towards the listener/third party; and the speaker's attitude towards what is being said.

- Methods of interpreting implied meaning include:Using particles/adverbs/conjunctions/interjections, semantic shift, grammatical shift.,Translate the question without using interrogative pronouns/question adverbs/question operators.and(translate verbatim).

- According to the two criteria that the thesis has set forth for evaluating translation:implied meaningandlanguage standardsBoth translations examined in the thesis received positive evaluations, from the researcher, translation experts, and examiners alike.

12. Practical applications (if any):

The research findings can serve as a useful reference for translation work in general and literary translation in particular. Identifying the specific mechanisms that create implied meaning in German questions, especially the mechanisms of conventional implied meaning, will help translators better understand the conventional content of discourse-referential expressions, social-referential expressions, etc., thereby enabling them to apply appropriate translation methods to convey those implied meanings into Vietnamese. The results of the evaluation of implied meaning translation options suggest a new, empirical approach to evaluation involving readers in both the source and target languages. Furthermore, these research findings are highly significant for teaching translation in the German-Vietnamese language pair. Lecturers can utilize the research results to teach relevant courses.Literary translation,Analyzing and evaluating translations, etc.

13. Future research directions(if any):

The topic could open up the following avenues for further research:

- Studying implied meanings and how to translate implied meanings in various types of sentences from German to Vietnamese.

- When evaluating a translation: In addition to the criteria of "implied meaning" and "linguistic standards," many other aspects can be considered to obtain a comprehensive and highly persuasive critique; invite more translation experts to participate in evaluating the translation to obtain a multi-faceted perspective from various review groups; conduct direct interviews with the translator to clarify some ambiguities and better understand the reasons for choosing how to handle issues related to implied meaning.

14. Published works related to the dissertation:

1. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018), “Attempting to apply Gerzymisch-Arbogast's translation model in evaluating the implied meaning of the translations of 'The Big Lady Visits' and 'The Billionaire's Visit to Her Hometown'”.Language(12), pp. 58-74.
2. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018), “Methods of translating implied meaning in questions from German to Vietnamese”,Foreign Studies Journal, Volume 34 (6), pp. 111-125.
3. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018), “Conventional Implications in German Questions - Methods of Expression and Equivalent Expressions in Vietnamese (A Survey of the work “Der Besuch der alten Dame” and its translations)”,Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, Volume 4 (1b), pp. 107-125.
4. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018), “Introduction to some German perspectives on translation criticism”,Proceedings of the International Conference on Vietnamese Linguistics - Stages of Development and International Integration, Information and Communications Publishing House, Da Nang, pp. 981-990.
5. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2019), “Research methods in interdisciplinary linguistics (considering a specific topic as an example)”,Proceedings of the 2019 National Scientific Conference - Research and Teaching of Foreign Languages, Linguistics, and International Studies in Vietnam, National University of Hanoi Publishing House, pp. 500-510.
6. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2019), “Konversationelle Implikaturen in deutschen Fragen (am Beispiel des Dramas „Der Besuch der alten Dame“)” (Conversational Implications in German Questions (based on a survey of the dramas “The Billionaire's Visit to Her Hometown”),Proceedings of the 5th International Scientific Conference - German Language Training in East (South) Asia - Sustainable Development and Quality Assurance, Ho Chi Minh City National University Publishing House, pp. 106-115.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Le Thi Bich Thuy2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birthAugust 14, 19784. Place of birthNam Dinh

5. Admission decision number: 4618/2016/QD-XHNV, December 29, 2016 of The Rector of The University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Hanoi.

6. Changes in academic process:

7. Official thesis title: Research on methods for translating implicatures in questions from German to Vietnamese (based on literary translations)

8. Major: comparative-contrastive linguistics9. Code: 62 22 02 41

10. Supervisors: Assoc. Dr. Lam Quang Dong/Dr. Le Tuyet Nga

11. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

- There are four groups of words and constructions that contribute to conventional implicatures in questions in German, namely: discourse deitic expressions, expressive modifiers, social deitic expressions and syntactic constructions. Conversational implicatures found in questions include interlocutors' observation or violation of the cooperative principle and conversational maxims, especially the Quality maxim.

- Three groups of meanings generated by such mechanisms are the speaker's expectations or suggestions to the listener, the speaker's attitudes to the listener or to a third person, the speaker's attitudes to what is said.

- The methods used to transfer implicatures in questions from German to Vietnamese include the utilization of particles/ adverbs/ conjunctions/ interjections; transformation semantics; grammatical transformations; questions without question words (eg WH-words)/ adverbs/ particles; and literal translation.

- Applying two among various criteria for translation evaluation, namely implicatures and linguistic standards, to the assessment of the two Vietnamese versions of the play investigated in the study, all the researchers, translation experts and informants offer positive feedback to the two Vietnamese versions.

12. Practical applicability, if any:

The results of this thesis can be used as useful materials for translation in general and literature translation in particular. Showing concrete signals of implicatures, especially conventional implicatures will help translators understand implicit meaning of discourse and social deixis expressions, ect., so that they can apply suitable methods to translate implicatures to Vietnamese. The translation accessment used in this research implies an empirical evaluation with the participation of readers in both source and target languages. In addition, the research results are also useful for teaching translation for the language pair German – Vietnamese, for example for teaching “literature translation”, “translation accessment”, ect.

13. Further research direction, if any:

- Implicatures and methods of translating implicatures in other types of sentences (not only questions) from German to Vietnamese

- Related to translation accessment: not only “implicature” and “linguistic norm”, but also other aspects can be considered to obtain comprehensive and persuative criticism; more translation experts should be invited to take part in the translation accessment in order to get multidimensional views from test persons; researcher should interview the translators to know the reasons for choosing the solution to the problems related to implicatures ect.

14. Thesis-related publications:

1. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018a), “Gerzymisch-Arbogast`s Model of Translation criticism for Assessment of Implicature by means of two translation versions “Three cans of greed” and “Three ty phu ve greed que””,Journal of Linguistics(12), pp. 58-74.

1. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018b), “Methods for Translating implicatures in questions from German into Vietnamese”,VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol. 34 (6), pp. 111-125.
2. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018c), “Conventional Impilcatures in German question – expressions and equivalent expressions in Vietnamese (based on the drama “Der Besuch der alten Dame” and its translations - an exemplary research)”VNU Journal of Social Science and Humanitis, Vol 4 (1b), pp. 107-125.
3. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2018d), “Translation Criticism of German researchers - An Introduction”,International Conference Proceedings Linguistics in Vietnam - the stages of development and international integration, Publishing Information and Communication, Da Nang, pp. 981-990.
4. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2019), “Research methods in Interdisciplinary Linguistics (a concrete these as an example)”,National Science Conference Proceedings 2019 ButResearching and Teaching Foreign Languages, Linguistics, International Studies in Vietnam,Publishing Vietnam National University Hanoi, pp. 500-510.
5. Le Thi Bich Thuy (2019), “Conversational Impilcatures in German questions (using the example of the drama „The Visit“)”,Proceedingsof the^5thInternationalScience Conference- Teaching German in (South)East Asia

Sustainable development and quality accreditation,Publishing Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh, pp. 106-115.