Study on translating English newspaper headlines into Vietnamese newspaper headlines on Dantri online newspaper

PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Mass media in general and newspapers in particular nowadays play a very important role in our lives. Many people even say that living in the world without newspapers is like living in an isolated island. Newspapers help us become informed citizens and make better decision by providing a lot of facts. Hard news stories, vital statistics, weather, sports stories and scores and even calendars are examples of items that help inform readers. Some newspaper articles help interpret or explain the meaning of news to readers. Besides, newspapers provide services to readers that is providing information help readers solve business, home, recreation and daily living problems. Moreover, some items in newspapers are designed to amuse or to provide enjoyment to readers such as feature stories, humor columns, puzzles and comics. Meanwhile headlines are considered to be one of the most important parts of newspaper articles. According to Loic Hervouet (in Vu Quang Hao, 2001), headline is a decisive factor to the fate of an article. An interesting article with a bad, unattractive headline will cost half number of possible readers. In addition, we are living in the world of mass media, mass communication with the booming of internet. We have demands to know, communicate, and exchange news and information beyond our own countries. But language difference is one of the barriers for us. So the job of translating foreign newspaper articles, especially English newspaper articles, is very important. Observing Vietnamese newspapers, especially online newspapers, we can see that a large number of information is taken from foreign news agencies such as Reuters, AP, AFP, and BBC… So that is why I carry out the “Study on translating English newspaper headlines into Vietnamese newspaper headlines on Dantri online newspaper”. Scope of the study The study focuses on the English headlines from some foreign news agencies’ articles and their equivalent headlines on Dantri online newspaper ( particularly focuses on language structures (forms) and functions of these newspaper headlines. Aims of the study The study aims at: Criticizing the translation of English newspaper headlines Vietnamese headlines on Dantri online newspaper to find out translating rules and problems which a translator may face in translating newspaper headlines Giving some suggestions for improvement of the translation of newspaper headlines Methodology The thesis follows Newmark’s (1988) comprehensive criticism of a translation to make judgments on translation of 150 English headlines into Vietnamese headlines on Dantri online newspaper. And the translation is seen under the light of Newmark’s (1988) approaches which are semantic and communicative translations. Besides, Mårdh's (1980) model and Loic Hervouet’s classification of newspaper headlines are used to analyze English and Vietnamese headlines on Dantri online newspaper. The data are collected on some popular foreign news agencies such as AP, Reuters, AFP, BBC and Dantri online newspaper thanks to the help of my collogues who are working as translators for Dantri online newspaper. They are asked to provide the English articles/news stories for every translated articles/news stories on Dantri online newspaper so that I can collect and make Tables of English news headlines and their translated headlines in Vietnamese. Design of the study This paper is divided into 3 parts. The first part (Part A) is the introduction which shows the reasons why the topic is chosen, what the study aims at as well as the limitation of the study and some outlook on the methodology. The second part (Part B), development, consists of 3 chapters. Chapter I discusses the theoretical background of every matter mentioned in the title of the study related to newspaper headlines and translation. Chapter II and III are analysis of the headlines selected in order to make judgments on translation of English newspaper headlines into Vietnamese. Besides, these chapters also include findings and investigation of problems underlying the mistranslated headlines, their causes and suggested ways to improve the translation of newspaper headlines. The third part (Part C) is the conclusion which presents the results of the study with suggestions for translators and for further researches. PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Theoretical Background Newspaper headlines What is newspaper headline? Conventionally, it is believed that newspapers have more readers than any other kind of written text. According to Van Dijk (1986), "for most citizens, news is perhaps the type of written discourse with which they are confronted most frequently" (p. 156). In the newspaper it is the headline that has the highest readership. It summarizes the content of a story, and entices an audience into reading the article. According to Ungerer (2000), "a headline describes the essence of a complicated news story in a few words. It informs quickly and accurately and arouses the reader's curiosity" (p. 48). Newspaper headlines are particularly important for the way readers comprehend a news text, they are markers that monitor attention, perception and the reading process (Van Dijk, 1988). According to Danuta R. (1998), headline is a unique type of text. It has a range of functions that specifically dictate its shape, content, and structure and it operates within a range of restrictions that limited the freedom of the writer. In other words, headline should encapsulate the story in minimum words, attract readers to the story. Many students of English find that newspaper headlines are especially difficult to understand. Obviously, it is not just a matter of vocabulary; even the style of writing is different from any other text they have met in their studies. The language of headlines is special and has its own characteristics on the lexical, syntactic, and rhetorical levels for its brevity, attractiveness, and clarity (Danuta R., 1998). These language features pose a great challenge to foreign learners of English when they begin to read English newspapers. The key to ease the difficulty of this special genre lies in the comparison between foreign and native languages (Connor, 1996). Thereby, the study is conducted to judge the translation of English newspaper headlines into Vietnamese headlines. 1.2. Functions of newspaper headlines According to Danuta R. (1998), a headline serves the following functions: It gets the reader's attention; summarizes or tells about the article; helps organize the news on the page and indicates the relative importance of a story. Therefore, “the reader can skim the headlines and have an outline of the news of the day, and some ideas of its relative impact and importance.” (Danuta R.: 14) Danuta R. says that headline plays conflicting roles which is carrying information and attracting readers’ attention. For carrying information, the headline should deliver some details on what happened, who was involved, where it happened, what the circumstances were which is simplified into what, who, where, how. However, to what extent headlines perform what-where-who-how function depends on the certain circumstances. Besides, according to Danuta R. (1998), headlines have a persuasive function when they are to attract readers’ attention. However, they are also written to influence readers. 1. 3. Types of headlines in terms of functions Based on the above functions of headlines, according to Loic Hervouet (in Vu Quang Hao, 2001), there are 3 main types of newspaper headlines, which are informative headlines, stimulating headlines and the combination of informative and stimulating headlines. Informative headlines: This type of headlines is to describe the main content of the articles. It summarizes the whole articles, answers simply one of the basic questions such as who, what, where, when, how and why. Stimulating headlines: This type of headlines only contains some factors related to the main content of articles. Their main goals are to make readers curious and want to read the articles immediately. Combined headlines: This type of headlines is the most popular. This type combines both informative headline type and stimulating headline type, which is both to provide main information and to stimulate readers’ curiosity. 1.4. Language structures of headlines 1.4.1. Some major studies on newspaper headlines Headlines are obviously one of the striking features of modern newspapers. Therefore it is not surprising that they have been studied quite extensively not only by journalists but also by linguists. Some of the few existing linguistic studies of headlines will be reviewed below. Straumann's (1935) study of English headlines is pioneer work. His approach is to treat the language of headlines as an autonomous language. He classifies headlines in terms of neutrals, nominals, verbals and particles. The first section of his classification contains words in their common forms. In the following sections he arranges them in “s” forms, and in three variables, semivariables and invariables. Classification is further arranged in “d” forms, “ing” forms, “ly”, “er” and “(e)st” forms. The complexity of headlines has been investigated by Brisau (1969). He measures complexity in terms of clauses, which are thus singled out from other units as a gauge of complexity. In 3.000 headlines Brisau finds 264 examples of headlines containing two or more clauses, which is less than 10% of the total number. Brisau concludes that more complex structures than two very simple clauses linked together rarely occur in headlines. He mentions, however, that the linguistic makeup of the headline could vary widely from one newspaper to another. Mårdh (1980) offers an exhaustive study of the characteristic features of the headlines of a range of English newspapers. She identifies the following linguistic features as typical of headlines in English newspapers: The omission of articles; The omission of verbs and of auxiliaries (the verb 'to be' for example); Nominalisations; The frequent use of complex noun phrases in subject position (in theme position); Adverbial headlines, with the omission of both verb and subject; The use of short words ('bid' instead of 'attempt'); The widespread use of puns, word play and alliteration; The importance of word order, with the most important items placed first, even, in some cases, a verb; Independent 'wh' constructions not linked to a main clause (an example: Why the French don't give a damn), a form not found in Standard English. Van Dijk (1988) analyzes a five-decker from the New York Times. He sees the journalistic process as beginning with a headline and working through lead to body copy. He analyzes over 400 headlines in the Dutch press reporting the 1985 Tamil panic, an occasion of racial tensions between the Dutch and immigrant groups. He finds that the authorities dominate first position in the headline, with active verbs. When the disadvantaged Tamils are mentioned first, the verb tends to be passive. Kniffka's (in Bell, 1991) detailed comparison of leads and headlines finds a high level of structural correspondence between the two. The subeditor tends to reproduce the syntactic patterns of the lead in the headline. Kniffka (1980) finds that the presence of active or passive voice in the lead is carried over to the headline. According to Kniffka, headline structures appear to be very regular across languages. He confirms his analysis of both German and American English news texts, finding their leads and headlines structurally identical. The regularity is so consistent that he concludes there is a shared international grammar of lead and headline writing. Mouillaud and Tétu (in Develotte & Rechniewski, 2000), analyzing Le Monde, suggest the following features as typical of headlines: The suppression of spatial and particularly temporal markers; The use of the present tense of verbs (where they are used) as opposed to or in place of any other tenses; The replacement of verbs by nominalisations; The suppression of declarative verbs and the disappearance of signs of speech (quotation marks; personal pronouns). Scollon (2000), in his study of five days of three editions of the same newspaper in its Chinese and English editions, argues that the English headlines, following on general western journalistic practice put the main point right in the headline in what has also been called a deductive rhetorical mode. The Chinese editions, on the other hand, use the headlines to establish the setting but do not provide any further information about the content of the talks, which is the inductive ordering of the topics elsewhere found in contrast between Chinese and English language news stories. In other words, the major difference lies in whether the headline focuses directly on the central topic found within the body of the story or the setting. 1.4.2. Language structures of English newspaper headlines In order to get an overall picture of the structures of English and Vietnamese headlines, Mårdh's model (1980) is chosen. Following Mårdh's model, the corpus is divided into three basic groups: verbal, nominal and adverbial headlines. 1.4.2.1. Verbal headlines A verbal headline contains a verb phrase or a part of a verb phrase that is not dominated by a noun phrase (Mårdh, 1980). In the sample headlines, the main structural types of verbal headlines are distinguished according to finite verb phrases, nonfinite verb phrases, headlines with omitted auxiliaries, subject complement (SC) headlines, and subject adverbial (SA) headlines. - Finite verb phrases contain a finite verb form which may be either an operator or a simple present or a past form (Quirk et al., 1985). Australian Opposition Leader Quits - Nonfinite verb phrases consist of a participle or infinitive which may be followed by an object or an adverbial (Spears, 1976). Getting a Small Audience for Bad News - Subject adverbial headlines have no verb, but a form of the copula be can be inserted between the noun phrase and the adverb in English sentences (Mårdh, 1980). Bush ø in Baghdad - Subject complement phrases or omission of copula type consist of a noun phrase as subject and a noun phrase as subject complement. In English structures, a form of the verb “be” may be inserted between the subject noun phrase and the noun phrase functioning as subject complement (Mårdh, 1980; Quirk et al., 1985). Supreme Court opinions ø Not Private Enough - Verbal headlines with omitted auxiliary are headlines in which the verb is nonfinite and in which forms of 'be' are left out before the verb (Mårdh, 1980). Six Spanish Intel Officers ø Killed in Iraq 1.4.2.2. Nominal headlines A nominal phrase is an expression headed by a noun (Radford, 1997). In order to examine syntactic variation within the noun phrases across the two languages, the structural types of nominal headlines are analyzed according to unmodification, premodification, postmodification and pre [+] post modification. - Unmodification: Structure in which the head of the noun phrase is not modified by any other items is referred to as unmodified structure (Quirk et al., 1985; Spears, 1976). Chief - Premodification: A premodifier is a modifier that precedes the word it modifies (Quirk et al., 1985; Spears, 1976). Artificial Sweeteners - Postmodification: A postmodifier is a modifier or quantifier that follows the constituent it modifies (Quirk et al., 1985; Spears, 1976). The Future of Data Storage - Pre [+] post Modifications: Structures which have both pre and post modifiers are referred to as pre [+] post modified headlines The Solar System that Neptune Built 1.4.2.3. Adverbial headlines An adverbial clause (headline) is an expression headed by a word, phrase, or clause that is equivalent in its structural role to an adverb (Fallahi, 1991). Before You Babysit 1.4.2.4. Complexity in headlines The classification of headlines is done in terms of simple, compound and complex sentences. A simple headline contains only one predicate. Bush Focuses on Raising Campaign Funds A complex headline contains one or more dependent clauses, in addition to its independent, or main clause. DNA tests say Lindbergh fathered three children in Germany A compound headline contains two or more independent clauses which are joined by coordination. Report: Teen Admits Subway Slay Following Mårdh's model (1980), headlines which consist of more than one clause are divided into two types: edited quotation and unedited quotation. - Edited quotations: In edited quotations the items that would occur in direct speech are left out. Report: Tiger Woods ø Engaged - Unedited quotations: In contrast to edited quotations, unedited quotations do not differ from what may actually be heard in speech. Judge to Babs: You Are Dismissed 1.4.3. Language structures of Vietnamese newspaper headlines Vu Quang Hao (2001) has made a survey on Vietnamese newspaper headlines (particularly Nhan dan Chu nha 1992) and found out their structures as follow: One-word-headline: E.g.: Mốt, Kẹt, Lòng tin, Sốt rét or proper names: Thúy Đạt, Cửa Lò. According to Vu Quang Hao (2001) this kind of headline is rarely used (making about 1. 6% of nearly 2.000 headlines surveyed). Phrasal headline: This is the most popular headline, composed of more than 50% of the total surveyed headlines. Phrasal headlines include verb phrase headlines, noun phrase headlines and adverb phrase headlines. Among them, noun phrase is the most widely used. (E.g.: Lời nguyền của dòng sông, Một bệnh lạ ở cá, Những kỷ niệm nhỏ về thầy Đặng Thai Mai). Verb phrase is less widely used than noun phrase (E.g.: Phát hiện thêm hai trống đồng cổ, Gửi lòng theo khói hương bay, Gặp tác giả của bài hát 19-8). Meanwhile adverb phrase is rarely used. (E.g.: Mạnh khỏe nhờ hoa, Mượt mà giọng hát Tố Uyên). A sentence headline: This kind of headline is to inform. E.g. Italy tăng cường các biện pháp bảo vệ môi trường, Người gửi tiền là chủ nhân, người vay tiền là ân nhân… Headline that is idiom, proverb or folk song: According to Vu Quang Hao, this kind of headline is not widely used but it is very emotionally effective. 2. General introduction to online newspapers and Dantri online newspaper 2.1. General introduction Internet or online newspapers appeared in the early 1990. As Rigley (1998) points out that, only half dozen major newspapers in the USA and about a dozen smaller papers had significant newspaper products or interactive/online papers on the internet provider in the early time. By the mid 1990s, online newspaper offerings appeared almost daily and practically. The number of online newspapers has been increased rapidly nearly the past 20 years. As far as online newspapers in Vietnam are concerned, on November 19th 1997, our country officially took part in the global information network. In February of 1998 the internet version of “Que huong” became the first Vietnamese online newspaper. Since then, Vietnam has witnessed the blooming of hundred of online newspapers and online news websites such as (Dantri online newspaper). , … 2.2. Characteristics of online newspapers 2.2.1. Hypertextuality Hypertext creates a delivery system for separate closed units – a system which allows only embedded links pointing outward” (Nelson, 1999). Texts, interconnected through links, hyperlinks, can be referred internally (to other texts within text’s domain) or externally (to texts located elsewhere on the internet). Paul (1995) explains how hyperlinks can enrich the users’ online journey by adding background information and providing more contexts to a developing news story. Adding hyperlinks also give readers more options for personalization. By inserting hyperlinks into online texts, readers can access archived s