Assessing the translations of English movie titles released in CGV Cineplex.pdf

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
***********
TRẦN THỊ MINH
ASSESSING THE TRANSLATIONS OF ENGLISH MOVIE
TITLES RELEASED IN CGV CINEPLEX FROM 2011 TO 2014
(Đánh giá chất lượng bản dịch tựa đề phim tiếng Anh phát hành
tại cụm rạp CGV từ năm 2011 đến năm 2014)
M.A. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS
Major: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
HANOI – 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
********
TRẦN THỊ MINH
ASSESSING THE TRANSLATIONS OF ENGLISH MOVIE
TITLES RELEASED IN CGV CINEPLEX FROM 2011 TO 2014
(Đánh giá chất lượng bản dịch tựa đề phim tiếng Anh phát hành
tại cụm rạp CGV từ năm 2011 đến năm 2014)
M.A. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS
Major: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: ASSOC.PROF.DR.LÊ HÙNG TIẾN
HANOI - 2016

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ACCEPTANCE
I hereby state that I: Tran Thi Minh, QH2013, being a candidate for
the degree of Master accept the requirements of the University relating to the
retention and use of Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper
deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and
research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the
librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
Hanoi, 2016
Trần Thi ̣Minh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank all the people who have supported and inspired me to
complete this thesis. The success of this paper is also attributable to them.
First and foremost, I would like to send my heartfelt gratitude towards my
beloved supervisor, Assoc.Prof.Dr.Le Hung Tien for his enthusiasm and dedication,
his critical comments and timely feedback, his constant understanding and
encouragement. Had it not been for his tremendous support, I could never have
been able to complete this research.
I would also like to express the sincerest thanks to Quang, Thu, and Thanh,
who willingly spent time participating in the study and openly shared their
experiences and opinions. Without their help, this paper would not have been
finished.
Furthermore, I would love to extend my profound gratitude to all the
teachers who have taught me translation, interpreting, and research methodology as
well as my family and friends who have never neglected to support and encourage
me so that I could overcome many obstacles during the study.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all the readers for their interest in the
paper.

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ABSTRACT
In Vietnam, together with the rapid development of the movie industry,
movie translation has become a dominant aspect of translation. Aware of the
importance of movie translation, quite a few domestic researches have investigated
the issue. Although movie title translation seems to be surrounded by intense
controversy, the quality of translated titles has received little attention of
Vietnamese researchers. Thus, in an attempt to settle controversy, this research
investigates the quality of the translations of English movie titles released by CGV,
which is regarded as the leading company in theatre business in Vietnam and
techniques that can be used by the translators here to produce successful
translations. This goal was achieved by qualitative and quantitative approaches in
the two phases of the study. In the first phase, document analysis method with
movie titles serving as instrument was utilized to examine the quality of the
translations based on the translation quality assessment model proposed by
Newmark. In the second phase, three translators who produced successful
translations were requested to participate in the face-to-face semi-structured
interviews in order to find some techniques that can be used in translating movie
titles from English into Vietnamese in CGV Cineplex. The results from both phases
show that (1) most of the translations meet one criterion in the TQA model
introduced by Newmark; (2) translators share some common techniques while still
having their own way to deal with movie title translation. The findings from the
study hopefully will benefit not only translators who work with movie title
translation but also researchers and people who are interested in the issue.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACCEPTANCE................................................................................................................................. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................. i
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................... ii
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................ 1
I. Statement of the problem and the rationale of the study........................................................ 1
II. Aims and objectives of the study ....................................................................................... 4
III. Significance of the study.................................................................................................... 4
IV. Scope of the study.............................................................................................................. 5
V. Methods of the study.......................................................................................................... 6
VI. Organization of the paper................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ....................................................................... 8
1.1. An overview on translation strategies and equivalence ..................................................... 8
1.1.1. The concept of translation.............................................................................................. 8
1.1.2. Strategies of translation..................................................................................................... 9
1.1.2.1. Methods of translation................................................................................................. 11
1.1.2.2. Procedures of translation............................................................................................ 14
1.1.3. An overview on translation equivalence.......................................................................... 20
1.2. Translation quality assessment......................................................................................... 22
1.2.1. A review on models of translation quality assessment................................................. 22
1.2.2. TQA model by Newmark .............................................................................................. 25
1.3. An overview on movie titles ................................................................................................ 27
1.3.1. Definition of movie .......................................................................................................... 27
1.3.2. Classification of movies:.................................................................................................. 28
1.3.3. Movie titles in English ..................................................................................................... 30
1.3.3.1. Functions of movie titles in English ............................................................................ 30
1.3.3.2. Characteristics of movie titles in English.................................................................... 32
1.4. Principles in translating movie titles.................................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................... 39
2.1. Qualitative approach ............................................................................................................ 39
2.2. Setting .................................................................................................................................. 39

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2.3. Design of the study .............................................................................................................. 40
2.3.1. Phase 1 ............................................................................................................................ 41
2.3.1.1. Sampling...................................................................................................................... 41
2.3.1.2. Data collection method ............................................................................................... 42
2.3.1.3. Data collection procedures ......................................................................................... 42
2.3.2. Phase 2 ............................................................................................................................ 45
2.3.2.1. Sampling...................................................................................................................... 45
2.3.2.2. Data collection method ............................................................................................... 46
2.3.2.3. Data collection procedures ......................................................................................... 47
2.3.2.4. Data analysis procedures............................................................................................ 48
CHAPTER 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS.......................................................................... 49
3.1. Phase one ............................................................................................................................. 49
3.1.1. Assessing the translations of animation titles.................................................................. 49
3.1.2. Assessing the translations of action movies’ titles........................................................... 57
3.1.3. Assessing the translations of comedy titles...................................................................... 68
3.2. Phase two ............................................................................................................................. 74
3.2.1. Case 1: Quang................................................................................................................. 74
3.2.2. Case 2: Thanh.................................................................................................................. 76
3.2.3. Case 3: Thu...................................................................................................................... 78
3.2.4. Summary of findings in cases .......................................................................................... 79
CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................... 81
I. Summary of findings............................................................................................................ 81
II. Recommendations............................................................................................................ 82
III. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research ......................................... 83
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................... 86
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX 1:...............................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX 2:............................................................................................................................. II
APPENDIX 3:............................................................................................................................VI

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LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS
List of figures
Figure 1.1 Newmark‟s V_diagram of translation methods
Figure 1.2 House‟s TQA model
Figure 2.1. The process of releasing a local movie title in CGV Cineplex
Figure 3.1. Strategies employed in translating titles of animations
Figure 3.2. Quality of translations of animation titles classified according to
Newmark‟s TQA framework
Figure 3.3. Strategies employed in translating titles of action movies
Figure 3.4. Quality of translations of action movie titles classified according to
Figure 3.5. Strategies employed in translating titles of comedies
Figure 3.6. Quality of translations of comedy titles classified according to
List of tables
Table 3.1. Translations of animation titles fully meet the TQA framework
Table 3.2. Translations of animation titles only meet assessor‟s standard
Table 3.3. Translations of animation titles only meet the translator‟s standard
Table 3.4. Translations of animation titles fail to meet the TQA framework
Table 3.5. Translations of action movie titles fully meet the TQA framework
Table 3.6. Translations of action movie titles only meet the assessor‟s standard
Table 3.7. Translations of action movie titles only meet translator‟s standard
Table 3.8. Translations of action movie titles fail to meet the TQA framework
Table 3.9. Translations of comedy titles fully meet the TQA framework
Table 3.10. Translations of comedy titles only meet translator‟s standard
Table 3.11. Translations of comedy titles fail to meet the TQA framework

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List of abbreviations
OALD Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary
SL Source language
ST Source text
TL Target language
TT Target text
TQA Translation quality assessment

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INTRODUCTION
In this initial part, the problem and the rationale, the aims and objectives, the
scope, and the significance of the whole paper are presented. Most importantly, the
research questions are identified to serve as a guideline for the whole research.
I. Statement of the problem and the rationale of the study
The French artist and novelist, Baker (2004, p.40) believes that “Movie is so
important that it has become the first arts of human world”. In Vietnam, despite
being a fledgling industry, motion pictures have been rapidly developed and widely
loved by Vietnamese people, young and old alike. According to Trinh (cited in
Megastar Hé Lộ Doanh Số, 2012), in Vietnam, film industry “has maintained
significant growth” in the past few years and “the box office revenue of Megastar
alone rises from $13.8 million in 2009 to $47.8 million in 2012”. In 2012,
Hollywood‟s films occupied up to “80% of the movies screened in Megastar
Cineplex alone” (Thị Trường Điện Ảnh, 2012). As a result, movie translation, apart
from book translation or news translation, has become a dominant aspect of
translation in the country.
Aware of this trend, quite a lot of dedicated Vietnamese researchers have
conducted studies on movie translation. “A Study on Film Translation” by Van
(1999) and “A Study on the Translation of Filmscripts in English to Vietnamese” by
Thanh (2001) are some examples, to name but a few. The studies cover many facets
of movie translation such as translating film scripts, translating idioms in movies.
However, translating movie titles are not addressed in these researches despite its
importance. Meanwhile, as Prendergast (n.d.) states, one of the factors that can help
movie-makers “market” their product” and “plays a critical role” in the success of a
movie is its title. This viewpoint is shared by many other researchers and translators
such as Patterson (2008), May (2010), etc. As a good title can “arouse the readers‟
interest to see a movie”, the translation of film title is of importance” (Mei, 2010).

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Then, as an initial attempt to discover the translation of movie titles in
Vietnam, Duong (2006) conducted a study on “Translation of English Movie Titles
into Vietnamese”. Furthermore, Minh (2014) did a research to investigate the
principles in translating movie titles from English into Vietnamese. These researches
have helped to reveal many aspects related to movie title translation like functions
and features of movie titles, strategies and principles in translating titles. However,
translation quality assessment, which is one of the main concerns of translation
theorists, members of translation revision boards Benhaddou, 1991), has not been
investigated yet. Meanwhile, the quality of film title translation is considered more
significant as more movies are “released internationally” under the “effect of
globalization” (Translation of Film Titles, n.d.).
Quite a lot of controversies have emerged over the quality of translated titles
in the countries where Hollywood‟s movies are distributed. Hawley (2008) remarks
that the translation of movie titles can “lead to the loss” of cultural and aesthetic
features of the original titles. Besides, Andersen (2010) states that translation
“causes misunderstandings in relation to the movie and its audience.” In addition,
Kelan and Wei (2006) also points out the existing problems in translating English
movie titles, including “the messy and low-quality” and “alienation and
assimilation”. Back to the situation of movie translation in Vietnam, translating
movie titles has perplexed not only translators but also many others including film
critics, moviegoers, etc. Thus, in his article discussing inadequacies of translating
movie titles from English into Vietnamese, Kha (2012) describes this issue as a
“war”. Meanwhile, Ruelle (2010) also lists out several problems including the lack
of feeling and original meaning faced by many Vietnamese translators when
translating movie titles from Vietnamese into English and vice versa.
Nevertheless, what can be regarded as a good translated title is still open to
question. It is said that “reframing a linguistic expression or a cultural phenomenon”

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that may be foreign to “non-American ears” is often “inevitable” (Heller, 2014). In
addition, those who criticize translations of movie titles appear to base themselves
on their own feeling and knowledge. Without a solid theoretical framework, it is
very likely that those criticisms are biased and cannot be justified. Therefore, it will
be useful and essential to use an appropriate theoretical framework to assess the
quality of the translation of movie titles that have been released in Vietnam so far in
order to provide audience with an acceptable explanation on why a translated title
should be appropriate or not and to help rectify the situation.
Besides, titles have three main functions including “informative function”,
“aesthetic function” and “vocative function” (Newmark, 1988, p.40). Therefore,
how to translate the film titles properly and how to make the translation attractive to
the audience become questions that the translators should consider during
translation. For that reason, it will be useful and essential to figure out techniques
that can be applied in translating movie titles from English into Vietnamese in order
to ease the task.
Moreover, according to Hong (2010), regarding the “quality and quantity of
movies shown in Vietnam”, CGV Cineplex “has advantage over other cinemas”. In
the annual report from HSC (2011), CGV is also regarded as the “leading company
in theatre business” in Vietnam. As a result, it will be a wise choice to utilize film
title resources and translators from CGV Cineplex as the samples in order to fulfill
the aims and objectives of the research. This will probably confirm the validity and
assure the reliability of the paper.
All the reasons above have inspired the researcher to conduct a study on
“Assessing the translations of English movie titles released in CGV Cineplex from
2011 to 2014”.

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II. Aims and objectives of the study
First of all, the research paper aims to assess the quality of translated titles of
movies distributed by CGV Cineplex from 2011 to 2014. To conduct the
assessment, the researcher adapted a translation criticism framework suggested by
Newmark (1988).
Then, it is expected to find out the strategies or techniques which were
employed to translate good film titles in CGV Cineplex from 2011 to 2014. This
would be done by interviewing the translators who produced good translations. Via
this, it is expected that helpful implications can be made about techniques that can
be employed to produce good translations.
To achieve these objectives, the research was undertaken to answer the following
questions:
1. To what extent do the translated titles meet the standard as proposed in
Newmark‟s translation quality assessment framework?
2. What techniques can be used in translating movie titles as suggested by
translators?
III. Significance of the study
The paper will be fairly useful for people who have to translate or assess
translated movie titles and researchers who happen to have an interest in the topic.
First and foremost, the study is expected to be beneficial for those who assess
film titles. According to Tran (2012), before being released in Vietnam, one
translated title has to undergo certain testing phases involving the assessment of
local distribution manager and the original studio. If the translated title is approved
by the original studio, it will be released; otherwise, it will be sent back to the local
distributor for edition. Therefore, film distributors may adopt the same framework
that was employed in this research to assess translated titles before sending them to

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original studios in order to avoid rejection and time-consuming edition process,
which may ultimately help to save a great deal of time and energy.
Secondly, the study may be helpful for translators who have to translate
movie titles. When being aware of criteria in the framework that can be used to
assess the quality of translated title, translators might avoid making mistakes as well
as justify themselves when being criticized by the public. Besides, reading the paper,
they may also find some practical techniques that were employed by other
experienced translators to produce good translations. Then, in specific context, they
may apply the most appropriate one to make the best translation as possible.
Last but not least, the study is also expected to serve as a preliminary for
further investigation on the issue. The study has no ambition of forming any
universal laws or generalizations. Rather, it is meant to provide an in-depth
understanding on the complexities of the issue in order to help establish the
foundation for future further investigation on the quality assessment of movie titles
in particular, on the quality assessment of all kinds of title in general.
IV.Scope of the study
First, although “Assessing the translation of English movie titles released in
CGV Cineplex from 2011 to 2014” has been set as the title of the whole study, the
samples of the study will be confined to titles of three most dominant movie genres
including action, animated and comedy movies that were released by CGV Cineplex
from 2011 to 2014. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, except for the three
above-mentioned genres, movies distributed by CGV Cineplex could be classified
into many other genres including horror, romance, drama, war, music, thriller, crime
movies, etc. and the number of movies in each genre was less than 10. In addition,
translation quality assessment itself is a very complicated issue which requires a lot
of time and effort. Consequently, in the limited time frame, the researcher chose to

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focus on assessing the translated titles of three most dominant movie genres
including action, animation and comedy to ensure the quality of the paper.
Besides, only translators working for CGV Cineplex and having experience
of translating movie titles from 2011 to 2014 were selected to participate in the
study. The cases were deliberately chosen so that they could provide highly in-depth
information of their situations, which would be helpful in understanding the
complexities of the studied issue.
V. Methods of the study
In order to gather data to seek answers to the research questions, the
researcher decided to use qualitative approach with two phases. In phase one,
English titles and their translations of movies released in CGV Cineplex was
assessed based on the criteria of the translation quality assessment framework
proposed by Newmark (1988). Then, the translators who produced successful titles
as found out in phase one would be interviewed in phase two to spot the strategies
and techniques they used to make good translations. Collected data was analyzed
and synthesized to answer each research question. Because this was rather
complicated, the detailed methodology of this research would be presented
thoroughly in Chapter 2, Part 2 of this paper.
VI. Organization of the paper
The research paper includes three main parts as follows:
Part A: Introduction presents problem and the rationale, the aims and
objectives, the scope, and the significance of the whole paper. Most importantly, the
research questions are identified to serve as a guideline for the whole research.
Part B: Development includes three chapters. Chapter 1 (Theoretical
Background) aims to establish the theoretical background for the research paper. In
this chapter, the definition of translation, the theory of translation strategies,

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translation quality assessment framework and an overview on movie titles are
provided. Chapter 2 (Research Methodology) describes the samples and participants,
the instruments as well as the procedures which were employed to collect and
analyze data. Chapter 3 (Results and Discussion) answered the research questions
with data presentation, data analysis and the comparison among the findings
themselves.
Part C: Conclusions summarizes the main issues discussed in the paper, the
limitations of the research, several recommendations related to the studied issue and
some suggestions for further investigation.
After Part C are the reference list and appendices.

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CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This first chapter in the Development part shed light on the literature review
of the study, specifically the background of translation, translation strategies, some
translation quality assessment frameworks, movies titles with their characteristics
and functions as well as some principles in translating movie titles from English into
Vietnamese.
1.1. An overview on translation strategies and equivalence
1.1.1. The concept of translation
First of all, is necessary to understand the concept of translation mentioned
by many translation theorists to obtain an overall picture of the translation.
Discussing translation, different scholars may propose various definitions.
Wassety (cited in Ghadi, 2010) regards translation as “a legitimate offspring of the
phenomenon of language”. Also, Ghadi (2010) states “translation is actually an
activity performed by human beings in order to convey ideas and thoughts despite
different languages”. These definitions provide a very basic and general
understanding about translation as a phenomenon of language and an activity of
people.
Besides, from a specific perspective, Le and Nguyen (2008, p.3) say that
translation can be considered either as “a product” or “a process”. On the one hand,
being regarded as “a product”, translation may be seen as the text that has been
translated. On the other hand, translation means “a process” when it refers to the
activity of translating.
Due to the rapid growth of translation and translation studies, translation,
now, is usually divided into two main branches based on the input material,
including written translation and oral translation which is commonly known as
interpreting or interpretation (Munday, 2001, p.17). Also, according to Munday

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(2001, p.17), it has been decided, for reasons of space and consistency of approach,
to focus on written translation rather than oral translation (the latter is commonly
known as interpreting or interpretation). He mainly discusses issues related to
written translation. In addition, this paper aims to investigate English movie titles
and their translation in Vietnamese so within the scope of this research, translation,
whenever it is used, means written translation.
Moreover, translation scholars also introduce various opinions about
translation as a process. Banja (2009) regards a translator as a “message conveyor”;
hence a translation may be understood as “the process”. In 1972, Harmant and Stork
(p.36) states that translation aims to render as close as possible all grammatical and
lexical features of the “source language” by finding equivalents in the “target
language”. Dubois (1973) shares the same viewpoint: “Translation is the expression
in another language (or target language) of what has been expressed in another,
source language, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences.” Newmark (1982,
p.7) describes translation as “a craft consisting in an attempt to replace a written
message and/or statement in one language by the same message and/or statement in
another language.” In his “A Textbook of Translation” Newmark simplifies the
definition of translation as “the rendering” of “the meaning of a text into another
language in the same way that the author intended the text” (1988, p.5).
Therefore, it can be concluded that translation should be perceived in the
scope of this paper as the process of conveying as accurately as possible the
meaning and aesthetic effects of the ST into the TT in written form.
1.1.2. Strategies of translation
Extensive research has been done in the field of translation strategies.
However, the definition offered by each author or theorist represents his/her own
point of view and their views differ from each other. Therefore, different researchers

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have investigated and described various translation strategies from their own
perspectives.
Baker (1992, p.26) lists eight strategies, which have been used by
professional translators, to cope with the problematic issues while doing a
translation task. These strategies can be summarized as follows: Translation by a
more general word; Translation by cultural substitution; Translation using a loan
word or loan word plus explanation; Translation by paraphrase using a related word;
Translation by paraphrase using unrelated words; Translation by omission;
Translation by illustration. Eight strategies suggested by Baker (1992, p.26) are
quite clear and detailed. However, they just work with translation at word level.
Meanwhile, translation should not only be limited within a single word‟s boundary.
Discussing the term “translation strategies”, Bell (cited in Ordudari, 2007)
provides a more comprehensive definition in which he states that translation
strategies include “global” (those dealing with whole texts) and “local” (those
dealing with text segments) strategies. This perception is widely shared among
influential translators and scholars such as Newmark (1988); Vinay and Darbenet
(1995). This appears to be the best approach to understand the nature of translation
strategies. Thus, in this paper, the term “translation strategies” refers to methods and
procedures of translation that deal with whole texts and text segments.
Up until the second half of the twentieth century, theory of translation
methods appeared “locked in” (Munday, 2001, p. 19) what Steiner (1998, p.319)
coins as a “sterile” controversy over “literal”, “free” and “faithful” translation. The
“literal” and “free” poles surface once again in the rich translation tradition of the
Arab world, which created the great center of translation in Baghdad. There was
intense translation activity in the Abbasid period, centered on the translation into
Arabic of Greek scientific and philosophical material, often with Syrian as an
intermediary language (Delisle & Wdodsworth, 1995, p.112). Baker (2004, p.320)
describes the two translation methods that were adopted during that period:

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The first [method] […] was highly literal and consisted of translating each Greek
word with an equivalent Arabic word and, where none existed, borrowing the Greek word
into Arabic.
(Baker, 2004, p.320)
Newmark, a famous translator and translation theorist, also differentiates
between word-for-word and sense-for-sense approaches. However, he also finds that
“the triumph” of the “consumer” “illusory”, which leads him to narrow the “gap
between emphasis on source and target language by providing a system of eight
translation methods which he presents in a V_diagram as follows:
Figure 1.1. Newmark‟s V_diagram of translation methods
(Newmark, 1988, p.45)
Furthermore, Newmark also suggests the theory of translation procedures that a
translator may use to deal with smaller segment of a text. Thanks to its practicality
and detailed description, Newmark‟s theory of translation methods and procedures
has been widely recognized for its significant influence on many successors (Thuy,
2009).
Therefore, in this study, the concept of translation strategies refers to global
and local strategies with eight translation methods and sixteen procedures proposed
by Newmark (1988). They are respectively presented as follows:
1.1.2.1. Methods of translation
Word-for-word translation

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According to Newmark (1988, p.45), word-for-word translation is explained
as “interlinear translation, with the TL immediately below the SL words”. Regarding
this method, the word-order in the SL is preserved. Words are translated by their
“most common meanings” despite other factors which may exert influences on the
translation such as cultural differences, context, etc. This is illustrated with the
following instance:
He is a big liar.
 Anh ta là một lớn người nói dối.
(Le & Nguyen, 2008, p.22)
Literal translation
Similar to word-for-word translation, in literal translation, Newmark (1988,
p.46) states that “lexical words” are translated singly, out of context. Nevertheless,
literal translation differs itself from word-for-word translation in the ability to
convert the SL grammatical constructions into their “nearest TL equivalents”.
Example is given below:
He is a big liar.
 Anh ta là một kẻ nói dối lớn.
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p.22)
Faithful translation
Newmark (1988, p.46) suggests that faithful translation seeks to “reproduce”
the “precise contextual meaning” of the ST within the “constraints” of the TT
grammatical structures. That helps to explain why the procedure renders cultural
words and preserves the level of grammatical and lexical “abnormality” in the
translation. Furthermore, it tries to be absolutely “faithful” to the “intentions” and
“text-realization” of the SL author. Below is an example:
He is as fast as a kangaroo.
 Nó nhanh như một con kanguru
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p.23)

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Semantic translation
Semantic translation puts great focus on the aesthetic value of the ST,
“compromising” on “meaning” where “appropriate” to avoid “assonance, word-play
or repetition jars” in the TT (Newmark, 1988, p.46). Moreover, it may translate “less
important cultural words by culturally neutral third or functional terms”. The TT and
ST below can serve as the illustration of this translation method:
Right in the heart of Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake is an enchanting body of water,
a peaceful oasis away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.
 Nằm ngay giữa trái tim Hà Nội, hồ Hoàn Kiếm là một hồ nước đẹp mê
hồn, một ốc đảo yên bình tách biệt với sự hối hả bận rộn của thành phố.
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p.25)
Communicative translation
Newmark (1988, p.47) mentions that communicative translation seeks to
convey the “exact contextual meaning” of the ST “in such a way that both content
and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership.” The
“effectiveness of the message to be communicated is the priority of this method”
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p.27). An example of communicative translation is presented
below:
Right in the heart of Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake is an enchanting body of water,
a peaceful oasis away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.
 Hồ Hoàn Kiếm là một hồ nước đẹp, yên tĩnh nằm ở trung tâm Hà Nội ồn
ào.
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p.27)
Idiomatic translation
Newmark (1988, p.47) states that idiomatic translation “reproduces the
message” of the ST but it is likely to “distort nuances of meaning” by employing
“colloquialisms and idioms” although these do not appear in the ST. Below is the
demonstration of this method:

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Không ai nghe lời khuyên của cô ấy cả.
 Her advice fell on deaf ears.
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p.31)
Free translation
As proposed by Newmark (1988, p.46), free translation translates the
“content” without the “form” of the original text. As a result, it is normally a
“paraphrase much longer than the original”. It is illustrated in the following
instance:
Tide in, dirt out
 Tide, thách thức mọi vết bẩn.
Adaptation
The “freest” translation method, according to Newmark (1988, p.46), is
adaptation. It preserves the “themes, characters, plots” with the SL culture being
converted into the TL culture and the text being recomposed. This method is
regarded as “a kind of rewriting the text in translation” (Le & Nguyen, 2010, 32).
The following extract lyric of a song can demonstrate this translation method:
Nắm tay nhau cùng bước bên nhau vì hạnh phúc nhân loại. Nắng phương
đông chiếu sáng SEAGAMES Việt Nam hân hoan chào đón.
 Hand in hand for happiness mankind we walk together. Eastern sun shines
up SEAGAMES Vietnam‟s been expecting for long.
1.1.2.2. Procedures of translation
Transference
Newmark (1988, p.81) states that transference, which is also called
“transcription”, is the “process of transferring a SL word to a TL text as a translation
procedure”. This means translators will directly take the SL word into TL with no
translation. Two examples offered by the researcher are given below:

15
Naturalisation
According to Newmark (1988, p.82), this procedure “adapts the SL word first
to the normal pronunciation, then – to the normal morphology (word-forms) of the
TL”. Naturalisation procedure can be seen in the following translations:
ST TT
Coffee Cà phê
Turbine Tua bin
(Tien & Bac, 2010, p.35)
Through translation
Through-translation is defined by Newmark (1988, p.82) as “the literal
translation of common collocations, names of organizations, the components of
compounds and perhaps phrases” and it is known as “caique or loan translation”
(Newmark, 1988, p.82). Some examples are given below:
ST TT
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Hội chứng Suy giảm Miễn dịch Mắc phải
United Nations Development Assistance
Framework
Khuôn khổ Hỗ trợ Phát triển Liên Hợp
Quốc
(Tien & Bac, 2010, p.36)
Shifts or transpositions
A shifts or transposition procedure involves “a change in the grammar from
SL to TL.” (Newmark, 1988, p.85). These include changing from singular to plural,
the change required when a specific SL structure does not exist in the TL, the
change in the position of the adjective, the change of an SL verb to a TL noun and
so forth. Some examples are:
ST TT
Hat-trick (sport term) Hat-trick
Madonna (name of a singer) Madonna

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ST TT
After her return Sau khi cô ấy trở lại
Help will come Sẽ có người tới giúp
(Tien & Bac, 2010, p.37)
Modulation
The term modulation is used to define “a variation through a change of
viewpoint, or perspective and very often of category of thought” (Vinay &
Darbelnet, cited in Newmark, 1988, p. 88). This procedure includes three main
types, namely one part for another, passive for active or vice versa, positive for
double-negative or vice versa. The following instances illustrate this procedure:
ST TT Type
She cleared her throat… Cô ấy hắng giọng…. One part <=>another
The roof was damaged by the
storm.
Trận bão phá hỏng cả
mái nhà.
Passive <=>active
Flawless Hoàn hảo
Positive <=> double-
negative
(Tien & Bac, 2010, p.37-38)
Cultural equivalent
In this procedure, a SL “cultural word” is translated by an equivalent
“cultural word” in TL (Newmark, 1988, p. 82-83). This is used in the following
translation:
He graduated after obtaining a degree with (high) distinction.
 Anh ta tốt nghiệp loại giỏi (xuất sắc).
(Tien & Bac, 2010, p.38)
Functional equivalent
As it is suggested by Newmark (1988, p.83), this procedure is “applied to
translate “cultural words” in the SL, which “requires the use of a culture-free word,

17
sometimes with a new specific term” in the TL, which makes it neutralize or
generalize the SL, and sometimes add a particular”. This is shown in the instance
given by the researcher:
The White House decided to lift trade embargo against Vietnam in 1994.
 Vào năm 1994, Chính phủ Hoa Kỳ đã quyết định bãi bỏ lệnh cấm vận
thương mại đối với Việt Nam.
Descriptive equivalent
When this procedure is used, the meaning of the “original word is explained
in several words” (Newmark, 1988, p. 83). Descriptive equivalent procedure is often
used with “transference to translate a cultural word” (Newmark, 1988, p.84). This is
illustrated in the following example given by the researcher:
To attend the Salsa course, you must pay the tuition fee first.
 Để có thể tham gia khóa học Salsa (một điệu nhảy kết hợp giữa các điệu
nhảy Latin) trước tiên bạn phải trả học phí.
Synonym
According to Newmark (1988, p.84), this procedure is a "near TL equivalent”
and employed “for a SL word where there is no clear one-to-one equivalent, and the
word is not important in the text, in particular for adjectives or adverbs of quality”.
This procedure is shown in the instance offered by the researcher:
He is a good student.
 Em ấy là một học trò ngoan.
Recognised translation
A translator should normally use the “official or the generally accepted
translation of any institutional term” (Newmark, 1988, p.89). In other word, a in
translating a SL term, translator should accept the translated term that is widely
“recognised” in TL instead of creating his own new translation, for example:
Ủy Ban Dân Tộc
 State Committee of Ethnic Minority Affairs.

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(Vu, 2005, p.17)
Compensation
According to Newmark (1988, p.90), this occurs when “loss of meaning,
sound-effect, metaphor or pragmatic effect in one part of a sentence is compensated
in another part, or in a contiguous sentence. This is shown in the instance given by
the researcher:
Hey buddy! Today is this dude‟s doom date. Have anything to cheer him up.
 Này anh bạn, hôm nay gã này đen đủ đường. Có gì giúp cậu ta giải sầu
không?
Translation label
Newmark (1988, p. 90) regards this as “provisional translation, usually of a
new institutional term” and it “should be made in inverted commas, which can later
be discreetly withdrawn”. In other words, the translation must be put in quotation
marks “until and unless it becomes generally accepted”(Newmark, n.d). This is
illustrated by one example given by the researcher:
Harvard is one of eight universities in Ivy League.
 Harvard là một trong tám trường đại học thuộc “Liên đoàn Ivy”.
Componential analysis
According to Newmark (1988, p. 90), this is “the splitting up of a lexical unit
into its sense components, often one-to-two, -three or –four translations”. Newmark
also adds: “Normally the SL word has a more specific meaning than the TL, and the
translator has to add one or two TL sense components to the corresponding TL”
(1988, p.114). Below is an instance offered by the researcher:
Họ khiêu vũ rất đẹp.
 They dance ( + couple, + gently) very well.
Paraphrase
“This is an amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the
text. It is used in an „anonymous‟ text when it is poorly written, or has important

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implications and omissions” (Newmark, 1988, p. 90). An example is provided by
the researcher:
Năm 1945, tại quảng trường Ba Đình, Người đã đọc bản Tuyên ngôn độc lập.
In 1911, at Ba Dinh square, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of
Independence.
Reduction and expansion
According to Newmark (1988, p. 90), these are rather imprecise translation
procedures. In simple terms, reduction implies “omission of a word from an
expression”, which “is not essential for understanding”; whereas “expansion is a
rather descriptive way of translating an expression and involves the use of a greater
number of words in TL than in SL” (Václavíková, 2006). Two examples of the
procedures are given below:
Linguistics
 Khoa học ngôn ngữ
Voltage stabilizer
 Ổn áp.
(Vu, 2005, p.17)
Couplets
Newmark (1988, p. 91) states: “Couplets, triplets and quadruplets combine
two, three or four of the above-mentioned procedures for dealing with a single
problem. They are particularly common for cultural words, if transference is
combined with a functional or a cultural equivalent.”
To attend the barbecue, you must have a student ID.
 Để được dự tiêc barbecue (bữa tiệc ngoài trời, đồ ăn được nướng trên bết
cũng đặt ngoài trời), anh phải mang theo thẻ sinh viên.
(Tien & Bac, 2008, p. 39)

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1.1.3. An overview on translation equivalence
The concept of equivalence is said to hold a central position in translation
studies. However, it is a rather controversial issue, causing many heated debates
among translators and scholars as to its nature, definition and applicability.
Jakobson (1959) states that there are three types of translation, including
“intralingual”, “interlingual” and “intersemiotic”. It is interlingual translation that
has been focus of translation studies. Particularly, when discussing the thorny
problem of equivalence in meaning between words in different languages, he
stresses the fact that there can be no full equivalence between two words (Jakobson,
1959, p.114).
Meanwhile, with regard to equivalence, Nida (1969, p.25) believes that there
are two basic types of equivalence, including “formal equivalence” and “dynamic
equivalence”. He argues that in formal equivalence, the TT resembles very much the
ST in both form and content whereas in dynamic equivalence an effort is made to
convey the ST message in the TT as naturally as possible. Nida is credited for
introducing a receptor-based direction to the task of translating (Munday, 2001,
p.42). However, this theory has been criticized for some reasons. Lefevere (1993,
p.7) argues that equivalence is still focused on the word-level whereas Broeck
(1978, p.40) wonders how it is possible to measure the equivalent effect since no
text can have the same effect or elicit the same response in two different cultures in
different periods of time.
Koller (1979) introduces a detailed examination of the concept of
equivalence. According to him, “equivalence deals with equivalent items in specific
ST-TT pairs and contexts”. In an effort of answering what is equivalent to what,
Koller (1979, p.186-191) distinguishes five types of equivalence. These include
“denotative equivalence”, “connotative equivalence” (relating to lexical choices),

21
“text-normative equivalence (relating to text-types), “pragmatic equivalence”
(involving the receiver of the text message and “formal equivalence” (relating to the
forma and aesthetics of the text). He continues to argue that a “hierarchy of values”
can be preserved in translation only if the translator comes up with a hierarchy of
equivalence requirements for the TT (Koller, 1989, p.89). Although the hierarchical
ordering of equivalence is still open to debate, Koller‟s contribution to the field of
translation studies is acknowledged for bringing into translators‟ attention various
types and ways in which the fashionable desideratum of equivalence may be
achieved.
Baker (1992, p.6) addresses the vexing issue of equivalence by adopting a
more neutral approach when she argues that equivalence is a relative notion because
it is influenced by a variety of linguistic and cultural factors. She differentiates
between word-level and above-word-level equivalence. Grammatical equivalence
refers to the diversity of grammatical categories across languages and the difficulty
of finding an equivalent term in the TT due to the variety of grammatical rules
across languages. On the other hand, textual equivalence refers to equivalence that
may be achieved between a ST and TT in terms of cohesion and information.
Pragmatic equivalence deals mainly with implicature.
In conclusion, ontrary to linguistic-oriented approaches to translation which
assume that the source text occupies a supreme position and that it is considered to
be of crucial importance in determining not only the translation process but also the
extent to which it has been successful, target-oriented approaches view the source
text as the point of departure for the translation process and mostly focus on the
cultural, historical, and socio-political factors surrounding translation, thus looking
at it as a culture-bound phenomenon. Despite of its shortcomings, it should be
stressed that equivalence is still one of the pivotal definitory axes of translation since

22
it functions as a reminder of the central problems a translator encounters during the
translation process.
1.2. Translation quality assessment
1.2.1. A review on models of translation quality assessment
According to Larson (1984, p.489), it is important to test a translation to
know whether a translation that is faithful to the source text message and that it is
natural sounding in the target language. Furthermore, it seems that assessing the
quality of a translation “lies in the heart of all concerns with translation criticism”
(House, 2001). Accordingly, there have been quite a few “attempts” to find ways to
“evaluate the quality of a translated work” (Faghih & Jaza‟ei, 2015).
Larson (1984) proposes a model of translation quality assessment (TQA) in
which the translated text and the original one should be compared and contrasted
based on three criteria including accuracy, clarity and naturalness. This model is
presented below:
1) Accuracy: conveys all the information that is in the source text. Sometimes the
translator struggles with reformulating the message and may include information
that is not in the source text or meant in the source text. This information should be
removed from the translation.
2) Clarity: the translation must be understandable to the people who are depending on
it for information. A translation may be accurate without being clear. It tends to
contain ambiguity. Ambiguity is when a phrase or sentence could have more than
one meaning in a specific context so the target audience is not sure of the
intended meaning.
3) Naturalness: A translation can be accurate and clear and still not be natural. A
natural translation is idiomatic and uses the grammatical forms ordinarily used in
the target language. Ideally the translation does not sound like a translation,
instead it sounds like a text originally created in that language.

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Larson (1984, p.490)
However, this model appears rather simple. It seems that the model is just a
simple description of the three factors that a translator should consider when
producing a translation. Besides, in the model, the interrelationship among the three
factors is not clearly stated. In addition, the three criteria are ambiguous. For
example, one native speaker may find the translated text natural while others do not.
If an assessor base himself on this model, he may find it difficult to identify whether
a translated text reach the equivalent effect as the original one create on the source
language readers.
One model which has received positive comments from translation theorists
is the one proposed by House (1977). Before presenting her model, House explains
the theoretical basis on which her model is developed. She starts by saying that it is
the essence of translation that meaning be preserved across the two languages
involved, and that meaning has three basic aspects: Semantic, Pragmatic and Textual
aspect. The model is presented below:
Figure 1.2: House‟s TQA model

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(House, 1977, p.27)
The semantic aspect is the most easily accessible from the three aspects and
has been given preference by evaluators. However, the pragmatic aspect, which is
"the particular use of an expression on a specific occasion" (House, 1977, p.27) is
very important in translation because translation deals with language in use.
The textual aspect has been frequently neglected though it is a very important
aspect because all the references such as substitutions, anaphora, ellipses, etc. that
make up the different ways of text functions account for the textual meaning that
should be preserved in translation.
According to House (1977), the equivalence sought should be an equivalence
of function. In other words, both source and translated texts must present the same
function and the text's function can only be made explicit through a detailed analysis
of the text itself.
This is the basis for the model, and what makes it different from other criteria
for establishing equivalence is the fact that those criteria relied either on the writer's
intention, an item that is not open to empirical investigation, or on the reader's
responses, which present problems to be measured. The function of a text would
then be "the application or use of what the text has in the particular context of a
situation" (House, 1977, p.37).
Approaching TQA from a translator‟s point of view rather than a theorist,
Newmark (1988, p.186) proposes a process of 5 “topics” to assess a translation.
These five topics include: (1) a brief analysis of the SL text stressing its intention
and its functional aspects; (2) the translator's interpretation of the SL text's purpose,
his translation method and the translation's likely readership; (3) a selective but
representative detailed comparison of the translation with the original; (4) an
evaluation of the translation - (a) in the translator's terms, (b) in the critic's terms; (5)

25
where appropriate, an assessment of the likely place of the translation in the target
language culture or discipline.
The TQA model proposed by House requires profound and full knowledge of
functional grammar (Tien, cited in Thuy, 2009). Meanwhile, regarding the number
of movie titles in this research and the context of CGV Cineplex, it is impractical to
use House‟s model. Meanwhile, in this case, the TQA model suggested by Newmark
(1988) is considered a better framework to assess the quality of a translation in
practice (Thuy, 2009). Furthermore, Tien (2007) also suggests that all the steps in
the translation quality assessment framework that Newmark (1988) introduces are
drawn from the practical experience of a translator. Therefore, they reflect the issues
that translators concern, which makes it feasible and uncomplicated to follow this
TQA model. It is noteworthy that despite its simplicity, Newmark‟s TQA model is
established based on fundamental theories which are indispensable in assessing the
quality of a translation (Tien, 2007). On top of that, the model puts its emphasis on
the elements affecting translation as a communication process but not just a textual
form (Tien, 2007) while movie titles, as mentioned above, are also means of
communication that movie producers utilize to attract audience. As a result,
Newmark‟s translation quality assessment framework, with its simplicity and
flexibility, appears to be more appropriate in this case. For that reason, all the
collected titles serving as the sample for this research paper would be assessed based
on the TQA model proposed by Newmark (1988).
1.2.2. TQA model by Newmark
Newmark (1988, p.186) suggests a model of TQA which consists of 5 “topics”.
This model is presented in detail as follows:
1) Text analysis: In this very first step, the assessor should analyze the author‟s
purpose, that is, the attitude he takes towards the topic. In addition an indication

26
of the source text‟s category and type should be analyzed. Newmark (1988,
p.184) also noted that under no circumstances should the assessor “discuss the
author‟s life, other words or general background”.
2) The translator‟s purpose: Here, it is necessary to find out whether the translator
has misinterpreted the author by omitting certain sections of the text. It should be
noted that the assessor is not criticizing them but attempting to understand why
the translator has used these procedures. In any event, here the assessor
empathizes with the translator and distinguish between incompetence
(inadequate knowledge of SLT and/or topic) and a translator method which may
be too idiomatic or too academic.
3) Comparing the translation with the original: In this stage, how the translator
has solved the particular problems of the SL text should be considered. The
assessor should not take the points successively, instead he/she should group
them selectively under general heads: the title, the structure, including the
paragraphing and sentence connectives; shifts, metaphors, cultural words,
translationese, proper names, neologism, untranslatable words, ambiguity, level
of language, and, where relevant, meta-language, puns, sound-effect. This third
section is the heart of the critique; normally it has to be selective since, in
principle, any passage that diverges from literal translation in grammar lexis or
„marked‟ word order constitutes a problem, offers choices, requires you to
justify your preferred solution.
4) The evaluation of the translation: The referential and pragmatic accuracy of the
translation is assessed. If the translation is not a clear version of the original, the
assessor should consider first whether the essential invarant element of the text
which consists usually of its facts or its ideas is adequately represented.
However, if the purpose of the text is to sell something, to persuade, to prohibit,
etc, then this purpose is the keystone of the invariance, which changes from text
to text; and this is why any general theory of translation invariance is futile.

27
After considering whether the translation is successful in its own terms, the
assessor evaluates it by his or her own standards of referential and pragmatic
accuracy. Here, it should be noteworthy that the assessor have to avoid
criticizing the translator for ignoring translation principles that were not
established and extent of the semantic deficit in the translation, and whether it
is inevitable or due to the translator‟s deficiencies.
5) The translation‟s future: The assessor evaluates the work‟s potential importance
within the target language culture. For example, is it worth translating? What
kind of influence will it have on the language, the literature, the ideas in its hew
milieu? However, it should be noted that this “topic” is applied in the casue of
serious text such as a novel, a poem, or an important book.
The TQA model proposed by Newmark is of high practicality because it is
established based on the process of translating a text. It requires practical knowledge
of translation; therefore, it is suitable for assessing the translations of movie titles,
which should be done in a short period of time. However, it is noteworthy that
among the five “topics” presented in this model, the “translation‟s future” stage in
which the potential importance of the translated version of “serious texts” appears to
be inappropriate in the case of assessing the translated movie titles. This is because
all the titles served as samples in this paper had been already released by CGV
Cineplex. For that reason, in this paper, a part of the TQA model proposed by
Newmark, which includes the first four topics, is utilized.
1.3. An overview on movie titles
1.3.1. Definition of movie
The word “movie” sounds simple and familiar to people, however; it is still
necessary to clearly define the term in order to avoid any ambiguity.
According to OALD, Movie (n.d.) is “a series of moving pictures recorded
with sound that tells a story, shown at the cinema/movie theater” and its synonym is

28
“film”. When it comes to the definition of Film (n.d.), OALD says that the term
means “a series of moving pictures recorded with sound that tells a story, shown on
television or at the cinema/movie theater”. There is a slight difference between
them: Both can be shown at the cinema, however, only film can refer to “moving
pictures” shown “on television”. However, the research only concerns movies or
films shown in CGV Cineplex. Hence, within the scope of the paper, the two terms
are used interchangeably to denote “a series of moving pictures recorded with sound
that tells a story, shown at the cinema/movie theater”.
1.3.2. Classification of movies:
It would be no exaggeration to state that movie genre has certain
influences on the strategy that a translator chooses to translate a movie title.
Therefore, in this paper, movie genre is a factor that is considered in assessing the
translation of the selected movie titles.
So numerous and various are movies, hence, movie classification is such a
difficult and complicated task. “The world's biggest movie website” (Daily Mail
Report, 2010), IMDB proposes 26 movie genres. These include Action, Comedy,
Family, History, Documentary, Reality-TV, Talk-show, etc. However, the website
lists out film genres in a way that mixes TV series with motion pictures, which may
cause confusion for movie classification.
Meanwhile, Andersen (2010) mentions three film genres including Romance,
Comedy and Children‟s movies. Although the author provides detailed explanation
of each genre, his classification as such cannot cover all movie types.
According to Tan (2015), based on different theme and complexity, films can
be divided into several genres, including the Western film, the Musical, Comedy,
Science fiction, War film, Detective and Gangster, Horror film, Film Noir, Social-
Political Drama, Adventures, lyric films and so on. Although it is fairly detailed,
using this way to classify movies seems unfeasible because the author does not

29
provide readers with explanation and criteria to categorize movies into different
genres.
Fischoff (1998) presents fourteen movie genres including Action – Adventure,
Drama, Comedy, Romance, Musical, Horror, Animation, Science-Fiction, Fantasy,
Murder, Biblical, Documentary, Sport-based, Animal-based. Thanks to detailed
description and examples for each genre, this appears to be the best way of
classifying movie genres. Besides, this research concerns three dominant movie
genres in CGV Cineplex, as a result, it appears unnecessary to complicate the
situation by listing out all of the fourteen movie genres proposed by Fischoff (1998).
Therefore, only action, comedy and animation movie genres are presented in this
paper as follows:
Action: the overriding focus of these films is fast pace, derring do,
exploding guns, cars, and people. Males tend to dominate the storyline and male
interests and values are paramount, even if women are featured as "heroes or
villains." Females, except for the occasional movie like Thelma and Louise or La
Femme Nikita, tend to be surbordinate interests and of subordinate focus.
Comedy: Films which portray people, relationships, or events in a deliberate
and consistently humorous way either with jokes and one-liners or because of the
situations conceived. It is a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its
tone, mostly having cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph
over unpleasant circumstance by which to create comic effects, resulting in happy or
successful conclusion. Thus, the purpose of comedy is to amuse the audience.
Comedy has multiple sub-genres depending upon source of humor, context in which
an author delivers dialogues, and delivery method, which include romantic comedy,
comedy of humors and tragicomedy.

30
Animation: Films in this genre are produced by a simulation of movement
created by displaying a series of pictures, or frames. Cartoons on television is one
example of animation. Animation on computers is one of the chief ingredients of
multimedia presentations. However, it should be noted that there is a difference
between animation and video. Whereas video takes continuous motion and breaks it
up into discrete frames, animation starts with independent pictures and puts them
together to form the illusion of continuous motion.
1.3.3. Movie titles in English
1.3.3.1. Functions of movie titles in English
According to Turgut (2012), movie title is a powerful designed element that
not only can allude to the story of the movie but also to the genre and the general
atmosphere of the movie.
Discussing the functions of movie titles, Duong (2006) states that titles can
“provide information” about the film by “summarizing the main plot, uncovering the
theme, or offering some ideas”. Although a title might be “vague, abstract or hard to
capture the meaning”, people still catch a certain notion of the film. She also adds
that movie titles should act as audience “attracter” because it can stimulate the
interest and desire for watching the movies of audience.
Sharing the same point of view, Andersen (2010) also suggests that film titles
mainly aim to attract moviegoers. Movie titles is “privileged and prioritized”
because they are the most “visual of a movie‟s promotional features” and they are
“displayed” to public before films “run” in the cinemas.
The two viewpoints are obviously right. However, restricting the functions of
movie titles within supplying some information about the film and attracting
audience does not seem very appropriate because naming a movie is “the play
writer‟s painstaking conception” (Wang, 2007). Hence, titles surely contain artistic

31
creativity. Acknowledging this, Wang (2007) and Sun (2007) agree that movie titles
have three main functions including “informative function”, “aesthetic function” and
“vocative function”.
Informative function
Discussing the functions of language, Newmark (1988, p.40) states “The core
of the informative function of language is external situation, the facts of a topic,
reality outside language”. Similarly, the informative function of movie titles means
providing the “potential audience” some “relevant information” about the movies
(Wang, 2007). The “relevant information” may include the genre, the main
characters, the plot or setting, etc. of the movie. For example, the title “The dark
knight rises” (2012) may let moviegoers know that this is an action film about hero
called “the dark knight”.
Aesthetic function
Newmark (1988, p.42) suggests that aesthetic function means “please the
senses”. Regarding movie titles, this function allows audience to gain sensory
“enjoyment” by using “delicate language” which may contain “vivid images,
musical words or various rhetorical devices” (Sun, 2007). In fact, not all the movie
titles can perform this function.
Vocative function
The vocative function of language aims at the “readership”, “addressee” and
calls upon them to “act, think or feel”, which means to “react” in the way “intended
by the text” (Newmark, 1988, p.41). When the theory of vocative function is applied
to movie titles, the “readership” and the “addressees” here refer to “moviegoers”
(Sun, 2007). Hence, regarding movie titles, the vocative function is to “draw
attention of audience” and “make them psychologically interested” in watching the
movies (Sun, 2007).

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1.3.3.2. Characteristics of movie titles in English
According to Wang (2007), English movie titles have four main
characteristics. These include being “brief and concentrated”, having “heroes‟ and
heroines‟ names as titles”, having “settings as titles” and being “attractive”.
This point of view is similar to that of Duong (2006), who proposes three
main characteristics of English movie titles. The first one is being “brief and
concise”. The two remaining characteristics are “descriptive” and “containing proper
names”.
It seems that of the two conclusions, Tran‟s appears to be the better for some
reasons. Firstly, Wang‟s ideas about characteristics of movie titles are presented
based on the researcher‟s assumptions without evidence while Tran‟s are strongly
supported with various samples. Moreover, Tran groups names of hero and heroine,
and settings into “proper names”, which appears to be more concise. Besides, the
word “attractive” may be vague because whether a movie title is attractive or not
depends much on sensory perception of each individual. Hence, it seems hasty for
Wang (2007) to say that being “attractive” is a characteristic of English movie titles.
Furthermore, Newmark (1988, p.57) suggests that titles can be “descriptive”
or “allusive”. It is quite easy to list out allusive English movie titles such as “The
silence of the lambs” (1991), “Red” (2010), etc. However, Duong (2006) appears to
miss “allusive” characteristic of English movie titles.
Therefore, it can be concluded in this paper that English movie titles
generally have three main characteristics, namely brief and concise, containing
proper names and descriptive or allusive. These characteristics are further explained,
as follows:
Brief and concise
For titling movies, Hollywood has the full range of English syntactic patterns
(and some foreign ones) to choose from, but, in fact, the full range is not employed.

33
The most frequent pattern is ARTICLE+ ADJEC-TIVE + NOUN (Smith, 1981).
Other titles-for example, those that contain finite verbs, such as questions “Who'll
Stop the Rain?”, tag questions “They Shoot Horses, Don't They?”, or other full
sentences “I Never Sang for My Father” are statistically infrequent, given the
volume of movie titles. Variation from the simple noun-phrase pattern, then, has the
effect of calling attention to a title. If a successful movie has a title of unusual
grammatical pattern, more titles of the same type can be expected to follow.
Generally, English movie titles appear in the forms of a word, a phrase or a
sentence. When being a phrase, movie titles usually consist of one or several “key
words” (Wang, 2007). Some titles can be given as examples such as “At World‟s
End” (2007) and“On Stranger Tides” (2011). As a sentence, they appear “succinct
and simple in structure” (Tran, 2006). Some examples are “Tomorrow Never Dies”
(1997) and “The World Is Not Enough” (1999). Although English movie titles are
brief, they are expressive and suggestive words which convey much information.
Containing proper names
“One outstanding feature of English movies is that they often contain proper
names” (Duong, 2006) that are "names of a particular person, place or thing" and are
spelled "with a capital letter" (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1985, p.68). In other words,
they are often named after the main character(s) or the setting where the story
occurs. Some titles include main character‟s name are “Mr & Mrs Smith” (2005),
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” (2011), etc. Meanwhile, a lot of titles
contain names of the setting in the movie such as “Pearl Harbor” (2001)
and“Nothing Hill” (1999).
Descriptive or allusive
According to Newmark (1988, p.57), titles which are descriptive “describe
the topic” directly while those, allusive, “have some kind of referential or figurative
relationship to the topic”. Hence, a descriptive title is able to “provide the audience
with a general idea of a story” (Duong, 2006). “Pirates of the Caribbean: On

34
Stranger Tides” (2012), which unveils the adventure to a totally strange place of a
pirate captain (Jack Sparrow), is such a title. Besides, an allusive title “serves” as the
connection between the “work” and “certain things outside it”, which the “artist”
wants to “resonate with the work as it is experienced” (Levinson, 2011). “The Vow”
(2012) is an example. The movie portraits the abiding love between a couple, in
which the husband, Leo works to win Paige‟s, his wife, heart again after a car
accident makes her suffer from severe memory loss. In fact, it appears that “more
descriptive movie titles than allusive ones are found” in English because the
language is “straight to the point” as declared by Smith (1981).
1.4. Principles in translating movie titles
Quite a few assumptions about the principles or standards in translating
movie titles have been made so far. Wang (2007) advocates 4 main principles:
1) Faithfulness: It requires the translator to put in time and energy on the
conciseness of the script and try to display the connotation of the movie.
2) Cultural awareness: The translator should be aware of cultural information, fully
understand it, and properly translate it to the understanding of the target
audience.
3) Combination of commercial and aesthetic effects: A well-translated title should
be a perfect combination of attractiveness and quaintness, and capable of
achieving both commercial and aesthetic effects.
4) Artistic quality: The movie title itself is an art. A good translation must be a
good artistic work.
The assumption seems to expose inadequacy. This lies in the vague
differentiation of “aesthetic effects” and “artistic quality” while Wang (2007) offers
little adequate explanation. Hence, this may lead to the confusion among readers.
Meanwhile, Duong (2006) remarks 4 standards that a translator should meet
when translating movie titles as follows:

35
1) Faithfulness to the context: The faithfulness is shown in the way that the title
should be in either direct or indirect connection with the movie itself.
2) Consideration of movie genres: It is necessary to take movie genres into account.
The translated titles should be produced in a way that can convey the movie
genre.
3) Cultural awareness: Translation should be acculturation and negotiation between
two cultures and translation is now culturally oriented. A translator should be
aware of and knowledgeable about the extinctive features of English movie titles
to avoid mistranslation.
4) Combination of commercial and aesthetic effects: Commercially, a movie title is
crucial in marketing and appealing to the moviegoers. However, the translation
cannot go too far out of the original and the movie itself.
Duong (2006) and Wang (2007) appear to share the similar ideas. However, here,
Duong proposes “consideration of movie genre” which is not mentioned by Wang
(2007).
Nevertheless, these are all only assumptions about the principles in
translating English movie titles. Being aware of this, Minh (2014) conducted a
research on the principles in translating movie titles in Vietnam. Then, she
concludes that there are three main principles that should be abided by translators
when translating movie titles from English into Vietnamese. These include being
faithful to the originals, fulfilling commercial purpose and being aware of cultural
differences as presented below:
1) Being faithful to the originals: This means a translation should remain
loyal to the original titles. As original titles are created with certain functions
including descriptive, aesthetic and vocative functions, translators should take more
account of them. That is the beautiful and natural sounds of the SL text should be
preserved as well as compromising on meaning where appropriate. However, it is
noteworthy “originals” should not be restricted to movie titles only; rather it should

36
extend to movies‟ content. In other words, a translation is still considered accurate if
it stays faithfully or precisely reflects the content of the movie.
2) Fulfilling commercial purpose: This is the most decisive and influential
principle to bear in mind because the aim of a title and, also, its translation is to
attract as many moviegoers as possible. Adhering to the principle, translators must
make their translations understandable to audience, be able to convey the movie‟s
genre and then be ear-catching. In addition, a translation should also be brief and
succinct to facilitate key art. Key art is a specialized term denoting a movie‟s
banner, poster, fliers and trailer. Original poster and trailer have been designed with
a fixed space for the title to attract audience‟s attention. Hence, if the translated title
is too long compared to the original one, key art designer will encounter difficulties.
Ideally, a translation should have the same length as the original title to fufill this
principle. However, due to quite a few differences between the two languages, it is
acceptable for a translator to produce longer translation compared to the original
title. Even in these cases, translators should never make their translations four words
longer than the original text.
3) Being aware of cultural differences: This means translators should avoid
sensitive words. Regarding cultural differences between Vietnamese and English,
translators should avoid using sensitive words. These include sex-related words,
political words, violence-related words, religious words. There are two main reasons
for this. Firslty, those words seem to be unacceptable to the majority of Vietnamese
people. Secondly, such sensitive words, especially politics-related and religion-
related ones are not permitted by Vietnamese authorities who are reluctant to
develop political sensitivity. Furthermore, cultural difference also refers to cultural
words or pharses in English. These words and phrases should also be adapted to
make them accurate, natural and appropriate in Vietnamese.

37
Summary:
In this chapter, overviews of translation, translation strategies, translation
quality assessment and movie titles have been provided. In general terms, translation
is a process of conveying as accurately as possible the meaning and aesthetic values
of the ST into the TT in written form. Furthermore, discussing strategies of
translation, eight methods and sixteen procedures of translation have been
mentioned. The former consists of Word-for-word, Literal, Faithful, Semantic,
Adaptation, Free, Idiomatic and Communicative translation. Meanwhile, the latter
comprises of Transference, Naturalization, Through Translation, Shift, Modulation,
Cultural Equivalent, Functional equivalent, Descriptive Equivalent, Synonym,
Recognised translation, Compensation, Translation label, Componential analysis,
Paraphrase, Reduction/ Expansion and Couplets. Besides, among various translation
quality assessment models, the one proposed by Newmark appears to be the most
feasible and suitable framework in this research. The model consists of five topics,
namely text analysis, the translator‟s purpose, comparing the translation with the
original, the evaluation of the translation and the translation‟s future.
Next, an overview on movie and movie titles has been offered. Movie can be
defined as a series of moving pictures recorded with sound that tells a story, shown
at the cinema. Regarding movie titles in English, they have three main functions,
namely informative, aesthetic and vocative. It seems that because of those functions,
English movie titles generally share some notable characteristics. A great number of
movie titles in English contain proper names which might be names of the movie‟s
character or of settings. Besides, they are usually brief and concise, which means
they appear in the form of only a word, phrase and sometimes a sentence. The last
characteristic is that English movie titles can be descriptive (describing the topic) or
allusive (connecting the title with certain things outside it). Finally, a brief review of

38
some standards that translator must meet when translating movie titles from English
into Vietnamese in CGV Cineplex has been presented. These standards include
being faithful to the original title or movie‟s content, fulfilling commercial purpose
and being aware of cultural differences.

39
CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The second chapter in the Development part presented the methodology of
this research in detail. The research approach for the whole study and the sampling
as well as data collection and analysis processes in each phase would be reasoned
presented thoroughly.
2.1. Qualitative approach
In the study, qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed for
several reasons. First of all, integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches in
development research can help achieve insightful results that “neither approach
would produce on its own” (Woolcock & Rao, 2003). This particular research
concerns two major issues, namely translation quality assessment and translation
techniques. The former issue, a fairly complicated one, would be explored by using
a translation quality framework combining with a contrastive analysis between
original English movie titles and their translations. Hence, only by utilizing
qualitative and quantitative approach can the researcher assess the quality of the
translated titles and present them in statistical data. Meanwhile, for the latter issue, a
number of translators would be interviewed for “an insider's view of the field”
(Burns, cited in Le, 2010). Therefore, only by applying qualitative approach could
the research study both translated movie titles and translators to ultimately discover
the answers for the research issues.
2.2. Setting
The study was conducted in CGV Cineplex (formerly known as Megastar
Cineplex). The Cineplex started its business in Vietnam in 2005. After one decade
of operation, the Cineplex has become the leading distributor for Hollywood movies
and holding up to “90% of the movie industry‟s revenue” in Vietnam (Long, 2015).
Before being released in Vietnam, one translated title has to undergo certain
phases. First, marketing staffs in CGV Cineplex introduces the movie which is about

40
to be screened. Next, one group of translators will be assigned to translate the
movie‟s title and subtitle. Then, the group will discuss to choose the most suitable
Vietnamese title to submit to distribution manager in CGV. If the title is not
approved at this stage, the group will have to re-translate it. After being approved by
the distribution manager, the title will then be submitted to the original studio
producing and distributing the movie. Here, the Vietnamese title is termed “local
title”. If the local title is approved by the original studio, it will be released;
otherwise, it will be sent back to CGV for edition. The strictness of the process
depended much on the original studios and the “blockbusters” that would be shown
(Tran, 2012). It should be noted that certain movies like Avatar (2009) and Thor
(2011) were still released in Vietnamese under the original English titles. For these
cases, the distributor of those movies had to ask for permission from the Cinema
Department of Vietnam (Tran, 2012).
Figure 2.1. The process of releasing a local movie title in CGV Cineplex
(Minh, 2014)
2.3. Design of the study
As mentioned above, the research aim to assess the quality of the Vietnamese
translations of English movie titles and suggest techniques to help avoid making
mistakes and ease the task. Because of this nature, it was necessary to conduct a

41
contrastive analysis between original titles and their translations to evaluate the
translations‟ quality and then interviewing translators who were successful in
translating investigated movie titles to explore translation techniques that might be
used. Hence, the study was divided into two phases.
2.3.1. Phase 1
Phase one was designed to seek the answer to the first research question
concerning the assessment of the translated movie titles. Hence, in this phase, titles
of animation, action and comedy movies released in CGV Cineplex from 2011 to
2014 would be collected and analyzed.
2.3.1.1. Sampling
The study took advantage of purposive sampling, in which samples are
“selected because it serves the real purpose and objectives of the researcher of
discovering, gaining insight and understanding into a particular chosen
phenomenon” (Burns, 2000, p.465). As it was indicated in the title and in the scope
of the study, the current research only concerns the titles of animation, comedy and
action movies released from 2011 to 2011 in CGV Cineplex. Hence, movie titles
investigated in the research were chosen purposively.
At first, the researcher intended to choose all the English titles of movies that
had been released by CGV Cineplex since 2006 (when CGV Cinpelex, formerly
known as Megastar Cineplex, started their business in Vietnam) so that the findings
would be more comprehensive. However, there were certain obstacles that made the
intention unfeasible. On the one hand, given that approximately 50 movies were
shown every year, there would be about 400 titles from 2006 to 2014. The
researcher was uncertain whether she could handle such a huge number of samples
within four months. On the other hand, no matter how hard she attempted, the
researcher could not find the database containing names of movies shown in CGV
Cineplex since 2006 to 2010.

42
Thence, movie titles were selected based on the following criteria. First, only
titles of animation, comedy and action movies released by CGV Cineplex were
selected. In addition, all of the titles must be original in English. Besides, movie
titles must be up-to-date so that they would be accessible and reliable to serve as the
samples for the research.
Finally, titles of 126 movies shown by CGV Cineplex from 2011 to 2014
were selected based on the above criteria. They were classified into three genres
including animation, comedy and action. For each genre, the titles were categorized
into two sub-types: descriptive titles and allusive titles.
2.3.1.2. Data collection method
Data collection method
In this phase of the study, document observation served as the method of data
collection. After careful consideration, this method was chosen for the following
reasons. Firstly, by using document analysis, the researcher “attempts” to provide “a
confluence of evidence that breeds credibility” (Eisner, 1991, p. 110). Besides, as a
research method, document analysis is particularly applicable to produce rich
descriptions of a single phenomenon, event, organization, or program (Stake, 1995).
Data collection instrument
As contrastive analysis was chosen as the data collection method, the
instruments employed to gather data would be 126 selected movie titles in English
and their Vietnamese translated versions.
2.3.1.3. Data collection procedures
In this stage, the data collection procedure basically consisted of two main
steps as follows:
Step 1: Collecting movie titles
The very initial and essential step of this research is collecting the titles of
the animation, comedy and action movies shown in CGV Cineplex from 2011 to
2014. This was done by searching for the session times on the Cineplex‟s official

43
website and on Google. In the session times, the genre of each movie could be seen;
hence, the researcher just had to select movies of three genres including animation,
comedy and action.
However, for most of the foreign movies, only Vietnamese translated titles
were found. In addition, it should be noted that the title of one movie is always
translated by its local distributor. Meanwhile, not all movies shown in CGV were
distributed by the Cineplex. Hence, to choose titles translated by CGV Cineplex, it
was necessary to verify that the translated titles belong to movies released by the
Cineplex. This was done by type the following structure on Youtube: The title in
Vietnamese + CGV/ Megastar trailer. Then, at the beginning or at the end of each
trailer there would be a line stating that the movie was distributed by CGV or
Megastar Cineplex. Also, the researcher could find the original English title
appeared at the end of the trailer.
Step 2: Establishing database of original and translated movie titles
It was necessary to establish a database containing both original English titles
and their Vietnamese translated version so that it would be easier and more
convenient to investigate the samples in order to analyze and compare them.
Therefore, collected titles and their translations were classified into three genres
including animation, comedy and action movies. Then, for each category, they were
put into allusive and descriptive titles. For titles of animated movies, there were 14
descriptive titles and 4 allusive ones. The number of descriptive titles and allusive
ones for comedy were 9 and 7 respectively. Meanwhile, titles of action movies
consisted of 22 allusive titles and 70 descriptive titles.
2.3.1.4. Data analysis procedures
The data analysis procedures were conducted followed the assessment
framework suggested by Newmark (1988). As mentioned in the previous chapter,
this framework consists of 5 topics: 1) ST analysis, 2) Translator‟s purpose analysis,
3) Comparing ST and TT, 4) Evaluation and 5) Assessing the future of the
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44
translation. Meanwhile, the titles serving as the samples for this study had been
already released before the study was conducted, hence, they would be assessed on
the four first topics. Titles of each genre including animation, comedy and action
movies would be in turn assessed. The assessment process could be analyzed as
follows:
Step 1: Analyzing the source text
The characteristics of the original titles were analyzed. In other words, the
original titles were examined to see whether they are descriptive or allusive titles
and the language used in entitling movies.
Step 2: Analyzing the translator’s purpose
The characteristics of translated titles were also studied. This aimed to
identify whether the translator had made any changes when translating the titles
from English into Vietnamese.
Step 3: Comparing the translations with the originals
Here, the translations would be compared with the original titles of
animation, action and comedy movies to see how the translators had solved the
particular problem in the SL texts. Firstly, translation strategies used to translate
movie titles in the three categories would be examined. Based on this, major
problems arising in translating the titles and how they were handled would be
discussed. These problems would be grouped selectively such as cultural words,
proper names, names of sequels, etc.
Step 4:
The accuracy of the translation would be assessed from the translator‟s
standards and from the assessor‟s standard. A translation would be considered as
meeting the assessor‟s standard when it remains semantically and pragmatically
faithful to the source text. In other words, the assessor would compare each
translation with the original title in the context of the each movie‟s content. Besides,
as it is presented in the previous chapter, movie title translators have certain
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45
principles to follow (Minh, 2014). Thus, a translation would be considered as
meeting the translator‟s standard when it can reflect the movie‟s content, be
understandable to audience and be succint. Then the translations would be assessed
by the assessor‟s own standards of referential and pragmatic accuracy. In this topic,
translations would be synthesized into four categories: 1) Fully meet the TQA
framework; 2) Only meet the translator‟s standard; 3) Only meet the assessor‟s
standard and 4) Fail to meet the TQA framework.
After each step, the findings were synthesized to answer the research question
regarding to what extent the translations meet the requirements in the translation
quality assessment framework (Newmark, 1988).
2.3.2. Phase 2
After assessing the translations of the selected movie titles, the researcher
might discover some strategies that were used to produce good translations.
However, this finding was rather subjective. Hence, Phase two was designed to
solve that problem. In this phase, some translators who produced good translations
in phase one would be interviewed to share the strategies they utilized to overcome
difficulties in translating movie titles and to produce successful translations.
2.3.2.1. Sampling
In order to answer the second research questions, it was necessary to ask for
the participation of translators working for CGV Cineplex. The translators who had
clear and successful translated titles as being assessed in Phase 1 were invited to
take part in Phase 2 of the study. At first, five translators were purposively chosen.
However, due to their rigorous and rigid schedule, and heavy workload, not all of
them could be available for the study. Hence, convenience sampling in which
“people are sampled simply because they are convenient sources of data for
researcher” (Lavrakas, 2008) was utilized to select three participants.
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