An analysis of linguistic errors committed in translation by english major students at Hung vuong university

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TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÙNG VƯƠNG HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY
Tập 14, Số 1 (2019): 82–94 Vol. 14, No. 1 (2019): 82–94
Email: tapchikhoahoc@hvu.edu.vn Website: www.hvu.edu.vn
ISSN 
1859-3968
Email: cucsuzan@gmailcom
1. Introduction
Error analysis in language teaching 
in general and in translation teaching in 
particular is becoming popular as it opens 
the way to see the learners’ competence 
In translation teaching, error analysis has 
been an effective way to assess the students’ 
translation performance [3][5][6]
In assessing translation, linguistic 
aspect plays the major role in deciding 
whether the translation is successful 
or not Linguistic errors committed in 
translations will then cause the failure 
AN ANALYSIS OF LINGUISTIC ERRORS 
COMMITTED IN TRANSLATION BY ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS 
AT HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY
Pham Thi Kim Cuc, Truong Thi Thuy Ninh, Nguyen Thi Thin 
Hung Vuong University
Received: 11/6/2019; Revised: 01/7/2019; Accepted: 08/7/2019
AbsTrAcT
The study aimed to analyze the linguistic errors committed by English major students, Hung Vuong University, in their Vietnamese English translation, and inform some implications of pedagogy to 
improve the translation ability of the students To this end, 68 Vietnamese students, who at the time 
of the study were studying English as their major, were subjected to a Vietnamese-English translation 
test Translation errors were analyzed using Guide Sheet for Linguistic Error Analysis by Na (2005) in 
which linguistic errors roof five sub-types: morphological errors, grammatical errors, syntactic errors, 
collocational errors, and wrong form errors Findings showed that syntactic errors occur the most fre-
quently, followed by collocation errors, then others Results were discussed and implications for the 
improvements of translation ability and recommendations for future research were presented
Keywords: translation errors, morphological errors, grammatical errors, syntactic errors, collocational 
errors, wrong form errors
of the translation [2][5][6] Therefore, 
awareness of such errors can help to avoid 
committing them and as a result, the 
translation quality will be improved
The purpose of the study is to analyze 
the linguistic errors committed by English 
linguistics students who become translators 
in the future Meanwhile, the specific 
objectives of this study were to (1) analyze the 
linguistic errors committed by students in 
Vietnamese English translation, (2) inform 
some pedagogical implications basing on the 
analysis of errors
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2. Theoretical Background
2.1. Translation
Finding out the concept of translation 
faces with many as it is hard to define this 
term because of its polysemy as different 
scholars have their own approaches to look 
into the term In combining their viewpoints, 
translation can be considered as transferring 
meaning from the source language to the 
target language in written texts to give the 
sense of the original and the naturalness of 
the expressions The “sense of the original” 
emphasizes the transfer of meaning of the text 
and the ideas that the author wants to convey 
through the text and serves the purpose of 
the translation By the term “the naturalness 
of the expressions” it is recommended that 
the translation must reflect the language 
style and other extra-linguistic elements of 
the target language in the translation
2.2. Errors
The term “error” usually means that 
something is wrong Lennon (1991, p182) 
[4] considers an error as “a linguistic form 
or combination of forms which, in the same 
context and under similar conditions of 
production, would, in all likelihood, not be 
produced by the speakers’ native speaker 
counterparts”
2.3. Translation Errors
Translations errors are defined differently 
depending on translation theories and 
norms [3] The most acceptable concept 
of translation errors is the one stated by 
American Translators Association (ATA) 
(2016) According to ATA (2016) [1], 
translation errors are negative impact(s) on 
the understanding or use of a target text
In the language teaching and learning 
process, especially the teaching and learning 
of translation, errors play a crucial role as 
error analysis has been an effective tool to 
assess translations performed by students 
[9] The number of errors committed by 
students reflect the students’ performance in 
translation [5]
2.4. Linguistic Errors in Translation
The taxonomy for linguistic error analysis 
adopted from Na (2005) was utilized 
in the present study According to Na’s 
Guide Sheet for Linguistic Error Analysis, 
linguistic errors include morphological 
errors, grammatical errors, syntactic errors, 
collocational errors, and inappropriate word 
form (See Appendix 1)
Morphological errors are errors involving 
a failure to comply with the norm in building 
word structure
Grammatical errors are errors that occur 
in handling the word structure, including 
incorrect verb tenses or verb forms, incorrect 
case of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and the 
use of adjective when a verb is needed
Syntactic errors are made when learners 
have to handle any structures larger than 
words Errors in this category occur when 
students have problems with the building of 
a phrase, a clause or a sentence
Collocational errors are the ones made in 
the idiomatic usage of the target language
Inappropriate word form refers to cases 
when the word form is not correctly chosen, 
ie, the learner uses a noun instead of an 
adjective The root of the word may be 
correct, but the wrong form is used
2.5. Related Studies in Tranlation 
Error Analysis
Studies relating to translation error 
analysis can be found in the literature 
both domestically and internationally In 
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the roof of translation errors, researchers 
have identified errors into subtypes of 
translational errors, linguistic errors, and 
comprehension errors [2][5][6]
The identified errors in Popescu’s (2013) 
model are classified into three main types: 
linguistic errors (morphological, syntactic 
and collocational), comprehension errors 
(misunderstanding of lexis and syntax) 
and translation errors (distorted meaning, 
additions, omissions, inaccurate renditions 
of lexical items) In this study, he found that 
the highest number of errors was detected in 
the areas of linguistic errors
Na’s (2005) findings of the study revealed 
among all types of errors, grammatical 
errors were the highest, followed by errors 
of syntax, translation, comprehension, and 
collocation Among all types of syntactic 
errors, most of the syntactic errors were 
made at the level of sentence structure [5]
Results of the study by Hang & Hang (2015) 
showed that in the area of linguistic errors, 
the most common errors students made were 
lexical choice, while they rarely had problems 
with subject-verb agreement, part of speech, 
and capitalization However, translational 
challenges seemingly posed more challenges 
to students than linguistic ones [2]
3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
The population of the study was the group 
of 68 fourth year English major linguistic 
students, Department of Foreign Languages, 
Hung Vuong University They were trained 
with the orientation to become professional 
translators after graduating from university
At the time of the study, they had finished 
their Translation Practice 3, the last course in 
the series of translation courses (Translation 
Theory, Translation Practice 1, Translation 
2, and Translation Practice 3) Translation 
error analysis at this time is hoped to 
unearth the gap of students’ competence in 
translation that can give valuable feedbacks 
for the course training
3.2. Instrumentation
Participants were asked to do a Vietnam-
ese English translation test The text for 
translation was adapted from part of an ar-
ticle on electronic commerce for the general 
audience It was written by an expert, but not 
for other experts in that field, but commercial 
in the broadest sense (See Appendix 2)
The validation for the translation test 
went through the two steps following 
Suskie’s (1996) guidelines, namely “Informal 
pilots” and “Accompanied interviewing” [8] 
After the test was piloted, the final form of 
the test was produced and administered to 
the participants
3.3. Data Analysis
The translation error analysis was done 
by a group of three translation teachers 
They were all experienced in the field of 
translation teaching The process of data 
analysis was as follows: A teacher among 
the group examined the translations of the 
participants She identified the translation 
linguistic errors by using the Guide Sheet 
for Linguistic Error Analysis After that, the 
researcher and the other teacher-evaluator 
rechecked the error identifications to ensure 
that they were appropriate After that, the 
researcher herself classified the translation 
linguistic errors
Frequency counts and percentage were 
used to treat the translation linguistic 
errors committed
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4. Results and Discussion
4.1. Linguistic Errors Committed by 
English Major Students in Translation
As mentioned above, under the roof 
of linguistic errors, there are five sub-
types of errors taken into account namely 
morphology, grammar, syntax, collocation 
and word form As shown in Table 1, 
the most dominant error is in syntax 
with a mean score of 402, followed by 
collocational errors (mean score of 277), 
grammatical errors (mean score of 267), 
and morphological errors (mean of score of 
247) Wrong form errors is with the lowest 
mean score of 222 The results support 
study results by Na (2005), Hang & Hang 
(2015), Popescu (2013)
Morphological errors occur when 
students fail to comply with the norm in 
building word structure [5] This type of 
error deals with the misspelling of words, 
the addition/omission of plural marker of 
nouns, the errors on the use of possessive 
case, the inappropriate verb construction 
and subject/verb agreement
Table 2 shows the frequency and 
percent distribution of error types along 
morphological level Quite as expected, 
most of the morphological errors occurring 
in the translation test outputs are with the 
singular/plural form of nouns, and subject/
verb agreements
The following examples demonstrate 
morphological errors of the students:
(1) Translated text: It is one of the simplest 
transaction mode-s of electronic commerce� 
(Noun: Omission of plural marker)
(2) Translated text: ��to choose the items with 
reasonable price and useful information-s� 
(Noun: Addition of plural marker)
(3) Translated text: Electronic commerce 
bring(s) many benefits for not only 
enterprises but customers� (Verb: Subject/
verb agreement)
(4) Translated text: Its sublimity is showned 
in its potential as electronic commerce is the 
key to (reach) the success of enterprises in the 
future� (Inappropriate verb construction)
(5) Translated text: The sublimity is 
expressed in its potential as this is the key 
to the enterprises’s success in the future� 
(Incorrect use of possessive case)
Related to grammatical errors, the pres-
ent study involves all the word classes except 
nouns including adjectives, adverbs, articles, 
conjunctions, determiners, pronouns, prep-
ositions, and verbs They are classified in five 
ways: misuse (when the word class should 
Table 1. Linguistic Errors Committed by the 
Students
Sub-types
Lowest 
Number 
of Error
Highest 
Number of 
Error
Mean 
Error SD
Morphology 1 5 247 089
Grammar 1 5 267 086
Syntax 2 6 402 114
Collocation 1 4 277 071
Wrong forms 1 4 222 086
Total 
Linguistic 
Errors
6.00 23.00 14.16 3.52
Table 2. Distribution of Morphological Errors
Error Type Frequency* (n = 68) Percent
Nouns
Addition of plural marker 34 202
Omission of plural marker 59 351
Incorrect use of possessive case 7 42
Verbs
Inappropriate verb 
construction
15 89
Subject/verb agreement 53 315
*Multiple counts
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not be used), omission (when the word class 
is omitted), addition (when the word class is 
added), inappropriate choice (wrong form of 
word class), and misplacement (wrong posi-
tion) (Na, 2005) As observed in the trans-
lation test outputs, all the students more or 
less commit errors with one or another word 
class in one or another way
Examples of grammatical errors are 
presented hereunder:
(6) Translated text: It is the key to help 
enterprises become success (successful) in the 
future� (Adjective: Misuse of adjective/Noun)
(7) Translated text: So It’s extreme 
(extremely) convenient for customers to 
choose��� (Adverb: Misuse of adverb)
(8) Translated text: It is one of √ (the) 
simplest operation modes of electronic 
commerce� (Article: Omission of article)
(9) Translated text: It is simple √ (because) 
Vietnamese enterprises, especially those 
in Hanoi and Hochiminh city, have been 
using such means of communication as��� 
(Conjunction: Omission of conjunction)
(10) Translated text: Customers can 
buy almost √ (all) products on the Internet� 
(Determiner: Omission of determiner)
(11) Translated text: It is simple because 
Vietnam’s enterprises especial (especially) 
(those) (in) Hanoi and Hochiminh City where 
(redundant) have been using some means of 
communications ��� (Pronoun: Addition of 
relative pronoun)
(12) Translated text: In Vietnam, the 
enterprises succeeded in electronic commerce 
are those specializing on (in) high technology 
product services, services and tourism, or 
import-export� (Preposition: Inappropriate 
choice of preposition)
(13) Translated text: It is simple because 
Vietnam’s enterprises, especially those in 
Hanoi and Hochiminh City, used (have been 
using) some means of communications��� 
(Verb: Inappropriate choice of tense)
(14) Translated text: The sublimity 
express (is expressed) in its potential� (Verb: 
Inappropriate verb voice)
(15) Translated text: Use (Using) electronic 
commerce helps enterprises take its full 
advantages that are prominent than those 
of other business forms� (Verb Participle: 
Inappropriate choice of present participle)
(16) Translated text: It is said that electronic 
trade (commerce) is a developed newly and 
high-tech √ (related) branch� (Misplacement 
of adverb)
In terms of syntax, the errors occur in 
all three kinds of structures included in 
the study namely phrase structure, clause 
structure and sentence structure Table 4 
presents the frequency and percentage along 
syntactic errors It is noted in the study that 
students committed all types of errors in 
Table 3. Distribution of Grammatical Errors
Error Type Frequency (n = 68)* Percent
Adjectives 25 137
Adverbs 21 115
Articles 30 165
Conjunctions 13 71
Determiners 17 93
Pronouns 30 165
Prepositions 19 104
Verbs 27 148
*Multiple counts
Table 4. Distribution of Syntactic Errors
Error Type Frequency (n = 68)* Percent
Phrases 56 204
Clauses 89 325
Sentences 129 471
*Multiple counts
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regard to syntax, and errors in sentence level 
occur the most frequent
A phrase is a word or group of words 
forming a syntactic constituent with a single 
grammatical function (Na, 2005) Errors 
with phrases show the difficulties of students 
in forming a phrase in the target language to 
transfer the intended meaning appropriately 
and correctly, especially the noun phrase 
construction Here are some examples:
(17) Translated text: If electronic com-
merce is not used, enterprises cannot take its 
prominent advantages than those advantages 
(redundant) of other business forms� (Addi-
tion of unnecessary words)
(18) Translated text: These are the simplest 
operation √ (modes) of electronic commerce� 
(Inappropriate noun phrase construction: A 
head noun is missing at the end of the phrase)
(19) Translated text:  go to all the booths 
not only √ (in) the country but also in the world� 
(Inappropriate noun phrase construction: A 
preposition is missing at the beginning of a 
prepositional phrase modifying a noun)
(20) Translated text: ��� enterprises ��� have 
long used such means of communication 
as telephones, faxes, emails ��� in business 
transact (transaction) ��� (Inappropriate noun 
phrase construction: A verb is used instead 
of a noun in a noun phrase)
(21) Translated text:  to choose the items 
with price reasonable (reasonable price) and 
necessary information� (Inappropriate noun 
phrase construction: Wrong position of 
adjective in a noun phrase)
(22) Translated text: The choice seems √ 
(to) be convenient and wide� (Inappropriate 
verb phrase construction)
(23) Translated text: Enterprises not use 
(using) electronic commerce cannot take the 
advantages which are prominent than those of 
other business forms� (Inappropriate phrase 
construction of present participle phrase)
(24) Translated text: In Vietnam, the 
enterprises succeeded in electronic commerce 
are those specializing in service product high 
technology or import-export� (Misordering)
(25) Translate text: Customers, instead of 
wasting time and efforts to walk on the streets 
and look for the products, now just sit on the 
chairs and ‘click the mouse’ to reach all in the 
country and oversea booths to choose the 
items ��� (Nonparallel combination)
(26) Translated text: Electronic commerce’s 
sublimity is expressed in its potential ��� 
(Inappropriate use of possessive case)
(27) Translated text: The sublimity of 
electronic commerce is expressed in its potential 
as it is the key to the enterprises(’) success in 
the future (Omission of possessive marker)
Errors within clause structure occur 
when the combination of a group of words 
containing a subject and predicate and 
functioning as a member of a complex or 
compound sentence is broken (Na, 2005) In 
this study, there are a variety of errors within 
this sub-type concentrating on such errors 
as: omission/addition of the subject, addition 
of verb, inappropriate clause construction, 
nonparallel combination, incomplete clause, 
omission of the relative pronoun Look at 
some examples following:
(28) Translated text: In Vietnam, the 
enterprises which they succeeded in electronic 
commerce are those specializing in ��� (addition 
of subject)
(29) Translated text: √ (It) seem(s) that 
the sooner the enterprises apply electronic 
commerce, the greater success they get� 
(Omission of the subject)
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(30) Translated text: It seems to be that the 
sooner enterprises apply electronic commerce, 
the greater success they get� (Addition of verb: 
one more verb is added to the clause)
(31) If enterprises do not apply electronic 
commerce, they will not take its advantages 
to be (which are) prominent than others (those 
of other business forms)� (Incomplete clause 
construction: use of a structure which does 
not match the intended original message)
(32) Translated text: If it’s not used 
electronic commerce, enterprises will 
not take full advantages �� (Inappropriate 
combination of subject and passive verb)
(33) Translated text: If the electronic 
commerce is not used, enterprises will not be 
able to take the advantages which are better √� 
(Incomplete