Strategies for translating vietnamese culturespecific items in tourist materials into Qnglish

STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATING VIETNAMESE CULTURE-
SPECIFIC ITEMS IN TOURIST MATERIALS INTO ENGLISH 
Nguyen Vu Khanh, Truong Bach Le* 
University of Foreign Languages, Hue University 
Received: 05/11/2018; Revised: 14/12/2018; Accepted: 20/08/2019 
Abstract: The objectives of this study are to provide fundamental background knowledge for those who 
are in favor of translation of culture-specific items in tourist materials and encourage more researchers 
to investigate further into related studies as well. To be more specific, it focuses on two sub-projects. 
The first one is to examine how professional translators rendered Vietnamese culture-specific items in 
tourist materials into English. The second one is to find out which strategies should be used when 
translating Vietnamese culture-specific items in tourist materials. The objects of the study are 200 
culture-specific items found in tourist materials. Utilizing the framework of translation procedures 
suggested by Newmark, the findings show that 3 major strategies (single translation procedures, 
couplets and triplets) were used in translating these proper names and common expressions. Among 
those three strategies, couplets are preferable when it comes to translating culture-specific items. To be 
exact, the strategy Translation using Transference & Synonymy is most used by translators when 
rendering Vietnamese destinations into English. 
Key words: Culture-specific items, tourist materials, translation procedures, strategies 
1. Introduction 
1.1. Rationale of the study 
 In today’s interconnected world, translation plays a pivotal role in the integration of all nations. There 
has been, however, a longstanding misconception that translation deals only with language. It was not until 
recently that the cultural influence on translation drew much attention from researchers. Ever since, this topic 
has been a matter of concern that bothers linguists a great deal. Therefore, this study is conducted to explore 
deep into the cultural aspect of translation. To be more specific, it aims at providing thorough insights into the 
nature of culture-specific items (CSIs) as well as the problems that they might cause to translators. Now that 
cultural perspective has been brought into consideration, translators have to bridge the linguistic gap while, at 
the same time, transferring cultural values to target readers through their work. 
 Therefore, this paper aims at figuring out how professional translators rendered Vietnamese culture-
specific items in tourist materials into English, and subsequently suggesting some translation strategies for 
translating Vietnamese culture-specific items in tourist materials. To reach these aims, this study examines 
culture-specific items and their treatment in online articles posted on the website of Ministry of Culture, 
Sports & Tourism’s National Administration of Tourism (a prestigious and reliable website of Vietnamese 
government). In other words, these two questions will be answered: 
1. What were the strategies used to translate Vietnamese tourist materials into English? 
2. How were these strategies used during the process of translating Vietnamese tourist materials into 
English? 
* Email: tbachle@hueuni.edu.vn 
1.2. Translation of culture-specific items 
1.2.1. Relation between translation and culture 
 For many years, a large amount of research has been conducted into the field of translation. It goes 
without saying that there have been various definitions of translation depending on the perspective of 
theorists. According to Catford (1965), translation may be defined as “the replacement of textual material 
in one language (SL) by equivalent textual material in another language (TL)” (p. 20). Bell (1991), to some 
extent, also agrees with Catford by stating that “the replacement of a representation of a text in one language 
by a representation of an equivalent text in a second language” (p. 20). With reference to these two 
definitions, people may misconceive that translation is a mere converting process that only involves 
translator’s linguistic competence. 
 However, there are other theorists disagreeing with these aforementioned ideas. Nida (1984) defines 
translation as a process “consists of reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent to 
the message of the source language, first in meaning and second in style” (p. 83). As culture is defined by 
Larson (1984) as “a complex of beliefs, attitudes, values, and rules which a group of people share” (p. 431), 
producing “the closest natural equivalent” in the target language, in other words, means that translation is 
somehow affected by the cultural differences. Therefore, translation means more than just solely translating 
word by word; it also involves transferring culture, which requires translators to be not only competent in 
linguistics, but also familiar with both the source and the target cultures. 
1.2.2 Culture-specific items 
 As it has been accepted that translation is closely related to culture, Newmark (1988) believes that 
“there will be a translation problem unless there is cultural overlap between the source and the target 
language (and its readership)” (p. 94). Sharing this idea, Larson (1984) states that: 
 When the cultures are similar, there is less difficulty in translating. This is because both languages 
will probably have terms that are more or less equivalent for the various aspects of the culture. When the 
cultures are very different, it is often difficult to find equivalent lexical items. (p. 95-96) 
 Newmark (1988) believes that “the more specific a language becomes for natural phenomena (e.g., 
flora and fauna), the more it becomes embedded in cultural features, and therefore creates translation 
problems” (p. 95). He also introduces “cultural words” which the readership is unlikely to understand 
(Newmark, 1988, p. 119). While Baker (1992) calls these words “culture-specific items” (p. 21), Nord 
(1997) refers to these words as “culturemes” defined as "a cultural phenomenon that is present in culture X 
but not present (in the same way) in culture Y" (p. 34). Adapting Nida, Newmark (1988, p. 95) then divides 
“cultural words” into five categories: 
(1) Ecology: flora, fauna, winds, plains, hills. 
(2) Material culture (artefacts): food, clothes, houses and towns, transport 
(3) Social culture - work and leisure. 
(4) Organizations, customs, activities, procedures, concepts (political and administrative, religious, artistic). 
(5) Gestures and habits. 
1.3. Strategies for translating culture-specific items in tourist materials 
Many studies have shown that in the process of translating tourist materials, translators may apply 
various strategies to assure the quality of their work. In “A Textbook of Translation”, Peter Newmark 
clarifies literal translation into 8 different methods. However, since Newmark (1988) said, “while 
translation methods relate to whole texts, translation procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units 
of language.” (p. 8), we will explore other translation procedures as follows. According to Newmark (1988, 
p. 81), “there are other translating procedures whose use always depends on a variety of contextual factors” 
when it comes to CSIs such as those in tourist materials: 
Table 1. Newmark’s set of translation procedures 
 Strategy Comment 
1 Transference 
The process of transferring a source language (SL) word to a target 
language (TL) text as a translation procedure. (p. 81) 
2 Naturalization 
It succeeds transference and adapts the SL word first to the normal 
pronunciation, then to the normal morphology of the TL. (p. 82) 
3 Cultural equivalent 
An approximate translation where a SL cultural word is translated 
by a TL cultural word. (p. 82) 
4 Functional equivalent 
The use of a culture-free word, sometimes with a new specific term; 
it therefore neutralizes or generalizes the SL word. (p. 83) 
5 Descriptive equivalent 
The translator uses some descriptions to clarify the meaning for his 
audience. (p. 84) 
6 Synonymy 
A near TL equivalent to an SL word in a context, where a precise 
equivalent may or may not exist. (p. 84) 
7 Through-translation 
It is the literal translation of common collocations, names of 
organizations and components of compounds.(p. 84) 
8 Shifts or transpositions 
A change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance, (i) change 
from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL 
structure does not exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL 
word. (p. 84 – p. 88) 
9 Modulation 
It occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original 
text in the TL text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, 
since the SL and the TL may appear dissimilar in terms of 
perspective. (p. 88) 
10 Recognized translation 
It occurs when the translator normally uses the official or the 
generally accepted translation of any institutional term. (p. 89) 
11 Translation label 
This is a provisional translation, usually of a new institutional term, 
which should be made in inverted commas, which can later be 
discreetly withdrawn. (p. 90) 
12 Compensation 
It occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is 
compensated in another part. (p. 90) 
13 Componential analysis 
Comparing a SL word with a TL word which has a similar meaning 
but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first 
their common and then their differing sense components. (p. 114) 
14 
Reduction and 
expansion 
Expansion refers to the case where the translator exceeds the number 
of words of the source text. In reduction procedure, the translator is 
more likely to reduce the number of elements that form the source 
text. (p. 90) 
15 Paraphrase 
An amplification or explanation of the meaning of a segment of the 
text. (p. 90) 
16 
Couplets, Triplets, and 
Quadruplets 
It occurs when the translator combines two or more than two 
different procedures for dealing with a single problem (p. 91) 
17 
Notes, Additions, 
Glosses 
Additional information in a translation. (p. 91) 
 As theorists suggest different translation strategies according to their own perspectives and 
approaches, one set of translation procedures can be appropriate in this situation but improper in another 
circumstance. When it comes to translating CSIs in tourist materials, however, it seems that Newmark 
(1988) suggests the most applicable set of procedures. That’s the reason why his classification is chosen as 
the framework to analyze the translation strategies used in tourist materials. 
Since Peter Newmark (1988) argued that “there are about fourteen procedures within a certain range of 
probability which are useful to the translator” (p. 91), however, only 11 out of 17 translation strategies will be 
employed to examine the translation of CSIs in tourist materials in this study. They include transference, 
naturalization, cultural equivalent, functional equivalent, descriptive equivalent, synonymy, through-translation, 
shifts, paraphrase, notes and couplets & triplets. 
The excluded ones are modulation, reduction & expansion, recognized translation, translation label, 
compensation and componential analysis (CA). There are reasons for the exclusion of these procedures. 
First of all, Newmark (1988) shared his view that “the general concept about modulation given by Vinay 
and Darbelnet is not useful as it stands.” (p. 88) Secondly, when employing the strategy reduction and 
expansion, the translator is more likely to alter the number of elements that form the source text, which 
affects the translation of CSIs. Thirdly, as tourist materials rarely have anything to do with institutional 
terms, recognized translation is seldomly used. Fourthly, the data for this study is collected from articles 
posted on a yearly-updated website, which means these articles have to undergo many revisions and thus 
contain no translation label or provisional translation. Fifthly, since the ultimate aim of tourist materials is 
mainly to give information, they rarely contain any metaphorical or pragmatic effect, which means 
compensation is of little use in the translation of CSIs in tourist materials. Finally, as Newmark (1988) has 
stated, many people regard CA as “no more than common sense”, for “in its fight against under-translation 
(use of synonymy) it will tend to over-translate. In its striving for accuracy, it will tend to sacrifice economy 
and therefore the pragmatic impact, which may well be sold short” (p. 124). Meanwhile, as couplets and 
triplets combine two and three of the single translation procedures respectively, they will be considered as 
two out of three major strategies (along with single translation procedure). In other words, this study will 
explore further into the different combinations of each couplets, triplets along with single translation 
procedures. 
In the meantime, in the book The Translator’s Invisibility (1995), Lawrence Venuti first introduced 
the notion of domestication and foreignization in the field of translation. Later, in his 1998 book The 
Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference, Venuti states that "Domestication and 
foreignization deal with the question of how much a translation assimilates a foreign text to the translating 
language and culture, and how much it rather signals the differences of that text” (p. 148). In fact, in the 
translation of tourist materials, both domestication and foreignization have their own merits and demerits 
(Sanning, 2010). He has argued that domestication can actually enhance the readers’ understanding of the 
rendered texts, but the cultural features of the source text could be reduced or erased. Therefore, a 
domestication strategy is considered as inappropriate in the translation of tourist materials. Foreignization, 
on the other hand, can maintain the cultural factors of the ST, but it is too deep and peculiar for the TL 
readers to understand (Sanning, 2010). Consequently, the procedures in the translation of CSIs in tourist 
materials suggested by Newmark will be classified into two groups with reference to domestication and 
foreignization as follows: 
Table 2. Newmark’s taxonomies of procedures related to domestication and foreignization strategies 
Domestication Foreignization 
Synonymy 
Cultural Equivalence 
Functional Equivalence 
Descriptive Equivalence 
Shifts 
Modulation 
Naturalization 
Paraphrase 
Component analysis 
Reduction and expansion 
Transference 
Through-translation 
Recognized translation 
Compensation 
Note 
(Rezaei & Kuhi, 2014) 
2. Materials and methods 
2.1. Data collection 
The data for this study is collected from the online website of Vietnam’s National Administration of 
Tourism ( On the one hand, researchers encounter some 
difficulties in selecting the data due to the substantial number of tourist materials about attractions around 
Vietnam. On the other hand, the researchers believe that tourist materials about destinations situated in the 
city of Hue are more likely to contain CSIs for it was once the capital city of Nguyen dynasty. Therefore, 
the objects of this study include 200 Vietnamese culture-specific items translated into English in articles 
which provide information about destinations located in the city of Hue on the aforementioned website. 
After browsing for data on the internet, all the CSIs are jotted down onto a note. Then, these 
words/phrases are meticulously selected to avoid overlapping names. Finally, the remaining ones are put 
into a table with two columns in which the left one contains Vietnamese words/phrases and the other 
consists of their translations into English, which will become the data for this research. 
2.2. Data analysis 
In order to figure out how translators rendered these Vietnamese words/phrases into English as well 
as to specify the strategies used during the translation process, the research is conducted based primarily on 
a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. 
Each of the collected words/phrases translated using the same strategy is distributed into groups. All 
groups are analyzed to see how professional translators applied the strategy into specific circumstances. 
These words/phrases are displayed in tables, each of which includes two columns, one for the Vietnamese 
original words/phrases and the other for their translation into English. There will also be some tables with 
an additional column giving the back-translation for contrasting purposes. After the way translators 
rendered Vietnamese CSIs in tourist materials into English are explored, tables will be used to create 
statistics and subsequently generate figures. The number of tokens as well as the frequency of each strategy 
will also be calculated, which in the end lays the very foundation for establishing charts recommending 
several major strategies for translating Vietnamese CSIs in tourist materials into English. 
3. Results and discussions 
3.1. Frequency of translation strategies 
 After the collected data is analyzed with reference to the framework of translation strategies 
suggested by Newmark, 54 out of 200 Vietnamese CSIs are translated into English using 9 different single 
translation procedures. The number of tokens and the percentage of each procedure are shown in the table 
below: 
Table 3. Frequency of single translation procedures 
Translation Procedure Tokens Percentage 
Synonymy 24 43.7% 
Transference 13 23.7% 
Descriptive equivalent 6 10.9% 
Functional equivalent 5 9.1% 
Naturalization 2 3.6% 
Through-translation 2 3.6% 
Cultural equivalent 1 1.8% 
Paraphrase 1 1.8% 
Shifts 1 1.8% 
Single translation procedure 55 100% 
 Similarly, 131 out of 200 Vietnamese CSIs are rendered into English using 4 different couplets. The 
number of tokens and the percentage of each couplet are shown in the table below: 
Table 4. Frequency of couplets 
Translation Procedure Tokens Percentage 
Transference + Synonymy 90 69.2% 
Transference + Note 31 23.8% 
Transference + Functional Equivalent 7 5.4% 
Shifts + Synonymy 2 1.6% 
Couplets 130 100% 
(Source: researchers) 
 Finally, only 15 out of 200 Vietnamese CSIs are translated into English using 3 different triplets. The 
number of tokens and the percentage of each couplet are shown in the table below: 
Table 5. Frequency of triplets 
Translation Procedure Tokens Percentage 
Transference + Synonymy + Note 8 53.3% 
Transference + Synonymy + Shifts 5 33.3% 
Transference + Functional Equivalence + Note 2 13.4% 
Triplets 15 100% 
(Source: researchers) 
 Altogether, the number of tokens and the frequency of three major strategies using to translate 
Vietnamese CSIs into English are shown in the table below: 
Table 6. Frequency of three major translation strategies 
Translation Procedure Tokens Percentage 
Single translation procedures 55 27.5% 
Couplets 130 65% 
Triplets 15 7.5% 
 200 100% 
(Source: researchers) 
 Conducting further investigation into 3 major strategies used to translate CSIs in tourist materials, 
16 different combinations of strategies are found in the collected data. See the chart below: 
Chart 1. Percentage of strategies 
3.2. Discussions 
3.2.1. Single translation procedure 
Strategy Source text (Vietnamese) Target text (English) 
Synonymy 
Hoàng Thành có 4 cửa được bố trí ở 4 
mặt, trong đó cửa chính (ở phía Nam) là 
Ngọ Môn 
Tử Cấm Thành: là vòng thành nằm 
trong Hoàng Thành ngay sau lưng Điện 
Thái Hoà. Tử Cấm Thành dành riêng 
cho vua và gia đình vua. 
Imperial city has 4 gates in 4 directions, 
one of which is called the South Gate. 
Forbidden Purple Ci