Translation is a cultural exchange

Translators must not only be proficient in foreign languages but also understand the culture to translate correctly according to the context and content of the text. Phrases such as pho, ao dai or don ca tai tu ... are mentioned more than once when talking about Vietnamese culture and have become popular with international friends. So when using, just keep the original Vietnamese and add some explanatory lines behind. If it is not clear, you can add more illustrative examples with pictures. For example, the word pho in the Cambridge dictionary has detailed explanations about one of the popular dishes in Vietnam.

'Một đời người một rừng cây' có lời tiếng Anh, Pháp: Dịch thuật là sự giao thoa văn hóa - Ảnh 1. — A soup from Vietnam, usually containing noodles (long, thin strands made from flour, water, and often eggs) and a little meat.

Music lovers must know the song Dead Autumn . The song was composed by musician Pham Duy from the original French poem L'Adieu by Guillaume Apollinaire, translated very well by poet Bui Giang:

J'ai cueilli ce brin de bruyère

L'automne est mort souviens-t'en...

(I picked a bunch of heather flowers.

I remember the autumn is dead...)

The harmony and resonance of the emotions between poetry and music touched the hearts of the listeners. Those who understand foreign languages and understand the cultures between France and Vietnam feel that the translation is very inspiring, so the poetry remains faithful to the original, still true to the author's intention and when given wings by music, it creates a deeper and wider spread.

According to musician Vu Duc Sao Bien in his research Kim Dung in my life : Translator Han Giang Nhan, despite his extensive knowledge of Chinese literature, was still careful in using a dictionary when translating Kim Dung's martial arts novels into Vietnamese. When encountering difficult words, he stopped to look them up in the dictionary before continuing to translate. Being so careful, when reading the poems and verses in the work, readers can always feel a romantic, poetic spirit because he both adhered closely to the original and created very poetic creations with depth in Vietnamese literature. Reading Do Muc's Khien Hoai , one can see that it is extremely graceful, with its own soul, not inferior to the translations of Tan Da and Tran Trong Kim:

Lost soul wandering the world and drinking again

The Department of Love and Mutual Aid is light and gentle.

The Dream of Yangzhou in the Decade

The palace is famous for its brothels.

So:

Wandering the world for so long

With the little one together

Ten years of awakening from the Yangzhou dream

Thinking back on the reputation of being a womanizer makes me sad

In his memoir The Writer Returns to the Village , writer Nguyen Quang Sang told a funny story related to the translation of his novel The Season of the Monsoon Wind into Russian. At first, someone translated it as "The Cholera Season"! It was hard to accept, so he had to ask the writer and translator Marian Tkachev, who is very good at Vietnamese and has translated works by Nguyen Tuan and Nguyen Hong into Russian. The Season of the Monsoon Wind was translated into Russian as Northeast Wind, which is the correct term for a meteorologist but still ensures literary value. Fortunately, during this time, Mr. Sang was in Russia, so it was easy to discuss with this writer the strange words in the work, such as the American helicopter that Mr. Sang wrote as "perch, lep"!

'Một đời người một rừng cây' có lời tiếng Anh, Pháp: Dịch thuật là sự giao thoa văn hóa - Ảnh 2. — The article *"A Lifetime, a Forest"* has English and French lyrics in *Thanh Nien* Newspaper on June 23, 2023

Translation is not simply a matter of translating but must help people understand more about the national culture or in other words, the translator has the freedom to create within the limits of the original to create an ideal translation for the public. The motto of translation culture should be understood as: Understand people - feel your feelings - express them to readers, hear them. Translate so that it is emotional, faithful to the original, and still true to the author's intention. The final effect of the translation is that the readers and listeners accept and perceive it on the same frequency as the author and translator.

* Reading the article 'A Life, a Forest' with English and French lyrics in Thanh Nien Newspaper published on June 23, 2023.

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