Assessment on Vietnamese-English translation of object labels at Vietnamese women’s museum through foreign tourists’ perspectives

ve equivalence was 
unavoidable” as descriptive translation could 
maintain the ‘culture value’ and help them 
visualize the object. Finally, the tourists 
did not recognize any differences between 
literal translation and transposition. As they 
did not know Vietnamese, grammar changes 
in transposition procedure could not be 
recognized from tourists’ views. 
Overall, literal translation and descriptive 
equivalence were the most favored procedures 
in translating at Vietnamese Women’s Museum. 
4.2.2. Tourists’ recommendations
When being asked for recommendations 
for better translation at Vietnamese Women’s 
Museum (especially the culture-specific items 
163VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.36, No.6 (2020) 150-167
that are difficult to understand), all the tourists 
had no other way to translate. Their common 
explanations were that their familiarity with 
Vietnamese culture might not be wide enough 
to recognize without seeing models, pictures, 
or reading descriptions and explanations. 
Their suggestions, therefore, were to broaden 
Vietnamese culture through tourist brochures, 
booklets, guide books, or advertisements. For 
example, if ‘áo dài’ is one of the most traditional 
and typical dresses, so it was appropriate 
to keep its original Vietnamese name. But 
for ‘áo tứ thân’, the tourists said they had 
barely or never seen it before in Vietnamese 
tourist brochures or advertisements, hence, 
it should be translated in a descriptive way. 
For example, it is suggested that the term may 
be translated as ‘áo tứ thân’ - a traditional 
Vietnamese costume with four panels.
4.3. Discussion and implication 
As can be seen from the results above, 
there are some suggestions the researchers 
have withdrawn from. First of all, in general, 
translation at Vietnamese Women’s Museum 
came up to tourists’ expectations and 
successfully delivered the majority content 
of the museum to help visitors visualize and 
make them find Vietnamese culture interesting. 
However, some contents relating to religion 
or Vietnamese customs (Mother worshipping, 
consecration ritual, 13 celestial Mothers full-
month ceremony) and traditional outfits (fabric-
making or fabric-dyeing methods, names of 
traditional costumes) caused some difficulties 
for readers. Hence, the Vietnamese Women’s 
Museum should pay more attention to the 
display sections of these contents. It is suggested 
that explanation texts or the introduction of some 
religious belief and concept, more information, 
or English description of Vietnamese names can 
be added in order to help visitors understand 
more about the Vietnamese culture. 
Secondly, Vietnamese culture needs 
more recognition from foreign visitors. For 
instance, while most foreigners can recognize 
traditional costumes’ names from other 
countries like ‘Hanbok’ from Korean or 
‘Kimono’ from Japan, ‘Ao dai’ from Vietnam 
is hardly retained by tourists unless they have 
come to Vietnam before. This highlighted 
that the Vietnamese government or travel 
agencies should consider spreading images 
of Vietnamese cultures, including diversity of 
ethnic minority groups, traditional ceremonies, 
costumes, cuisines, music, and local customs 
more internationally. Public media like 
magazines, advertisements, tourist brochures, 
handbooks, or social networks can be a useful 
means in this case. Besides, as these concepts 
are strange to foreigners from other cultures, 
they should be introduced informatively and 
thoroughly in the simple short text so that 
foreigners can absorb and remember with 
ease. Last but not least, when the translators 
want to keep the origin of Vietnamese names, 
added explanations in English should appear 
apart from Vietnamese version in order to 
make readers memorize the content. 
5. Conclusion
The study revealed that most tourists 
(83%), despite their different gender, 
background, or nationality, found no 
difficulty in understanding translated terms 
and no tourists felt ‘dissatisfied’ with the 
translation. On top of that, the response rates 
were beyond expectation with only positive 
votes of ‘completely satisfied’ and ‘quite 
satisfied’. In contrast, when it comes to the 
negative side, most tourists still had difficulty 
in understanding some Vietnamese cultural 
translations relating to religion and national 
costumes. 
164 P. T. Trang, T. P. Linh / VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.36, No.6 (2020) 150-167
Besides, tourists’ preferences for 
translation were literal translation, 
transposition, and descriptive equivalent. 
They also recommended that literal translation 
should be mostly used because objects share 
similar features between cultures; therefore, 
this procedure is simple to understand with 
visual supports like models or pictures of 
objects. For Vietnamese culture-specific 
items that cannot be translated literally, the 
descriptive equivalent would be helpful for 
readers to visualize the object. Furthermore, 
the tourists suggested more detailed 
explanations for some Vietnamese culture-
bound terms as well as wishes for Vietnamese 
culture to become more popular and advertised 
in public media. This, to some extent, helps 
foreigners assess Vietnamese culture easier so 
that the chance for them to understand cultural 
translation would be enhanced. 
In terms of limitation, this study was 
conducted on a small scale (40 foreign visitors) 
at the Vietnamese Women’ Museum. This can 
affect the diversity of tourists’ assessment and 
the result of the study. In addition, the content 
of the museum covers many aspects and the 
sizeable exhibitions consist of four floors 
with smaller sections in various Vietnamese-
related areas. Hence, the questionnaires 
and interviews conducted at the end of the 
visit can be less qualitative as most tourists 
cannot remember the difficult translations to 
understand and their tiredness also made the 
judgment less precise. 
When it comes to recommendations for 
further studies, it should be noted that further 
study can be conducted on a larger scale with 
a larger group of tourists and research subjects 
in order to enhance the reliability and equality 
of the research. Additionally, the approach of 
the study can be explored from another point 
of view, not only the readers’ assessment on 
the translation of cultural object labels but 
also from the translators’ perspectives. Last 
but not least, further research’s subject can be 
different from object labels at Vietnamese’s 
Women Museum. It can be another culture-
specific translation at different museums. 
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ĐÁNH GIÁ VỀ BẢN DỊCH VIỆT-ANH CÁC MẪU VẬT 
Ở BẢO TÀNG PHỤ NỮ VIỆT NAM 
QUA GÓC NHÌN CỦA DU KHÁCH NƯỚC NGOÀI
Phạm Thu Trang1, Trần Phương Linh2
1. Khoa Triết học, Tâm lý và Khoa học ngôn ngữ, trường Đại học Edinburgh, Vương quốc Anh
2. Khoa Sư phạm tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, ĐHQGHN
Phạm Văn Đồng, Cầu Giấy, Hà Nội, Việt Nam
Tóm tắt: Dịch từ ngữ văn hóa gây ra nhiều khó khăn cho người dịch vì công việc này đòi hỏi kiến thức 
sâu rộng về cả ngôn ngữ và văn hóa. Nghiên cứu này nhằm nghiên cứu đánh giá của khách du lịch về bản 
dịch thuật các mẫu vật tại Bảo tàng Phụ nữ Việt Nam và làm sáng tỏ các ưu tiên của khách du lịch đối với 
các thủ pháp dịch từ văn hóa. Nhằm hoàn thành các mục tiêu này, một nghiên cứu hỗn hợp đã được thực 
hiện, trong đó phương pháp điều tra qua bảng hỏi và phỏng vấn đã được sử dụng làm công cụ thu thập dữ 
liệu chính. Mô hình đề xuất của Vinay và Darbelnet (2000) được sử dụng để phân tích các quy trình dịch 
thuật được áp dụng trong việc dịch các từ văn hóa. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy nhìn chung bản dịch tại 
Bảo tàng Phụ nữ Việt Nam đã đáp ứng kỳ vọng và truyền tải thành công phần lớn nội dung, giúp du khách 
hiểu đa phần nội dung văn hóa được trưng bày tại Bảo tàng. Tuy nhiên, một số nội dung liên quan đến tôn 
giáo hoặc phong tục ở Việt Nam bao gồm thờ Mẫu, lễ bán khoán, tục cúng Mụ (cúng đầy tháng) và trang 
phục truyền thống như phương thức may hoặc nhuộm vải, tên trang phục truyền thống) gây ra một số khó 
khăn cho độc giả. Các đề xuất từ khách du lịch có giá trị cho cả người dịch và Bảo tàng để cải thiện bản 
dịch và phần trưng bày tại Bảo tàng.
Từ khóa: dịch thuật, đánh giá của khách du lịch, thuật ngữ văn hóa.
166 P. T. Trang, T. P. Linh / VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.36, No.6 (2020) 150-167
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Questionnaire
We are a research team from University of Languages and International Studies. We are 
carrying this survey to collect data for our research “ASSESSMENT ON VIETNAMESE-
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF OBJECT LABELS AT VIETNAMESE WOMEN’S MUSEUM 
THROUGH FOREIGN TOURISTS’ PERSPECTIVES”
We would be very grateful if you could complete this questionnaire. The information will be 
used for research purposes only. Thank you for your contribution!
A. Participant’s background
Nationality: Gender:.
Occupation: Age:.
B. Translation Assessment
1. In which area of VWM do you find difficult to understand the translating label? (You can 
choose more than one or none)
a. Labels related to marriage custom
b. Labels related to birth custom
c. Labels related to women in history
d. Labels related to traditional clothes
e. Labels related to family items
f. Labels related to mother worshipping
g. Labels related to cultivation tools
2. Can you give examples of some translating labels at the museum that you do not understand?
........................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................
3. What do you think about translation quality at Vietnamese Women’s Museum?
4. What is your general understanding of Vietnamese culture?
167VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.36, No.6 (2020) 150-167
 a. Good
 b. Fair
 c. Poor
5. How you interpret the phrases below:
a. Celestial mother: 
b. Consecration ritual: 
c. Mother Goddess: 
d. Shoulder pole: 
e. Ao dai: 
6. From the scale of 1 to 10, please indicate the level of content of the museum translation that 
you can understand with ease.
This is the end of the questionnaire!
If you are interested in my research or have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me via 
tranphuonglinh1209@gmail.com. Thank you for your time!
Appendix 2: Interview
Part A: Tourists’ assessment
1. Can you explain your answer to question 1? If there is difficulty, can you name the particular 
factors that make you feel difficult in understanding this field?
2. (Explain the meaning of difficult understanding items in question 2 and 5 for participants). 
After understanding the label(s), do you have any recommendations for better translation? 
3. What is your general opinion about Vietnamese-English translation of object labels at 
VWM?
Part B: Tourists’ preference
1. What way of translating in the museum do you like best?
(Given the table of classified labels based on different procedures and strategies)
If you are not satisfied with the translation, do you have any suggestions or preference for 
better translation?