Volume 16, No. 1 Spring 2021

Curl Your Tongue Seven Times Before You Speak: Translating English Storybooks Read Aloud in Vietnamese

AUTHOR(S):

  • Maria Diana Gonzales, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Department of Communication Disorders, Texas State University, Round Rock, TX, USA
  • Quan Nguyen, B.S., Department of Communication Disorders, Texas State University, Round Rock, TX, USA
  • Amy Louise Schwarz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Department of Communication Disorders, Texas State University, Round Rock, TX, USA
  • Matthew Nguyen, M.S., Department of Communication Disorders, Texas State University, Round Rock, TX, USA
  • Antonio Gragera, Ph.D., Department of Modern Languages, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
  • Maria Resendiz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Department of Communication Disorders, Texas State University, Round Rock, TX, USA
  • Andrea Hughes, M.S., CCC-SLP, Pflugerville ISD, Pflugerville, TX, USA
  • Phuong Palafox, M.S., CCC-SLP, Bilinguistics, Austin, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine how individuals with different proficiency levels and dialects in English and Vietnamese engaged in “real time” translation of a children’s book. In an effort to determine the syntactic and semantic measures that distinguish the oral translation of a children’s storybook by Vietnamese- English-speaking bilingual adults, two participants with differing proficiency levels and Vietnamese dialects were asked to translate Don Freeman’s (1968) Corduroy. The study showed that the participant who was less fluent in Vietnamese used fewer words than the participant who was more fluent. In addition, the participant who was less fluent in Vietnamese used more: 1) semantically related substitutions, 2) code switching, 3) semantically related additions, and 4) omissions. The authors suggest that it is important to prepare before translating storybooks paying particular attention to maintain the vocabulary and syntactic complexity in the text of the original storybook. Preparation is needed before translating a children’s book since real-time translation may result in decreased complexity of the text.

DOI:

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