Passive Voice in English and Vietnamese A Contrastive Analysis

Transcription

1 Running head: PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 1 Passive Voice in English and Vietnamese A Contrastive Analysis Student: Nguyễn Long Quốc Class: 4B06 Instructor: Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ University of Education

2 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 2 Abstract How do you translate the simple sentence Mary is taken to the zoo by her mother into Vietnamese? Many English learners do the translation like this: Mary được dẫn đi sở thú bởi mẹ cô ấy. Do you think that sounds natural to Vietnamese ears in daily conversations? Absolutely not. Unnaturalness is one of the most common mistakes that the majority of English learners, and even some advanced ones, make as translating passive-meaning sentences from English into Vietnamese. In order to help learners overcome those problematic translations, I have done some research on the passive voice in the two languages, English and Vietnamese. The research has three main parts. In the first part, some general descriptions of passive voice in each of the language will be made to give readers certain background information about this interesting language phenomenon. In the second part, several contrastive points will be performed to explore the causes of mistakes often made. In the last one, a number of wrong translations-to-avoid will be introduced, and then some implications for teaching as well as suggestions for translating passive-meaning sentences from English to Vietnamese will be done so as for learners to achieve good language transference.

3 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 3 Definition The passive voice is a grammatical voice in which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb ( English passive voice, 2009). For example, the sentence I was punished is called a passive voice because the subject I receives the action of the verb punish, getting punishment. Passive voice in English Usage The passive voice is used more often in writing than in speaking. However, there are some particular cases in which the passive voice is employed, especially when: The role of the receiver is more important than that of the doer. For instance, in the child was struck by the bike, people will pay more attention to the child s health condition than to the bike. People do not want to talk about who does the action. In the sentence the vase was broken, the performer of breaking the vase is concealed, but the message of the broken vase is still transferred. The doer may be afraid of some punishment or compensation. The performer is not important, not known or known by many people because it is too popular. For instance, the sentence my house was robbed last night does not mention the doer of the action as no one knows who the robber is. Or in Bill Clinton was elected president, everyone knows that the performers are the American citizens. ( English passive voice, 2009) We want to put more emphasis on the main point of the sentence. For example, the passive voice the poor should not be taxed by the legislature focuses more on the point

4 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 4 the poor. The active voice the legislature should not tax the poor somehow diminishes the sentence s essence. (Grinker, 1994) Structure The general structure of English passive voice is be + past participle. Here is the table of 12 kinds of passive voice corresponding with 12 main tenses: Table 1 12 kinds of passive voice corresponding with 12 tenses Tense Structure Example Simple Present am/is/are + Past Participle (P.P) He is taken to the zoo. S. Present Continuous am/is/are + being + P.P He is being taken to the zoo. Simple Past was/were + P.P He was taken to the zoo. Past Continuous was/were + being + P.P He was being taken to the zoo. Present Perfect has/have + been + P.P He has been taken to the zoo. P. Perfect Continuous has/have + been+ being + P.P He has been being taken to the zoo. Past Perfect had + been + P.P He had been taken to the zoo. Past Perfect Continuous had + been + being + P.P He had been being taken to the zoo. Simple Future will + be + P.P He will be taken to the zoo. Future Continuous will + be + being + P.P He will be being taken to the zoo. Future Perfect will + have + been + P.P He will have been taken to the zoo. Future Perfect will + have + been + being + P.P He will have been being taken to the Continuous zoo.

5 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 5 Those are the 12 main structures of the passive voice. In English, there are some special ones that people who study this language should pay a close look to: The first one is the double passive voice in which there are two passive-meaning parts. An example of this kind is the sentence The paper is expected to be finished by Monday. The second one is the structure It is said that. This kind of passive voice requires a particular translation into Vietnamese to achieve correctness and naturalness. The third one is passive causatives. Have cut in the sentence I have my hair cut is an instance of this kind. Passive voice in Vietnamese Usage In Vietnamese, there is some controversy of whether passive voice exists or not. However, the passive meaning does. Therefore, the term passive voice can still be used so as for things to be synchronized and easier to understand. In this paper, I will not go into details about the controversy, but will only describe some background information about the passive voice. Vietnamese people do not often use passive voice in their daily lives, but many writers do use it in their works. Some cases in which the Vietnamese need to use the passive voice are that: They want to emphasize the results of something. For example, in Hàng nghìn người bị giết trong trận động đất (thousands of people were killed in the earthquake), the result hàng nghìn người (thousands of people) is emphasized. The writer or the speaker wants to keep the subject of the two clauses the same. One instance is that Nó phải học rất chăm chỉ mới được mời làm việc cho công ty kia đấy!

6 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 6 (he made a lot of efforts, so he was invited to work for that company) has the same subject due to the use of the passive voice được mời. They do not know who the performer is. In the sentence Hôm qua nhà đó bị cướp (that house was robbed last night), no one knows who the robber is. ( Câu chủ động, 2009) Structure The passive voice in Vietnamese is often expressed and recognized by the two words được and bị. Therefore, the structure can be drawn out like this: được/bị + verb (unchanged forms). An example can be found in the sentence Nó bị phạt (he is punished). However, there are some cases that the two words do not perform passive meanings: Nó được gặp thủ tướng (he has met the prime minister), or Nó bị té (she fell). The instances here demonstrate active voice, not the passive one. Passive voice with the word được is used when people want to mention positive meanings : Nó được cô giáo khen (She is complimented by the teacher). On the other hand, passive voice with the word bị is used when people want to mention negative aspects: Nó bị đánh (He is hit). Nevertheless, not all passive meanings are marked with the two words above. There are some kinds of special passive voice in which some sentences still have passive meanings without any of the two words. For example, Mặt tô đậm quá (The face is heavily made up), and Anh sinh ở đâu? (Where were you born?) are two passive-meaning sentences without được/bị. The contrast between English and Vietnamese Passive Voice As we can see from the descriptions above, the usages of the passive voice in the two languages are quite similar. The thing that matters here is not when the voice is used. It is the differences in forms of the languages that cause incorrect translations for the learners.

7 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 7 Differences in forms The difference in language origins marks a big gap between English and Vietnamese as well as their passive voice forms. Below is a table of some contrastive points: Table 2 Contrastive points between English and Vietnamese passive voice Criteria English Vietnamese Language family Indo-European Austro-Asiatic Language type Inflectional Non-Inflectional Structure Examples be + past participle The forms of "to be" and the verbs change based on the subjects and the tenses. Neither positive nor negative meanings mark any changes. He was punished yesterday. (be was; punish punished) It will be sent to you soon. (be be; send sent) They are awarded a big trophy. (be are; award awarded) được + verb: positive meanings bị + verb: negative meanings No changes are made in the forms of both được/bị and the verbs. Nó được khen : positive meaning (no changes) Hoa bị la : negative meaning (no changes) Tối qua nhà đó bị trộm : negative meaning (no changes) Moreover, Vietnamese people do not often use the passive voice, but usually change it into the active voice. For example, Mary is taken to the zoo by her mother should not be translated into Mary được dẫn đi sở thú bởi mẹ, but Mẹ dắt Mary đi sở thú. Or even when the passive voice

8 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 8 is used, the word order in Vietnamese is different from that in English. For instance, the sentence above should be translated into Mary được mẹ dẫn đi sở thú (often found in written Vietnamese), not Mary được dẫn đi sở thú bởi mẹ. As a result, we can see that the Vietnamese structure of the passive voice is S + được/bị + O + verb rather than S + be + past participle + by O as in English. The O here is the object, which is optional. Therefore, it is advised not to translate word by word from one language into another and vice versa. Furthermore, in Vietnamese, people do not use double passive voice or passive causatives as in English. Consequently, the big differences between English and Vietnamese passive voice forms and the complication of Vietnamese one have made many English learners find it difficult to have good translations. Some Incorrect Translations: According to my recent survey of translating some passive-meaning sentences from English into Vietnamese on 60 Vietnamese students from different English levels: preintermediate (20 people), intermediate (20 people) and advanced (20 people), many students still make incorrect translations. Here is the content of the survey, 5 English sentences: Translating these sentences into Vietnamese: 1. Where were you born? 2. Mary is taken to the zoo by her mother. 3. This paper is expected to be finished by Monday. 4. It is said that he is a good student. 5. He has his hair cut.

9 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 9 And here is the table of results of students translations: Table 3 The results of students translations Question Number Number Number Number Number Total Level Pre-Intermediate 20% I 85%I 100%I 60%I 90%I 71%I (20 students) 80% C 15%C 0%C 40%C 10%C 29%C Intermediate 15%I 60%I 85%I 45%I 55%I 52%I (20 students) 85%C 40%C 15%C 55%C 45%C 48%C Advanced 5%I 0%I 50%C 10%I 0%I 13%I (20 students) 95%C 100%C 50%I 90%C 100%C 87%C Total 13.33%I 48.33%I 78.33%I 38.33%I 48.33%I 45%I (60 students) 86.67%C 51.67%C 21.67%C 61.67%C 51.67%C 55%C Note. I = Incorrect, and C = Correct. The table above shows that all groups of students make mistakes as translating English passive-meaning sentences into Vietnamese. The pre-intermediate students (whose TOEIC scores are around 300) make most mistakes (71%), intermediate ones (whose TOEIC scores are around 500) have less incorrect translations (52%), and advanced students (seniors of English Department, HCMC University of Education) get the least wrong answers (only 13%).

10 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 10 We can also see that the sentence number 3 (double passives) seems to be the most difficult one (with 78.33% of 60 students getting incorrect translations), and that the sentence number 1 (when were you born) is too easy to trap more than % of the students. In general, nearly half (45%) of all the students have problematic translations. Here are some examples of students wrong translations: 1. When were you born? (students translation: bạn được sinh ra vào ngày nào?: not natural) 2. Mary is taken to the zoo by her mother (Mary được dẫn đi sở thú bởi mẹ cô ấy: not natural) 3. This paper is expected to be finished by Monday (Bài này được mong đợi được hoàn thành trước thứ Hai: not natural) 4. It is said that he is a good student (Nó được nói là anh ta là một học sinh giỏi: not natural) 5. He has his hair cut. (Anh ta tự cắt tóc mình: wrong translation). Some Suggestions for Better Translations To translate English passive-meaning sentences into Vietnamese, follow these suggested steps (for some typical cases): Read the sentence and decide whether it has positive or passive meaning. If the idea is positive, then the word được should be used. On the other hand, if the meaning is negative, use the word bị. If the English sentence does not fit the usages of Vietnamese passive voice mentioned above, change it into the active voice. Translate the other parts of the sentence. Read some suggested translations for several kinds of passive voice below:

11 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 11 Table 4 Suggested translations for some kinds of passive voice Number English structures Vietnamese translations 1 S + be + past participle change the sentence into active voice or S + được/bị + verb 2 S + be + past participle + by O change the sentence into active voice or S + được/bị + O + verb.. 3 Double passives change the sentence into active voice or just keep one main passive-meaning part. 4 It is said/told that He is said/told that 5 Passive causatives: Người ta/mọi người nói Nghe nói nhờ người + verb For example, have/get/ + things + past participle 1. When were you born? : bạn sinh ngày mấy? 2. Mary is taken to the zoo by her mother : Mary được mẹ dẫn đi sở thú (often in writing)/ Mẹ dẫn Mary đi sở thú (often in speaking). 3. This paper is expected to be finished by Monday: Thứ hai là phải làm xong bài này/ Bài này cần được hoàn thành trước thứ hai. 4. It is said that he is a good student: Nhiều người nói/nghe nói nó là học sinh giỏi. 5. He has his hair cut: Nó mới cắt tóc (an exceptive translation of passive causatives); they get their car fixed: Họ nhờ người sửa xe (normal passive-causative translations).

12 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 12 Implications for English teaching and learning of Passive Voice Some analysis of and contrastive points between English and Vietnamese passive voice made above have set the stage for the next idea: some implications for English teaching and learning of the grammatical aspect mentioned. Firstly, Vietnamese students have a habit of translating nearly word by word from English into Vietnamese and vice versa, which usually cause them to make a lot of mistakes. Therefore, this paper is written with the hope of helping them be aware of the differences between passive voice in English and Vietnamese so that they can use it correctly. For example, when they need to translate an English passive-meaning sentence into Vietnamese for their parents or friends, they need to make a natural and correct translation so that it does not sound strange and difficult to understand. Secondly, teachers should also help students know that passive voice plays an important role in English, and sometimes in Vietnamese, and it is expressed in various forms. This will help students recognize the passive voice more easily and have correct transference. For instance, in the sentence I get my car fixed, though there is no normal structure of passive voice be + past participle, the sentence still has a passive meaning (passive causatives). Thirdly, I hope that this paper will help students develop their linguistic skills in both languages. Learning theories is just a way for students to do exercises well, but understanding about the contrastive points between English and Vietnamese passive voice will give them deeper and better knowledge. Finally, this paper will be helpful for teachers and students who like to become translators. Natural and correct translations will bring them a successful job. Moreover, people whose native language is English, or those who do not speak English as mother tongue but are good at it can also get some good information about the passive voice in English and Vietnamese from this paper, and therefore can communicate with Vietnamese people better.

13 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 13 In conclusion, passive voice is an important grammatical point in English and Vietnamese, but it is expressed differently in the two languages. However, with some descriptions, contrast, analysis and implications for teaching and learning languages made above, I hope that this paper can help students and teachers have better knowledge and correct translations of the passive-meaning sentences. Moreover, learning a foreign language is not easy at all, especially knowing and mastering all the differences. Thus, learners should try their best to practice the languages and overcome the confusion and difficulty of the gaps between English and Vietnamese. And hopefully by reading this paper, the way to achieving that goal will become a bit shorter.

14 PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS 14 Reference List Câu chủ động và câu bị động. (2009, November 26). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 1 st, 2009, from English passive voice. (2009, November 27). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 3 rd, 2009, from Grinker, M.A. (1994). The Legal Writing Teaching Assistant: The Law Student's Guide to Good Writing. Retrieved December 5 th, 2009, from