Exploring Translation Procedures for English Personal, Possessive, and Reflexive Pronouns into Vietnamese in the Novel ‘Heartless’

Abstract

This study explores translation procedures applied to translate English pronouns (personal, possessive, and reflexive) in Marissa Meyer’s novel Heartless into Vietnamese. Given the structural and cultural differences between English and Vietnamese, pronoun translation poses significant challenges for maintaining meaning, tone, and coherence. The research is based on Newmark’s translation theory and Vinay and Darbelnet’s translation model to classify and analyze translation procedures. By examining selected excerpts from the original text and their corresponding Vietnamese translations, the study identified six translation procedures used by translator Thanh Nga to translate those types of pronouns into Vietnamese: literal translation, cultural equivalent, reduction, modulation, transposition, and couplets. The findings highlight how Vietnamese translators navigate linguistic and cultural nuances to ensure readability and naturalness in the target language. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of translation procedures and their impact on conveying character relationships and narrative style in literary translation.