English language students’ perspectives on the difficulties in translation: Implications for language education

Abstract

This study investigates the difficulties in translation and factors influencing the translating process from foreign language students’ perspectives at a private university. This work also aims to find out the reasons why foreign language students encounter the difficulties in the process and learn about the different ways in which students majoring in English translate a text into their first language of Vietnamese. Using the mixed method (quantitative and qualitative), the study analysis is based on descriptive statistics using SPSS programme and individual interview results. The results showed that salient findings emerged from the data concerning the relationships between four factors namely lexis, grammar, culture, and existing knowledge under student's viewpoints. Those elements affected students hierarchically in their process of translation, in which lexis was the most difficult factor while grammar seemed to be less remarkable. Therefore, based on the findings, it is suggested to adjust, modify, and select appropriate translation materials in the curricula in higher education to well equip students with those elements to compete in the translation industry.