Khó khăn trong việc dịch tổ hợp thành ngữ tính tiếng Anh có thành tố tên riêng sang tiếng Việt
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CHALLENGES IN TRANSLATION OFENGLISH
PHRASEOLOGICALUNITS WITH ONOMASTIC
CONSTITUENTS INTO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS
Nguyen Viet Khoa*
School of Foreign Languages, Ha Noi University of Science and Technology,
No. 1 Dai Co Viet Road, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Received 4 February 2021
Revised 11 March 2021; Accepted 15 May 2021
Abstract: Translation of phraseological units with proper names (PUPs) is topical for the
contemporary translation studies nowadays. It is noted that PUPs reflect the culture and national
mentality of a definite nation. Quite a few studies have prospectively examined English PUPs and their
translation into other languages, but it is hard to find such an in-depth study in the case the target
language is Vietnamese. By employing the qualitative approach, this paper sets out the findings of the
study where 241 English PUPs in our compiled database were classified into four groups according to
their translations into Vietnamese. The group of non-idiomatic and descriptive translation equivalents
accounts for a majority of more than 57% of all the PUPs, proving that PUPs in both languages are
highly culture-specific. Although the other three groups share a minority of approximately 43% of all
the PUPs, they hold interesting implications and multiple levels of similar or different metaphors. Based
on the findings, the paper discusses the challenges translators encounter during the translation process
of English PUPs into their Vietnamese equivalents. It is evident that among various translation obstacles,
the proper name factor is clearly one of the most challenging issues. The paper then proposes some
translation solutions to cope with these special expressions. In addition to recommending to flexibly
apply translation strategies, the author's conclusion emphasizes that only when translators manage to
decode and grasp how PUPs work cross-linguistically in both languages and cultures can they achieve
an appropriate translation of English PUPs.
Key words: phraseological unit, proper name, onomastics, idiom, fixed expression
1. Introduction*
A phraseological unit is a word
sociocultural characteristics of a community,
a people and even a nation. A proper name is
a phrase that names a specific object or
entity. As the study object of onomastics,
proper names also attract a lot of interest of
researchers from other sciences such as
philosophy, logics, and history, but only
onomasticians, with a different focus and
approaches, could bring about fresh and
effective research results (Belecky, 1972;
Algeo, 1973; Nuessel, 1992; Hough, 2000;
group with a fixed lexical composition and
grammatical structure; its meaning,
generally figurative and cannot be derived
from the meanings of the phraseological
unit's constituents (Kunin, 1970; Gläser,
1988). As an important part of each
language, phraseological units (PUs
henceforth) contain the sociolinguistic and
* Corresponding author.
Email address: [email protected]
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Coates, 2006; Van Langendonck, 2007;
Anderson, 2007).
For translators, having a firm grasp
of the lexical and cultural meaning of a PUP
is a prerequisite before finding its equivalent
in the target. During this process, cultural
differences between the two languages must
be taken into account. Researchers in
linguistics and translatology such as Nida
(1964), Bassnett-McGuire (1980), Newmark
(1988), Baker (1992), Davies (2004),
Langlotz (2006) etc., highlight the great
importance of linguistic and cultural
knowledge in grasping PUPs. Language is
approached in relation to culture in order to
define how culture and language overlap.
Only in comparison to another language can
a PUP be considered as culture-specific and
can ethnolinguistic problems be defined;
thus, when contrasting two languages, this
feature comes to the fore. As Dobrovol'skij,
Piirainen and Dobrovolskij (2005, p. 245)
stress, speakers perceive PUs with a proper
name typical of a given national culture as
“being culturally connoted”. Also, we share
the viewpoints on difficulties and strategies
in the translation of idioms and fixed
expressions proposed by Baker (1992),
Leppihalme (1997), Newmark (1988) and
Davies (2004).
It is observed that researchers seem
to be giving more focus on the theoretical
issues of proper names and onomastics,
while their specific problems in each
language when compared to those in another
language have not been put under much care.
For example, how will English PUs with
proper names such as a Jack of all trades, the
real McCoy or send someone to Coventry be
translated into Vietnamese so that they are
considered “well-translated” or their
message is well communicated to the
Vietnamese audience when each PU of this
type possesses a unique characteristic of
British culture?
Translation is a challenging process
that is not just about transferring words and
terms. Rather, it is a matter of the
relationship between language and culture.
The larger the gap between the source
language culture and the target language
culture, the harder it is to translate, and the
difference between English and Vietnamese
culture is not an exception. Proper names
and their derivatives which are constituent
elements of PUs are determined as
onomastic constituents. PUs with onomastic
constituents or proper names (PUPs
henceforth) are considered part of culture,
requiring language translators to have a
cultural background proportionally similar
to that of native speakers to bridge the
cultural gap in the process of translation.
Therefore, it is elicited that translation of
PUPs or PUs with proper names should also
be approached from the cultural standpoint.
With that approach, the paper first
aims to explore English PUs with onomastic
constituents (or with proper names in a more
specific term, PUPs), regardless of
anthroponyms, toponyms and ethnonyms, or
their derivatives and propose directions for
translating them into Vietnamese. We will
then analyze challenges that translators
would encounter when translating English
PUPs into Vietnamese, put them into groups
according to their Vietnamese equivalents,
and propose solutions to cope with them in
the translation process.
By “translators” we mean persons
who translate from one language into another,
especially as a profession, thus ones with
good command of the language. To avoid
unnecessary confusion, the term “translators”
or “the translator” is agreed to use throughout
the paper to refer to both student or trainee
translators and translation professionals.
2. Theoretical Background
2.1. Proper Names
In terms of proper name, it is a must
to distinguish it from the proper noun.
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A proper noun is a noun identifying a single
entity and is used to refer to that entity as
opposed to a common noun, which refers to
“a class of entities” (Anderson, 2007, pp. 3-5).
In other words, proper nouns are nouns
denoting unique entities such as Ha Noi,
London, Jack, Jane, Tuan, or Thu Hang. In
principle, in English, Vietnamese and many
other languages, proper nouns are capitalized.
Grammatically, as Huddleston (1988, p. 96)
observes, a proper noun is noun subclass,
whilst a proper name is “the institutionalized
name of some specific person, place,
organization, etc., institutionalized by some
formal act of naming and/or registration”. As
a characteristic of a given culture, proper
names should be observed from different
points of view, ranging from historical and
geographical to cultural, linguistic, cross-
linguistic and social.
language, culturally adapted or substituted
(Hermans, 1988). Therefore, as Weiss
(2019) comments, proper names are so
closely connected to a language that they
cannot be effectively translated; instead, it is
necessary to recreate the conditions of the
possibility of acts of onomastic denomination.
All languages have particular proper
names, some of which are deeply rooted in
the culture of the speakers of the specific
language; consequently, they can pose unique
difficulties in the comprehension of culture-
specific texts. It is interesting to note that some
proper names have specific connotations, and
omitting this implicit information results in
unacceptable translation. For instance, in the
Vietnamese culture, Manh Thuong Quan -
the name of a very generous man in Chinese
stories - is a symbol of generosity;
accordingly, if a translator, unaware of this
fact, encounters this sentence “Sếp của tôi là
Mạnh Thường Quân” (»My boss is Manh
Thuong Quan) in a conversation of two
friends talking about the traits of their boss,
the translator may erroneously assume that
the speaker is presenting the name of his
employer, not his personality.
Van Langendonck (2007, p. 116)
proposes that a proper name should be
considered a noun or noun phrase that
denotes a unique entity “at the level of
established linguistic convention”. Coates
(2006) accentuates that the properhood of a
name, whether given to a person or place,
distinguishes an individual or a named
object from all unnamed individuals or
things. Lyons (1977) points out that proper
names constitute a system organized in
accordance with criteria varying across
cultures and act as a reflection of the society
of which they are the expression. They are
linguistic items fulfilling a referential
function, i.e., they refer to single entities
existing in the real world.
When a certain name has entered the
common memory of the nation and becomes
the common property of the linguistic
community, its cultural connotation and
specificity will gradually fade away. To
perceive
and
translate
idiomatic
combinations with such names is indeed a
huge challenge.
2.2. Phraseological Units
A regular question may be asked:
What is a PU? Different terms are used by
various scholars in the field of phraseology
to refer to a series of two or more words
operating as a whole, and a single term may
be used in reference to different
phenomena.1 The lack of standardized
As regards their translation from the
source language into the target language,
proper names are often peculiar because they
are mostly not translated between languages,
although they can be transliterated,
morphologically adapted to the target
1
Other terms include phraseme, multi-word lexical
unit, fixed expression, fixed phrase, phrasal lexeme,
phrasicon, phraseological unit (Lyons, 1977;
Cowie, 1998; Moon, 1998; Fiedler, 2007).
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terminology is attributed by Granger and
Meunier (2009, p. xix) to the fact that
phraseology has only recently been known
as a “discipline in its own right”. They
specify that it deals with the study of word
combinations rather than single words and
that, based on the following parameters,
these multi-word units are categorized into
different subtypes: degree of semantic non-
con vuông; bạ đâu ngồi đấy. Pierini (2008)
defines that a phraseological unit or
expression is a “sequence constituted by at
least two independent lexical items, stored as
a unit in lexis” whose basic features are: a)
fixedness (multiword unit, fixed in syntax as
well as lexis – Adam’s apple not David’s
apple);
b)
institutionalisation
(conventionalized unit – White House; đặt
cục gạch); and c) non-compositionality
(global meaning not predictable from the
meaning of constituent words – the man on
the Clapham omnibus; cửa Khổng, sân
Trình).
compositionality,
syntactic
fixedness,
lexical restrictions and institutionalization.
‘Idiom’ is definitely a commonly
used term that most monolingual English
dictionaries use to incorporate a section
listing multi-word lexical objects, whether
or not semantically opaque, in addition to the
term ‘phrases’. Idioms are fixed groups of
words having stable forms and fully
figurative meanings, e.g., as drunk as a fish;
to get one’s blood up or nhát như cáy; sư tử
Hà Đông (Long & Summers 1996; Hoang,
2008, as cited in Dang, 2011). According to
Moon (1998, pp. 3-5), ‘idiom’ is an
ambiguous term that is used “only
In this paper, we agree with Vbric
(2019) that the term phraseological unit is
used to name a two or multi-word lexical
item with fixed syntax and lexis, which is
conventionalized and semantically stable. In
other words, the PU is used to refer to
idiomatic
and
fixed
expressions,
representing the pragmatic aspect of words
and word strings in context, and their
meaning is not a regular sum of the meanings
of each component in the lexical
combination.
occasionally
to
apply
loosely
to
metaphorical expressions” that are semi-
transparent and opaque, e.g., kick the bucket
or spill the beans. The term ‘fixed
expressions and idioms’, which covers
different kinds of phrasal lexemes,
phraseological units, or multi-word lexical
items, including idioms is Moon's
preference.
3. Translation of English Phraseological
Units With Onomastic Constituents
PUs cross-linguistically share views
of life, philosophies, rules, cultural norms
and ethics, amongst others. Therefore, it
should be mentioned that PUs with proper
names reflect the culture and national
mentality of a definite country and
nationality. English PUPs fall into the
following categories: 1) idioms; 2)
irreversible binomial; 3) stereotyped simile;
4) formula (see also Glꢀser, 1998; Moon,
1998; Pierini, 2008).
As Kunin (1970, p. 210) outlines,
‘Phraseological unit’ is a term that is
increasingly used to denote “a stable
combination of words with a fully or
partially figurative meaning”. Gläser (1998,
p. 125, as cited in Vrbinc, 2019, p. 11)
describes a ‘Phraseological unit’ as a
“lexicalized, reproducible bilexemic or
polylexemic word group” in common use,
which has relative syntactic and semantic
stability, may be idiomatized, may carry
connotations, and may have an emphatic or
intensifying function in a text, e.g., to kick
the bucket; go Dutch, Greek gift or mẹ tròn
The first type is a word group having
the structure of: a noun phrase (the Midas
touch); a verb phrase (rob Peter to pay
Paul); a prepositional phrase (according to
Hoyle), or an adverb phrase (before you can
say Jack Robinson). The second type is a
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pair of two words belonging to the same part
of speech joined by ‘and’ and occurring in a
fixed order (Jekyll and Hyde; David and
Goliath). The third type is about similes
using words like and as (happy as Larry;
fight like Kilkenny cats). The fourth type is
the ‘formula’, a situation-based expression
serving a specific discursive function,
typically occurring in spoken discourse (it's
Murphy's law; and Bob's your uncle).
idioms to idioms. A similar stance is taken
by Newmark (1988) who lists three main
strategies of translating idioms: finding
another metaphor, reducing to sense and
literal, word-for-word translation. Baker
(1992, pp. 68-78) suggests five main
strategies of translating idioms and fixed
expressions as follows:
1) Using an idiom of similar meaning
and form
The relationship between translation
and culture is highlighted by Saleh and
Weda (2018). According to these
researchers, culture has inextricably been
linked to translation since its inception.
Intercultural competence and awareness are
required in translating across cultures with
focus on the interaction between translation
and culture and the way culture impacts
translation.
2) Using an idiom of similar meaning
but dissimilar form
3) Translation by paraphrase
4) Translation by omission
5) Translation by compensation
Translating PUPs is one of the most
challenging tasks for a translator. It should
be noted that PUPs may have their roots in
language history (Glꢀser, 1988) and can
have deep roots, date back many centuries,
and be traceable across many languages.
Research on PUPs in different languages
raises two issues: the universality of some
human situations and the cultural specificity.
If PUPs include components bearing
connotations of local character, they may be
more difficult to decode, or they may only be
properly decoded provided that adequate
context is provided (Szerszunowicz, 2008).
Awwad (1990, pp. 57-67) considers two
areas of difficulty when translating idioms
that can be those of PUs: a) misinterpreting
the intention of the writer or speaker and b)
recognizing the cultural differences among
languages.
The types of the translation of PUs
offered by Kunin (1970) may be well applied
for translating interculturally decoded
subjects such as PUPs. The only and
foremost challenge is the proper name
factor. Translating a PU into a natural target
language PU, which has the same meaning
and impact as the original source language
one, is the ideal translation strategy for PUs.
However, this always matters. As learnt
from the translation strategies suggested by
Newmark (1988) and Larson (1984), idioms
should never be literally translated.
However, in many cases “literal translation
of L2 idioms may also be useful as a
pathway
memorization” as long as the distinction
between word-for-word and global
to
comprehension
and
The problem is not only to replace
the vocabulary and grammar, but also to
replace the basic linguistic elements of the
source language. It is learnt from Bassnett-
McGuire (1980) that PUPs should be
translated on the basis of the function of the
expression: the source language PU should
be replaced by a target language PU that has
the same meaning. Baker (1992, pp. 68-78)
contends that idioms and fixed expressions
meanings of idioms and standard
collocations has to be made clear (Newmark,
1991, p. 61).
Nida and Taber (1982, p. 106) refer
to the translation of idioms “in terms of
semantic adjustments” which may be of
three different kinds: from idioms to idioms,
from idioms to non-idioms and from non-
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are culture-specific and thus not necessarily
untranslatable. Difficulties to translate these
units do not come from themselves but the
meaning they convey and their associations
with culture-specific contexts. Davies
(2004) also enlists some difficulties
regarding the translation of idioms and fixed
expressions, which show close similarity to
the ones described by Baker (1992):
recognition; no equivalent in the target
language; a similar counterpart in the target
language with a different context of use; an
idiom used in the source text both in its
literal and idiomatic sense at the same time;
difference between the convention, context,
and frequency of use in the source and target
languages.
extralinguistic phenomena belonging to the
“collective memory of a given nation”
(Szerszunowicz, 2008, pp. 118-119). In this
case, as indicated by Pierini (2008, p. 7),
denotational and connotational meaning is
established by “extracting important pieces
of information from world knowledge
associated with each of them”. If this is not
the case, the decoding process of such a PU
may pose problems or even lead to incorrect
interpretation or translation (see also
Szerszunowicz,
2008;
Dobrovolʹskij,
Piirainen & Dobrovolskij, 2005).
Last but not least, it is necessary to
mention omission, compensation, false
friend and partial equivalence in translation
of PUPs.
It is believed that in the translators'
struggle to attain naturalness all of the above
problems and difficulties may arise. As
observed by Newmark, the level of
naturalness achieved in a translation may
depend on whether it makes sense, reads
naturally, and “is written in ordinary
language, the common grammar, idioms and
words that meet that kind of situation”
(1988, p. 24).
In terms of omission, as Baker (1992)
insists, it is established that omission is
applied when a PUP has no close match
Vietnamese, its meaning cannot be easily
paraphrased, or for stylistic reasons. It is
clear that if the omission is to avoid the
lengthy explanation and the inexistence of
the PUP does not affect the whole meaning
of the text, then the use of omission can be
regarded as justifiable. It is necessary to note
that when a PUP is omitted, nearly always
there is a “loss” in the meaning. To
“compensate” the resulting loss, one is
obliged to mention some supplementary
words in some parts of the sentence or
paragraph where an omission has been done
(Shojaei, 2012). Let us study this example of
a PUP translated by omission: If I ever have
to do a Lord Lucan and flee the country, this
is where I'll head. » Nếu phải biến mất khỏi
đất nước mình, đây là nơi tôi sẽ tới (see also
Section 6.3.4).
It can be seen that a large number of
English PUPs carry within them the identity
of British culture due to the role of English
as the “glue” that binds groups of English-
speaking people together. When converted
to Vietnamese, some English PUPs have
direct similarities in meaning and basic
ideas, but the details may differ. However,
there are also PUPs only available in
English, and thus the translation must
describe, reflect, or explain their nature and
meaning, although the metaphor, metonymy
or parable is not similar. Consequently,
despite being translated, a full equivalence is
still out of reach. Therefore, it is important
On compensation, it may be implied
that at the point where a PU appears in the
source text, one may either omit or play
down a function such as idiomaticity and add
it elsewhere in the target discourse. It is
learnt from Nida and Taber (1982), Larson
(1984); Baker (1992) that compensation is
to
consider
how
PUPs
operate
interlinguistically in other languages and
cultures.
Many PUPs are motivated by
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most definitely worth considering to make
up for the loss caused by translating.
Therefore, in order to preserve the
idiomaticity of the original text and to avoid
the mentioned loss, it is recommended that
the translator resorts to compensation in
translating PUPs as their final but workable
strategy. That is when a PUP is not possible
to be translated into Vietnamese, the
translator's last effort is to compensate the
PUP by omitting the PUP and putting it in
another place, thus maintaining the stylistic
effect of phraseological usage in English.
However, compensation should be “the last
resort to be used” to ensure that translation is
possible (Newmark, 1991, pp. 143-144).
PUPs from English to Vietnamese in the
next section of the paper.
4. Methodology
As aforementioned in Section 2.1,
the views of name scholars differ as regards
a straightforward, clear and satisfactory
definition of proper names. To avoid
unnecessary confusion, we included only
those proper names that can be considered
the purest and least controversial
representatives of the class and that are
typically classified as proper names in
English. That is to say the compiled database
includes PUs with anthroponyms and
toponyms and excludes all extreme cases.
False friend and partial equivalence
pose other issues. ‘False friend’, a term used
by Koessler and Derocquigny (1928), as
cited in Aronoff and Rees-Miller (2003,
p. 698), refers to the state when a word
suddenly gets different meanings in two
languages, although they have the same
origin and appear alike. It results from the
fact that language is a living organism and
under constant change. Over the years, a
word can change its meaning for different
reasons. However, a ‘false friend’ can also
arise even if the words do not have the same
origin or are loaned from the same language.
In partial equivalence (or semi-equivalence),
the contents or domains of the concepts
differ from each other due to the absence of
one or more equivalence aspects (Catford,
1988). The PUP a good Samaritan and its
Vietnamese equivalent Mạnh Thường Quân
is a good reference to the idea of false friend
and partial equivalence in translation.
Based on our private collection of
English idioms containing 8561 entries
saved in CSV file format, we used string-
searching algorithms (RegEx) provided by
the two powerful, all-purpose text and code
editors, Notepad++ and BBEdit, to process
and parse the data in the CSV file in order to
filter out the idioms and fixed expressions
with proper names. By this way, an initial list
of PUs with proper names was made and
saved in the MS Excel format. The list is
supplemented by adding PUs with
onomastic elements from the following three
English monolingual idiom dictionaries: (1)
All English Idioms & Phrases. MS Apps.
Google Play Store; (2) Oxford Dictionary of
English Idioms (2009). Oxford University
Press; (3) The Farlex Dictionary of Idioms at
meaning and usage of each PUP were then
double-checked using the electronic and
online platforms provided by (1) and (3). As
a result, we were able to compile a database
of 241 English PUs with onomastic
constituents.
In terms of information and
efficiency, it is our intention to consider the
following three translation methods:
verbatim translation (literal translation -
lexical meaning), verbatim translation with
annotation, explanation, and use of
equivalent PUs in the target language. We
will analyse the challenges and difficulties
translators might encounter when translating
The collected PUPs were searched
for in the following corpora: British National
Corpus and Corpus of Contemporary
corpora.org) to find their frequency and
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67
distribution across registers. These corpora
are made up of various types of written texts
(literary, academic, journalistic, and
miscellaneous texts) and spoken texts
(conversations, speeches, lectures, business
meetings, TV/radio broadcasting) with
hundreds of examples for each PUP.
Da Nang Publisher, 2004; (2) Kadict English
- Vietnamese Dictionary of Idioms. MS
Apps. Google Play Store; (3) Collection of
Common Vietnamese - English Idioms,
Proverbs and Folks, Nguyen Đinh Hung, Ho
Chi Minh City Publisher, 2007; (4) English
- Vietnamese Dictionary of Idioms, Trinh
Thu Huong, Trung Dung, Vietnam’s
Women Publishing House, 2017. Besides,
based on the examples and contexts
provided by the corpora, we did our own
translation of a small number of PUPs,
which are unpopular or not found in any
Vietnamese dictionaries. A simple Google
search was then performed for “PUP +
specific/generic suggested meaning” (e.g.,
“Gordon Bennett + ngạc nhiên”) for any
available translation of the PUPs. We then
compared and valued these versions of
translations including ours, and proposed a
final translation of such PUPs.
All the English PUPs are then
translated into Vietnamese. That the English
PUPs have been translated into Vietnamese
enables us to perform a comparative
examination of the occurrence of the
onomastic constituents. This process is
known as decoding proper names. We
carefully researched how the English PUPs
in our database are translated into
Vietnamese because PUs are often difficult
to be grasped and translated into another
language, especially when word-for-word
translation of PUs with proper names is
restricted.
It is noted that in our database a
polysemous PUP with different senses was
counted only once if it has one onomastic
constituent.
According to Szerszunowicz (2008,
pp. 118-121), as culture-bound components
of PUs, proper names “carry cultural
specificality” in themselves. Therefore,
cultural allusions carried by a proper name
must be properly interpreted in order to
enable the whole PUP to be decoded. In the
decoding process of English PUPs, we based
on four translation strategies of idioms
proposed by Baker (1990) along with
composite classifications of English PUPs
suggested by Pierini (2008) and Vrbinc
(2016).
5. Results
With regard to the translation of a
PUP, it is the meaning of the PUP that should
be analyzed first in order to be able to
translate the phraseological meaning or to
find a suitable equivalent in the target
language. This process is known for
decoding proper names. In this paper, it is
not possible to include all 241 collected
PUPs. Below are just a few examples of the
groups found.
Most of the translations of the PUPs
were double checked in the following four
dictionaries: (1) English - Vietnamese
Dictionary of Idioms, Nguyen Minh Tien,
Table 1
Group 1 - Non-Idiomatic and Descriptive Translation Equivalents
PUP
Vietnamese translation equivalent
vậy nhé, thế là bạn có nó, thế là xong
(and) Bob’s your uncle
(go) tell it/that to Sweeney! đi mà nói với trẻ con; chỉ có trẻ con mới tin
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be sent to Coventry
double Dutch
bị tẩy chay, bị cô lập
ngôn ngữ khó hiểu, điều khó hiểu
người thủ cựu, lạc hậu
Colonel Blimp
Freudian slip
lỡ lời, buột miệng, nói hớ
in the land of Nod
Jekyll and Hyde
keep up with the Joneses
raise Cain
say giấc nồng, ngủ say
người hai mặt, đa nhân cách, lúc tốt, lúc xấu
cố vươn cho được bằng bạn bè/hàng xóm/mọi người
gây rắc rối, gây rối loạn
Table 2
Group 2 - Idiomatic Translation Equivalents Without a Proper Name
PUP Vietnamese translation equivalent
as rich as Croesus
giàu nứt đố đổ vách
build castles in Spain
carry/take coals to Newcastle
Gordon Bennett
mơ mộng hão huyền, xây lâu đài trên cát
chở củi về rừng
Trời ơi; Ôi, trời
it’s (all) Greek to me
rob Peter to pay Paul
như vịt nghe sấm; nghe như tiếng Tây.
giật gấu vá vai
when in Rome (do as the Romans do) nhập gia tùy tục
Table 3
Group 3 - Idiomatic Translation Equivalents With the Same Proper Name
PUP
Vietnamese translation equivalent
Achilles heel
gót chân Asin
American Dream giấc mơ Mỹ
Murphy’s Law
Trojan horse
Uncle Sam
định luật Murphy
con ngựa thành Tơ-roa (Troy)
chú Sam
Table 4
Group 4 - Idiomatic Translation Equivalents With a Different Proper Name
PUP
Vietnamese translation equivalent
(as) old as Adam
xưa như Trái Đất
As happy as Larry vui như Tết
Don Juan Sở Khanh
doubting Thomas đa nghi như Tào Tháo
Utopian dream giấc mộng Nam Kha
VNU JOURNAL OF FOREIGN STUDIES, VOL. 37, NO. 3 (2021)
69
Table 5
translator may encounter when translating
English PUs with proper names can be
divided into two main categories.
Translation Group Statistics
Number of
Percentage of
PUPs
Group
PUPs
a) Non-equivalence in Vietnamese
b) Equivalence in Vietnamese
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Total
138
54
57.26
22.4
12.46
7.88
100
Within each category, we try to
identify and decode PUs with onomastic
constituents. The causes of the translation
difficulties as well as the pros and cons of the
strategies employed are then analyzed.
30
19
241
6.1. Identifying and Decoding English PUs
With Onomastic Constituents
As is evident from our database, non-
idiomatic descriptive translation equivalents
far exceed idiomatic translations of any kind,
since non-idiomatic translation can be found
in more than 60% of phraseological units
with onomastic constituents as opposed to
the less than 40% that account for the last
three groups. However, the interesting code
often hides itself in the group of idiomatic
translation equivalents, especially ones with
the same proper names, or other proper
names with similar connotations. It is clear
that decoding PUPs can be substantially
influenced by extralinguistic factors.
Identifying a PU with an onomastic
constituent is a prerequisite for proceeding
with the next steps, which is entirely up to
the translator. The truth is that the ability to
recognize and understand a PUP correctly
determines the successful translation of that
PUP.
It is clear that the translator is not
always able to grasp a certain PUP,
especially when it holds various culture-
specific meanings. If this is the case, it is
difficult to successfully translate the PUP
into Vietnamese. However, there exist PUPs
that are quite universal in both English and
Vietnamese, and not that difficult to be
perceived in Vietnamese. It can be easier to
deduce their metaphorical meanings. These
are often PUPs with biblical, Greek mythical
and classical names. Some examples are
Achilles' heel, Trojan Horse, Adam's apple, etc.
6. Discussion
The groups identified in Section 5
clearly point out the complexity of
translating PUPs as we must meditate on
providing
an
idiomatic
translation
equivalent where possible. It should be noted
that the connotations carried by the
However, the translator is not always
so lucky, especially with the PUPs whose
meaning is relatively opaque or the ones
bearing cultural characteristics. It is not due
to the PU with a proper name but the
meaning it conveys and its associated
domain to culturally specific contexts that
makes it difficult to be identified and
understood. Take send someone to Coventry
as an example. The cultural characteristic of
this PUP refers to Coventry, a placename. It
is no problem to literally understand this
phrase, but what it idiomatically means is
onomastic
international,
characteristics.
constituent
national
can
or
be
of
local
Translating PUPs is a challenging
but inspiring domain of translation studies.
In order to translate PUPs from English into
Vietnamese, the translator has to choose the
most appropriate strategy or use various
strategies, taking into account their
peculiarities, function, culture specificity,
semantic and structural unpredictability
(Kovács, 2016). The challenges the
VNU JOURNAL OF FOREIGN STUDIES, VOL. 37, NO. 3 (2021)
70
not at all easy to be decoded. As explained
by Cambridge University Press (n.d.), if a
group of people send someone to Coventry,
they refuse to speak to that person, usually
as a punishment for having done something
to upset the group. But why Coventry? There
have been a few theories. One suggests it
originates from the era of the English Civil
War, when Parliamentarian supporters
would take Royalist prisoners of war to
Coventry. Once there, they would be
shunned by city residents and inhabitants.
However, if the translator had no idea what
is behind the name Coventry, and the whole
PU, and literally translate the PU into
Vietnamese as “gửi ai tới Coventry”, it
would be a disaster.
recommended to focus on levels of linguistic
uses in both languages.
Decoding PUs into the target
language is never easy. As aforementioned,
it is optimal to provide an equivalent PU in
the target language. But in many cases, it is
not possible to find any idiomatic equivalent,
then the only translation way left is to
explain, describe or paraphrase the English
PUP. Translating English PUPs into
Vietnamese in this case will present non-
idiomatic equivalents that are descriptive.
This approach drives the translator to use
word-for-word
annotate, or paraphrase the PUP, or translate
figurative/idiomatic meaning only.
translation,
explain,
Subsequently, certain translation loss is
consequently unavoidable.
Dutch courage is another example.
The literal translation of this PUP will cause
the reader to raise an eyebrow. In fact, the
PUP is used to refer to courage or confidence
gained from intoxication with alcohol
(Cambridge University Press, n.d.). The
etymology of the term involves some
popular stories about English and Dutch
soldiers in the Anglo-Dutch Wars during the
17th century who drank jenever (Dutch gin)
for calming or bravery-inducing effects
before battle.
A certain meaning can be expressed
with a fixed expression, an idiom, or just a
single word in English, but it is not always
the case in Vietnamese. Due to the lexical or
stylistic differences between the two
languages, certain correspondence will not
always be found. Hence, the strategies
recommended to be employed should be
omission and paraphrase. English PUPs
should be elaborated so that their meaning is
better transferred to Vietnamese. It is noted
here that the given meaning would not be an
exact equivalent or semantic equivalent of
the English PUs. A few examples are the
man on the Clapham omnibus » người bình
thường, thường dân; Gordon Bennett » Trời
ơi! Ôi, trời; Freudian slip » lỡ lời, buột
miệng.
Due to differences in history,
geographical location, customs and beliefs,
social norms, etc., there are obviously a
number of obstacles in the translation that
make it difficult for people to accurately
understand
each
other.
Therefore,
identifying and correctly understanding
PUPs play an important role in the accurate
translation of the language content, helping
speakers of Vietnamese and English
successfully communicate with each other.
Another problem relating to non-
equivalence is the literal translation of the
PUP. Most translation researchers believe
that idiomatic meanings may rarely be
translated literally (see Larson, 1984;
Newmark, 1988; Baker, 1992). For the
purpose of transferring culture and
information, however, literal translation of
the English PUP can be employed as long as
it brings about a decent translation effect and
6.2. Non-IdiomaticEquivalencein Vietnamese
Undoubtedly, as Kashgary (2011)
affirms, non-equivalence is a fact that is
happening in all languages and it has caused
some untranslatable cases. Thus, when
dealing with non-equivalence, it is
VNU JOURNAL OF FOREIGN STUDIES, VOL. 37, NO. 3 (2021)
71
causes no misinterpretation of the message
of the source PU. Literal translation is also
an option where there is no equivalent PU in
Vietnamese. It is noted that difficulties
would emerge when the recognizable border
between idiomatic and literal translation is
not clear. Hence, a translator should be
scrupulous to find them out and discover
whether it is possible to translate literally.
The PUP Rome was not built in one
day » Thành La-Mã không phải được xây
trong một ngày is one of the few examples
of effective word-for-word translation. In
many other cases, Vietnamese people will
not be able to readily understand PUPs
without background knowledge about the
economy, culture, and history hidden behind
these proper names (Đỗ, 2015). To produce
a decent translation, a loss of proper names
would be inevitable as in the following
examples: a castle in Spain » lâu đài trên
cát; mơ mộng hão huyền; fight like Kilkenny
cats » chiến đấu tới hơi thở cuối cùng.
However, for most English PUPs, it
is necessary to base on the context to employ
the appropriate translation solution. For
example:
Ever since Kyle became a teenager,
he's turned into a real Jekyll and Hyde, and
it's impossible to anticipate his mood at any
given time » Kể từ khi Kyle trở thành một
thiếu niên, cậu ta đã trở nên lúc thế này, lúc
thế kia, và thực sự không thể đoán trước
được tâm trạng của cậu ta tại bất kỳ thời
điểm nào.
The advantage of the literal
translation of the PU is that it can preserve
illustrative images and cultural specificality,
contributing to cultural and language
exchanges. However, many cases of literal
translation can cause misunderstanding or
fail to convey the complete domain of
meanings of the PUPs, hence reducing the
translation efficiency. Although the
explanatory and annotated translation
methods can convey the message of English
PUPs, their weakest link is that they are quite
lengthy and time-and-space consuming.
The phrase Jekyll and Hyde may be
unknown to many Vietnamese if they have
never read the book Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis
Stevenson. Jekyll and Hyde is a reference to
the main character in the book whose
personality drastically changes between
good and bad.
It can be seen that a greatest number
of English PUPs are translated by means of
a non-idiomatic equivalent of descriptive
character. As a result, the neutral translation
of the PU does not fully reflect the cultural
aspects and the stylistic markedness may
vanish (Szerszunowicz, 2008). Based on the
stance by Fiedler (2007), we recommend
that the PUPs with no equivalent in
Vietnamese or with an equivalent based on a
different metaphor be approached with great
care, since it should be examined to what
extent the new image is suitable for the
context in English. In brief, in many cases, it
is advisable to express the message of the
PUP in a non-idiomatic way to ensure the
highest possible translation quality from
English to Vietnamese.
In Vietnamese, there is no equivalent
PU with a proper name depicting a person
who is good now and bad then and vice
versa. The word-for-word translation of each
will mislead the message of the PUP. For
such cases, translating with an explanation
or annotation would be a better solution.
Obviously, for the translation to be
meaningful and effective, the translator may
have to choose to ignore a certain element or
replace it with another relatively close in
terms of semantic domains and cognitive
representations. Unless there is
a
corresponding PU in both form and content
in Vietnamese, it is difficult to reproduce the
PU used both literally and figuratively in the
translation.
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72
6.3. Idiomatic Equivalence in Vietnamese
English use PUs with the similar figurative
meanings and images (e.g., in Spain – trên
cát, coals – củi, Newcastle – rừng). That
they are equivalent in terms of images and
nuances is highly effective at conveying
most of the cultural messages expressed by
the source PUs.
The ideal scenario in translation of
the PUP is to find an idiomatic equivalent in
both languages, such as the English idiom
rob Peter to pay Paul which is equivalent to
the Vietnamese idiom giật gấu vá vai. This
is quite possible “because we human beings
are in fact more alike than different”,
especially in closely value-sharing cultures
as Lâm (2013, p. 76) put it. However,
languages reflect different realities with
different outlooks. As PUPs are linguistic
units bearing rich cultural, social,
geographic features, etc., of each language
Idiomatic meaning of (1) is to form
unattainable projects. While “build castles
on the sand” (like in the air) is self-
explanatory, “build castles in Spain”
requires some elucidation. This dated back
to the time when Spain was in the hand of
the Moore, and it was hard for French kings
to conquer this land, hence impossible to
build their own castles there. Similarly, in
(2), the metaphor refers to doing something
redundant, frivolous, or unnecessary.
Newcastle was once a major coal supplier. In
English, the contrasting pair is “coals -
Newcastle” while that in Vietnamese is
“firewood - forest”. Both PUs develop on the
same image, i.e., to transport something to a
place where there is already plenty. The
symmetrical images of castle - Spain and
coals - Newcastle are preserved in the target
PUs (castle - sand, and firewood - forest),
evoking the similar effect as the source PU.
community,
finding
phraseological
equivalents in translation is never easy,
sometimes even impossible. Even when
there are PU equivalents in both languages,
they still pose a lot of problems for the
translator. Some of the difficulties of having
equivalent PUs in Vietnamese are to be
discussed below.
6.3.1.
Idiomatic
Translation
Equivalent Without a Proper Name
This way of idiomatic translation
expresses the same metaphor in the source
languages but with different lexical items.
Equivalent images are ones that are
understood and accepted in both cultures. An
idiomatic equivalent or corresponding
Vietnamese PU can express the figurative or
symbolic meaning and effectively convey
the cultural message of the English PUP.
This is the case in which the target language
owns a PU equivalent to the source PU in
terms of meaning, style, definition, image, or
nuance, etc. Let us study these examples.
In the two languages, however,
corresponding idiomatic images are not
always found. Here is an example about
idiomatic translation equivalent with very
different images and associations.
- it's (all) Greek to me » Như vịt nghe
sấm [Like a duck listening to thunderclaps] (4)
In the examples, the target and
source PUs express the meaning of
unintelligible language or gibberish (4). We
have a mismatched image pair in English
and Vietnamese (Greek - duck listening to
thunderclaps). In example (4), no image of
the source PUP is retained, even the nuance
is completely different (the English PUP
uses the adjective indicating the ethnic name
with the object being first person singular -
the Vietnamese PU refers to the common
- build castles in Spain » xây lâu đài
trên cát [build castles on the sand] (1)
- carry coals to Newcastle » chở củi về
rừng [carry firewood back to the forest] (2)
The choice of this method sometimes
results in the risk of losing some source
cultural image. However, its outstanding
advantage is that both Vietnamese and
VNU JOURNAL OF FOREIGN STUDIES, VOL. 37, NO. 3 (2021)
73
name of an animal and a natural
phenomenon).
names. The translation of PUPs will be
perfect if the English and Vietnamese proper
names connote the same or similar objects or
entities.
These Vietnamese PUs represent
corresponding idiomatic meanings, but
comparative images in the PUs are not
corresponding resulting in a loss of a certain
amount of cultural information or
characteristics of English. Also, dissimilar
images and associations may stimulate
different emotions from Vietnamese
receivers leading to different conceptual
metaphors.
6.3.3. Literal and Idiomatic
Translation Equivalents With the Same
Proper Names
There are a few examples of this type
such as American Dream, Murphy's Law,
Trojan horse, Uncle Sam, etc. Most of them
are the borrowings.
It should be pointed out that a
number of PUPs with the same origin are
more universally used in both English and
Vietnamese. These include PUs with an
anthroponym, toponym or a certain proper
name whose connotation is universal. A few
proper names in this type may have allusions
to the Greek or Roman cultural heritage or
ancient history. They may also come from a
common context, be related to events of
particular significance, be locations known
from mythology or be universally known to
most English and Vietnamese speakers. In
both languages, all of these expressions are
lexically similar, proving that the shared
European linguistic and cultural heritage has
had a significant influence on both English
and Vietnamese PUPs. It is obvious that the
existence of some common cultural
denominators between different societies
results from cultural exchanges and
globalization. Globalization and translation
made it possible for peoples of the world to
“exchange knowledge, cope with the latest
technology, and enjoy the good returns of
modernity” (Al-Salman, 2007, p. 153).
6.3.2.
Idiomatic
Translation
Equivalent With a Different Proper Name
These are interesting cases in which
a PUP has the same figurative meaning with
a different proper name in the target PUP. It
is often possible to find an equivalent PU in
Vietnamese consisting of a different proper
name. Below are some examples.
- (as) old as Adam » xưa như Trái đất
[old as Earth]
- Don Juan » Sở Khanh [literary
character]
- doubting Thomas » Đa nghi như
Tào Tháo [as doubtful as Tao Thao (曹操)]
Proper names in the English PUPs
and those in their Vietnamese equivalents
have similar idiomatic name domains. The
figurative and referential field of meaning
given by such names is quite similar in both
languages despite different proper names.
For example, in Western cultures Don Juan
is known as a legendary, fictional libertine.
The name is used as a generic expression for
a womanizer. In Vietnamese, So Khanh is a
character from Nguyen Du's Tale of Kieu,
who was infamous for cheating on women,
including the title character, Thuy Kieu.
Thus, So Khanh can be regarded as a full
equivalent of Don Juan.
The most typical PUPs of this type
are the ones with borrowing names with
classic references to Western literature.
Although these PUPs may have become a
part of the Vietnamese language, it does not
mean all Vietnamese readers can understand
them for the first time without some
explanation.
The challenges of finding idiomatic
translation equivalents with a different
proper name land on decoding connotative
meanings of the source and target proper
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74
Take Achilles' heel as an example.
An Achilles' heel is a weakness in spite of
overall strength, which can lead to downfall
(comparably tử huyệt in Vietnamese). The
term alludes to the Greek mythology of the
heroic warrior Achilles whose mother Thetis
tried to make him immortal by holding the
infant by his heel and plunging him into the
River Styx. Eventually he was killed by an
arrow shot into his undipped heel. This is to
say why Achilles' heel is used to refer to
one's deadly weak point.
It is taken from a parable in the Bible in
which a Samaritan man was the only person
who stopped to help a man who was robbed
and beaten (Farlex, n.d.). According to
Hoàng (2007), Manh Thuong Quan can be
either 1) a person who is very rich, loves
good talents and often uses his money to do
meaningful work; or 2) used to refer to
financial helpers for a common job, an
organization. Thus, Manh Thuong Quan is a
very rich person with a good financial
background, and as such is more commonly
used in the sense of “sponsor”. The sense
that a person is compassionate and helpful to
people in distress is not always highlighted
in the Vietnamese version. This partial
equivalence is supposed to help nourish
‘false friends’.
If translated literally, the PUP
Achilles' heel » gót chân Asin does not make
much sense to Vietnamese readers,
especially young readers who may not know
the classic literary legend. For Vietnamese
readers to understand this PUP or the alike,
it is necessary to have a decent explanation
of the literary reference, clarifying its
symbolic and figurative meaning while
retaining cultural images.
Another example is Uncle Sam.
Uncle Sam » Chú Sam is a common national
personification of the U.S. federal
government or the country. However, this
PUP and its direct image (a tall, thin man
with a white beard and a tall hat) have
6.3.4. Other PUP Translation Issues
As aforementioned in Section 3,
omission and compensation are sometimes
inevitable in the PUP translation. It can be
seen from the Vietnamese version, the “Lord
Lucan” factor has been omitted under the
strategy of omission. Besides, “do a Lord
Lucan and flee” is merged into “biến mất
khỏi”. The reason for such an affair deals
largely with the stylistic possessions of both
Vietnamese and English. Instead, the phrase
biến mất khỏi “compensates” the possible
“loss” that the deletion of Lord Lucan may
cause to the meaning. By omission, Baker
(1992, p. 78) argues that getting this level
right means that the target text “will feel less
‘foreign’ and, other factors being equal, may
even pass for an original”.
developed
notoriety
propagating
imperialism and war around the world and
been received in a non-positive sense. In
Viet Nam, therefore, due to the historical
problems, Uncle Sam may be attributed to a
negative image, and is more often used to
refer to “an aggressive U.S” or “a war-like,
imperialist U.S administration”.
It is obvious that false friends have
been established since the PUPs, despite
being identical, are not completely
equivalent or just partial equivalent in terms
of pragmatic sense. Therefore, we should
take great care when encountering a “perfect
equivalence” in terms of vocabulary, form,
grammatical structure, and even a similar
meaning. In addition, translators are urged to
be vigilant with a number of different PUPs
regarding cultural and national identities
because the target Vietnamese PU could take
False friend and partial equivalence
also cause difficulties for the translation of
PUPs. Let us have a close look at a good
Samaritan mentioned in Section 3. This PUP
refers to a person who selflessly gives help
and sympathy to people in times of trouble.
away
a
certain cultural or ethnic
characteristic of the source English one
despite the PU in English and Vietnamese
VNU JOURNAL OF FOREIGN STUDIES, VOL. 37, NO. 3 (2021)
75
being identical.
In short, the translation of PUPs must
be valid for both the Vietnamese language
and the English language, not to hinder the
expression of the source language in order to
avoid the loss and deformation of the source
message even though in some cases it is
justifiably necessary or unavoidable to retain
integrity of the source message. Even with a
Vietnamese equivalent, the translator still
encounters
many
difficulties
when
translating PUPs from English into
Vietnamese. This can be due to the origin of
PUPs (in case of borrowings), different use
of emotive images, different contexts,
frequency of use or culture-bound elements.
language
culture,
leading
to
misinterpretation of PUPs.
7. Conclusion
To conclude, in order to boost the
overall quality of the translation of PUPs and
ensure the message conveyed in the source
language is communicated to the audience of
the target language (as the case of English
and Vietnamese), it is of great importance to
look into how PUPs work cross-
linguistically in both languages and cultures.
It is also urged that the translator be flexible
in applying translation strategies and
methods and rely on the context and purpose
of using PUPs to decide on appropriate
translation solutions. As Delisle and
Woodsworth (1995) contends it is the
translator that breaches the walls created by
language differences, thereby opening up
new horizons, paving the way for cultural
exchanges and broadening vision of reality
to encompass the entire world.
English phraseological units with
onomastic constituents (PUPs) have been
explored in this paper. It is concluded that a
proper interpretation of cultural allusions
carried by proper names is a key to decoding
the whole PUPs. The challenges in
translating 241 PUPs were compiled,
analyzed and categorized into the following
four groups according to their Vietnamese
translation equivalents: Non-idiomatic and
descriptive translation, Idiomatic translation
without a proper name, Idiomatic translation
with the same proper name, and Idiomatic
translation with a different proper name.
It is recommended that for a full
comprehension of a PUP, the proper name
factor must be thoroughly studied. The
translator would face a hard task if he or she
encounters English PUPs whose meaning is
not the sum of the meanings of the
constituents, or PUPs expressing both literal
and figurative meanings, PUPs representing
facts that do not exist in the world of the
target, or PUPs being deeply culture-bound
with multiple levels of metaphor. The
translator should have knowledge about
semantics and lexical sets in the English
language to develop strategies to deal with
non-equivalence in the semantic field. In
addition, the translator should not forget that
language and culture are closely related,
especially in terms of PUPs and both aspects
must be delicately deemed for translation.
Literal translation should be considered the
last resort because it often significantly
reduces the informativeness of the cultural
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KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC DỊCH TỔ HỢPTHÀNH NGỮ TÍNH
TIẾNGANH CÓ THÀNH TỐ TÊN RIÊNG SANG TIẾNG VIỆT
Nguyễn Việt Khoa
Viện Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Bách khoa Hà Nội,
Số 1 Đại Cồ Việt, Hà Nội, Việt Nam
Tóm tắt: Tổ hợp thành ngữ tính có thành tố tên riêng là một chủ đề thu hút nhiều nghiên cứu
trong giới dịch thuật ngày nay. Các tổ hợp thành ngữ loại này luôn phản ánh văn hóa và tâm lý dân tộc
của mỗi quốc gia. Có khá nhiều nghiên cứu trên thế giới về vấn đề này ở nhiều cặp ngôn ngữ khác nhau,
nhưng chưa có nghiên cứu phân tích chuyên sâu những khó khăn trong quá trình dịch các tổ hợp này
trong cặp ngôn ngữ Anh-Việt. Bằng cách sử dụng phương pháp nghiên cứu định tính, bài báo trình bày
kết quả nghiên cứu trong đó 241 tổ hợp thành ngữ tính tiếng Anh có thành tố tên riêng được thu thập và
phân loại thành bốn nhóm theo bản dịch tiếng Việt. Việc nhóm đơn vị tương đương mang tính mô tả và
mất đi tính thành ngữ chiếm phần lớn với hơn 57% số tổ hợp chứng tỏ rằng tổ hợp thành ngữ tính có
thành tố tên riêng ở cả hai ngôn ngữ đều mang tính đặc trưng văn hóa cao. Mặc dù ba nhóm còn lại chia
sẻ một thiểu số xấp xỉ 43% tổng số tổ hợp, nhưng chúng lại mang nhiều ẩn số thú vị với nhiều cấp độ
ẩn dụ tương đồng hay dị biệt ở cả hai ngôn ngữ. Dựa trên kết quả nghiên cứu, bài báo nêu lên những
thách thức mà người dịch gặp phải trong quá trình dịch các tổ hợp thành ngữ tính tiếng Anh có thành tố
tên riêng sang các đơn vị tương đương trong tiếng Việt, trong đó tên riêng nổi lên như là một trong
những thách thức lớn nhất. Bài báo đề xuất một số giải pháp dịch thuật để xử lý hiệu quả các biểu thức
đặc biệt này. Ngoài việc khuyến nghị áp dụng linh hoạt các chiến lược dịch thuật, kết luận của của bài
báo cũng nhấn mạnh rằng chỉ khi người dịch giải mã và nắm bắt được cách thức hoạt động của các tổ
hợp thành ngữ tính có thành tố tên riêng trong cả hai ngôn ngữ và hai nền văn hóa thì họ mới có thể thực
hiện thành công việc dịch thuật các tổ hợp này.
Từ khóa: tổ hợp thành ngữ tính, tên riêng, danh xưng học, thành ngữ, cụm từ cố định
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