Linguistic Errors
Lexical Errors
H: Lexical interference traps are common enough but more invidious are innocent looking collocations which appear to make sense until one asks oneself what they mean in particular context. Lexical interference is very dangerous because it can distort the meaning of a sentence.
1. Context
CT: The context itself determines the meaning of words. Therefore, their meaning should be solved in the context. It is commonly known that a word may have equivalents and accordingly the analysis of its meaning has to be made carefully in order to pick out the most appropriate word. There are many ways of translating of some nouns related to professions, classes, and fields in society.

H : Polish President affirmed that the Polish government would continue to create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community, the fourth largest foreign community in Poland.
Tổng thống Balan khẳng định rằng chính phủ Balan sẽ tiếp tục tạo điều kiện thuần lợi cho cộng đồng người Việt, cộng đồng nước ngoài lớn nhất thứ tư ở Balan.

President Ho Chi Minh is a lofty example of sacrifice in Vietnamese revolution cause.
Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh là tấm gương hy sinh cao cả trong sự nghiệp cách mạng Việt
Nam.

Last year, there was a conference for alumni of Harvard University in New Delhi and Mr. Larry Summners, a former President of Havard, he said in his speech that the U.S. has to change its thinking and has to change its look at the world.
Năm ngoái, trong một hội nghị của cựu học viên Đại học Harvard tại New Delhi, nguyên hiệu trưởng Đại học Harvard, ông Larry Summers có phát biểu đề cập đến một ý: Nước Mỹ cần thay đổi cách suy nghĩ và cách nhìn nhận về thế giới.

Ha: Rule
The class is divided into 4 groups.
Each group is given 4 boxes of words.
You will use words in each box to make a sentence which have the right word collocation and run quickly to stick them on the board.
For each right sentence, your group gets 1 point.

BC: Obviously, there are many equivalents in English for the word’ cham soc’ such as ‘ take care of’, ‘attend upon’, ‘care for’, ‘look after’... So ...
I'll take good care of your plants! Tôi sẽ chăm sóc cây cối của ông thật chu đáo !
Don't forget to attend upon my guests. Nhớ chăm sóc khách của tôi nhé !
This boy will help you look after the pleasure-garden. Cậu bé này sẽ giúp ông chăm sóc vườn cảnh.
Will you care for the kids during my absence? Bà chăm sóc bọn trẻ trong lúc tôi đi vắng nhé ?
2. WORD COLLOCATION
Phuc: Word collocation is defined as a sequence of words or terms which co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. Each of language has its own principle in word collocation. For example, the word “pretty” often goes with girls and women, while the word “handsome” often goes with boys or men. Some translators do not realize this, which leads to wrong and funny collocation.
AT: Previous research also shows that unfamiliarity with collocations often leads to serious problems in language production. Flowerdew (1999) found evidence from an examination of the KWIC (key word in context) that the students knew all about the key lexis, but were not familiar with the naturally occurring environment in which the word usually occurs. Learners may, for example, produce erroneous utterances like :
They made a walk. (took)
I am going to take fish. (catch)
As a consequence, although they might have a large reservoir of vocabulary knowledge, they sometimes produce utterances that simply do not sound English.
H: Other e.g for word collocations: * a pride of lions * a host of angels * a swarm of bees * a clutch of eggs
It is the mother tongue interference that leads to the mechanic collocation

which is unacceptable in target language. In fact, each language has its own

principles of word collocation. Neither English nor Vietnamese is an exception.

BC: Collocations with the verb ‘have’
Have a bath
Have a drink
Have a haircut
Have a holiday
Have a problem
Have a relationship
Have lunch
Have sympathy
Collocations with the verb ‘break’
Break the law
Break a leg
Break a promise
Break a record
Break someone's heart
Break the ice
Break the news to someone
Break the rules
Collocations with the verb ‘take’
Take a break
Take a chance
Take a look
Take a rest
Take a seat
Take a taxi
Take an exam
Take notes
Take someone's place
Collocations with the verb ‘make’
Make a difference
Make a mess
Make a mistake
Make a noise
Make an effort
Make money
Make progress
Make room
Make trouble
Ha: Word collocation GAME !
Lucky Yahtzee.
Rule :
The class is divided into 4 groups.
Each group is given a signal flag.
Each group will throw the dice. Each face of the dice is a photo of one member in our group, which matches with the point.
CT: There are 6 faces, in which there are 4 faces matching with numbers from 1 to 4 and 2 faces not matching the point.
For example, if the person from group 1 throws the dice and have the face matching with number 1, then if this group has the right answer, they get 1 point, if they have the wrong answer, then they get minus 1 point. If the person throws the dice and gets the face not matching the point, there are 2 situations can happen : a. The photo is Doremon’s face, so this group gets 3 points without needing to answer. b. The photo is witch’s face, then this group loses 1 turn.
AT: If this group has the wrong answer or they can’t answer the question in 10 seconds, the chance to answer the question will be given to another group. Other groups get the chance by raising the signal flag as fast as possible.

P: Verb Collocations
Complete the sentences.
1. My grandfather often complains about being tired and having a headache .
2. We should take a break .Let's go on holiday.
3. Yesterday Thomas robbed a bank.He broke the law .
4. I decided to break the habit of smoking last month.

6. I have something I want to tell you.Can you keep a secret ?
7. A good driver should pay attention to road signs.
8. When I was having a bath the phone rang.
10. I have made a decision .I am not going to marry her.
It is important to learn collocations, because they are important for the naturalisation of one’s speech. Besides, they broaden one’s scope for expression.
1.1.3
H: Personal pronouns play an important play in communication, especially in Vietnamese. They can reveal the social status or the relationship between the speaker and the listener, in some cases, they can also show the politeness or impoliteness of the speakers. English and Vietnamese personal pronoun system, it is not easy to find the equivalence of personal pronouns in the two languages.
CT: Personal pronoun is a word that you use to refer to someone when you do not need to use a noun, often because the person has been mentioned earlier. Personal pronouns are a very important part of the language system. Both English and Vietnamese use personal pronouns in the category of politeness. However, Vietnamese personal pronouns express the shade of meaning (polite/ impolite) much more clearly than the English ones. Vietnamese has a very complicated personal pronouns system, so it is very challenging for English people want to master it.
Ha – Phuc : Sometimes, the Vietnamese translator do not master the relationship between the speaker and the hearer leading to a funny translation. For example: * “Do you think this picture is beautiful? I want to buy it”. Jane said to her husband in art gallery.
Which was translated as “Ngài có thấy bức tranh này đẹp không? Tôi muốn mua nó” instead of “Anh có thấy bức tranh này đẹp không? Em muốn mua nó”. * “I will give you some money.” Mother to son.
Which was translated as “Chị sẽ cho em một ít tiền.” instead of “Mẹ sẽ cho con một ít tiền.”

AT: Misuse of prepositions
Due to the mother tongue interference of Vietnamese, the translators found themselves in a confusing situation when they use prepositions in English.
The preposition “on” is used in English to signal a variety of meanings, Compare the following uses of “on” with the corresponding form used in Vietnamese.

English | Vietnamese | John found the book on the floor. | John tìm thấy cuốn sách trên sàn nhà. | John found the book on mathematics. | John tìm thấy cuốn sách viết về môn toán. | John found the book on Tuesday. | John tìm thấy cuốn sách vào ngày thứ ba. |

Về nguyên tắc tôi đồng ý, nhưng tôi nghĩ chúng ta nên thay đổi vài thứ.
CT
The preposition “vao” is used inVNese to signal a variety of meanings, Compare the following uses of “vao” with the corresponding form used in English.

Những con song vỗ mạnh vào bờ đê.
The waves slapped against the stone pier.
Tôi cũng chuẩn bị nộp đơn vào trường y.
I prepare to apply for medical school.
Phí bảo hiểm tùy thuộc vào giá trị.
The insurance rates depend on the value. Lễ Giáng Sinh năm nay rơi vào một ngày chủ nhật.
Christmas falls on Sunday this year.
BC: English translation the use of prepositions become even more complicated. Therefore, the errors related to the misuse of prepositions are common and unavoidable. In order to avoid this type of errors the translators should learn the prepositions going with nouns, adjectives or verbs by heart. If they do not know how to use prepositions exactly, they tend to the Vietnamese ones into English or vice versa. As a result, the translators should be provided with as many structures with prepositions systematically as possible to help them take notes and draw out the formation and rules.
Hai nhân vật trong hội thoại này là một cô gái trẻ, Jane và một người đàn ông hơn Jane 20 tuổi, ông Rochester.
Rochester: “I love you. You, small and poor and plain, I ask you to marry me!”
Jane: “You want to marry me, I cried, almost beginning to believe him. But I have no friends, no money, no family”
Rochester: Tôi yêu em! Em, một người con gái nhỏ bé, nghèo và giản dị, Tôi muốn hỏi cưới em!”
Jane: “Ông muốn cưới em ? Tôi nói đầy vẻ ngạc nhiên và tôi bắt đầu cảm thấy tin ông. Nhưng em không có bạn bè, không có tiền bạc và cũng không có gia đình.”

CONCLUSION
H: A translator should be more aware of some lexical errors in translation. So far, we take it for granted that Vietnamese student do well in translating English into Vietnamese.