Beyond ensuring the translation has “Fidelity, Expressiveness, and Elegance” (Tín – Đạt – Nhã), Vietnamese translators are facing new pressures from public opinion, technology, and the rapid changes in the global situation.
Translation and book conversion are always hot topics in publishing. At the Vietnam Translation Festival 2025, which took place on September 27 in Hanoi, domestic and foreign translators dialogued about the complex nature of translation. The discussion delved into three major themes: the fidelity versus adaptation of the translation compared to the original work; reverse translation and the journey of bringing Vietnamese culture to the world; and the challenges for the translation industry in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Translation—a cultural bridge—is a profession always caught between the tensions of various “dilemmas.” In this new context, what new pressures are being put on the act of translation?
“Translators, Please Don’t ‘Kill’ the Author”
According to translator Ngan Xuyen (real name Pham Xuan Nguyen), the age-old problem in translation remains how to make the translation’s style and meaning as faithful as possible to the original while still being suitable for the domestic reader. This issue has long been distilled into the principle of “Fidelity (Tín) – Expressiveness (Đạt) – Elegance (Nhã)” that many translators adhere to.
Emphasizing the importance of the word “Fidelity (Tín)”—meaning the element of faithfulness to the original must always come first—translator Vu The Khoi suggested that if a translator has too strong of a personality and cannot restrain their personal writing style in the translation, they should choose the path of creative writing instead of translating a work, because a translation that lacks “fidelity” is equivalent to “killing” the author.
Agreeing with this view, the writer and translator Ha Thuy Nguyen shared that she prioritizes the accuracy of the meaning of the translation compared to the original over the fluidity of the phrasing. “A translation that is semantically inaccurate but beautifully written in Vietnamese costs me three times the effort, and being so well-written makes it harder to detect errors, and providing feedback for the author to fix is very time-consuming,” said the translator and founder of Book Hunter.
Another dilemma raised in the discussion was the issue of “cultural interpretation” in translation. Translator Nguyen Quoc Vuong shared an example about the differing portrayals of Confucius in Vietnam, Japan, and China to show that even within the same culture, the understanding in each country varies. This demands that the translator must understand the culture of the target language to have flexibility and provide clear annotations for the reader.
Furthermore, translators face pressure regarding political sensitivity. Translator Tran Anh Đuc, who works at Quảng Văn publishing company, noted that the pressure when translating politically sensitive content has somewhat increased in recent years, especially in the History and Geography book genres. Many place names, which are internationally standardized and assigned to a region or event with a neutral attitude, are often translated into Vietnamese in a way that easily triggers a strong reaction from Vietnamese readers. The recent case of Quynh Giao and the book World History is a typical example of this pressure from public opinion.
In the current context, translators not only have to face cultural challenges but also bear significant pressure from technology and the specialization of fields. In the Information Technology industry, the role of the translator is shifting from direct translation to content editing/proofreading.
AI is creating a new standard for translators. Ms. Suzuki Ayano, an interpreter at FPT Software, commented that today’s translators must learn new skills: not only be proficient in foreign languages but also need to have foundational knowledge, cultural sensitivity, responsibility, and editing competency to be able to control the output of the new tools.
Facing these dilemmas, the translators agreed on the need to build a system of terminology for each specialized field and move towards vocabulary standardization. This work would both reduce the burden on the translator’s job and increase the vocabulary of the Vietnamese language.
“Reverse and Forward Translation” Both Require a Solid Grasp of Culture
Although Vietnam has a large treasure trove of literary works, the number of books translated abroad and achieving recognition is not commensurate with its potential. Currently, the two authors with the greatest resonance in the world literary scene are Bao Ninh (with The Sorrow of War) and Nguyen Huy Thiep.
Translators universally admit that reverse translation (translating texts from Vietnamese into a foreign language) remains a considerable challenge. The biggest difficulty lies in the differences between distinctive local life and international contexts.
Translator Xuan Hong, who is working on a book about Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups, shared that it is very difficult to find equivalent concepts in foreign languages. “There are concepts in the architecture or customs of Vietnamese ethnic groups for which foreigners have no equivalent word, for example, the concept of ‘giọt gianh‘,” the translator shared.
The reason why translated works going abroad are still scarce ultimately comes back to the issue of few translators having a solid grasp of the target culture. Mr. Vu The Khoi noted that to translate The Tale of Kiều into Russian, one not only needs to understand Vietnamese culture and Russian culture but also the Chinese culture within the work. This is not an easy job and requires high cultural capacity from the translator.
The translators affirmed that in the current era of cultural and technological convergence, merely being proficient in a foreign language is not enough. To complete a translation fully, professionals must be equipped with multicultural knowledge and technological skills. Experts are hopeful that the younger generation—who have lived in multicultural environments since childhood—will be the ones to bring about change in the translation industry in the near future.
At the Festival, the Vietnamese Translation Community presented the Joint Declaration of the Vietnamese Translation Community to the public. Accordingly, the Vietnamese Translation Community calls on society to view translation as a cohesive, cooperative, and creative communication activity, and urges the understanding that translation is a specialized form of writing that plays a crucial role in the globalization of all fields.
In this Declaration, the Vietnamese Translation Community hopes to promote fairness for translators and the role of translation in aesthetic and cultural practices, so that the translation industry can attain the position it deserves.
