Translation by development workers in Vietnam: a practice for empowerment

Abstract Translation is critical in development work in Vietnam, especially when introducing largely Western and sometimes ill-defined development concepts into local knowledge systems. Our study analysed online, semi-structured interviews with 18 development stakeholders in Vietnam and a 1.1-million-word bilingual corpus of development texts to examine how participants designate and perceive the concept of empowerment in their contexts and practices of translation when aiming for empowerment in their work. Our study suggests participants use varied equivalents in Vietnamese for empowerment , with an interesting tension between designations that could imply either power or rights. This tension led to different perceptions among participants of the translation of empowerment into Vietnamese: as a potential source of misunderstanding and political sensitivity, or as a possible catalyst to promote rights and empower marginalized groups. Our study also reveals that the Vietnamese practice of nôm na – a form of intralingual translation and simplification – is a core competence in these stakeholders’ translation work. Nôm na is used by them to empower stakeholders by generating accessible language, eliciting feedback, and permitting negotiation of power relations in development encounters. Such empowerment through contextually and culturally sensitive translation supports stakeholders’ rights to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy development.