Khóa luận A study on English brief news headlines - Phan Thi Ngoc Ha

Nội dung text: Khóa luận A study on English brief news headlines - Phan Thi Ngoc Ha

1. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG ISO 9001 : 2008 KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGÀNH: Ngo¹I ng÷ HẢI PHÒNG - 2010
2. HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT ISO 9001 : 2008 GRADUATION PAPER A study on English brief news headlines By: PHAN THỊ NGỌC HÀ Class: NA 1002 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ THU HUYỀN, M.A. HAI PHONG - 2010
3. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG Nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp Sinh viªn: M· sè: Líp: Ngành: Tªn ®Ò tµi :
4. Nhiệm vụ đề tài 1. Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp ( về lý luận, thực tiễn, các số liệu cần tính toán và các bản vẽ). 2. Các số liệu cần thiết để thiết kế, tính toán. 3. Địa điểm thực tập tốt nghiệp.
5. CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI Người hướng dẫn thứ nhất: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Người hướng dẫn thứ hai: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Đề tài tốt nghiệp được giao ngày 12 tháng 04 năm 2010 Yêu cầu phải hoàn thành xong trước ngày 10 tháng 07 năm 2010 Đã nhận nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Đã giao nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Sinh viên Người hướng dẫn Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 2010 HIỆU TRƯỞNG GS.TS.NGƯT Trần Hữu Nghị
6. PHẦN NHẬN XÉT TÓM TẮT CỦA CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN 1. Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp: 2. Đánh giá chất lượng của khóa luận (so với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T.N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính toán số liệu ): 3. Cho điểm của cán bộ hướng dẫn (ghi bằng cả số và chữ): Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 2010 Cán bộ hướng dẫn (họ tên và chữ ký)
7. NHẬN XÉT ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA NGƯỜI CHẤM PHẢN BIỆN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP 1. Đánh giá chất lượng đề tài tốt nghiệp về các mặt thu thập và phân tích tài liệu, số liệu ban đầu, giá trị lí luận và thực tiễn của đề tài. 2. Cho điểm của người chấm phản biện : (Điểm ghi bằng số và chữ) Ngày tháng năm 2010 Người chấm phản biện
8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of completing this graduation paper, I have been fortunate to receive much support, assistance, guidance encouragement from many people. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor - Ms Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, M.A who has kindly given me constructive comments, criticism, suggestions. In addition, I would like to extend my thanks to the teaching staff of the Department of Foreign Language at the Haiphong Private University for their endless enthusiasm, valuable teaching. I also wish to give my deepest thanks to my family who has been whole heartly supporting me. They are always beside and motivate me in my study and my life. Finally, I also would like to thank all my friends for their discussions, suggestions and encouragements. Without their instructive contributions, my graduation paper could not have been finished. Moreover, the shortcomings in this study are unavoidable. Therefore, I hope to receive the sympathy from teachers and friends. Hai phong, June 2010 Phan Thi Ngoc Ha
9. LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Omitted elements in English brief news headlines. 26 Table 2: Tense of English Brief news headlines 28 Table 3: Distinctive vocabulary with special short words in English brief news headlines. 39 Figure 1: Structural presentation of an English noun phrase 27 ABBREVIATIONS EBNHs: English brief news headlines SL: source language TL: target language e.g: For example vs: versus i.e: That is TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE II TABLE OF CONTENTS III PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale 1 2. Aim of the study 3 3. Scope of the study 4 4. Method of the study 4 5. Design of the study 4
10. PART II: DEVELOPMENT 6 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 6 1. What is meant by headlines? 6 1.1. Definition of headlines 6 1.2. A headline vs the headlines 8 1.3. How is a headline important? 9 2. Functions of the headlines in English brief news 9 2.1. The function of introducing the topic of a brief news 9 2.2. The function of attracting the attention of reader 12 2.3. The function of conveying the writer‟s attitude to the fact reported 14 2.4. The function of presenting the news reporter‟s style of writing 15 CHAPTER II: FEATURES OF ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES 17 1. General characteristics of English brief news headlines 17 1.1. Lexical characteristics 17 1.2. Grammatical characteristics 18 2. Types of English brief news headlines 20 2.1. Descriptive headlines 20 2.2. Allusive headlines 22 2.3. Informative headlines 23 3. Structural features of headlines in English brief news 24 3.1. Use of words 24 3.2. Use of phrases 26 3.3. Use of tenses 28 3.4. Types of sentence 29 3.4.1. Statement headlines 30 3.4.2. Question headlines 30 3.4.3. Command headlines 31 3.4.4. Exclamation headline 32 CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS ON THE DIFFERENCES IN ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 33 1. The use of the verb tenses 33 1.1. Using the simple present tense 33 1.2. Using the future tense 35 2. The use of the lexical choice 36
11. 3. Adding some background information in the Vietnamese headlines equivalents 40 3.1. Adding title 40 3.2. Adding related information 41 4. Omitting some information in the Vietnamese headlines equivalents 44 5. Recovering the omitted articles 45 6. The use of colon 46 CHAPTER IV: IMPLICATION OF THE STUDY FOR THE VIETNAMESE LEARNERS IN UNDERSTANDING THE ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES 48 1. Some possible problems encountered by learners in understanding English brief news headlines. 48 2. Some proposed techniques for translating English brief news headlines. 50 PART III: CONCLUSION 53 REFERENCE 55 APPENDIX 57
12. PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Human beings have a variety of ways to communicate messages to each other. In some culture, it is customary to shake hands with the person you meet for the first time. But if you refuse to do so, it would convey the message that you did not accept, or that you were holding something against the other person. Similarly, in an appropriate context, a nod or a wink, the wrinkling of the brows or the raising of the finger may serve as a means of communicating some message or other. When communicating messages by using gesture or other forms of bodily movement, we call it “non-verbal” communication; that is, communication without words. Non-verbal communication is extremely limited in the range of messages it can convey, and it often serves to reinforce rather than replace verbal communication. Communication using words (or language), on the other hand, is an explicit, versatile and extendable means of communicating messages. Nowadays, for what reason language was born and how it was born are still the questions worrying many philosophers. The answer to the first question, which is the demand of the human beings‟ life seems to satisfy not few people but those to the second one are still difficult to agreeable. According to Jespersen‟s proposal, which is one of the more endearing speculations concerning the origin of language, language was born in the courting days of mankind, when people were actually enjoying themselves. A quiet different view of the beginnings of human speech is based on the concept of “natural sounds”. The suggestion is that primitive words could have been imitations of the natural sounds which early men and women heard around them. It has also been suggested that the original sounds of language came from natural cries of emotion, such as pain, anger and joy. One other “natural sounds” proposal tells us that the sounds of a person involved in physical effort could be the source of our language, especially when that physical effort involved several people and had to be coordinated. Language may be born in this way or that way but no one can deny the important role of language. Until now, language has become a necessary tool for all people all round the world, not bothering they belong to the upper or the lower class, they are well-known philosophers or only tailors, farmers. It is due to the fact that all of them have to keep contact with other for their existence and development, which is mainly through communicating with each other.
13. Among all existing language of the world today (over 200 language), English seems to be more dominant than any others. Not only in Britain but in many other countries, English has become an official language, or in some countries, it is the second language, only after the mother language, for example, Indonesia, Singapore, Canadian Also, the number of people speaking English though is smaller than that of Chinese, English is used more popularly than Chinese. While people frequently speaking Chinese are mainly in China or China originated, those speaking English originate from all five continents of the world. Therefore, learning English has become an urgent requirement to integrate into the modern world. Nowadays, English is the world‟s most prominent language in business, science, technology, education, foreign trade, tourism, communication. Thanks to widespread use of English, different countries can come close together to work out problems and to strive for a prosperous community. In the process of learning English as well as any other languages, grammar and new words are the two key factors. Deep understanding grammar and various knowledge of words together with factual experiences will help learners to use English fluently. From the experience of my own, I find that when the learner has clearly understood the basic grammar, he/she has passed over the most difficult step in the process of learning English. The word source of a language is often extremely enormous, thus, he/she can not learn all basic grammar in that length of time. I found English has many fields that we need study. I feel that it is very interesting when analysis on the headline of English brief news. Most of latest news in the world is in English, which is supposed to be a barrier to non- natives in general and to Vietnamese in general. A headline is text at the top of a brief news, indicating the nature of the news below it. In order to attract readers, it is crucial for a headline to be impressive. Brief news language headlines are important because they reflect the content of the whole issue or reported event. When readers are interested in information, they can easily choose their favorite brief news after having a quick look at headlines. Therefore, the analysis of headlines in English brief news, which catch the first sight of readers, has become one of the prime concerns of researcher. In spite of that, there has been few studies focusing on the structural features of English headlines on brief news. For the above reasons, analysis on the headlines of English brief news has become the subject of study of this graduation paper. 2. Aim of the study.
14. Any researches all have their purposes. Any one who studies any fields all aims at certain achievements. As many other studies, this research also has some certain aims, that is: - Analyze general characteristics of English brief news headlines and different types of English brief news headlines together with structural features of headlines in English brief news. - Moreover, some differences in English brief news headlines and Vietnamese equivalents are found out to help English learning have better understanding of English brief news headlines. However, due to the limitation of time and knowledge, there must be some unavoidable mistakes. Therefore, I do hope that the study would provide the readers with certain analyzing aspects of the headlines of English brief news. 3. Scope of the study Headlines of English brief news is a very wide theme. Besides, there are also other types of headlines in brief news. However, due to the limitation of knowledge as well as experience I would point out some general characteristic, types and structural features of headlines in English brief news, mainly focus on the socio-economic and cultural ones collected from articles of various foreign newspapers, as well as from internet broadcast stations. Also, I analyze differences in English brief news headlines and Vietnamese equivalents. 4. Method of the study I do this research from the knowledge and experiences which I gained from my teachers as well as reference books I have read in the process of learning English. I carry out the research by applying the qualitative and contrastive analysis from collection of headlines of brief news. - to describe in a contrastive way features of headlines in English brief news - Then, to analyze the differences in English brief news headlines and Vietnamese equivalents.
15. 5. Design of the study A table of contents with page numbers in which they are presented will help readers have a clear overview of the research proposal. It also helps readers to find the part they need more easily and quickly. In the “Introduction” are literature review, aims of the study, scope of the study, methods of the study, and the design of the study. In the main part “Development” are four chapters: - Chapter one: the theories of the study which introduces definition and function of headlines in English brief news. - Chapter two: the main part which explains general characteristics of English brief news headlines consists of lexical and grammatical characteristics. Next, types of English brief news headlines such as descriptive headlines, allusive headlines, informative headline are categorized. Then, structural features of headlines in English brief news such as the use of words, phrases, tenses and types of sentence are investigated. - Chapter three: shows analysis on the differences in English brief news headlines and Vietnamese equivalents. - Chapter four: shows implication of the study for the Vietnamese learners in understanding the English brief news headlines. Part three, the last part is “Conclusion” which summarizes all the presented information.
16. PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1 What is meant by headlines? 1.1 Definition of headlines Everybody knows the importance of information in the 21st century but how can you quickly get the needed information when there are thousands of sources? That‟s why Headline exists – to be in favour of you and your business. When the term “headline” is used people typically think of those bold-faced, large print, eye-catching lines that run down the left margin of a paper or website. The notion of headline can be found in many dictionaries of the English language. The first definition is taken from Oxford Advanced Leader’s Dictionary: “a headline is a line of words printed in large letters at the top of a page or an article, esp. in a newspaper” (Hornby A. S. et al, 1999, p.551). Many linguists seems to be interested in the concept of headline. Swan M. proposed that “headlines are the short titles above newspaper articles” (1986, p.326). And for Mc Arthur, the word headline is “probably from the headline on a sailing ship a rope which held a sail tight to a spar or ran along the upper edge of a flag to strengthen it” (1992, p.464) Similarly, Sinclair J.defines the term headlines as follows: “a headline is the title of a newspaper story, printed in large letters at the top of the story, especially in the front page” (1998, p.389) As Claude Abastado (1980, p.149) argues headlines encapsulate not only the content but the orientation, the perspective that the readers should bring to their understanding of the article. [1:1] US Long-Term Jobless Claims Hit Another Record High. ( March 19, 2009) According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English: “a headline is a heading at the top of an article or page in a newspaper or magazine indicating the subject of the article”. Galperin (1971, p.311) wrote: “the specific functional and linguistic traits of the headline provide sufficient ground for isolating and analyzing it as a specific “gender” of journalism. Its main function is to inform readers briefly of what the news is about”
17. [1:2] Floods in Namibia Take Heavy Toll ( March 21, 2009) [1:3] Youth leader says better access to education needed in Southern Sudan ( May 24, 2009) [1:4] Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home ( April 23, 2009) All in all, the notion of headline is understand as the title given to a news item or an article in the newspaper with the main function to inform the reader briefly of what the news is about. [1:5] Cuba urges citizens to save water ( June 5, 2010) [1:6] Hospital planning to axe 400 jobs ( May 27, 2010) [1:7] Iran's President calls nuclear deal final opportunity ( May 27, 2009) Headlines reach an audience considerably wider than those who read the brief news, since all those who buy the paper will glance, if only fleetingly, at the headlines. Moreover their impact is even wider than on those who actually buy the paper, since headlines are often glimpsed on public transport. Brief news headlines should be brief, eye catching and impacted; yet, they are memorable and effective. Therefore, they are written in short words which are quickly read and easily fitted into a small space. We will analyze an example: [1:8] Four injured in lightning strikes ( May 27, 2010) In sentence above, “lightning strikes” is used so that it needs additional information and from it the readers know what has been damaged by lightning strikes besides the four injured people. Furthermore, from the choice of words used as the subjects of the headlines, the reporter focuses more on the people as the victims of the disaster (four injured or four people are injured) although readers do not know how serious the injury is. In this headlines the reporters want to express that the disaster has serious effects, it also is shown through the number of victims. Besides the expressive function, this headlines have informative function which refers to the news in the sentences.
18. 1.2 A headline vs the headlines It is necessary to distinguish a headline with the term the headlines. At first glance, both terms seem to refer to the same thing with the same sound of “headline”. However, in fact, they are used differently with different grammatical forms and different meanings. Let‟s have a look at the definition of a headline in comparison with that of the headlines:  A headline is the title of a newspaper story, printed in large letters at the top of the story.  The headlines are also the main points of the news which are read on radio or television, e.g “ And now for the main headlines again.” (Cobuild English Learner‟s Dictionary, Larousse; 1992, p.445) The two definitions above show clear differences between a headline and the headlines. First of all, they differ in the fact that the former can be used in the form of both singular (a headline) and plural ([the] headlines), whereas the latter is always used in plural form with definite article the. Another difference lies in the semantic field. The first term is used in the sense that a headline is part of a whole following news item, while the headlines refer to “a brief summary on TV or radio of the most important items of news” (Hornby A. S et al,1999, p.551). 1.3 How is a headline important? The headline is an independent but integrated part of a news item, so it is certainly connected to the content and the topic of the whole piece of news. With a certain amount of words which means limited linguistic material, a headline not only has to convey key information of the brief news, it presents a partial view of the writer and his/her style of writing as well. A headline is also devised so as to attract the reader‟s attention and curiosity. Such functions of headlines in English brief news will be further presented in more detail in the sections below. 2 Functions of headlines in English brief news. 2.1 The function of introducing the topic of a brief news. In the newspaper, it is the headlines that have the highest readership. Being put at the top of brief news, headlines catch the first sight of readers, inform them the main content of the brief news. Said differently, the content and the topic of a brief news can be expressed shortly and generally by its
19. headline. Headlines can and do have a significant impact. It might only be one line, but it can easily make brief news success. According to Ungerer (as cited in Khodabandeh, 2007) a headline describes the essence of a complicated brief news in a few words. Aim is delivering you the important news every day and in the meantime making the access to information constant and easy. [1:9] Obama Calls for 'New Beginning' in Message to Iran. ( March 20, 2009) [1:10] Zuma says South Africa ready 50 days before World Cup kick-off ( March 27, 2010) [1:11] Migration threat to Indian economy ( March 22, 2010) Thanks to this function, readers can easily choose their favorite brief news after having a quick look at headlines. For example, people who are interested in economic information especially information about stock market may read the brief news with the headline “How to cool the stock market?”. On the other hand, the article titled “Finding job” may be chosen by people looking for a job. In journalism where thousands of brief news and articles of all fields are issued each day, the reader certainly have the habit of scanning through all the headlines of a particular brief news to choose the news of their great concern. For instance, those who are interested in socio-political life will surely find such headlines as: [1:12] Clinton calls on China to help punish North Korea ( May 27, 2010) [1:13] Oil from Sunken Rig threatens Gulf of Mexico Shorelines ( May 27, 2010) [1:14] Israel takes control of aid ship ( June 5, 2010) [1:15] Golden Girl star McClanahan dies ( June 5, 2010) Whereas those who are concerned with the fields of education or science often choose that pieces of brief news containing the following headlines:
20. [1:16] Mars rocks point to wetter past ( June 5, 2010) [1:17] U.K students face new competition ( June 5, 2010) [1:18] Advancing education to built the future ( June 5, 2010) [1:19] Cambodian schools reopen history’s wounds ( May 23, 2009) [1:20] Democracy Activists Look at Digital Opportunities, Challenges ( May 27, 2010) Unsimilarly, the headlines as follows will certainly satisfy the readers who have curiosity about terrorism which is considered a contemporary phenomenon. Let‟s consider some headlines for illustration: [1:21] Obama: US, Russia must fight terrorism together ( May 8, 2010) [1:22] Two Australians killed in Afghan violence ( June 12, 2010) [1:23] 44 dead in Jamaican gunbattles ( May 27, 2010) Travel-lovers, on the other hand, may find it interesting and necessary to focus on these headlines: [1:24] Business fears over airline sale ( May 27, 2010) [1:25] Women opting for volunteer vacations ( June 8, 2010) [1:26] Behind the wheel of “Road Trip” ( May 17, 2009) It is clear that the introduction of thematic content of a brief news presented in its headline serve as a signal of informative orientation readers and helps them to choose the news in accordance with their concern and hobby as quick as they can. 2.2. The function of attracting the attention of readers
21. Apart from introducing the topic of brief news, headlines also capture the attention of readers. A headline has 5-7 seconds to get the attention of a reader. It can be easily understood that in thousands of journalistic publications and printed matters published each day, the function of capturing the reader‟s attention and arose their curiosity of brief news headlines has become ever-important. Therefore, these features help to make a headline salient so that it can perform its second function successfully. A headline is a line set in a large type to get readers' attention and lead into the body copy. [1:27] Nokia broadens legal row with Apple to include iPad ( May 25, 2010) Brief news headlines are able to reach much more readers than the articles because people would generally glance at the headlines first before they decide whether a particular issue is worth reading to them or not. In addition to grabbing the person‟s attention, the headline must offer some value to the reader in exchange for them taking the time to read content. To be effective, a headline must serve a few purposes. Attracting attention is important, but it must also engage the audience, explain the visual, lead the audience into the body copy. The average message has only a couple of seconds to capture a reader's attention. In order to attract readers‟ attention, journalists make the headlines as ambiguous and confusing as possible so that readers are curious to know the content of the whole brief news and they would read it. [1:28] Iran's Supreme Leader Dismisses Obama's Appeal. ( March 21, 2009) [1:29] Scientists say global warming affects marine life ( May 15, 2010) Ideally, headlines present a complete selling idea. The difficult is that the headline needs to be short and sufficient. Also headlines are used to showcase news, as in brief news. [1:30] Italian and Russian leaders discuss energy deals ( April 23, 2010) [1:31] Obama tries to mend fences with American Jews ( Political News.com, March 24, 2010) A skillful headline may create inspiration for reading captivity of readers. In most of English brief news, sensational headlines are quite
22. common. The headlines in the examples below are almost impressive to readers for the facts reported there. The information given in these headlines seem to be open-ended and thus, the question with “why” will actually generate in the reader‟s mind. Consequently, the readership is inspired to read the following news want to know “whether Arafat gets checkup for just a very simple reason of slight illness” (in [1:32]), or they want to discover the causes of the two murders, one is teacher (in [1:33]) and the other is 9-year- old girl (in [1:34]). Here are the headlines: [1:32] Showing “slight illness”, Arafat to get checkup ( March 28, 2010) [1:33] Five charged in teacher’s killing ( May 22, 2008) [1:34] 9-year-old girl found dead under bed ( news.com; June 1, 2008) Callahan claimed that on the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body text, 80 percent of people read the headline and skip the rest . As a result, a headline should compel them to read the body of the brief news by arousing curiosity, promising to give using information. Without a compelling headline, the rest of the texts will cease to exist in the readers' eyes. In short, drawing the readership‟s attention is one important function of headlines which every news writer attempts to obtain since it is the first stage of success of a brief news. 2.3 The function of conveying the writer’s attitude to the facts reported. There is no doubt that all the facts in news items should be reported exactly and objectively. Moreover, the news writer should not impose his personal idea on the readership. However, the latter requirement is not always met since language serves as basic tool for communication which cannot be exclusively linked with functions people need-language for. In fact, through the headlines readers can partially infer news reporter‟s attitude towards the events. Some following headlines will illustrate what has been presented: [1:35] Hundreds of victims unclaimed, buried unceremoniously in Juarez ( January 24, 2010) [1:36] Iraqi artists face curbs on freedom ( June 2, 2010) [1:37] Obama warning over Gulf optimism ( June 5, 2010)
23. Actually, “unclaimed” in [1.35] and “curbs” in [1.36] seem to convey the writer‟s commiseration to the victims in the incident and his sympathy to Iraqi artists suffering from deprivation of freedom in currently insecure situation, respectively. What has been analyzed is closely related to another function of headline, presenting news reporter‟s style writing which will be discussed in the section below 2.4 The function of presenting the news reporter’s style of writing It is said that headlines are evidence reflecting writing style of writers. Therefore, a number of journalists and reporters have been regards as “phenomenal journalists” or “writers of best-sellers” thanks to their style of writing and the works they contribute to journalism attract numerous readership. Generally, each writer creates his own style of writing to reflect current situations of socio-economic or political life and so on. Take the headlines of series of brief news as example: [1:38] Sweet success: The power of sugar (www.dailymail.co.uk, 11 June 2008) [1.39] Small languages make a big difference ( January 7, 2010) [1:40] Seeking opportunity, Chinese find hostility [1:41] Opportunity or Risk in a World Economy Crisis? ( July 5, 2009) [1:42] An ear for God and an eye for art (www.dailymail.co.uk, 11 June 2008) It is clear that reporter tends to write the headlines with the foremost focus on word-choice and alliteration in [1:42], the use of contradiction in meaning or sense (the underlined words in [1:39], [1:40], [1:41] and the use of association is also employed in [1:38]. By doing so, these headlines partly reflect reporter‟s style of writing, partly present his/her attitude towards the facts reported.
24. CHAPTER II: FEATURES OF ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES. 1. General characteristics of English brief news headlines 1.1. Lexical characteristics. One of the most common features of EBNHs that can be easily recognized is short words to save space. In other words, the words of EBNHs are chosen for the sake of brevity. Some of short words in headlines are unusual in ordinary language (e.g. link, meaning “contact”; plea, meaning “call for help”), some are used in special senses that they do not often have in ordinary language (e.g. bid, meaning “attempt”; back, meaning “support”). Other words are chosen not because they are short, but because they sound dramatic (e.g. clash, meaning “violent disagreement”; blaze, meaning “fire”). Hence, dramatic quality is the second characteristic of vocabulary in EBNHs. Take some headlines for illustration: [2:1] Philippins deports 2 linked to extremists (www.jointogether.org, April 27, 2010) [2:2] Jindal’s plea to Obama- resume deep water offshore drilling ( June 3, 2010) [2:3] Authorities await word on latest bid to plug Gulf oil leak ( May 27, 2010) [2:4] Idol Reject Sanjaya finds way to get back in headlines ( March 25, 2010) [2:5] Obama, Republicans clash in unusual session ( January 29, 2010) Another third characteristic of headline vocabulary is abbreviation. This is an inevitable feature of EBNHs for saving space. The most common abbreviation terms are names of nations, organizations, political associations or industrial companies which are rather similar to readers and cause no difficulty for their understanding. Let‟s consider some headlines as example: [2:6] U.S jolts Canada 5-3 as Rafalski scores twice - U.S: The United States of America
25. ( February 21, 2010) [2:7] H. K holds Tiananmen vigil - H.K: Hong Kong ( June 5, 2010) [2:8] FBI adds to wiretap wish list - FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation ( March 12, 2008) [2:9] EU 'half way to emissions target' - EU: European Union ( June 5, 2010) 1.2 Grammatical characteristics Headlines in English brief news often follow rather different grammatical rules from other kinds of writing which will be discussed below: (a) In the first place, headlines are not always complete sentences. [2:10] High Risk for Venture Capital in Russia ( May 27, 2010) [2:11] Report: global economy grows faster ( May 27, 2010) (b) The second distinctive grammatical rule of headlines is that they often contain string of more than two nouns serving as modifiers to the head in a noun phrase like the ones below: [2:12] Global car industry ( June 4, 2010) [2:13] World service schedule ( May 27, 2010) (c) Another features of grammar is that articles and the verb to be in headlines are normally omitted. Consider some following headlines: [2:14] (The) 3rd bird flu outbreak (is) confirmed on farm
26. ( May 27, 2010) [2:15] Councils (are) urged to open books ( June 5, 2010) (d) Moreover, brief news headlines have a special tense-system. Sometimes the present progressive tense is used, usually to describe the something that is changing or developing. However, in most cases the auxiliary verb like is, are is left out. [2:16] Burma (is) trying for nuclear weapon ( June 5, 2010) [2:17] Pacific islands (are) not sinking ( June 5, 2010) EBNHs often use the infinitive form with to which is really a contracted form of the be + infinitive construction to refer to the future. [2:18] Foster's beer and wine (are) to split ( May 27, 2010) [2:19] Israel right (is) to intercept the Rachel Corrie ( May 23, 2010) (e) One more notable grammatical characteristic of EBNHs is that passive constructions are composed with no auxiliary verb, just the past particle. [2:20] Some US National Parks (are) threatened by Gulf oil spill ( May 23, 2010) [2:21] Colombian beauty queen (is) arrested in Argentina ( May 27, 2010) 2. Types of English brief news headlines 2.1. Descriptive headlines In general, this kind of headlines describe the topic of the brief news and is divided into three sub-types: definite, quotative and sensational. (a) Definite headlines inform the readership what the topic of the brief news is. In other words, these headlines simply define current events and facts in reality without any implication. Readers, hence, have their own rights to interpret and comment on the facts reported. As far as news concern, the
27. headlines are often complete sentences which present relatively detailed information like the ones below: [2:22] Apple now bigger than Microsoft ( May 27, 2010) [2:23] Clinton says world must respond to sinking of S. Korean warship ( May 23, 2010) [2:24] US seeks action over Korea crisis ( June 5, 2010) In terms of content, some definite headlines tend to describe events or activities strongly and impressively by using distinctive vocabulary like jolts, tumble, criticize in the following example: [2:25] Stock market: tracker funds take a tumble ( May 21, 2010) [2:26] Rightist group jolts Sweden's tolerant self-image ( June 5, 2010) [2:27] How dare the newspaper criticize Sheriff Jones? (www.journal-news.com, May 7, 2010) (b) Quotative headlines are often the sayings of well-known people and composed with an aim to create a subjective, exact and believable feeling for readers. Headlines in the form of quotations are more authentic. Thus, they can effectively gain the reader‟s attention and successfully encourage readership to further explore the following news so that they can satisfy their curiosity. [2:28] “Final warning” over UK pollution ( June 5, 2010) [2:29] “Bungling burglars” blow up German bank ( May 27, 2010) (c) Sensational headlines are often used to draw the reader‟s attention. This kind of headlines does work effectively to build up the inspiration which
28. urges readers to access the following content of brief news, again, for the sake of their curiosity. [2:30] Men on run after family shot dead ( May 27, 2010) [2:31] Photos reveal stunning perspectives of space ( May 23, 2010) 2.2. Allusive headlines This type of headlines has some kind of referential or figurative relationship to the topic of brief news and is composed of two sub-types: suggestive and comment. (a) Suggestive headlines possess the characteristic of liveliness, attractiveness and suggestiveness because they are formed by various ways of expression which are fresh, specific and imaginative. The source to create the suggestiveness in the headlines is extremely ample, which ranges from the employ of set expressions like metaphor and metonymy in [2:32], [2:33]: [2:32] No pain, no gain ( June 8, 2009) [2:33] All eyes on me ( May 25, 2010) [2:34] China promises fairness for Korean refugees ( November 12, 2008) (b) Comment headlines normally convey the author‟s attitude, emotion and even feeling to the events presented in the headlines. To serve this purpose evaluating words, intensifiers are used popularly as linguistic items to construct the headlines. [2:35] American teen becomes youngest to climb Mount Everest ( May 3, 2010) [2:36] Iraqi Airways declared bankrupt ( June 6, 2010) 2.3. Informative headlines This type of approach goes straight to the heart of the matter. It states directly the main idea without any attempt to be clever.
29. An example of Robert Bly is the "Pure Silk Blouses - 30 Percent Off". This example immediately states the selling proposition. Another example is "Free Harry Potter Book" which also directly expresses the benefit or reward offered. Headlines are a particularly rich source of information about the fields. This is because titles “stand alone” without explanation or definition, they depend on the reader recognizing instantly the field, allusions, issues necessary to identify the content of the brief news. [2:37] Anti-government protests spread to Thai provinces ( March 27, 2010) [2:38] Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate To Near Zero. ( March 23, 2010) [2:39] Disease Threatens Japan’s Beef Trade ( June 11, 2010) [2:40] UN calls for greater Human Rights in the Gulf ( March 27, 2010) [2:41] Obama Sees Hope for US Economy. ( March 22, 2009) The advantage of analyzing headlines is that they rely on widely disseminated cultural knowledge in order to be understood. They depend on and mobilize this knowledge but also in turn help to disseminate and reinforce it, they create new associations and networks of meaning. They also seek to exploit representations for pragmatic effect. [2:42] Three bomb explode in Pancoran boarding house (www.jointogether.org, April 27, 2010) There is a difference in choosing the verbs. Intransitive verb („explode‟) is used so that the sentence does not have an object and readers do not know what has been damaged by the bombs. However, the sentence has an adverbial phrase (in Pancoran boarding house) and this informs the readers about the place of the incident: the name of the location (Pancoran) and the exact place (a boarding house). [2:43] Obama invites Israeli PM to talks in Washington ( March 27, 2010)
30. This headline gives clearer information by mentioning who does Obama invite to talk (Obama invites Israeli PM) and where it would be held (in Washington). [2:44] Court allows Estrada to be detained in hospital . (www.accessmylibrary.com, May 26, 2008) Headlines above are about the news of the former Philippines president, Joseph Estrada. In this headline, the subject of discussion focuses more on the Court as the doer who permits Estrada to be detained in hospital. 3. Structural features of headlines in English brief news 3.1. Use of words In English brief news, elliptical words in headlines often are used. According to The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar ellipsis is the omission of a word or words from speech or writing that can be recovered by the listeners or readers from contextual cues. In the light of Halliday and Hasan, (1976:318) ellipsis is a linguistic phenomenon that exists in all languages. It is the omission or deletion of some items of the surface text, which are recoverable in terms of relation with the text itself. In omitting some linguistic item(s) from a sentence, a speaker or writer leaves out a part of an utterance for the listeners or readers to retrieve from the linguistic context, i.e., the elements surrounding the omitted part. Therefore, it is widely recognized that ellipsis is an effective way to save room, avoid repetition without causing misunderstanding for readers. On the other hand, it has been proved by Hoheberg (as cited in Khodabandeh, F.,Tahririan, M.H., 2007) that the ten words “a, the, and, to, of, in, I, it, is, that” account for 25 percent of English written language. [2:45] UN official shot near Najaf ( September 27, 2009) [2:46] Gus Dur, Megawati to attend anniversary. (The Jakarta Post, June 20, 2008) we can see that deletion is applied to the sentence [2:46]; that is, the conjunction “and” is deleted and is replaced by a comma, article “an” is omitted. Besides, the future tense is only written as “to infinitive” (“to attend”- Gus Dur, Megawati will attend anniversary). This deletion happens because the sentence, which is used as a headline, should be brief and interesting. As a result, using elliptical words in headlines can satisfy the strict requirements of headlines in terms of content and layout. Words often
31. omitted in English headlines include: “Be-auxiliary” as main verb (predicative), “Be-auxiliary” with future meaning, “Be-auxiliary” in passive sentences, subject of the sentence, article, “a”, “an” “the” and relative clause. [2:47] Greek cities hit by fresh rioting ( August 12, 2008) This headline is actually incomplete. It can be rewritten as: Greek cities (are) hit by fresh rioting [2:48] Condemned US killer to face execution by Firing Squad ( May 22, 2009) Omitted Part Be-auxiliary Article “be- “be- “be- indefinition definition auxiliary” as auxiliary” auxiliary” in “a”, “an”, “the” main verb with future passive (predicative) meaning sentences Table 1: Omitted elements in English brief news headlines. Among the above-mentioned ellipsis, verb “be” ellipsis headlines are the most popular ones. The omission of the verb “be”, especially in headlines denoting future tense makes the headlines much shorter. 3.2. Use of phrases According to Quirk (1976), English phrases are of five different types: noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase and prepositional phrase. The first four types take their name from the word that stands as the head of the phrase and the minimal form of each type can be the sole constituent head word. Unsimilarly, a prepositional phrase has no head word and is always composed of two constituents, a preposition and a noun or a noun phrase coming after. [2:49] Geothermal energy summit in Bali ( May 1, 2010) [2:50] Australia emissions plan in chaos
32. ( April 24, 2010) [2:51] Robot classes at California’s hi-tech school ( April 24, 2010) According to Quirk, Greenbaum, (1973:27 - 43), a nominal phrase is typically constructed by either a noun or a pronoun as the head and other constituents as modifiers. EBNHs are only realized as noun phrases rather than other types of English phrases. The structure of a noun phrase in English can be describes in the following diagrammatic presentation: NOUN PHRASE Premodification Head Postmodification Figure 1: Structural presentation of an English noun phrase [2:52] Anti-drug campaign ( June 15, 2009) [2:53] US student inventor- Entrepreneurs highlight innovation ( April 23, 2010) Quirk (1973:151) stated that verb phrases are words or phrases indicating an action, an event, or a state. Verb phrase is not as popular as noun phrase in English headlines. Normally, verb phrases in English headlines are nonfinite ones comprising infinitive, ing-participle and ed-participle. [2:54] Seeking success. ( April 20, 2010 ) 3.3. Use of tenses Quirk and Greenbaum (1985:40) wrote “time is a universal, non- linguistic concept with three divisions: past, present and future; by tense we understand the correspondence between the form of the verb and our concept of time. Aspect concerns the manner in which the verbal actions is experienced or regarded (for example as completed or in progress)”. [2:55] N.Korean leader expected to meet with Chinese President ( April 20, 2010)
33. [2:56] US- based United and Continental airlines announce, creating world’s largest airline ( April 25, 2010) [2:57] Will the bail-out work? ( September 25, 2009) Therefore, tense and aspect are supposed to be the vital factor conveying the content of articles. Tense Total number Percentage Present tense 47 67.2% Simple past and future tense 23 32.8% Total 70 100% Table 2: Tense of English brief news headlines The table above illustrates the use of verb tense in 70 collected EBNHs. We can see present tense in EBNHs dominate the use of other tenses. [2:58] Pakistan's Top Judge Returns to Work. ( March 24, 2009) [2:59] Mexico’s President criticizes Arizona’s new immigration law ( April 22, 2010) There is a fact that headlines denoting past events are in the present tense. Actually, what is written in the brief news is just a report of something that happened in the past since at the time the brief news is written, the event has already happened. Generally, when we write a brief news that already happened, we use simple past tense instead of simple present tense. However, we can see that the use of simple present tense in reporting the news is to give a stress that the evidence is a real fact and people can still see and feel the effect in the present time. [2:60] Harry Potter author enters British election campaign ( May 12, 2010) [2:61] Israel lifts ban on Apple’s iPad ( May 20, 2010) [2:62] China and Brazil sign trade deal ( April 22, 2010) McCarthy (1998:94) claimed that these headlines are comprehensible due to the readers‟ knowledge of the conventions of the particular register,
34. which ensures that the present tense in the headline is correctly decoded, in spite of the manipulation and shift of deictic centers carried out by the encoding journalists. The motivation for using the present tense in the headline is essentially its orientation to enhancing the interpersonal function. [2:63] Australian PM to Visit White House. ( March 24, 2009) 3.4. Type of sentence According to Quirk (1973:191) there are four kinds of simple sentence: statement, question, command and exclamation. 3.4.1. Statement headlines A statement is a sentence in which the subject is always present and generally precedes the verb. The main use of declarative is informing, presenting facts, which is suitable for the main function of brief news. It may be the reason for the dominance of statement-form headlines. [2:64] Bangkok airport resumes operation ( April 23, 2010) [2:65] Hungarians demand better life elections ( April 20, 2010) [2:66] Americans still most confident in Obama on Economy ( April 21, 2010) 3.4.2 Question headlines Headlines written in the form of a question are very effective. When reader read a headline written as a question, they will answer the question in their mind. If the question identifies a specific need, want or desire, they will read on. Question type of headline must be crafted well. It must not simply ask a question. It must be relevant enough and interesting enough that, according to Robert Bly, the reader would be interested to know answer. A question is a sentence marked by one or more of three ways: The operator is placed immediately before the subject One interesting example ([2:67]) of Robert Bly is from Psychology Today "Do You Close the Bathroom Door Even When You're the Only One Home?"
35. [2:68] Can We Save the World by 2015? ( April 24, 2010) [2:69] Can the world come together to save the planet? ( May 12, 2010) The sentence begins with an interrogative word. This category of headlines ask a question that the reader can relate to, that they can empathize with, something they would like answered. [2:70] Who else wants to make a million dollars in the stock market? (Advertising Headlines that Make You Rich, July 6, 2009) [2:71] Why does the UK need cherry trees? ( August 23, 2009) [2:72] Why many of the biggest discoveries were accidental? ( April 20, 2009) [2:73] What stories will dominate in 2010? ( July 8, 2010) The sentence has rising intonation in spoken English. [2:74] China to Pakistan's rescue? ( March 28, 2009) [2:75] Most powerful woman in American history? (newsweek.com, March 19, 2009) 3.4.3 Command headlines A command is a sentence with the verb in the imperative. Command headlines tells your prospects what to do. Evidently, these headlines directly imply what the readers need to do. Robert Bly deems that the first word must always be a strong verb demanding an action. Copy writing involves not only persuasion but also a sort of commanding readers what to do. [2:76] Joint conversation about environment ( July 15, 2009) [2:77] Save money on your taxes the easy way ( September 23, 2009) [2:78] Stop wasting time on advertising guesswork ( May 3, 2010) [2:79] Stop being an advertising victim ( May 3, 2010)
36. 3.4.4 Exclamation headlines An exclamation is a sentence which begins with "what", "how" or without inversion of subject and operator. [2:80] What a noise they are making ! ( April 23, 2010) Robert Bly says that a lot of writers deem that one can never come up with a bad headline beginning with the words "how to." [2:81] How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ! ( June 29, 2009)
37. CHAPTER III: ANALYSIS ON THE DIFFERENCES IN ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES AND VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS 1 The use of the Verb tenses 1.1 Using the simple present tense It is supposed that tenses of verbs play a decisive role in presenting the meaning of headlines. Mallette (1998:80) in “The hand book for journalists of central and Eastern Europe” said headlines should be terse, and almost always in the present tense to create a sense of immediacy. As mentioned above, present tense is widely used in English brief news headlines (67.2%). Similarly, present tense is preferable in Vietnamese headlines since there is a little doubt that using present tense makes the news more up to date. Therefore, in both English and Vietnamese even headlines denoting events in the past are in present tense. English headline: [3:1] Islamic court in Nigeria frees Amina Lawal (News in Special English, July 17, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Tòa án Hồi Giáo trả tự do cho Amina Lawal (News in Special English, July 17, 2008) English headline: [3:2] Dozens die in western Iran quakes (news.bbc.co.uk, March 31, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: 70 người thiệt mạng trong vụ động đất ở Iran (vietbao.vn, April 1, 2009) Because the earth quake in Iran actually happened and seventy people died, the verb form normally must be the simple past tense, and the Vietnamese version is expected to include words denoting past tense like “vừa”, “đã”, etc. Nevertheless, the use of the simple present tense instead of simple past tense in both languages seems to cause no considerable difficulty for readers in understanding the headlines. It is common believe of readers that events on news occurred as the main function of news is reporting events. English headline: [3:3] Obama announces help for small business (www.voanews.com, March 16, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent:
38. Tổng Thống Obama loan báo kế hoạch hỗ trợ tiểu thương (www.voanews.com, March 17, 2009) English headline: [3:4] US House Votes heavy tax on bonuses after AIG controversy (www.voanews.com, March 19, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: Hạ viện Mỹ thông qua dự luật đánh thuế tiền thưởng (www.voanews.com, March 20, 2009) English headline: [3:5] Floods in Namibia take heavy toll (voanews.com, March 21, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: Gần 100 người chết vì lũ lụt ở Namibia (voanews.com/Vietnamese, , March 21, 2009) 1.2 Using the future tense In order to use the room economically and effectively, to infinitive is used instead of “will” and “ to be going to” in the English headlines referring future actions or events. In Dan luan ngon ngu (2006:237), Nguyen claimed that in Vietnamese eleven adverbs namely “sắp”, “sẽ”,“ từng”, “vừa”, “mới”, “đã”, “rồi”, “xong”, “ chưa”, “đang” and zero are used to present tenses, among which “sắp” and “sẽ” are important in distinguishing past, present and future tense. English headline: [3:6] Murdoch’s Fox to open Sydney Studio (reuters.com, April 10, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Công ty phim Fox của Murdoch sẽ mở xưởng phim ở Sydney (vietbao.vn, April 11, 2008) English headline: [3:7] World Bank says global economy to shrink 1-2 percent (reuters.com, March 11, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent:
39. Ngân hàng Thế giới: Kinh tế toàn cầu sẽ tăng trưởng âm 1-2% (vneconomy.vn, March 12, 2009) English headline: [3:8] S. Korea to send advanced warship to monitor N. Korea launch (istockanalyst.com , March 26, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: Hàn Quốc sẽ triển khai tàu khu trục đến Biển Nhật Bản (dantri.com.vn, March 27, 2009) In the above example, without “sẽ” the translation would have been “Hàn Quốc triển khai tàu khu trục đến Biển Nhật Bản”, causing the misunderstanding that the action had been taken. Hence, the adverb “sẽ” is really necessary. 2. The use of the lexical choice Characteristic of vocabulary in EBNHs is the use of short words for saving space. Said differently, short words in EBNHs are chosen for the sake of brevity. The shorter the words are, the quicker the reading speed and the interpreting capacity will be promoted. Some of these short words are unusual in ordinary language like curb (means “restriction”), gem(s) (means “jewel(s)”). Some other are used in special senses as compared to ordinary language, for instance doff (means “put off”), halt (means “stop”). This may cause a little difficulty for readers at the beginning. However, they are really easy to understand and remember for those readers who have once encountered them because they are not only short but carry a clear and fixed meaning as well. This special layer of short words are applied popularly in EBNHs as a distinctive characteristic of vocabulary. In addition, these short words are also chosen since they sound dramatic like lure (meaning “temp”), blast (meaning “explosion”). Dramatic quality of short words in EBNHs make them more striking, appealing and impressive to readership. A list of special words in EBNHs that have been collected will be presented with attached examples in the table below:
40. Special headline Meaning Example words Rabin and Arafat Seal their accord as accord agreement Clinton Applauds “brave gamble” ( September 13,2009) Afghan summit backs Taliban talks back to support ( June 5, 2010) Korean Air bars chicken on inbound meals bar ban, prohibit (http:// cnn.com; January 27, 2009) Authorities await word on latest bid to plug bid to attempt Gulf oil leak ( 27, 2010) Deadly blast near Russian theatre blast explosion ( May 27, 2010) One died, five injured in Dubai blaze blaze fire (www.arabianbusiness.com; April 7, 2010) Fish oil supplements can boost academic encourage, boost achievement to increase (accessmylibrary.com; May 26, 2008) demand for, Ethiopia Opposition Leaders call for new vote call for appeal for ( May 27, 2010)
41. BIBD offers solution to curb credit card restrict, curb debt restriction (news.brunei.fm, March 17, 2010) reduce, BP defers dividend cut decision cut reduction ( June 5, 2010) Legislator doff trousers for airport protest doff put off ( March 4, 2009) Again, a drive for peace talks drive united effort ( May 27, 2010) Gem Archer of Oasis tells Jay-Z to "grow gem(s) jewel(s) up" (celebrifi.com; September 29, 2008) FDA urged to halt sales of dissolvable halt to stop tobacco products (www.jointogether.org, April 27, 2010) Aid Ships head to Gaza despite Israeli leader, head objections to lead (voanews.com, May 27, 2010) important A key link in high-tech chain key vital (New world; April 20, 2008) connection North Korea cuts some links with South link contact (voanews.com, May 27, 2010) move step towards Belgium moves closer to banning face-covering Veils
42. (voanews.com, May 27, 2010) Clegg made last minute plea to Brown two plea call for help hours before PM quit (ww.dailymail.co.uk, 16th May 2010) Vaccine called U.S plot by Islamic leaders plot plan laid out ( April 26, 2010) investigate UK's Cumbria killer probed over tax probe investigation ( June 5, 2010) Hospital security staff have quit the dreaded weed quit resign (www.rochdaleonline.co.uk; March 7, 2007) attack Target of bloody raid may have left raid Jamaica robbery (palmbeachpost.com, May 24, 2010)
43. McCain brings Scott Brown to Tucson for rally meeting rally ( March 6, 2010) Ismail Ax riddle solved in Virginia tech riddle mystery massacre (www.thespoof.com; April 18, 2008) Table 3: Distinctive vocabulary with special short words in EBNHs One more inevitable characteristic of EBNHs vocabulary that can be easily recognized is abbreviation. This is applied popularly in EBNHs, names of world and regional organization, nations, political associations, international and national industrial cooperations or companies as in some following headlines: [3:9] UN framework convention on climate change - UN: United Nations ( May 31, 2009) [3:10] EU to keep Madagascar aid block - EU: European Union ( June 5, 2010) [3:11] BP begins to funnel off leaking oil - BP: British Petroleum ( June 5, 2010) Actually, most of the abbreviation words are very popular and familiar to readers because they appear frequently in mass media. Moreover; most of these names are long and complex noun phrases, whereas the abbreviation of each name is normally one word that has been shortened by talking only initial letters of words in the phrase. For instance, the headlines [3:12] and [3:13] consist of only four and six words if the two abbreviation terms CIA and WTO are used. By contrary, the word number in each headline will
44. increase up to six and eight words respectively if the full forms of these words are used. Let‟s consider these two headlines: [3:12] CIA Spying on Israel - CIA: Central Intelligence Agency (israelnewsagency.com, August 28, 2009) [3:13] WTO's failure is food industry's loss - WTO: World Trade Organization ( June 31, 2008) 3 Adding some background information in the Vietnamese headlines equivalents. 3.1 Adding title English brief news headlines do not include titles of important people. Nevertheless, the reader would be poor without the title. Thus, in Vietnamese all titles are added to ensure the formality. English headline: [3:14] Obama met Gorbachev in run-up to Medvedev talks (reuters.com, March 23rd 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: Tổng thống Mỹ Obama gặp cựu lãnh đạo Liên Xô cũ Gorbachev (dantri.com.vn, March 23rd 2009) English headline: [3:15] Obama to visit India in November (news.bbc.co.uk, June 3, 2010) Vietnamese equivalent: Tổng thống Obama sẽ tới thăm Ấn Độ vào tháng 11 ( June 4, 2010) English headline: [3:16] Triet to visit Washington this weekend. (news.bbc.co.uk, May 28, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Chủ tịch nước Nguyễn Minh Triết sẽ tới thăm Mỹ cuối tuần này (bbc.co.uk/vietnamese, May 29, 2008)
45. 3.2 Adding related information According to Newmark (1988a: 155), communicative translation method is widely used in journal translation. Giving the highest priority to the naturalness and readability, this method allows translators to add related information or to introduce some changes to make the reader comprehensible. English headline: [3:17] Jerry Yang stands down (Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang will step down as CEO as soon as a successor is found, the embattled Internet company just announced. The release (quoted in full after the jump, along with Yang’s memo to the troops) came shortly after the blog Boomtown broke the news ) ( Nov 17, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: CEO Jerry Yang của Yahoo từ nhiệm ( Nov 19, 2008)
46. English headline: [3:18] US release more Guantanamo name (WASHINGTON Attorney General Eric Holder said some detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may end up being released in the U.S. as the Obama administration works with foreign allies to resettle some of the prisoners ) (Fboston.com, May 3, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Mỹ công bố danh sách tù nhân nhà tù Guantanamo (vietnamnet.vn, May 4, 2008) Descriptive equivalence procedure is employed in the above translation. Guantanamo Bay is known as the location of Guantanamo prison. Nevertheless, being aware of the fact that some target readers might not be familiar with the name that added back ground information to make the translation clearer. English headline: [3:19] Will the bail-out work? (NEW YORK — As the U.S. government steps to the center of the financial crisis, crafting plans to take ownership of up to $700 billion worth of bad mortgages, a pair of simple questions rises to the fore: Will this intervention finally be enough to restore order? And what will this grand rescue cost U.S. taxpayers? ) ( September 21, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: Kế hoạch cứu nguy 700 tỷ đôla: Hiệu quả hay không? (vneconomy.vn, September 26, 2009) English headline: [3:20] America’s government comes to the rescue of a giant insurance company (The U.S. government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc., one of the world’s largest insurers, with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money. Under the deal, the government will get a 79.9 percent stake in AIG and the right to remove senior management ) (theeconomist.com, September 17, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Chính phủ Mỹ giải cứu AIG (tgvn.com.vn September 18, 2008)
47. English headlines sometimes convey limited information, which challenges readers. Also, a phrase often plays the role of either subject or predicate in Vietnamese sentence. Therefore, more information is inserted into phrases to make sentence with enough information. English headline: [3:21] Comparing cities (When trying to find the best places to live, it is always a good idea to compare cities; after all, when you go to buy a car or a house or any big ticket item, you usually try out a few models or visit a few homes before you decide ) (economist.com, Apr 2, 2008 ) Vietnamese equivalent: Thành phố nào đắt đỏ nhất thế giới? (thuongmai.com, Apr 4, 2008 ) English headline: [3:22] Burgeoning bourgeoisie (For the first time in history more than half the world is middle-class thanks to rapid growth in emerging countries. John Parker reports the crowd surges back and forth, hands above heads, mobile-phone cameras snapping one of Brazil's best-known samba bands ) (economist.com, Feb 12, 2009) Vietnamese equivalent: Lần đầu trong lịch sử, diện trung lưu chiếm nửa thế giới (vietnamnet.vn, Feb 16, 2009) English headline: [3:23] Examining the candidates (As the financial crisis pushes the economy back to the top of voters` concerns, Barack Obama is starting to open up a clear lead over John McCain in the opinion polls. But among those who study economics for a living, Mr Obama`s lead is much more commanding. A survey of academic economists by The Economist finds the majority-at times by overwhelming margins-believe Mr Obama has the superior economic plan ) (economist.com, Oct 2nd 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Các nhà kinh tế “cân đong” Obama và McCain (vneconomy.vn, Nov 4th 2008) 4 Omitting some information in Vietnamese headlines equivalents
48. Apart from adding some necessary information, omitting details which are not very important sometimes appears to be effective strategy. In some cases, to meet the strict requirements of space some information is not included in the translation if the omission cause no misunderstanding of the headline. The headlines on newspapers or brief news, which are presented with the body of the news on the same page. The headlines on electronic news, on the other hand, are presented together in the form of links without attaching to the body. Nevertheless, some main headlines are also introduced important content. In order to attract readers it is crucial for headlines to be impressive. If all key information is revealed in the headline, the readers is not likely to read the whole brief news. As a result, a good headline is believed to be concise, to introduce the news vividly without giving too specific information since the chapeau will reveal a little more information to capture the attention of readers. English headline: [3:24] Greek cities hit by fresh rioting (news.bbc.co.uk, Aug 12th 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Tiếp tục xảy ra bạo loạn ở Hy Lạp (bbc.co.uk/vietnamese, Aug 12th 2008) English headline: [3:25] Rome gets hotel made from rubbish (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010) Vietnamese equivalent: ( June 5, 2010) 5 Recovering the omitted articles As mentioned in the previous part, article “a”, “an”, “the” are among the words omitted most frequently in English brief news headlines. The omission of the article seems to pose no difficulties for readers in understanding the headlines since the readers can refer to the form of the noun to know whether it is plural or singular. English headline: [3:26] Bank official shot at Washington National Zoo (news.bbc.co.uk, May 16, 2008)
49. Vietnamese equivalent: Một nhân viên ngân hàng đã bị bắn chết ở vườn thú quốc gia Washington ( May 18, 2008) Because “official” is in singular form, there is no doubt that a bank official was shot at Washington National Zoo. Nevertheless, in Vietnamese numeral especially cardinal plays an important role in denoting the number of noun, singular or plural. If the cardinal was omitted, the translation would be “Nhân viên ngân hàng đã bị bắn chết ở vườn thú quốc gia Washington” The omission might cause misunderstanding for Vietnamese that some officials were shot at Washington National Zoo. As a result, omitted articles are recovered and translated into “một” to avoid ambiguity. Một nhân viên ngân hàng đã bị bắn chết ở vườn thú quốc gia Washington ( May 18, 2008) 6 The use of colon In headlines containing colon, the first part tends to be a name, an event and a place, introducing the general information. The following part of the headline is the main content. Oshima and Hogue (2001: 259) presented five ways to use a colon: introducing a list, introducing a quotation longer than three lines, introducing the subtitle of a book, article or play, indicating the time of day by putting the number for hours and minutes, opening a formal letter. 9.33 percent of 100 selected headlines contain colon. The use of the colon allows the reporter to give more information and to shorten the headline at the same time because no verb is required between the two parts. [3:27] Citibank: Teetering Since 1812 (time.com, January 21,2009) [3:28] Clinton: US Stands Shoulder-to-Shoulder With Mexico in Fight Against Drug Gangs (voanews.com, March 26, 2009) [3:29] Flu crisis: World response (news.bbc.co.uk, April 28, 2009) These two examples can be understood as Clinton said US would stand shoulder- to-shoulder with Mexico in fight against drug gangs and the world
50. response to the flu crisis. It can be said that the use of the colon to introduce direct speech and more specific information is effective without causing misunderstanding. For this reason, there is an increasing trend of using colon in Vietnamese headlines. Many Vietnamese headlines include colon even no colon is used in the source headlines. English headline: [3:30] Half-way from rags to riches (economist.com, April 24, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Việt Nam: Nửa chặng đường từ đói nghèo đến giàu mạnh (nhantainhanluc.com, May 21, 2008) English headline: [3:31] Asia's other miracle (economist.com, April 24, 2008) Vietnamese equivalent: Việt Nam: Điều thần kỳ mới của Châu Á (finland.edu.googlepages.com, April 26, 2008)
51. CHAPTER IV: IMPLICATION OF THE STUDY FOR THE VIETNAMESE LEARNERS IN UNDERSTANDING THE ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES 1. Some possible problems encountered by learners in understanding English brief news headlines. It is believed that to read well, understand corrected a source language (SL) brief news into a real target language (TL) one is a difficult work, but to look for an equivalent headline to SL headline provided that a TL headline must be achieved is much more demanding and challenging. Only readers with rich background and experience can do this perfectly. Although English is considered as an international language, none can deny that English language is diverse and complicated to some extent. That is the reason why a translator must understand well this language. There are a lot of problems relating to translating, reading EBNHs. The most noticeable one is the ambiguity of the SL text, the sub-standard in the SL text, the level of naturalness, abbreviation, idioms, slang, dialect, foreign words These language phenomena are frequently appeared in EBNHs in particular. Most EBNHs carry a great deal of lexical and grammatical ambiguity which may be linguistic or between the two extremes. A linguistic ambiguity may enrich the headlines as both meanings may be intended. While lexical ambiguities are more common, grammatical ambiguities arise when the relationship word groups or classes in a large unit are not clear, i.e, one does not know “what goes with what”. To understand EBNHs, semantic translation is likely to be suitable. It is important to keep the SL text‟s truth or facts of the matter. [4:1] Two soviet ships collide, one dies ( March 6, 2009) Anaphoric reference ambiguity: normally a pronoun like one would refer to the nearest explicitly mentioned noun, here ship, rather than the implied noun sailor or passenger. An alternative analysis could describe it as category ambiguity, numeric quantifier vs. pronoun. [4:2] Safety experts say school bus passengers should be belted ( March 6, 2009) Belted has two interpretations: “hit with a belt” or “secured with a (seat)belt” (lexical ambiguity)
52. [4:3] Drunk gets nine months in violin case ( March 6, 2009) Case has two interpretations: “container” or “court-case” (lexical ambiguity) A type of linguistic ambiguity is due to what would usually be called polysemy; that is, not to the fact that two or more items have the same exponent but that one single item has more than one meanings. Strictly speaking, the term polysemy is misleading. It is not a case of one item having several meanings, but one of the items having a wide or general contextual meanings, covering a wide range of specific situational features. In any given situation, only one out of this wide range of potentially, or linguistically, relevant features are functionally relevant. [4:4] Iraqi head seeks arms ( March 6, 2009) Amusing juxtaposition of two polysemous words, head “chief” and arms “weapons”. Another problem in reading, understanding correctly EBNHs is culture. Cultural differences may be seen as the most difficult factor. Culture is often defined as the way of life and its manifestation that is peculiar to a that uses a particular language as its means of expression. Each nation has its own way of expression, and thus, the culture gaps arise. When metaphor amid metonymy appear in context, some kinds of associations and references are required due to different ways of thinking or different concepts. The readers meet with many difficulties in reading EBNHs in particular. [4:5] World war III for Oscar ( April 23, 2009) Worlds war I and II ended and have been, up to now, a terrible time and nightmare to people around the world, the journalist compares the nomination for Oscar prize with the “World War” and called it “World war III” [4:6] Hollywood eyes China ( May 26, 2008) Metonymy is used in headline writing to save space time, Hollywood refers to the famous movie studio of American which is salivating over the potential to entertain mainland China, home to more than one billion people- about one- fifth of the world‟s population.
53. 2. Some proposed techniques for translating English brief news headlines. At the first element of brief news to be caught by the readers the very first sight, the headlines is required to be as lean and attractive as possible. For the sake of a concise headline, writes often shorten a complete sentence or phrase by omitting some of the elements. A shortened headline does not mean the one which is not understandable. Although it is somewhat shortened, the headline must convey the idea of the whole article as well as the writer‟s attitude towards an incident. Language vary from one to another and it is very difficult to introduce a fixed technique for translating headlines. However, we can still point out the general method. It is believed that semantic translation tend to be the most preferable advantage in reproducing an idea from SL into TL. To translate SL headlines, semantic translation is the most favourable method. [4:7] A light at the end of the tunnel? (Economist.com, May 11, 2008) Ánh sáng cuối đường hầm ? ( May 13, 2008) [4:8] The cause of inflation (time.com June 6, 2009) Nguyên nhân của lạm phát ( June 8, 2008) Though semantic translation is the most favourable method, it does not mean that it is the only method translating headlines. For those consist of “untranslatable words” or the proper equivalence of which can not be found, communicative translation can be applied. The main point here is how to preserve the feature and the spirit of the SL‟s with the aim to help readers to understand it in the same way as the writer‟s intention. [4:9] Apple announces iPhone 4 ( June 8, 2010) Apple trình làng iPhone thế hệ thứ 4 ( June 8, 2010) Of all the linguistic forms of a headline. That is due to what really makes sense in the message the headline can bring, and for translation, this also appears to be the most important aim during its procedure. Therefore word choice skills become one important technique of translation. If the headline expressive contrast, the faithful translation will be most effectively applied. For example, as for the headline quoted from Vietan Notebook-Murray Herbert
54. [4:10] Savers vs spenders, help or hindrance? (March 7, 2008) It is possibly translated as “Người dành dụm, kẻ tiêu hoang, giúp đỡ hay gây trở ngại?”. Word choice skill helps the translator to choose a very suitable word “người” for “dành dụm” and “kẻ” for “tiêu hoang” through which the writer‟s attitude is clearly expressed. The level of naturalness plays a very important role in translating and marks a significant goal for the translation process. In all communicative translation, naturalness is essential, that is why the TL required to be the translator‟s language of common usage. Translators then might have to change the meaning and form of the source headlines to make the translation natural and readable. [4:11] Pacific islands “are not sinking” (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010) Các hòn đảo vùng Thái Bình Dương đang lớn dần lên ( June 11, 2010)
55. PART III: CONCLUSION Based on the results of the study, English brief news headlines possess four main function. The first one is the introduction of thematic content of the following news, which serves as a signal of informative orientation to readers and capture the reader‟s attention at their first sight. This is the second function of EBNHs. Another third function that a news headlines performs is conveying the writer‟s attitude to the facts reported. This third function has been discovered to be closely related to the fourth one-presenting the news reporter‟s style of writing. However, the two latter functions do not always meet the requirement of objectivity in reporting news. This can be explained that language serves as the basic tool for communication which can not be exclusively linked with functions people need language for. Additionally, features of English brief news headlines include: - General characteristics of EBNHs - Types of EBNHs - Structural features of EBNHs Moreover, analysis on the differences in English brief news headlines and Vietnamese equivalents go as follow: The use of the verb tenses The use of the lexical choice Adding some background information in the Vietnamese headlines equivalents Recovering the omitted articles Omitting some information in the Vietnamese headlines equivalents The use of colon Finally, implication of the study for the Vietnamese learners in understanding the English brief news headlines analyze:  Some possible problems encountered by learners in understanding English brief news headlines.  Some proposed techniques for translating English brief news headlines.
56. In short, limited budget of time and knowledge prevents this study from covering all general characteristics of English headlines and structural features in EBNHs. Accordingly, many related topics left untouched. Besides, analysis on the differences in English brief news headlines and Vietnamese equivalents are worth studying. Therefore, students who are interested in this field may wish to compare and contrast English and Vietnamese headlines. REFERENCES BOOKS 1. Delahuaty, G.D and Gratney, J.J. (1994). Language, Grammar and Communication. Cambridge University Press. 2. Deuze, M. (2001) Online Journalism: Modelling the First Generation of News Media on the World Wide Web. 3. Fedricson, T& Wedel, P.(1984). English by Newspaper. Cambridge: New Bury House Publishers. 4. Leech y Svartvict, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Londress: Longman Oshima 5. Mc Arthur. (1992). The Oxford companion to the English language. Oxford University Press 6. Montgomery, Martin. (1996). An Introduction to Language and Society. 2nd ed. London: Routledge
57. 7. Newmark, P. (1988a). A Textbook of Translation. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall. 8. Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S. (1973). A University of English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press 9. Quirk, R. & Greenbaun, S., Leech y Svartvict, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Londress: Longman 10. Richarchs, J., Platt, J., Weber, H.(1985). Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. Great Britain: Longman Group Limited. 11. Straumann, H.(1935). Newspaper Headlines. Londress: Allen & Unwin 12. Ward, M. (2002) Journalism Online, Oxford, Great Britain: Focal Press 13. Nguyen, S,.M. & Do, A.Đ & Bui T.D. (n.d.). Bài giảng Lý thuyết và thực hành báo chí trực tuyến. 14. Nguyen, T.G. (2006). Dan Luan Ngon Ngu. Hanoi: Giao duc
58. WEBSITES 1. Wikipedia (November 25, 2009 ) the free encyclopedia Retrieved June 3, 2010 from 2. Wendland, M. (January 12, 2009) \"Convergence: Repurposing Journalism,\" Poynteronline, Retrieved June 2, 2010, from 3. F. Khodabandeh (October 28, 2008)\"A contrastive analysis of English and Persian newspaper headlines\". International Journal of Communication. Retrieved May 28, 2010. from 4. Church, D. (October 13, 2008). A light at the end of the tunnel? Retrieved May 20, 2010 from story_id=12408936 5. Greene, G.L. (December 1, 2008). The O team. Retrieved May 25, 2010 from
59. APPENDIX ENGLISH BRIEF NEWS HEADLINES In 2010 1. Apple announces iPhone 4 ( June 8, 2010) Apple trình làng iPhone thế hệ thứ 4 ( June 8, 2010) 2. Ten shocking World Cup moments ( June 8, 2010) 10 cú sốc lớn nhất trong lịch sử World Cup ( June 8, 2010) 3. 10 things to know about iPhone 4 ( June 8, 2010) 10 điều cần biết về iPhone 4G ( June 10, 2010) 4. Arizona immigration law denounced ( April 23, 2010) Luật nhập cư mới của bang Arizona gây nhiều tranh cãi ( April 25, 2010) 5. Obama to visit India in November (news.bbc.co.uk, June 3, 2010) Tổng thống Obama sẽ tới thăm Ấn Độ vào tháng 11 ( June 4, 2010) 6. Pacific islands 'are not sinking' (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010) Các hòn đảo vùng Thái Bình Dương đang lớn dần lên ( June 11, 2010) 7. Apple now bigger than Microsoft ( May 27, 2010) 8. Clinton calls on China to help punish North Korea ( May 27, 2010) 9. US economic growth is continuing (news.bbc.co.uk, June 3, 2010) Kinh tế Mỹ tiếp tục tăng trưởng ( June 4, 2010) 10. Google close to handing over data (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010) Google nâng cấp công cụ tìm kiếm ( June 13, 2010) 11. Successful blast-off for Falcon 9 (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010)
60. Mỹ thử nghiệm thành công rocket vũ trụ tương lai ( June 5, 2010) 12. Lead poisons 100 Nigeria children (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010) Hơn 100 trẻ em thiệt mạng vì ngộ độc chì ( June 5, 2010) 13. Rome gets hotel made from rubbish (news.bbc.co, June 5, 2010) ( June 5, 2010) 14. Nokia broadens legal row with Apple to include iPad ( May 25, 2010) 15. Scientists say global warming affects marine life ( May 15, 2010) 16. Clinton says world must respond to sinking of S. Korean warship ( May 23, 2010) 17. Obama warning over Gulf optimism (news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2010) Tổng thống Mỹ thận trọng về vụ tràn dầu ( June 10, 2010) 18. Cuba urges citizens to save water ( 5, 2010) 19. Iraqi Airways declared bankrupt ( June 6, 2010) 20. Mars rocks point to wetter past ( June 5, 2010) 21. Zuma says South Africa ready 50 days before World Cup kick-off ( March 27, 2010) 22. Madagascan bird declared extinct ( May 25, 2010) Loài chim lặn Alaotra Madagascar đã tuyệt chủng ( May 28, 2010) 23. Britain Reveals Size of Nuclear Stockpile ( May 27, 2010) Tiết lộ về kho vũ khí hạt nhân của Anh ( June 5, 2010) 24. N.Korean leader expected to meet with Chinese President ( March 27, 2010) 25. Oil from Sunken Rig threatens Gulf of Mexico Shorelines ( May 27, 2010)
61. 26. Migration threat to Indian economy ( March 22, 2010) 27. Italian and Russian leaders discuss energy deals ( April 23, 2010) 28. Golden Girl star McClanahan dies ( June 5, 2010) 29. Democracy Activists Look at Digital Opportunities, Challenges ( May 27, 2010) 30. Obama tries to mend fences with American Jews ( Political News.com, March 24, 2010) 31. Israel takes control of aid ship ( June 5, 2010) 32. U.K students face new competition ( June 5, 2010) 33. Two Australians killed in Afghan violence ( June 12, 2010) 34. Business fears over airline sale ( May 27, 2010) 35. Small languages make a big difference ( January 7, 2010) 36. Colombian beauty queen arrested in Argentina ( May 27, 2010) 37. Obama: US, Russia must fight terrorism together ( May 8, 2010) In 2009 38. Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home. ( April 22, 2009) 39. Iran's Supreme Leader Dismisses Obama's Appeal. ( March 21, 2009) 40. Opportunity or Risk in a World Economy Crisis? ( July 5, 2009) 41. Clinton: US Stands Shoulder-to-Shoulder With Mexico in Fight Against Drug Gangs. ( March 26, 2009)
62. 42. Floods in Namibia Take Heavy Toll . ( March 21, 2009) 43. Police search for Gunman who fired near school (news.com, May 22nd 2009) Cảnh sát truy tìm kẻ nổ sung gần trường học (vneconomy.vn, May 23nd 2009) 44. US Long-Term Jobless Claims Hit Another Record High. ( March 19, 2009) 45. Police search for Gunman who fired near school (news.com, May 22nd 2009) Cảnh sát truy tìm kẻ nổ sung gần trường học (vneconomy.vn, May 23nd 2009) 46. EU Summit Focuses on Economic Stimulus. ( March 19, 2009) 47. Hong Kong's Second-Hand Luxury Goods See Sales Increase ( March 19, 2009) 48. What's the score? (Economist.com, Mar 12th 2009) Thế giới thật sự thay đổi sau 20 năm mạng Internet ra đời (kinhte24h.com, Mar 16th 2009) 49. US House Votes Heavy Tax on Bonuses After AIG Controversy (www.voanews.com, March 19th 2009) Hạ viện Mỹ thông qua dự luật đánh thuế tiền thưởng (www.voanews.com/vietnamese , March 20 2009) 50. World Bank says global economy to shrink 1-2 percent (reuters.com, March 11th 2009) Ngân hàng Thế giới: Kinh tế toàn cầu sẽ tăng trưởng âm 1-2% (vneconomy.vn, March 12th 2009) 51. Korea to send advanced warship to monitor N. Korea launch (istockanalyst.com , March 26th 2009) Hàn Quốc sẽ triển khai tàu khu trục đến Biển Nhật Bản (dantri.com.vn, March 27th 2009) 52. Obama met Gorbachev in run-up to Medvedev talks (reuters.com, March 23rd 2009)
63. Tổng thống Mỹ Obama gặp cựu lãnh đạo Liên Xô cũ Gorbachev (dantri.com.vn, March 23rd 2009) 53. Obama Sees Hope for US Economy. ( March 23, 2009) 54. Will the bail-out work? (economist.com, September 25th 2009) Kế hoạch cứu nguy 700 tỷ đôla: Hiệu quả hay không? (vneconomy.vn, September 26th 2009) 55. Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate To Near Zero. ( December 16, 2009) 56. Most powerful woman in American history? (newsweek.com, March 19, 2009) 57. Why many of the biggest discoveries were accidental? ( April 20, 2009) 58. Burgeoning bourgeoisie (economist.com, Feb 12th 2009) Lần đầu trong lịch sử, diện trung lưu chiếm nửa thế giới (vietnamnet.vn, Feb 16th 2009) 59. Credit Unions With $57 Billion in Assets Seized; 3 Banks Fail (bloomberg.com, Mar 21st 2009) Một ngày, Mỹ đóng cửa 2 tổ chức tín dụng, 3 ngân hang (vneconomy.vn, Mar 22nd 2009) In 2008 60. US, China to meet on reviving N.Korea nuclear talks (reuters.com, April 10th 2008) Hoa Kỳ và Trung Quốc sẽ có một cuộc hội đàm về vấn đề hạt nhân của Triều Tiên (vietbao.vn, April 11th 2008) 61. Putin Accuses U.S. of Interference. ( November 27, 2008) 62. America’s government comes to the rescue of a giant insurance company (theeconomist.com, September 17th 2008) Chính phủ Mỹ giải cứu AIG (tgvn.com.vn September 18th 2008) 63. Comparing cities (economist.com, Apr 2nd 2008 ) Thành phố nào đắt đỏ nhất thế giới? (thuongmai.com, Apr 4th 2008) 64. Examining the candidates (economist.com, Oct 2nd 2008)
64. Các nhà kinh tế “cân đong Obama và McCain (vneconomy.vn, Nov 4th 2008) 65. Dozens die in western Iran quakes (news.bbc.co.uk, March 31st 2008) 70 người thiệt mạng trong vụ động đất ở Iran (vietbao.vn April 1st 2008) 66. Triet to visit Washington this weekend. (news.bbc.co.uk, May 28th 2008) Chủ tịch nước Nguyễn Minh Triết sẽ tới thăm Mỹ cuối tuần này (bbc.co.uk/vietnamese, May 29th 2008) 67. Asia's other miracle (economist.com, Apr 24th 2008) Việt Nam: Điều thần kỳ mới của Châu Á (finland.edu.googlepages.com, Apr 26th 2008) 68. Half-way from rags to riches (economist.com, Apr 24th 2008) Việt Nam: Nửa chặng đường từ đói nghèo đến giàu mạnh (nhantainhanluc.com, May 21st 2008) 69. Jerry Yang stands down (economist.com, Nov 18th 2008) CEO Jerry Yang của Yahoo từ nhiệm ( Nov 19th 2008) 70. US release more Guantanamo name (Fboston.com, May 3rd 2008) Mỹ công bố danh sách tù nhân nhà tù Guantanamo (vietnamnet.vn, May 4th 2008) /