Translating Higher Education Into Vietnamese: An Applied Linguistics Approach to Language Equity and Higher Education Access

• In Event: Breaking Language Barriers: Conceptualizing Language Equity in Higher Education

Abstract

This case study reports on praxis work conducted in partnership with the University of Iowa focused on simplifying and translating English enrollment management information into Vietnamese. Findings suggest that the institution simplified text to speak more directly to prospective student audiences by using second person pronouns, simpler sentence structure, and simpler diction to engage this audience. Moreover, analyses of machine and human translations of English to Vietnamese suggest that human translation should be the preferred mechanism of translating higher education information, as Google Translate and Chat GPT provided adequate but not perfect translations of Iowa’s information. Implications for practice and college access are addressed.

Authors

• Alan Do, University of Texas at Austin

• Jase Kugiya, University of Texas at Austin

• Tuan Le, Virginia Tech

• Zach Taylor, John Burton Advocates for Youth