When Not to Translate: Handling Foreign-Language Content in Vietnamese Patent Translations

When Not to Translate: Handling Foreign‑Language Content in Vietnamese Patent Translations

Not everything in a Vietnamese patent specification must—or should—be translated into Vietnamese. In practice, certain foreign‑language items are best kept in the original to preserve meaning, avoid ambiguity, and reflect how a skilled person would actually see the invention.

1) Terms with no natural Vietnamese equivalent

These are proper names, protocols, or coined technical labels. Forcing a Vietnamese rendering can confuse readers and break alignment with tooling and standards. Keep the original form:

  • OAuth (authorization protocol)
  • WASM / WebAssembly (runtime/execution format)
  • Docker / Kubernetes (platform & orchestration names)
  • CAPTCHA (coined acronym)
  • Bluetooth, CUDA, OpenCL (proprietary/spec names)

2) English terms widely accepted in Vietnamese practice

Even where a Vietnamese rendering exists, professionals frequently use the English label as the de facto identifier, especially in datasheets, UIs, and code:

  • router (alongside “bộ định tuyến”)
  • firmware (sometimes paraphrased but the English term is standard)
  • Wi‑Fi / Wi‑Fi 6
  • blockchain (alongside “chuỗi khối”)
  • sensor hub, bootloader, kernel, driver

3) Screens, photos, code, and other verbatim artifacts

Sometimes the invention relies on content that is inherently in another language: UI screenshots, photos of labels, logs, code snippets, error messages, chat dialogs. Use this principle:

Keep the artifact’s text exactly as is to show the invention truthfully; supply Vietnamese explanation around it if needed.

Why this is important

  • Faithful disclosure: The figure should depict the real interface/message/label exactly as the user sees it.
  • Avoid distortion: Redrawing or “translating inside the picture” can alter meaning or introduce ambiguity.
  • Intelligibility: Focus on legibility of the original strings; add Vietnamese narrative to explain behavior.

How to handle it

  • In the figure: keep original UI labels, log lines, or code as captured (ensure legibility at publication scale).
  • In the text: explain in Vietnamese, and quote key strings verbatim in quotation marks.
    Example: “As shown in Figure 5, the device displays Pairing failed (code 0x7012) when the handshake timeout elapses.”
  • For long sequences: excerpt only what supports the claimed features; do not translate identifiers, API names, or error mnemonics.

4) PattransVN editorial policy

  1. First mention format: Vietnamese term + English + acronym — e.g., giao diện người dùng (User Interface: UI) — then use UI thereafter (see our abbreviation guide).
  2. Leave proper names as is: OAuth, WASM, Docker, Kubernetes, Bluetooth, CAPTCHA, CUDA, OpenCL.
  3. Prefer entrenched English labels where they are the practical identifiers (router, firmware, Wi‑Fi, blockchain), especially in code/API contexts and figure callouts.
  4. Figures & screenshots: keep original strings in the image; explain in Vietnamese in the body; ensure legibility and accurate cross‑references.

5) Quick pre‑filing checklist

  • Proper names/initialisms (OAuth, WASM, CAPTCHA, CUDA…) kept in English.
  • Entrenched English terms (router, firmware, Wi‑Fi, blockchain) used judiciously; provide a Vietnamese phrase on first mention if helpful.
  • Screenshots/figures preserve original UI text, code, logs; Vietnamese explanation provided alongside.
  • Quoted messages appear verbatim in quotes; do not translate inside the quote.
  • All quoted text is legible at publication scale (verify in the exported PDF).

Bottom line: Keep what must remain verbatim to preserve the invention’s essence, and narrate the concept clearly in Vietnamese around it. This balance keeps the document examiner‑friendly and technically faithful.

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