The subhead reads:

"Many foreign books have been translated into Vietnamese in the past 15 years and many of them contained major errors in translation. Are translators assassinating foreign authors’ works?"

Several translated books that have been released in Vietnam have been recalled. Most recently the best-selling The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It was discovered that the translation errors were so gross that the publisher was forced to recall the books.

This may be a natural growing pain. Given that until recently Vietnamese have not had access to contemporary foreign literature, the language is often is often outdated. Bookstores are often stocked with heavily abridged translated classics (similar to Cliff Notes).  In the excerpt below,  the key phrase is "international literature of any consequence." Although the wildly popular  Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter might not fit this criterium, translations of Pulitzer Prize-winning works such as Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee can be found. But often such recognized literature is social or political commentary. The art is the writing. What happens then, particularly in states where material is frequently censored, when the writing itself is controversial? Does the translator take the liberty to rewrite the work? Do translators simply opt for translation of less critical or important works?

"Many young talented translators are not being given the opportunity to work with international literature of any consequence. They are ignored by publishers because they apparently lack the prestige and experience of their older counterparts. What they actually lack is simply the relationships to get their foot in the door. Consequently, there is a lack of realistic youthful voices in translated literature." - VietnamNet 

I also believe that good translators need to be given the recognition they deserve. We can think of many cases where translators have been fundamentally changed the way we read and see the work. Translations change over time. As historical, social and cultural research are increasingly available, the good translator can take new information into account in their translations. How many translations are available for Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey? Hundreds exist though the number of good translations might be counted on ones own hands. On the otherside, Vietnamese work found in English translation is a problem. Very often the works are rigid and clumsy. An exception is the of Vũ Trọng Phụng's "Số Đỏ" (Dumb Luck was chosen as the English title) deftly translated by Peter Zinoman and Nguyen Nguyet Cam.

A good resource for literary, cultural and art criticism can be found on Talawas, whose director recently was a speaker at the Saigon Biennale conference in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Source
VietnamNet News. Vietnamese translators killing int’l authors