Features and Translation Strategies.doc

features and translation strategiesof tour guide presentation abstract: with the development of globalization, china has established increasingly intimate relationship with other countries. many foreign people, especially western people, are greatly eager to come to china and appreciate the mysterious chinese culture. as the typical activity in communication between east and west , tourism plays very important role in promoting mutual understanding and publicize great chinese culture, to realize these goals, tour guide presentation must be a great bridge between eastern and western countries. however, it is very difficult for us to build this bridge, because the oriental culture and the western culture are two cultures which have the greatest gap in the world. in tour guide presentation, there are so much chinese couplets, folk stories, idioms, poems and so on. how to convey this culture successfully to foreigners is of great theoretical and practical significance. although there are many works about tourism translation, up till now, no one has done systematic study in this field. many scholars have probed into tourism translation, but most of their views come from their personal experience, which cant offer any theory reference t other people. for example, some authors put forward that tour guides should learn english well to give better services, or should have cross culture consciousness. some even mentioned the culture difference between east and west, but did not introduce the specific and adoptable ways to deal with them. in this dissertation, i tend to introduce features of tour guide presentation and some ways to translate it. in the first part, i will introduce the culture information in translation of tour guide presentation, which will be elucidated from four different aspects. the second part focus on the important features of tour guide presentation. it includes language features and text features. language features are expressive ,colloquial, inte4resting and sense of being on the spot. text features includes informative text, expressive text, and vocative text. in the third part, i will introduce the theory about domestication and foreignization strategies, last, i will focus on the application of domestication and foreignization on the translation of tour guide presentation.key words: tour guide presentation; foreignization; domestication; tour guides; culture 摘要：随着全球化的发展，中国已经同世界上其他国家建立了非常密切的关系。许多外国人特别是西方国家的人迫切希望来到中国，了解神秘的中国文化。旅游业作为东西方交流的典型活动，在促进相互了解和推广中国文化上。发挥了相当大的作用。为了实现这些目标，导游词必须成为东西方国家的桥梁。然而，要架起这座桥梁不是那么容易的事情。因为东西方文化是世界上差异最大的文化。在导游词中，有许多中国对联，民间故事，成语诗歌等一些带有中国传统文化精髓的东西。怎样成功地把这些文化传递给外国朋友不仅仅具有理论的意义也具有实际意义。 虽然对于旅游英语的翻译有不少的作品可供借鉴，然而很少有人在这一方面进行过系统的研究。许多学者研究了旅游英语的翻译，但是大多数观点来自于个人的经验，不能对其他人提供理论指导。例如一些作者认为导游应该学好英语给游客提供更好的服务，有些人提出导游应该有跨文化交际意识，还有一些学者介绍了东西方文化差异，但是没有介绍处理这种文化悬殊的方法。在本论文中，我将详细分析导游词的特征，介绍两张导游词的翻译策略。 在论文的第一部分，将介绍导游词当中的文化信息，从四个方面讲述。第二部分重点介绍导游词的特点，包括语言特征和文本特征。语言特征包括导游词是表达生动的，口语化的，有趣的，与情境结合的。导游词的文本特征表明它是个信息文本，表达文本和声音文本。在第三和第四部分，将介绍两张翻译策略异化和归化策略的理论的理论知识以及它们在导游词翻译当中的运用。关键词：导游词；异化；归化；导游；文化introduction as one of the four ancient civilized countries, china has always been a sacred place to tourists. since chinas reform and opening to the outside word, a lot of foreign people have come to china. especially after chinas enter into wto, more and more people from western hemisphere came to china which lead to the boost of tourism. as we all know, china is a glamorous and mysterious eastern country. it has unique geographical features,56 minority groups and colorful legends, religions and so on. many foreigners not only do the sightseeing but also desire to understand chinese culture. the tour guide presentation is the dominant media to convey chinese culture to foreigners, so the tour guides are confronted with a very serious problem, which is how to translate the tour guide presentation effectively. although many people have touched upon the translation of tourism literature, few of them have not research the field from the perspective of theory. some analyzed in detail various translation techniques evident in tourism literature. some remind the tour guides to have cross culture consciousness, but few of them explore the acceptable and practical translation strategies of tour guide presentation. in order to adopt effective strategies of translation, we should get a better understanding of its feature. in the first part, i will introduce the culture information in translation of tour guide presentation, which will be elucidated from four different aspects. the second part focus on the important features of tour guide presentation. it includes language features and text features. language features are expressive, colloquial, inte4resting and sense of being on the spot. text features includes informative text, expressive text, and vocative text. in the third part, i will introduce the theory about domestication and foreignization strategies, last, i will focus on the application of domestication and foreignization on the translation of tour guide presentation.chapter 1 language and culture tour guide presentation is the language which the tour guide uses to introduce the scenic spots to the tourists. and the tour guide presentation must convey some certain culture to tourists. here, it refers to the problem of language and culture, which is the relation between language and culture. and what about translation and culture? what kind of culture information exists in tour guide presentation? what problems will we face in cross culture translation? these aspects will be mentioned in the following chapter.1.1 language and culture different people have different definitions about culture. the commonly accepted one is that culture is the totality of beliefs and practices of a society. so we can know language is a component of cultures, furthermore, language takes a very important role in culture. language is the carrier of culture, and it is the tool for human beings to record, spread, and develop culture. so culture cant exist without language. from another perspective, we can say language exist without culture. because language is a creation of a certain culture, and language is a mirror of culture. it must be influenced greatly by culture. from the opinions mentioned above, we can know easily that language and culture are closely connected with each other, they dont t relate or correspond to each other in a mechanical way, rather, they penetrate to each other in an intimate way. some socialists hold that language reflect the features of a nation, which not only include the history and about life, life style and way of thinking. in one world, language and culture influence and act with each other, and we must understand culture to understand language, and to understand culture we must understand language.1.2transtation and culture chinese culture is very different from english culture, so translation between chinese and english is very difficult. it is not only the conversion of language but also a communication between two cultures. translation begins with language and translatosway of thinking is embodied in language. different language reflects different cultures and different ways of thinking. as professor wang dongfeng holds, it is widely accepted that the function of translation is not only information communication, but also culture communication. here i must mention the definition of translation. although translation is defined from many different perspentives,its essence is that translation is spreading the same information using one language to replace another, so the translators face not only two languages but also two different cultures. a successful translator always pay much attention to the culture different between two languages when recognizing the lingual difference.translators who are not familiar with the difference between two cultures cant convey the exact information to readers.we can see the following examples. dragon is the totem of china, and it represents authority and power power, so it is respected by chinese people. but english speaking people are puzzled when they are told china is a dragon, because dragon symbolizes a horrible thing and bad luck in western countries.owl is the unpropitious omen in china, but owl is regarded as wisdom, we can see the expression “as wise as an owl”.in translation, we must think of the natural environment which influences the expression the same idea.examples: 山中无老虎，猴子称霸王 in the land of blind, the one eyed man is king. 挥金如土 spend money like water 度过难关 to tide over difficulties these expressions show that chinese idiom have something to do with agriculture, while english idioms have something to do with water, because china is an agricultural country while england is an island.so, to do the translation better, translators must acquaint themselves with the culture differenced.1.3 cultural information in tour guide presentation china is an ancient civilized country with colorful and mysterious culture. many foreigners visiting china are not satisfied with the beautiful sight before their eyes, and they are eager to explorer the culture lying behind the natural scenic places of figures and historical heritage. tour guide presentation must convey some certain of culture, such as way of life, behavior, principle, values, and foods, costumes, weeding, funeral, festivals, folklores and so on. culture is so comprehensive that i only choose several forms which are the carriers of typical chinese culture in tour guide presentation. the first one is poems which are very familiar to chinese people. poetry the crystallization of a culture, as a main literary form, poetry takes a very important position in chinese literature, especially those written in tang dynasty. the poetry are widely used by tour guides to depict the scenic spot in a more vivid way. moreover, the poetry contains much traditional chinese culture. hearing these poems, the tourist can not really appreciate the beautiful and melodious chinese language, but also enjoy the tourist attraction from the perspective of culture. couplets are very unique, literary form because it only exist in china. as a chinese literature treasure, couplets reflect intelligence and wisdom of chinese people. it is very hard to translate couplets efficiently to english, because we can hardly remain the structure and form of couplets while preserving the culture. the third one is four character phrases. idioms and four character phrases is a special phenomenon of language, and they are in close relationship with history, economy, geographyand customs. most of four character phrase are concise in meaning and vivid in image, with distinct national flavor. from the angle of translation, the four character expressions are not only hard to understand but also difficult to translate properly. the last one is expressions with no cultural equivalents. these expressions are products of a cetain culture, and the culture information cant be found in another culture. many translators insist that proper foreignization should be adopted to express the special culture. with the gradual prosperity of china, there appeared many expressions with chinese flavor. please have a look at the following examples.福娃：fuwa-five friendlies经济特区：special economic zone廉政建设：construct clean politics下海：xia hai(to srart a business, a company but the risk of losing one permanent job)五讲四美三热爱：five stresses(stress on decorm manners,hygiene,discipline and moral),four points of beauty(beauty of mind,language,behavior and environment),three aspects of love(love of motherland,socialism,and the communist party)from these examples, we can see it is a good way to translate the expressions in transliteration with explanation or literal with explanation.chapter 2 tour guide presentation and its features tour guide presentation is a special literary style. many people have many different views about its types. chen gang classifies it into pre-translated type, impromptu type, and the combined type. from another perspective, it can also be divided into on-the spot tour guide presentation and on-the way tour guide presentation. from the scope within which it is used and the style with which the presentation is written, tour guide presentation has three types: descriptive introduction, brief introduction, and the guide manuscript. as for the features of tour guide presentation, i will introduce it from language features and text features.2.1 types of tour guide presentation descriptive introduction is rich in beautiful language. it tries to describe the tourist attention in details and make the introduction more impressive and attraction as possible.example:“仰山堂”的楼上是“卷雨楼”，此楼名取唐朝诗人王勃的诗句“珠帘幕卷西山雨”。此处是欣赏大假山之佳点，雨天更有情趣，细雨朦胧的大假山充满了诗情画意，整座大假山曲曲弯弯，棱角突兀，峰奇怪石，景象万千。 on the top floor of the yangshan hall is the chamber for gather thing rain, its name is derived from the tang dynasty poet wang bopoem,which reads,“rolling up the pearl-like curtain at dusk to appreciate the rain falling on the western hill.”the chamber has been used for enjoying the big rockery, especially on rainy days. the scene is rich in poetic and picturesque favor as the rockery is obscured by drizzle. the whole structure resembles and outlines and with an antic and bizarre appearance.this is very nice tour guide presentation. it contains elegant languages and some subjective emotion, such as “充满了诗情画意”,besides it offers the tourist culture information, such as “珠帘幕卷西山雨”.brief introduction is often written on tablet places in front a scenic spot. it introduces the scenic spot briefly which can make the tourist decide whether or not to visit it.example: 豫园是著名的江南古典园林,全国重点文物保护单位,始建于明嘉靖年间,豫园以设计精巧,布局细腻,清幽透明,玲珑剔透见长,具有小中见大的特点.豫园现占地三十余亩,有大假山,玉玲珑,点春堂,等景点. yuyuan garden is an excellent model of classical chinese gardening architecture under state preservation. it was built during the reign of ming emperor jingjing . the garden is famous for a number of architectural marvels, including the big rockery, the “naturally hollowed jade boulder, the hall of an emerald touch of spring and soon. the brief introduction only tells the basic information about the scenic spot, and it is very objective.then,the words employed in the introduction are simple and plain, with emphasis on the accuracy of the content.lastly,some words are used to describe the features of the scenic spot, such as “设计精巧,布局细腻”. these words can arouse the tourists interest. tour guide manuscript tour guide manuscript is the actual introduction to a certain scenic spot.example: this is happy fish waterside pavilion. surrounded by water on three sides, it is a good place for enjoying goldfish swimming happily in the pond. the pavilion often reminds us of the dialogue carried between two ancient philosophers zhuang zi and hui zi. once they came to a pond like this, one of them said, “the gold fish must be very happy.” the other asked him, “how do you know whether they are happy since you are not fish?” the first one answered, “how do you know that i do not know they are happy since you are not me?” do you find you even in a happy frame of mind when they hear the sound of flowing water and see the goldfish swimming freely in he clear water of the pond(上海导游资格考试现场考试景区英文介绍,2004:41)from the above example, it is very obvious that the manuscript is very closely related with the scenic spot which is in front of tourists ,we can here from the sentence “this is happy fish waterside pavilion. surrounded by water on three side” moreover ,the introduction is oral style .the expressions are colloquial and easily understood by tourists. 2.2 language featuresit is generally hold that a good tour guide presentation should be interesting , colloquial, aesthetic and having the sense of being on the spot. next, i will introduce the four aspects one by one.2.2.1 being interesting in many touristseyes,many tour guides are very humorous and their presentation is interesting. tour guides are not only good at using jokes to make the tourists happy, but also using suspense to arouse the tourists interest. please look at the following example. example: here we can see two iron lions cast in the yuan dynasty, they are nearly 700 years old. iron lions are very rare in china as most of them are made of wood or stone. regarded as the king of animals, lions signify dignity and majesty. such lions usually put in front of palaces or courts, were meat to show the owners prowess. is there anyone who can tell the sex of the two lions? yes, you are right, the female one is always put on the left while the male one stands on the right. whats more, the female lion fondles a baby, while the male plays with a ball.(上海导游资格考试景区英文介绍,2000:39) reading the tour guide presentation, we can image how interested the tourists are in watching the lions. because the tour guide is so humorous that he uses the sentence “ is there anyone who can tell the sex of the two lions?” i think hearing such words, every one will pay attention to the scenic spot. besides, the tour guides can try to make the content interesting. they can cite an interesting anecdote or story, thus the tourist can acquire knowledge of chinese culture when enjoying the beautiful scenic spot.2.2.2 being colloquialmany tourists must feel very relaxed when the tour guide presentation has a certain number of colloquial words and expressions. there words can make the presentation more understandable to tourists and create a more pleasant atmosphere for communicationexample: 不过民间关于亭名的由来另有一种说法.据说当年江南才子袁枚曾专程来岳麓书院拜访山长罗典,但罗典这时已经名满天下,根本不屑于见这样的后起之秀,袁枚也不言语,转身上了山,在岳麓山上,袁枚才子诗兴大发,见一景提一诗. 唯独到了红叶亭, 他只抄录了杜牧的诗句, 还漏了两个字,后两句抄成了“停车坐枫林,霜叶红于二月花”.罗典听说后, 也跟着上了山,一路上,他见