本科英语毕业论文旅游景点翻译.doc

On the Translation of Scenic Spots IntroductionbyThesis Advisor: Submitted to the B. A. Committee in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in the English Department of School of Foreign Languages of Langfang Teachers College 10 May 2011廊坊师范学院本科生毕业论文题 目： 旅游景点介绍的翻译学生姓名： 指导教师： 二级学院： 系 别： 专 业： 年 级： 学 号： 完成日期： 2011年5月10日Title: On the translation of scenic spots introductionAbstract: With the deepening of Chinas opening-up and the flourish of tourism industry, the translation of tourism materials has become translators important task. As a necessary element of tourism materials, scenic spots translation arouses more and more attention throughout China. How to make the precise translation out of the piled tourism materials is the problem the translators have to deal with. This paper mainly focuses on the translation of scenic spots introduction which plays a significant role in the development of tourism industry. It introduces the common errors and theory foundations prevailing, and provides some possible solutions, intending to make the best version of the translation.Key words: scenic spots translation ; Functional Equivalence; receptors response题目：旅游景点介绍的英译摘要： 随着中国对外开放和旅游产业的蓬勃发展，旅游资料的翻译成为了译者们的重要任务。作为旅游资料的重要组成部分，旅游景点的介绍引起了译者们越来越多的关注。如何在浩繁的旅游资料中获得精确的翻译成为译者们需要处理的非常迫切的问题。本论文着重探讨旅游景点介绍的翻译，因为这在旅游业发展过程中起到举足轻重的作用。该文章介绍了旅游景点介绍翻译过程中常见的错误和著名的翻译理论，并提出一些可行的解决办法以获得最好的翻译文本。关键字：旅游景点翻译;功能对等;读者反馈 ContentsI. Introduction .1A. General statement.1B. Necessity of the precise translation of scenic spots translation.2II. Existing problems and causes of translation of scenic spots introduction.3A. Existing problems.3B. Causes of unsatisfied translation.5III. Prevailing translating theory.6A. Two levels of functional equivalence .6B. Receptors response.7IV. Possible solutions to existing problems.8A. Addition.8B. Deletion.8C. Restructuring.9D. Adjustment.10E. Analogy.11V. Conclusion.12Works Cited. .13AcknowledgementsMy sincere gratitude first goes to Mr. Gong, my supervisor, for his constructive suggestions, valuable ideas, great patience and encouragement. Without his help, the completion of this thesis would have been impossible.I owe great gratitude to all the teachers in the English Department. Their lectures and instructions have been of great help to my study.I would also like to express my thanks to my friends for their constant concern, generous help, and meaningful comments on the study.Finally, I must say I owe gratitude to my parents. Their love and encouragement have supported me to overcome difficulties and achieve the final success.I. IntroductionA. General StatementTourism industry is called the “Industry without Smoke” and has become one of the significant forces which step up the development of the economy. China is a country which is rich in various touring resources, and has a rather large touring market with great potential, thus attracts countless foreigners from abroad every year. Especially after China achieving the access to the World Trade Organization, tourism industry is becoming more and more commercial and globalized. As the important carriers of tourism information, scenic spots introductions are often used directly by tourism products promoters and potential consumers. Qualified scenic spots introductions can not only provide detailed tourism information but also attract more tourists. English versions of Chinese scenic spots introductions, should achieve the same aims, because it is the translated versions of tourism texts that have become the critical approaches to spread Chinese culture to the world and promote the development of Chinese tourism industry（Zhang Chunbo:25）. However, in many cases the translated version is unsatisfactory more or less in China. Since the quality of the tourism materials affects the foreign tourists directly and has a fundamental influence on their comprehension of Chinas culture, how to make the precise translation out of the piled tourism materials is a severe problem the translators are confronted with. Translation is a complicated thinking activity which can communicate the information between two different cultures by means of linguistic symbols(杨忠：120). And then, what is the standard of a satisfied translation? The adequacy of translations has traditionally been judged on the basis of the correspondence in lexicon and grammar between the source and target languages. The correspondence has frequently been stated in terms of “equivalence,” even though the equivalence is often not used. There is, however, a serious problem involved in discussing the adequacy of a translated text primarily in terms of lexical and grammatical features, or even in terms of discourse structures. Translating means communicating, and this process depends on what is received by persons hearing or reading a translation. Judging the validity of a translation cannot stop with a comparison of corresponding lexical meaning, grammatical classes, and rhetorical devices（Li Ming: 23）. What is important is the extent to which the receptors understand and appreciate the translated text. According to Eugene Nida: It is essential that functional equivalence be stated primarily in terms of a comparison of the way in which the original receptors correctly understood and appreciated the text and the way in which the receptors of the translated text understand and appreciate the translated text(2001:113). In this thesis the author introduces some common problems in the translation of scenic spots introduction and translating theories prevailing nowadays. Upon the theories, this paper attempts to provide some possible solutions to the translation of scenic spots translation.B. Necessity of precise translation of scenic spots introductionChina is an ancient civilized country which has inherited innumerable cultural relics from our ancestors. With a vast territory, it embraces a lot of awesome scenic spots that have brought into China millions of foreigners to enjoy themselves. As globalization deepens, the scale of the tourists from abroad is on a sharp increase. And according to the World Trade Organization, China will become the No.1 touring destination by 2020, when there will have been about 137,000,000 people to tour. Therefore, our country first put forward the slogan in 2000: China will persist to turning itself from the strong touring country of Asia to the world. Considering those, we have known that tourism has become a sunrise industry.Owing to the cultural differences between China and western countries, there are many difficulties in the translation process. Many translators are accustomed to translate scenic-spot introductions based on Chinese mindset and ways of expression. As a result, inaccuracies and mistakes can often be seen in the translated texts（Wen Jun: 43）. In todays China, the translation quality of scenic-spot introductions is far from satisfaction due to countless spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes, and cultural misinterpretations, etc. Therefore, the translation of scenic-spot introductions and the research on it is necessary and urgent.Hence, the development of our sunrise industry necessitates the precise translation of scenic spots introduction.II. Existing problems and causes in translation of scenic spots introductionA. Existing problemsThe scenic-spot introduction translations specially provide service for foreign tourists. The large cultural gap between China and the western countries makes the translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions, which contains a lot of cultural elements, a hard nut for the translating job. The translators not only have to have a good command of both Chinese and English, but also be highly proficient in intercultural transfer. The readers of scenic-spot translation are a group of special audience who know little about Chinese culture and language, so translation plays a significant role in publicizing China. Although increasing attention has been paid to this field, the quality of translation is still far from satisfactory. So in this part, we are going to look into some cases of inappropriate and even false translation, so as to have an analysis of the existing problems in the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions. In this way we may know more about the linguistic style, cultural features and expressional skills about appropriate English introductions of scenic spots.Example1:(SL) 1: 南山，面朝南海，是中国最南端的山。(TL) 2: Nanshan Mountain (South Mountain), facing Chinese South Sea, is thesouthernmost mountain in China.In the first example, “ 南海” is translated into “Chinese South Sea”, however, the correct English translation of “南海” is the “South China Sea”. So a more adequate translation should be like this:Nanshan Mountain (South Mountain), facing South China Sea, is the southernmost mountain in China.Example2:(SL):孔子（公元前551-前419年）是中国儒家学说的创始人。(TL):Confucius (551419BC) was the founder of the Confucius school of thought.In this example, “儒家学说” is translated as “the Confucius school of thought”. Its not wrong, but it seems more like an explanation than a translation. In English, the word “Confucianism” can express exactly the meaning of the Chinese expression “儒家学说”. Therefore, there is no need to translate it as: “the Confucius school of thought” or “the thought of Confucius”.Example3: (SL):感悟人生，感悟泥性，感悟瓷韵悠悠。(TL): Feel the life, feel the porcelain, and feel the history.The three “感悟” in the source language make the sentence paralleled and impressive, and it has achieved an effect of emphasis. In the target language, the word “feel” is also repeated for three times. Unfortunately, rather than have the same effect as its Chinese counterpart, this repetition makes no difference but making the whole sentence monotonous and tedious. To be more attractive and impressive, we can revise it by using different words sharing similar concept. Besides the monotonous translation of “感悟”, the word “porcelain” is not properly used here. Porcelain is hard white translucent material made from china clay, but it is not clay any longer. Therefore, it cannot express the meaning “泥性”. The refined version:Touch the clay, know the history, and feel the life.Example4:(SL):“黄龙吐翠”（西湖十景之一）(TL): “Yellow Dragon Spits Green” （市民日常外语会话北京新华出版社）The Chinese name “黄龙吐翠” has two meanings: On the one hand, it means that a clear spring is flowing out from the Yellow Dragon Cave; on the other hand, it infers that the whole scenic spot (Yellow Dragon Cave) is surrounded by green trees. The character “吐”here means present or look, when it is translated into “spit” in English, the meaning has completely been changed. Because “spit” often means “spitting saliva”, which gives us an unpleasant impression.Example5:(SL):舟的前方驾着一柄长舵，形如关云长的青龙偃月刀。(TL)is shaped like the sword in traditional Beijing opera used by Guan Yu, a general of the state of Shu of the Three Kingdom period (220-280A.D). It seems as if this translation is quite adequate, for it has added some information to explain about the sword and its master Guan Yu. However, this addition is nearly of no use. After reading this introduction, the foreign tourists still cant figure out what is the sword like, for they dont know anything about Guan Yu at all unless they have watched the Beijing opera. Thus in this sense, this explanation is completely invalid. It produces no effect other than making the whole sentence redundant. Maybe another simpler version will be better: is shaped like the knife on the westerners dinner table.This version has omitted the invalid information, so its much more concise. Whats more important is that it sounds familiar to the foreign tourists and they can understand what the sword looks like immediately when they see this introduction.B. Causes of unsatisfied translationLanguage capacity of a translator is the fundamental element which influences the quality of translated version directly. A good master of listening, speaking, reading, and writing of a foreign language and mother tongue is only the first step to make a satisfied translation; furthermore, the translator should strive to grasp the essence of two different cultures. According to Wang Zuoliang: A translator must be a cultured man (1984)； that is to say “Learning a language is a kind of learning the culture and the habit of the country where the language is spoken”.Culture is the core, the source and the energy of tourisms prosperity. And it is just the cultural elements contained in tourism materials bring about big difficulties to tourism materials translation, since the differences in the culture of Chinese and English are inevitably reflected in the process of language translation. Language is the carrier of culture, different geographical environments, historical conditions, religious beliefs, and social customs of different countries give birth to different cultures and languages. Culture is what the society thinks about and do, in turn language is the expression of thoughts(Sapir,Edward,2002).The close relationship between culture and language are tightly associated with translation. However, translation is not merely the transformation on the linguistic surface layer, but the communication and transplant of two different cultures. “For truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words only have meanings in terms of the cultures in which they function.”(Nida, 2001: 82) III. Prevailing translating theoryThe main goal of translation is, no doubt, to establish a particular type of correspondence between the source text and the target text. The nature of the correspondence has been referred to “faithfulness” or “fidelity”, or more predominantly, the notion of “equivalence”. The term “equivalence” in translation first appeared in J.R. Firths writing when she stated that “the so-called translation equivalents between two languages are never really equivalent” (Snell, 2002: 37). With the development of linguistics and the study of translation in 1960s, “translation equivalence” became the focus of study.A. Two levels of functional equivalenceIn the 1990s, Nida perfects his theory by taking the language and cultural differences into consideration. In his book Language, Culture and Translating, Nida puts functional equivalence into two levels according to the degree of adequacy: the minimal equivalence and the maximum equivalence. The definition of minimal functional equivalence is “The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original reader of the text must have understood and appreciated it” (Nida, 1993: 118). Anything less than this degree of equivalence should be unacceptable. The maximum functional equivalence can be stated as “The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did.” The maximum level of equivalence is rarely achieved except for texts having little or no aesthetic value and involving only routine information since it requires a higher degree of language-culture correspondence.Nidas functional equivalence theory puts emphasis on cultural factors in translation. In Nidas view, “The most serious mistakes in translating are usually made not because of verbal inadequacy, but of wrong cultural assumptions”(Nida, 1993: 29). If regardless of the cultural differences, the receptors will find the translation requiring so many efforts to understand that they are likely to stop reading, unless they are highly motivated. Therefore, for a truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism (Nida, 1993: 110). In a word, Nidas functional equivalence theory has offered a convincing answer to the disputes over literal and free translation lasting for 200 years and gives priority to the receptor over the forms of the language.B. Receptors responseWhen evaluating a translation, some translation theories just concentrate on message-conveyance of the target language, neglecting the role of receptors. Their main concern is that the message in the target language should match as closely as possible the different elements in the source language. Therefore they make constant comparison between the message in the source culture and the message in the target culture to determine standards of accuracy and correctness. Enlig