（英语语言文学专业论文）从功能翻译理论看旅游文本的汉英翻译.pdf

iv 论文标题: 从功能翻译理论看旅游文本的汉英翻译 作者姓名: 周少蓉 导师姓名: 谢世坚 年级: 2004 专业: 英语语言文学 方向: 翻译理论与实践 摘要摘要 自从加入世贸组织以来，我国旅游业飞速发展，旅游市场不断规范，吸引着越来越多 的外国游客来我国旅游观光。 旅游翻译对促进我国旅游市场的进一步国际化起着极其重要 的作用。旅游翻译包括旅游文本翻译（笔译）和导游翻译（口译） 。近年来，我国旅游翻 译的水平不断提高，然而依然存在不少问题。所以，如何提高旅游翻译的质量是一个很具 有现实意义的研究课题。 本文将主要从功能途径探讨如何使旅游文本的英语翻译符合目的 语读者的审美需求， 以实现文本的预期交际目的。 希望研究成果对从事旅游文本翻译和旅 游教学的人士有一定参考价值。 翻译是一个复杂的过程，不仅包括语言转换，还包括文化转换。所以，仅仅依靠语言 学理论是不能解释复杂的翻译现象的， 翻译研究应将翻译行为置于它发生的特定的社会文 化语境中去探讨。 近年来， 翻译研究者们正从单纯依靠语言学理论转向依靠更多的相关学 科的理论和方法去研究翻译， 从而产生许多具有相当解释力的翻译理论。 在诸多翻译理论 中， 于 20 世纪 70 年代产生于德国的功能翻译理论， 能很好地将制约翻译行为的文化和语 用因素纳入它的理论框架， 被认为是比较适合非文学文本翻译的理论。 这个理论可为不同 类型的翻译提供基本翻译原则。然而，翻译毕竟是一种语言转换过程，所以译者仍然需要 依靠语言学理论的相关理论去分析人们在具体语境中是如何使用语言去实现特定交际目 的的，以便发现翻译中的语言和文化转换方面的具体问题，从而采取有效的翻译策略。本 文就是在这种理念的指导下， 从功能途径去探讨旅游文本的翻译的。 文中的功能途径既包 括以布勒提出的语言功能模式为指导思想的德国功能主义学派及研究途径， 也包括以韩礼 德的系统功能语言学及语用学为基础的翻译语篇分析学派及研究途径 （张美芳， 2005： 12） 。 在文中，作者首先根据德国功能学者莱思的文本类型理论，确定了旅游资料的翻译标准, 即 “旅游文本的翻译应以目的语读者为主， 在语言形式和内容方面都要符合目的语读者的 审美需求。 ”然后根据英国语篇分析学派的主要理论及研究方法，结合大量的事例，较全 面地分析了与实现译文功能相关的翻译问题，它们包括：(1) 语言结构的差异所导致的问 题； (2)文化差异引起的对旅游文本体裁的期待差异所导致的问题; (3)与文化知识有关的源 语文本的“信息缺省”而导致的问题(nord 1997:63-68)。然后根据文中确定的翻译标准， 提出了相关的翻译方法。 通过研究发现，从功能途径探讨旅游文本的翻译，不仅能确定文本翻译的基本策略， 还能从微观方面阐述文本作者在特定的文化语境下，是如何选择语言实现预期的交际目 的；并且对旅游文本翻译中出现的问题有很强的解释力。所以，作者指出，功能翻译理论 是非常适合旅游文本的翻译的。 v 关键词：旅游文本的英语翻译关键词：旅游文本的英语翻译; 功能翻译理论功能翻译理论; 翻译问题翻译问题; 语法结构差异语法结构差异; 文化差异文化差异 vi functionalist approaches to c-e translation of tourist texts author: zhou shaorong supervisor: xie shijian grade: 2004 specialty: english language and literature major: translation theory and practice abstract in recent years, chinas tourism market is being continually improved, attracting more and more foreign visitors. tourism translation is playing an increasingly important role in further promoting internationalization of chinas tourism. tourism translation includes the translation of tourist texts (written translation) and oral interpretation. in recent years, the quality of tourism translation has been improved a lot; however, there are still many poor tourism translations. so, it is a very meaningful job to explore how to improve the quality of tourism translation. this thesis is designed to study c-e translation of tourist texts from functionalist approaches, focusing on how to create a translated text that is accessible to the target-language readers. the author hopes that the study would be helpful for the people who are engaged in tourism translation and tourism translation teaching. translation is a complicated process, involving not only linguistic transfer but also cultural transfer. it is impossible to describe and explain all the translation problems encountered merely from linguistic approaches. it would be true that the act of translating should be located in the socio-cultural context in which it occurs. in recent years, translation scholars began to embark on translation studies from different approaches, which lead to the appearance of many powerful theories. the functionalist approaches to translation studies, appearing in germany in the 1970s, are considered be very appropriate for the translation of non-literary texts because they could incorporate the cultural and pragmatic factors very well. german functionalist approaches can function as the macro-level principle for almost all types of translations. however, translation is a special process of linguistic transfer, in which the linguistics theories, especially the theories of discourse analysis are still needed to investigate how people use the language for a special purpose in a given context, and identify the translation problems. so, the thesis attempts to study c-e translation of tourist texts from functionalist approaches, which include: (i) german functionalist approaches, which are based on buhlers model of language function; (ii)british functionalist approaches, which are based on hallidays systemic-functional model, and pragmatics (张美芳，2005:12). in the thesis, german functionalist approaches are employed to determine the translation criteria, that is: “the translation of tourist texts should be oriented towards the target-language readers, and both form and content should be adjusted to the needs and expectations of the target-language readers”. and british functionalist approaches vii are used to make systematic comparisons of the function-relevant elements, which leads to the following translation problems: (i) how to deal with the difference in grammatical structures (ii) how to deal with the difference in culture specific genre expectations; (iii) how to deal with the difference in cultural knowledge which may require an adjustment of the relationship between explicit and implicit information in the text (nord 1997: 63-68). after this analysis, the translation strategies are proposed in terms of the translation criteria. it can be shown that the appropriateness of functionalist approaches for c-e translation of tourist texts lies in: (i) it can help determine the translation criteria; (ii) it can help identify the function-relevant translation problems for the translator to take appropriate translation strategies; (iii) it can help explain the translators decision. so, the author points out that functionalist approaches are very appropriate for the translation of tourist texts. key words: english translation of tourist texts; functionalist approaches; translation problems; grammatical-structural differences; cultural differences 论文独创性声明论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行的研究工作及取得的成 果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含其他个人或其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研 究成果。对本文的研究作出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人承担 本声明的法律责任。 研究生签名： 日期： 论文使用授权声明论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定。广西师范大学、中国科学 技术信息研究所、 清华大学论文合作部， 有权保留本人所送交学位论文的复印件和电子文档， 可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文。本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容相一 致。除在保密期内的保密论文外，允许论文被查阅和借阅，可以公布（包括刊登）论文的全 部或部分内容。论文的公布（包括刊登）授权广西师范大学学位办办理。 研究生签名： 日期： 导 师签名： 日期： 1 introduction in recent years, chinas tourist market is being continually improved, attracting more and more foreign visitors. tourism translation is playing an increasingly important role in further promoting internationalization of chinas tourism. in recent years, the quality of tourism translation has been improved a lot; however, there are still many poor tourism translations. so, how to improve the quality of tourism translation should be correspondingly highlighted. tourism translation includes the translation of tourist texts (written translation) and oral interpretation. this thesis is designed to study c-e translation of tourist texts from functionalist approaches. i hope that the study can be helpful for the people who are engaged in tourism translation and tourism translation teaching. until very recently, translation studies have been focusing on the function and nature of bible and literary translation. with the emergence of a great number of non-literary texts in the areas of translation, some translation scholars began to shift their attention to the translation of such texts. it is also the case in china. it is worth noting that an increasing number of scholars are showing special interest in tourism translation in the process of internationalization of chinas tourism market. most of them tackle tourism translation from cultural approaches, including vermeers skopostheorie, nidas principle of dynamic equivalence or newmarks theory of communicative translation. for example, chen gang (陈刚) (2001) proposes that vermeers skopostheorie, newmarks theory of communicative translation are appropriate for tourism translation; zhang hui (张惠) (2004) points out that tourism translation should focus on the functional equivalence between the source and target text in terms of nidas principle of dynamic equivalence. some of them tackle tourism translation from functional approaches. for example, kang ning (康宁) (2005:85-87) proposes that tourism translation should be oriented towards the target-culture readers after a comparative analysis of tourist texts in chinese and in english in terms of the directive, the descriptive and the informative function. in a word, it has been acknowledged that the difference in cultural knowledge and aesthetic habits could not be neglected in tourism translation. it is true that translation studies have been drawing inspirations from linguistics. however, translation is a cross-cultural communicative activity taking place in a given situation, linguistic-based approaches cannot describe and explain all the translation problems encountered. therefore, one common feature of much of the study in translation studies is an emphasis on the cultural aspects of translation, on the context within which translation occurs (bassnett 1980:2). certainly, it does not mean that the translator can arrive at an ideal translation without the help of linguistic theory because translation is an operation performed on languages: a process of substituting a text in one language for a text in another (quoted in 2 wilss 1982:66). so, in the thesis, i would attempt to study c-e translation of tourist texts from functionalist approaches, which including:(i) german functionalist approaches, which are based on buhlers model of language function; (ii) british functionalist approaches, which draw inspirations from hallidays theory of systemic-functional linguistics, and pragmatics as well. german functionalist approaches tackle translation from macro-level perspective, focusing on the cultural and pragmatic aspect of translation; british functionalist approaches tackle translation from micro-level perspective, aiming at describing how people use the language for a special purpose in a given context. the thesis consists of six chapters in addition to abstract and introduction. chapter 1 mainly concerns the importance and the present situation of english translation of tourist texts in china. chapter 2 gives a brief account of functionalist approach, involving its definition and theoretical base, its development abroad and in china, and its application in the thesis. chapter 3 is intended to determine the translation criteria on the basis of reisss theory of text type. that is: the translation of tourist texts should be oriented towards the target-language readers, both the content and form would be adjusted to the expectations and needs of the target-language users. chapter 4 analyzes translation problems encountered in c-e translation of tourist texts by drawing on the theories and findings of discourse analysis, and pragmatics. the problems include: (i) how to deal with the difference in grammatical structures; (ii) how to deal with the difference in culture-specific genre expectations; (iii) how to deal with the difference in cultural knowledge. chapter 5 proposes translation strategies about how to deal with the problems effectively. chapter 6 makes a conclusion about the thesis, stating the meaning and limitations of the study. it can be shown that the appropriateness of functionalist approaches for c-e translation of tourist texts lies in: (i) it can help determine the translation criteria; (ii) it can help identify the function-relevant translation problems for the translator to take appropriate translation strategies; (iii) it can help explain the translators decision. so, the author points out that functionalist approaches are very appropriate for the translation of tourist texts. 3 chapter 1 english translation of tourist texts in china 1.1 the importance of english translation of tourist texts with the improvement of peoples living standards and increase in their leisure time, more and more people like to travel domestically or internationally for recreation and entertainment. tourism is becoming one of the most powerful industries in the 21th century, exerting great influence on global economy. whats more, tourism, as the major way of cross-cultural communication, contributes a lot to enhancing mutual understanding and cooperation of the people in different countries. it is also the case in china. after entry into wto, chinas tourist market is being continually regularized, attracting more and more tourists at home and abroad. it is estimated that china will become the major tourist destination of the world by 2020. tourism is playing crucial role in developing economy and publicizing the traditional culture of one country. so, in order to further promote the development of chinese tourism and improve its international competition, tourism translation should be correspondingly highlighted. tourism institutions and organizations pay attention to advertising through various ways to improve the image of destination areas during recent years. anyhow, one of the major ways is to distribute tourist texts. so, english translation of tourist texts plays a very crucial role in the development of tourism in china because english is the most widely used language in the world. 1.2 the present situation of english translation of tourist texts 1.2.1 different forms of english versions of tourist texts in recent years, there emerge a great number of english versions of tourist texts. some of them are published by profit seeking-firms, travel bureaus, hotels, restaurants, and other tourist operations, and some also provided by national, regional or local non-profit organizations to publicize their respective countries, regions or localities (朱葆琛，1991:133). these texts appear in different forms, mainly including: (i) guidebooks of destination cities and countries, containing the details about their geographical or climate condition, natural landscape, historical relics, culture and customs as well; (ii) travel brochures or pamphlets of tourist attractions, offering information about entertainment, shopping, cultural events, dining, transportation, restaurants and so on. (iii) national or regional tourist website, providing plentiful information about destination areas. 4 1.2.2 translation errors in english translation of tourist texts with the increasing growth of chinas tourism, the quality of tourism translation has been improved a lot in recent years. a great number of good translations appear, playing a very important role in attracting foreign tourists. however, there are still some poor translations that cannot be appreciated by the target readers, resulting in the breakdown of cross-cultural communication. it is often heard that foreign visitors in china complain that they cannot understand some english versions of tourist texts due to the strange or wrong expressions, unfamiliar cultural content, etc. this phenomenon is arousing the attention of many chinese scholars, who have written to point out translation errors in tourism translation and proposed some valuable translation methods from a variety of perspectives. liu jiangang (刘建 刚)(2001:1) points out that typical mistakes in c-e translation of tourist texts include: being unfaithful to the content of the original text, grammatical translation mistakes, and logical translation mistakes. wen jun (文军) sums up eight types of mistakes appearing in c-e translation of tourist texts, they are: chinglish expressions, misspelling, errors in grammar, omission of information, improper use of words and phrases, redundancy in language and misunderstanding of culture (杨素珍, 2004:6). every language has its special grammatical structures, and language is also a part of culture, so translations without errors are rare. anyhow, translation errors mainly arise from the translators failure to deal with the difference in grammatical structures and culture between the source and target language appropriately. some of translation errors can be illustrated by looking at the following extracts taken from bilingual tourist texts in china: (1) 这里有的，都市里没有。桂北居民的吊角楼外型，白墙素瓦，在青山碧水间显得十分素 雅大方、独具风情。都市人看到云雾山庄无不心动不已，这正是他们理想的绿色家园。山庄 坐落在冠岩景区风景秀丽的漓江畔，可俯视漓江，可融入山野，尽显度假休闲之悠然。 what cities have, here we dont have. the autonomous region hand foot floor building type by guilin north residents. white wall plain tiles seem very plain and natural having local condition and customs alone among green mountain green water. city people see that the foggy resort is aroused in interest invariably, this is exactly their ideal green home. the foggy resort is located on the bank of li river in crown cave scenery area. that is a picturesque place, can overlook the distance at liriver, looking around the field. it is the beautiful scenery area to show you the wonderful scenery. (from guilin travel pamphlet) obviously, it is a typical chinglish expression. almost all the lexical words are translated literally; and the syntactic structure and sentence order are not changed. given the difference in 5 grammatical structures between the two languages, it is difficult for target-language readers to understand it. (2) 长沙世界之窗文化旅游景区位于长沙市东北郊浏阳河畔，占地 50 万平方米，投资三亿 元人民币，是湖南省最大的文化旅游项目之一，也是湖南省重要的精神文明建设基地。长沙 世界之窗由湖南广播电视发展中心、 香港中旅集团、 深圳华侨城实业发展股份有限公司共同 兴起. the window of the world theme park is 300 million yuan joint venture by hunan province broadcasting or huge walls, solid and sound; or immense eggs piled on an unsteady board or miniature rocky or curios. fantastic but actual, dreamy and real; they are not artistic works, but more exquisite than artistic works. one cannot help marveling at the acne of prefect of nature creation (引自杨素珍, 2004:22) we can see that linguistic forms have been adjusted to the target language and all the content has been conveyed. however, it is still not a good translation because of the difference in aesthetic habits and expectations between the source and target readers. 1.3 require