Theory and Methodology of Tourism Translation from Chinese into English

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1 Introduction

tourism is one of the most fast-growing industries in China， which produced thousands of billions incomes each year. It is a need to introduce more tourism information to the world outside. Let them better know the booming of tourism in China. When doing tourism translation from chinese into english， one must avoid Chinglish and pay more attention to cultural connotation. So the strategies of translation based on a reasonable theory seem more significant than any other time.

2 Definition of tourism and functional equivalence

2.1 The definition of tourism

As Chen Gang has mentioned in 2009， tourism English could be defined as “from the perspective of activity， it is translating practice provided for tourism activities as well as tourism major， profession and industry.” According to the definition， tourism translation involves many different fields and multi-disciplinary knowledge， and it is communicative activities concerning cross language， society， space， culture， psychology and religion.

2.2 The definition of functional equivalence

According to Eugene A. Nida， a minimal， realistic definition of functional equivalence could be stated as “The readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it”

“Functional equivalence” indicates that an effective translation should be able to produce the equivalence of function， message and response to both the target and the original receptors.

According to the definition， we can learn that there is no need to translate the materials word by word； meaning or function is what matters.

3 Translating strategies

A good strategy can help translator achieve terrific effect and offer the readers an agreeable result. Otherwise， things will go oppositely. Tourism English bears its own traits. Its aim is to introduce various scenic spots to the visitors so that they can enjoy and appreciate both the scenic spots and the cultural connotations. Some strategies for translating tourism English will be listed and analyzed one by one.

3.1 Directness

One of the characteristics of tourism English is directness， whose purpose is to introduce a place and let the visitor know where they are at the first sight. The ways of directness should be followed in translating the name of the places.

Example 1. 在苍山脚下、洱海之滨，还有一处闻名遐迩的游览胜地――蝴蝶泉。

English version： At the foot of Mount Cangshan and off Lake Erhai lies Butterfly Spring， another tourist destination known far and near.

Example 2. 蝴蝶泉位于苍山云弄峰下的绿树丛中，距大理古城24公里。

English version： Twenty-four kilometers from Dali Old Town， Butterfly Spring is shrouded in trees under Peak Yunnong of Mt Cangshan.

Example 3. 此后，制陶技术一直在云南各地传播、发展，到了明清时期，形成了建水、玉溪、华宁、禄丰等一些著名的陶器产地。

English version： From the Neolithic Age， pottery-making techniques began to spread throughout Yunnan Province. By the Ming and Qing dynasties， Yunnan had had some well-known pottery-making places， such as Jianshui County， Yuxi City， Huaning County， and Lufeng County.

Example 4. 泸沽湖畔的摩梭人……

English version： The Mosuo people by Lake Lugu ferry，

In the three examples above， the italicized words are all names of a certain place， some of which refer to city names， some to mountains， some to lakes and some to a special kind of ethnic group. So there is no need to explain too much. We just translate them in accordance with conventions or Chinese Pinyin （just because there is no international translating versions/standard so far） and no ambiguity will be produced when reading the English version.

There are still many similar expressions that we need use directness in translating. For example， “敖包” was translated as “Aobao”， “玛尼堆”as “Mani Mounds”， “千寻塔”as “Qianxun Pagoda”， “三坊一照壁” as “Sanfangyizhaobi”， “四方街” as “Sifang Street”， “木楞四合院” as “Muleng Courtyard House”

3.2 Conciseness

As William Strunk， Jr. and E.B. White， in their book， The Elements of Style says， “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words， a paragraph no unnecessary sentences， for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

The statement clearly illustrates the significance of the conciseness. The purpose of the tourism English is to attract visitor to the scenic spots， while most of people are reluctant to read a long and boring instructions in such a busy pace of life， so conciseness appears extraordinarily essential. The translation should let the visitor know： a） what kind of place is talking about？ b） What specialty does it possess？ c） Is it worth visiting？ All these information must be expressed in short and concise sentences.

Example 5. 大理三塔是南诏国和大理国时期的一组颇具规模的佛教建筑，位于原崇圣寺，呈三足鼎立之势。

English version： The Three Pagodas in Dali are a complex of Buddhist buildings during Nanzhao （AD738-902） and Dali Kingdoms （AD 937-1254）， the pagodas were disposed in a triangle to face each other.

In this sentence the Chinese “呈三足鼎立之势” has a long story about Chinese history “Romance of Three Kingdoms”， but the visitors have no desire or time for the exciting or boring history， they just want to know why the pagoda has been described like this and what the particularity is. So the English version “disposed in a triangle to face each other” rather than “taking on a situation of tripartite confrontation” or “like three kingdoms confronting with each other” concisely describes the appearance of the three pagodas and a figurative style of personification has been contained in the description with the use of “face each other”.

Example 6. “好个腾越州，十山九无头”.

First version： “Tengyue Prefecture is a wonderful and strange place； nine in ten mountains are without peak.”

Second version： “How extraordinary Teng-yueh （now Tengchong） is！ Nine out of ten mountains are topless.”

Comparing the two versions， we can find that the first one translated word by word and seems straight and narrow. It is clumsy in choosing the English words corresponding to the “好个腾州”. “Wonderful and strange” is too plain in demonstrating the miraculous and spectacular view of the mountains. It can not express the author’s reverence for the secret workings of nature and a kind of heroic feeling when seeing such mountains.

The second version used an exclamatory sentence. It is concise， clear and simple and does not lose any information， and the word “extraordinary” conveys the author’s feelings at the sight of the mountains. There are also some controversies on the second part “十山九无头”， but whichever version is acceptable.

When it comes to conciseness， meaning is more significant than form. As for tourist propaganda， cost must be taken into consideration. A concise and clear English version is more acceptable and economic for those businessmen.

3.3 Vividness

Many scenic spots have something to do with buildings， mountains， lakes and relics. Buildings demonstrate the subtlety and delicacy of Chinese architecture； mountains and lakes reveal the magic of the nature and intelligence of human beings recreating on the nature. So many modifications are applied in Chinese descriptions， such as idiom， poetry， famous persons， and even some animals which are believed to be auspicious. Such events can be seen here and there in Chinese instructions.

Example 7. 泸沽湖畔的摩梭人，常常用一段圆木镂空中心，凿木成船，放入湖面渡水、捕鱼、捞草。这种独木小船因形如饲猪的食槽，故民间称之为猪槽船。

English version： The Mosuo people by Lake Lugu ferry， fish and gather seaweeds on the lake in a boat made out of a hollowed log. Because the log boats look very much like the troughs for feeding pigs， they earn the name of pig-trough-shaped boats.

These two sentences mainly talk about the name of boat and the way of making the boat. The Chinese “猪槽船” will make the foreign visitors even some homeland visitors living in the cities confused. It is necessary to describe vividly the shape and function of the boat to make those unknown know it. So the English version “pig-trough-shaped boats” is not only vivid but also direct. Some more examples are common. For example， “松木建盖的井干式合院木屋” is translated into “stilted courtyard houses built with pine wood”. It is hard to understand what is “井干式”， and we can hardly find an exact English word to be equivalent of it since the stylistic building belongs to kind of ethnic group in China. When we choose the word， the English must have similarity at maximum as in Chinese. Thus the expression “well-framed courtyard” seems awkward and rigid compared with “stilted courtyard houses”.

Example 8. “泉上大树，当4月初即发花如蛱蝶，须翅栩然，与生蝶无异。还有真蝶千万，连须钩足，自树颠倒悬而下及于泉面，缤纷络绎，五色焕然.”

This sentence describes the sight of the butterfly spring in April. Many idioms such as “花如蛱蝶， 须翅栩然， 连须钩足， 缤纷络绎，五色焕然” are used， which is a big headache for many translators. However， we can not omit or change them deliberately or subjectively just because they are hard to translate. Obviously， the employment of these idioms promotes the vividness of the picture； we will see a crowd of butterflies gathering each other when reading these words. When we translate such words， we should bear vividness in mind. Our translation should intrigue the visitor’s interest in visiting such a fairy place， and let them share the same feeling as our Chinese visitors do.

English version： In early April， the big trees over the spring put out flowers that resemble nymphalids so much that they seem to have the palps and wings of real butterflies. And what is more amazing is that tens of thousands of real butterflies， with their palps and feet hooked together， dangle upside down over the pond from the trees， almost touching the water. The pond becomes a dazzling world of colors.

From the English version， we can see that same feelings are expressed by totally different structure， say， they are equivalent in function rather than structure. So， when form and content conflict， then content always comes first.

3.4 Seriousness

Many tourism materials involve religions， which are sensitive， political and serious. More attention should be paid to such materials. The ethnic culture always appeal to many visitors outside， some of which are so unbelievable and impressive that many customs， taboos， habits are forgotten when rendering them. Translators must be alert and cautious in choosing the words and expressing tone and manner when doing such materials’ translation. They also have the obligation to spread the Chinese ethnic culture to the homeland and abroad precisely and exactly. Otherwise some unnecessary misunderstands， disputes or conflicts will appear out of religious factors.

3.5 Explanation

In tourism translation many cultural materials are involved. Chinese famous persons and poetry are most obvious. When translating these information， translator also cultural mediator should do some more explanations in order to make visitors know better about Chinese culture.

Example 10. 蝴蝶泉的出名与徐霞客在他的游记中的描述有关。

Xu Xiake was a very famous person in China， who was known to most of the Chinese people， but how about foreign visitors？ So it is necessary to give a further explanation about his details， such as his birthday， profession and works.

English Version： The spring owes much of its reputation to what Xu Xiake， a great geographer in the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644）， wrote in his book Travel Notes

In this version “a great geographer in the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644）” is an appositive to “Xu Xiake” which is used to explain the details about him. After reading the version， foreign visitors are clear about whom he was and what he did. Other similar examples： “南诏国” is translated as “Nanzhao Kingdom （824-859）”， “咸同年间” as “Xiantong period （860-873）”， “西施” as “Xi Shi， name of a famous beauty in the late Spring and Autumn Period”， “月下老人” as “God who united man and woman in marriage or the Old Man under the Moon”

In short， explanation is necessary when translating the tourism materials related to Chinese cultures.

4 Conclusion

In modern China， tourism translation is a huge project； many professional translators are still needed， at the same time the quality should be improved. Cultural factors are inevitable， as Robinson says “It is probably safe to say that there has never been a time when the community of translators was unaware of cultural differences and their significance for translation.” Both word-for-word translation and sense-for-sense translation can not be perfect in practical translation； various ways should be applied in accordance with the concrete materials.

Reference：

[1]Eugene A. Nida Language and Culture： Contexts in Translating [M] ShangHai： Shanghai Foreign Education Press 2001：87.

[2]Douglas Robinson Becoming a Translator： An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Translation Second Edition Routledge 1997.

[3]陈刚.旅游英汉互译教程[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2009：10.

[4]英国培生教育出版有限公司（编）.朗文当代英语词典（第三版增补本）【Z】.北京：外语与教学研究出版社，2002.

[5]（美）平卡姆.中式英语之鉴[M].北京：外语与教学研究出版社，1998.12.