淮安旅游英语的翻译策略与分析

论文总字数：32839字

摘 要

淮安曾经是南北码头交汇之地，淮扬名菜发扬地，周恩来总理故乡。独具特色的民风民俗，优美的自然景观以及浓郁的人文气息都吸引了越来越多的世界各地的游客。因为文化差异的影响，不同国家的人们语言思维习惯与语言结构不尽相同，这给旅游景点的翻译带来了很大的挑战。本研究拟从文化视角为出发，以淮安的旅游景点翻译为例，调查旅游景点翻译现状。通过调查发现，旅游景点翻译中出现很多用词不当以及误译现象，并对此提出一些建议。在物质与精神同时快速发展的时代，旅游文化吸引越来越多是游客，对景点翻译显然有了更高的要求。希望本文能够提升淮安景区旅游景点的翻译，促进淮安旅游文化的发展。

关键词：旅游文化；淮安景点翻译；现状分析；意见建议

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 An overview on tourism culture 1

2.2 A brief review on the translation of Huaian tourist attractions 1

3. Analysis on the translation of Huaian Tourist Attractions From Cultural Perspective 2

3.1 Factors influence the translation of Huaian tourist attractions 2

3.2 Existing problems in the translation of Huaian tourist attraction 5

3.3 Strategies to improve the translation of Huaian tourist attraction 8

4. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

In the twenty-first century, China’s tourism industry is developing very rapidly, with its plenty and rich tourism resources. More and more tourists around the world have been attracted to visit China for its beautiful and natural scenery and rich humanistic characteristics. Consequently, tourism English begins to play an important role here. The population of using English is growing nowadays and English has become the global language of communication. If a country wants to have a comprehensive development of tourism, it is necessary for high-quality translators to translate tourist attractions with expertise knowledge of Tourism in order to make more social benefits.

Huaian, once as the intersection of the north and south pier, the birthplace of Huaiyang dishes, is the hometown of Premier Zhou Enlai. It has such unique folk tradition and customs folkway that more and more people are attracted to this city for tourism, even including some foreign guests. What is the present situation of tourist attraction like? Whether the translation of scenic spots promotes Huaian tourism? This thesis tries to have a survey and analysis on the translation of Huaian tourist attraction with the hope to make a little contribution to the development of Huaian Tourism.

2. Literature Review:

2.1 An overview on Chinese and western tourism culture

With the rapid development of the modern society, tourism cultures have gained thriving popularity. Cultural factors have been playing a significant and far-reaching role in tourism development. To speed up the development of China’s tourism and enhance its international competition, we must attach importance to the cultural construction of tourism, which is the essence of tourism culture.

Cultural tourism, which includes tourists, tourism labors, tourism resources, tourism facilities etc., is something both material and spiritual. We should try to exploit tourism resources and increase facilities, improve the service quality according to tourists’ different mental motivations and demands. For the foreign tourists, proper translation of tourist attraction is of great importance when they travel.

2.2 A brief review on the translation of Huaian tourist attractions

Culture is the soul of a city. The cultural characteristics should be combined when we are translating the scenic spots so as to highlight the unique characteristics of a city. Take the tourists attractions of Huaian as an example, its tourism is closely related to the canal culture.

Nowadays, more and more tourists are attracted to Huaian by its history and culture. Here are many tourist attractions such as Zhou Enlai Memorial, Qing Yan Garden, Bowl Chi Hill Park etc. Other tourist attractions are closely related to the rivers in Huaian. They are Hongze Lake area and spa of Lao Zi Mountain. The translation of these scenic spots is so important that they can make the tourist attraction of Huaian more attractive. To make Huaian tourist attraction known by the foreigners across the world, cultural and historical background should be assimilated into the translation of scenic spots.

3. Analysis on the translation of Huaian Tourist Attractions From Cultural Perspective

Huaian, once as the intersection of the north and south pier, the birthplace of Huaiyang dishes, is the hometown of Premier Zhou Enlai. With a long history of 2200 years, it is located in the north-centre of Jiangsu province, in the point of the intersection of Huaihe River and Grand Cannal. Huaian has such unique folk tradition and customs that more and more people are attracted to this city for tourism, among them some are foreign guests. What is the present situation of tourist attraction like? Bearing this question, a survey is carried out and analysis is given on the translation of Huaian tourist attraction as follows.

3.1 Factors influence the translation of Huaian tourist attractions

3.1.1 Language factors

Translation is a cross-linguistic, cross-cultural and cross-social communication activity. Therefore, the conversion between the two languages is not just the language form but also the conversion of a different way of thinking. There are also differences between different languages at the same time. For example, the four-character phrase in Chinese characters is a unique collection of language habits which is determined by the characteristics of their own. To meet the need of rhythm, the Chinese prefer to use double-syllable word or phrase of four words. But the syllables of English words vary in length. It’s hard to achieve the effect of expression of Chinese characters. That is to say, in the English translation of Chinese four words, it is unavoidable to lose the characteristics of the original whether the literal translation or free translation are taken. This is entirely negative impact which is caused by the language difference. If you can notice that Chinese prefer to use the four-character words in the English translation, then the translation will be more vivid.

As for the Language structure, English tends to be overt while Chinese is covert. This difference mainly reflects in the grammar. English is inflecting language while Chinese is not. Chinese emphasizes on the parataxis while English emphasizes on hypotaxis. Chinese structure of sentence is bright, like the waves of a river while the English structure of sentence is tight and it is like a big tree. Chinese sentences are linked in sense and it does not need too much to consider the formal connection. In contrast, the English sentence emphasizes on the connection between the elements of sentences so that it can form a whole. Numerals are between functional words and content words. This kind of words has the same function in grammar in general, but there are also many differences. For example, there are no articles like “a, an, the” in Chinese and there are no quantifiers in English. The national words differ in the functional words in Chinese and English. National words are called content words which include nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs. Functional words or form words include prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs and so on. These words do not have actual meanings but they have grammatical function, namely, grammatical meanings.

3.1.2. Social factors

Language is the main tool for reflecting the way of thinking, so translation is actually the conversion of the two different thinking ways. Human thinking has the features of areas, times, nations and society. For example, in English and Chinese culture, English and Chinese live in different geographical environments for a long time. The factors of lifestyles, religious, beliefs, political systems, value and ethics have caused the differences in Eastern and Western ways of thinking. The difference in Eastern and Western ways of thinking has led to the discrepancies in the expression between English and Chinese because thinking needs to be reflected in some ways Chinese people feel that persons are an integral part of the world and the universe and believe the theory that “man is an integral part of nature. This simple philosophy guides Chinese people’s mind and thinking. Chinese people are good at finding the correspondence and antithesis of things, so it is necessary to pay attention to the symmetry and the equilibrium so as to achieve the visual beauty Chinese poems and four-character idioms focused on the expression of parataxis, subtle language and distant mood.

In the west, “subject-object dichotomy” is the dominant principle in the modern philosophy of West. It is people and nature that are opposite and studies separately to examine the position of every part in the whole. It provides the basis to understand the overall. This feature makes westerners show the state of a divergence of individual while Chinese people are more holistic, so their thinking is comprehensive and broad. The difference of thinking ways has a great impact on the accuracy of the translation. For example, “Do not trample the grass”, can be seen in some of the grass. It is the typical Chinese thinking and the correct translation should be “keep off the grass”. It requires translators to avoid erroneous understanding what may pass out a negative impact when they are translating. Therefore, it requires translators to understand the culture, history and way of thinking habits of the west.

There is a belief that anyone who learn English can work in translation. It is completely wrong. It is necessary for translators to master both the special knowledge and the basic translation skills. Translators’ Language skills, professional knowledge and understanding of the background are bound to have a great impact on the quality of translation. If translators are not proficient in Chinese, they can not describe vividly in English or they may mistakes in their work.

3.1.3 Cultural factors

There are many factors which influence the translation of tourist attractions. Differences in each country’s culture are an objective reality. Language is the carrier of culture. Difference between different cultures should also be taken into account while we are busy on the conversion of languages. English Tourism is rich in content and its scale often includes all aspects of the history, geography, law and religion. Attention should be paid to the accurate information conveyance. It is necessary for translators to understand foreign geography and cultural background fully and find a sensible point by combining with their own country’s culture.

From the perspective of cultural factors, the translators should have respect for the national culture, which requires the translators to have a certain degree of culture sensitivity. Because different countries have their different historical backgrounds and also cultural tradition, ethnic customs are not the same. Perhaps one culture in one country may reflect a certain aesthetic value but it may be a symbol of evil in another country. Therefore, a translator should maintain a cautious attitude and have a high culture sensitivity so as to avoid the situation that uses simple language and cover the native culture. There should be some obstacle in transmission of information and language due to the cultural difference between West and East, especially the historical and cultural allusions which foreign tourists are not familiar with. It must reduce the cultural barriers which readers understand the translation when making the cultural transmission so as to achieve more desirable cultural goals. Therefore, translators need to thoroughly understand the original text and transform the exact meaning into the target text, which can shorten the cultural gap between the original readers and target readers effectively at this time.

3.2 Existing problems in the translation of Huaian tourist attraction

According to the analysis of the status of Huaian attractions and we know that China"s tourism resources are very rich, but the visibility in the international community is very small. A lot of foreigners are aware of a number of well-known cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and other places of China. They know a little about other tourist attractions, so foreigners have a poor understanding about our country"s tourism industry. They just get some information from the appropriate number of media data, text, or the Internet. As a result, it is inevitable that there exist problems in the translation of Huaian tourist attractions.

3.2.1 Misunderstanding about the requirements translation talents

Our cities and famous tourist attractions are published in English Tourism introduction and guidebooks including Huaian in this two years. However, there is misunderstanding about translation. Quite a number of people think that as long as a person is good at foreign language, he/she can be a good translator. It is completely wrong. Translation work is a very professional one, so translators must have a good command of both Chinese and English, possess strong skills. However, in many hotels in Huaian, relevant departments want to make their own work more easily, so they not ask for translation professionals. Some managers may serve as temporary translators, without a clear understanding of translation. Consequently, those who serve as temporary translators do not have a good attitude towards English translation capability, lack the awareness of coherence and cohesion, which brings negative influence on translation.

They should also have a good level in English and some experience in translation. But some translation work such as hotels and roadside boards is not professional because they want to save money and effort. So this results in some poor translation which brings negative impacts to tourists. Second is the inattentive management. One one hand, the system of cultural tourism market is not sound and management is not in place. There is no monitoring mechanism for the constitution of cultural attractions including the lack of translation of mature guidance. On the other hand, China’s translation market is mainly composed of translation companies, individual translators and students. The lack of unified management is also the reason of the poor tourism translation.

3.2.2 Spelling mistakes of language

In the process of the data collection, lots of spelling errors are found on the tourist signs. The phenomenon of wrong spelling may mislead visitors in some ways, which cannot be ignored. For example, the correct spelling of China rosr square should be rose of course. Perhaps this kind of misspellings has no business with translators, but such carelessness should be avoided.

Famous for the mountain, Bowl Chishan Park is one of Huaian’s famous tourist attractions, which is located in the southeast of Huaian city. In the park, there lies a scenic spot, Gold-Sand-Pay. Here is an obvious spelling mistake in the translation. The word “pay” is incorrect spelling. It should be Gold-Sand bay. Besides, bay refers to gulf. In fact, the version “Gold-Sand river beach” is better. In addition, there are marinas in both Bowl Chishan Park and ChuXiuYuan Park. But the translation of marinas in these two attractions is different, with the former “cruise boats quay” and the latter “Pleasure boat”. Are they both right? Actually, though the two versions above both means marinas, the two attractions are used for commerce, which rents the boats to the tourists. Therefore, the translation “boat rental” is better, which is very clear at a glance with appropriate images.

3.2.3 Logic errors

The translation process requires translators to first thoroughly analyze and understand the full text, so translation is also a thinking process. In fact, translation is a language logic activities. Logical thinking activities throughout the whole process of translation help tourists to understand the use of logical. For example, there are three terms in the phrase of Thunder Lake Sunset which is the attraction of ChuXiu Yuan Park. The grammar is totally confused. This attraction wanted to express the meaning that the lake is very beautiful and it is worth enjoying. So it can be translated into “Sunset of Thunder Lake”.In Chinese grammar, as long as the subject and predicate are logical, it should also work in concert with the form which agrees in person, number and tense. Otherwise, the logic of the sentence is wrong. In short, people in the thought process should be consistent from beginning to end and should not be contradictory. The phenomenon of before and after the conflict cannot appear in translation, either. This phenomenon is called self-contradictory logic and it should be avoided in translation. Therefore, translation must straighten out logical thinking,. Scrutinize degrees carefully so that translation is not only in the aesthetic expression of the target language and cultural habits, but also with its original equivalent to the maximum extent in content and form.

3.2.4 Chinglish

Due to the different ways of thinking and language habits, when many people speak or write English, the expression in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar may have a bit of Chinese flavor. There were some obvious Chinglish, which was found in the survey of tourist attraction in Huaian. Chinglish has been for a long history since Chinese began to learn and use English. In the early 1980s, some foreign experts pointed out that some phrases or structures in some Chinese magazines and newspapers did not conform to the standard of English actually. Because it manifests Chinese features and this king of English was called “Chinglish”.

3.2.5 Improper translation

In the tourist attractions, there are always three-four kinds of translation on one scenic spot. A Scenic spot can be translated into three or four forms, which usually lead to the name confusion. The author took a different translation on different translated names, so the foreign tourists got confused when they read the name and also it may make some jokes. Here are some examples about the translation in some tourist attractions. There are several warning signs when tourists are traveling in the boats. First is “Do not climb over the railing”. The warning signs translation is “Do not climb over the rail”. This kind of translation was not wrong. But I often see that the slogan is “Do not proceed beyond rail” when I search on the Internet. “Climb over” is the meaning of “turn climb” and it is commonly used to another king of expression which is “Climb over a mountain”. The slogan wants to express that the body should not be placed before the railing. So the correct translation should be “Do not proceed beyond rail”. Another example is the translation of “Caution, slipper surface”. Translation of warning sign is the “CAUTION WET FLOOR”. It should be translated into different forms under different situations. If there is water on the surface we can translate that into “Caution Wet Floor”. But if the ground construction material is smooth and then it should be translated into “Caution Sipplery”. The third example is “Be aware of falling into the water”. The slogan on the warning signs “Caution Risk of Falling into Water” was translated into “Be aware of the water hazard”. By contrast, it is better than another translation “Take care to fall into water” in some tourist spots.

3.3 Strategies to improve the translation of Huaian tourist attraction

Culture of a nation is always closely linked with his historical development and religion is an integral part of a whole nation’s culture. Language is the carrier of culture, which comes with a national cultural imprint inevitably.

3.3.1 Transliteration

In the English translation, transliteration is spelled by Hanyu PinYin directly or imitate the spelling of English words. The name of attraction is the first tourist destination for tourists, so the name of attraction’s translation is essential. A good name can attract tourists’ attention such as the “Bowl Pool Mountain” is translated in “Bo Chishan”. But the simple transliteration does not convey any information about tourist attractions to tourists. So visitors will not be able to distinguish whether this tourist attraction is fun or not. The paraphrase should be added on the basis of transliteration, for example, “Bowl pool mountain” is translated into “Bowl Chishan” directly so that foreign tourists do no know how a place it is. But if it is translated into “Bo Chi hill”, then more people will get clear. Literal aspect helps preserve the original style and maintain “national sentiment”. On the other hand, vivid words, syntactic structure and expression should be introduced from foreign country so that our language can be more abundant. But when the original forms of expression of the ideological content and translation contradiction should not be used in the literal translation process ,the translation method should be only used in accordance with the original expression of ideological content instead of the original structure and form of expression.

3.3.2 Metaphrase

Although there are many kinds of languages in this world, each language is used to express human’s thoughts and feelings without exception so there are many similarities in languages. This means that the attractions of idioms can be translated into English directly which can be understood by foreign tourists. This is called literal translation. The four-character phrases are used for describing the sights, concise in the most of the tourist attractions. As Huaian Bowl Pool Mountain attraction name which is “Guangling view Joan” can be translated as “viewing Jade flowers in Guangling”. This method can retain the original meaning and make foreign tourists avoid misunderstanding.

3.3.3 Paraphrase

"Paraphrase" starts from the meaning and only effects the expression and requirements of the original without too much attention on details. But it requires the translation natural flow. Due to the influence of cultural factors, it is unable to retain the original language in the translation of the literal meaning and significance of the image. You can change the original image into another target which readers are familiar with and convey the original purpose of the pragmatic. English and Chinese different historical development, national culture, customs caused the two unique languages. Therefore, we must have a basic understanding of the language and culture. The two basic versions are not literal translation where the language is customary expression implication. Paraphrase is when literal translation is not accurate to convey the meaning which is expression of tourist attractions. Translators use western language habits and ways of thinking so that can express the meaning of the expression of tourist attractions vividly. It can enhance the spirit of communication of foreign tourists more effectively in order to achieve the best effect of publicity. Take in the former residence of the introduction of Wu’s Pilgrimage to the west translation should be “Sun the priest” or “Sun the monk”? This involves the problem that the translator is the source culture-oriented or the target culture-oriented. If it is the former, oriented strategy should be used to be translated as “Sun the monk”. If it is the latter, domestication strategy should be used and translated as “ Sun the priest”.

3.3.4 Amplification

Amplification is one of the most important ways in the translation of tourism English.

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