Translation Strategies Study of Xinghuacun Cultural Tourism Zone for Regional Tourism Teaching

王文彥

【Abstract】Domestic tourism market develops rapidly along with the internationalization and improvement of China's image. More foreign tourists come to China to know Chinese history as well as to experience Chinese culture. Tourism publicity translation can spread China's image worldwide to promote development of local tourism. Tourism translation possesses features of practical function， while some scenic spot translation works are of varying quality. It is bound to have a negative impact on the local tourism development. Aimed at this situation， the author in this article takes Xinghuacun scenic area translation as an example to analyze scenic spots translation strategies from the angle of foreignization and domestication translation， and compares the merits of different translation strategies.

【Key words】tourism translation； foreignization； domestication

【基金項目】本文系安徽省高等學校省級教學研究項目基金“商務英語專業綜合改革試點”階段性成果之一，項目編號：2015z y101；2017年安徽省人文社科重點項目課題的階段性研究成果，課題標號是SK2017A077， 課題名稱是“池州市旅游文化漢英翻譯——歸化與異化的動態選擇策略”。

【中圖分類號】H31 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2017）28-0108-02

Chapter I. Introduction

Tourist attractions introduction often contains many cultural factors， such as famous historical figure， anecdote， poem and scenic spot name origin， etc. These cultural factors are also called the culture specific items referring to the unique concepts， characters and things featured in source language culture， which are the national or local wisdom and cultural manifestation of history and culture， a highlight of the tourist attractions. It is not only plants and trees， pavilions that attract their foreign tourists from afar， but also the fascinating and profound cultural accumulation. Therefore， one of tourism translation difficulties is that the application of language must appropriately and genuinely reflect culture， express rich cultural connotation， as well as be restricted by the culture.

In tourism English translation， translators must process bilingual information according to their cultural background， and strive to use the most proper language expression to communicate information to target language readers， so as to achieve pragmatic equivalent translation of tourism. It also requires translators deep comprehension of cultural factors both in domestic language and foreign language. Then domestication and foreignization methods are powerful methodologies for translators and provide new perspective to define translation.

Chapter II. Literature review

A.Tourism translation in semantic translation and communicative translation theory

Newmark， according to the semantic and communicative translation， classified the functions of language into 6 types： the expressive function， the informative function， the vocative function， the aesthetic function， the phatic function， and the metalingual function. Therefore， the expressive function of tourism or scenic spot translation is to highlight the advertisement and contents communication. The informative function is to convey the idea to tourist through concise and clear expression. And the vocative and aesthetic functions are to attract tourists and make them fully enjoy the scenic spot and experience natural beauty as well as historic relics.

In tourism translation， the primary function is informative function which is embodied in the fidelity of translation. Any abusive translation is not accepted for it contradicts the fundamental principle of translation no matter which method is applied. And the aesthetic function is the second important principle. It should grasp the essence of the tourism introduction in cultural and aesthetic aspects.

Tourism translation in Skopostheorie

Generally， studies on tourism translation are based on the linguistic equivalence. But skopostheorie does not regard translation as a pure transfer of source language into target language. “All action has an aim， a purpose， and translation is a type of human action， then， translation has an aim” （Vermeer 131）.

“The end justifies the means” （Nord 29）. Based on Skopostheorie and functional approach theories， translation is an intercultural， intentional， and communicative interaction. So as for tourism translation， the primary purpose is to transfer information to tourists and communicate introductory contents of Chinese source language. This theory greatly differs from semantic and communicative method because it does not focus on the equivalence of tourism translation， but an people-oriented method. “Functionalist approach is a kind of cover term for the research of scholars who argue that the purpose of the TT is the most important criterion in any translation” （Munday 78）.

Chapter III. Tourism translation of Xinghuacun Cultural Tourism Zone

A. Domestication strategy study on tourism translation

Following examples are analyzed from the perspective of domestication.

In this paragraph， translator carefully explains the detailed historic background information. In this process， translator leaves the audience in peace， as much as possible， and moves the author towards audience. The incisive opinion exactly corresponds to the theme. Domesticating translation craftily transmits the cultural factors into source language context.

Putting ancient poetry into translation practice can be the best embodiment of translation aesthetics. Chinese poetry， our cultural treasures， can obstruct readers understanding without contexts explanations

B. Foreignization strategy study on tourism translation

In this paragraph， English explanation of Xinghuacun scenic area is primitive simplicity， using antithesis sentence and four word structure to express concise text style. Historical origins of scenic spots are also explained in detail. Without intratextual gloss， English native speaker cannot understand the meaning of Jiuxingtan which refers to the name of scenic spot. It uses foreignization translation strategy of Pinyin that keeps original tourism culture， but foreign tourists is unable to recognize the meaning of it at first sight.

In conclusion， from the examples above， translator both make use of foreignizing and domesticating method. Both domestication and foreignization have their limitations， but due to the conservative characteristic and traditional convention， the application of domestication is mature and effective while the foreignizing method needs refining and improvement.

Chapter IV. Conclusion

This paper studies the application of domestication and foreignization on tourism translation as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages. They are complementary to each other to achieve different translation purposes. And translator should enhance their professional knowledge and skills in information presentation and cultural backgrounds as well.

Since the introduction of Venuti's translation theory， scholars have begun to attach more importance on cultural factors beyond linguistic level. A word in a new context is not only a word， but an incarnation of the source language culture. After Culture Turn， translators gradually realize the importance of cultural， economic， and historical factors and apply proper translation method by distinguishing various texts.

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