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1、 CROSS-CULTURAL AWARENESS IN TRANSLATING TOURIST MATERIALS FROM CHINESE INTO ENGLISHAbstract: Translating is a cross-cultural activity and the translator is the medium of the communication between the target readers and the author. It goes without saying that cross-cultural communication requires cr
2、oss-cultural awareness and this is especially true with the translating of tourist materials. With the booming of tourism, tourist translation has developed rapidly in China, but most English versions of tourist materials are poorly done, for there exists lots of unique items that have never been de
3、scribed before in English. To deal with these cultural items properly, translation theorists provide some strategies that are different superficially but similar essentially. The similarity lies in the full and correct transmission of cultural information. The author, by synthesizing the conception
4、of culture and introducing the conception of cultural information, and its necessity in translating tourist materials, holds the cultural items are translatable through the following strategies: literal translation, transliteration, transliteration plus explanation, transliteration plus literal tran
5、slation, cultural analogy, and paraphrase.Key Words: cross-cultural awareness; tourist materials; translating strategies; cross-cultural communication旅游英语翻译中的跨文化意识摘 要：翻译是一种跨文化活动，而译者则是译文读者与原文作者进行沟通的桥梁。毫无疑问这种跨文化沟通需要跨文化意识，旅游资料翻译尤其如此。中国旅游业的飞速发展带动了旅游翻译的发展。但很多旅游资料的翻译不如人意，因为旅游资料中存在的很多独特说法在英语中找不到现存的表达。为了正确处
6、理这些富含文化内涵的翻译材料，翻译理论家提出了一些策略。他们表面不同但本质相似。其相似点在于要完全正确地传递文化内涵，这也是跨文化意识对旅游资料翻译所提出的要求。本文作者综合了文化概念，在此基础上，介绍了跨文化意识的内涵意义及其在旅游资料翻译中的必要性。作者认为通过直译，音译，音译加解释，音译加直译，文化类比，以及释义等途径，文化内涵是可以传递给译文读者的。关键词：跨文化意识；旅游资料；翻译策略；跨文化交流Content1. Introduction12. Tourist Culture22.1 Culture22.2 Tourist Culture32.2.1 Three Levels of
7、 Tourist Culture42.2.2 Resources of Tourist Culture43. Cross-cultural Awareness and Tourist Material Translating53.1 Cross-cultural Awareness53.2 Characteristics of Tourist Materials53.2.1 Information Characteristics63.2.2 Entertaining Characteristics63.2.3 Cultural Characteristics63.3 The Necessity
8、 of Cross-cultural Awareness in Translating Tourist Material64. The Strategies in Translating Tourist Materials from Chinese into English84.1 Literal Translation94.2 Transliteration, Transliteration Plus Explanation and Transliteration Plus Literal Translation104.2.1 Transliteration104.2.2 Translite
9、ration Plus Explanation114.2.3 Transliteration Plus Literal Translation124.3 Cultural Analogy124.4 Paraphrase135. Conclusion14Bibliography15Acknowledgments16中国最大的论文知识平台1. IntroductionIn recent years, translation has not been confined only to the area of linguistic study. Instead, it has been regarde
10、d as a cross-cultural communication. Christiane Nord insists that“translating” means “intercultural communication”; R. Daniel Shaw has coined a term “transculturation”(Guo Jianzhong 1998:12-18). The general tendency of translating theory towards cultural communication has been recognized by scholars
11、 and experts. Even Nida, the leading figure of the linguistic theory of translation has began to recognize the importance of culture in the translating process, as can be found in his work Language and Culture-Contexts in Translating. Andre Lefevere and Susan Bassnett hold that the unit of translati
12、on “is neither the word, nor the text, but the culture”(Lefevere & Bassnett 1992:8). They have emphasized the importance of culture in translating, namely, the translation should bear a similar function in the target culture just as the original text does in the source culture.Translation, as a matt
13、er of fact, is carried out for the purpose of mutual communication while translators “enable communication to take place between members of different cultural communities”(Nord:12). Therefore, in order to promote communications between different cultures, the translator has to be cross-culturally aw
14、are to find the most convenient access to the target cultural system. While at the same time, he has to make the source culture features reappear in his book. Translators are primarily concerned with the activity of communicating the overall meaning of the source text, in which cultural factors are
15、important as well as difficult. Tourism and culture are closely connected and to some extent, tourism is itself a large scaled cultural communication. Thus arises the importance of cross-cultural awareness in translating tourist materials.When making the choice of which country or which part of the
16、country to visit, and in order to familiarize themselves with their destination beforehand, people will try to get a general impression of the place by reading tourist materials, which, as phrased by Zhang Ning, is sort of publicity (2000:54-56). The text discussed here is tourist materials, which a
17、re abundant in cultural information. The purpose of its translation and the intention of its translator are to make cross-cultural communication available so as to transmit the Chinese culture and attract more foreign tourists to China.Chinese culture differs from western culture in many ways. The s
18、ame image usually implies one thing to Chinese but another to the foreigners. Tourist materials translation should implement the mission of bridging the cultural gap and making the translated materials accessible to the target readers rather than widen the gap by the improper disposal of the cultura
19、l factors. However, the present translation of tourist materials is not satisfactory. An investigation into it brings about the conclusion that in the translation of tourist materials from Chinese into English, there exists many problems. Eight types of mistakes are summed up. They are: Chinglish ex
20、pressions, misspelling, errors in grammar, omission of information, improper use of the words and phrases, redundancy in language and misunderstanding of culture (Wen Jun2002:49-52)The existence of the mistakes reveals the translators lack of cross-cultural awareness. Therefore, cross-cultural aware
21、ness is necessary in translating tourist materials. It is pointed out in this thesis that special attention must be paid to the six aspects in tourist materials that are rich in cultural significance. They are: historical allusions, religious attractions, the art of gardening, foods, national custom
22、s and the thinking mode. In order to properly deal with the above-mentioned culture-loaded factor, four concrete strategies are presented in Part Three and it is also pointed out that a dynamic principle must be followed in establishing translation strategies in tourist materials translation.2. Tour
23、ist Culture2.1 CultureDifferent definitions are bestowed on the term of culture for different purposes. Culture is one of the rare items that have a large number of definitions. “As early as 1952, Kroeber and Kluckhohn listed 164 definitions of culture that they found in the anthropology literature”
24、(Samovar2000:36). The most authoritative one was put forward by the prestigious anthropologist Taylor in 1871 who referred to culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”(Ke Pi
25、ng2000:142).For the purpose of this study the author is concerned with the definition that is linked with tourist materials. The Social Science Encyclopedia explains culture as “the way of life of a people. It consists of conventional patterns of thought and behaviors including values, beliefs, rule
26、s of conduct, political organization, economic activity and the like, which passed on from one generation to the next by learning and not by biological inheritance” (Kuper1985:178). In this conception, culture is treated as the whole of mental and physical products.No matter how many conceptions has
27、, we cannot ignore the fact that culture can be learned and that it can be transmitted both in a community, between communications and even between nations. The transmission of culture among communities and nations is called cross-cultural communication.The translated tourist materials act as a powe
28、rful medium, sending cultural information as well as tourist information to tourists. In other words, the communication between the tourists as a reader of the translated text and the author of the SL is a cross-cultural communication. The translated tourist materials can be regarded as a bridge, mi
29、nimizing the gap between the tourist and tourist destinations. However, the wrongly tackled cultural information in translation will undoubtedly result in the failure of communication, thereby, to spoil the tourists interest while proper handling of cultural factors will help to improve the mutual u
30、nderstanding and exchange between culture.2.2 Tourist CultureTourist culture, as a branch of culture, is the synthesis of tourist and culture and the cultural factors usually lurk in the concrete activities of human beings. It includes nearly everything concerned in tourism. The people who make tour
31、ism can learn and understand the activities of the tourist destinations so that they can get an enjoyment both mentally and physically.2.2.1 Three Levels of Tourist CultureIn the book Chinese Tourist Culture, culture is categorized as culture of materiality, culture of system, culture of behavior, a
32、nd culture of psychology (Pan Baoming2001:3). Based on this theory, the author of this thesis has generalized three levels of tourist culture: 1) the level of materiality; 2) the level of social environment and cultural atmosphere; 3) the level of mentality.At Level One, there are natural sceneries
33、like lands, waters, mountain, natural animals and plants. This level also includes places of historical figures and cultural heritage, which can be easily detected and comprehended by tourists. The appreciation of this kind of scenery is easy and relaxing, for it belongs to the appreciation of the n
34、atural scenery. At Level Two, tourist may find themselves enjoying the cultural background, way of life, behavior principle, values and ethics manifested in foods, costumes, wedding, funeral, festivals, folklores and so on. At Level Three, tourists may further comprehend what lies in peoples behavio
35、r, performance, acts and another nations literature, traditional crafts and so on. At this level, culture and tourism are perfectly and successfully combined. It is an activity of great significance because it embraces the full range of experience visitors can undertake to learn what makes a destina
36、tion distinctive-its lifestyle, its heritage, its arts, its people- and the business of providing and interpreting that culture to visitors.2.2.2 Resources of Tourist CultureAs has been said in the previous part, culture and tourism are inseparable twins. The future of tourism underlies in its abili
37、ty to employ culture, where it flourishes according to its interaction with the tourist. The cultural elements in tourist materials are of the most significant incentives that motivate tourists to visit a certain area and stay for a limited period in it. The abundant resources (which frequently appe
38、ar in tourist materials) of tourist culture can be found in the following six aspects: 1) historical relics; 2) gardening arts; 3) national customs; 4) religious attractions; 5) foods; 6) thinking mode3. Cross-cultural Awareness and Tourist Material Translating3.1 Cross-cultural AwarenessAccording t
39、o Hanvey (1980:237), cross-cultural awareness means in the cross-cultural communication the participants sensitive recognition of the cultural different among different nations. Cross-cultural awareness is one of the basic requirements for a translator when he or she takes part in the cross-cultural
40、 communication by translating tourist materials. Specially, a translator of tourist materials should be tourist-oriented, bear in mind the needs of his readers-the tourists, and try to preserve in the TL text the cultural information of the SL text. Cross- cultural awareness in tourist materials tra
41、nslating does not refer to translating culture itself but the cultural significance endowed on tourist materials. In the process of translating, cross-cultural awareness can serve as a guide for a translator, who builds “bridges not only between languages but also between the differences of two cult
42、ures” (Samovar 2000:131). Cross- cultural awareness requires that the translator should enable the target readers to learn the cultural information from another culture and this is the overall aim of a tourist material translation.3.2 Characteristics of Tourist MaterialsTourist materials are sorts o
43、f publicity with the intention of getting reactions from the readership and this is based on providing information to the readers. In this sense, tourist materials are both informatively and vocatively functional so they are characterized informative and vocative.Language is generally regarded as th
44、e carrier of culture. When translating tourist materials, translators are faced with not only two languages but two cultures as well. As has been said in the previous part, tourist materials are culture-loaded and they are characterized in culture. Before we discuss tourist material translation, it
45、is helpful to analyze the characteristics of tourist materials because the characteristics can decide the translating strategies.3.2.1 Information CharacteristicsTourist materials with their various text types are abundant in all kinds of knowledge and information and they fall into the following ca
46、tegories: 1) pamphlets introducing the scenic spots position; 2) picture albums of the scenery area; 3) introduction to scenic spots usually placed alongside the tourist pamphlets and the picture albums to introduce the situation of the scenic spot and its tourist value; 4) post cards of the scenery
47、 areas; 5) tourist sketch maps presenting the tourists with the route to follow and place to visit. The materials of the above-mentioned text types enable the readers to have a sketchy understanding of the tourist destination. Besides it can also enrich the tourist guides knowledge of his own countr
48、ys culture and offer them some reference materials and ready assistance.3.2.2 Entertaining CharacteristicsAt the same time when readers are getting information from the tourist materials, they are enjoying the outstanding scenery, history, arts and crafts, folklore, ethics, architecture, religious h
49、abits and customs, festival, cuisine and geography features of the tourist destinations. The clear and immediate impression of that place can further arouse the readers imagination. When the readers are reading the tourist materials, the exhaustion from the pressure of modern life is relieved and the readers can be relaxed. It is more convenient for readers to preliminarily enjoy the scenic spots th