How to Be a Professional Translator in Tourism

暨 南 大 学 本科生课程论文

论文题目: How to Be a Professional Translator in Tourism

学 院： 翻译学院

专 业： 翻译

课程名称： 翻译职业知识 学生姓名： 李青兰 学 号： 2011052581 指导教师： 王琼

联系方式： 2276415259@qq.com

2013年 12 月 20 日

Abstract:

With China rising as a power in the global stage, many foreign tourists flood into China every day. However, the translation in tourism fails to be a good ambassador between Chinese culture and foreign culture.This paper focuses on how to be a professional translator in tourism so as to solve the problems tourism industry is faced with. The paper will be divided into four major parts. The first part is the introduction in which common problems in tourism translation, features of tourism text and the challenges a translator usually encounters will be pointed out. In the following two parts, I will focus on clarifying how to be a professional translator in tourism from theoretical perspective and practical perspective respectively. In the theoretical part, three translation theories will be introduced to aid my analysis and they are Skopos

Theory by Vemeer and Reiss, Plural Complementarism of Translation Standard and the Relevance Theory. As a service industry, tourism translation distinguishes itself clearly from many other kinds of market translation. It is customer-oriented, which decides to a large extend that the failure in translation will surely lead to the decline of foreign visitor volume . The fact that most tourism texts are vocative texts can support this. To attract the attention of tourists is the purpose of tourism industry. That is why I introduce the Skopos Theory. Guided by the theory, the translators will choose the most proper translating skill in his actual translating. As for Plural Complementarism of Translation Standard, it is a relatively new put forward by a Chinese scholar named Zhengkun Gu. The theory suggests that no sole criterion should be followed by when it comes to the translation of tourism texts because there are so many types of texts. Under this theory, the translators may find themselves more free to conduct their tasks. Yet meanwhile, it posts a challenge to them that they have to be more sensitive and sharper in choosing a specific translating skill as there are so many text types. Finally I will talk about the Relevance Theory. It is a theory from linguistics which will help translators achieve more readable translation. It plays an important part in the checking process when the translator has finished the translating. These compose the theoretical part of the whole essay which is also the main part. Then in the practical part, several cases will be given to support the theories above. In the final part, I will summarize my idea.

Key words: tourism,professional, translator, Skopos Theory, Relevance Theory

I Introduction

With China‟s claim to the second largest economic power in the world, the world is paying unprecedented attention to her. More and more foreigners flood into our country for a closer look at the mysterious oriental land with 5,000 years of cultural treasures woven into the modern tapestry. However, the translation in tourism fails to convey the real Chinese culture to foreign tourists, which has resulted confusion on the part of them. Even worse, mistakes are made repeatedly in the translation of public sighs and some cultural relics, seriously deteriorating the impression on China. Why there exists such problems in tourism translation? The vacancy of trained translators comes as the first reason. Wrong idea that anyone who has learned English can be a translator is overwhelmingly accepted by many people. Therefore, many

enterprises hire an unprofessional translator for their business. The second reason is that there is not a standard in some specific area like the translation of road sighs, making a road with two names in the eyes of a foreigner. The third reason is that trained translators are not that well trained which means there remains much to improve for them. My focus of the essay will fall on the third point.

To discuss tourism translation, we must make sure we have a good understanding of the features of tourism text. Generally, tourism text is subdivided into two kinds. One is called simple text, and the other is called complex text. By simple text, it means the tourism text is formative , expressive or vocative and the three functions do not exist at the same time. Common informative texts include introduction of a restaurant and a trip schedule, etc. In this case, the translating does not stress the subjectiveness of the translator.Expressive texts are like those introducing a scenic spot or a beautiful city. Such texts differentiate from the informative ones;they require emotion involvement so as to achieve promotional effect. Vocative texts, however, specially stress on communication with the potential customers. When translating such a text, the translators are asked to make the translation as persuasive as possible. Take the translation of advertisement as an example, to make the product or service more attractive, the translator may be striving for poetic beauty or exaggeration when putting English into Chinese. Then what is complex text? Compared with simple text, complex text is much more complicated . Usually, the text is informative, expressive and vocative at the same time. Therefore, it is more difficult to deal with the

translation. In this case, the translator must take a comprehensive way to reproduce the original message. In actual tourism translation, complex text is more common.

II How to be a professional translator in tourism industry?

We all know that a professional translator must be equipped with encyclopedic knowledge and master all kinds of translating skills. Also, to have a better understanding of translation, some knowledge of translation theory is necessary. There are so many theories proposed by scholars while not every one is that closely connected with tourism translation. In the following text, I will discuss three common theories that translators in tourism industry should pay special attention to .They are Skopos Theory, Plural Complementarism of Translation Standard and the Relevance Theory.

i) Translator and Skopos Theory

Skopos is the Greek word for „aim‟ or „purpose‟ and was introduce into translation theory in the 1970s by Hans J. Verm as a technical term for the purpose of a translation and of the action of translating. Skopos theory focuses above all on the purpose of the translation, which determines the translation methods and strategies that are to be employed in order to produce a functionally adequate result. Therefore, knowing why an ST is to be translated and what the function of the TT will be are crucial for the translator. 1 The basic underlying „rules‟ of the theory are:

1 The viewpoints come from Introducing Translation Studies:Theories and Applications written by an English translator called Jeremy Munday and edited by Chinese scholar Dai Weidong.

1 TT is determined by its skopos.

2 A TT is an offer of information in a source culture in a target culture and TL concerning an offer of information in a source culture and SL.

3 A TT does not initiate an offer of information in a clearly reversible way. 4 A TT must be internally coherent. 5 A TT must be coherent with the ST.

6 The five rules above stand in hierarchical order, with the skopos rule predominating.

According to the theory, we easily come to a conclusion that since the purpose of tourism translation is to facilitate the communication with foreign tourism businessmen and to offer a well-informed travel for the foreign guests, the translation is not necessarily 100% equivalent with the source text. Based on rule 2, so long as the information in the source text has been expressed in the target culture, it is acceptable. Unlike translation of literary works which requests reproducing the microlevel features, tourism translation is more flexible. Changes in the order of the source language, in the image of the source culture and in the sentence pattern can be made to cater for the taste of tourism. In addition to the text requirement, sometimes the consignor would provide his standard in the translating and the translator must adjust his translation to meet his standard. Once conflicts arise between the consignor and the translator, the translator must try to communicate well with his customer because in market a good translated product is based on close communication. So to

be a professional translator, one would not only know well the Skopos Theory but also the purpose of the consignor in practical conduction.

ii) Translator and Plural Complementarism of Translation Standard

Plural Complementarism of Translation Standard is in fact in accordance with the text diversity in tourism tourism. Before the theory was proposed by Chinese scholar Ku Zhengkun , many criteria have been proposed by other Chinese translators, among whom are Yan Fu, Fu Lei, Qian Zhongshu and Xu Yuanchong. Yan Fu mentioned that translation should strive for “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”; Fu Lei insisted on “similarity in spirit”; Qian Zhongshu suggested excellent translation should strive for “sublimation” and Xu Yuanchong suggested “beauty in form, in sound and in sense “. All these criteria have been proved useful in practice. However, they are more suitable for the translation of literary works. Meanwhile, it is impractical to follow by single one criterion when translating a text, let alone in tourism area where there are so many text types.

Under the theory of Plural Complementarism of Translation Standard, the translator has to decide which criterion is primary and which one is secondary according to the text type. For example, when introducing a scenic spot, despite the detailed description of the beautiful scenery in Chinese, translators do not have to reproduce the beauty because the unique expression in Chinese is difficult to translate. It is unnecessary because foreigner tourists will not spend a lot time reading the long

sentences. In this case, the criteria “beauty in form, in sound and in sense” is not expected to be followed by. Several sentences are enough to deliver the general message. In a word, what the translator should learn from the theory is that there does not exist a single criteria in tourism translation.

iii) Translator and the Relevance Theory

Relevance Theory also plays an important part in tourism translation. This theory was formally proposed by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson in the book Relevance: communication and cognition in 1986. It is a theory in linguistics. It means all ostensive (explicit) communicative act is assumed to have the optimal relevance with the topic of the conversation. The least effort is needed for understanding a communicative act, e.g. an utterance, which has the optimal relevance with the context.” It can be expressed by the following formula:

Relevance= ？

Under the Relevance Theory, translators should try to provide in their target text adequate contexual effect so as to make the readers understand the text easily. Besides, translators should not adopt confusing ways of expression in the target text. It is no exception in tourism translation. For a foreigner traveling in China, he must want to find an easy way to absorb Chinese culture loaded in the tourist attractions. Therefore, the introduction of scenic spots must be logically clear. Sometimes translators want to

keep as much Chinese culture as possible but only end with a swollen-sentence. Worse still, the target language is rather confusing for foreigners. However, some translators are so afraid to make mistakes that they understate the introduction, which also causes confusion. To solve the problem, some scholar proposed several ways in the translation. Firstly, the translator should adopt the strategy of “extension”—providing extra knowledge to achieve more contexual effect for foreign visitors. This strategy is frequently applied in the translation of legendary figures in ancient China. Secondly, “reduction”is also an important device. For example, in the Chinese text introducing the Suzhou Garden, many of the poems are replaced by a single sentence. The third common device is “replacement”, namely adopting the traditional way of expression in the target culture. All these methods can help ease the problems in tourism industry.

III Case analysis 1)

中：对于久居在一个城市的人，放下经年累月循环往复的工作，带上家人，或约三两好友，到百里千里之外的地方走走看看，总是最有吸引力的选择。况且，又逢秋高气爽的季节，每年的国庆长假让人心驰神往的，就是------去外地、游山水。 不过在这样的旅游旺季出门难免会碰到诸如车牌、机票难卖、住宿紧张或票价上涨、热门景点人山人海等问题，让你有遭遇“人灾”的烦恼。所以，选定方向和地点、提前做好各种准备，是保证出游好心情的关键。

E: Getting out of town is a great way for urban residents to celebrate the National Day holiday, especially those who want to spend quality time with their families. // But many people will have the same idea and some difficulties with your trip that can be expected such as a shortage of train tickets, crowded hotels and transit depots. // So you‟d better take all the possibilities into consideration before you begin your tour. // Carefully developing a travel plan can ensure you have a better trip.

COMMENT: It is obvious that the source text is a piece of tourism advertisement trying to persuade people to go out for a holiday. The Chinese text is quite long, with much background in the beginning. It is a common way to aspire desire for a relaxing moments and thus promote tourism. Judging by this, according to the Skopos Theory, the English text should convey the vocative function of the source text. But it does not necessarily have to be translated word by word. The background can be dealt with a sentence. 2)

中：林子的边上原来有一个洞，传说白娘子曾经在这里修炼。

E: Near the forest there once was a cave which was said to be the very place where Lady White, the legendary heroine of The Story of the White Snake, cultivated herself according to Buddhist doctrine.

COMMENT: the source text concerns the translation of legendary figures in ancient Chinese. ”白娘子” is a strange image to foreign tourists, but the translation offered successfully makes it comprehensible by means of “extension’. In fact, the translation reflects the application of the Relevance Theory. It provided enough contexual effect and reduced the processing effort by foreigners.

IV Conclusion

In fact, there remains much more to learn for translators in tourism industry. As tourism is a public service industry, the problems in translation should be solved by all sides of society. The government should make greater efforts to regulate the translation. As for translators themselves, they should shift a serious attitude towards their career. To improve their translating skills, they should keep learning.

References:

 蒋林.传媒英语翻译读本[M].南京：南京大学出版社，2012.6

Jeremy Munday,戴炜栋.Introducing Translation Studies:Theories and Applications/翻译研究入门：理论与应用[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2010（2013重印）

 胡壮麟.语言学教程.--4版[M].北京：北京大学出版社，2011.3

General Comments & Grading:

Linguistic proficiency and Organization (50%): Ideas and Critical Thinking (40%) : Format and References (10%) : OVERALL 45% 38% 7% 90%