ACulturalandLinguisticAnalysisofScenicSpotIntroductionandItsCETranslationStrategies

1、a cultural and linguistic analysis of scenic spot introduction and its c-e translation strategies1. directions for learners1) analyze the data in no less than 1,000 words by using one or some of the methods recommended in step 2 and step 3 of stage 7 in writing your ba paper through practical transl

2、ation project design. the analysis should be based on the examples from the data, or no less than 3 samples from each category of the data.2) the heading for this section has been given. you may decide on your own subheadings if there are any.3) insert your analysis of the data in paragraphs, tables

3、, diagrams or listings in the space below.4. data analysis the analysis is based on the following five common translation methods for tourism texts: (1) addition and amplification; (2) interpretation and explanation; (3) reduction and omission; (4) cultural substitution and analogy; (5) paraphrase.4

4、.1 addition and amplificationin st1, as the target readers are familiar with the historical background of this scenic spot, the chinese introduction is relatively simple and succinct. there is no need to give more information of the historical figure, imperial concubine yang (楊貴妃). however when its

5、translated into english with a purpose that the foreign visitors can better understand and enjoy the historical value of the scenic spot, some supplementary background information is necessary. therefore in tt1, an explanation of “the favorite concubine of emperor xuanzong of the tang dynasty” was a

6、dded. in this case, even more information can be provided to attract the foreign visitors interest, such as “l(fā)ady yang was among the four most beautiful ancient chinese ladies”.st2 is an introduction of a scenic spot related to a chinese historical figure, su dongpo (蘇東坡). due to the translator fail

7、ed to notice that the readers of sl and tl are different, the english translation（tt2）was simply converted from its chinese counterpart without further introduction on the protagonist. lu guofei(2006) points out that if the tl readers lack of chinese socio-cultural background, the translator should

8、make some supplementary information. therefore a brief background about su dongpo is essential for a foreigner to catch the significance of the site. it can be improved by adding: su dongpo (1037-1101), the most versatile poet of the north song dynasty(960-1127).4.2 interpretation and explanationwhe

9、n a chinese scenic spot introduction is being translated into english, first of all, the translator need get the names of the sites treated appropriately. normally, the names of chinese tourist spots carry and condense rich cultural or historical or geographic meaning. such implied and condensed inf

10、ormation is easily understood and accepted by chinese readers, but it will be probably meaningless to ordinary oversea travelers if these names are only transliterated without certain necessary explanations. suggested by feng weinian(2005), a good method for translating names of scenic spots is to c

11、ombine the transliteration and free translation. transliteration can establish the link to the original chinese pronunciations, which is convenient for foreign visitors to further communicate with the locals when they need refer to this scenic spot while free translation acts as an interpretation an

12、d explanation to help the foreigners to catch the implied meanings. guided by this theory, the names in tt2 and tt5 can be improved as below. (see table 1)table 1 scenic spot names and their translationschinese nametransliteration free translationremarks西湖xihuwest lakeadding transliteration蘇堤sudisu

13、causewayadding transliteration豐樂橋fengleqiaoharvest & joyful bridgeadding free translation蘇公橋sugongqiaosu bridgeadding transliteration平湖pinghuplacid lakeadding free translation朝陽峰zhangyangfengmorning sun peakadding transliteration蓮花峰lianhuafenglotus flower peakadding transliteration玉女峰yunvfengjad

14、e lady peakadding transliteration落雁峰luoyanfengwild goose-resting peakadding transliteration云臺峰yuntaifengcloudy terrace peakadding transliteration 4.3 reduction and omissionin order to emphasize the historical feature, chinese introduction of scenic spots are often contained many history details, whi

15、ch may cause confusion or understanding difficulties to an ordinary oversea visitor. nord (2001) thinks a translation is at least meaningful to target-culture receivers. therefore in some cases, to get rid of some complex cultural or history featured details will help to produce a clear smooth engli

16、sh translation, if it will not affect the conveyance of main information. in st4, there are seven historical chinese ancient dynasties specified with their names in its chinese original while the english translation (tt4) only keeps the starting and the end ones. the translation is remarked with cal

17、endar year additionally, with such treatment, its much easier for foreigners to understand and the core information is still kept. as a unique linguistic phenomenon, the interchangeability of chinese characters or borrowing word exists in ancient chinese. in st5, “華” (hua) is used to express the mea

18、ning of “花” (hua, means flower), as at that time there was no the word of “花”. because of this distinctive linguistic characteristic in ancient chinese, the underline sentence in st5 is not easy to explain to ordinary foreign visitors. omission of this information in tt5 is a good option. 4.4 cultur

19、al substitutionin order to let foreign visitors better understand chinese culture, in some cases, we can use the method of cultural substitution to introduce a historical figure or scenic spot, which means using a referent from the receptor culture to explain an unknown referent of the original if b

20、oth of the referents have the similarities. baker (2000) points out that the advantage of such translation method is that it gives the target readers a concept with which they can identify something familiar and appealing, therefore it is likely to have a similar impact on the readers. in tt1, a few

21、 sentences will be needed if we intend to give a clearer and detailed introduction about concubine yang (楊貴妃), however, by using cultural substitution, a translation like “ concubine yang, who is regarded as chinese cleopatra” would give western visitors a vivid image on the heroine of this scenic s

22、pot, as concubine yangs beauty and romantic love stories with emperor are similar to cleopatra, a queen of ancient egypt, who is well known in western countries. also in tt2, when su dongpo, the chinese celebrated poet, is introduced, we can compare him with victor hugo by considering their similari

23、ties in versatility, literature achievements and political ideas. 4.1 paraphrase.as discussed in 2.6.2, due to the linguistic difference lying between chinese and english, some kinds of adjustments in form will be necessary to achieve a natural rendering when translating a scenic spot introduction.i

24、f we compared the underline sentence in st2 and tt2, there are five four-character phrases in chinese original to describe the scenery of the lake at moonlit nights, which is aimed to have an effect of poetic imagery by using fancy adjectives and parallel structure. although it is common in chinese

25、tourism texts, it is better to paraphrase it into a simpler and direct expression when translating it to english. therefore the corresponding sentence in tt2 is relatively plain and succinct. the discourse of st3 is obviously organized in an inductive way, which is like reveal a mystery step by step

26、, beginning from details and finally hitting the subject. however, according to english thought pattern, more often than not, a discourse is delivered in a deductive way, especially for information texts and vocative texts. the translator of tt3 failed to notice such difference, he/she translated th

27、is introduction with a close follow of the chinese discourse structure. though the target reader can understand the meaning, the foreignness of the translation is obvious. a better adjustment is to put the topic sentence at the beginning, like “hunglong national scenic area, established in 1982, is

28、located between 102°38'-104°15' e and 32°05'-33°09' n, in the north of sichuan province”assessment checklist for tutorsplease tick in the proper cell and write your overall comments in the box of “tutors comments” below. in-text comments should also be offered if

29、necessary.評價項目(assessment items)評價指標(biāo)(assessment criteria)評估(acceptable/revise)請打勾進(jìn)行評估（）合格需修改語料分析 data analysis 1. 與研究目標(biāo)相關(guān)。the analysis is related to the objective of the research.2. 以“文獻(xiàn)綜述”中引用的概念或理論為支持。the analysis is supported by the concepts or theories quoted in the rationale.3. 針對語料中原語與譯語的差異（建議從

30、語言、體裁、修辭或文化等角度比較），或同一原語的不同譯語間的差異（建議從翻譯的社會背景、目標(biāo)、對象或譯者的翻譯傾向等角度比較），具體分析語言、文化或社會因素對翻譯的影響。the analysis illustrates the effects of linguistic, cultural or social variants on translation by comparing and contrasting the source language with the target language (from the linguistic, stylistic, rhetorical, c

31、ultural or other perspectives), or different translation version (in terms of the social background, translation purpose, target reader, translators approach to translation, etc.).4. 分析充分詳細(xì)，涵蓋語料中的相關(guān)示例或相關(guān)示例代表，代表不少于3例。the analysis is adequate and detailed, based on the examples from the data, or no le

32、ss than 3 samples from each category of the data.5. 語言準(zhǔn)確，表意清楚，邏輯連貫。the analysis is presented in clear, correct and coherent english.6. 字?jǐn)?shù)不少于1,000字。the analysis contains no less than 1，000 english words.7 格式（標(biāo)題、字體和行間距）符合要求。 the analysis is formatted as required.tutors comments:2. directions for learn

33、ers1) derive the results from the analysis you have made above, and then based on these results, make some suggestions on the future translating practice. the section of results and suggestions should contain no less than 1,000 english words.2) the heading for this section has been given. you may de

34、cide on your own subheadings if there are any.3) insert the results and suggestions in the space below. 5. results and suggestions 5.1 resultsthe above analysis suggests that a tourism texts translator is not a pure language worker, but also a cultural disseminator. scenic spot c-e translation is no

35、t only a bilingual activity but also a bicultural one. the change of one language into another is only the superficial work, while the transformation of cultural information is the nature of the translation. in other words, a nice scenic spot introduction translation will better convey the chinese c

36、ulture to foreigners. since scenic spot introduction consist of cultural and historical information with considerable portion, the translators should deeply and thoroughly understand these cultural backgrounds in original texts. moreover, as a publicity text, its linguistic features are also promine

37、nt, these different features between these two languages are also shown clearly by the above analysis. after being fully aware of these two aspects, the translators then should represent the original information in the target language creatively and skillfully. generally speaking, a principle guidin

38、g the translators in dealing with the type of text is the functional result, i.e. the acceptability to the target readers. from the above example analysis of scenic spot introduction c-e translation, we can see how to deal with the cultural and linguistic elements is of vital importance to the quali

39、ty of the translation. it also shows that a good translation of scenic spot introduction is the one treated properly from cultural and linguistic perspectives and vice verse. given the actual context, using the appropriate strategies is necessary and helpful for a translator to render a quality tran

40、slation. however, there is no universal and good for all strategy. as was stated above the selecting of the strategies is dependent on various factors, such as: the popularity of a spot, the hero/ heroine, the focal point of visiting to a scenic spot. 5.2 suggestionsbased on these findings, some sug

41、gestions concerning scenic spot introduction c-e translation are offered here. first the translators should fully aware that a scenic spot introduction is an information text or vocative text, whose primary purpose is to convey the information and call upon the readers reactions. given this feature

42、and based on nidas dynamic equivalence translation theory（2004）, the criteria for such translation can be summarized into three words: expressiveness, naturalness and catching the spirit of sl . bearing these criteria in mind, first of all the translators should understand the sl thoroughly before s

43、/he translates any single word. it means not only the translators should know the semantic meaning of sl texts but more important should dig out the cultural and linguistic elements in deeper layers. to do this, the translators are suggested to carry out a certain analysis and researching work based

44、 on the context of the chinese original texts. for instance, when translating “戰(zhàn)國” (zhan guo), literally “war kingdom” seems correct and acceptable. however, if we analyze the meaning further based on the history knowledge, “zhang guo” actually refers to a historical period in warring states. “warri

45、ng states period” should be a better translation for “zhan guo”. it is worth point out when a scenic spot introduction is created in chinese, there is no reason for the author to put any considerations on the needs of future english translation, which means the translators have to search the extra k

46、nowledge they need by their own awareness. while the cultural constituents in chinese texts are emphasized a lot in this paper, we should not ignore the english culture, which is also duo to certain attention. if we intend to use the strategy of cultural substitution to introduce a chinese historica

47、l figure, how we can come out a suitable western counterpart if we have not done certain researching work to familiarize ourselves to the western history and culture. one more example about the importance we should know the tl culture: it not uncommon that “天下第一” (tian xia di yi, literally it means

48、“the number one in the world” ) is used for describing a title of a scenic spot. such as “天下第一關(guān)” for a pass, “天下第一湖” for a lake, “天下第一泉” for a spring. however we will by no means simply translate it into english as “the number one pass / lake / spring”. because this adjective phrase comes from typic

49、al chinese thinking pattern using hyperbole to express a subjective feeling. on the contrary, an objective and specific way will be adopted for such context in english, like: “portsmouth is new hampshire's oldest seacoast town” is specified with “new hampshire”, “oldest” and “seacoast”. five mai

50、n strategies in dealing with scenic spot c-e translation have been discussed when we do the data analysis. they have to be used appropriately according to the real needs. for instance, when we decide to omit any details in our translation, we have to think carefully about the effect. if such details

51、 are important and critical, they should be fully translated no matter how difficult to do it. take the strategy of cultural substitution as another example, we have to cautiously use the analogy by compare the similarities and point out exactly in what way they resemble each other. otherwise it wou

52、ld probably mislead the tl readers.last but not the least, the translators should not forget to testify the acceptability of the translations before they are showed in public. there are a few methods for this purpose: first, whether the translation is rendered in a nature way and easily comprehended

53、 should be decided by the target readers. so it is better to present the translation to a native english speaker to get her/his response and comments. it would effectively avoid the chinese style english and any possible sociocultural conflicts. second, back translation is another method to evaluate

54、 if any important information is missed when translating. by comparing the back translated chinese text with the source text, it is easy to find out that the differences and make further needed improvements. assessment checklist for tutorsplease tick in the proper cell and write your overall comment

55、s in the box of “tutors comments” below. in-text comments should also be offered if necessary. 評價項目(assessment items)評價指標(biāo)(assessment criteria)評估(acceptable/revise)請打勾進(jìn)行評估（）合格需修改結(jié)果和建議 result(s) and suggestion(s) 1. 歸納語料分析結(jié)果。the result(s) is (are) inferred from the analysis of the data.2. 結(jié)果與研究目標(biāo)相關(guān)。th

56、e result(s) is (are) related to the objective of the research.3. 結(jié)合語料分析結(jié)果，建議處理語言、文化或社會因素的翻譯策略，為未來的翻譯實踐提供借鑒。strategies are suggested based on the result(s) of the research for the proper treatments of the linguistic, cultural or social variants in the process of translation.4. 語言準(zhǔn)確，表意清楚，邏輯連貫。the resu

57、lt(s) and suggestion(s) are presented in clear, correct and coherent english.5. 字?jǐn)?shù)不少于1, 000字。the result(s) and suggestion (s) contain no less than 1,000 english words.6. 格式（標(biāo)題、字體和行間距）符合要求。 the result(s) and suggestion(s) are formatted as required.tutors comments:3. directions for learners1) conclude

58、 the paper by reviewing the research objective, process and results, restating the research significance and mentioning the possible research limitations. the conclusion should contain no less than 300 english words. 2) the heading for this section has been given. you may decide on your own subheadings if there are any.3) insert the conclusion in the space below.6. conclusionthe research is intended to find out the importance of cultural and linguistic ele