Literature Review

A name of a tourist spot, as a guide for foreign tourists, is associated with the specific history, culture, custom and complex connotations, and it is necessary to show our peculiar naming art in Chinese tourist spots. Proper translation of the name is crucial, it may add to the attraction of tourist attractions if they are well-translated.

Many articles and books have been centered on this issue. Among them, quite a few scholars show great interest in the basic theories and skills of translation. At first, we need to figure out what translation is. One British linguist defines translation as ”the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language” (Catford, 1965). Other scholars, like Nida, put forward theory of functional equivalence (the closest natural equivalent ). He pointed out that translating consists in reproducing the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style. And different from Nida#8217;s ”translating means translating meaning”, Nord#8217;s Skopostheorie defines translation as a communicative act. ” Translation is the production of a functional target text maintaining a relationship with a given source text that is special according to the intended or demanded function of the target text. Translation allows a communicative act to take place because of existing linguistic and cultural barriers would not have been possible with out it” (Nord, 2006:32). That is to say, the choice of translating methods should be according to its special purpose of translation.

Nida#8217;s functional equivalence theory and Nord#8217;s Skopostheorie are two main theories in studying translation. Many scholars put forward their opinions about two theories. Sang Longyang(2011) proposed the standards and methods of translating tourist names from the perceptive of Skopos Theory, believing that the translation should be readable and be easily understood by foreign visitors so that they could recognize and appreciate the translated work and learn Chinese culture from it. Both Liu Dejun and Chen Yanjun(2008) thought that cultural connotation is an important element in translating. The translated work without cultural connotations may lead to foreigner#8217;s false and incomplete understanding of the Chinese culture. They deemed that the translator should have a good cultural understanding of names of attractions and show it in the translated work. Still more suggestions have been made by scholars, like Liu Hongtao(2000), Cao Rong(2010) etc, who put forward their methods and rules. According to Cao, the methods can be classified to three categories, namely, transliteration, free translation and transliteration plus free translation. Here, free translation includes literal translation, addition etc. The basic rule to him is: to consider transliteration first and use free translation properly. A famous scholar Chen Gang(2002) believed that the choice of translation methods, transliteration, literal transliteration or addition, depends on a translator#8217;s keen awareness of cultural connotations. The guiding principle should always be the promotion of Chinese culture. Under the guidance of functional theory, Li DongYan (2009) deemed the translation of names should be objective, coherent and faithful. Under this principle, any translation of tourist spots names should be done from the readers#8217; perceptive. A little different from him, scholars Zhang Jianfang, Peng Zhiming and Gao Kuochang (2009) combined the functional theory with foreignization theory advocated Lawrence Venuti, an American translator. They thought only the functional theory could not make a proper translation because of complex connotations and cultural backgrounds to foreigners, as well as language differences. To them, it is better to apply both theories when translating the names, while at the same time, some practical skills like omission, addition or expression can be used also to convey the basis information and present the cultural characteristic so as to achieve the best effects.

Many scholars thought it may be a truism that cultural connotations and translation theories are intricately interwoven and the basis of translating tourist spots names. A solid recognition is that the existed translated names are mostly mistranslated or have many problems, either regardless of translation rules or loss of cultural connotations. Thus they introduced strategies for names translating and emphasis of culture. Scholar Liu (2000) put up two ideas to solve the problem. The first idea is to set up specialized agencies or urge existed agencies to reorganize and readjust the translation of scenic spots names. The second idea is to propose a standardized examination and approval system. Although there is no fast solution to problems in translating names of tourist spots, some measures need to be taken immediately. And, Liu Yin(2010), looking into the translation of scenic spots names in Dalian, came up with some solutions. Different from previous scholars, she paid more attention to personal ability, figuring out translators#8217; constant improvement of professionalization, seriousness about translation and other qualities of translators.