论文总字数：24007字

摘 要

旅游是一种典型的跨文化交际活动，其中，旅游景点的翻译尤为重要，形形色色的旅游景点往往包含着丰富的文化信息，所以在旅游景点翻译时要充分考虑到跨文化意识，为国外游客尽可能提供准确的景点信息。本文以跨文化意识为出发点，分析了旅游英语的特征和当前旅游景点名称翻译中存在的问题，指出在旅游景点名称的翻译中要有文化意识，才能有益于传播中国文化。

关键词：跨文化意识; 旅游景点名称; 翻译

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Features of Tourism English 3

3.1 Broad Scope of Tourism English 3

3.2 Tourism English with Deep Cultural Meaning 3

3.3 Tourism English with Artistic Language Feature 4

4. Problems Existing in Translation of Scenic Spots Names 4

4.1 The Name of One Scenic Spot having Different Translation Terms 4

4.2 Ignoring the Cultural Background Information of Scenic Spots 5

4.3 Ignoring Differences between Chinese and English Linguistic Culture 5

5. Translation Methods of Scenic Spots Names 6

5.1 Transliteration 6

5.2 Free Translation 6

5.3 Transliteration plus Free Translation 7

5.4 Transliteration plus Explanation 8

6. Conclusion 9

Works Cited 10

1. Introduction

Nowadays, with the rapid development of Economy and the improvement of transportation means, more and more people are able to go abroad for traveling. China is an ancient civilized country with a five-thousand –year brilliant culture and ample tourism resources. Most friends come to China not only to enjoy its beautiful natural scenery, but also to appreciate its fascinating culture. As the fundamental carrier of culture, languages’ function is to make communication convenient, however, only language is not enough, lacking of cultural backgrounds, material conditions, spirit and so on may result in the difficulties to make sure the quality of communication. Because of great differences between east and west in many aspects, they develop different cultures. Language is the base of culture; cross-cultural awareness is often realized by translation. So it is necessary for translators to cultivate cross-cultural Awareness when they translate scenic spots names, then, what is Cross-Cultural Awareness?

2. Literature Review

Based on above analysis, we know that cross-cultural awareness is an essential part that we should take into consideration when we do translation works. I collect and refer to different papers, journals and documents. The scientific study of cross-cultural awareness in Scenic Spots Names English Translation can be back to the 1960’s, however, in the process of writing my papers, it is difficult to find out English documents, and for right now, most of the papers are concentrate on tourism materials rather than scenic spots names, so it is difficult to refer to those references, Concerning the definition of cross-cultural awareness, there are miscellaneous understandings. In the academic community Chen Gang defines Cross-Cultural awareness as a process with four steps; firstly, we are supposed to be willing to understand and respect western culture, acquiring some of its facial traits through books or trips; secondly, after getting involved in a foreign culture and having certain knowledge, there will be a culture shock; Thirdly, living in a country with a foreign culture, we can have feelings and understandings to some degree, then we will think it acceptable from the cognitive level ;fourthly, when we deeply comprehend a foreign culture and lead an easy life under it, namely, we have learned to consider problems with an eye as a native, so we will accept it from the emotional level. The English anthropologist Taylor has defined culture as compound unity. Generally speaking, we human beings divide culture into three aspects: idea culture, system culture and implement culture. From the view of tourism culture, the differences between China and the west reflect on different aspects, ethics, custom, psychology and aesthetics, in another word, cross-cultural awareness is actually a comprehensive consideration of such aspects above. Hanvey once said (1980:237), cross-cultural awareness refers to participants in cross-cultural communication sensitive cultural differences between countries. When a translator takes part in translating tourism materials, it is necessary to possess cross-cultural awareness. In particular, translators should be tourist oriented and remember the needs of his readers-tourists.

The globalization makes Cross-Cultural communications more and more frequent, language, as an important part of a culture. The translators, the bridges of the Cross-cultural communications, play a very important role in exchanging the information. Translation can strengthen the communication between cultures and also benefit the culture of different countries. People tend to presume that a text in one language can be precisely translated into another language, so long as translators use a good bilingual dictionary, however this is not enough. The Cross-Cultural Awareness has become an indispensable factor for translators doing translation. Tourism translation not only lets the foreigners know the Chinese tourist attraction, however, most importantly plays a role in transmitting. When we do scenic spots names translation works, cross-cultural awareness may be the most difficult problem for us to consider. Cross-cultural awareness plays a very important role in Chinese-English translation of tourist text. If we want to learn a foreign language well, it means that we should master not only pronunciation, word; it also means that we should see this world as native speakers, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs and behavior of their society. There are many differences between the two cultures. To be the most important communicating way, language enjoys priority in Cross-cultural communication, so cultivating cross-cultural awareness is very significant for translators. The rise of “Cultural Travel” has made cross-cultural awareness gradually acknowledged and increasingly become a necessary theoretical guide for cross-cultural communication.

3. Features of Tourism English

Tourism translation is the translation practice of tourist activities, and it is a cross-cultural, cross-time, cross-language communication activity. Tourism has vivid sense of period and nationality, Tourism English, as one of the important parts of ESP (English for specific purpose) also has distinct features. Scenic spots translation has unique and outstanding features; generally speaking, scenic spots translation has two main functions: cultural function and aesthetic function. Features of Tourism English make it different from the other branches of English. Scenic spots names are kinds of publicity with the purpose of getting reactions from readership and this is built on providing readers with information. Taken in this sense, scenic spots names translation are both vocatively and informatively functional.

3.1 Broad Scope of Tourism English

Tourism is a cross-cultural activity and its knowledge covers many aspects. According to scholar Xi Lifan, it can be divided into three aspects: firstly, the first aspect is the history culture knowledge of tourist destination which includes geography, scenic spots culture and arts, etc. The second part is tourism common sense which includes transportation currency, communication. The third aspect is professional knowledge which includes politics, Economy, way of thinking and so on.

3.2 Tourism English with Deep Cultural Meaning

It can be said that culture is the soul of tourism, the most important part of tourism is to percept specific culture. Nowadays most foreign friends come to China not only to enjoy its beautiful natural scenery, but also to appreciate its brilliant culture. Eastern culture and Western culture have many differences in many aspects: differences between cultural tradition background, the way of thinking and the values. Therefore, it is very necessary for learners and translators to master a broad spectrum of knowledge and sharp cross-cultural consciousness.

3.3 Tourism English with Artistic Language Feature

Visitors’ consumption during visit activity is largely cultural products consumption. To accelerate this kind of cultural consumption, the communication and beauty of language play a vital role. Tourism English, as the carrier to publicity our country, is supposed to meet the demands of aesthetics.

4. Problems Existing in Translation of Scenic Spots Names

When foreign visitors read tourism materials, names of scenic spots are the most important information they may meet. So, whether they can attract visitors’ attention, first impression is very important. Therefore, we should concentrate on scenic spots translation. However, as for now, people can hardly satisfied with scenic spots names translation situation today. To sum up, there exist four problems. Nowadays, English translation of the names of scenic spots can hardly satisfy, there exist many problems. As a matter of fact, nevertheless, is that in the course of translation there exists a barrier between people from different cultural backgrounds.

4.1 The Name of One Scenic Spot having Different Translation Terms

One scenic spot often has more than three terms which may cause confusion. for example, “泰山”,In one version, it was translated into “Taishan Mountain” while in another version it was translated into“Tai Mountain”. Nanjing Yuhuatai cemetery of revolutionary martyres’ “雨花石博物馆”, in north gate guidance map it was translated into“Rain Flower Stone Museum”. While in another map it was translated into “Yuhua Pebbles Museum”. Different translation terms come from different translation methods. This situation may confuse foreign visitors. They may wonder: Do these different terms mean one scenic spot or different scenic spots? Which has a bad effect on publicity and introduction of tourism? At the same time, the disorders of scenic spots ruin nice images. This problem demands us to unify the translation of scenic spots names.

4.2 Ignoring the Cultural Background Information of Scenic Spots

Translators ignore the cultural background information of scenic spots and lead to wrong translations. Our country is an ancient civilized country with an over- five-thousand year history; many tourists of attraction have deeply cultural meanings. When translators do translating works, they do not think it carefully the resources or cultural meaning of scenic spots and just translate the scenic spots names literally. It could often lead to misunderstanding.

Taking a famous scenic spots of Suzhou “寒山寺” as an example, Is “寒山” a mountain or a person? “寒山寺” was often translated into “cold mountain temple”, however, when you know that “寒山”is a person’s name, you might find this translation is very ridiculous, “Hanshan Moutain Temple” has a long history of about one thousand and four hundred years, in the Tang dynasty, a famous monk came to this Temple and became the master, for this reason, the name of the temple was changed into “Hanshan Temple”. People who have been to “Hanshan Temple” know that there is no mountain s around the temple. So the name of “Hanshan” is more acceptable, the first version makes a wrong translation because of the lack of cultural information. There also exist similar problems, “虎跑泉” was generally translated into “Tiger Spring” rather than “Tiger running spring”; “曲院风荷” was generally translated into “Breeze-ruffled Lotus at Quyuan Garden”, rather than “Lotus in Breeze at crooked Country”.

4.3 Ignoring Differences between Chinese and English Linguistic Culture

Translators ignore differences between Chinese and English linguistic culture may also lead to wrong translation

A famous scenic spot in Kaifeng city, Henan province “清明上河园” was translated into “Park with up –the –River –on –Chingming Festival views”. However, in English “Up the river” is slang, it means going to jail. However, this garden is a theme park which aims to make people relaxed. The first translation name makes it easier to produce misunderstanding and negative imagine. Therefore it is necessary to understand language materials which require understanding of tourism materials’ Chinese Connotation. At the same time when we do translating works we should also follow aesthetics principle. Apart from above three problems they also exists spelling mistakes. In addition, there also exist many other problems such as spelling mistakes and so on.

5. Translation Methods of Scenic Spots Names

5.1 Transliteration

Generally speaking, transliteration is the conversion of a text from script to another and is often realized by Chinese pinyin, attempts to keep the characteristics of Chinese culture in TL text. Most systems of Transliteration map the letters of the source script to letters pronounced. Similarly in the goal script, for some specific pair of source and goal language, in Chinese, Transcription is known as yinyi while it is common to see foreign names left in their original forms (for example, in the Latin Alphabet) in a Chinese text. It is common to transcribe foreign proper nouns into Chinese characters. Transliteration can be classified into two types: complete transliteration and the second type, combining sound and meaning. Taking a famous car brand Mercedes-Benz as an example，Benz was translated into “奔驰” in Chinese Mainland, while in Taiwan area it was translated into “宾士”, and in Hong Kong it was translated into “平治”. This is the typical application of “complete transliteration method. Scenic spots terms involve many proper nouns of national culture and it is hard to find out a parallel word in English. These nouns often including abundant cultural information .Translators can hardly translate these nouns with short and unforgettable words. They cannot translate these nouns with a long sentence on this condition. It is wise to take Transliteration.

Simple Transliteration could convey no practical information to foreign visitors, foreign friends could never comprehend scenic spots’ cultural connotation, its aesthetic function could not exert neither. Though Transliteration is the easiest way in scenic spots translation, it was, as a matter of fact, applied for the least times. It is not enough to use this method only.

5.2 Free Translation

In many situations, just transliteration is not enough, if we use transliteration too often, this may affect translation quality. For example, Xi’an’ famous scenic spot “大慈恩寺” was translated into “The Da Ci’en Temple” in English, this simple transliteration is not appropriate, because it does not embody its deep and meaningful history background, therefore it cannot stimulate tourists’ interests in digging the deep meaning of the name of the temple.

Free translation, as an alternative method, it aims to convey the meaning and spirit of the original. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good. If we use free translation to translate this sentence：对于某些人有害的事可能对于另外一些人有好处. In this translation, we can see, in Chinese we have no word equivalent to "wind" in English. When we use free translation, it is very important for translators to master the source language and the target language which includes cultural background, equivalence of words, and make it smooth and easy to understand. Free translation is a flexible translation skill, once Transliteration cannot express the original language well; it is time to use free translation. It has been found that scenic spots terms translated by free translation are brief and clear. They are easy to understand by foreign visitors. Scenic spots names translated by free translation can nicely broadcast our country’s brilliant culture. “迎客松” was translated into “Greeting pine”; “卧龙松” was translated into “the Crouching Dragon Pine”; 明十三陵was translated into “Ming Tombs”; “颐和园” was translated into “the Palace Museum”. However, when we choose free translation we should not take the words too literally. Translation does not mean to transfer equivalent simply between two languages, but through the culture to contact with each other. Literal translation is not stiff while free translation is not appropriate, it will lead to misunderstanding and the bad influence of cultural communication

5.3 Transliteration plus Free Translation

From the perspective of grammar, scenic spots names can be divided into proper names and species names. Transliteration plus Free translation means combing pinyin with English translation. Translate proper names by using Transliteration while translating species names by using Free Translation. This method may be applied most practically. Let us have a look at several comparisons.

A. a comparison between transliteration plus free translation and simple transliteration

拙政园 Zhuozheng Garden / The Humble Administrator’ Garden

东方乐园 Dongfang Amusement Park / the Oriental Amusement Park

六和塔 Liu Ho Pagoda / Six-harmony pagoda

B. a comparison between transliteration plus free translation and simple free translation

灵隐寺 Lingyin Temple / Temple of the Soul’s Retreat

感应寺Ganyin Temple / The Temple of Spiritual Response

Both Transliteration and Free Translation have their inherent advantages and disadvantages. Transliteration and Free translation are two translation methods that we use often. Transliteration can keep the original meaning and original form while free translation is more flexible. To grasp both methods in the actual translation, a Translator must understand the difference between Transliteration and Free translation, applying these two skills practically. So, what should we do when we choose translation methods? From my point of view, translation practice ought to adhere to a single way and sometimes we can use different methods in one translation task. Though these two methods have many differences mutually exclusive, in the practice of scenic spots names’ translation, we should choose the proper translation method and we cannot say which one is better and both of them are practical.

5.4 Transliteration plus Explanation

It should be remembered that only transliteration just keeps the similarity in pronunciation and it does not include the replacement of meaning. The biggest problem of this method is that pinyin does not convey any meaning to foreign tourists who are not familiar with Chinese characters or pinyin. This technique is just applied to those very famous scenic spots. As for those newly scenic spots, it is necessary to use explanation to transmit the meaning. Cultural significance is well preserved and transmitted in the scenic spots names but the translation names can be better understood with necessary explanations. Transliteration plus explanation is the most popular method in translating scenic spots names.

For example, “中和殿” Zhong He Dian (Hall of Complete Harmony); “乾清门” “Qian Qing Men” (Gate of Heavenly Purity); “十三陵” “Shi San Ling” (the Ming Tombs).

However, sometimes when transliteration and transliteration plus explanation are not feasible in translating scenic spots names, transliteration plus literal translation is necessary, for this method tries to produce sense both in meaning and sound. In the term “灵谷寺”, “灵谷” is transliterated as “Linggu” and “寺” is literally translated as “temple”. Therefore, the target reader may understand what “Linggu Temple” means in the original text. More examples are found in the translation of the Chinese terms: “宝光寺” Baoguang Temple, “华清池” Huaqing Hot Spring, “钱塘潮” Qiantang Tidal Bore, “老虎滩公园” Laohutan Park, “昭陵” Zhaoling Mausoleum. Plenty of practice reveals that this method is more feasible and welcome in the translation of most geographical and names of the scenic spots.

Due to various reasons, not all of scenic spots names translation are translated by using above four methods. To some of Scenic spots names, they have their own conventional translation names and are wildly accepted. For example, “万里长城” the Great Wall, rather than “the Wan Li Wall” or “the Ten Thousand Wall”; “天安门” Tian’anmen, rather than “the Tian An Gate ”; “紫禁城” the Forbidden City, rather than “the Purple Forbidden City.”

6. Conclusion

As a traditional cross-cultural activity and the translator is the medium of the communication, translation requires cross-cultural awareness. The aims of scenic spots names is not only the transformation of language, more importantly is the delivery of information and culture .Scenic spots names have their own features and functions which includes abundant history and culture knowledge. This situation requires different translation methods. With the blossom of tourism industry, scenic spots names translation has developed rapidly in China, but most translation versions of scenic spots names are poorly done. Purely linguistic, literal solution to the translation of scenic spots names has weakness. Therefore, in translating scenic spots, cross-cultural awareness is a must to fully and comprehensibly convey the information. Meanwhile, it must be noticed that in tourist material translation, not all of the cultural information is translatable. On the one hand, we should not exaggerate the gap between Chinese and the Western culture; while on the other hand, we must recognize that cultural particularity of the two languages does pose difficulties.

In the process of translating, a feasible is needed to take so as to preserve cultural significance in the translation of scenic spots names. A translator should be a cultural communicator rather than the mechanical transmitter of the original, the translators should not only be bilingual but also bicultural, so that acceptable, understandable and culture-transmitting translation can be achieved.

Works Cited

[1] Edward Taylor. Primitive Culture. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2005.

[2] Eugene A, Nida. Language, Culture and Translation. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1993.

[3] Newmark, Peter A. “Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating”. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001.

[4] 包惠南.《文化语境与语言翻译》.北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，2001.

[5] 陈刚. 《旅游翻译与涉外导游》.北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，2004.

[6] 贾玉新. 《跨文化交际学》.上海：上海外语教育出版社，2002.

[7] 金惠康. 《跨文化交际翻译》.北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，2003.

[8] 肖乐. 《跨文化意识在旅游景点英语翻译中的运用》.广西师范大学学报，2008（3）：107-109.

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