从旅游文本翻译中探究中西文化差异.docx

1、从旅游文本翻译中探究中西文化差异On the Cultural Differences in the Translation of Tourist TextsAbstractWith the globalization of tourism becoming more and more obvious, China, as a civilized country with a history of 5,000 years, has unlimited potential in tourism. The existence of different cultural backgrounds an

2、d language barriers makes it difficult for foreign tourists to understand Chinese culture in tourism activities, which has become a common phenomenon. Therefore, how to better publicize Chinas tourism resources to foreign tourists has become a topic worth studying. How to overcome cultural differenc

3、es and achieve effective translation has become a problem that must be solved in tourism translation. This paper probes into the cultural differences between China and the west from the translation of tourism texts, aiming at finding out the cultural differences and putting forward suggestions and m

4、ethods to improve the translation of tourism texts: adding explanatory texts and related cultural backgrounds, deleting ornate texts and pursuing objectification of translation, changing word order arrangement and restructuring sentence structure and cultural analogy, etc., in order to improve the t

5、ranslation quality of tourism texts, and to make the world better understand China and the Chinese nation, thus promoting the development of Chinas tourism industry, the spread of Chinese culture and the exchange of Chinese and western cultures.Key words：English translation of tourist texts; cultura

6、l difference; problems; solutions从旅游文本翻译中探究中西文化差异内容摘要随着旅游业全球化的趋势越来越明显，中国作为一个有着五千年历史文化的文明大国，旅游业具有无限的潜力。由于不同文化背景和语言障碍的存在，使得外国游客在旅游活动中对中国文化的理解出现困难，这成为一种常见的现象。因此，如何向外国游客更好地宣传中国旅游资源，成为一项值得研究的议题，如何克服文化差异而达到有效的翻译成为旅游翻译必须解决的问题。本文从从旅游文本翻译中探究中西文化差异，旨在找出其中的文化差异，并对完善旅游文本翻译工作提出建议和方法：增加解释性的文字和相关文化背景、删减华丽的文字和追求译文客

7、观化、改变词序排列和重组句式结构和文化类比法等，以期使旅游文本的翻译质量得以提高，让世界更好地了解中国和中华民族，从而促进中国旅游业的发展，中华文化的传播和中西方文化的交流。关键词：旅游文本的英译；文化差异；问题；建议与方法Contents1.Introduction1.1Background of ResearchIn China, as a result of reform and opening up, cross-border cooperation and exchanges are increasing day by day, becoming more and more impo

8、rtant. This has created opportunities for the development of Chinas tourism industry. China is a great eastern country, with not only many picturesque landscapes, but also numerous historical heritages and cultural relics. All these are very attractive to foreign tourists. Now more and more foreign

9、tourists come to visit China. According to Chinas tourism statistics bulletin for 2014, the China National Tourism Administration announced that the number of foreign tourists in China since 2014 has exceeded 128 million, generating about 105 billion US dollars in foreign exchange. Tourism has broug

10、ht great economic benefits to China and played an important role in spreading Chinese civilization and culture. Therefore, how to show the world Chinas tourism resources is one of the important steps to develop our tourism industry. The prosperity of tourism makes it necessary to translate tourism t

11、exts. English, as a generally accepted international communication tool, is the main language for Chinese tourism to translate Chinese tourism texts. Most foreigners can easily accept English travel texts. However, due to some cultural differences between China and the West in the translation of tou

12、rist texts, it is difficult for foreigners to understand the translation of Chinese tourist texts. When we transfer the source text to the target text, cultural differences have become a big problem. In order for foreigners to have a better understanding of Chinas historical heritage and cultural re

13、lics, translators cannot ignore cultural factors in the process of translation. If translators ignore the cultural differences between China and other countries, they may translate the text mechanically, regardless of whether foreigners can really understand and accept the translation. The translato

14、r should adjust the translation and pay attention to the acceptability of the target text readers. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the cultural differences in the translation of tourism texts, and to put forward corresponding solutions to these Chinese and western cultural references so a

15、s to realize effective international exchanges.Tourism texts can help people to better understand a countrys scenic spots and culture. However, although there are many successful examples of English translation of Chinese tourist texts, there are still many problems and mistakes in translation. Many

16、 English versions of travel texts are tautological, poorly structured and confusing. The translation quality of tourism texts will directly affect Chinas international image and the development of Chinas tourism industry. In addition, different cultural backgrounds and different languages make it mo

17、re difficult for foreigners to obtain commodities and understand Chinese tourism culture.1.2 Significance of Research Tourism is a sunrise industry in the 21st century and has become one of the pillar industries of Chinas economic development.With the globalization of tourism becoming more and more

18、obvious, cross-cultural communication has become a feature of the times. China is a civilized country with a history of 5000 years. There are many natural landscapes in the magnificent mountains and rivers, a large part of which contains profound cultural landscape.They are often related to special

19、historical events, allusions, legends or folk customs and have unique national characteristics. Five thousand years of ancient civilization, long history and culture, and magnificent mountains and rivers all have great attraction to foreign tourists and offer unlimited potential for the development

20、of tourism. Tourism texts contain a lot of cultural information. The existence of cultural differences between China and the West makes it impossible for foreign tourists to have a good understanding of Chinas history and culture.Therefore, it is urgent to analyze the cultural differences in tourism

21、 text translation. How to overcome the differences between Chinese and western cultures and realize effective translation has become a problem that must be solved in tourism translation. The translation quality of tourism texts will affect the development of Chinas tourism industry. Starting from th

22、e translation of tourist texts, this paper analyzes several cultural differences in the translation of Chinese and western tourist texts, and puts forward corresponding solutions, which have practical guiding significance for improving the translation ability of foreign tourism professionals, thus m

23、aking it easier for foreign tourists to understand the cultural connotation of tourist attractions, improving the image of tourist attractions, enabling the world to better understand China and the Chinese nation, spreading Chinese culture more accurately, and promoting cultural exchanges between Ch

24、ina and the west.2.A Review on Tourist TextsIn order to realize effective translation of tourist texts, translators need to have a good understanding of the concepts and functions of tourist texts. Of course, the major translation problems in tourism texts are also worth studying and analyzing.2.1 D

25、efinition of Tourist TextsTourist texts are a kind of external publicity materials. It conjures up too many cultural connotations which involve historical allusions, religion, garden architectures, customs, habits and so on. Tourist texts refer to the text adopted in, used for,and related to tourism

26、, including guidance, schedules, commissions letters, intention letters, contract, advertisements, maps, notices, tourist slogans, and introduction of natural sceneries and cultural attractions, etc. (Chen, 2004). Tourist texts can be divided into two categories: written text (such as book, picture

27、album, tour map, notice, brochure, etc.) and interpretation text (such as site interpretation, video, TV show, documentary film, etc).2.2 Functions of Tourist TextsThe main purpose of tourist texts are enlarging peoples knowledge and inspiring tourists interests in traveling by the introduction and

28、publicity of the natural sceneries and cultural attractions (Yao, 1998). So tourist texts have two functions: one is to transmit information, and the other is to attract tourists. All texts can be divides into three types according to the following three functions: “(1) the expressive function, whic

29、h focuses on the mind of the speaker, the writer, and the originator of the utterance; (2) the informative function, which concentrates on the external situation, the facts of a topic concerned, reality outside language; (3) the vocative function, which pays attention on the relationship of the addr

30、essee.”(Newmark, 2001) In general, most texts are based on one leading function and are supplemented by the other two functions. According to Newmarks classification of texts, the leading function of tourist texts is vocative function. Because the purpose of tourist texts is to attract tourists, aro

31、use their interest to visit the tourism destination and strengthen their understanding of Chinese culture. But tourists are willing to obtain the background information about tourist destinations before they visit there. By reading tourist texts, they can get relevant knowledge about the nature, geo

32、graphy, culture and customs of the destination. So tourist texts are also informative.As we all know, western countries and China fall into two different cultural systems. They have many differences in geographical environment, historical conditions, thinking patterns, social structures, etc., which

33、 is also embodied in their tourist texts. Thus, cultural differences become one big issue for foreigners to understand the translation of Chinese tourist texts. To better realize the two basic functions of tourist texts discussed above, it is very important to deal with the cultural differences in tourist texts carefully.2.3 Major Tran