A Study On Chinese-English Translation Of Names Of Scenic Spots From The Perspective Of Domestication And Foreignization

The names of scenic spots can not only convey some basic information of the attractions, but also include profound cultural connotations. In recent years, catering for foreigners, more and more names of tourist attractions are translated into English, but many of them are far from satisfactory. Their translations should be readable to foreign tourists and should preserve the information and culture of the scenic spots as much as possible, too. It is hard and important. Therefore, it is significant to make a research on the C-E translation of names of scenic spots. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are used in this thesis which discusses it from the perspective of domestication and foreignization.In this thesis,400translations of names of tourist attractions are collected and296translated names, which are mistranslated on the level of language or culture, are classified and calculated by the software of SPSS11.5. Then,50foreign college students, whose native language is English, complete the questionnaires on the translation of names of scenic spots and most of them prefer the translation method which domestication and foreignization are employed together. Some suitable translation methods should be discussed and applied to different kinds of names of scenic spots to enhance the quality of the translation with the guidance of domestication and foreignization.Firstly, it is found that some translation methods can be used in the translation of names of scenic spots on the basis of foreignization strategy. They are transliteration, literal translation and transliteration plus literal translation. Secondly, approaches of translation based on domestication, such as addition, omission, analogy, annotation and renaming, are also applicable to the translation of some names of attractions. Thirdly, sometimes, domestication and foreignization can be adopted together in the translation, because these two strategies are interdependent and complementary. The author also puts forward some advice for translators and tourism administrations in this thesis. Translators should enhance their sense of responsibility and improve their English and translation skills. The tourism administrations should make principles to unify the translated versions which should be revised and improved as native English experts suggest. In a word, both domestication and foreignization are important to the translation. Proper translation methods should be chosen for different sorts of names of scenic spots with the guidance of these two strategies to achieve optimal effect.