A Relevance-theoretic Approach To English Translation Of Chinese Tourism Materials

Tourism industry is a promising and green industry in21st century. Tourism translation belongs to practical translation. It is becoming increasingly important in translation practice. In order to improve tourism industry, China needs to publicize its culture and natural attractions. English is the world language. Therefore, the high-quality English translation of Chinese tourism materials is an urgent practical need. However, the practice of it is far from satisfaction.Tourism translation study either lacks theory foundation, or just has empirical description, thus it is hard to put forward the feasible translation strategies or methods. Applying qualitative analysis, contrast analysis as well as cases study, this dissertation tries to blend relevance theory, three principles of practical translation and translation variation theory to construct a Chinese-English tourism translation model. In addition, it positions practical translation in the map of translation studies. Also, based on the functions and nature of the information in tourism materials, this dissertation reclassifies tourism information into five broad classes, which is useful to select information in translation. The research reveals that while dealing with Chinese-English translation of tourism materials, it is important to keep "relevance" as macro-guidance, three principles as specific standards, simplification, expansion and adaption as translation strategies, and in this way, the optimal relevance could be achieved.The cases study shows that the model is practical. Thus, this research can guide Chinese-English tourism translation, promoting the publicity of tourism industry.