Nida's Translation Theory And Its Application To Chinese-English Translation Of Tourism Materials

The development of Chinese theoretical study of translation is inseparable from the introduction of foreign translation theories which plays an active role in guiding the practice of translation. The thesis is devoted to the study of the main concept and principles of Nida's theory, draws useful elements from his theory to guide Chinese-English translation of tourism materials.Nida believes that the content of message is of prime importance. "Meaning must be given priority, for it is the content of the message which is of prime importance." (Nida 1982:13) Oriented toward target language readers, he proposes the principle of dynamic equivalence, which focuses on producing "the closest natural equivalent" of the source language message and aims at eliciting "substantially the same response" between source language readers and target language readers. Based on these principles, Nida's translation theory is applied to Chinese-English translation of tourism materials. However, due to linguistic and cultural differences, there are difficulties in achieving dynamic equivalence. To some extent, translation techniques can be employed to solve the problems.This thesis is composed of five parts. The first part is a general introduction to Nida, including his masterpieces and influences. The second part is a survey of Nida's translation theory. Basis of his theory and dynamic equivalence are discussed in detail. The third part is about features and functions of tourism materials. The fourth part is about the application of Nida's theory to Chinese-English translation of tourism materials in which translation techniques are introduced; theoretical value and practical significance of Nida's translation theory are demonstrated. And conclusion comes in the fifth part which reiterates the main viewpoints of the thesis.