C-E Tourist Literature Translation

Tourism in China has fully advanced along with the development of reform and opening up. The tourist literature (TL) is indispensable for the foreign tourists to learn the information about Chinese culture and tourist attractions. Therefore, the successful Chinese to English TL translation plays a vital role in publicizing Chinese culture, building up China's international image and promoting inbound tourism.However, the existing situation is that many English translations of the Chinese TL are far from satisfactory and fail to fulfill the intended purposes (Skopos) and functions. Thus, an overall study on the translation of Chinese TL is not only necessary but also urgent. So far, although some scholars in China have done research into the tourism translation, their researches are still far from systematic and sufficient.Due to the above mentioned reasons, this thesis attempts to make a comparatively systematic and overall study on the C-E TL translation from the German Functionalist perspective so as to provide the theoretical guidance for the C-E TL translating and consequently improve the quality of the English translations of TL.The theoretical framework of the study is the German Functionalist translation theories. Skopostheorie, the guiding theory in the study, doesn't emphasize the absolute equivalence between the target text and the source text, but asserts the translators should fully analyze the source text and the target text and choose appropriate translation methods according to the intended purpose (Skopos) or function of the target text. In Skopostheorie, the equivalence is no longer the only yardstick in the translation practice. A great importance is also attached to the function of the target text, the target readers'response and the target culture. Since the C-E TL translation has specific Skopos and target readers, it is undoubtedly that Skopostheorie has strong explanatory power and directive significance in this study.Based on the functionalist analysis of the C-E TL translation and the comparative study on the differences between the Chinese and English TL, the thesis proposes three principles and the criterion of the C-E TL translation. It further analyzes the typical problems and errors in the C-E TL translation, i.e. the linguistic and cultural translation problems and errors. Furthermore, the usually-adopted translation form– adaptation (bianyi) and some frequently-employed translation methods in the C-E TL translating under the guidance of the German Functionalism are illustrated. The thesis also highlights the C-E translation of the names of the tourist attractions since it's always the initial step in the C-E TL translating and those names are short in wording but always rich in culture. In the last part, the thesis reviews the key points in the study and points out the practical implications for improving the quality of the C-E TL translation and the translators training. Last but definitely not least, the limitations of the study are mentioned.