A Study Of Cultural Translation From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

Now, with the development of economic globalization, the intercultural exchanges are getting more and more bountiful, among which tour can be claimed as the one loved most by people. Experiencing the exotic is not only a spiritual enjoyment but also a cognitive process of exotic culture. Thus, tour is endowed with unique cultural connotations.This thesis is intended to conduct a comparatively systematic study on the translation of tourism materials from a cultural perspective. In doing so, the thesis attempts to explore some effective strategies and methods applied in the translation of tourism publications and find solutions to some striking problems in the present English versions of Chinese tourism materials. As a kind of mainly informative and vocative text, tourism materials must be translated in a combination of various methods, such as paraphrasing, adding, analogizing, deleting and rewriting. In applying these methods, it is advisable for the translator to preserve specific cultural elements as much as possible; and meanwhile, the translator has to make his or her translation comprehensible to the target readers. In the final analysis, it's a problem of domestication and foreignization, and domestication is explicitly demonstrated as the primary strategy in this thesis in order to better propagandize Chinese culture. For these purposes, the thesis includes three parts, dealing with the following issues.Firstly, it mainly expounds the relationships between language, culture, tourism and translation, and points out that great cultural discrepancies cause difficulties in the translation of tourism materials. Further the author analyzes some prominent problems in translation of tourism materials, focusing on the errors caused by misunderstanding of cultural factors, because if English version can't be understood by foreign tourists, cultural export won't be achieved either. Thus, tentative resolutions to these problems are suggested.In the second part, functions of tourism materials and the criteria for tourism translation are discussed. The author holds that Eugene A. Nida's Functional Equivalence can serve as the criteria for the translation of tourism materials. This part discusses Nida's conception of functional equivalence, appropriateness of functional equivalence for translation of tourism materials, and requirements for application of functional equivalence in translation of tourism materials. Several aspects of translating tourism materials, including translating names of scenic spots and their introductions are presented. Two cultural translation strategies and a combination of various methods should be applied to make tourism translation more understandable to the target readers, and preserve distinctive cultural elements as well.In the last part, from the perspective of the theory and methods of this thesis, the application of strategies and methods in translation of tourism materials is illustrated by the author's sample analysis and comments of the English translation of Zhangjiajie·Wulingyuan Brochure.It can be inferred that the thesis possesses practical values and innovative ideas, for it integrates the translation theory with translating practice by comments of Zhangjiajie·Wulingyuan Brochure, which will facilitate the propaganda of Chinese culture of Zhangjiajie·Wulingyuan .An excellent translation of tourism materials is conducive to the wide spread of Chinese culture on the stage of the world, serving to push ahead flourishing of our tourism industry. Sure this thesis will give translators some helpful hints about translation of tourism materials.Due to the author's own limitations in respect of knowledge and her power to express herself fully, this thesis certainly leaves much to be desired. For this reason, suggestions and criticisms are cordially welcome from experts and professors.