Cultural Differences And C-E Translation Of West Lake Scenic-Spot Introductions

This thesis is an attempt to give an in-depth analysis of the existing problems in the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions ,and on the basis of the analysis, tentative solutions are suggested, which are based on the two essential notions of Nida's functional equivalence theory. The author hopes that the translation quality of scenic-spot introductions can be improved, and more researches in this specialized field will be made in the future by translators in our country.This thesis is composed of four chapters:Chapter One reviews the literature related to the present study at home and abroad. Chinese scholars, translators, professors and graduates have conducted a lot of researches in this field by adopting different approaches, for example: cultranslation approach, contrastive text analysis approach, functionalist approach, translation practice approach. The overseas researchers have discussed the translation of scenic-spot introductions from the perspectives of sociolinguistics, genre analysis and contrastive text analysis. Indeed, these practices can help a translator to get some hints during translation process, but they can not provide a systematic theory to guide the translator's mind, and few do it comprehensively and thoroughly, especially the study on that of the existing problems and possible solutions in theoretical level.Chapter Two is the theoretical foundation, in which the development of equivalence theory is introduced. Among them Nida's functional equivalence theory is given special attention. The two essential notions of his theory are"equivalence"and"receptors'response". Different from most of the earlier approaches to translation focused on the relationship of the source text to the target text, Nida's theory introduces the receptors'response to evaluate the quality of a translated text. After expounding Nida's functional equivalence theory, the present author concludes the following three practical implications: 1) Receptors'response shall be the criterion of judging the validity of translation; 2) In translation, enough attention should be paid to cultural factors, since biculturalism is more important than bilingualism; 3) Adjustment is necessary when there exist linguistic and cultural differences between the source text and the target text. In general, the differences in culture give rise to more important adjustments than the differences in language. Chapter Three analyzes the existing problems in the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions from cultural translation angle. First, the definition of culture implies that translation is not only a process of transforming language symbols, but also a process of conveying culture. The translation of scenic spots introductions is heavily colored by with the culture of the source language. Then, the author divides the cultural difference between Chinese and English into seven aspects as followings: language, history, tradition, customs, mode of thinking, and aesthetic tastes. The author sticks to this point which greatly influences the translation quality of scenic-spot introductions: cultural factor. To achieve a good translation of scenic-spot introduction, a comprehensive command of two cultures is particularly required.Chapter Four tackles these problems in translation of West Lake scenic-spot introductions by applying Nida's functional equivalence theory. Translation techniques based on the notions of equivalence and receptors'response are suggested to solve these problems. Firstly, four translation techniques based on the notion of equivalence are suggested, namely, literal translation, literal translation with annotation, transliteration with annotation, and transliteration and literal translation with annotation literal translation .Secondly, three translation techniques based on the notion of receptors'response are provided, namely, analogy, deletion or omission, and paraphrase. Finally, in order to improve the translation quality, it is necessary to approach this issue from the macro perspective involving the whole society. For example, greater efforts should be made to help people see the importance of the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions; more training institutions should be established to train professional translators; a more efficient monitoring system should be established.In the concluding part, the present author generalizes the major findings of the present thesis. Firstly, the present thesis argues the feasibility of applying Nida's functional equivalence theory to the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions and introduces an applicable theory to guide the research. Secondly, the examples used in the present thesis are mainly from examples cited by other scholars in periodical journals and some first-hand materials colleted by the author by visiting some major scenic spots in West Lake, which are real and typical. The author hopes that this study can arouse attention to the quality improvement of the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions so as to disseminate Chinese beautiful scenery and culture worldwide. Owing to the limited space of the present thesis, and the author's inadequate knowledge, certain deficiencies can not be avoided in the present thesis. For example, the classification of the existing problems in the English translation of Chinese scenic-spot introductions may not be proper enough and with regard to the argument of receptors'response, this thesis proves its measurability only from the specific function of scenic-spot introductions without further experimental support, which leaves much space for future efforts.