Chinese-english Translation Of Tourist Text From Functionalist Perspective-a Case Study Of Chengdu

Since the29thOlympic Games was held in Beijing in2008and World Expo in Shanghaiin2010, China’s tourism has been experiencing a period of rapid development. Chinesepeople can see foreign visitors all around China and the contribution to Chinese GDP oftourism as an industry has been growing faster than ever. Chengdu, a central city in westChina, will also embrace its opportunities and challenges in the time when tourism in thewhole country is skyrocketing. What is more, the2013Fortune Global Forum was held inChengdu, opening a golden window for the development of economy and tourism in Chengdu.It is sure that English versions of tourist materials will become an important platform onwhich foreigners get in touch with and learn more about Chengdu. That is why the quality oftourist materials translation would be in a key position in the development of tourism inChengdu.With a final purpose of attracting foreign visitors and introducing Chinese culture bydelivering tourist information, tourist materials are an effective way in publicity. However, itis a truth that tourist materials of Chengdu cannot meet the demand of publicity yet and manyproblems still remain to be solved in translating tourist materials. Because academiccommunity is now paying its attention to the translation of tourist materials, the number ofscholars studying in this field is also on the rise. Reiss, with her text typology, is oneimportant aspect of studies in this regard. The core of this theory is that, for translators, toanalyze types of texts is the pre-condition of choosing translating methods. Translating oftourist text involves the problems of transferring among languages and that of cross-culturalcommunication, therefore, text type should be taken into full consideration before translationis done to make a correct choice of translation methods, so that the translation could be thebest to improve foreign visitors’ tourist experience. It is believed that only the touristmaterials translation that can help improve tourist experience of visitors can be calledqualified.German translation theorist Katharina Reiss is one of the founders of the functionalschool in Germany in1970s. Her theory in translation typology and text typology, as apractical and operative translation theory, also plays a guiding role in the practice of tourist materials translation. This dissertation is to take the tourist resources in Chengdu as anexample to make an analysis of the translation of tourist materials under the guidance ofReiss’ theory of text typology. It is recognized that tourist material covers a wide range oftexts. Therefore, it is hoped that the classification and study of tourist materials in thisdissertation can find a way to choose translation methods in accordance with text types, sothat quality of this type of translation can be improved in some degree and the progress ofinternational development of tourism in Chengdu can be accelerated.Based on the analysis of tourist materials and their translation, this dissertation concludesthree types of translation methods, namely addition, deletion and restructuring. Thesemethods, being based on Reiss’ text typology, aim at providing qualified tourist text,enhancing foreign visitors’ understanding of tourist resources and enriching touristexperience.