A Parallel Text Comparative Study Of English Translation Of Yunnan Tourism Texts Guided By Functionalist Translation Theory

Based on parallel text comparison,this thesis makes an attempt to probe into Yunnan tourism text translation by analyzing and comparing in the light of functionalist translation theory three groups of(nine texts in total)Yunnan tourism source text,target text,and the corresponding version written by foreign professionals(parallel text),and found out that the problems existing in the English translation of Yunnan tourism text can be summarized into the three aspects:(1)at structural level,the target text devotes most to the introduction to comprehensive information(such as geography and natural resources),the local legends and ethnic group culture,which are not directly relevant to travel;(2)at linguistic level,the target text is perfect in grammar but is not right in tone and style ? it doesn't match the ultimate vocative function of tourism text;(3)at functional level,the target text is more like a documentary report than a tourism advertisement.In a nutshell,the target text fails to adapt to the target readers' expectation and the norms of target language and culture.Accordingly,at structural level,the target text should provide the information and tips from the tourists' perspective and emit the information that's not directly relevant to the travel;at linguistic level,the target text should adapt to target readers' language norms and aesthetic expectation;at functional level,the target text should adapt to the target readers' response and be truly helpful to the target-text users.It is noteworthy that parallel text comparison is definitely a practical tool to help accomplish functional translation because comparison of the main linguistic and stylistic characteristic of parallel texts can help structure the target text.