目的论视域下外宣翻译中有关旅游文化元素的翻译策略浅探

曹志颖　李军

摘 要：涉及旅游景點及历史人物的文化元素在有关旅游的外宣翻译中不胜枚举，而通过对这些景点及相关历史人物做更多的对外宣传是促进中国旅游业发展的主要途径，这彰显了外宣翻译中涉及旅游景点及历史人物的文化元素的翻译策略的重要性。因此，只有准确理解和翻译其中的文化元素，才能确保涉及旅游文化要素的外宣翻译的质量。本文基于目的论视域探究了涉及旅游文化元素的外宣翻译翻译策略。

关键词：外宣翻译；文化元素；目的论；跨文化传播；翻译策略

Abstract：International publicity translation on tourism is a principal means of promoting tourism development in China by making more propaganda for more scenic-spots and historical figures. Cultural elements concerned with these scenic-spots and historical figures are abundant in international publicity translation on tourism. Therefore， the proper understanding and rendering of cultural elements is the key to ensure the quality of international publicity translation on tourism. Based on Skopostheorie， the paper focuses on the translating strategies of cultural elements in international publicity translation on tourism.

Key words：international publicity translation； cultural elements； Skopostheorie； cross-cultural dissemination； translating strategies

一、Introduction

Nowadays， with the rapid development of globalization， more and more foreigners are particularly keen on Chinas time-honored civilization， beautiful scenic-spots and historical figures. The purpose of the paper is to fully arouse the cultural awareness in international publicity translation on tourism and probe into various strategies to deal with the cultural elements implied in international publicity translation on tourism. Confronting with various mistakes made in international publicity translation on tourism， the author makes an attempt to explore the effective strategies to deal with them under the theoretical guidance of Skopostheorie.

二、Skopostheorie

Skopos is the Greek word for “aim” or “purpose” and was introduced into translation theory in the 1970s by Hans J. Vermeer as a technical term for the purpose of a translation and of the action of translating. “Skopostheorie” was simplified as “the end justifies the means” （Nord， 2001， p.124）. It aims to liberate translation from the confinement of the source text and explain the translation activity from the perspective of the target language. In Skopostheorie， “Skopos rule”， as the top-ranking rule for any translation， means a translational action determined by its Skopos. Vermeer defines it as： each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. There are also two subordinate rules in the “Skopostheorie”： coherence rule and fidelity rule. Coherence rule means the target texts can be easily comprehensible to the audience in target language cultural environment. Fidelity rule means there must be an inter-textual coherence between the source texts and target texts， which means the target texts must be in high fidelity to the source texts. However， the degree of its fidelity heavily depends on the aim of the target texts and the translators comprehension of the source texts.

三、Translating strategies of cultural elements implied in scenic-spots and historical figures in international publicity translation on tourism

Names of scenic spots and historical figures for most tourists may be the first inexplicable hardships encountered by overseas tourists； its obscurity in international publicity translation on tourism has confused and frustrated many foreigners in their understanding of Chinese civilization and its cultural connotation. However， many problems occurred in international publicity translation on tourism concerned with cultural elements assuredly exist which hinder the foreigners from understanding of the authentic meaning of these scenic-spots and historical figures. Confronting with these problems， the international publicity translation circles shall standardize the translation of these unique proper names and adopt frequently used methods to render them in accordance with their own internal implication and cultural connotation. The concrete translating strategies of scenic-spots and historical figures mainly includes the followings：

1.Literal translation

Most scenic spots with less cultural elements in our country can be rendered into the target texts by using literal translation， most of which is named in accordance with their orientation， direction， shape， features or materials：

a.Examples related to the orientation or direction include： 南天門（South Heavenly Gate）， 东宫（East Palace）， 西湖（West Lake）， etc.

b.Examples concerned with their shapes or features like： 象鼻山（Elephant Trunk Hill）， 九曲溪（Nine-Twist Stream），千岛湖（Thousand-island Lake）， etc.

c.Others with their materials like： 白石洞（White Rock Cave）， 石头城（Stone City）， etc.

d.Besides， many scenic-spots also convey blessings through names， as shown in the examples： 万寿山（Longevity Hill）， 六和塔（Six Harmonies Pagoda）， 永和宫（Palace of Eternal Peace）， 悦心殿（Heart Cheering Hall）， etc.

2.Transliteration

Transliteration is mainly used to render names of scenic-spots including cities， counties， villages and towns.

For instance： 西安（Xian）， 八达岭（Badaling）， 北戴河（Beidaihe）， etc.

3.Transliteration plus literal translation

In many cases， if the names of scenic-spots and historical figures embody inexplicit connotations， transliteration plus literal translation is an effective one in rendering these names.

a.Places named after concerning historical figures or legendary characters as in the examples： 鲁迅故居（Luxuns Former Residence）， 孔庙（Confucius Temple）， 杜甫草堂（Dufus Cottage）， etc.

b.Mountain names of scenic-spots like：五臺山（Wutai Mountain）， 黄山（Huangshan Mountain） also adopt this method to make the English names clear and concise.

c.River， gorge， lake and garden names of scenic-spots like：白水江， 青铜峡， 都江堰， 太湖， or 豫园，can be rendered as the Baishui River， the Qingtong Gorge， Dujiang Weir， Taihu Lake， and Yuyuan Garden.

4.Transliteration plus a note

The translation strategies of transliteration plus a note can avoid the loss of cultural meaning； it will make the meaning explicit by adding the background knowledge and furthering the explanation. This method will enable foreigners to have a deeper and full-scale comprehension of the historical figures， achieving a better appealing and persuading function. The following are examples： “秦始皇” can be rendered as Qin Shihuang， the first emperor in Chinese history， built the Great Wall in 221 BC. We firmly believe that most westerners know the Great Wall； “溥仪” can be rendered as Emperor Puyi， the last emperor in Chinese history. A very popular Chinese movie called The Last Emperor was talking about him. The Last Emperor is a movie which enjoys a high popularity among western countries， by which most westerners well understand Chinese emperor. It can evoke memories of people and reach the destination of communication by reminding them of familiar things.

5.Free Translation

Quite a few names of the scenic-spots are rich in cultural connotation， while literal translation is incapable of displaying it. In the translation of these names， it is better to use free translation which aims to eliminate cultural differences by emphasizing the implications or legends behind them so that foreigners can easily comprehend them. For instance， Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses （兵马俑）， Summer Palace （颐和园）， the Imperial Palace（故宫）. Namely， free translation can help the foreigners understand the cultural connotation of tourist attractions names.

Though transliteration is weak in informative function， it enables the foreigners to get a good knowledge of authentic Chinese pronunciation， enhancing their curiosity and freshness. Furthermore， free translation can help the foreigners understand the literal meaning and cultural connotation of scenic-spots， which makes up for transliterations disadvantage in expression and enhances informative function so that information concerned with scenic-spots can be disseminated smoothly. Hence， under some circumstances， the integration of transliteration and free translation is an optimized translating strategy used in international publicity translation on tourism.

四、Conclusion

The author has made a systematic study on the translation of cultural elements in international publicity translation on tourism on the basis of Vermeers Skopostheorie. Owing to its practical significance， Skopostheorie possesses a good adaptability to the translation of international publicity translation on tourism and can provide translators with an adequate theoretical guidance. Based on the guidance of Skopostheorie， translators concerned can render the cultural elements implied in scenic-spots and historical figures by using the above-mentioned translating strategies alternatively so as to achieve the purpose of easy acceptability and promote the prosperity of tourism.

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作者简介：曹志颖（1973-）， 男， 汉，白银市工业学校，讲师，英语语言文学专业文学硕士，研究方向：翻译学。

李军（1965-）， 男，汉，白银市工业学校，副教授，研究方向：英语教学与翻译实践。