Translating is a cross-cultural activity and the translator is the medium of the communication between the target readers and the author. It goes without saying that cross-cultural communication requires cross-cultural awareness and this is especially true with the translating of tourist materials. With the booming of tourism, tourist translation has developed rapidly in China, but most English versions of tourist materials are poorly done, for there exists lots of unique items that have never been described before in English. To deal with these cultural items properly, translation theorists provide some strategies that are different superficially but similar essentially. The similarity lies in the full and correct transmission of cultural information. The author, by synthesizing the conception of culture and introducing the conception of cultural information, and its necessity in translating tourist materials, holds the cultural items are translatable through the following strategies: literal translation, transliteration, transliteration plus explanation, transliteration plus literal translation, cultural analogy, and paraphrase.
Key Words:
cross-cultural awareness; tourist materials; translating strategies; cross-cultural communication
Content
1. Introduction 1
2. Tourist Culture 2
2.1 Culture 2
2.2 Tourist Culture 3
3. Cross-cultural Awareness and Tourist Material Translating 5
3.1 Cross-cultural Awareness 5
3.2 Characteristics of Tourist Materials 5
3.3 The Necessity of Cross-cultural Awareness in Translating Tourist Material 6
4. The Strategies in Translating Tourist Materials from Chinese into English 8
4.1 Literal Translation 9
4.2 Transliteration, Transliteration Plus Explanation and Transliteration Plus Literal Translation 10
4.3 Cultural Analogy 12
4.4 Paraphrase 13
5. Conclusion 14
Bibliography 15
Acknowledgments 16
