Begging for professional English translation

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1. You can add it appropriately

Due to different regions, different histories, and different cultural backgrounds, the two nationalities have different opinions on the same There are also great differences in the understanding of things. Some contents may be well known in the original language country, but foreigners know nothing about them. In this case, explanatory translation can be added to some important information in the original text that has the cultural color and historical background of the original language to supplement this part of knowledge to avoid misunderstanding or even confusion by the target language readers, and achieve both internal and external There is a difference. For example:

Example 1. There was a cave on the edge of the forest. It is said that the White Snake once practiced here.

Near the forest there once was a cave which was said to be the very place where Lady White, the legendary

heroine of The Story of the White Snake, cultivated herself according to Buddhism doctrine.

If this sentence is translated exactly according to the original text, it can be translated as: Near the forest there once was a cave which was said to be the very place where Lady White cultivated herself. Foreigners can also understand such a translation, but they are likely to be confused: Who is Mrs. White in China? Why do you practice in a cave less than one square meter? With the addition of the legendary heroine of the Story of the White Snake, tourists are not only easy to understand, but also have an understanding of the legendary story, thereby increasing their interest in tourism and deepening their impression of the scenic spot. In practice, we even sometimes see translators introducing the entire story.

In tourism translation, traditional festivals often require similar explanatory translations. Especially when tourists are very interested in traditional festivals and customs, the origins and customs of the festivals become very important supplementary content. For example, the "Water Sprinkling Festival" of the Dai people can be translated as Water- Sprinkling Festival—an important festival for the Dai nationality to wish happiness by splashing water to each other; "Dragon Boat Festival" can also be translated as Dragon Boat Festival—a festival to memorize Quyua— a famous poet and statesman of Chu Kingdom in the Warring States Period, who finally killed himself by plunging into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the year BC 295 BC).

Theoretically, the added content can be very extensive, as long as it is related to the original text or the background knowledge needed to understand the original text content can be added, such as historical era, birth and death time, character identity and history. Contribution, geographical location, the meaning of the transliterated name in the original language, etc. However, in actual work, factors such as the focus of translation, tourist interests, necessity, and time often limit the added content and level of detail.

2. It should be appropriately deleted

After describing a scene, Chinese people often quote a quote from a famous person or an ancient Chinese poem for verification, which will deepen the impression on the reader or listener. , and get artistic enjoyment from it. However, this kind of supplementary information is often a moderate burden for foreigners and translators.

Even sometimes these descriptions are not only unhelpful for understanding the original text, but also make tourists feel more confused. In travel translation, if there is no special purpose or requirement, such text can often be deleted.

Another situation is that Chinese tends to use gorgeous words and various figures of speech when introducing beautiful scenery, and even several words used together express similar meanings. In spoken English, this kind of gorgeousness is not practical, and similar or even identical meanings may not necessarily give people a beautiful feeling. Therefore, appropriate deletions can be made when translating, as long as the beautiful feeling is conveyed to the guests.

For example, there is this paragraph in the text introduction of Shanghai Osmanthus Festival:

Example 2. There are trees full of golden flowers, fragrant golden osmanthus; the flowers are as white as snow, The fragrant silver osmanthus; the red-yellow osmanthus with rich flowers and strong flavor; the four-season osmanthus with silver-like flowers and flowers in every season. All kinds of sweet-scented osmanthus are blooming and competing for beauty. Entering Guilin Park, bursts of cinnamon fragrance hit your nose.

The Park of Sweet Osmanthus is noted for its profusion of osmanthus trees. Flowers from these trees in different colors are in full bloom, which pervade the whole garden with the fragrance.

Original text The names and characteristics of various sweet-scented osmanthus are introduced in detail. The words are gorgeous and the sentences are neat. The reading is immersive and refreshing. But for on-site translators, it is obviously not worth the effort to translate these words. Just imagine, in the blooming Guilin Park, what kind of beautiful words can compare with the pleasant natural beauty of the cinnamon? The translation here omits all the names of the four kinds of sweet-scented osmanthus, and the description language is also highly general. Although there is a certain loss in rhetorical effect, it is still a better method in interpreting practice.

Example 3. For people who have lived in a city for a long time, it is always a good idea to put down the repetitive work that they have been doing for many years, take their family, or make an appointment with a few friends, and go for a walk to a place hundreds of miles away. The most attractive option. Moreover, it is the season of crisp autumn, and what people are fascinated by during the annual National Day holiday is to go to other places and visit the mountains and rivers.

However, when you go out during such a peak tourist season, you will inevitably encounter problems such as difficulty in selling license plates and air tickets, tight accommodation or rising ticket prices, and crowds of people at popular attractions, etc., which will make you worry about encountering "man-made disasters". Therefore, choosing the direction and location and making various preparations in advance are the keys to ensuring a good mood when traveling.

Getting out of town is a great way for urban residents to celebrate the National Day holiday, especially those who want to spend quality time with their families. // But many people will have the same idea and some difficulties with your trip that can be expected such as a shortage of train tickets, crowded hotels and transit depots. // So you'd better take all the possibilities into consideration before you begin your tour. // Carefully developing a travel plan can ensure you have a better trip.

After analyzing the context of the original text, we know that this is a travel advertisement. The author appropriately uses "sensational" techniques to skillfully convey the tourism product information intended to be expressed in the advertisement to readers.

When translating, the translator only needs to grasp this intention, decompose the main information, take into account the English advertising standards, and make it concise and clear. The content that is two paragraphs long has more condensed and concentrated semantics and is clear at a glance. It can not only correctly express the actual content of the original text in the translation, but also enhance the effect of the translation.

3. Rewrite appropriately according to the situation

In tourism translation, some nouns and terms are unique to the country or region. If they are translated literally, tourists will not understand them at all. , then you have to change your statement. For example, there is this sentence in the introduction of Wuhou Temple in Chengdu:

Example 4. Liu Bei died of illness in Yong'an Palace in Baidi City in the third year of Zhangwu. He was transported back to Chengdu in May and buried in Huiling in August. .

Liu Bei died of illness in 223 at present-day Fengjie county of Sichuan Province and was buried here in the same

year.

This sentence means It is not easy for ordinary foreign tourists to understand. The "Three Years of Zhangwu" and "Baidi City" are two difficult points. If you don't have a good understanding of Chinese history, the time and place here are meaningless. You might as well consider changing the statement to use the AD year and today's place names, while omitting the less important "ship back to Chengdu in May."

There is a tourist brochure about the city of Sagunto in Spain. During the translation, the content of the original text was appropriately adjusted and rewritten. Since the original article devotes a lot of space to introducing the development of heavy industry in the city, this propaganda will only be counterproductive for Westerners who want to escape industrial pollution and seek Spanish sunshine. Therefore, in order to effectively realize the "inducing" function in tourism translation, this part of this article can only be "appropriately rewritten." This tells us that adjustments and rewriting during translation must be in line with the actual situation of tourism translation. The most fundamental purpose of tourism translation should be to convey information, induce action, appreciate both elegance and vulgarity, and arouse the audience. The primary criterion for tourism translation should be the "acceptability" of the target language, including three aspects: comprehensibility, cultural acceptance, and content appeal. That is to say, the target language should have good expressiveness, affinity, and Fun.

Issues that should be paid special attention to in tourism translation

1. Language and cultural differences

Language and cultural differences should be given full attention in the tourism translation process. Different countries have different languages, customs, interests, etc. In tourism translation, we should carefully screen, seek similarities and eliminate differences, and check for omissions and fill in the gaps.

As far as language differences are concerned, the consequence of neglect is Chinglish. In fact, this problem is very serious in the field of tourism translation. For example, we can often see "Warmly welcome..." translated into "Warmly welcome...". Although there is no grammatical error, it sounds very awkward. It is better to change it to . "Be careful of slippery roads" someone translated it as! This does not conform to the English slogan "A warm welcome to..." "Notice: The roads are very slippery" and can be changed to "Slippery Road (Be Careful)!". If it is indoors, you can also change it to "Caution: Wet Floor!"

Cultural differences and deficiencies are often difficult to translate, and if not done properly, guests may be offended unintentionally. The most interesting thing is living guests, which is an expression for "accommodation guests" on a hotel notice. Before talking about this expression, let us first listen to a conversation between a student at the School of Foreign Languages ??and an American tourist visiting the school:

Student: Where do you live? (Student : Where do you live? )

Tourist: I live in California.

)

Student: … Where are you staying? (Student: … Where are you staying?)

Tourist: I'm staying at the International Hotel. Stay at the International Hotel.)

During the conversation, the student quickly realized the difference between live and stay and changed his mind. He originally wanted to know which hotel the other party was staying in, but was disturbed because the Chinese word "zhu" for long-term settlement and "zhu" for short-term stay are the same word. Therefore, to indicate "guests who stay", use staying guests. Even if there are long-term guests in the hotel, you should not use living guests, because it also means "living guests". The hotel is not a funeral home, so there will be no dead guests!

Cultural deficiencies such as "Qin Shihuang" is only translated as Qin Shihuang, which may not be understood by foreign tourists. If the historical background is appropriately supplemented, it can be translated as " Qin Shihuang, the first emperor in the Chinese History who unified China in the year BC221." is more understandable to foreign tourists.

2. Don’t read the meaning of the text

If you are lazy to think and only look at the superficial meaning of the words, regardless of the actual situation of the scenic spot, or do not understand the relevant knowledge at all, it may lead to wrong results. , giving foreign tourists a wrong impression and even affecting the image of the scenic spot.

For example, some people simply translated the word "grass" in "Caotang Temple" as straw, which gives the impression that the cottage was built entirely with straw and no other materials. In fact, we know that this kind of thatched cottage only has a roof covered with thatch, so it might be better to translate it into thatched cottage.

Another example is the "Guilin Park" mentioned in the first section. Its English translation is at least three: "Guilin Park", "The Park of Sweet Osmanthus" and "Laurel Park". Which one is better? ? First of all, the park mentioned in the sentence is located on Guilin Road, Caobao Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai. Obviously, the first name will cause people to misunderstand that it is in Guilin (although this is also suspected in Chinese, after all, it contains "osmanthus forest") Meaning, can be considered a pun). Let’s look at the last two translations: A closer look shows that Sweet Osmanthus refers to the “osmanthus” of the Oleaceae family, and Laurel refers to the “laurel” of the Lauraceae family. They are two completely different types of plants. Based on the actual situation and the variety description below, it can be concluded that the third translation method is also wrong.

Another example is a tourist who once went to the New Otani (Changfu Palace) Hotel and asked a receptionist after entering: Excuse me, where's the restroom? She pointed without hesitation, and the tourist looked up. Looking at it, it turned out to be a place with sofas and chairs for guests to rest and meet. Obviously, the receptionist did not understand that I was not going to the lounge, but to the toilet. Using restroom instead of toilet sounded euphemistic; some Americans also call the toilet a comfort room, which is not only euphemistic, but also humorous. The resting place of public relations places is the lounge or lobby.

3. Accumulation and preparation of relevant knowledge

Tourism translation not only belongs to the category of interpretation, but it is also different from general interpretation. It involves a variety of Subjects include natural sciences, social sciences, astronomy and geography, customs, legends and allusions, poems and songs, etc., so the requirements for translators are very high.

In the early years, a translator did not understand the word "Nirvana" in the picture "Sakyamuni Nirvana". An attendant told him, "Simply speaking, it is Sakyamuni Nirvana." It means passing away." So he translated the picture caption as "Sakyamuni passing away."

In fact, Nirvana is not just pass away, but is used in Buddhism to refer to a spiritual state obtained after the reincarnation of life and death. It is the highest state of Buddhist practice. Nirvana is the Sanskrit word Nirvana. Transliteration.

Another example: The translation of Nanjing Yuhua Stone Museum has a similar problem. Which word is better for "stone" in "Yuhua Stone"? Someone suggested using pebbles (small stone made smooth and round by the action of water, i.e. small pebbles or pebbles), which seems to be a more appropriate word in terms of appearance. But it has a dirty connotation in the eyes of foreigners, so pebble should be abandoned. Stone is the general term for stone, and in addition to stone, it can also mean precious stone, that is, precious stone. So in the end I chose a very common word, translated as "Yuhua Stone Museum".

Also, in general tour guide activities, "Forest of Stone Tablets" can be translated as "Forest of Stone Tablets", and when facing archaeological experts, the more difficult "Forest of Steles" can also be used. Because Steles is a word in Greek archaeology, specifically referring to stone slabs and stone pillars with words or patterns engraved on them. The average tourist hardly knows this word. An Australian linguistics expert even pointed out that he only learned the word "stele" with the help of a dictionary after reading the brochure and tour guide of Xi'an Forest of Steles. Although such a translation is more faithful to the original name, what is the use if very few people understand it? Therefore, sometimes in tourism translation, the expression of specialized vocabulary must be adjusted according to the translation object and purpose. By the same token, "Neolithic Age" and "Paleolithic Age" do not necessarily have to be translated as "Neolithie Age" and "Paleolithic Age"; "New Stone Age" and "Old Stone Age" are fully qualified for the same task. If you encounter more complex situations,

you will need more knowledge accumulation and active thinking.

It can be seen that tourism translation should not only strive to be accurate and fully reflect the information and language style of the original language, but also play a role in expanding knowledge and stimulating interest.