The English Translation of the Names of Chinese Scenic Spots英语专业毕业论文.doc

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1、The English Translation of the Names of Chinese Scenic SpotsChapter1 IntroductionTo cater for the needs of foreign tourists, almost all the names of scenic spots in the attractions are translated into English. Chinese scenic spots are attractive to foreign tourists thanks to the complicated, geograp

2、hical environment and multi-cultural customs. However, due to the language and cultural barriers some existing translation versions of attractions have met with various problems and defects that are difficult for foreigners to understand and even mislead the tourists. The Chinese names of scenic spo

3、ts are always endowed with strong cultural backgrounds. The English translation of the names of Chinese scenic spots plays a significant role in tourism translation. The first reason is that the names of the scenic spots are just like the names of people, which are signs to distinguish them from oth

4、ers; the second reason is that the names of scenic spots always reflect the unique local culture, and the third reason is that the quality of C-E translation of the names of scenic spots directly decide if the scenic spots are attractive to the potential tourists, for people in other countries can o

5、nly know our Chinese attractions by reading tourism brochures, guidebooks, travel magazines., or through internet. In this case the names of scenic spots are definitely the first-see and give the potential tourists the first impression. Owing to the above reasons, we think that qualities of the Engl

6、ish translation of the Chinese names of scenic spots must influence the development of the tourism. So this paper aims to introduce a functional view of translation theories to the study. Through classifying the scenic spot names and analyzing the problems ，this paper tries to find the principles an

7、d methods of translating the names of scenic spots. Chapter2 Kinds of scenic spot names Scenic spot names include the specific geographical names, with Chinese traditional characteristics of architecture and landscape name, the meaning of the name of abstract spots (including all kinds of plaques):

8、The first type such as the Yellow River, theYangtze River, the Five Sacred Mountains, the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism and a variety of specific place names etc. The second type such as The Hall of Supreme Harmony, The Palace of Heavenly Purity, Garden of Harmonious Interest, Hall of Happiness

9、and Longevity etc; the third type such as Sunset Glow over Mount Lishan, Morning Bell Chimes of the Small Wild Goose Pagoda etc. Different scenic spot names have their different property, according to their property the scenic spots name can be divide into the following three categories 2.1 Names of

10、 Scenic Spots Providing Basic InformationFrom this scenic spot names one can be directly aware of the names on the appearance of the spots features and characteristics of the surrounding environment. For example: the “十七孔桥”in the Summer Palace, the name shows on the bridge with the seventeen caves;

11、“眼镜湖”in the Xiangshan Park, gets its name because of the fact that the two small lakes are connected by a stone bridge, the lake, no wind, refracting of the suns ray, like a pair of glasses, from the name “千岛湖”we can imagined that this lake have a lot of islands and so on. So when we translate these

12、 scenic spot names, we should pay attention to what information the source language covers, and try to make the target language carry the same amount of information2.2 Names of Scenic Spots Reflecting the Authors Mind and the Purpose of ConstructionSame scenic spot names reflect the authors mind and

13、 the purpose of construction, such as: TianAnmen, as the main gate of Imperial City, this name has a strong meaning of politics: the name takes meaning of “setting down in God, bringing peace to the country, It has two meanings: The first meaning is emperors right from the God, the powers of the roy

14、al gift from heaven; the second meaning shows the desire of the ruler: I hope that long-term stability of country, possessing the power of dominant forever. Therefore, when we translation this scenic spot name, we should pay attention to their political implication .Some scenic spot names reflect th

15、e authors attitude, such as 忠义祠, is a Temple of Guan Yus ancestral hall, the author didnt mention the name of Guan Yu, just using the word “loyalty” but everybody knows that it is ancestral hall of Guan Yu. From the scenic spots name we can see that not only the authors, but also all of the Chinese

16、people respect Guan Yu. Therefore, whether the scenic spot names reflect the authors intention and attitude depends on the word choice to a large extent.2.3 Names of Scenic Spots Revealing the Characteristics of the Local CultureChina and the Western countries have different geographical, cultural a

17、nd historical background, so this two cultures have a lot of difference. Some scenic spot names reflect Chinas unique culture, such as taboo. Taboo refers to the “feudal monarch，in order to show the dignity, required people to avoid direct-calling of their name in speaking or writing Their names sho

18、uld be substitute for other words”, So a lot of scenic spot names changed their names: For example, long ago, The Palace Museums north gate was called “Xuanwu gate” But when Kangxi ascended the throne to be the Emperor, it has changed the name into“ Shenwu gate” because Kangxis name is “Xuan Ye”. Bu

19、t the Westerners are different, they feel that the best way is to continue naming the things after him or her for people to remember, and today we can find a lot of places called “Washington”, “Lincoln” in the United States .So in the process of translation, you need to pay attention. In Chinese and

20、 the Western cultures the same culture load may contained with different cultural connotation. For “bat”, such a culture-load word has different connotation in Eastern and Western cultures. For Westerners, the bat is a symbol of evil, vampire can become a bats in the legendary, However, In China, be

21、cause “bat” and “Fu” are homonym, a lot of places use bats logo and design, so in the process of translation, if the word is not properly handled, it will be likely to make Westerners discouraged. Chapter3 English Translation Strategies for Scenic Spot NamesTranslation of scenic spot names looks ver

22、y simple, but a good translation requires the translator to have a deep understanding of it. The general practice is nothing more than transliteration, free translation, transliteration add free translation. Translation of scenic spot names can use transliteration or free translation methods. For ex

23、ample, the “寒山寺”is a famous scenic spot in Suzhou city, and it should not be translated into “Cold Hill Temple ”，Its taken from an ancient Buddhist monk called Hanshan. But “Hanshan Temple ”instead. Other examples, such as 潭柘寺、塔尔寺、凤凰寺、栊翠庵and包公寺are names of temples, When we translated these scenic sp

24、ot names, we should not only watch the names, but also understand their meanings and then we can choose appropriate vocabulary. 潭柘寺, a Buddhism temple, should be translated into “The Temple of Pool and Oak” 栊翠庵is a nunnery , it should be translated into “Green Lattice Nunnery”. 塔尔寺is Tibetan Buddhis

25、m temples that are Lamaism temples, so it should be translated into “Taer Lamasery ”; 凤凰寺is an Islam monastery and should be translated into “Fenghuang Mosque ”and包公寺is built in memory of BaoZheng, so it is translated into “The Memorial Temple of Bao Zheng”. If all of transliteration add “temple”, t

26、hen readers wouldnt be able to have more understanding for Chinese religion , making their trip to China fruitless and “稻香村” in the “Grand View Garden” might be thought as a village, but actually it is a farmhouse, so we should translate it into “Paddy Sweet Cottage”.3.1 Translation Translation refe

27、rs to a language put voice in another language with its pronunciation in the same or similar voice expressed. In the translation of scenic spot names, it means that the translator, according to Chinese pinyin, makes phonetic marked with the scenic spots name in directly. The Chinese name of scenic s

28、pot involves some culture of proper nouns (such as place names), while in English these proper nouns can not find the corresponding target language. They also contains a wealth of cultural information, translator should not use short -easy-to-remember words to translate, if the translation is too lo

29、ng, they couldnt be called scenic spot names, then, the translator should use the way of translation. For example“楚天台”,Chutianta, “兰风蕙露”,Lanfenghui-lu. Simple translation cant convey any real information to foreign visitors, visitors cant understand the culture connotation of scenic spot. So althoug

30、h translation is the easiest method, not a good way of translating the scenic spot names. translation together with free translation or explanation is better.3.2 Free Translation The Free Translation here isnt relative with literal translation in common sense, that is, from the meaning, only to expr

31、ess the general meaning of the original text, but pay no attention to details, and the original forms (including the syntactic structure, terminology, metaphor and other rhetorical devices), only if translation is natural and fluent. Free Translation of scenic spot name is usually short and clear, w

32、hich is not only easy to understand for foreign tourists, but also can better introduce Chinas tourism culture. So a lot of scenic spots of “Huangshan Mountain” are based on free translation. For example“迎客松”,Greeting Pine,“卧龙松”,the Crouching Dragon Pine,“狮子峰”, the Lion Peak,“慈光阁”, The Mercy Light T

33、emple,“百丈泉”, the Thousand Feet Spring,“天都峰”,the Heavenly Capital Peak. Many scenic spots of Beijing Grand View Garden use free translation, The meaning of both English and Chinese are almost equivalent, and the translation also retains elegance, beauty and the meaning of Chinese scenic spots, so tha

34、t English readers can have accesses to enjoy the scenic spot names which are beautiful, successfully played to function and role of scenic spots name .As to the main buildings in the Grand View Garden are the Garden Gate, A winding Path Leading to a Secluded Retreat, the Seeping Fragrance Pavilion,

35、the Happy Red Court ,the Bamboo Lodge, the Studio of Autumn Freshness, the Dripping Emerald Pavilion, the Lotus Fragrance Court ,the Reed Snow Cottage , the Convex Emerald Hall, the Concave Crystal Lodge, Green Lattice Nunnery, the Warm Scented Arbor, the Archway in front of the House of Reunion, th

36、e Hall of Recalling Imperial Favor, Mindful of duty and so on. When we take ways of free translation, it is necessary to pay attention to the deeper meaning of scenic spot names, Such as “锦绣谷” should not be translated to “Brocade Valley”, because the “Fairview” and “silk” have nothing to do with eac

37、h other, because this canyon is famous for unique flowers and varies stones which are, very beautiful, and called “Fairview”, so it should be translated into “Valley of Splendor”.3.3 The Combination of Literal Translation and Free Translation Analysis of scenic spot name from grammatical structure c

38、an be expressed as “proprietary noun + type noun” form of the modification phrase. Such as “five fingers peaks”, the “five fingers” is proprietary noun, “Feng” is type noun. Generally, proprietary noun is in the former and type noun is in the after in Chinese, The combination of literal translation

39、and free translation is the phonetic add English translation, literal translation proprietary noun and English translation on type noun, This is mainly on account of proper noun is just a name, no special significance, so theres no need in accordance with the meaning of Chinese when translated into

40、English. Such as “岭南庭院”,Lingnan Courtyards. Scenic spot name can be divided into the natural and human landscape. The names of the natural landscape are constitute with this words which expressed features of geographic or topographic. The name of human landscape is possessed of political, economic,

41、military, cultural, religious and so on. Both the natural landscape and the human landscape, type noun is often possessed in common and generally used for normal way of translation, easy to be translated. The type noun of natural landscape is often including山(mountain, hill),岩( rock, cliff),峰(peak),

42、崖( cliff),沟( ravine),溪(stream),岭( ridge, hill),潭(pool, pond),瀑布(waterfall),泉( spring),湖( lake),洞( cave),池( lake, pond, pool),运河(canal),堰(weir).For example“京杭大运河”,Great Jing-Hang Canal“都江堰”,the Dujiang Weir. The type noun of human landscapes are often including寺( temple), 塔(pagoda),楼(tower),宫(palace)

43、,庙( temple),陵( tomb, mausoleum),祠(shrine),园(garden),山庄(villa),亭(pavilion),庵(convent, nunnery),阁(hall, pavilion),斋(house, hallstudy, room),故居( former residence),石窟(grotto),园林(garden, park).For example “光孝寺”, Guangxiao temple,“能仁寺”, Nengren Temple,“五仙观”,Wuxianguan (Five Immortal) Temple,“佛山祖庙”, Foshan

44、 Ancestral Temple,“九龙十八滩”, Jiulong Shiba Shoals,“惠州西湖”,West Lake in Huizhou. The combination of literal translation and free translation would be made up for the ability of disadvantage of simple literal translation, avoiding some difficult words which caused semantic misunderstanding or the words d

45、idnt convey the ideas of malpractices and other malpractices.3.4 The Combination of Free Translation with Explanation The combination of free translation with explanation is used phoneticly to deal with scenic spot name, but also explained the spot name in English, so that foreigners could understan

46、d the literal meaning of scenic spot name and cultural connotations. Its a new method of cultural translation in recent years, and many scholars recommend the translation method. For example:“中和殿”,Zhong He Dian(Hall of Complete Harmony),“乾清门”,Qian Qing Men ( Gate of Heavenly Purity), “白龙潭”,Bai Long

47、Tan(The White Dragon Pool), “卢沟桥”,Lu Gou Qiao (The Marco Polo Bridge), “大观园”,Da Guang Yuan (The Grand View Garden), “龙庆峡”, Long Qing Xia (Longqing Gorge known as Ancient City Reservoir), “十三陵”,Shi San Ling(The Ming Tombs), “永寿宫”,Yong Shou Gong (Palace of Eternal Life), “宁寿宫”,Ning ShouGong (Palace of

48、 Peaceful Old Age), “乐寿堂”,Le ShouTang (Hall of Delighted Longevity).Although the way of literal translation expresses weakness of information function , it helps foreigners understand the Chinese pronunciation of scenic spot names, and increases their curiosity and freshness. The way of explanation

49、can help foreigners understand the literal meaning of the scenic spot names and cultural connotations, making up for the defect of transliteration method and increasing the information function of scenic spot name, which contributed to the dissemination of Chinese culture. So the combination of free translation with explanation is one of the most recommended translation methods, which we can see a lot of examples, such as, the main buildings and s