从旅游文本翻译中探究中西文化差异

On the Cultural Differences in the
Translation of Tourist Texts
Abstract
With the globalization of tourism becoming more and more obvious, China, as a civilized country with a history of 5,000 years, has unlimited potential in tourism. The existence of different cultural backgrounds and language barriers makes it difficult for foreign tourists to understand Chinese culture in tourism activities, which has become a common phenomenon. Therefore, how to better publicize China's tourism resources to foreign tourists has become a topic worth studying. How to overcome cultural differences and achieve effective translation has become a problem that must be solved in tourism translation. This paper probes into the cultural differences between China and the west from the translation of tourism texts, aiming at finding out the cultural differences and putting forward suggestions and methods to improve the translation of tourism texts: adding explanatory texts and related cultural backgrounds, deleting ornate texts and pursuing objectification of translation, changing word order arrangement and restructuring sentence structure and cultural analogy, etc., in order to improve the translation quality of tourism texts, and to make the world better understand China and the Chinese nation, thus promoting the development of China's tourism industry, the spread of Chinese culture and the exchange of Chinese and western cultures.
Key words：English translation of tourist texts; cultural difference; problems; solutions
从旅游文本翻译中探究中西文化差异
内容摘要
随着旅游业全球化的趋势越来越明显，中国作为一个有着五千年历史文化的文明大国，旅游业具有无限的潜力。

由于不同文化背景和语言障碍的存在，使得外国游客在旅游活动中对中国文化的理解出现困难，这成为一种常见的现象。

因此，如何向外国游客更好地宣传中国旅游资源，成为一项值得研究的议题，如何克服文化差异而达到有效的翻译成为旅游翻译必须解决的问题。

本文从从旅游文
本翻译中探究中西文化差异，旨在找出其中的文化差异，并对完善旅游文本翻译工作提出建议和方法：增加解释性的文字和相关文化背景、删减华丽的文字和追求译文客观化、改变词序排列和重组句式结构和文化类比法等，以期使旅游文本的翻译质量得以提高，让世界更好地了解中国和中华民族，从而促进中国旅游业的发展，中华文化的传播和中西方文化的交流。

关键词：旅游文本的英译；文化差异；问题；建议与方法
Contents
1.Introduction (1)
1.1Background of Research (1)
1.2 Significance of Research (2)
2.A Review on Tourist Texts (3)
2.1 Definition of Tourist Texts (3)
2.3 Major Translation Problems of Tourist Texts (4)
3.Cultural Differences Between China and West in Tourist Text Translation (5)
3.1 Different Customs (6)
3.2 Different Thinking Patterns (7)
3.3 Different National Psychology (8)
3.4 Different Politics and Histories (9)
4. Countermeasures in Tourist Text Translation (10)
4.1 Addition of New Information (10)
4.2 Omission of Extra Information (11)
4.3 Reorganization of Text Information (12)
4.4 Analogy of Cultural Information (13)
5. Conclusion (14)
Acknowledgments................................................................... 错误!未定义书签。

Bibliography .. (15)
1.Introduction
1.1Background of Research
In China, as a result of reform and opening up, cross-border cooperation and exchanges are increasing day by day, becoming more and more important. This has created opportunities for the development of China’s tourism industry. China is a great eastern country, with not only many picturesque landscapes, but also numerous historical heritages and cultural relics. All these are very attractive to foreign tourists. Now more and more foreign tourists come to visit China. According to China’s tourism statistics bulletin for 2014, the China National Tourism Administration announced that the number of foreign tourists in China since 2014 has exceeded 128 million, generating about 105 billion US dollars in foreign exchange. Tourism has brought great economic benefits to China and played an important role in spreading Chinese civilization and culture. Therefore, how to show the world China’s tourism resources is one of the important steps to develop our tourism industry. The prosperity of tourism makes it necessary to translate tourism texts. English, as a generally accepted international communication tool, is the main language for Chinese tourism to translate Chinese tourism texts. Most foreigners can easily accept English travel texts. However, due to some cultural differences between China and the West in the translation of tourist texts, it is difficult for foreigners to understand the translation of Chinese tourist texts. When we transfer the source text to the target text, cultural differences have become a big problem. In order for foreigners to have a better understanding of China’s historical heritage and cultural relics, translators cannot ignore cultural factors in the process of translation. If translators ignore the cultural differences between China and other countries, they may translate the text mechanically, regardless of whether foreigners can really understand and accept the translation. The translator should adjust the translation and pay attention to the acceptability of the target text readers. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the cultural differences in the translation of tourism texts, and to put forward corresponding solutions to these Chinese and western cultural references so as to
realize effective international exchanges.
Tourism texts can help people to better understand a country’s scenic spots and culture. However, although there are many successful examples of English translation of Chinese tourist texts, there are still many problems and mistakes in translation. Many English versions of travel texts are tautological, poorly structured and confusing. The translation quality of tourism texts will directly affect China’s international image and the development of China’s tourism industry. In addition, different cultural backgrounds and different languages make it more difficult for foreigners to obtain commodities and understand Chinese tourism culture.
1.2 Significance of Research
Tourism is a sunrise industry in the 21st century and has become one of the pillar industries of China's economic development.With the globalization of tourism becoming more and more obvious, cross-cultural communication has become a feature of the times. China is a civilized country with a history of 5000 years. There are many natural landscapes in the magnificent mountains and rivers, a large part of which contains profound cultural landscape.They are often related to special historical events, allusions, legends or folk customs and have unique national characteristics. Five thousand years of ancient civilization, long history and culture, and magnificent mountains and rivers all have great attraction to foreign tourists and offer unlimited potential for the development of tourism. Tourism texts contain a lot of cultural information. The existence of cultural differences between China and the West makes it impossible for foreign tourists to have a good understanding of China’s history and culture.
Therefore, it is urgent to analyze the cultural differences in tourism text translation. How to overcome the differences between Chinese and western cultures and realize effective translation has become a problem that must be solved in tourism translation. The translation quality of tourism texts will affect the development of China’s tourism industry. Starting from the translation of tourist texts, this paper analyzes several cultural differences in the translation of Chinese and western tourist
texts, and puts forward corresponding solutions, which have practical guiding significance for improving the translation ability of foreign tourism professionals, thus making it easier for foreign tourists to understand the cultural connotation of tourist attractions, improving the image of tourist attractions, enabling the world to better understand China and the Chinese nation, spreading Chinese culture more accurately, and promoting cultural exchanges between China and the west.
2.A Review on Tourist Texts
In order to realize effective translation of tourist texts, translators need to have a good understanding of the concepts and functions of tourist texts. Of course, the major translation problems in tourism texts are also worth studying and analyzing. 2.1 Definition of Tourist Texts
Tourist texts are a kind of external publicity materials. It conjures up too many cultural connotations which involve historical allusions, religion, garden architectures, customs, habits and so on. Tourist texts refer to the text adopted in, used for,and related to tourism, including guidance, schedules, commissions letters, intention letters, contract, advertisements, maps, notices, tourist slogans, and introduction of natural sceneries and cultural attractions, etc. (Chen, 2004). Tourist texts can be divided into two categories: written text (such as book, picture album, tour map, notice, brochure, etc.) and interpretation text (such as site interpretation, video, TV show, documentary film, etc).
2.2 Functions of Tourist Texts
The main purpose of tourist texts are enlarging people’s knowledge and inspiring tourists’ interests in traveling by the introduction and publicity of the natural sceneries and cultural attractions (Yao, 1998). So tourist texts have two functions: one is to transmit information, and the other is to attract tourists. All texts can be divides into three types according to the following three functions: “(1) the expressive function, which focuses on the mind of the speaker, the writer, and the originator of the utterance; (2) the informative function, which concentrates on the external situation,
the facts of a topic concerned, reality outside language; (3) the vocative function, which pays attention on the relationship of the addressee.”(Newmark, 2001) In general, most texts are based on one leading function and are supplemented by the other two functions. According to Newmark’s classification of texts, the leading function of tourist texts is vocative function. Because the purpose of tourist texts is to attract tourists, arouse their interest to visit the tourism destination and strengthen their understanding of Chinese culture. But tourists are willing to obtain the background information about tourist destinations before they visit there. By reading tourist texts, they can get relevant knowledge about the nature, geography, culture and customs of the destination. So tourist texts are also informative.
As we all know, western countries and China fall into two different cultural systems. They have many differences in geographical environment, historical conditions, thinking patterns, social structures, etc., which is also embodied in their tourist texts. Thus, cultural differences become one big issue for foreigners to understand the translation of Chinese tourist texts. To better realize the two basic functions of tourist texts discussed above, it is very important to deal with the cultural differences in tourist texts carefully.
2.3 Major Translation Problems of Tourist Texts
Different cultures have different language codes and then produce different language features. Through in-depth understanding of cultural differences between China and the West in tourism text translation, we can better handle cultural differences and realize effective information transmission. Generally speaking, the translation problems in tourism texts are mainly due to the fact that Chinese tourism texts pay more attention to parallel language structure and gorgeous language, pursuing neat, symmetrical and rhythmic effects, while English tourism texts are more straightforward and rational. In addition, four-character phrases and figures of speech are often used in Chinese tourism texts. However, English tourism texts focus on facts, logical thinking and organization, concise and natural wording and direct perception of their descriptions to ensure the accuracy of information. As we all know, apart from
differences in language and style, Chinese tourism texts always contain a wide range of cultural information, from religion to philosophy, from garden architecture to national customs, from historical allusions to ancient stories, etc. This is quite different from English travel texts. In addition, China’s tourism texts also reflect China's unique ethnic characteristics, which may be easily understood by Chinese readers because they have the same cultural background, but it may be quite difficult for foreigners. Therefore, scholars should pay attention to these translation problems in tourism texts.
3.Cultural Differences Between China and West in
Tourist Text Translation
This chapter will discuss the problems caused by the cultural differences between China and the west in the current tourism text translation, and then give examples to analyze the cultural differences between China and the west in the tourism text translation.
In order to better understand the English translation of tourist texts, the author conducted a questionnaire survey on the English translation of tourist texts. A total of 35 respondents participated in the survey, including college students and social elites. They are all proficient in English. The purpose of this study is to sort out the current situation of English translation of tourist texts, find out the cultural differences in the translation of tourist texts, then analyze these cultural differences and find out the influence of these cultural differences on the translation of tourist texts. The survey results show that 68.57 % of the interviewees sometimes find some cultural differences in the translation of tourism texts, while 25.71 % of the interviewees have never found any cultural differences in the translation of tourism texts. In addition, 5.71 % of the interviewees always find that cultural differences in tourism text translation will lead to some problems. This shows that there are cultural differences in English translation of tourism texts, and the translation quality of tourism texts needs to be improved.
The survey shows that there are many cultural differences in the translation of
tourist texts from Chinese to English, most of which are due to different cultural backgrounds, accounting for 91.43 %. At the same time, 74.29 % of the tourist texts are translated with different cultural differences in thinking patterns. Some translations are not faithful to the actual customs and habits, accounting for 60 %, of course, there are other cultural differences. This chapter will discuss cultural differences in tourism text translation. Each culture has its own habits, norms and practices. Translators need to understand the culture of the source text so as to better translate the source text into the target text. However, some translators are unable to better deal with cultural differences in the translation process, which makes the target readers confused about the information.
3.1 Different Customs
Due to the translator’s misunderstanding or translation of the source language culture, the target readers cannot understand the cultural information of the source language. In some English versions of Chinese tourism texts, some words have the same literal meaning as the source language, but have different or even conflicting cultural connotations. Words in different languages have different cultural connotations due to different political and cultural backgrounds. For example, in China, dragon is one of the images of totem worship. Chinese believe dragon can bring them protection and good luck. Chinese dragons have magic power. It can change the length of the body at will. It can fly, swim and even bring rain. In Chinese culture, dragon is a symbol of generosity and wisdom. They are deeply rooted in Chinese culture, and the Chinese often think of themselves as “descendants of dragons.” It has become the spiritual bond connecting the Chinese nation. However, in western countries, dragons are evil animals from hell. They usually have wings and can emit flames from their mouths. Therefore, when translators translate things about dragons to foreign tourists, they must introduce China’s cultural background. Otherwise, “descendants of dragons”will become “descendants of demons.”There are many other examples. For example, the Chinese despise dogs. Bad people are usually regarded as dogs. On the contrary, westerners appreciate the dog’s character: courage
and loyalty. Therefore, translators should overcome the difficulties caused by different political, historical and cultural backgrounds, avoid mistakes in the translation of tourist texts, and make the translation more acceptable to foreigners.
3.2 Different Thinking Patterns
There are different thinking modes between China and the West. Different thinking modes will lead to different terms used by translators in translation. For example, the following example 1:
Example1:
西湖风景区位于杭州市区，沿湖绿茵环保，山色葱茏，画桥烟柳，云树笼纱。

它以秀丽的西湖为中心，三面环山，一面濒城，两岸卧波，三岛浮水。

The above Chinese tourist texts often use four-character phrases to give tourists a harmonious aesthetic feeling and show the beauty of the West Lake. In addition, many kinds of metaphors are used to describe the West Lake, such as parallelism, metaphor and exaggeration. It reflects the parallel language structure and gorgeous language of Chinese and has aroused people’s interest in visiting.
However, the thinking mode of foreign translators is not so complicated, as shown in Example 2 below:
Example 2:
Yellowstone National Park is have been eroded over - the millennia by glaciation and stream flow comprised primarily of high, forested, volcanic plateaus that and that are flanked on the north, east, and south by mountains.
This is part of the tourist text that introduces Yellowstone National Park. Through rare embellishments, the thinking mode of foreign translators is not so complicated. The text uses simple words to introduce the basic information of the park so that readers can have a general understanding of the park. It focuses on facts and reflects the style of English tourism texts.
Example 3:
Tolkien’s Middle-earth--hat’s what photographer Frans Lanting calls Fiordland，New Zealand’s largest national park.Webs of cascading water,veils of cloud and
stands of silvei beech lend mystery to this secluded southwestern edge of the South Island.
Example 4
清宫看海上月出，别有一番情趣。

当万籁俱寂之时，光洁的月亮被一团金辉托出海面，溶溶月色倾洒海面，浮光潋滟，玉壶冰镜。

岸边清风掠竹，细浪轻拍，景色幽奇绝伦。

这便是崂山十二景中的“太清水月”。

清代文人林绍言有诗赞曰:“相约访仙界，今宵宿太清。

烟澄山月小，夜静海潮平。

微雨五更冷，新秋一叶惊。

悄然成独坐，细数晓钟声。

”
Comparing the above two English and Chinese introductions of scenic spots, it is not difficult to find that the English text is simple and concise with precious words. A few words directly and concretely introduce the beautiful scenery of New Zealand National Park, leaving people ample room for imagination. On the other hand, the Chinese text uses a number of four-character phrases and idioms, which are neatly matched and combined with actual and actual situations. It is full of beauty of artistic conception, rhyme and emotion. It makes people think and yearn for it. It is in line with the aesthetic psychology and appreciation habits of the Chinese nation, because the Chinese people have been accustomed to “people travel in the text”- being personally present and moving with the scene since childhood.
3.3 Different National Psychology
The English translation of some Chinese tourism texts has not delivered sufficient information due to the omission of some ethnic cultural information in the source text. This kind of translation of tourist texts will hinder the target readers’understanding and experience of Chinese national culture. Moreover, the Chinese people usually have a national mentality and a national spirit at all times, while western translators do not. They do not understand the true meaning of the Chinese nation. For example, Su Dongpo (Su Dongpo) and Li Bai (Li Bai) are famous and familiar to the Chinese. In other words, the Chinese national psychology “forces”all Chinese to know these celebrities, but foreigners may not know who they are.
Example 5
而自秦朝统一中国，从秦始皇、汉武帝到清代康熙、乾隆，计有12位皇帝30余次或亲临封禅，或遣官告祭。

自上古时期的无怀氏、伏羲氏、黄帝、炎帝到周成王，前后共有72位帝王登封泰山。

Twelve emperors have come themselves or dispatched officials to Taishan to show respect to the Heaven and the Earth Seventy-two legendary emperors are said to have come to Taishan Mountain and since China was united by the Qin Dynasty, (China and The World Cultural Exchange,2005:p9).
In the above translation, we can see that the emperor’s names “Wu Huai Shi, Fu Xishi, Huang Di, Yan Di, Zhou Chengwang”have been ignored. Although it is easier for the target readers to understand the text, the names of some very important famous emperors in Chinese history will be omitted from the English translation of tourism texts. Therefore, foreign translators lose the Chinese nation’s psychology in the translation of tourist texts, which will make the target readers lose the chance to experience more Chinese culture and cannot meet the requirements of cultural fax. 3.4 Different Politics and Histories
Example 6:
苏堤春晓
苏堤全长2.8公里，为北宋苏东坡1089年任杭州知府时疏浚西湖后用湖中淤泥堆积而成。

Spring Dawn at Su Causeway
when he was governor of Hangzhou Su Causeway is 2.8KM long, which was built of clay dredged from the West Lake in 1089 by Su Dongpo. (Hangzhou Tourism Commission, 2008)
Su Di Chunxiao When he was governor of Hangzhou, Su Di was 2.8 kilometers long and was built of clay excavated from the West Lake by Su Dongpo in 1089. ( Hangzhou Tourism Bureau, 2008 ) In China’s tourism texts, the Chinese can easily find the implied associative meaning of Su Di. However, in the English version, there is no political and historical background for Su Dongpo, the target reader. Therefore,
if the historical information of Su Dongpo is not conveyed, the above translation may confuse foreigners. In other words, foreigners who do not understand Chinese history and culture may not know the story behind Suti. The function of travel text may not be realized.
4. Countermeasures in Tourist Text Translation
Through the above analysis and research on the cultural differences in tourism text translation, we can see that the difficulties in tourism text translation mainly lie in the treatment of cultural factors. Therefore, the strategies proposed in this paper mainly focus on how to deal with cultural differences in translation.
4.1 Addition of New Information
Adding additional information refers to adding additional information to names of people and places, historical events and allusions to convey cultural significance so as to promote the understanding of target readers.With sufficient background knowledge, Chinese readers may not need to explain in the Chinese tourism text, but for foreign readers, they may not know the cultural background, so it is necessary to add some words to help them better understand the text.Therefore, in order for foreign tourists to get clear information, the new information is effective for improving translation.This requires the translator to do the following things: first, find out and understand the information ignored by the author; Second, according to the result of understanding, the ignored information is supplemented. Finally, help readers understand the meaning and information they want.
Example 7
路左有一巨石，石上有苏东坡手书“云外流春”四个大字。

The most versatile poet of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).To the left is another rock formerly engraved with four big Chinese characters Yun Wai Liu Chun (Beyond clouds flows spring) written by Su Dongpo(1037-1101),（Pu, 1992）Su Dongpo is very famous in China, which is true, but he is very strange to foreigners. In this sentence, the translator added “information about Su Dongpo’s date
of birth and his position in the Northern Song Dynasty”to explain Su Dongpo, which helps foreigners get information and know who Su Dongpo is. In addition, it also provides“an English explanation of the spring of cloud outflow”, so cultural information is maintained. If there is no new information, foreigners will be confused with the name“Su Dongpo”. When foreigners get additional information, they will better understand the cultural meaning.
4.2 Omission of Extra Information
The omission of additional information is mainly used to deal with ornate descriptions and references. Many Chinese tourism texts are characterized by exaggerated wording, excessive use of adjectives and four-character phrases. However, due to the different narrative habits of Chinese and foreigners, foreign readers may find it difficult to appreciate such beauty and may reject such writing as unrealistic. Therefore, when translating Chinese tourist texts into English, translators should not translate them mechanically. On the contrary, they should omit those redundant information and convert them into concise and clear words according to the expression rules of foreign readers. Otherwise, redundant descriptions will make translation boring and unbelievable. Therefore, the expected results cannot be obtained. In Chinese tourist texts, the use of parallel structures or elegant words can enhance people's imagination of tourist destinations, thus arousing readers’attention and interest in tourist destinations. However, due to cultural differences, it is sometimes different for foreigners. Foreigners may not understand and lose interest in reading the text.
Example 8
景色奇妙处要数巫山十二峰，而尤以神女峰独具神韵。

巡游于此恍若漫步于大自然的艺术长廊，美不胜收。

巫峡两岸，群山相拥，云遮雾绕，奇峰异岭隐没其间，宛如仙境。

The most marvelous scene here is the twelve mountains’peaks, and in particular, On the bank of the Wu Gorge are mist-covered fairy-land-like mountains and grotesque peaks. Goddess Mount peak. To cruise here in likes wandering in a natural
art gallery (Jia, 2004).
Four-character phrases are greatly used in Chinese tourist texts, especially descriptions of scenery. With different cultural background, it is difficult for foreigners to understand. Look at the example, this version is not a word-for-word translation. The translator makes the version plain and concise in line with English expressing rules, transmitting the basic information of the Wu Gorge to foreigners, helping them have a basic understanding of Wu Gorge. Besides, the last phrase“美不胜收” in source text is a kind of comment. The translator deletes the phrase to keep the translation precise and clear.
Example 9
岛上植被丰茂，种类繁多，有“海岛植物园”之称。

普陀山属亚热带海洋性季风气候，夏无酷暑，冬无严寒，温和湿润，四季宜人。

It is known as a “botanical garden on the sea land”, for various kinds of vegetation on the island are plentiful and luxuriant. Mount Putuo belongs to the subtropical marine monsoon climate. It is cool in summer and warm in winter, mild and damp, and pleasing in four seasons.
In this example, the text is translated word-for-word without grammatical mistakes. However, it is not in accordance with English expressing rules. For English readers, tourist texts should be plain and concise. Flowery description and quotations seem to be unrealistic for them. In fact, they prefer some basic information about the tourist destinations. So some flowery words should be omitted to make the target texts in accordance with target language expressing rules.
4.3 Reorganization of Text Information
Reorganization refers to making greater adjustments according to the idioms of the target language to improve the readability of the target text.Reorganization is necessary because English and Chinese belong to different language systems, and Chinese writing is different from English writing.In the process of translating Chinese tourist texts, influenced by the mother tongue system, translators are easy to translate inappropriate expressions that are not easily accepted by the target readers into
English.Therefore, tourist texts cannot be translated into English word for word. Due to cultural differences, literal translation cannot achieve aesthetic effects among foreign readers.In the process of translation, the translator should give priority to the hidden cultural connotation in the text.Before translation, the translator must be aware of the inherent or implied meaning and reorganize and arrange the information according to the thinking mode and expression rules of the target language.The following is an example to illustrate this point.
Example 10
“风雨桥”——“All-weather bridge”(Cao,2002)
This translation seems to be one hundred percent“faithful”to the original. However, the target readers will be confused about it. The translation shows only the literal meaning of the appellation devoid of any cultural information expressed. Nevertheless,“风雨桥”，is actually a type of bridge with roofs for sheltering passengers when it suddenly rains. So Caobo’s translation “the Roofed Bridge” is extremely acceptable. Since it is concise but expresses the cultural information. Example 11
阡陌纵横，鸡犬相闻，风和口丽，鸟语花香的一片新天地。

A new land with crisscross paths, bright sunshine, gentle breeze, cocks crowing, dogs barking, birds singing and flowers blooming.
The major message in this sentence is about “a new land”. In the version, the translator removes the word “a new land” to the beginning of the sentence, which conforms to western people’s thinking modes and narrative habit. In addition, t he position of the words that describe the scenery and animal are restructured. This not only preserves the artistic effect of source text, but also maintains the major information.
4.4 Analogy of Cultural Information
Analogy is a cultural substitution. Celebrities or events in western culture can be borrowed to explain the distinctive content of Chinese culture. The main advantage of this method is to deepen westerners’impression of Chinese culture by comparing。