On The Standardizaion Of The English Names Of Touris Attractions In Dalian

Located by the Yellow Sea on Liaoning peninsula, Dalian is a thriving coastal city known as'the pearl of the northeast China'. The climate is agreeable all the year round and the scenery there is beautiful. The city's infrastructure is fully functional, and it abounds in human landscape. There is a beach resort and Lushunkou National Scenery in the south and Golden Pebble Beach in the north. They are all renowned at home and abroad.China, the mysterious oriental and time honored country, has been expecting increasing number of tourists from overseas ever since the opening-up policy. Although China's tourism is developing at an unprecedented high speed, it lacks experience compared with developed countries. Foreign tourists can only have access to the culture and historical background of the scenic spots through the translated version of various kinds of brochures, maps, books, and other related materials. So the English version here plays a very important role in tourism, a trans-cultural activity.The proper translation of the scenic spots'names is essential in the English version materials. The reason rests on three points:First, the name of a certain scenic spot is just like the name of a person, which are signs to tell him apart from others; Second, names of scenic spots always reflect the unique local culture; the third reason is that the qualities of the translation of scenic spots directly decide if the scenic spots are attractive to the overseas potential tourists, for people from other countries can only find out information about Dalian's attractions by reading tourism brochures, guidebooks, travel magazines, or through internet. In this case a scenic spot's name is definitely the first-seen and gives the potential tourists the first impression. Owing to the above reasons, the writer believes that the qualities of the translation of the names of the scenic spots must have some influence on the development of tourism. The writer has been to almost all the popular scenic spots in Dalian in person, and has found many inappropriate English translations of the spots' names. These awkward translations will definitely perplex non-Chinese speaking tourists and affect the sound d evelopment of the Dalian tourism industry. At its very core, tourism is a way of cultural communication; the translators should take cultural element into consideration when translate scenic spots' names. The writer analyzes the reasons and offers the possible solutions to the current translation problems through the translation theory, principle, methods, and tactics.Considering the special features of the translation of scenic spots, this thesis employs some of the translation methods of other popular scenic spots across the country for reference while proposing the following analytic strategies aiming at Dalian:The basic theory foundations are Newmark's translation theory, Nida's theory of Translation Equivalence, intercultural communicative theory, as well as the pragmatic translations theory. All the theories above illustrate the fact that translation should concentrate on communicative purpose and provide the same feeling for the targeted speakers through the most natural, smooth and original work-resembled translation.The thesis makes a summary of the various kinds of mistakes in the translation of the scenic spots in Dalian and the root causes. The thesis is concluded by offering some constructive suggestions.