A Functional Approach To Hotel Brochure Translation

With the social and economical development, more and more foreigners come to China for business or travel. The hotel, as their short-term lodging also has developed rapidly in the past few years. However, in the fierce competition of the hotel business market, Chinese native hotels are disadvantageous to foreign hotels, largely due to the poor translation of the Chinese hotel brochures, which have failed to attract foreign customers. As the translation of the hotel brochure is not given much attention to, this thesis is trying to make a research on brochure translation.Hotel brochure translation is a kind of practical text translation. For a long time, researchers have applied functional theory to practical text translation and focused on the practical function but failed to study the translation from an aesthetic approach. This thesis is a study on a functional approach to hotel brochure translation from Reception Aesthetics perspective.The functional approach is a translation theory with the function or purpose of the translation as its basis. The functionalists regard translation as an interpersonal communication in which all people involved have certain functions or roles. People involved in the interaction, with regard to their socio-cultural backgrounds, different expectations will influent the target text.According to Jauss's Reception Aesthetics, target text readers will inactivate the aesthetic check or experience, also called pre-understanding, which is accumulated from previous reading when they read one particular text. This pre-understanding exerts great influence on the reception of readers on the text they are reading. The more the text can be in line with their pre-understanding, the more easily the text can be accepted by them and vice verse.This thesis has made a study on 11 hotel brochures and made a thorough comparison between Chinese hotel brochure translation and foreign hotel brochure with regard to linguistics, style and culture. Based on the difference, errors in the translation are pointed out. This thesis has applied functional approach to Chinese hotel brochure translation with an aesthetic reception view and then suggested three translation strategies in order to achieve the function of the brochure:to attract customers. It has put more emphasis on the role of'readers in the whole appreciation process of the brochure. After a thorough analysis, this thesis has verified the coordination of functional theory and Aesthetic Reception. This is the first time that a translation theory coordinates with a literary theory, which will be significant to translation studies. Meanwhile, this thesis also provides a new enlightenment for the relationship between the reader and the translator from Aesthetic Reception perspective.