Acceptability Of C-E Tourist Translation

As a country with vast expand of territory and centuries-old history, China is a tourism giant who boasts herself of rich natural tourism resources as well as profound cultural tourism heritage. However, the obstruct of language difference and the estrangement of cultural background make it quite difficult for foreign tourists to appreciate many of the tourism resources to full extent, especially for those rich in cultural connotations. Under such a circumstance, the importance of tourist translation can never be overestimated. How to improve the quality of tourist translation becomes a hot topic under discussion. In this thesis, the author intends to probe into the problem from the perspective of "acceptability".With "acceptability" at the center of concern, the author first carries out a research into the aim and theory of tourist translation and their mutual relationship with acceptability. Theoretically, the proposition "acceptability" finds supports from the widely-accepted translation theories: text typology, the skopotheorie, and functional equivalence. All these theories, in one way or another, back up the author's argument that "acceptability" should be put at the center of evaluating successful tourist translation.Then the author analyzes cultural factors that may have an influence on translation of tourist texts, and proposes way to improve acceptability from an international communicative point of view. The importance of cross-cultural awareness in translation is reiterated.Finally, by providing data of questionnaire survey, some examples of successful and unsuccessful tourist translations with regard to acceptability is discussed so as to make it clear what kind of translation is acceptable and what is not in the eyes of foreign tourists. Hopefully through this investigation, we will be able to improve the external propaganda of China and introduce Chinese culture to more foreigners.