A Study On The Chinese-English Tourism Text Translation In Scenic Spots Of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone From A Perspective Of Information Structure Theory

As China’s tourism gets increasing popularity among foreign travelers in recent years, tourism text translation has soon become a heat topic for researchers of translation. Based on such background, this thesis studies on Chinese to English translation of tourism texts in scenic spots of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone from a perspective of Information Structure of Systemic Functional Grammar.According to the Information Structure Theory, four information structure features are fundamental to a text. First, a text is consisted of information unit that consists of Given Information and New Information. Second, “Given + New” is a structure that confirms to human’s cognitive rule. Third, the concept of informativity requires the addresser of a conversation or text to arrange his information within a proper amount. Finally, end-focus is a basic rule of language that the most significant information is generally ordered at the end a sentence.Based on these features of Information Structure Theory above, four questions will be explored in this thesis:(1) What are the information structure features of the tourism texts in scenic spots of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone?(2) What is the relationship between Information Structure Theory and Translation?(3) How is the information structure translated in the tourism text translation in scenic spots of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone?(4) How can the tourism texts in scenic spots of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone be translated better in light of Information Structure Theory?Besides, qualitative study on the translation of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone’s tourism text will be made in this thesis from four aspects as follows:(1) the translation of given information of tourism texts;(2) the translation of new information of tourism texts;(3) the translation of information transferring pattern;(4) the translation of informativity of tourism texts.Furthermore, study’s findings include: firstly, the information structure of tourism text in scenic spots of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone has its own features in fours aspects of information structure. Secondly, Information Structure Theory plays a significant role in translation and translation can be served as an ideal practicable research objects for the study of Information Structure Theory. Thirdly, the translation of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Zone’s tourism texts basically confirms to the information structure features. However, problems still exist. Finally, to fully realize the functions of tourism texts, strategies as follows should be taken into consideration in translation in light of Information Structure Theory: replacing literal translation with free-translation, reproducing the given information, keeping proper informativity in the translation and confirming to the typical information structure.Theoretically, this study provides the Information Structure Theory and tourism text translation with new study object and application potential. Practically, it facilitates the improvement of translation quality Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone. Besides, it offers inspirations to the study of tourism text translation to other cities.