Translation Errors in the English Version of Tourism Publications free essay sample

Although many tourism publications have English translations interspersed between passages of Chinese, the quality of these translated texts is not so satisfying. Some postgraduates are often engaged in translating Chinese into English; therefore, as an English teacher, the author thinks it is necessary to discuss the errors in these translation works so as to develop good English taste among students. As for the errors in translation, there are linguistic errors and pragmatic errors. Linguistic errors, violating the language rule of English, cover such errors as spelling mistakes, subject-verb disagreements and so on. Linguistic errors are usually caused by the translator’s linguistic incompetence. In addition, each text is not purely a linguistic phenomenon, but â€Å"must be seen in terms of communication function, as a unit embedded in a given situation, and as part of a broader socio-cultural background† (Hornby, 2001,69). Since translation is regarded as an activity of intercultural communication, if the translator ignores the shift of the social and cultural situations, the transfer of pragmatic rules from his native language to the target language will lead to various pragmatic failures or errors during the inter-cultural communication. We will write a custom essay sample on Translation Errors in the English Version of Tourism Publications or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Therefore, pragmatic transfer is the main cause of pragmatic failures or errors, which can be classified into two categories: pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. Different from linguistic errors, the pragmatic failure or error conforms to the language rule and can be detected only in the context. In translation, pragmatic failures or errors are usually attributed to the ignorance of the translator toward the intentions of the source text sender and expectations and conventions of the target readers. Translation errors occur when a particular expression becomes inadequate with regard to the communicative function it is supposed to achieve. As to the English version of tourism publications, the translation errors can be classified into three categories: linguistic translation errors, pragmatic translation errors and cultural translation errors. 1. Linguistic Errors A glance at the English versions of these beautifully printed tourism publications will surely make you shocked by the numerous linguistic errors in them. Here the linguistic errors refer to no more than the lexical and grammatical errors, including misspelled words, inappropriate punctuation marks, misused words, and ill-constructed sentences as well, which are easy to be spotted. Lexical errors cover spelling mistakes, inappropriate punctuation marks, misused words and words collocations. Lexical errors are due to translator’s carelessness and ignorance; therefore they can be reduced without any difficulties. Grammatical errors cover the ill-structured sentences and all the other syntax structures that fail to function properly, such as subject-verb agreement errors, noun morphology errors, and verb-morphology errors etc. An ungrammatical sentence will cost readers more time to identify than a lexical error. At the same time, grammar mistakes always result in the unreadability of the text. Unfortunately, grammatical errors can be frequently seen in the English version of tourism publications, as displayed in the following short paragraph: Example 1 Forest resources is rich there with 120-odd plants, 600-odd herbs, hence a natural botanical gardens. Spread over hills everywhere, ever-green; In early spring is yellow; In may like snow is white; In late autumn is red; Like graceful maiden in summer is five-leaved chaste tree; In winter is red fruits. It is shocking that the short paragraph suffers so many mistakes that it completely lost readability. The first sentence violates the subject-verb agreement rule with the plural subject â€Å"resources† and the singular verb â€Å"is†. In addition, in common sense it is unmatchable between â€Å"forest resources † and â€Å"a natural botanical garden†. It is much worse that the following sentences are so ill constructed that they are unreadable and cannot be identified at all. 2. Pragmatic Translation Errors Most of the tourism publications are translated word for word and sentence for sentence. Therefore, even if a translation is lexically and grammatically right after careful correction, it often suffers pragmatic translation errors caused by inadequate solutions to pragmatic translation problems such as a lack of receiver orientation (which means the translator translates the source text without taking into account the target readers). The translator has to take account of the fact that a piece of information that might be â€Å"trivial† to the source text recipient, because of his source-cultural background knowledge, may be unknown to the target text recipient because of his target-cultural background knowledge-or vice versa† (Nord, 1991, 97). In the English version of tourism publications, the pragmatic errors are usually triggered by a bunch of cultural terms and proper names, which often hinder English-speaking readers from thoroughly understanding the text. 2. Pragmatic Translation Errors Caused by Cultural Terms Cultural terms, regarded as the vehicles of culture, refer to words and expressions peculiar to a certain culture, such as feudal emperors and dynasties, historical figures, idioms, allusions, etc. As the translator takes it for granted that English readers can understand the cultural terms concerned in tourism publications, he gives no further explanations or other references. As a matt er of fact, most of English readers, who lack the background knowledge about Chinese culture, are unable to appreciate these translations. The pragmatic translation errors are displayed in the following example: The carved stone is made up of the central parts of two characters â€Å"Wind† and â€Å"Moon†. Therefore the two characters are â€Å"without edges† or â€Å"boundless†. That means beautiful scenes here are boundless. The Chinese version, representing the uniqueness of Chinese culture, can be well enjoyed by Chinese readers. This part is also considered as a great challenge for translators, for foreigners don’t know Chinese characters and can’t understand the cultural connotations embedded in them. In the English version, though the translator endeavors to represent the original meaning of the source text by adding explanations, he still fails to make foreigners catch the cultural information embedded in the Chinese characters â€Å" †. After reading the English version, foreigners may understand that the view of this place is very beautiful, but may still have no clear idea about the carved characters on the stone, for they can by no means associate the â€Å"wind† and â€Å"moon† with â€Å"scenery† as Chinese people do. 2. Pragmatic Errors Caused by Proper Names Pragmatic translation errors can also be caused by the proper names translated into Pinyin, which, to English readers who know little about Chinese culture, would be no more than a mess of signs without any meaning. For instance: Example 3 There are many historical and cultural relics in Rizhao. The Ruins of Liangcheng and Donghaiyu are typical of the Longshan Culture more than 4,000 years ago. The pictograph of the Dawenkou Culture discovered along the Lingyang River was one of the oldest Chinese characters. The cliff inscriptions in Heshan were carved in the largest Chinese characters, and have been registered in the Guiness Records. Dinglin Temple where the famous literary theorist and critic Liu Xie, the author of Wen Xin Diao Long, proofread the Buddhist scriptures is situated inside the Fulai Mountain, known for its ancient culture. In the English version of 97 words (including punctuation marks) appears 10 Pinyins, only half of which can be understood as names of cities, rivers, temples, mountains or the literary critic in the text. The rest half of the proper names are inaccessible even to Chinese readers, let alone foreign tourists. For example, readers can find nothing in the text that can shed light on these two terms Donghaiyu and Liangcheng. The translation of proper names is a complex issue that can’t be tackled within a short chapter. However, as to the translation of proper names in the tourism text, it seems that Pinyin alone doesn’t work very efficiently. 3. Cultural Translation Errors Cultural translation errors are caused by an inadequate decision with regard to reproduction or adaptation of culture-specific conventions. Impacted by Chinese writing conventions, the English versions are always composed in a stereotyped way, which finds its expression in such aspects as cover-all contents and formal style, pompous diction and so on. Such stereotyped writings, unconventional to English readers, always result in misunderstanding. 3. Cultural Translation Errors Caused by Coverall Contents and Formal Style Cultural translation errors can be triggered by the coverall contents and formal writing style; namely, the English versions are inclined to cover all the things, necessary or unnecessary, in very formal languages. With detailed and formal description on every aspect of the place in question, ranging from locations, climate, transportations, food, facilities, hotels, to policies and economic issues, the English versions of tourism publications look like official repo rts lacking attraction. In addition, the stereotyped content and the structure of the text can be predicted even without reading it through. Such problems occur in almost every tourism publication issued by the official bureaus and agencies we have collected. However, due to different patterns of thought, these stereotyped writings cannot be well accepted by English readers, who, preferring the informal and succinct writing, would feel bored to read such long, flat and document-like texts. Thus the translator’s efforts proved to be no avail at all.