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2.2.3 Tourist logo Translation
In order to find out the representative questions showed in the public logo in and around scenic areas, seven national AAAA scenic spots and five World Cultural Heritages are chosen from the five cities mentioned above. Pictures of public logo in these scenic areas were taken respectively from August 2010 to October 2010, so that all the contents are updated. The English translations of the public signs in and around the areas are analyzed, and classified. The cities are in different regions in China, and the scenic spots are almost the best ones in China. So the data collected represent the general translation status and common problems. According to the tourist’s visiting procedure and public sign functions, the data are classified as traffic, road and street logo, general logo, notice, directory logo, introductory logo, warming logo and and recreational business logo.
Ⅲ. Review of the Functionalist Theory
The German functionalist theory of translation is the rationale of this paper, so it is essential to introduce the formation, development and features of this theory in order to find out its necessity and applicability to the translation of tourist materials. Thus, in this chapter, the author will make a brief review of the functionalist theory as well as its research and application within China and abroad.
3.1 The Main Opinions about the Function Theory
Functionalist theory of translation was first generated in Germany in the 1970s. This theory has gone through three principal phases: Katharina Reiss first put forward functionalist translation criticism; Hans Vermeer and JustaHolz-Manttari enriched and developed functionalist approach; Christiane Nord made a further study of this theory and introduced it in an comprehensive way in English for the first time so that the theory raised greater attention in the translation field around the world.
3.1.1German Functionalist Theory
Reiss’s functionalist translation criticism. In 1971, Reiss develops a model of translation criticism based on the functional relationship between source and target texts in her book Translation Criticism: the Potentials and Limitations (2003). Reiss introduced a functional category into her ‘objective approach to translation criticism’. According to Reiss, the ideal translation would be one in which the aim in the target language text is equivalent to the conceptual content, linguistic form and communicative function of a source language text. In our real life, however, she found that there were situations where equivalence is not possible and, in some cases, not even desired. Her approach to translation criticism thus accounts for certain exceptions from the equivalence requirement. One obvious exception is when the target text is intended to achieve a purpose or a function other than that of the original, such as translating Shakespeare’s plays for foreign-language classes or adapting a prose text for the stage; another is the target text has a specific group of target receivers which differ from that of the original. Reiss pointed out that the functional perspective, in those situations, is more important and applicable than the normal standards of equivalence.
Reiss’s approach has taken a bold step forward in departing from the long-held equivalence approach in translation theory and thus the source text is not the ultimate referent but a necessary one for the assessment of the translation.
Hans J. Vermeer’s Skopos theories. In the late 1970s, Skopos theory as a translation approach which reflects a general shift from predominantly linguistic and rather formal translation theories to a more functionally and socio-culturally oriented concept of translation was developed by Vermeer, the student of Reiss, who put translation in a broader human context. He defines translation as a type of human activity, an intentional and purposeful behavior taking place in a specific situation.“Since situations are embedded in cultures, any evaluation of a particular situation of its verbalized and non-verbalized elements depends on the status it has in a particular culture system” (Nord 2001) Translating is the process of selecting corresponding information to meet the commissioners’ or the customers’ requests. It should fit the final purpose of this translation activity and readers’ special situation. According to Vermeer, one of the most important factors that determines the purpose of a translation is the addressee, who is the intended receiver or audience of the target text, since to translate means “to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances” (Vermeer 1987; Nord 2001). Thus the theory is summed up like this: “the overall frame of reference for the translator should not be the original and its function, as equivalence-based translation theory would have it, but the function or set of functions the target text is to achieve in the target culture” (Nord 2001).