The Existing Problems ofTranslating Tour Guide Presentations

Abstract：Tour guide presentation， as an important part of tourism resources， the translation of it will inevitably face the challenges of cross-cultural communication. This paper tends to analyze the existing problems in translating tour guide presentation from different perspectives.

Keywords： Tour guide presentation，Existing problems

Chapter One Introduction

With the development of economic globalization， both economic trade and cultural communication have become more and more frequent. As a kind of typical cross-cultural activity， the tourist industry is experiencing a rapid development， especially in China. According to the prediction of WTO， China will become the largest tourist destination in the next few decades. At the same time， it puts forward higher requirements for guide-interpreters. The guide-interpreters，served as cultural disseminators， are the key to foreign visitors， what they say will affect tourists understanding and attitude towards China.

Chapter Two Existing Problems in Tour Guide Presentations

2.1Copy the original Chinese blindly

Example 1.桂林是一個典型的石灰巖巖溶（喀斯特）地貌區。幾億年以前，這里還是一片大海，海底沉積了幾千米厚的石灰巖。由于地殼變動，大海深處的巖石隆起，海水退去，才使這里成為陸地。之后，又經過大約七千萬年的風化、剝蝕和雨水的溶蝕，才最終發育成千峰聳立、碧水縈繞、巖石奇麗、洞境深隧的桂林山水。Feng Wei （2003：3-5）

Guilin is a typical karst landform area. Several hundred million years ago， it was a sea here， under which there were accumulated limestone layers a few thousand meters thick. In the movement of the earth's crust， rocks deep down below the sea surged up and the sea gave way to the land. Then， about another 70 million years had passed before the landscape of Guilin developed， with the help of the natural elements of wind and rain， into a wonderland of weird shaped and isolated peaks and bizarre and fantastic-looking caves amidst limpid waters and nice fields. （Feng Wei2003：57）

Notes： This version of translation adopts literal translation and employs many adjectives and flowery expressions of the original text. Of course， it maintains the Chinese culture and spreads it to the outside world， but the foreigners will feel puzzled when they read it. This kind of translation exists extensively and makes the tour commentary vapid and dull. It neither conforms to English-Chinese translation principles， nor the style of the tour commentary.

2.2Misuse of words and unstructured sentence pattern

Example 2. “Winding Corridor was the place Zhang Sheng met Miss Yingying for the first time at that time. After the family of Yingying residing down in the back court， the old mother feared that Yingying would feel heavily stuffy in the strictly—closed quiet temple and said to Hongniang，‘If there are no miscellaneous personnel burning incense in the temple，you may bring the miss to outside the temple to have a walk”. （Zhangmin2001：73）

Notes： In this paragraph， the translator uses the transitive verb “incense” after the word “burning”， the visitors will think about it as there always being disturbed by people， obviously， it fails to convey the original meaning accurately. But substitute it with “burn joss sticks”， the tourists will understand it easier.

2.3Lexical errors

Example 3. The founding ceremony of PRC was hold right after the first renovation and extention. （BiHongying2004：5）

Note： Capitals are used mainly in three places： key words in titles， the first letter of a word of a sentence and proper nouns. “The Founding Ceremony of PRC” means “開國大典” in Chinese is a proper noun， so “founding” and “ceremony” should be capitalized.

2.4Grammatical errors

Example5.Incorrect： In 1997， there are 29 places put on the list of the world cultural and natural heritage by the UNESO.

Correct：In 1997， there were 29 places listed as the world cultural and natural heritage by the UNESO.

Note： This sentence is an introduction to historical sites. The event which happened in 1997 has past， so in such circumstance， it is common to employ the simple past tense in English.

2.5 Cognitive disparities on animals

Because of culture diversity， there is a typical example， that is， the dragon. On contrary to European dragons， which are considered evil， Chinese dragons traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers， particular control over water rainfall， hurricane， and floods. Dragon is also a symbol of power， strength， and good luck. But in the West， dragon has aggressive， ominous connotations. So when faced with visitors from the English-speaking countries， the guide should consider of the cultural background and make an explanation to the tourists， in order to prevent any possible misunderstanding.

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作者簡介：黃皓，女，（1993—），山西省臨汾市，山西財經大學研究生在讀，外國語言學及應用語言學，研究方向：英語教學。