Translation Errors in the English Version of Tourism Publications
Translation Errors in the English Version of Tourism Publications jimay 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 “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. 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
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 “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. 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
References: Baker, Mona. 1998. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge. Bassnet, Susan. 1988. Translation Studies. London: Routledge. Nord, Christiane. 1991. Text Analysis in Translation. Amsterdam-Atlanta: Rodopi.