Abstract: It is of great significance to provide highly appropriate translated tourism materials during the rapid development of tourism industry in China. However, C-E translation of tourism materials is far from satisfaction The reason partly lies in the lack of optimal relevance between the target text and the target reader’s cognitive environment, leading to difficulties and mistakes in understanding, and ineffective stimulation of customers’ interest. This thesis, studying the translation of tourism materials from the perspective of relevance theory, aims at summarizing some useful translation strategies with the hope of improving the quality of the translation of tourism materials. With examples of tourism materials in the city of Nanjing on the basis of relevance theory, it is founded that such strategies as transliteration and explanation, addition and deletion, analogy, adaptation, as well as adjustment, can be used to achieve the optimal relevance.

Key words: relevance theory; tourism materials; translation

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Relevance Theory...2

  2.1The General Introduction of Relevance Theory

  2.2The Basic Concepts of Relevance Theory

  2.2.1Ostension and Inference

  2.2.2Cognitive Environment and Mutual Manifestness

  2.2.3Degrees of Relevance

2.2.3.1Contextual Effects

2.2.3.2Processing Efforts

3.Factors Affecting the Translation of Tourism Materials.4

  3.1Communicative Purpose

  3.1.1Informative Function

  3.1.2Persuasive Function

  3.2 Cognitive Environment

  3.2.1Features of Chinese Tourism Materials

  3.2.2Features of English Tourism Materials

4.The Application of Relevance Theory to Tourism Materials Translation...7

  4.1The Essence of Translation Under Relevance Theory

  4.2 Ostensive-Inferential Cognitive Process of Tourism Materials Translation

  4.3 Pursuit of Optimal Relevance in the Translating Process

  4.4 Approaches to Tourism Materials Translation

  4.3.1Transliteration and Explanation

  4.3.2Adaptation

  4.3.3Analogy

  4.3.4Addition and Deletion

  4.3.5Grammatical Adjustment

5. Conclusion.12

Bibliography

Acknowledgements