1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

literature review

a name of a tourist spot, as a guide for foreign tourists, is associated with the specific history, culture, custom and complex connotations, and it is necessary to show our peculiar naming art in chinese tourist spots. proper translation of the name is crucial, it may add to the attraction of tourist attractions if they are well-translated.

many articles and books have been centered on this issue. among them, quite a few scholars show great interest in the basic theories and skills of translation. at first, we need to figure out what translation is. one british linguist defines translation as ”the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language” (catford, 1965). other scholars, like nida, put forward theory of functional equivalence (the closest natural equivalent ). he pointed out that translating consists in reproducing the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and second in terms of style. and different from nida#8217;s ”translating means translating meaning”, nord#8217;s skopostheorie defines translation as a communicative act. ” translation is the production of a functional target text maintaining a relationship with a given source text that is special according to the intended or demanded function of the target text. translation allows a communicative act to take place because of existing linguistic and cultural barriers would not have been possible with out it” (nord, 2006:32). that is to say, the choice of translating methods should be according to its special purpose of translation.

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

Methods and Procedures of the Study

In the hope of figuring out the basic theories of translating tourist spots names, the writer has read Nida#8217;s, Nord#8217;s books about translation, and tried to find more about translation of tourist spots names. In this way, the writer gets to know recognized theories of translation. Another modernized invention--- Internet also does me a great favor, providing me with abundant background information. Undoubtedly, traditional libraries and E-libraries are indispensable, too. A large number of journals, magazines, books and dissertations in the libraries are at my disposal. Last but not least, my supervisor helps me a lot with this thesis. She constantly gives some grammatical suggestions, as well as the format of the dissertation. Sometimes discussions are held either in person or on the phone so as to ensure the analyses are reasonable and veridical. Reading books, watching TV series, taking notes, turning to the Internet and the libraries, and discussing with my supervisor are the main methods of this study.

The thesis consists of three parts. The first part will primarily provide general introduction, including the need and purpose of the study . The second part is the elementary theories of the translation, mainly about Nida and Nord. Subsequently, a detailed analysis deduces the strategies for translating tourist spots names. Next, the study will further explore cultural connotation loss in translating and how to solve the problems.