旅游标识语以清晰、生动的文字准确地传达信息，是正确引导游客出行的重要工具，其在景区中具有至关重要的作用。而旅游标识语在词汇、句法、篇章和文体方面的翻译不对等,不仅给持不同语言的人群非母语者带来理解上的误导，更影响了一座城市的精神面貌和文化形象。北海是海上丝绸之路的始发港，享有“知名旅游城市”的美誉。然而,作者通过实地考察发现北海市旅游标志语的误译现象较为普遍且缺乏翻译理论指导,这使得旅游标识语在北海城市形象传播中无法发挥有效作用。本文以奈达的功能对等理论为理论基础，分析探讨北海具有代表性的旅游景点标识语的翻译。通过案例分析深入探讨北海旅游景点标识语的翻译问题。研究发现，不能仅从字面意思或采用中式翻译的方法去直译旅游景点标识语，应结合功能对等理论、直译原则、意译原则以及增补原则等综合分析文本的含义，从而提高旅游标识语翻译的准确度，促进北海旅游业的持续健康发展。

关键词：功能对等理论; 旅游标识语翻译; 翻译方法

1. Introduction

1.1 Research Background  

Under the booming global economy, the development of tourism, especially inbound tourism, is driving the economic development of various regions in China. The rapid development of inbound tourism in China has also exposed the non standardization of bilingual signage in scenic areas. This not only brings inconvenience to foreign tourists, but also has a negative impact on the scenic area and even the national image.

The tourism industry is an indispensable part of the tertiary industry and is known as the "sunrise industry". As a major tourist destination in the world and with the largest domestic tourism market, China attaches great importance to the development of the tourism industry. While China's tourism industry is booming, the signs of domestic tourist attraction are translated in English or even in multiple languages. This change is in line with the trend of increasing international tourists in China, provides great convenience for foreign tourists, and shows that China is in line with international standards and the tourism industry is gradually improving. These slogans, as important symbols of a country's image, have caused unnecessary misunderstandings and troubles due to the non professional translation of a few scenic spots, which to some extent undermines the image of scenic spots and even the country.

The strategic concept of “the Belt and Road” put forward by China in 2013 has made foreigners more familiar with China and ushered in more opportunities for China’s opening up. Language is inevitably needed to gain strength, release energy and build a community with a shared future for mankind, and language service capabilities should be improved in a collaborative manner. In famous tourist cities, bilingual tourism signs are used extensively in public places, such as restaurants, hotels, airports, train stations, shopping malls, parks, public amenities and tourism spots in order to convey information to natives and foreign readers.  

In general, researches on the translation of tourism sign began relatively late in China. Beijing International Studies University is a pioneer in the translation of public signs and has established the Center for the Study of Chinese to English Signs. In September 2005, Beijing International Studies University held the “First Symposium on C&E Marks in a Global Context”, this symposium has achieved significant results in terms of language and function, methods, principles, and theories, marking the deepening of research on the translation of Chinese public signs. In addition, there are few theses that combine the Nida functional equivalence theory to analyze Beihai tourism signs from vocabulary, syntax, text and style, so this thesis has a certain degree of innovation. Due to the translator’s failure to grasp the principle of functional equivalence theory, there are some incorrect information in the translation of tourism signs in Beihai, which leads to communication barriers.  

Dimension of Functional Equivalence Theory

There are four levels of functional equivalence theory, which includes lexical equivalence, syntactic equivalence, textual equivalence and stylistic equivalence.

2.2.1 Lexical Equivalence

Lexical equivalence mainly refers to the ability of a translation to accurately express the meaning of a word and display the cultural meaning of the source language, and to find corresponding meanings in the target language. To achieve lexical equivalence in the translation, translators must choose appropriate vocabulary based on specific language environments, cultural characteristics and actual needs, making the translation clear and easy to understand. In terms of tourism signs translation, there are many problems in Chinese-English translation, such as grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, non-standard and arbitrary translation. Therefore, translation at the lexical level requires different forms to express the same meaning, in order to achieve translation equivalence of vocabulary at the semantic, grammatical, and cultural levels.

2.2.2 Syntactic Equivalence

It refers to two or more similar components in a sentence that exhibit similar forms in structure, thereby achieving a certain degree of symmetry throughout the entire sentence. The translation of tourism signs not only requires the English translation to be accurate in the use of vocabulary, but also has high standards for the use of syntax and grammar. Chinese to English translation of signs not only requires conciseness and clarity, but also involves English tense, morphology and singular and plural issues, as well as the consistency of tense with regard to quantity, and syntactically requires compliance with the sentence structure habits in the English system. Therefore, syntactic equivalence is much more complicated than lexical equivalence.

2.2.3 Textual Equivalence

Text equivalence is also known as discourse equivalence. A discourse is a unit of language use. In text analysis, it is important to look not only at the language itself but also at how the language embodies meaning and function in a particular context. When translating the source language, the translator should try to achieve the equivalence of content and meaning first, or if the equivalence of content and form cannot be achieved at the same time, the translator should consider the equivalence of content first, and then try to coordinate the equivalence of form. If both content and form cannot be achieved at the same time, the translator should consider the content first and then try to reconcile the form.

2.2.4 Stylistic Equivalence

Translation is a highly specialized job, and Stylistic Equivalence is an important aspect of the translation process. It is very important to maintain the style and grammar characteristics of the original text during the translation process to transform the translation, as this can ensure the accuracy and naturalness of the translation results. If a translator simply translates the original text into a translation, it may result in inconsistency between the translation results and the original text, losing some of the original cultural connotations and emotional colors in the original text.

In order to follow the principles of Stylistic Equivalence, the translator needs to conduct a comprehensive analysis and understanding of the original text, including language, style, words, etc., and respect the original intention of the original author to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the translation. In the process of translation, it is necessary to pay attention to the naturalness and fluency of the translation to ensure that readers can easily understand the content conveyed by the translation when reading it, which is one of the important indicators of translation quality.

In modern society, cross-cultural communication is becoming increasingly common, and translation, as an important means of cultural dissemination, is receiving increasing attention. Only by adhering to the principle of Stylistic Equivalence in translation can we better convey the cultural connotations and emotional appeal of the original text, and achieve cultural transcendence and exchange.

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