Strategies and Guidelines for Translating Tourism Texts Strategije in napotki za prevajanje turističnih besedil Mentor: Dr. Michelle Gadpaille Co-mentor: Dr. Tomaž Onič Nika Plevnik

Research Motifs Often disregarded and neglected properties of tourism language by Slovene brochure writers or their translators. English translations of tourist brochures generated by Slovene translators are often published without English native speaker revision > various mistakes & unnaturalness.

Research Methodology 5 sample texts 5 native speakers of English > tape-recorded unstructured interview two linguists (university professors) > Canadian, two English course instructors > British, one Slovene real-estate agent > Australian Slovene.

Description of a destination on the back of the map Introductory to the service Table/packages Paragraph in a thicker booklet Throwaway advertisement

Aims 1.Carry out a detailed analysis of a selection of tourism texts using Leech and Shorts model and show the properties of TL. 2.Research into the level of understanding of the English speaking tourist reading the Slovene–English translations in tourist brochures (ambiguities, misunderstandings, cultural gaps). 3.Present the range of mistakes in tourist brochures, their effect on the English native speaking tourist and, consequently, the overall attractiveness of the text. 4.Provide useful guidelines for achieving greater naturalness in the translation, saving translators research time and thus simplifying the whole process of translating tourism texts. 5.Check several dictionaries and outline the circumstances in which Slovene translators work, and comment on dictionaries they presumably use when translating.

Results & Comments General: Translators have not picked up the complex advertising properties of the tourism language. Literal translation > unnatural. Literal translation > unnatural. Slovenes promote sights many foreign tourists might not be interested in. Slovenes promote sights many foreign tourists might not be interested in. Slovene translations do not include and address the reader (imperatives, rhetorical questions etc. instead of descriptive monologue). Slovene translations do not include and address the reader (imperatives, rhetorical questions etc. instead of descriptive monologue). Deficient in terms of languaging, ego-targeting and humour. Deficient in terms of languaging, ego-targeting and humour. Layout sometimes difficult to comprehend. Layout sometimes difficult to comprehend.

List of Most Common Errors of Slovene Translators When Encoding in English Spelling mistakes and typing errors Spelling mistakes and typing errors Inappropriate diction (register and style) Inappropriate diction (register and style) Grammatical and syntactic mistakes Grammatical and syntactic mistakes Misuse of punctuation Misuse of punctuation Misuse of adjectives Misuse of adjectives Misuse of articles Misuse of articles Misuse of prepositions Misuse of prepositions Disregard of cultural gaps Disregard of cultural gaps Composition logic (cohesion and coherence) Composition logic (cohesion and coherence) Word order Word order Incorrect collocations/idioms (inappropriate word choices) Incorrect collocations/idioms (inappropriate word choices) Various translation mistakes Various translation mistakes Interference with understanding (ambiguity and unclearness) Interference with understanding (ambiguity and unclearness) Inaccuracy of the translation (semantic shifts) Inaccuracy of the translation (semantic shifts)

Practical Guidelines for Translators How to Translate Tourism Texts Pre-translation activities: 1. Global comprehension 2. Analysis 3. Reflection a) Type of the tourism text, as well as the intention – function b) Readership c) Quality of writing d) Cultural aspect of the SL text. Translation: 4. Synthesis > communicative translation method. Post-translation activities: 5. Control/revision - check for naturalness (read the translation aloud) - cut down redundancies, - check for translation shifts (be accurate: do not change words). - native speaker revision

Remarks on Dictionaries 1. COLLOCATIONS General monolingual dictionaries General monolingual dictionaries Specialized monolingual dictionaries Specialized monolingual dictionaries Specialized dictionary of collocations Specialized dictionary of collocations BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations, BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations, Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English, Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English, LTP Dictionary of Selected Collocations. LTP Dictionary of Selected Collocations. Web & online corpora & concordances Web & online corpora & concordances Collins, Corpus Concordance Sampler & Collocation Sampler Collins, Corpus Concordance Sampler & Collocation Sampler The Advanced Reader´s Collocation Searcher © The Advanced Reader´s Collocation Searcher © 2. DICTION Indicator of the level of language (register). Indicator of the level of language (register). Native English speaker(s) revision. Native English speaker(s) revision. Reduce mistakes, incorrect collocation usages in the encoding process. NATURALNESS