5.4 Reconstruction.
The language structures in Chinese and English are influenced by different thinking patterns and value systems. Chinese language structure tends to be indirect and abstract while English textual structure is apt to be concise and concrete[11] .
The fact that guide-interpreting is a language-based service with communicative function and that guide-interpreting is essentially tourist-oriented means that it is a must for guide-interpreters to bring the rendition in line with the target language structure in order to make tourists understand easily and get reliable information. Therefore, reconstruction is called for in guide-interpreting to communicate smoothly with tourists.
Example 5:
满树金花,芳香四溢的金桂;花白如雪,香气扑鼻的银桂;红里透黄,花味多浓的紫砂桂;花色似银,季季有花的西季桂;竞相开放,争妍媲美.进入桂林公园,阵阵扑鼻而来.(qtd. in China Tourism Bureau,2000,p.68)
The Park of Sweet Osmanthus is noted for its profusion of osmanthus trees. Flowers from these trees in different colors are in full bloom which pervade the whole garden with thefragrance of their blossoms.(textual structure alteration bythe author of this dissertation)
In the source language, the aim that the different sorts of osmanthuses are given a vivid description at length is to arouse the interests of tourists. However, the Chinese language structure seems too wordy and indirect to western tourists who may be at a loss what the text tends to convey if the detailed description of different sorts of flowers in the source text is rendered literally. So the interpreter chooses to delete the trivial details which cloud the main theme of the information and rearrange the structure in a concise and direct way. In this way, the Skopos of the guide-interpreting is given weight to and intercoherence is achieved.
This chapter set the examples of applying functionalism to the practical process of guide-interpreting to illustrate different strategies.
There are several strategies applied in C-E guide interpretation such as omission, amplification, substitution, reconstruction, paraphrase and so on. I n terms of the lengths of my thesis, I could not tell one by one.
But no matter what the specific interpreting strategy applied, the common nature is that, in so doing, the guide-interpreters aim to meet the expectations of the initiators who are the guide-interpreters themselves by following the coherence rule and, most importantly, the Skopos rule, at or not at the expense of the fidelity rule.
At the same time, guide-interpreters are supposed to fully consider the differences between Chinese and westerners in language, value system, thinking pattern and beliefs so as to make guide-interpreting go more fluently.
Ⅵ Conclusion
The present study is a brief investigation into the applicability of functionalism in the practice of guide-interpreting. At the beginning, our research background, objectives of the study were introduced. Then I tell the characters and language features of C-E guide interpretation, adopting the Skopos Theory and Nord’s text typology to analysis the strategies applied in the practical of guide interpretation.