A Study of the English Commentary Translation of Chongzuo Zhuang Museum from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

In recent years, China’s tourism industry has continuously promoted economic development. Therefore, the translation of tourism commentary is becoming increasingly important. The museum’s English commentary translation plays an irreplaceable role as an important medium for disseminating cultural knowledge and informing foreign friends. However, we don’t think highly of the English commentary translation, there are many grammatical and general errors, which hinders foreigners from getting the correct and accurate information. Wrong English commentary is not only harmful for cultural transmission but also bad for expanding opening-up. Chinese English translations are rarely translated on the basis of theory, which hinders the development of theoretical studies on Chinese translation. This thesis mainly focuses on the research and analysis of the English commentary in the Chongzuo Zhuang Museum. And it researches and analyzes the English commentary translation from the perspective of Skopos teleology. And it will enrich domestic research on teleological translation theory.

translation information for foreign people, the author focuses on the English commentary translation of Chongzuo Zhuang Museum, analyzes English translation and offers suggestions for wrong translation from the perspective of Skopos Theory.

Background, Significance and Goal of this Thesis
With the development of globalization, cultural exchange communication activities are more frequent among many countries than before, and the museum is an important place for cultural exchange, the English commentary is the main way to make foreign visitors understand brief introduction of exhibits in museum. The English commentary in Chongzuo Zhuang Museum not only allows visitors to study Chinese history and excellent culture but also plays an important role in spreading Chinese culture.
Chongzuo Zhuang Museum is the first Zhuang museum in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and it is the first prefecture-level Zhuang museum in Guangxi. With the development of tourism in Chongzuo, more and more tourists and foreign people come here to visit in Chongzuo Zhuang Museum.
The research of English commentary in Chongzuo Zhuang Museum can not only make foreign people have a rough idea in linguistic feature between English and Chinese but also spread Chinese culture.
Otherwise, English lover cannot have a chance to communicate with each other.
However, some English commentary translation in this museum is not appropriate for foreign people's reading habit, because they are not translated by professional and accurate translators. Some of them are even translated easily by translation software. When you visit this museum, it is not difficult to find out that there are many obvious errors in the English commentary translation. This is not a great phenomenon. It is well-known that the English commentary is an important medium to explain exhibits' history and express Chinese culture. Wrong English translation will mislead foreign people to get correct translation information of exhibits. This is harmful for cultural communication.
Consequently, the goal of this thesis is trying to analyze commentary sentence and find out some mistakes in it, then this thesis will give some suggestions to correct some translation errors for the good of getting accurate information from the perspective of Skopos.

Structure of this Thesis
There are 4 parts in this thesis. They are: introduction, literature review, analysis and summary. The key part is analysis for mistakes, it will offer the original text and translated text to give some analysis.

Meaning of Skopos Theory Translation
Skopos Theory is a theory that applies concepts to translation. The core concept of Skopos Theory is that the most important factor in the translation process is the purpose of the overall translation behavior.
According to German translator Hans Vermeer (1984), "translation is a kind of human action, and every action has a purpose". As a consequence, when translating, the translator should focus on the purpose of Skopos Theory translation and guide translation theory to translate the original text accurately. In addition, translators should meet certain translation standards.
In Vermeer's (1984) Skopos teleology framework, one of the most important factors in determining the purpose of translation is the visitor-the intended recipients of the translation. Because they have different cultural background, their expectations for the commentary translation, and their communication needs. Every kind of translation is directed to a certain visitor, as a consequence, translation is a "text that produced for a certain purpose and target audience in a target context".
Vermeer (1984) believes that the original text is only a source of some or all of the information for the target audience.
In the framework of Skopos Theory, the process of translation should follow three main principles: Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule. The Skopos rule is the supreme rule, it is the most important rule.

Research Content of Chongzuo Zhuang Museum
Some wrong museum commentary translation mistakes will be analyzed, such as its spelling, grammar, meaning, logical thinking and so on. Then some suggestions to correct these mistakes will be given.

Hard Part in the English Commentary Translation of Chongzuo Zhuang Museum
It is very difficult to translate Chinses language to English with the same meaning to make foreigners to understand, what we can do is to translate and correct the commentary with the least error. There are many culturally specific items that are unique to Chinese culture, they do not have the same word in foreign language. For example, "天書釋義", we can not find any English words without decorations to completely translate it. Under these circumstances, foreign visitors are not easy to know the original meaning in Chinese. So it is hard to correct the unproper translation to proper one. But the translated text uses "with" to start, so the original meaning has been changed.

Mistakes, Analysis and Suggestions in the English Commentary Translation of Chongzuo
"Painting" shouldn't appear in "such as painting, river…", because the original didn't mention it. The translated text didn't express with original meaning. It needs to follow the fidelity rule to restore original meaning.
Suggestion: The rock art of 38 landscape units fully show the development and evolution of the Zuojiang Huashan rock art image expression system, the elements of the landscape pattern composed of cliffs, rivers and platforms are all well preserved.
Translated text: Surrounded by the dreamy scenery, we are offered the opportunity to not only appreciate the rock art, but also travel back in time to acquire a deeper understanding of history.
Analysis: Translators forget to translate "今天 (jīn tiān/today)" and "駐足凝思 (zhù zú ní ng sī/ stop for a moment to meditate)", they didn't appear in the translated text. It didn't follow the fidelity rule. The original text didn't have the meaning of "travel back in time". "we are offered the opportunity" is not fit able for readers' habits logically, it missed the coherence rule. By using omission rule, "山水間 (shān shuǐ jiān/between the mountain and water)" is translated to "scenery". "山水間 (shān shuǐ jiān/between the mountain and water)" means that "between mountains and water", but this kind of literal translation is not good enough in English. For example, "桂林山水甲天下 (guì lín shān shuǐ jiǎ tiān xià/the mountain and water of Guilin is the best)", "mountains and water" didn't expose in the best translation version, it uses addition and subtraction like: "East or west, Guilin landscape is the best".
Suggestion: Today, we are surrounded by the dreamy scenery, we have the opportunity to not only appreciate the rock art and study history, but also stop for a moment to meditate.
Translated text: Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is highlighted by the surrounding villages, the exuberant forests and the beautiful ecological environment. The villagers there are kept the tradition of protecting the rock and the geological views.

Original text:青山疊翠，壁立千仞; 江山如練，田園似錦。
qīng shān dié cuì , bì lì qiān rèn; jiāng shān rú lià n, tiá n yuá n sì jǐn. to follow this rule to offer foreign people the most suitable translation. A direct translation for "壁立千 仞 (bì lì qiān rèn / The cliff is as steep as a wall)"is not easy. It uses "cliff" which is suitable here, because a cliff is a vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure, which is the same meaning in the original text. We can use the original meaning to translate "壁立千仞 (bì lì qiān rèn / The cliff is as steep as a wall)" to "The cliff is as steep as a wall". The original text didn't mention "river", and this is an additional translation. What is reduced translation is "江山如练 (jiāng shān rú liàn / the country just like a fairyland)", "錦 (jǐn / brilliant)" can not be clearly described in a word in English, but it has the meaning of "nice, good and excellent". So, when the landscape is modified, "What a fairyland this is!" is suitable to express that the landscape here is very amazing and marvelous.
Translated text: Huashan belongs to Guangxi, as well as to China. And most importantly, it belongs to the whole world.
Analysis: a noun or a phrase can be exposed in the back of "as well as", we can correct it as "Huashan belongs to Guangxi as well as China". "most importantly" can be "more importantly" to restore the meaning of the original text. Suggestion: Huashan belongs to Guangxi as well as China, more importantly, it belongs to the world.
Translated text: A solicitation for 10,000 signatures themed on safeguarding the Rock Art.
Analysis: Solicitation is the act of asking someone for money, help, support, or an opinion (Note 1). "活 动 (huó dòng/activity)" means "activity", not "solicitation". So, the translation of "solicitation" is not correct. "万人 (wà n ré n/thousands of people)" in Chinese means that there are many people or thousands of people, not an exact figures 10,000. This can easily mislead foreign people.
Suggestion: An activity with thousands of people to write down their signature, its theme is "protecting the Rock Art". Analysis: This passage is a narration about Huashan Rock Art, so translator chooses to use literal translation rule to narrate. "led" is past tense of "lead", the verb after "led" is "went", it should be "lead sb. to do something", it is not correct. "led" can be replaced by "ask" or "make". "Peer" means that people who are equal in such respects as age, education or social class, group, colleague, etc., as in peer group or social peer-to-peer processes. "同行 (tóng hang/ business colleague in the same line)" can be translated to "business colleague". We need to know exactly the meaning of every English word in commentary to translate the right sentence, or it will express the wrong information. "from across the world" have two prepositions, "from" and "across" can't come out together, it is a grammatic mistake.
We can delete "from", because "across the world" can modify "同行 (tóng hang/ business colleague in the same line)". a subject in the original text, it is common in Chinses, but sometimes it couldn't make sense in English.
Translator didn't follow the coherence rule, it is well known that "tour" may refer to: tourism, travel for pleasure. But it is not about people, so we can choose "inspector" instead of "tour". "check" in this sentence shouldn't be primary tense as it happened in the past. "checked" in past tense is correct. The meaning "check the mountain with rock art" is different with the original text, because the "rock art" is on the mountain, so they couldn't check the mountain with rock art. From here, we can see that our translator didn't think highly of our English commentary translation. After translating the commentary, we need to check it carefully to prevent mistakes, especially this kind of low-level error. Sentence like this original text without a subject, we need to pay attention to the Skopos rule, that is to tell our visitors with accurate information.
Translated text: Rock art protection, as a difficult issue in the world, lacks of proven experience to learn from.
Analysis: The ending in the translated text is "learn from", it should be nouns or phrase after "learn from". "借鑒 (jiè jià n / use for reference)" can be translated to "for reference", it can follow the fidelity rule to offer accurate information.
Suggestion: Rock art protection, as a difficult issue in the world, lacks of proven experience for reference.
Translated text: The local people believe the rock art sacred and safeguard it consciously.
Analysis: This text is just a Chinglish translation. It obeys coherence rule and fidelity rule. "自古以來" didn't appear in the translated text. "believe the rock art sacred" is a typical Chinglish translation.
Foreign visitors can not get the point for its gramma mistakes.
Suggestion: The local people have regarded the rock art as precious heritage since ancient times and protected them consciously.
But the translated text has obeyed the coherence rule and fidelity rule. "現任 (xià n rè n / currently hold the post)" in English shouldn't be "then", their meaning is totally opposite. "人民檢察院檢察長 (ré n mín jiǎn chá yuan jiǎn chá zhǎng / chief procurator of autonomous people's procuratorates)" shouldn't be translated to "secretary", it should be "chief procurator of autonomous people's procuratorates".
"CPC Committee" is not correct. Our translator is careless when "Rock Art" is capital form.
Translated text: Even today, the Zhuang ethnic group remains a major part in Guangxi and is the ethnic group with the largest population in Chongzuo City. Hundred and thousand years of inheritance, development, integration and evolution have shaped the ancient Luoyue culture into a rich Zhuang culture which has a wide spread and profound influence to surrounding areas, even to Southeast Asia.
Analysis: The translated text uses literal translation. The style of Chinglish in it is obvious. "也是崇左 市人口最多的民族 (yě shì chóng zuǒ shì rén kǒu zuì duō de mín zú/nation with the most people in Chongzuo)" was translated to "and is the ethnic group with the largest population in Chongzuo City", the former is a verb "remains", the latter is a copula "is", so it should be a full sentence after "and". "千 百年 (qiān bǎi nián/thousands of years)" was translated to "Hundred and thousand years", it was full of Chinglish style. We should stand in foreign people's shoes to make the translation suit for their reading habit. as a matter of fact, "thousands of years" can express the meaning of "千百年 (qiān bǎi niá n/thousands of years)". "have shaped" is present perfect tense, but it happened in the past, and it still influents until today, so it should be past perfect tense. The ancient country of Luoyue was founded in the south of Lingnan, "駱越 (luò yuè )"is translated to "Luoyue". Foreign people way not know the history of China, so they may fell strange. Luoyue people are the ancestors of Zhuang, Dong, Li ethnic group. By translation of "Luoyue", foreign people can not understand its meaning, so translator need to Analysis: This is a antiquity name about bronze drum, "冷水沖 (lěng shuǐ chōng)" is one of the types of bronze drum. What is its distinctive feature is that the main surface of it is about heron. And its standard instrument comes from Lengshuichong Heng village, Teng county, Guangxi. "Lengshuichong" is a place to define this type of bronze drum, some notes about this type of drum is needed, or visitors can not understand what it is by the translation of "Lengshuichong".
Translated text: Bronze drum culture is of long standing, rich connotation and wide influence.
Drums from different times, areas and ethnic groups bear different characteristics. In the heart of ethnic minorities in south China, especially the Zhuang people, bronze drum occupies a high status, which has hardly been changed over the past thousand years.
Analysis: "is of long standing" is not correct in expression, "long standing" is an adjective, "be of" and an adjective can not be together, it should be a noun after "be of". When it comes to "bear different characteristics", "bear a big reputation" is appropriate, but "characteristic" is not a reputation or honor, so "bear" is not appropriate here. "which has hardly been changed over the past thousand years" is additional translation, because it does not appear in the original text. But it follows the Skopos Theory to tell visitors that how important the drum is for the Zhuang people. 18. Original text: 岩畫畫面充滿神秘感，景觀格局、周邊環境從未改變。銅鼓文化傳統延續 至今。 yá n huà huà mià n chōng mǎn shé n mì gǎn, jǐng guān gé jú, zhōu biān huá n jì ng cóng wè i gǎi bià n.
Translated text: The rock art images are full of mystery and the landscape pattern and the setting have never changed, which the bronze drum cultural tradition still continues today.
Analysis: The translated text didn't follow the coherence rule, it basically restored the original information, but the translation didn't perform well in the coherence. Above didn't mention "landscape" and "setting", so it shouldn't use definite article "the". What between "are full of mystery" "the landscape" is "and", but "The rock art images are full of mystery" is a full sentence, so we can use a comma before "the landscape". What's more, "which" is not correct, because its "landscape" and "setting" is not concern with "bronze drum cultural tradition", we needn't hold a handle to a sun but use a dot to take them apart.
suggestion：The rock art images are full of mystery，its landscape pattern and setting have never changed. Bronze drum cultural tradition still continues today.
Translated text: Seen in a boat on the river, the mountains and water seem to be a kaleidoscope of marvelous views.
Analysis: "Seen in a boat on the river" didn't express the meaning of "steering the boat", it is not a beautiful sentence. I think that "Steering the boat on a river" would be better. "the mountains" and "water" is not consistent, it should be "the mountains and the water".

Zhuang Museum
Translation mistakes are inevitable, but what are the reasons of the mistakes? There are several reasons.
Firstly, translator's translation level needs to be improved, there are so many grammar mistakes.
Secondly, translator is careless in the translation process, even some commentary is still not translated.
Thirdly, translator didn't pay enough attention to the cultural history of the museum, so it leads to wrong commentary translation.

Resolution Suggestions after Analysis of the English Commentary
There are some mistakes in English commentary translation include its spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and logical mistakes, even some translation didn't follow the original text to try to express the correct meaning. Most of them can follow the fidelity rule to restore the original information, but some can not stand in foreign people's shoes to follow their reading habit. So, it is not difficult to know that there are many Chinglish translation in this museum. translating the commentary, we need to combine theory and practice for the best results. We also need to pay attention to reader's acceptance, cultural characteristics and language habits. English translation is important for cultural transmission, it also drives the development of tourism in Chongzuo. As an indispensable propaganda, the mistakes or unproper English translation should be corrected normatively. Only in this way can it play a role to develop cultural transmission.