Bidirectional Translation of Promotional Tourism Materials: Challenges and Strategies
Main Article Content
Keywords
direct translation, inverse translation, tourism, performance, accuracy, style, clarity
Abstract
In today’s globalized world, the effective translation of promotional tourism materials plays a crucial role in bridging cultural and linguistic gaps, thereby enhancing tourist experiences and supporting the growth of the tourism sector. Within this line, this study investigated the translator trainees’ performance on bidirectional translation of tourism-related texts. A sample of 24 Saudi postgraduates specializing in translation participated in the study. They were tasked with translating two promotional tourism texts—one from the Visitsaudi website and the other from the Visittheusa website—representing typical features of both Arabic and English tourist discourse. The trainees’ translations were assessed quantitively and qualitatively in two scenarios: (a) translating from English to Arabic, and (b) the reverse based on three criteria: accuracy, style and clarity. The findings revealed significant challenges in both translation directions, particularly in maintaining style and clarity. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test identified statistically significant differences between the two translation directions, underscoring the inherent challenges in L1 to L2 translation (z = -2.372, p = .018, r = 0.48). The qualitative analysis further indicated that the trainees predominantly employed source-text (ST) oriented strategies, impacting negatively the style, clarity, and accuracy of the target texts (TTs). The trainees’ reliance on source-text (ST) oriented strategies resulted in translations that did not adapt to the linguistic and cultural nuances of the target language, which negatively impacted the quality of the target texts (TTs). The study concludes with recommendations for improving the trainees’ bidirectional translation skills in tourism translation.
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References
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Sayaheen, B., & Darwish, I. (2020). Revisiting Directionality in Translation Studies. Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literatures, 12(1), 123-37.
Sanning, H. (2010). Lost and found in translating tourist texts: Domesticating, foreignising or neutralising approach. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 13, 124-137.
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Turzynski-Azimi, A. (2020). Constructing the image of Japan as a tourist destination: Translation procedures for culture-specific items. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 29(3), 1–19.
Valdeón, R. (2009). Info-promotional material discourse and its translation: The case of the Asturian tourist board texts. Across Languages and Cultures, 10(1), 21–47.
Valdeón, R. (2015). Fifteen years of journalistic translation research and more. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 23(4), 634–651.
Vandepitte, S. (2008). Remapping translation studies: Towards a translation studies ontology. Meta, 53(3), 569–588. https://doi.org/10.7202/019240ar.
Vinay, J. P., & Darbelnet, J. (1995). Comparative stylistics of French and English: A methodology for translation (J. C. Sager & M. J. Hamel, Trans.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (Original work published 1958).
Wang, Y. (2021). The impact of directionality on cognitive patterns. In R. Muñoz, S. Sanjun, & D. Li (Eds.), Advances in cognitive translation studies (pp. 201–220). Singapore: Springer Nature.
Whyatt, B., Witczak, O., & Tomczak, E. (2021). Information behaviour in bidirectional translators: Focus on online resources. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 15(2), 154–171.
Woodward-Smith, E. (2019). Tourism, translation and advertising. In R. Valdeón & Á. Vidal (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish translation studies (pp. 402–417). London: Routledge.
Zhang, L., & Yang, G. (2020). A study on the English translation of public signs in Chinese destinations. Journal of China Tourism Research, 16(2), 248–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2019.1629367.
Alangari, E. (2022). Cultural mediation in tourism translation: Saudi Arabia as a case study. AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, 6(3), 82–98. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/wcy3s.
Albir, A., & Pavani, S. (2018). An empirical study on multidimensional summative assessment in translation teaching. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 12(1), 25–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750399X.2017.1420131.
Alves, F., Pagano, A., & Silva, I. (2009). A new window on translators’ cognitive activity: Methodological issues in the combined use of eye tracking, keylogging, and retrospective protocols. In M. Mees, F. Alves, & S. Göpferich (Eds.), Methodology, technology, and innovation in translation process research (pp. 268–269). Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.
Baker, M. (2011). In other words: A course book (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Beeby Lonsdale, A. (1996). Teaching translation from Spanish to English: Worlds beyond words. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
Beeby, A. (1998). The direction of translation: Directionality. In M. Baker (Ed.), Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies (pp. 63–67). London: Routledge.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage (No. 4). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carvalho, I., Michelle, M., & Dinis, G. (2023). Translation in tourism: A mixed-methods literature review. In V. Carreira, C. P., & C. Carapinha (Eds.), Tourism discourses and the challenges of their translation (pp. 28–56). Coimbra: Coimbra University Press.
Fennell, D. (2021). The tourism knowledge translation framework: Bridging the canyon between theory and practice. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(5), 674–691.
Heeb, A. (2016). Professional translators’ self-concepts and directionality: Indications from translation process research. Journal of Specialized Translation, 25, 74–88.
Hogg, G., Liao, M. H., & O’Gorman, K. (2014). Reading between the lines: Multidimensional translation in tourism consumption. Tourism Management, 42, 157–164.
Horcas-Rufián, S., & Kelly, D. (2020). Inverse (AB/C) translation education in Spain under the EHEA. Perspectives, 28(2), 300–319.
Linčir, M. (2019). Challenges of translating tourism-related terminology: Some illustrative examples. Acta Turistica, 31(1), 69–94. https://doi.org/10.22598/at/2019.31.1.69.
Malenkina, N., & Stanislav, I. (2018). A linguistic analysis of the official tourism websites of the seventeen Spanish autonomous communities. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 9, 204–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2018.01.007.
Mellinger, C., & Hanson, T. (2017). Quantitative research methods in translation and interpreting studies. New York: Routledge.
Munday, J. (2018). Introducing translation studies: Theories and applications (4th ed.). London: Routledge.
Muñoz, I. (2007). Travel and translation: Global languages and local identities. Meta: Journal des Traducteurs, 52(2), 205–216.
Muñoz, I. (2011). Tourist translations as a mediation tool: Misunderstandings and difficulties. Cadernos de Tradução, 1(27), 29–49.
Napu, N. (2016). Translating tourism promotional texts: Translation quality and its relationship to the commissioning process. The Journal of Intercultural Mediation and Communication, 9(24), 47–61.
Newmark, P. (1988). Textbook of translation. New York: Prentice-Hall
PACTE. (2003). Acquiring translation competence: Hypotheses and methodological problems in a research project. In A. Beeby, D. Ensinger, & M. Presas (Eds.), Investigating translation (pp. 99–106). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.32.13pac.
PACTE. (2011). Results of the validation of the PACTE translation competence model: Translation project and dynamic translation index. In S. O’Brien (Ed.), Cognitive explorations of translation (pp. 30–53). London: Continuum. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.127.11pac.
PACTE. (2017). PACTE translation competence model. In A. Hurtado Albir (Ed.), Researching translation competence by PACTE group (pp. 35–41). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.127.
Pavlović, N., & Jensen, K. (2009). Eye tracking translation directionality. In A. Pym & A. Perekrestenko (Eds.), Translation research projects 2 (pp. 101–119). Tarragona: Intercultural Studies Group.
Pierini, P. (2007). Quality in web translation: An investigation into UK and Italian tourism websites. The Journal of Specialized Translators, 8, 85–103.
Qassem, M., & Sahari, Y. (2023). Translator trainees’ performance on Arabic–English promotional materials. Open Cultural Studies, 7(1), 20220184.
Qassem, M., Ali, L., & Muhayam, N. (2021). Translation quality in English-Arabic translation of tourist texts: A product perspective. International Journal of Linguistics and Translation Studies, 2(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlts.v2i2.136.
Reiss, K., & Vermeer, H. J. (1984). Groundwork for a general theory of translation (p. 101). Tubingen: Niemeyer.
Reiss, K. (2000). Translation criticism – The potentials and limitations: Categories and criteria for translation quality assessment (E. F. Rhodes, Trans.). St. Jerome Publishing. (Original work published 1971).
Sayaheen, B., & Darwish, I. (2020). Revisiting Directionality in Translation Studies. Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literatures, 12(1), 123-37.
Sanning, H. (2010). Lost and found in translating tourist texts: Domesticating, foreignising or neutralising approach. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 13, 124-137.
Sulaiman, M. (2020). Creating favourable destination images across languages: Collaboration between tourism studies and translation studies? Current Issues in Tourism, 24(8), 1054–1057.
Sulaiman, M., & Wilson, R. (2018). Translating tourism promotional materials: A cultural-conceptual model. Perspectives, 1–17.
Sulaiman, M., & Wilson, R. (2019). Translation and tourism strategies for effective cross-cultural promotion. Singapore: Springer Nature.
Tang-Taye, J., & Standing, C. (2016). Website translation and destination image marketing: A case study of Reunion Island. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 40(5), 611–633.
Turzynski-Azimi, A. (2020). Constructing the image of Japan as a tourist destination: Translation procedures for culture-specific items. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 29(3), 1–19.
Valdeón, R. (2009). Info-promotional material discourse and its translation: The case of the Asturian tourist board texts. Across Languages and Cultures, 10(1), 21–47.
Valdeón, R. (2015). Fifteen years of journalistic translation research and more. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 23(4), 634–651.
Vandepitte, S. (2008). Remapping translation studies: Towards a translation studies ontology. Meta, 53(3), 569–588. https://doi.org/10.7202/019240ar.
Vinay, J. P., & Darbelnet, J. (1995). Comparative stylistics of French and English: A methodology for translation (J. C. Sager & M. J. Hamel, Trans.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (Original work published 1958).
Wang, Y. (2021). The impact of directionality on cognitive patterns. In R. Muñoz, S. Sanjun, & D. Li (Eds.), Advances in cognitive translation studies (pp. 201–220). Singapore: Springer Nature.
Whyatt, B., Witczak, O., & Tomczak, E. (2021). Information behaviour in bidirectional translators: Focus on online resources. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer, 15(2), 154–171.
Woodward-Smith, E. (2019). Tourism, translation and advertising. In R. Valdeón & Á. Vidal (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Spanish translation studies (pp. 402–417). London: Routledge.
Zhang, L., & Yang, G. (2020). A study on the English translation of public signs in Chinese destinations. Journal of China Tourism Research, 16(2), 248–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2019.1629367.
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Dec 24, 2024
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Qassem, M., & Sahari, Y. (2024). Bidirectional Translation of Promotional Tourism Materials: Challenges and Strategies. Jurnal Arbitrer, 11(4), 470–487. https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.11.4.470-487.2024
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