Examining the English Publicity Materials of the Cultural Heritage in Xi’an from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory

Abstract

Xi’an, one of the political, economic and cultural centers of ancient China and the starting point of the New Silk Road, has increasingly become an important window through which Chinese culture is introduced to the outside world. The publicity materials of Xi’an cultural attractions contain rich Chinese cultural elements. At present, the study of their English translation in the academic circle is still fragmented, relatively macro and insufficient in the cases, which seriously affects the communication and exchange between Shaanxi and foreign cultures. In this essay, a series of important cultural terms were selected from the publicity materials of Xi’an cultural attractions issued by Shaanxi Tourism Bureau. Then the literal and cultural meanings of these terms in Chinese and English were compared so that the problems in their translation were studied. It is found that there were three kinds of translation problems: disparity in both the literal and cultural meaning; disparity in acquired meaning; disparity in associated cultural meaning. The results of this study have some theoretical value in the translation of important cultural terms, and have certain practical value in introducing the Chinese culture to the rest of the world and improve the image of Xi’an.