A Study of the Chinese-English Translation of Culture-specific Items in Publicity Texts of Guangzhou’s Intangible Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Intangible cultural heritage is the core of Guangzhou’s cultural “soft power”. The Chinese-English translation of intangible cultural heritage is an important way to promote Guangzhou’s culture and to arouse the awareness of protecting intangible cultural heritage in the whole society. The culture-specific items in the publicity texts of intangible cultural heritage reflect the charm and heterogeneity of Guangzhou’s culture. This paper proposes that while translating cultural-specific items of Guangzhou’s intangible cultural heritage, in order to ensure that the translation can retain the cultural characteristics of the source language and be understood and accepted by the target language readers, translators should combine the translation strategies of Domestication and Foreignization and flexibly adopt seven methods, i.e., literal translation, literal translation plus transliteration, literal translation plus explanation, transliteration plus explanation, transliteration plus category words, transliteration plus intra-text explanation and transliteration plus free translation. Suggestions are also given aiming to provide reference for the researches and practice of the translation of intangible cultural heritage in Guangzhou and other cities. It is also hoped that this study can provide some implications for pedagogical application and be helpful for those who follow closely the translation of intangible cultural heritage.