On Distinctive Features of Tourism English论旅游英语的特征.doc

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1、On Distinctive Features of Tourism English论旅游英语的特征 Abstract With the rapid development of Chinese tourism industry, more and more foreign tourists have come to China. Although not all foreign tourists are from English-speaking countries, English, as a common language in todays world, has become the

2、most important medium of communication when international tourist activities are involved. As a result, tourism English appears as ESP English, and becomes popular and necessary in Chinese tourism. Many Chinese students majoring in tourism learn tourism English as a course. A large number of employe

3、es in tourism industry start to use English in their work. In this case, this essay firstly aims at exposing the language functions of tourism English, and analyzes its distinctive features in terms of linguistics and culture, which identifies tourism English as a special branch of English. The deta

4、iled study on tourism English itself will be helpful for the Chinese students of tourism English and the staff in the field to use it well and deal with tourism English translation.Key Words: Tourism English; Function; Features; Culture摘要随着中国旅游业的迅速发展，越来越多的外国游客来到中国旅游观光。虽然这些外国游客并不是全部来自英语国家，但是作为当今世界通用语

5、，英语成为国际旅游活动中一个最重要的交流工具和媒介。因此，旅游英语这个特殊的英语文体开始在中国旅游行业中流行，并成为旅游业发展必不可少的因素之一。许多旅游英语专业的学生在学习旅游英语，一大部分旅游从业者开始学习使用英语。对此，本文首先通过对旅游英语本身的研究，揭示了旅游英语的语言功能，并且从语言学和文化的角度，分析了旅游英语的特点，正是这些特点使得旅游英语成为一种独特的英语文体。对于旅游英语本身的详细研究不仅可以帮助旅游从业人员更好的了解和使用旅游英语，并且也为旅游英语翻译打下良好的基础。关键词: 旅游英语；语言功能；语言特点；文化ContentsIntroduction5. The Scop

6、e of the Use of Tourism English.6A. Tourism English Used in Transportation.6B. Tourism English Used in Accommodation7. The Features of Language Functions of Tourism English.8A. Informative Function.8B. The Directive Function.9C. The Evocative Function.9.The Linguistic Features of Tourism English.10A

7、. Lexical Feature101. The Technical Terms102. The Proper Names113. Words and Idioms from Other Languages.12B. Grammatical Feature.121. The Sentence Structure122. The Tenses133. The Voices144. The Moods.15C. Courtesy Feature of Tourism English.15D. Stylistic Feature of Tourism English.16E. Culture Fe

8、ature of Tourism English.17Conclusion.19Acknowledgements.20IntroductionTourism has received an international reputation as a never-declining industry in the history of world economy. In China, tourism has a history of almost 55 years since the first travel agency founded in November 1949. But during

9、 the following 30 years, Chinese tourism was advancing slowly due to political reasons. According to the data reported by National Tourism Administration Bureau of China, only 1.809 million people including 0.23 million foreigners visited China in 1978. However, in 1998, China received 63.4784 milli

10、on international visitors, including 7.1077 million foreign tourists, which is 35 times that in 1978.China has become one of the most popular tourist destinations and one of the leading countries of world tourism industry. Due to the development of tourism in China, tourism English becomes more and

11、more important nowadays in China. As a result, tourism English appears as a term in many researches and course books with the meaning of English language that is used for tourism. Since China has been recognized as an approved destination by many countries officially, more and more foreign tourists

12、have been flowing into China for a visit, and tourism English has become necessary and booming as a result，from airport to hotel and restaurant, from travel to tourist spot. English is used whenever a foreign tourist is received. We suppose that Chinas tourism would not have advanced smoothly withou

13、t the development of tourism English.Therefore, some researches about tourism English should be done. But in the authors eyes, distinctive features of tourism English are to be explored firstly. Only if some distinctive features of tourism English are made clear, some work on translation or practice

14、 about tourism English should be done in order to push forward the Chinese tourism. Thats why the author of the paper chooses “On Distinctive features of tourism English” as its title.Before this paper was started, lots of materials were checked and read. Findings were made that there have been a fe

15、w researches about the distinctive features of tourism English from the point of linguistics. Therefore, more researches should still be done on the distinctive features of tourism English from the point of linguistics so that the researches could promote the development of tourism English and also

16、could push forward the development of tourism, economy and the culture of China. That is the purpose of this paper. The topic will be analyzed from three aspects as follows-the scope of the use of tourism English, the features of language function of tourism English, and the linguistic features of t

17、ourism English. The author will give some examples to explain it in the following. The Scope of the Use of Tourism EnglishTourism English, as it is so called, is the English language used for tourism and is a particular variety of English in terms of linguistics. It appears with the development of t

18、ourism industry, especially international tourism. When people make a visit to some place, they will be provided with all kinds of services needed during the tour.According to Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary, tourism is “the business activity connected with providing accommodatio

19、n, services and entertainment for people who are visiting a place for pleasure.” The services refer to transportation service, hotel service and tourist spot services. Therefore, tourism English is widely used in transportation (including airplane, train and bus), hotel (including restaurant) and to

20、urist spot, spoken and written in forms.A. Tourism English Used in Transportation“Tourism is the outcome of the travel and stay of people, and, as we have seen, the development of transport, both private and public, has had a major impact on the growth and direction of tourism development. The provi

21、sion of adequate safe, comfortable, fast, convenient and cheap public transport is a prerequisite for mass market tourism.” This sentence shows the deeply relationship between tourism and transportation.The development of air transport in the second half of the 20th century contributed to the growth

22、 of tourism. Air travel, in particular, over the past 30 years has made medium-and long-range destinations accessible on both these counts. In doing so, it has substantially contributed to the phenomenon of mass-market international tourism. Therefore, tourism English has become an important tool in

23、 the mass-market international tourism.Considering their long lead over other carrier in providing public service transports, it may be regarded surprising that the railway in Britain took so long to adapt to the needs of mass-market tourism in the late 20th century. Certainly the railways played a

24、major role in the provision of tourist transport throughout the first half of the last century. In the public, such as airport, plant ships or railways and so on, people have to communicate with each other and they have to serve their guests. So we need tourism English. No matter who you are or wher

25、e you are from, you can share the comfortable service during the tour. Thats tourism English used in the transportation.B. Tourism English Used in AccommodationAccommodation is a crucial part in tourism. It includes the following places: hotels licensed hotel unlicensed, motels, private hotels, gues

26、thouses and farmhouses. Here, we only analyze hotels which can accept foreigners. There are many departments in the hotel, and also have the special English to translate these departments, such as board of directors, general manager, human resources directors, security directors, Food & Beverage Dir

27、ector, Director of marketing and sales and so on. If only we serve foreigners, each department may use tourism English. The following dialog is tourism English used in a hotel.Receptionist: Yes, sir, this is the Front Office of wan you conifer hotel, can I help you?Guest: Im calling from New York. I

28、d like to book one room in your hotel.Receptionist: What kind of room would you like? We have all kinds of rooms as single rooms, double rooms, suites and deluxe suites and presidential suites.Guest: A deluxe suite, please.Receptionist: Can you tell me your name, please?Guest: Jackson. J-A-C-K-S-O-N

29、Receptionist: Thank you, and your arrival and departure date?Guest: June 1 to 6Receptionist: OK, Mr. Jackson. A deluxe suite, from June 1 to 6. Is that right?Guest: Yes, excellent.Receptionist: All right, we are looking forward to seeing you here on June 1, Goodbye.Guest: Thank you, Goodbye. The Fea

30、tures of Language Functions of Tourism EnglishAs Professor Hu Zhuangling of Beijing University mentioned in his book, “Linguistics: A Course Book”, “language has to serve various purposes as there are different types of them for using it”. As a particular variety of English language, tourism English

31、 has its own language functions, which are mainly informative, directive and evocative functions.A. Informative FunctionAccording to the book of LinguisticsA Course Book, Professor Hu Zhuangling says “Language serves an informative function when it is used to tell what the speaker believes, to give

32、information about facts, or to reason things out”. For most people the informative function is predominantly the major role of language. Tourist need to acquire all kinds of information when they start a tour to a new place.Such information includes: what kind of place they will visit; what they wil

33、l see or do at that place; what kind of entertainment they will enjoy in this place; where they will stay if needed; how they can get there by air, train or bus. The information they need is provided accordingly by such organization as hotel, airport, bus or railway stations, the tourist spots count

34、ers, the citys tourism bureau or simply the travel agencies.These organizations form the tourism industry as a whole, and tourism English is used by them to tell the tourists whatever the information they need before they start or go on a tour. For example, Forbidden City situated in the center of B

35、eijing, the imperial palace was the home of the emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties, when it was known as the “Purple Forbidden City”. The palace has a building area of 150,000 square meters with more than 9,000 rooms. The palace is guarded by a ten-meter-high wall, encircles by a 52-metre-w

36、ide moat and has four gates.In this passage, the detailed information of the tourist destination, Forbidden City of Beijing, What is Forbidden City? It was the home of emperors. How many rooms in the city? Such information is provided to tourists.B. The Directive FunctionGenerally, tourism English i

37、s directed at helping tourists arrange their tours and make it effective. When they are informed the details of their tours, they receive the directions or guidance from the tourism organizations. As an effective medium, English performs a directive function in the process. In most cases, guides mak

38、e full use of this language function of tourism English. Following passage is taken from a guidebook to introduce one of the famous resorts in Britain, Cornwall, in which specific directions are given to tourists for accommodation and the ways of how to get there. Cornwall Tourist Board has 1335 app

39、roved accommodation members, of whom 568 are serviced establishments including Hotels, Pubs/Inns and Farmhouses, 582 are self-catering units, 190 are tent, touring and static caravan holiday parks. Full details on accommodation are available from our webs walltouristboard.co.uk, telephone us on (018

40、72) 322900. This is about accommodation.How to get there? The M5 motorway links with the A30 and provides a fast easy route into Cornwall. Rail Great Western and Virgin trains run services to Cornwall. Main line stations at Liskeard, Bodmin, Par, St Austell, Truro, Redruth, Cambome, St Erth and Penz

41、ance, with branch lines to Looe, Newquay, St Ives and Falmouth. Contact 08457 484950 for further information. You can also by air or by boat. The ports of Falmouth and Fowey are stop-of points for cruise liners. Air Newquay Airport has a direct link with London Gatwick and London Stansted so is acce

42、ssible from anywhere in the world.In this passage, you can know clearly the accommodation and three ways (road, sea, air) to get there. Therefore, we say, tourism English has directive function.C. The Evocative Function“The evocative function is the use of language to create certain feelings in the

43、hearer.” (Hu Zhuangling) For the relevant organizations or operators of tourism, it is urgent to attract more people to visit the tourist destinations. Therefore, tourism English is used to evoke the tourists feeling of desire to come to visit that place or enjoy the services they provide, of course

44、, with pay. For example:Hangzhou is one of Chinas major scenic wonders as well as a famous culture city with a long history. Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake, an area of striking beauty. Covering 5.66 square kilometers, and has such place of interest as Three Pools Mirroring the Moon. Originally

45、 a shallow bay adjoining the Qiantang River, it was gradually transformed into an inland lake by the sitting-up of the outlet. “ The West Lake is comparable with the girl Xi Zi, always charming with either light or heavy make-up”. Indeed it looks beautiful as the some beautiful poem. Some tourists w

46、ant to check up the poem above, they are attracted by the beautiful words.The Linguistic Features of Tourism EnglishIdentifying the features of tourism English studied is always necessary when we work on it. The distinctive features of tourism English distinguish it from the other branches of English, such as technology English, legal English and business English and so on. The paper will analyze the features from four aspects, The first is from the point of linguistics, which inc