THE STUDY OF TRANSLATION STRATEGIES FROM THAI TO CHINESE FOR TOURIST SITE NAMES IN PHUKET, KRABI, AND PHANG NGA PROVINCES

Abstract

This research aims to study the translation strategies for tourist site names in Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga provinces from Thai to Chinese. The sample group consists of 79 tourist attraction names translated from Thai into Chinese in the three provinces, collected from tourism websites. The data were analyzed by categorizing the translation strategies into four types: (1) transliteration, (2) semantic translation, (3) mixed translation, and (4) translation based on popularity. The findings reveal that the most commonly used strategy is mixed translation, as it can enhance the conceptual understanding of the tourist attractions by combining methods when a single strategy alone is insufficient, while also conveying a complete meaning. This is followed by transliteration, semantic translation, and translation based on popularity, respectively. The study suggests that the translation of tourist attraction names from Thai into Chinese can be applied using any of the four strategies mentioned, or according to common usage, with the primary aim of ensuring easy comprehension for tourists.