Izazovi u prevođenju stručnih tekstova na primjeru turističkih publikacija u prevodu na francuski i italijanski jezik
CHALLENGES IN TRANSLATING PROFESSIONAL TEXTS ON THE EXAMPLE OF TOURISM-RELATED PUBLICATIONS TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH AND ITALIAN ON THE MONTENEGRIN MARKET

Summary/Abstract: Translating texts in the field of tourism often seems simpler than it is. With an excellent command of the source and target languages, the skills of written expression in both languages, and a good knowledge of adequate professional terminology, a translator of texts in the field of tourism is expected to have a very broad general knowledge (Vidić 110) and to be a connoisseur of cultural differences in both countries or cultures. In addition to their profession as a translator, their task is to respect the cultural differences and the economic reality of the country into whose language they translate. As such a good knowledge of non-linguistic elements is «a prerequisite for achieving correct translation» (Piletić 31). Furthermore, the translator needs to have extensive translation experience and master the rules of stylistic use and textual interpretation. It is necessary to point out that their command of the target language is more important than their knowledge of the source language (Hlebec 21). Hence, in situations where there is a need to translate into the target language, it is recommended to hire translators whose mother tongue is that language. The discourse of texts in the field of tourism often has the characteristics of a promotional text which features suggestiveness and the desire to attract the readers’ attention. The vocabulary is dominated by terminology from the fields of art, religion, gastronomy, geography, and history, with the use of several descriptive adjectives, superlatives, and deictic expressions that refer to the immediate context (Jovanović 33- 37). Difficulties in translation are caused by so-called realia, i.e. words and expressions inherent in a certain culture for which there is no equivalent in other languages, which are most feequently found in texts in the fields of gastronomy, art, and folklore. Since this is a lexicon that is untranslatable, it is often best in such cases to use transliteration or retain the original names (Jančić 33) or descriptive labeling (the adaptation of cultural elements to the language we are translating), and only in some cases to use calques or replace original words by translated linguistic signs. One of the biggest challenges is translating proper nouns and toponyms of such meaning that it is often necessary to translate them literally. After gaining independence in 2006, Montenegro highlighted tourism as a strategic branch of the economy. Nowadays, the tourism sector makes up over 20% of Montenegro’s GDP and is the most important employer in the country. Up until 2020, which was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Montenegro had achieved significant results in this area. In 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), it was ranked 5th on the list of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the world. In 2019 (which we take as a benchmark in this paper), a total of 2.6 million tourists visited Montenegro, of which 96% were from abroad. The greatest number of tourists were from the Russian Federation, while among the EU countries, after tourists from Germany, tourists from France (90,083), Sweden, and Italy (39,692) dominated (Monstat, Dolasci i noćenja stranih turista po zemlji pripadnosti, 2019). In addition, 490 mega-cruisers with a total of 649,038 passengers sailed into Montenegrin waters in the same year. The data obtained from the Tourist Organization of Kotor, into whose port almost all the cruisers sailed, indicate the fact that after the British and Germans, the French were most interested in going on excursions accompanied by a Francophone guide. In fact, as many as 60,891 French cruise ship guests decided to tour the ancient city of Kotor that year. After the French, the greatest interest in visiting Kotor, based on tourists from EU countries, was shown by Spaniards, and then by Italians (TO opštine Kotor, Broj Osoba po Nacionalnostima za period 1.1.2019 - 31.21.2019). The French are also among the most numerous visitors to the museums in the Montenegrin royal capital Cetinje, being second only to Russian tourists (TO opštine Cetinje: Struktura dolazaka turista po nacionalnostima za 2017. godinu). France and Italy are among the Mediterranean countries that are very popular in the tourism market. France has been considered the most visited tourist destination in the world for several decades, while Italy has the largest number of monuments on the UNESCO List of World Cultural Heritage sites (Blanchet). Both countries are adorned with a long coastline with numerous beaches and a mild Mediterranean climate. For these reasons, the inhabitants of the aforementioned countries, being tourists in the destinations chosen for their holiday, are not as interested in swimming as they are in cultural tourism, preferring destinations which offer a richness of experiences, tradition, and cultural diversity. The official languages in both of the countries, French and Italian, belong to the Romance language family. Native speakers from this linguistic group are generally characterized by a poor knowledge of foreign languages in comparison to native speakers of Slavic or Germanic languages. Indeed, based on research conducted by one of the world’s leading groups for online bookings Expedia, in as many as 27 countries, the French were rated as the worst speakers of foreign languages (Morio). For this reason, they like to be welcomed in their mother tongue at the destination and often choose trips to places where they have a possibility to communicate in their native language. Like the French, the Italians are considered a nation of poor speakers of foreign languages. In this regard, it is necessary to point out the problem of the insufficient knowledge of English, the lingua franca of modern times. This problem is even more pronounced in terms of knowledge of English for specific purposes, of which Eurostat conducted a survey in 2018 among residents of the European Union countries (Amabile). The results showed that the Italians were in last place in Europe in terms of active knowledge of English. On the other hand, based on the indicators obtained from receptive travel agencies in Montenegro that do business with the French market, the French in Montenegro show special interest in gaining a cultural understanding of the destination, taking an average of 1.5 to 2 excursions per person during their stay. These excursions are almost always organized accompanied by Francophone guides (Jovanović and Lazarević Milivojević 216). The excursions organized for Italian tourists, mostly those who arrive in Montenegro as a result of cruising companies, are also organized under the guidance of licensed tourist guides who are fluent in Italian. Based on the data obtained from the Kotor Tourist Organization in 2019, 14,053 Italians went on a trip to the area of Kotor. These data indicate the fact that tourists from Romance-speaking countries express a stronger need to buy tourism-related publications about Montenegro, in order to get acquainted with the history, culture, gastronomy, and art of the destination chosen for the holiday. Since these are tourists who come from countries rich in cultural and historical heritage, which is placed on the market skillfully and effectively in those countries, French and Italian tourists expect to receive accurate and detailed information about existing sights and attractions, communicated using adequate terminology, in a clear and comprehensible manner in their mother tongue. However, it is true that a number of publications intended for foreign tourists in Montenegro have been translated poorly, and that tourist monographs translated by using the Google Translate tool can be found on sale in even the most attractive tourist towns, such as Kotor. Tourist publications in the form of guides, catalogues, brochures, and maps, translated into foreign languages, among which English predominates, are offered to foreigners visiting Montenegro by tourist organizations, bookstores, souvenir shops, and other locations where tourists gather (museums, galleries, info-points, kiosks in parking lots, and so on). It should be noted that foreign languages in which publications on local attractions have been published are generally not correlated with the nationality of the most numerous foreign tourists in the destination. For example, in the municipality of Žabljak (which is home to Durmitor National Park), where French tourists are among the most numerous visitors, only publications translated into English, Russian or German are available. The situation is similar in terms of publications translated into Italian, which are currently almost non-existent at important tourist sites in Montenegro, despite the interest of tourists. For the purposes of this paper, the tourist monographs published in translation in French and Italian, offered in the area of Kotor at the peak of the 2021 tourist season, were analyzed. These are publications written in popular science discourse, were published by eight publishing houses from Montenegro, Serbia, and Croatia. Among the tourismrelated publications available, the authors found quality texts translated into French published by Turistička naklada from Zagreb and Studio Strugar from Belgrade, while in other cases there were unprofessional translations, including machine translations, most likely done using the Google Translate tool (Mapa Crne Gore). In most cases, Turistička naklada hired foreign translators whose native language was French (Annie Cornu; Khédidja Mahdi-Bolfek), while other publishers trusted local translators, which did not prove to be the best solution. The situation is similar with publishers that have published translations in Italian. Although the authors had at their disposal a smaller corpus of monographs than the one available for the analysis of French translations, they found that the text of the Kotor monograph published by Turistička naklada from Zagreb was well translated into Italian by the translator Dario Saftich and the text of the monograph of the same name published by the publishing house Dobro more from Kotor, which was translated into Italian by Olga Zbutega. On the basis of the analyzed corpus, a number of lexical, morphological, and syntactic problems faced by translators were noticed. It was also clear that lexical and grammatical stylistics posed a significant problem to translators of tourism-related texts. Here, after decoding the original message and encoding it using the translated language, the translator’s task is to stylistically shape the text in the spirit of the language they are translating into, because, as Vidic points out, «not a language, but a specific form of discourse is translated; not the linguistic form, but the meaning is translated ” (109-110). Since the professional translation of tourism-related texts, as well as a more thorough analysis of the nature of language in the field of tourism, have not been sufficiently researched and analyzed, the authors, by showing specific examples of translators’ oversights, wanted to point out the need to improve translation and the overall functional knowledge of foreign languages of all professionals in the field of tourism in Montenegro. In the analysis of French and Italian translations, a large number of material errors in presenting data on Montenegro were noticed, which is an additional problem that indicates the need for the more comprehensive education of translators in the field of non-linguistic knowledge as well. The research aims to raise awareness of the importance of good translation in overall tourist communication, and the need for the more active involvement of the local and wider community in this issue. It should be remembered that, in many cases, the translation of a certain text, whether in print or online, represents for foreign tourists the first indirect contact with the destination, and becomes their kind of «interface between different linguistic and cultural systems» (Mardešić and Maržić Sabalić 2). The aforementioned authors are therefore right to wonder «whether anyone can do a translation». We would supplement this idea by posing the question: «Can anyone be a publisher?» This opens a wider range of questions related to the responsibility of those involved in copyright protection, but also the national interest of the state that proclaimed the development of tourism as its most important strategic direction, while presenting itself in a less than perfect light at the same time. Raising the level of quality is necessary not only in translation but also in all tourist services provided in foreign languages ; in the field of education in particular, that requires the more meaningful, purposeful, and appliacble teaching and learning of foreign languages in both schools and universities.

• Details
• Contents