Study On Translation Of Public Signs In Global Standardization

In the past 30 years of opening and reform, China has made great progress in the economic, scientific as well as cultural areas. The upgrading in the economy and the international status calls for the English versions of Chinese materials. Bilingual public signs are common in the public areas like stores, streets and scenic spots. Public signs, mainly words with or without pictures, are used in public places to provide necessary information and convenience, with basic functions, like directing, prompting, restricting and compelling. These signs can help those foreigners who cannot read Chinese to get the necessary information, but with no standard English version established in this area, careless spellings and wrong English versions can cause problems. For most foreigners, the language environment built by the different versions of public signs is far from perfect nowadays. Misled by wrong interpretations is troublesome.Chinese materials, originally Chinese, are translated into English under the guidance of various translation theories and standards, while the translation process of Chinese public signs into English is not just a simple way of creation. Public signs are commonly used in every modern society. English public signs, invented and used in English speaking world for years, may have the same meaning as those in Chinese public signs. Similar versions can be adopted or borrowed from the target languages to convey the same meaning in Chinese. So the first step of the whole translation study in public signs should be the discovery and adoption of the public signs learned from English speaking countries. Then bilingual versions of public signs can be established as the international standards are required to achieve in the process of global standardization. Then the following step should be the construction of those new versions pumped up during the developing progress of our society.In view of current situation, the whole country is working on this issue for nearly 8 years. But to some extent, there is still no systematic review on translations of public signs from such a perspective. The process of translating public signs from Chinese to English requires the orientation of theories, while the translation of the applicative function of the public signs deserves the top priority in the process comparing with other aesthetic ones. Thus, after introducing public signs, in the second chapter, this thesis tries to apply functionalism as well as faithfulness from Yan Fu into the translation process, while in the following chapters the thesis lists major mistakes in the translated versions, adopting consistency principle as a chief guide for translating Chinese public signs, hoping that this thesis will help to shed light on how to develop a better model for the present study.The author sincerely hopes that with the joint efforts from all over the country, the situation of the public signs translation could be improved and this thesis could do its slice share into the perfection of the system toward global standardization of the bilingual versions of public signs, so as to achieve the real globalization in cultural field around China.