Chinese-English Translation Of Public Signs Based On The Theories Of Communicative Translation Method And Text Typology

In recent years, with the acceleration of China’s opening up and the fast pace ofglobalization, bilingual public signs are used widely in cities especially ininternational metropolis. However, the current situation of C-E public signstranslation is far from satisfactory and needs great attention and improvement. Alltypes of translation errors can be found in the English translation of Chinese publicsigns, which can cause among foreign visitors confusion and misunderstanding andmay be damaging to the city’s image. Thus research into C-E translation of publicsigns deserves the efforts of both translation scholars and practitioners. On the basisof an analysis of translation errors, this thesis explores the guiding principle for C-Epublic sign translation and proposes practical and operational translation strategies.Adopting the method of comparative and qualitative analysis, the author of thethesis classifies the translation errors into two categories: language-related errorsand culture-related errors and analyses the causes of these translation errors.On the basis of Buhler’s category of language function, Newmark classifies threemajor text categories: informative, expressive and vocative. He thinks that few textsare purely informative, expressive or vocative that is most perform the three functionsat the same time, with the emphasis on one of the three. According to Newmark’s texttypology, public signs fall into the vocative text, the main function of which is to callupon the readers to think, to feel and to take actions in response to the message. Thusthe overriding purpose of public sign translation is to arouse readers’ response as theoriginal one.As to the translation methods of different text types, Newmark proposescommunicative translation and semantic translation. According to Newmark,communicative translation can be applied to informative and vocative texts whilesemantic translation can be used for expressive texts. Communicative translationattempts to produce on its readers an effect as close as possible to that obtained on thereaders of the original. It is reader-oriented and emphasizes the effect on the readership, thus is very suitable for the translation of public signs.By drawing on Newmark’s text typology and communicative translation, theauthor of the thesis discusses principles and strategies for public sign translation. Onthe basis of the language features of public signs, three translation principles areproposed, including conciseness, consistency, and comprehensibility. In the light ofcommunicative translation theory, three practical translation methods are suggested:borrowing, adapting and re-creation.