Chinese-English Translation Of Public Signs In Jingzhou Scenic Spots From The Perspective Of Eco-translatology

With the deepening of China’s opening to the outside world and the promotion of the Belt and Road construction,the application range of English in the public service field is gradually enlarging.As a representative of translation activities of international communication,the translation of public signs comes out.It is of great significance to tell the Chinese stories to the world,spread the sound of China and promote the development of Chinese culture.Jingzhou,as the capital of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period,is one of the first 24 famous historical and cultural cities ratified by the State Council,and China’s favorable tourist city.In addition,a large number of overseas students come here to study every year.It can be seen that the translation of public signs in Jingzhou scenic spots is of practical significance.Among the researches on the Chinese-English translation of public signs,the focuses of them are mainly on the developed cities,while the studies on public signs in small and medium-sized cities are relatively few.Moreover,there have been few researches on the Chinese-English translation of public signs in Jingzhou scenic spots.Eco-translatology is a new theory in the field of translation,with the improvement and maturity of its theoretical system,more and more scholars begin to use it to explain some translation phenomena.According to the definition of public signs,it can be seen that the translation of public signs is firstly supposed to be concise and correct in linguistic level,and secondly,it is supposed to be accepted in the target language culture.Finally,it attempts to achieve its communicative purpose.Therefore,in the process of the Chinese-English translation of public signs,Eco-translatology can guide the translators’ operational behaviors in multiple levels and dimensions.Based on the translation theory of Eco-translatology,guided by the principle of adaptation and selection and the translation method of “three-dimensional” transformations,this research takes Jingzhou scenic spots as an example to analyze and sort out the problems existing in translation of public signs.This thesis attempts to explore the guiding significance of Eco-translatology to Chinese-English translation of public signs in Jingzhou Scenic spots.Qualitative analysis is used in this research.This thesis mainly discusses the following two questions:(1)What are the errors of the Chinese-English translation of public signs in Jingzhou scenic spots in the linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions?(2)What translation strategies can improve these translation problems from the perspective of “three-dimensional” transformations?In this research,nine representative scenic spots of Jingzhou are selected: Jingzhou Museum,Jingzhou Ancient City Wall,The Xiongs’ Tombs Site,Former Residence of Zhang Juzheng,Loyalty Park of Guan Yu,Guan Yu Temple,Guan Yu Museum,The Moon Park and Jiulaoxiandu Scenic Spots.More than 400 figures of Chinese-English translation of public signs are collected.According to the collected figures,the corresponding Chinese-English translation of public signs has been classified and sorted out.The errors in translation are classified from three dimensions: linguistic dimension,cultural dimension and communicative dimension.Then,combined with practical cases,the errors in translation are explained in detail from these three dimensions,and the reasons for these errors are analyzed.Finally,from the perspective of “three-dimensional” transformations in Eco-translatolgy,the thesis gives some suggestions on Chinese-English translation of public signs.The results show that the strategies of literal translation,transliteration,free translation and omission are mainly adopted in the Chinese-English translation of public signs in Jingzhou Scenic spots.However,many problems can be found through case studies whether from the linguistic dimension cultural dimension or communicative dimension.In the aspect of linguistic dimension,the adaptive selection of language forms,language content and language vocabulary adjustment is not made.There are many problems such as spelling and grammatical errors,inconsistency of the same term translation in the same scenic spot,and inconsistency in the writing format of words on the same sign board.In terms of cultural dimension,the adaptation to the cultural ecology of target language fails to be made.The translation of some public signs is very Chinglish and fails to express the specific meaning in a way that can be easily accepted by foreign tourists.In the perspective of communicative dimension,the communicative purposes are not achieved.There are many phenomena of mistranslation.The translated text cannot only hardly guide foreign tourists well,but also result in their misunderstandings.In consideration of the problems of the Chinese-English translation of public signs in Jingzhou scenic spots,this thesis puts forward the following suggestions: from the perspective of Eco-translatology,before translation,the translators are supposed to fully understand and be familiar with the eco-environment of translation of public signs as well as the target linguistic and cultural eco-environment at first.Meanwhile,they need to figure out the characteristics and functions of the specific public signs,and continue to make adaptive selections in the process of translation.In the linguistic dimension,the target language can be accurately used to transform language information.The cultural connotation and characteristics of the source language can be appropriately conveyed by the target language in the cultural dimension.The specific communicative intention can be realized in the communicative dimension,and finally the ecological balance between source language and target language can be achieved.