Error Analysis Of The C-e Translation Of Public Signs In Nanjing

With China's continuing reform and integration into the world, English public signs are becoming more and more important in this country. However, the use of English public signs is far from being satisfactory, which may bring a lot of inconveniences to those who come to China to work or travel.This thesis focuses on the error analysis of the English translation of public signs in the city of Nanjing and the strategies for the better E-C translation of public signs by adopting the quantitative statistics and qualitative analysis approach. The error analysis is based on the data recently collected by the author herself from different parts of the city and therefore, the examples used are representative of the present situation of the C-E translation of public signs in Nanjing.According to the theory of Carl James, the types of errors concerning the C-E translation of public signs fall into three levels: substance level, text level and discourse level. The statistic analysis sheds light on what are the main problems that lead to the errors in the E-C translation of public signs.Through the errors analysis, it is found that the causes of errors may be attributed to subjectivity, mother-tongue interference and inaccurate use of target language. In order to solve these problems, some suggestions are proposed for improving the quality of the C-E translation of public signs such as addition, simplification and conversion and so on.In a word, special attention should be paid to the C-E translation of public signs and immediate actions should be taken to improve the present situation of the C-E translation of public signs in Nanjing. Only by trying to get rid of the inappropriate C-E translation of public signs in Nanjing can Nanjing build a favorite bilingual environment. And overseas visitors will find it more convenient and pleasant to stay in this city.